August 31, 2006

8/31: If This Was A Slow Month

...then the Blogometer does not want to see a busy one. Beginning with CT SEN and ending with the macaca fracas, August has been a busy month for the blogosphere and with an expected pick-up after Labor Day the Blogometer has real worries about how to cover everything. Don't fear, though, we have a plan! Starting 9/5, expect a more compact Blogometer to fill its daily Hotline space, but an expanded online effort with updates throughout the day, including increased coverage of House races as well as more detailed coverage of issues like Iraq, Iran, Wal Mart, and immigration. The Blogometer is also still accepting applications for virtual interns. But hurry, that window will be closing with the end of this month!

Keith Oblermann's 8/30 six-minute and forty-two second The Countdown sign-off on Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld speech to the Annual American Legion National Convention in Salt Lake City, UT, quickly spread throughout the lefty blogosphere. Crooks and Liars writes: "Olbermann delivered this commentary with fire and passion while highlighting how Rumsfeld's comments echoes other times in our world's history when anyone who questioned the administration was coined as a traitor, unpatriotic, communist or any other colorful term. Luckily we pulled out of those times and we will pull out of these times." C&L has video and a transcript including Olbermann's opening line: "The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald S. Rumsfeld is not a prophet."

Comparison's to Olbermann's idol Edward R. Murrow abounded:

• Steven DBooman Tribune: "The most brilliant on-air broadcast political essay since the days of Edward R. Murrow."
• The Left Coaster: "Keith Olbermann stepped into Edward R. Murrow's shoes for a night with a devastating critique of Rummy and the Bush Administration. The shoes fit pretty well, and there is a lot of ammo to use against Rummy and the rest of the fascists."
• Brilliant at Breakfast: "Keith Olbermann gets in touch with his inner Ed Murrow."

The right sight of the 'sphere was less impressed. Allahpundit at Hot Air had the best conservative take: "It's an instant classic of nutroots porn, second only to Colbert's faux-dissident burlesque at the White House correspondents' dinner. In fact, Olby goes further than Colby: we're all used to the comparisons of Bush to Hitler and the Democrats to Neville Chamberlain, but never before have I heard someone compare Bush to Chamberlain - and to Hitler (or some generic "fascist," if you prefer), both in the span of a few moments."

Also on the right McQ at QandO draws blood from the AP for their "hatchet" job on Rumsfeld speech. QandO juxtaposed sections of Rumsfeld speech with the AP write up and highlighted two distinct cases where the AP took Rumsfeld out of context. QandO updates his post to alert his readers that the AP went back and changed the two parts of their story that QanO criticized. old lead graph:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counterterrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism."

new lead graph:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and warned against repeating the pre-World War II mistake of appeasement.

Meanwhile conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt pushes the fascism meme and reminds readers that "Appeasers can and usually are patriots. ... just deeply misguided, foolish patriots."

Chris Bowers at MyDD looks at the cash on hand for the party committees in the latest FEC report:

Democratic Party: $95,189,180 Republican Party: $134,140,387
DNC: $11,312,588 RNC:$43,622,105
DCCC: $33,046,326 NRCC: $34,147,575
DSCC: $35,091,284 NRSC: $20,570,361
DGA: $3,000,322 RGA: $10,915,046
DLCC: $1,010,258 RSLC: $1,905,311

Bowers comments: "as grim as most of these numbers may seem, they actually are a big improvement on previous cycles."

Following claims from Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) campaign that their new TV ad was a sunrise and not a sunset, EdwardsRaysOfSunshine at DailyKos tracked down the original footage from getty images, and posted the clips caption which read: "Wide shot sun setting over ocean / birds walking along water's edge / Santa Barbara"

Later 8/30 Greg Sargent at TPM Cafe received confirmation from Lieberman media consultant Josh Isay that the ad featured a sunset: "I made an honest mistake. I thought the footage was of a sunrise, but when I went back to check, it was in fact of a sunset. It is clear that I am spending too much time in the editing room."

Progressive bloggers were also up in arms over an 8/30 FOX news package on CT SEN affect on CT House races. My Left Nutmeg has video of the segment where FOX asks a CT labor leader: "Do you think he's[Lieberman] actually going to motivate Republicans to come out and vote against Democrats?" Later, Lieberman responds to a question not shown in the clip: "Well, I guess they should have thought of that before they had the primary."

Christy Hardin Smith at firedoglake notes that later in the segment Rep. Chris Shays (R-04) embraces Lieberman: "Oh, and for all those who have been questioning whether Lieberman is campaigning with Republicans, you can watch Lieberman and Chris Shays campaigning together on video at a rally. Including Chris Shays saying about Lieberman that "we have a national treasure" in him at this public event, while introducing him to the crowd - and then later hugging him on camera (and then getting an admonishment from such PDAs in the future from a skittish Turncoat Joe). "

Right Wing News reports on a teleconference with Oakland Co. Sheriff Mike Bouchard (R):

My first impression? Bouchard seems to be charismatic, energetic, and as tough as you'd expect a sheriff to be. He also had no problem pulling out the brass knuckles to use on Stabenow. At one point he said he was going to, "pound her in the nose with reality." He also accused her of being a "jellyfish" who talked in "Washingtonspeak." He made a good case for that, by the way. ... He pointed out that he supports the House position on illegal immigration -- while Stabenow voted for giving Social Security to illegals, but against making English America's official language

OH SEN: "Down" Does Rhyme With "Brown"

Greg Sargent at TPM Cafe claims the NRSC "is seriously worried about" Rep. Sherrod Brown's (D-13) challenge to Sen. Mike DeWine (R) since they spent "an astonishing $656,054.58 to date this year on the race." TPM Cafe posts an NRSC television ad currently running (tag line: "Sherrod Brown let us down") and quotes a Brown advisor: "It's a huge buy ... But clearly they're worried -- and we're gonna respond."

Matt Stoller at MyDD looks at Rep. Harold Ford Jr.'s (D-09) latest TV spot.

This ad is clever and slick. I'm really intrigued with the Ford campaign, because while the tactical execution is good, it's not clear to me that this messaging differentiates him from his Republican opponent. ... Based on our accountability memo, and other polling coming in that shows that voters are choosing between Iraq and terrorism, Ford is making the absolutely wrong strategic decision. When given a choice between a Republican and a fake Republican, they'll pick the real one every time. But then, Ford's not a progressive. ... My guess is that Ford's messaging will not work, but it's possible that Corker could simply self-destruct and Ford could look like an acceptable alternative.

Tom Bevan at RCP Blog passes along conclusions from Democracy Corps strategy memo based of results of a post-election survey from VA GOV '05.

• Failure to mobilize the Republican base doomed Kilgore. The demoralization of Bush voters and lack of enthusiasm for Kilgore seriously hindered the Republican candidate's chances, underscoring the dangers of taking the base for granted.
• Non-voters were disillusioned with Bush, unimpressed by Kilgore.
• Positive agenda was crucial to winning over swing voters.
• Republicans voter outreach program is not to be underestimated. Although Kilgore's turnout effort came up short, his campaign was much more effective at contacting both base and swing voters, as well as those who were still undecided in the final days of the campaign.
• Essential to have sufficient resources for the final few weeks of the campaign. Nearly one in five voters did not to decide who to vote for until the last few days of the campaign and 40 percent held off until October.

Hullabaloo is sick and tired of MSM types and their deference to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on foreign policy issues. "Their halting explanations are all perfect illustrations of typical vapid, courtier sensibilities," Digby writes. He goes on to highlight a Howard Fineman appearance from the 8/27 Chris Matthews Show where Fineman says: "He knows what he's talking about. He clearly has a lot of experience, militarily, from the inside out on the Armed Services Committee." Digby then quote McCain from earlier this year: ""One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bull [excrement],'" Digby concludes: "There's a man who knows what he's talking about, alright."

Brent Budowsky at The Huffington Post again appeals for an Al Gore presidential run:

Unlike virtually every major Democrat in Washington Al Gore was dead right about Iraq from day one. This commends him for the Presidency for two reasons, both equally important. The first reason is that with decades of national security experience he was wise enough and smart enough to know that the Iraq War was a tragic mistake. The second reason is profound: Al Gore had the courage and clarity to speak out clearly, forcefully, and unequivocally without the maneuvering and positioning that led virtually every leading Washington Democrat to be dead wrong.

WARNER: Busty Women In Bikinis Are The Future

Ryan Sager at conservative leaning RCP Blog posts text from a ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner Forward Together PAC email that claims Warner will hold the first "event in the virtual world." Warner believes "Social technologies can be great tools for political change, and virtual worlds like Second Life might be the next tool for engaging people in the real world democratic process." Sager has no complaints noting: "For those interested, here's the Web page for Second Life. What you might notice right off the bat is that the virtual world is full of a lot of avatars of busty women in bikinis. This is clearly the political medium of the future."

Right Wing News responds to critics of his "Conservative Case Against Rudy Giuliani" that argue abortion, immigration, and gun control won't predominate the '08 election. RWN writes:

First of all, I would agree that fighting the war on terrorism will be a big issue in the 2008 election, especially since the Democrats have become such wusses that they make Neville Chamberlain look like Genghis Khan. However, the war on terrorism probably WILL NOT be a decisive factor in the Republican primaries simply because most of the candidates will probably have very similar positions on national defense. In fact, other than Chuck Hagel, I believe all the major candidates could, at least at this point, be fairly called hawks on national security issues.

Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker talked to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) spokesman Aaron Saunders who confirmed Stevens placed a non-secret hold on the publicly searchable pork database bill S. 2590 so "a cost-benefit analysis" could be performed to prevent "an extra layer of unnecessary bureaucracy."

Tapscott's Copy Desk chips in with a helpful timeline demonstrating that Stevens did "everything possible to avoid working with Coburn or his staff to address the Alaska senator's objections to the proposal."

Mother Jones has a new tool up called "Lie by Lie: Chronicle of a War Foretold: August 1990 to March 2003." Mother Jones explains: "The first drafts of history are fragmentary. Important revelations arrive late, and out of order. In this timeline, we've assembled the history of the Iraq War to create a resource we hope will help resolve open questions of the Bush era. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the first installment in our Iraq War timeline project."

The Real Ugly American didn;t take too kindly to Bruce Kegler's 8/30 USA Todayop-ed belittling the "blogosphere" for, among other things, the failure of Snakes on a Plane at the box office and Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) refusal to exit stage right. The Ugly American writes:

The "blogosphere" is not a gigantic megaphone for the "blogger" collective all speaking unanimously with one voice. It is exactly the opposite. It is a collection of small and large voices each advocating their own ideas and opinions. I had no idea any blogger said Snakes on a Plane was going to be a blockbuster and I read blogs night and day. ... If Hollywood executives actually believed that something some blogger or group of bloggers says, can make a stupid movie appealing to the mass market, then that speaks to the idiocy of those particular executives not the effectiveness of the blogosphere.

I couldn't disagree with folks like Daily Kos or Firedog Lake more, and I realize the obvious point made by Kluger above, a minority of Americans actually vote, an even smaller minority vote in primaries, and an even smaller group of them have their own political blog. All that being said discounting the real and powerful effect a group of left wing activist bloggers had on a Democratic Primary election is whistling past the grave yard.

The newsflash for Mr. Kluger might be, The New York Times, and CBS get it wrong pretty often themselves while supposedly playing it right down the middle. Anyone seen Dan Rather or Mary Mapes lately? It seems to me the people doing all the kicking and screaming lately are MSM hacks trying to protect their endangered gigs.

The Hotline is looking for a Virtual Intern (three hours, five days a week) to assist in daily compilation of Blogometer updates and assist on special projects. Applicants must consider themselves regular consumers of blogs, be familiar with nationally read blogs from across the spectrum; know how to use blog search engines/aggregators (such as Technorati and Memeorandum); be able to quickly analyze and synthesize developments in the news as well as summarize ongoing blog activity with brevity, clarity and accuracy. Excellent writing and time-management skills are also a must.

This is a "virtual" position, so as long as you have always-on Internet access, Firefox, a plain text editor, and a pulse (i.e. actual presence in DC not necessary) you can apply. As with every Hotline position, we don't expect our writers to not have an opinion, we just expect them to keep it out of their work. Interested applicants should send their resumes to ccarroll@nationaljournal.com

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 31, 2006 12:02 PM