3/6: Gaining Retraction
There's a lot of Oscar talk this morning, which (it should be no surprise) we're not covering. But the weekend did bring some interesting stories separate from the major stories of the past week. One in particular was a development in last week's widely-reported AP story about how Pres. Bush was warned about possible levee breaches -- the AP issued a late Friday correction which essentially retracted the article; conservative bloggers have been all over it, but the left hasn't said a thing. What animated them at virtually the same time was a letter from Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist indicating that he could move to change the structure of the Senate Intel Cmte; the cmte is about to vote on whether to investigate the NSA wiretap program. Likewise, if conservatives have had much to say about it, we couldn't find it.
On a smaller scale, pro-Wal Mart bloggers are pre-empting a coming New York Times article about a PR agency sending them tips; the article will presumably portray it in a negative light, so the bloggers get their word in first. Bush's bad poll numbers get batted around, there's mutual antagonism between Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) adviser Dan Gerstein and the top lefty blogs. Plus, last week, Rep. Jack Kingston's (R-GA) office organized an event to promote blogging on the Hill, where the guest list included one Stephen Colbert.
EAVESDROPPING: Who Are The Plumbers Around Here, Mario And Luigi?
On 3/7, the Senate Intel Cmte holds a vote on whether to open hearings on the NSA wiretap program, and as we noted on 3/3, lefty bloggers have been putting pressure on moderate GOP cmte members to vote for the probe. And late last week, Frist and Min. Leader Harry Reid exchanged letters.
Glenn Greenwald points out that the substance of Frist's letter is a threat to "fundamentally change the 30-year-old structure and operation" of the Intel Cmte, which is the only Senate cmte run in a bipartisan fashion. Writes Greenwald: "Yet again, Republicans are threatening to radically change long-standing rules for how our government operates all because they cannot manipulate the result they want." In an update, he points out that AP story about the exchange of letters "never even mentions" Frist's threat.
Firedoglake's ReddHedd puts the letter up against a statement by Frist in 11/03, where Frist extolled the cmte's "nonpartisan tradition" to his letter this weekend, where Frist notes his interest in "restructuring the Committee so that it is organized and operated like most Senate Committees." 
Scott Shields: "They are so scared of accountability that they're willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid it, both for themselves and for their President." Laura Rozen: "The United States Congress as a co-equal branch of government, RIP."
Relatedly, Crooks and Liars posts video of ex-WH adviser David Gergen on CNN's "Reliable Sources" comparing the Bush admin. unfavorably with the Nixon admin. on secrecy issues. Liberal bloggers link approvingly and without much comment; conservative Dan Riehl pushes back: "The reality is that at no time in our history, including during the Nixon presidency, has the press ever undertaken such a bold and biased attempt to discover and reveal classified information the sitting administration had, not only the right, but the good judgment to try and keep secret. You cannot fight a war against the likes of propaganda savvy Al Qaeda and the obstructionist ACLU when the American headlines are feeding the fires of anti-war and anti-America propagandists." Meanwhile, Power Line argues that the New York Times' reporting on the NSA's al Qaeda is a felony under 18 U.S.C. section 798.
As the Washington Post reports that the WH Centrist Joe Gandelman writes, "you have to conclude that the motive here is, at best, mixed: to protect national security info but also to clamp a tight lid on things the administration might be doing that are embarrassing, politically damaging or might possibly cross a line."
KATRINA: When The Levee Story Breaks
Late on 3/3 the AP released a correction to its mid-week story about Bush having been warned about possible Katrina flooding. Conservative bloggers had argued that the AP had confused levee "breaching" with levee "overtopping," and the correction agreed with the assessment. Media-savvy as bloggers tend to be, many of them see the timing as a way for AP to bury the bad news.
Mickey Kaus, a left-leaning contrarian who often lines up with the right, asks: "How much of the AP drive to over-sell its video was driven by a powerful business impulse -- to become something of a first mover, or at least a presence, in the Internet-video news business? At transition points, like the one we're now in, having a big scandalous story can do a lot to put you on the map." The correction said: "The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking." Generation Why? finds this inadequate: "Excuse me? If the AP had 'been more clear' that Bush wasn't actually lying, there would have been no story to write about in the first place." Brainster's Blog writes, "as usual, stuff like this backfires on the media; the Washington Post, duped by the original, runs with an editorial today" based on the mistaken AP story. Power Line's John Hinderaker assumes partial credit for getting AP to run the correction, but laments: "The correction (or 'clarification') will never catch up to most of the tens of millions of people who heard the original story. The news business is all about impressions, and corrections, days after the fact, never take away the impression that the original story falsely created."
Captain's Quarters compares it to Memogate/Rathergate from WH'04 in the abstract: "Any editor who actually reviewed the video or read the transcripts would have immediately realized that no one talked about levee breaches at all. This vaunted system of editors and fact-checking at Exempt Media outlets failed yet again, and yet again the hack job that emerged was intended to damage George Bush." Earlier, Wizbang located a connection to the CBS memo scandal in the details -- AP's Margaret Ebrahim was previously a producer on "60 Minutes II," though there is no evidence to suggest she worked on the Bush/TANG story. More recently, Wizbang's Kevin Aylward points out that the AP's policy is to issue "corrections" and not use euphemisms, but in fact this correction is headlined "Clarification: Katrina-Video story." He adds: "So they violated that principle with the first word of their release..."
At Huffington Post, Harry Shearer disagrees about the importance of the distinction: "[T]hose two terms have been confused for months, ever since the Army Corps of Engineers first reported that the cause of the flooding of New Orleans was the overtopping of levees. We later learned that the 17th St. floodwall had breached, and later independent forensic analysis showed that it had never been overtopped. But the confusion was situational: while the 17th St. floodwall breached, other levees in the area, to the east, were overtopped."
BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Barbaro The Elephant In The Room
Hinted at by Instapundit late last week and broken in a blog post by mid-tier conservative blog Marquette Warrior, New York Times' Michael Barbaro apparently has a forthcoming piece on how Edelman PR consultant Marshall Manson (a co-founder of On Tap) has been sending tips to bloggers that are favorable to Edelman client Wal-Mart. Philly Inquirer's Daniel Rubin characterizes it as "some bloggers have been cut-and-pasting copy from pr agencies that are working to improve Wal-Mart's image." RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh says that he is one of those bloggers, and says there's nothing untoward going on: "The whole of my reaction to the e-mails has consisted of taking links to stories that interested me and were passed on to me, and writing whatever I wanted in terms of commentary concerning those stories. At no time whatsoever was I asked to write or follow a script of some kind, and at no time whatsoever would I have complied if someone had offered me a script to follow." James Joyner interprets the impetus for the piece being that Barbaro is "apparently steamed that he is getting slammed by some bloggers for glaring mistakes and undisguised bias."
A Washington Post op-ed by Emory poli sci prof Alan Abramowitz goes into why Bush's poll numbers are so low -- he argues it's about a demonstrated lack of competence. Right-leaning poli sci prof Steven Taylor thinks there's something to it, and lists several issues which might contribute: Harriet Miers, response to Katrina, cong. spending, the Dubai port deal, and the ongoing war in Iraq. He adds, "the Carter comparison has, for the moment (and perhaps longer), a certain resonance." Donkey Rising, to which Abramowitz contributes: "Abramowitz makes a compelling case that competence could be the pivotal issue in upcoming elections, and his article is highly recommended to Democratic strategists at all levels." Mad as Hell: "More and more Americans are opening their eyes and seeing clearly, for the first time, what an incompetent ass their preznit is. Now if we could get the rest of the country off the Kool Aid..." Jonathan Singer at MyDD: "Anyone still believe the Democrats have no shot at picking up two or three House seats in Indiana this fall?"
REPUBLICANS: Kingston Of Comedy
As we mentioned last Friday, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) sponsored a conf. on blogging for spokespersons of fellow GOP cong. members. Kingston himself posted about it on his official blog
Bloggers who participated on the panel wrote follow-ups: Suitably Flip: "There's a formidable blogward movement afoot among Republican legislators, which could have exciting implications." Human Events Online's Robert Bluey: "Kingston, a blogger himself, not only deserves credit for embracing this new medium, but also for making sure other Hill staffers utilize it." Mary Katherine Ham: "I don't envy the staffers. It's not an easy job. Getting a Congressman to see that there is a world beyond the safe, static press release is a challenge. Once you start telling him that world can include debate and disagreement-- woo, it's all downhill. The blogosphere is a place where messages get molded and tossed around and sometimes beaten to a pulp. It's boot camp for political messages." National Journal's Danny Glover, who participated in another panel, made a similar observation: "The questions asked by the press secretaries were the most enlightening part of the conversation. My favorite was this: Is there an expectation of engaging in debate if lawmakers start blogging? The question is telling both because it shows how disinterested that too many people within Congress, the heart of American democracy, are in the very idea of debate and because it shows how clueless they are about the blogosphere years into its development. The answer is 'yes,' folks, and shame on you for not realizing that your bosses should always have an expectation of engaging in debate, whether in the blogosphere, at town halls or within the halls of Congress."
But as Townhall's Tim Chapman noted the day before, "The real news is that Stephen Colbert will be there!" He was there indeed, Colbert wasn't there to tape a segment, but rather to persuade GOPers to come on the show; Kingston was the show's 2nd guest. Marc Ambinder covered the Colbert angle for Hotline On Call: "But seriously: why should Republicans go on his show? He plays a Bill O'Reilly-esque character who milks irony out of a superficial version of a Bushian worldview (as conceived of by smart liberals.) 'Stephen Colbert,' as described by Stephen Colbert, is an 'idiot' who generates laughs by making himself look silly. But Colbert was quick to remind the GOP press secretaries that audiences respect Republicans who play along. ... Colbert called himself a 'blogger with a camera and a comedic agenda,' not 'an assassin.'" Kingston's website features a number of photos from the meeting; most of them feature Colbert.
This a.m., Kingston has an op-ed at Real Clear Politics on the U.S.'s "addiction to oil." Kingston aide David All notes in an e-mail circulated among bloggers that they are using RCP "as opposed to a traditional medium... Another step in the Revolution."
MIDTERMS: Intra-Party Squabble Time, Excellent
American Spectator reports, pro-choice GOP group RMC is going on the offensive against Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) by running ads in PA newspapers. Unofficial Santorum Blog notes that fellow PA GOP Sen. Arlen Specter "is on the advisory board, although he does at least disavow what RMC is doing and states that re-electing Santorum is his 'number one priority in 2006.'" On the other hand, Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) "is also on the advisory committee, and refuses to denounce what RMC is doing. Why is the party supporting him again?" Yippee-Ki-Yay!: "Rick Santorum was stupid to help Arlen Specter win re-election to the U.S. Senate, and we all realized Specter was an ingrate very shortly after the 2004 elections. Now even Santorum knows it." Understandably, there is less consternation liberal BlondeSense: "It seems some Republicans are finally smartening up!" But Pennacchio for Pennsylvania, the official blog of PA SEN Dem Chuck Pennacchio, speculates about the effect of a Kate Michelman indie bid: If PA SEN Dem frontrunner Bob Casey wins the primary "and Michelman runs, she will take a big chunk of Pennsylvania's pro-choice majority with her, virtually guaranteeing that the Democrats would lose their 15th straight full-term US Senate election. Did they not see this coming? Perhaps not."
On 2/28, ex-record exec Howie Klein criticized Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) at Huffington Post. On 3/3, he followed up: "I got an e-mail from the Huffington Post saying 'someone formerly affiliated with Lieberman' had challenged my assertions that Lieberman had made 'racism quasi-acceptable by framing it as being against unfair affirmative action.' The secret accuser also took exception to my assertion that Lieberman was a homophobe for conspiring with Jesse Helms and other far right extremists. It's hard to believe any close associate of Lieberman's would take this action and make demands of the Huffington Post without his knowledge -- if not connivance -- so I assume it is on Lieberman's behalf that he insists I either retract my statements or back them up." At Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas later announces that the plaintiff is Dan Gerstein, who writes his own blog, but as of this writing hasn't updated since before the weekend. A few other dKos contributors add updates to note previous run-ins with Gerstein, and Kos himself notes that Gerstein's official bio lists Lieberman's "renowned floor statement chastising" then-Pres. Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal, commenting: "He's bragging about this. He's proud of it. This is beyond 'wanker.' Lieberman and Gerstein give cover to Bush while stabbing a Democratic president in the back over absolutely nothing important."
IRAQ: The Military-Blogger Alliance
A dateline-Baghdad New York Post column by Ralph Peters, "Dude, Where's My Civil War?" is getting a lot of attention from conservative bloggers who argue, as does Peters, that the MSM is exaggerating the violence in Iraq. California Conservative: "Peters' column is proof that the American Agenda Media isn't willing to take risks to get the story that paints the accurate picture. They're more than willing to just 'phone it in' from their hotel rooms." The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: "We're sure that this excellent column is going to cause no end of grief at Al-Qaeda's U.S. headquarters at the New York Slimes." Austin Bay, on the actual situation: "I think the Iraqi civil war began in the late summer of 2003, when members of Saddam's old ruling clique organized to regain power. The KKK did the same thing after the Civil War. ... In fact, the KKK is a rough analog to both the Saddamists and Al Qaeda -- ancien regime resistance combined with a violent, heretical religious vision."
On a similar note, Mudville Gazette's Greyhawk wrote: "In a recent press briefing General George Casey ... countered virtually every inflated claim made by the media regarding Iraq's recent "civil war" in the wake of the Shrine bombing in Samarra." More: "The media is free to dispute the General's claims -- that's expected of them. But in this case they aren't, they are simply using his words selectively in a manner that supports their own previously published fictions." A lengthy post at Instapundit ties together some of the commentary; Glenn Reynolds writes: "The press had better hope we win this war, because if we don't, a lot of people will blame the media." Left-leaning Neil Sinhababu agrees with the statement on the surface, but means something different: "It's the media that got us into this war, swallowing down every WMD story that was handed on a presidential spoon. ... In their haste to carry the White House's message of fear, the media ignored the views of the people who actually knew what was going on -- weapons inspectors like Hans Blix and Scott Ritter. Actually, it's worse than that -- they actively ridiculed these people until nobody in America would listen to them.
- It may be 3/06 already, but the 1st round of voting in Wampum's 2005 Koufax Awards opened on 3/4. Although non-ideological, Hotline On Call is up for the Best Blog, Professional/Sponsored Division.
- Since a New York Times Magazine cover story on the enrollment at Yale of ex-Taliban spokesperson Sayed Hashemi last weekend, WSJ's John Fund has led conservative bloggers in staying on the story, with 2 columns putting pressure on Yale. NC-based schoolteacher Betsy Newmark: "Think of all those American kids who would have loved to have been admitted to Yale. Or, as Fund points out, other Afghans who weren't prominent members of the Taliban. How about an Afghan woman, freed from the restraints that Mr. Rahmatullah and his buddies had imposed on the women of Afghanistan?" Header at The Queen of All Evil: "No To ROTC, Yes To Taliban?" QoAE Rosemary writes: "They'll tolerate almost anything, except the U.S. military. Man, I hope both my boys go there when they grow up."
- At RedState's Red Hot, Nick Danger quotes from AP: "An SUV ran into a group of people outside a University of North Carolina dorm Friday, injuring six people before speeding away, officials said." Danger: "This was not an 'SUV.' This was a guy named 'Mohammed.' Keep an eye on this one. This appears to be 'cartoon' related." Jack Kelly at Irish Pennants: "This is the kind of guy who makes Americans suspicious of all Muslims." Michelle Malkin writes, "I am reminded of Hesham Hadayet" -- an Egyptian Muslim who shot and killed 3 people at the LAX El Al ticket counter on 7/4/02.
- Kevin Drum: "And what about the newly discovered email? "Campaign manager Jared Thomas declined to discuss the apparent inconsistency of Reed's earlier statements and the date of the 'elot' e-mail." I guess they need a few days to make up a new story." The Carpetbagger Report: "Of course, for me, it was that sentence in the fourth paragraph that stands out: 'The e-mails emerged as dozens of federal investigators have increased their focus on events surrounding the defeat of the Internet gaming ban. 'At this point, I'm afraid we may not have Ralph Reed to kick around much longer."
- Must be a bad week for AP; Neandernews makes fun of a "real nothing sandwich of an artricle": "''Peace Mom' Still Campaigning Against War' (no kidding) catches Cindy, between unhinged gigs, eating at a resteraunt in San Francisco. ... Given the dearth of new information in this article one must conclude that this was just a naked attempt by AP to keep Cindy in the news.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Niche Nation
While we're generally avoiding oscar talk, but we were intrigued by an Ed Driscoll post arguing that technology explains as much about the decline of Hollywood as a values disconnect: "Hollywood is rapidly becoming just another niche entertainment product. And as it rewards films that are aimed at coastal niche audiences, and critically shuns the movies that reached the widest viewers, it has only itself to blame. At this point, I'm sure I risk coming across like my parents, wondering why so few people are making entertainment these days that interests me. ... On the other hand, my parents' generation had to rely almost exclusively on Hollywood for their entertainment: only the stars themselves could afford their own in-home recording studio -- and video production at home was strictly science fiction. But yesterday's science fiction has a way of becoming reality. And these days, reality is often much more enjoyable than Hollywood."
We don't use the term lightly, and in fact we don't think the phrase has appeared in this space, but really, the YouTube-circulated "Real Life Simpsons Intro" is "must see," and yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. (And the Natalie Portman rap from SNL isn't so bad either, but it's still no "Chronic of Narnia" rap).
