Rosen’s clearly not a serious person, since he won’t participate in this important national debate.
In other news from our evenhanded media, Politico has decided to hire opinion columnists. Mike Kinsley will play the liberal, while Joe Scarborough takes the role of the conservative.
“Both Mike and Joe will write from an ideological perspective—something our current reporters and columnists do not do—and their work will be labeled accordingly,” Harris and VandeHei wrote. “They’ll both write on what interests them, and will not attempt to coordinate their columns. While they won’t be working in a classic point/counterpoint format (“Mike, you ignorant slut”) they will look for ways to engage each other in conversation from time to time.”
I don’t know what’s more clueless in this passage: the 70’s SNL reference, or the insistence that Politico doesn’t have an ideological perspective. Politco’s ideology was pretty well pegged by Rosen earlier this year.
Update: Here’s another perspective: Fred Phelps’ daughter is pissed because Fred’s already been burning Qurans left and right.
Athenae
Is vodka an anytime food? I’m just asking, it’s not even 6:30 yet and I already want to go back to bed.
A.
BC
If they say they are having a liberal, I wish they’d have a liberal. Kinsley is one of those wishy-washy moderates who can’t bring himself to recognize that conservatives are not into this governing thing, they just want to reward friends and fuck the rest of us. Oh, and Harris and VandeHei can DIAF.
SiubhanDuinne
Heh. I read that NYT
article at 3:00 a.m. and just knew it would be a BJ front page before 8:00!
And the Westboro Baptist story is, sadly, hysterically funny. Didn’t I see somewhere that their real objective is not really ideological but is to get arrested or get into confrontations with counterprotesters so they can sue and make lots of $$ in legal settlements. Did I read that here?
beltane
I was actually wondering if Fred Phelps had burned Qurans as part of his ministry. Phelps problem is that he spreads himself too thin, being all bigot to all people. This Jones fellow on the other hand knows how to keep it simple.
SiubhanDuinne
@beltane: It looks to me as though Phelps is saying, “Yo, Jones! This is *our* side of the street you’re working!”
Seriously, the more I think about this, the funnier it strikes me that a grown man is pissed off and jealous because another grown man is threatening to outbigot him.
cleek
that’s right up there with “Fair and Balanced”
Nick
Last week, the New York Daily News wrote President Obama “engineered the Ground Zero Mosque debate” in an effort to knock him for not fighting for the 9/11 health bill that he actually did fight for.
Now this pops up on Twitter;
Only Obama can be criticized for answering a question.
beltane
So the media, after weeks of giving this formerly obscure lunatic tons of free press, is criticizing the president for giving this guy press? Typical. Someone needs to lock all these wankers in a room and SCREAM at them. I’d like to be the first to volunteer for this effort.
Emma
I have literally never read Politico. I am very suspicious of outfits that come out of nowhere and become influential in such a short time… that means that someone has an interest in putting their pov out there. I’m not interested enough to follow the money. I wonder if someone has…
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: That is their primary funding mechanism. Show up somewhere, be so obnoxious that someone takes a swing at them, and then sue for damages. There’s a reason that a good-sized chunk of the Phelps family are lawyers.
Fortunately, they’ve been doing this schtick for long enough that just about everyone is wise to them. Nowadays, they tend to be greeted by mockery or by people with loud-motor vehicles who can simply drown out the sound of their hatred.
dms
Ash Can
I don’t mind giving that ass in Florida publicity for the purpose of exposing him as, well, the ass he is. As for that ass’s ass Fred Phelps, it’s nice to think that even the press might have had enough of his odious shtick.
Viva BrisVegas
@Emma:
The money trail goes back to Allbritton Communications, an important ABC affiliate. Specifically to one Robert L. Allbritton, formerly CEO of Riggs bank, a major money laundering operation for dictators, terrorists and nefarious corporations. Riggs also had connections to Bush scions.
Frederick J. Ryan Jr, former Assistant to Ronald Reagan is president and CEO of Politico.
Michael
Again, if anybody missed it – here’s the Koran burning preacher’s highly offensive ni99er rant from earlier in the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOR09X1h_mE&feature=player_embedded
Michael
FYWP
Again, if anybody missed it – here’s the Koran burning preacher’s highly offensive ni99er rant from earlier in the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOR09X1h_mE&feature=player_embedded
Suffern Ace
@Nick: A question that it is rather difficult to answer “No comment” or “I haven’t thought about it.” Had he said, “I actually favor burning religious books,” that would have been a story.
El Cid
It’s always funny who they pick to stand in for “liberals”. Kinsley again. Pffft.
Xenos
@SiubhanDuinne:
That is what I hear. If I ever find myself truly judgment-proof I might walk up and punch one of them in the nose. First, I will set up about 20 dummy corporations in different states, each with about $1 in assets. Then they can sue me and have fun fooling around with discovery for a few years.
I guess this would be a terribly passive-aggressive way of getting some justice, but I think it would work.
Nick
@Suffern Ace:
It’s a trick question, they do it to him all the time. they did it with the mosque, and with the Gates drama.
“It’s a recruiting bonanza for Al Qaeda”
“Sure, burning to Koran is an awesome idea, that’ll show those ragheads”
President wades into controversy, keeping it a story for another day
“I have no comment”
“I haven’t thought about it”
Why is the President afraid to make a stand? (and story stays for another day while some amibitious reporter struggles to get him to take a stand,
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
When Jesus comes in the rapture I know I’ll be going to hell because I’m going to be pointing and laughing when He tells people like Phelps that there’s no way they’re getting into heaven.
Larry Signor
Joan Collins at the NYT occasionally hits it out of the park: (re: Terry Jones and his Dove World Outreach Center)
AxelFoley
@Nick:
Bingo. Damn if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
It’s a dirty as fuck, and the media knows it.
ChrisB
Well, at least they didn’t say, “Both Mika and Joe . . . .”
That would be too much to bear, as it is just about very weekday morning.
Emma
Viva BrisVegas: Thank you. Now I have even less interest in reading/paying attention/considering their opinions.
Amir_Khalid
@Larry Signor: I think you mean Gail Collins. Joan Collins is the actress who starred in the TV show Dynasty, way back in the 1980s.
Rheinhard
FYI, your link to Jay Rosen’s tweet from the image is slightly borked. You have:
hhttp://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/23971316943Has too much “h”.
Roger Moore
@beltane:
FTFY.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Emma: Yes, Glennzilla did, not too long after Drudgico appeared on the scene. And yes, Drudgico is backed by RWNJ money. Seriously corrupt RWNJ money. See his article here:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2007/05/04/politico_funding/index.html
Dirk Gently
The REALLY insidious thing about the ideology of political journalists that Rosen describes is the belief that “the middle” between two “extremes” is that sometimes one side is clearly right and the other clearly wrong, and/or these positions are irreconcilable. There’s also a kind of sociopathy to privileging story and “side” over policy outcomes. If Dana Millbank were Solomon, he would have happily chopped the baby in half, and the fact that “both sides” would have been supremely pissed with him would have indicated to him that he made the right decision—killing the baby would be immaterial to exercising the mavericky courage to stand up to the extremists.
Ruckus
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
I actually think if such a stupid thing as the rapture happens, proving that I’m wrong and completely full of shit, pointing and laughing for that reason would definitely get you positive points in any final destination deliberation.