Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

All hail the time of the bunny!

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

One way or another, he’s a liar.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

In my day, never was longer.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Petty moves from a petty man.

So many bastards, so little time.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Inside Baseball for Nerds: “American Bridge”

Inside Baseball for Nerds: “American Bridge”

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Greg Sargent, at the WaPo’s Plum Line, says that “David Brock’s big-money outside group gains steam“:

It looks like David Brock is getting more serious about building a powerful apparatus on the left to go head-to-head with the flood of outside money conservative groups are planning to pump into the 2012 elections.
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I’m told that Brock has made some major staff shifts within his Media Matters empire in preparation for 2012, shifting key staff over to a new third-party spending vehicle he’s created to spend big money on campaigns this cycle, which is called American Bridge.
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Brock will move Media Matters’ top communications director, Chris Harris, over to American Bridge, and he’s installing a new president and CEO at Media Matters, Matthew Butler. That will allow Brock to focus more energy on building out the new effort and enlisting major donors to finance it.
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Also: In another indication that Brock is shifting his empire harder into politics, he has enlisted one of the key architects of MoveOn’s growth over the last few years — operative Ilyse Hogue — to oversee a new Media Matters operation dedicated specifically to taking action against right wing media…
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Brock is a major Beltway player, and if his effort gains traction, it could have a real impact on the 2012 campaigns, helping to offset the lopsided advantage conservative groups are expected to enjoy. It’s also a sign that Washington’s power liberal types are getting serious about figuring out how to navigate the new, post-Citizens United landscape, which has clearly put them at a disadvantage.
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More broadly, the shift suggests that the brand of media criticism practiced by Media Matters is shading into outright guerrilla-style political activism against conservative groups and right wing media outlets alike — another symptom of the broader breakdown of old categories that will continue to roil our politics for the foreseeable future.

Interesting, if true. Since this is the Washington Post, y’all know to read the comments at your own risk.

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Kryptik

    While part of me is glad to see something like this done as a bulwark, another part worries that the transparent crossover between this and Media Matters will end up making it too easy to discredit both entities. Then again, not like the media will give it a fair shake anyway, simply due to the fact of being an unabashedly liberal organization.

  2. 2.

    Jager

    Does he know American Bridge was a division of US Steel? The construction arm, good union company. I worked for them when I was in college, of course, we were building missile sites….

  5. 5.

    Donut

    @Kryptik

    I think we need to give not one shit about credibility. With whom does said credibility need to be maintained? What good does credibility lend towards winning elections? Truth is, credibility does not matter to most voters. Most people do not vote guided by reason. Sad but true. One of these days, Jebus help us, Democrats will finally set their precious credibility aside and punch and kick and gouge their way to the electoral dominance that (judging by all issue opinion polling) they should enjoy. Do you think the right wing groups who bought the 2010 elections care I’d anyone finds them credible? To paraphrase Speaker Boner: hell no, they don’t.

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    I was until recently a regular over at Plumline. The commenters are not unhinged generally, that’s for sure. There are conservatives, some pretty sharp, some idiots, and some trolls, but not as many as you’d think of the latter.

    And there are many, many smart as hell, fine people over there. Folks tend (mostly) to write longer posts and get into really extended arguments/conversations about policy stuff.

    I like that about Greg’s place, but don’t have time right now to commit to long threads and responses. Plus the right wing folks were really wearing me out.

    Also, no kittehs, profanity, food pics, or sports. I tried to insert a lot more culture, but had sporadic success.

  10. 10.

    Kryptik

    @BGinCHI:

    I would comment more over there, but the comments have been overrun by the same 3 trolls spamming every thread up with the exact same bullshit, then begging Greg to ban everyone else.

  11. 11.

    lamh32

    @BGinCHI:

    I still read Greg’s post, but I no longer read much of the comments. you are right, there are a few commenters who have good reasonable arguments/conversations but for every 1 of those people, their is a conserva-troll who post the same basic thing 5X

    It’s really aggravating.

  12. 12.

    Davis X. Machina

    The words ‘big money’ on the left, and ‘big money’ on the right, mean different things, like the words ‘big lizard’ now, and the words ‘big lizard’ a hundred million years ago.

  15. 15.

    Darius

    Since this is a political site on the Internet, y’all know to read the comments at your own risk.

    Fixed.

  17. 17.

    mclaren

    The degree to which the Koch brothers succeeded in convincing the average American that their bogus astroturfed scam misnamed “The Tea Party” was a genuine political movement, instead of a bought-and-paid-for bribe-funded scam, remains depressing.

    Beltway insiders still nod their heads and offer pseudo-deep commentary on what the Tea party scam “proves.”

    It proves billionaires can buy elections. That what it proved. That anyone imagines there’s anything else involved here other than billionaires slinging around bribe money to get venal thugs to spout their party line…that’s sad.

    I mean, there’s no mystery about this. We have frickin’ video of one of the Koch brothers receiving reports from his Tea Party hirelings.

    Yet the Beltway pundits persist in acting as though the Tea Party scam was anything other than a pure bribe-driven cash for ballots con job.

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    @lamh32: One of the folks made a great filter for blocking out the rainforest douchbag, but it’s really more the GOP types who just spout the same shit over and over. It’s more boring than offensive.

    Greg is great though. Excellent reporter and runs a good comments section as much as he’s able (responds to emails and comments too). He’s aces.

    I wish Benen and Greg would start a Politico-type org that just put all the other newsies to shame. It sure ain’t ever gonna come from HuffPo. Man, that site sucks dicks (apologies to those who like doing that: please sub “sucks ass”….damn, maybe just “sucks” would be better).

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    @stuckinred: You know this place?

    THE PORTER BEER BAR

    Atlanta

    With 430 beers, The Porter could quite easily get snobby, but this smart-staffed pub keeps things light. What’s weighty are the 29 taps: Many rank above 8% ABV, with monsters like the local Wild Heaven Ode to Mercy. The food menu (starring signature hushpuppies and shrimp and grits) makes sense of the brew horde with thoughtful pairing suggestions. 1156 Euclid Ave.

  20. 20.

    Uloborus

    @mclaren:
    Actually, I think it’s wonderful. It proves that billionaires can’t buy elections. For all of their money and effort, they got pretty much normal electoral results. They can influence, but thank The Sporks they can’t outright buy. If money could just plain buy the election, we wouldn’t have the Senate right now.

    Most of the advantage they got they blew promoting dingbats.

  21. 21.

    Dee Loralei

    Why yhe fuck did Lawrence O’Donnell have Dennis the K on the tv machine to discuss the Egyptian uprising and Pres. Obama’s response? Is Dennis even remotely pertinent to the discussion? And I say that as someone who mostly likes Dennis.

  23. 23.

    stuckinred

    @BGinCHI: I haven’t had a drink in 17 years and my interest in bars is near zero. I haven’t been in the Globe in nearly 2 years. Thanks though.We do go to the ATL for and occasional Steely Dan/Santana/REM/Cirque show and that’s about it.

  27. 27.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Dee Loralei: But the Boy Mayor is relevant to the discussion. His cabinet-level Department of Peace, the creation of which the blinkered Obama administration didn’t make a legislative priority, would have made all the present tsuris in Egypt impossible, instead of inevitable.

    If you’re a booker for a talking-heads show, you can’t afford to think in sentences — that’s too complex, and too slow. You have to think in catch-phrases.

    {Eventually this will be released from the dungeon of the Moderatorium. But I can’t see for the life of me why it was banished there in the first place. No gambling venues, no hidden names for ED nostrums… and only one, internal, link.}

  30. 30.

    BGinCHI

    @Dee Loralei: All the cool people were at Happy Hour, but Dennis never gets invited.

    It’s worse they had one of the dipshits who “co-founded” Facebook.

    Spare me.

  33. 33.

    Dee Loralei

    @BGinCHI: I agree and the girl who used to teach in Cairo for 1 year, sheesh. His producer did a sucky job for him tonight. Richard Engels got a bit pissed on Rachel about it later. He said it wasn’t Facebook or Twitter, these people have real grievances. I missed Keith Tuesday night after the SOTU, but damned I really missed him tonight during breaking news stuff too.

  34. 34.

    Joe Buck

    Oh, please. Brock’s doing good work with Media Matters, but it’s hardly an empire, he’s hardly a big player, and he’s not in a position to raise the kind of money that the Koch brothers have.

    The article is so weirdly slanted that I wonder what the author’s angle is.

  35. 35.

    SteveinSC

    Well, I don’t know if anyone noticed, but Comcast yanked a couple of Ed Schultz’s teeth. As reported by HufPo, no more Psycho Talk segment. I thought it was a funny, dead on, and clever segment that stuck a needle in the bullshit from the right wingers, but apparently too risque’ for the new corporate masters of MSNBC.

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