Archive for October, 2009
Obama’s Big War With Fox News Makes Him Look Small..And Reveals His Relationship With The Press
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Ruth Marcus calls out President Obama (uh oh, no scoops for her):
Where the White House has gone way overboard is in its decision to treat Fox as an outright enemy and to go public with the assault. Imagine the outcry if the Bush administration had pulled a similar hissy fit with MSNBC. “Opinion journalism masquerading as news,” White House communications director Anita Dunn declared of Fox. Certainly Fox tends to report its news with a conservative slant — but has anyone at the White House clicked over to MSNBC recently? Or is the only problem opinion journalism that doesn’t match its opinion?
The interesting thing here is that President Obama has received nothing short of fawning adoration and tenderly delivered, incurious questions from the rest of the press corps save a few notable examples. He probably gets less love from basketball team members. The press, unfamiliar with physical endeavors and the kinship of teams, takes loyalty to a whole new level. Obeisance thy name is modern journalism.
And then there’s Fox News.
Fox’s collective sin is not loving enough. Bill O’Reilly makes me throw up in mouth a little every time he opines about Obama’s bravery for coming on his show. Puhleeze. And all the round-tables have at least two Obama apologists for their “fair and balanced” coverage. And Shepherd Smith? When he’s not gazing into a mirror, I imagine him gazing at glossy, signed 8x10s of The One.
And yet, it’s just not enough.
Barack Obama makes himself look like a silly man fighting Fox. People who actually watch all the networks know that a roomful of Depression-affected hookers couldn’t give the President more attention than the current press corps. So his quibbling rings hollow.
And why do the rest of the press care about this cat fight? Well, it reveals their own bias, for one. By obsessing over Fox News, President Obama, by default acknowledges the rest of the press serves him and serves him well. While that’s the truth, the Press would prefer that it not be so overtly acknowledged. It’s embarrassing. Still, he does love us….sigh.
The press should be more embarrassed. So should the President of the United States. But they’re not. They’re just a little piqued that other people are seeing the love affair so obviously. They thought they were keeping a secret! Turns out, the joke’s on both of them. Everyone sees the “special relationship” between the press and Obama. Everyone.
People seek a bit of fairness. That’s why Fox News is doing so well.
H/T Memeorandum
Podcast: Andrew Breitbart Talks New Media, Activism & How To Break A Big Story
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Andrew Breitbart, the man who owns New Media on the Right, gives a 17 minute interview. Andrew is Big Time. Find him at Breitbart.com. I also give a behind the scenes perspective on different bloggers, including Jim Hoft aka GatewayPundit.com, Ed Morissey of Hotair.com, Ed Driscoll of PajamasMedia.com, Rachel Alexander of IntellectualConservative.com, Caleb Heimlich of ExposeObama.com, Stephen Kruiser, John Schulenburg of InfidelsAreCool.com, and John Sexton and Morgen Richmond of VerumSerum.com.
Other posts on Western CPAC & interviews:
New Leaders Steve Poizner and Chuck DeVore
Interview With Dana Rohrabacher
Conservatives Must Stop Impeach Obama Talk
Ralph Reed On Getting Conservatives Elected
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
Western CPAC Reveals Rift Between Establishment Conservative Powerbrokers And New Media Activist-Journalists
Monday, October 19th, 2009Western CPAC might have been a small conservative gathering but it was certainly significant. It was as if a sample of the conservative movement was put in a petri dish, mixed with some steroids and allowed to grow over the weekend. The result was ugly.
One part of the conservative movement: The Old Guard. No joke, it’s as if Thurston Howell III and Lovey yachted to the weekend for some old time palling around and gentle joshing. Another part of the conservative movement: the old time attendees. They’ve been to every Republican gathering of any significance since the Goldwater years and they bleed Republican. Another part of the conservative movement: grassroots activists. They haven’t paid attention to politics until the Bush bailout and the continued Obama big government bonanza. They’re fiery, informed and ready to kick butt. Another part of the conservative movement: new media activist-journalists. And straddling this group: The Politicians.
At the back of the room, was Blog Row. Attendees had to walk by the bloggers to get into the room. Some attendees were groupies. They knew the bloggers, followed them on Twitter, talked to us and seemed happy we were there. Some attendees looked at us with curious interest–like seeing pandas at the zoo. We were a rare breed of animal rarely seen caged. Heck, rarely seen in the wild. Some attendees viewed Blog Row with indifference–don’t talk to the help dahling.
At the front of the room was the speaker, podium and platform. The room was small enough that speakers could see the faces of the bloggers and vice versa.
Who were the bloggers? It was a stellar cast. I’ll begin with my blog hero: Jim Hoft aka Gateway Pundit. Jim is just the nicest guy with a mischievous streak. He also likes chocolate. Also at the even, my longtime Twitter friend John Schulenburg of Infidels Are Cool. Ed Morissey was the Grand Pubah and trouble-starter. He has a problem with rudeness to authority. He was punished. Stephen Kruiser of RFCradio.com, Rachel Alexander of Intellectual Conservative, the men of Verum Serum John Sexton and Morgen Richmond (thanks for dinner gentlemen!), Ed Driscoll of Pajamas Media (he uses big, BIG words) and Caleb Heimlich of ExposeObama.com. Oh, and me.
I’m not quite sure the organizers grasped the scope of the bloggers on the panel. Each person has incredible influence both in number of people and force of reporting and ideas shared. The lack of understanding was part of the problem. Bloggers are viewed as some weird group of blabbermouths who talk on this internet thing. The Old Guard interacts with them with either indifference or with affectionate condescension–they’re the hired help.
So, when Ed Morissey wrote about the Nazi talk at WCPAC (I linked it here), the talker was shocked and dismayed. He shouldn’t have been surprised.
And then, an Old Guard funding type got seated on the New Media panel. Stephen Kruiser reports what happened:
Christopher Carmouche (rhymes with…) began his thought vomiting by giving Ed Morrissey a hard time for blogging about the impeachment nonsense earlier in the day. He then proceeded to regale us with a tale about his distaste for Twitter and Facebook, complete with a “why can’t we just pick up the phone” line that he pulled out of both his ass and 1989.
I looked over at Ed Driscoll and whispered “What in the **** is this idiot doing on the ‘New Media’ panel?”
I regret not saying that into the mic now.
After insulting the most prominent blogger there and pissing all over the reason for the panel, Carmouche then gave everyone a little lecture about avoiding the in-fighting that has plagued the Right for so long. “Planet Kruiser” fans can probably figure out who my “Tool of the Week” is going to be next Friday.
So why was he there? I’ll go out on a limb and say that may have made a donation.
The rest of us did too but we donated talent, exposure, ideas and credibility instead of money.
Carmouche runs something called GrassTopsUSA. Here’s what Mr. “Can’t We All Just Get Along?” and his company do:
This cutting edge organization charges people to send a fax to politicians. That’s right, a fax, by God! If the fax doesn’t do the trick you can order GrassTopsUSA’s premium service where they give you a stagecoach ride to Washington, D.C. and teach you how to churn butter outside your representative’s office until he or she pays attention to you.
Carmouche and his ilk are the kinds of dead weight, dinosaur idiots that conservatism doesn’t need around any more, no matter how fat their wallets are.
Stephen has more to say about this. His post nicely draws the lines.
The conservative movement is changing. It HAS to change. Does nobody on the Right remember the trouncing in the last two election cycles? Do the establishment types think that “we throw enough money at TV commercials and Republicans get elected” as one blogger said, and that will be enough? It wasn’t enough before. And it’s not enough now.
If the Republican party cannot find a way to engage with the Grassroots and partner with New Media Activist-Journalists, they will be out of power for a long time. The Party needs numbers. They need voters, not just dollars. And they won’t get elected if the very ones who stand for everything the Republican party ostensibly believes (until elected and voting) stays home.
So, some blood is going to be spilled along the way. Some blood was spilled this weekend at Western CPAC. It’s all to the good. There needs to be some clarifying moments.
Elections will NOT be won if the funders do what they’ve always done. Elections will NOT be won if new media activists are treated contemptuously and dismissed.
Interestingly, the politicians at this event seemed to get the picture. That, at least, was encouraging.
Western CPAC: Bright New Political Hopes Steve Poizner And Chuck DeVore
Monday, October 19th, 2009California conservatives, and really conservatives everywhere need to take heart. There are some very solid conservative candidates coming up through the system. I had the pleasure to meet and speak with both Stephen Poizner and Chuck DeVore (whom I’ve interviewed before on my Podcast here). There will be an upcoming podcast featuring Steve Poizner’s interview.
Stephen Kruiser, the comedian and Twitter powerhouse from California said this about Steve Poizner [Kruiser also has two other posts recapping the conference you should check]:
All of them were gracious and interesting but I was really impressed with Poizner. I didn’t know much about him prior to this weekend and found his focus on the California voters who don’t declare a party affiliation to be one of the first decent ideas I’ve heard from anyone in the California GOP in a long time. The Republican party here is a dysfunctional mess and is in dire need of a strong, clear-headed leader.
Poizner has a young, new media savvy communications and press team. Honestly, any candidate running for a national or gubernatorial office who doesn’t have a new media specialist on board is hard for me to take seriously these days.
The interesting thing this weekend was that while the organizers didn’t seem to get New Media, the politicians sure did. All but Meg Whitman gave access and spent copious amounts of time with bloggers. A couple bloggers, including California bloggers, didn’t know either Steve Poizner or Chuck DeVore very well. This time was well spent.
Ed Morrissey says this regarding the disconnect between the event sponsors and new media:
I won’t return to events sponsored by the same organizations in the future. The big problem with the conservative movement has been its self-appointed leaders telling others to shut up and follow in lockstep, and I don’t think any so-called movement leaders taking that approach have the first foggy clue about what the New Media and Tax Parties mean.
Ed has far more coverage about the event. Including the video interview with Chuck DeVore. I have the audio and will be working on the transcript today. Here’s what Ed says [Video at the link]:
We had a few opportunities to talk with DeVore over the course of the event, and each time he impressed as a man who relishes a debate on principles. Both he and Steve Poizner have celebrity opponents in the upcoming election; Poizner will run for governor against Meg Whitman (more later on that). DeVore believes that he will benefit from Fiorina’s national profile will mean more fundraising opportunities for DeVore. He’s already generated some impressive numbers, and polling shows him even with both Fiorina and Boxer. Fiorina, by the way, never made an appearance at WCPAC.
As for established politicians, Dana Rohrbacher also sat for bloggers. The interview is here. He was excellent and clear-headed. He also seemed to understand the Tea Party movement and what conservatives really want. He admitted that there is a rift on Capital Hill between Republicans. I’ll write more on the rifts in an upcoming post.
Western CPAC wasn’t short on drama and that deserves some attention, too. Still, the event was encouraging. For once, the politicians were the bright spot. I know, it’s shocking to write it, even. Credit is due to Steve Poizner, Chuck DeVore and Dana Rohrbacher. They should give us hope. There are good guys out there and they deserve our support.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher Repudiates Talk Of Impeaching Obama
Saturday, October 17th, 2009Some thoughts from Representative Dana Rohrabacher about President Obama,
“I think Barack Obama’s vision comes from a Marxist background. I think he’s trying to do what he thinks is right, but we need to recognize that his world view will lead us to a place that is totally contrary to what America is all about.”
Ed Morissey of Hot Air: What about the call to Impeach Obama, “It’s total nonsense. I think people who take that position are trying to make money from the conservative movement. He is an elected President of the United States. He has not, at this time, committed crimes and misdemeanors. I would suggest that we have to watch him very carefully…he joined the Mayor Daley machine. But right now it’s a ridiculous discussion. We should talk about the issues.”
John Schulenburg of Infidels are Cool: What about Rangel being removed as Chair of the Ways and Means committee. Rohrabacher brought up the treatment of Tom DeLay. “I don’t think we should treat anybody, Rangal or anyone else as guilty until proven innocent. When he is indicted and convicted and punished. We can deal with it then.”
Stephen Kruiser: But isn’t there a double standard in place that leaves the Republicans open? “We should set a different standard and we should make it clear that’s what we’re doing. As far as I know Charlie Rangel is probably guilty. If and when, in a heart beat I’ll vote to remove him from his positions.”
“Look what is happening to Tom DeLay now. It’s a travesty, an utter travesty what has happened to him. If the Republicans won’t stand up for what is right, who is. He was knocked out by an accusation. The vision of him there rather than the leadership of the House, just shows you that something is really wrong. And if Republicans aren’t going for a higher standard, who is?”
Me: When Republicans are being accused unjustly we need to stand up and defend him. I stood up for Jack Abramoff. I pride myself in being a truth-sayer even when it sets me up for attack.
Me: It seems that the opposition is setting the rules: “You don’t need to jump into a cess pool in order to prove that you can lead us to the top of the mountain. I think just the opposite. Ronald Reagan didn’t spend his time acting like liberal Democrats and playing political games. He set out his philosophy and he had his specific policy suggestions and he had maintained a very high level of integrity personally and that’s what’s going to save the country in the long run.”
“Most of our Republican friends are worried about the next couple of days of headlines. We have got to have high standards. It’s you standards and your ability to speak the truth, that in the end will give the American people the impression that we are worth trusting. Unfortunately, I see a lot of Republicans who are only interested in playing political games.”
Ed: What is coming out of the house with health care bill: “We’ve had set-backs with the insurance and pharmaceutical industries who have made their compromise and sell outs. You can’t rely on big business to do the bidding of the American people. We can mobilize the seniors as well as doctors throughout our country. About 70% of the doctors don’t like this. You have a huge power base there both seniors and doctors to put pressure on Congress. Am I optimistic we can succeed? I think we can win if we play it right. We should not be talking about impeaching Obama. Paul Ryan has an excellent alternative.
What do you think about the Tea Party movement? “I think it’s great. Citizens getting active is vital. You have these totally out of touch members of Congres and Senate and our party who don’t seem to get power comes from the bottom up. There is a rift between some very powerful forces within the Republican party who are very wealthy interests and powerful in the economic and business community and regular Americans. Either we side with patriots, with Americans.
Give the American people that we are worth trusting. The leadership of the House is constantly trying to play a political game.
There was more and I’ll add more later. But just for your information. It was a good interview. More to come.
More On Rush & Race
Saturday, October 17th, 2009Rush defended himself, as expected, handily in his Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday. Here’s a bit:
The sports media elicited comments from a handful of players, none of whom I can recall ever meeting. Among other things, at least one said he would never play for a team I was involved in given my racial views. My racial views? You mean, my belief in a colorblind society where every individual is treated as a precious human being without regard to his race? Where football players should earn as much as they can and keep as much as they can, regardless of race? Those controversial racial views?
The NFL players union boss, DeMaurice Smith, jumped in. A Washington criminal defense lawyer, Democratic Party supporter and Barack Obama donor, he sent a much publicized email to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell saying that it was important for the league to reject discrimination and hatred.
When Mr. Goodell was asked about me, he suggested that my 2003 comment criticizing the media’s coverage of Donovan McNabb—in which I said the media was cheerleading Mr. McNabb because they wanted a successful black quarterback—fell short of the NFL’s “high standard.” High standard? Half a decade later, the media would behave the same way about the presidential candidacy of Mr. Obama.
The double-standard, the lies, and the collusion of the media should cause all fair-minded to pause.
A fellow blogger here this weekend said to me, “Why are people still watching the news? They lie.” Well, it is difficult for people to believe that all the networks shape the narrative, push a point of view and outright deceive their viewers. Even when people poll noting the bias, it’s another thing to fully believe it.
Rush is just one very visible American who got slammed by the new power brokers. It’s not much of a stretch that any average American could be next.
Good Grief! Conservatives Must Stop The Impeach Obama Talk
Saturday, October 17th, 2009So, I’m sitting here at Western CPAC listening to Floyd Brown compare President Obama to Hitler and Ed Morrissey meets my bulging eyes. Here’s what Ed says:
If that wasn’t bad enough, Brown then drew parallels between Obama and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi seizure of power in the 1930s. I have no love of Barack Obama as President, but one would have to have never studied the Nazis in order to claim that the Democratic majority is following in their footsteps. They have a radical agenda that is a disaster for America in both the short and long terms. There are plenty of grounds to argue for their defeat in the next election, and fortunately for us, the Democrats are making most of them for us, which is why they’re crashing in the polls. However, the Democrats are not rounding up opposition and throwing them in camps, shooting them on the streets, or passing bills granting Obama dictatorial power. Those arguments do nothing but make a certain portion of the grassroots look ill-educated and hysterical.
If we want to “remove” Obama from office, we have an election in 2012 that will do the trick nicely, if we can remain focused on it. If we want to cut into his power, the midterms in 2010 give us the same opportunity we seized in 1994. Calls for impeachment only make us less credible for both efforts.
Barack Obama got elected through no nefarious plot. He won because he won the majority of Americans over with his Hope-n-Change message. Is Obama delivering on his promises? No. Do I believe he’s a horrible president with destructive policies? Yes. Do I believe that we should hire new management in 2012? Absolutely. But this whole notion of impeachment with no impeachable offenses is just crazy talk. It undermines the message. Ultimately, it undermines Republicans.
Will The Debt Hamstring Democrat Hopes? Doubtful.
Saturday, October 17th, 2009This dropped yesterday:
The Obama administration has released new deficit numbers, and they are not pretty.
The deficit for Fiscal Year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set just last year.
In addition, future deficits are currently projected to total $9.1 trillion in the coming decade.
Will the reality of massive debt stop Democrats? No. Their answer to debt is to push reality down the road. They have too many big plans they want to pass right now. They know they’ll lose the coming elections, but they hope to get the big programs passed while they can. Let the grown-ups deal with deficit details.
Ralph Reed Speaks At Western CPAC
Saturday, October 17th, 2009There are some characters we’ve all watched from a distance for years, if we’ve paid attention to politics. Ralph Reed, the leader of the Christian Coalition, is one of those people. Anyone so ideological and pure gives me a little shiver. [Side bar: Also partly why Barack Obama freaks me out.] I was a little shocked, then, to find him standing next to me while I listened to Meg Whitman and Tim Pawlenty give their speeches last night. He spoke to me and whispered about Pawlenty,”That was a good line.” I thought to myself,”I think Ralph Reed just spoke to me.”
Turns out that Ralph Reed delivers kick ass speeches. I can imagine him being the general rousing the activist troops to action. I can imagine not wanting him working for the other side.
Reed came impeccably dressed: snappy, perfectly pressed suit cut to fit his small, tight frame, blue tie, slicked down hair. He could easily be a preacher or televangelist. He exudes the aura of someone utterly convinced of his own rightness. He was not smug or condescending. Rather, he was self-possessed and driven. Wound tight. Still springing into action after all these years.
He gave a rousing speech which I’ll include in the podcast this coming week. He also gave a quick interview after the event. He’s started the Faith and Freedom Coalition a new organization that will have “volunteers calling, knocking and going door to door” to increase voting for conservatives.
“You can’t just run in 18 states, we have to be in all 50 states. I think Barack Obama demonstrated that. I think he went to places Democrats hadn’t gone in a long time. What it showed is you could spread the field. So yeah, we’ll be in all 50 states.”
His organization will be reaching out to all minority communities. He delivered the abysmal statistics from rote. He stated that his organization would go everywhere to find voters.
“We need candidates and campaign strategists who get that you don’t win elections by raising money and running on TV, you win by knocking on doors, meeting people.”
Reed praised Barack Obama’s organizing skills. He also was encouraged by the Tea Party movement–and that it was grassroots and from the bottom up. He urged direct action:
“After you leave the protest, go home, log in to our website and call 50 voters, go knock on 50 doors.”
He says that he’s not worried about the grassroots going against the GOP establishment. He pointed out the MoveOn.org types and how they pushed the Democrat party and changed the party.
The CPAC attendees loved Reed’s speech. The people seem to be hungering for conservative perspectives. Both Reed and Chuck DeVore received significant positive feedback. And though Tim Pawlenty gave a great speech, he didn’t seem to rouse and inspire like the more conservative gentlemen. But, it should be noted, that Pawlenty did talk about God and is tacking right. It seems the 2012 election has already begun.
Shocker: Conservatives Not Racist
Friday, October 16th, 2009Gather a bunch of white good-old Georgia boys in a room and ask them questions. Wait how long it takes til they bring up race and blame black people.
It won’t happen. Even if James Carville really, really, really hopes it would happen:
Instead of focusing on these intense ideological divisions, the press and elites continue to look for a racial element that drives these voters’ beliefs – but they need to get over it. Conducted on the heels of Joe Wilson’s incendiary comments at the president’s joint session address, we gave these groups of older, white Republican base voters in Georgia full opportunity to bring race into their discussion – but it did not ever become a central element, and indeed, was almost beside the point.
So, will the media let it go? Doubtful.
