Three unrelated media notes:
- Reader J sends in this piece where a member of the Star-Ledger editorial board defends their decision to endorse Christie and envisions a world where they’d endorse him in a Republican primary. My take is that newspaper editorial boards are unnecessary overhead and endorsements are an anachronism. But perhaps you have a more nuanced view.
- Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and nine other journalists have launched the first FirstLook publication, called The Intercept. Scahill and Greenwald’s first piece details how the drones are targeted at cell phones, not people.
- Just a reminder: Tim Armstrong’s AOL owns the Huffington Post and Patch. Both are worth avoiding.
What else is up in the media world?
Cervantes
Re First Look Media, notice that Omidyar has hired Lynn Oberlander, (now former) general counsel at The New Yorker, to provide, among other things, pre-publication review.
PurpleGirl
SteveM has a good post up about this past Saturday’s Moral March in Raleigh, NC. They had between 80,000 and 100,000 people and the march was ignored by news organizations. (No surprise there.)
Poopyman
Ah, I see Newsmax got there ahead of you.
This is a bombshell? Only if you thought they were relying on psychics, perhaps.
jharp
What is this all about? Makes zero sense to me.
The George Washington Bridge traffic scandal stalls New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie’s 2016 presidential bid in Colorado, but other Republican contenders give former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a run for her money, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Secretary Clinton gets 43 percent today, with Gov. Christie at 42 percent. This compares to a 46 – 38 percent Christie lead in a November 20 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
Christie’s plunge does not help Clinton who is struggling against other Republicans:
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky gets 47 percent to Clinton’s 43 percent;
Clinton is at 44 percent with 43 percent for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas;
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin leads her 48 – 43 percent.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2004
Corner Stone
mistermix, as you’re doing media roundup you might consider linking to the story valued commenter “lurker dean” posted where Richard Mayhew gets a shoutout from the LA Times:
“Here’s a primer on how large pools work from Richard Mayhew, an insurance expert who blogs pseudonymously at Balloon-juice.com.”
Roger Moore
In the previous threat, @lurker dean posted a link to Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times quoting Balloon-Juice’s own Richard Mayhew as a source to debunk the latest crap from AOL.
Suffern ACE
@jharp: yep. They don’t give her a run for her money. They beat her. Hopefully the GOP will nominate Cruz.
JPL
@Corner Stone: Richard’s articles are always informative and John was lucky to be able to add him to the front pagers.
Amir Khalid
Re the Star-Ledger piece. The defence that they had to endorse someone for governor doesn’t make sense. Voters have an actual duty to vote for some candidate; newspapers don’t have a corresponding actual duty to endorse anyone. It would have been entirely legitimate to say that no one candidate was good enough to earn the newspaper’s endorsement.
What’s Patch?
Corner Stone
And if that phone just so happens to be in a local bakery at the time…
Villago Delenda Est
Tim Armstrong is a parasite who does no real work.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
Or at a wedding.
Tone In DC
@jharp:
I have a feeling they did that poll in Kentucky. Or another state of the Confederacy.
Cacti
@Poopyman:
And how does leaking this info square with Snowjob’s alleged position of being chiefly concerned with the privacy rights of US citizens?
Are we supposed to leap to the conclusion that there will be random drone strikes against US cell phone users?
Ash Can
@jharp: It means the 2016 campaign hasn’t started yet, and everyone’s talking out their ass.
Cacti
@Tone In DC:
It was a poll of Colorado only.
Corner Stone
@JPL: Cole’s really built a little empire here. He gets Jay Rosen, C Pierce and other highbrows to comment, K-Thug reads BJ and now the Left Coast gives a shout out.
What’s next, Jay Carney referencing the tire rims and anthrax rant?
TooManyJens
My husband and I just started watching Chuck recently, so I’ve been doing double takes every time I see “The Intercept” this morning. (“Oh, Intercept!”)
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: That Star-Ledger piece was a real shitshow.
“Yeah, we knew he was a bully. But waddaya gonna do, amirite?”
schrodinger's cat
Did anybody read the NYT magazine article, written by Lori Gottlieb who uses one citation to make the case that equality in marriage spells doom for intimacy. Yes, its the same woman who claimed a couple of months ago that she lost her insurance coverage because of ACA.
jharp
@Suffern ACE:
No they don’t beat her.
They lead her. Romney got 47%. Does that mean he beat Obama?
Why Colorado? And Quinnipiac is reliable isn’t it?
Makes zero sense to me. Zero.
schrodinger's cat
I am surprised that AOL even exists, what is it exactly that they do these days?
Ben Franklin
l
aimai
@Amir Khalid: Plus their reason for supporting Christie over Buono is that she didn’t have the experience (fucking over large numbers of constituents for fun and graft). That seems less than compelling.
Cervantes
@jharp:
Why Colorado? Quinnipiac polls a few states regularly; Colorado just happens to be one of them.
Here are a few other things from the poll:
Corner Stone
Well. That’s certainly a better strategy.
different-church-lady
24 hour rule.
aimai
@Cervantes: Yeah but looking at one state for a presidential election that is years off seems a bit misleading. Is Colorado as pivotal a state as all that? How many electoral votes does it have?
srv
@Ben Franklin:
Obama says ‘I’ 3% of the time and is thus self-obsessed and narcissistic. You, 100%.
IowaOldLady
I’ve driven to admit I must live in a media bubble. I can’t believe that the approval ratings for the president and the ACA are that low. I can’t understand what the reasons are.
Maybe I need to watch more Fox.
Origuy
AOL owns stuff. Beside the Huffington Post and MapQuest, they own a bunch of specialized websites. They also do advertisement serving, I think.
Cacti
@aimai:
Other than it being a purple state, not really. As goes Colorado…so goes Colorado.
srv
FOX finds a poll taken in 1992 in the papers of one of Hitlery’s friends. It states
FOX headlines with
Cassidy
Ooh, maybe Greenwald can do a piece on the abuses of power and political prisoners of Snowden’s new home!
Cassidy
Ooh, maybe Greenwald can do a piece on the abuses of power and political prisoners of Snowden’s new home!
ruemara
@Cacti: Because. It’s drones & we’re evil & if Obama was a real black™ man, he’d have started the revolution, like he was supposed to. Then, freedom for all and the dawning of a new age. plus, pot & whores.
Mandalay
Just another reminder. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, but that doesn’t stop BJ making money by having a link to Amazon on their front page. Careful with those purity tests. People in glass houses and all that.
Cervantes
@aimai:
Sorry, when I wrote that they poll “a few states regularly” and that “Colorado just happens to be one of them,” I did not mean to suggest that they were “looking at one state.” At the foot of each poll write-up (including the one linked above) they say:
As they say, they do it as a public service and for research.
Cacti
@Cassidy:
Yeah, he’ll get to that right about the time he mentions the abuse and displacement of the poor in Rio, in preparation for the World Cup.
Cassidy
@Mandalay:
Coming from you? Riiight.
Roger Moore
@aimai:
IIRC, Colorado was the tipping point state in 2012, meaning that Mitt would have won the election if he had gotten a uniform shift in vote percentage big enough to give him Colorado. That makes it a reasonable state to poll if you’re looking for a single state to stand in for the national outcome.
GregB
The targeting of terrorists isn’t based upon eyewitness accounts and artists renderings?
Outrageous!
Cassidy
@Cacti: I guess we’ll just have to settle for reading about how the US is a “real” police state because.
different-church-lady
@Mandalay: Fine, I’m game — what assholy things has Bezos done that compare to Armstrong’s recent fail?
Cervantes
@IowaOldLady:
Yes, it may be surprising — which is all the more reason to bear it in mind.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone:
@Roger Moore:
Michael Hiltzik and Richard Mayhew are both treasures.
Randy P
@schrodinger’s cat: I was goggling open-mouthed at it this morning and told my wife we HAVE to read this article together. Dying to hear her reactions.
It has supposed quotes from actual people. I kept wondering who the hell these people were and where the author dug them up.
Mark S.
Pretty much (have you ever cared which candidate your local paper endorsed for president?), but they might have some pull in local races.
Cacti
@Cassidy:
This was the Glenn’s response after the Russian official accidentally spilled the beans about the Sochi bathroom cameras.
gussie
Frankly, I’m far more concerned that Google targets my cell phone. I trust big business much less than the NSA.
Another Holocene Human
@Tone In DC: Or maybe Coloradans see themselves as more libertarian, whether left or right, and Rand, while a liar, sells himself as a big libertarian, while Clinton has a long, old history as a censorbot, a hawk, and an authoritarian.
Maybe Hilary is not the Democratic victory pony that old school Dems want to ride her as. Maybe she’s a dead horse.
GregB
@schrodinger’s cat:
Their sole function is to provide the service of forwarding money making scam e-mails and anti-Obama e-mails to those internets users over 65.
different-church-lady
@gussie: You’ll change your mind once Obama starts drone killing you for not having insurance.
LanceThruster
Sadly, they’re also connected to Time-Warner, who I have unfortunately been forced to do business with since moving out of Charter Communications cable territory.
Gindy51
@srv: According to my pal;s uncle, a secret service agent from Reagan to Clinton, Hil was a pussy cat compared to Nancy and Babs.
piratedan
@Cervantes: it is kind of funny that Coloradans support the items on the President’s national agenda (minimum wage, immigration reform) but don’t like the President himself, or ACA… but hey, out west there’s non-stop Koch Brothers ads claiming that Obamacare just doesn’t work on various media outlets everyday, at least some right wing media and marketing types are staying employed thanks to their largesse.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti:
The 2016 Summer Olympics, actually.
srv
@different-church-lady: Who needs to be assholery when you employ an entire Editorial Staff of assholes?
Another Holocene Human
@schrodinger’s cat:
No, but that’s funny because I thought conservatives were all about their erudition and knowledge that proved that they were smarter and more qualified than YOU.
The Roman ideal of marital love was to call the spouse “brother, sister”. Who’s an ignoramus now?
(Roman marriage in the Republican era was very sex-discriminatory (in terms of stuff like property rights–and so on) but over time Romans started rejecting this format until the gov’t finally, IIRC, had to change the law. Though other civilizations, such as the Egyptian Old Kingdom and the Persian empire, were far more egalitarian.)
Romans also practiced same-sex marriage. We know this in part because the bilious conservatives of the day had rage freakouts about same-sex weddings making a mockery of all that was beautiful, good, pure, and true, and also because the legal basis of such weddings, which was adult adoption (thus conferring property rights) was very well attested.
Poopyman
@Cacti:
Well,since it’s illegal in some states to use them while driving ….
Cassidy
@Cacti: Yeah, but we’re the real police state because the gov’t collects information that people freely give to corporations. Totes amused.
Another Holocene Human
@Ben Franklin: Arguably your best comment ever on this blog. Kudos!
Hill Dweller
@piratedan: There is no evidence Quinnipiac has any more accurate polling than the rest of the shitty pollsters. They had Romney leading Obama in Colorado three weeks out from the election. Obama won by 5 points…
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
Read about working conditions in Amazon’s warehouses; they’re appalling.
jibeaux
My newspaper editorial board, I believe, was responsible for a city council election. For whatever reason in a very low turnout race, they decided they were going to back Developer Guy With Lots of Money for everything they had, and he won. Whether it was the paper or the money, I don’t really know, but they didn’t do him any harm.
Another Holocene Human
@IowaOldLady: Well, it didn’t hurt that CO’s health dept totally fucked their ACA signup outreach into next Tuesday. Made the internet mockery rounds, then got drop-kicked again a couple of months later by TDS.
Poopyman
@Cervantes: Well, clearly the polls are skewed. Or perhaps the skewed were polled.
BTW, thanks for the Barsky writeup way down below.
Another Holocene Human
@gussie: With you on that.
Corner Stone
Wonder what the ultimate purpose of leaking this for publication was?
US suspect possibly targeted for drone attack
Get CIA back in the drone game? Remind everyone bad guys exist?
Seems fairly odd, IMO.
WereBear
@schrodinger’s cat: Good catch!
Mike E
@srv: Hehe
Villago Delenda Est
@Cassidy:
It’s not so much that people freely give the information, its that the service they seek requires the information to be collected, in order for the service to work.
It’s something of a chicken and egg thing, in a sense.
The fact that the information can be used in other ways than supporting the service itself is incidental, and needs to be addressed. Because you can bet your last simoleon that if such information can be monetized to be turned into another bonus for the CEO, it will be.
Goblue72
@jharp: not surprising. Outside our informed echo chamber, the ACA is pretty unpopular nationwide. It was never very popular to begin with thanks to a combination of nonstop GOP fearmongering & the public’s general dislike of anything that affects their healthcare.
On top of that, Obama is stuck – he can’t get anything done with the GOP in fail parade opposition but the public doesn’t care about that. They want action, and they want jobs (or better ones) and they want them now.
Goblue72
@Cervantes: I fear out 2014 chances. The long slow grind of GOP opposition is leading the public once again down a path of “govt sucks” type mood.
jl
For lighter fare, Wisconsin governor Walker learns the lessons of the Christie scandal as only a reactionary teabagger, and a very Godly good Christian boy one at that, could.
Lies about voting for Zombie Saint Godhead Ground-of-all-being Reagan.
Maybe Obama used his time machine to change Walker’s birthday? That must be it.
Scott Walker Says He Voted For Reagan-But He Wasn’t Old Enough
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-walker-reagan-vote
Corner Stone
Does anyone know what the hell Atrios is talking about here:
“Apparently rumors went around the world that Obama is having an affair with Beyoncé and that the WaPo was set to report it (they deny).”
srv
@Corner Stone: I’m just wondering if the terrorists are using iPhone or Android.
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: In the media’s fever dream, Kennedy:Marilyn=Obama:Beyoncé
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Corner Stone:
If Obama doesn’t want to have an affair with Beyoncé I selflessly volunteer to have one with her.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
“Hey, Khalid, can I borrow your cell phone again? Yeah, it’s just a quick personal call. Sorry, dunno where mine has got to. Heh. Yeah, I’ll be at the wedding this weekend. Wouldn’t miss it!”
Poopyman
@srv: Yes. Also too, satellite.
jl
@Goblue72: It is a concern. I am more concerned about actual problems with roll out of the ACA I hear in the news, as opposed to incompetent and obnoxious GOP media spin. I think in economics, people pay as much or more attention to what is going on in their own lives than pundits telling them how they should feel about things.
So, I have heard reports of problems with networks that seem to be narrower than people thought when they signed up. That concerns me more than GOP blowhards trying to tell people it is a very bad thing that they don’t have to hang on to lousy jobs to get healthcare.
Regarding polls of the ACA, have to remember that a big chunk of the disapproval is due to people who think that the ACA did not go far enough (for example, people who wanted single payer). So need to dig down below topline results.
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: Nothing on Newsmax about it. That’s rather ominous, come to think about it.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (phone): “I’m getting a little hungry. Mind if I borrow your phone to place a to go order at the bakery? Thanks, bro.”
MomSense
Some great photos from the March in NC.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/09/3268901/moral-monday-north-carolina-gop/
Cassidy
@Villago Delenda Est: Oh I know. I’m just still amazed at the freakout of our suburban liberals because the gov’t dared to collect information that they were happy to give away in exchange for free shipping and coupons.
jl
@Poopyman: But I saw while waiting in supermarket checkout line that tabloids are saying Michelle has a 5 million dollar tell-all book deal that will blow the top off Barack’s affairs, and that they will divorce as soon as second term over, and that Michelle has JUST HAD ENOUGH of this WH crap. Which seem to be old Clinton and Bush II stories with new names plugged in. so, there is that, too.
Edit: and BTW, if Beyonce or Michelle are reading this, that Higgs Boson Mate is a loser. I’m your man.
Corner Stone
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: That’s the kind of True Grit that only Real ‘Mericans have!
Always admired that “jump on the grenade” mentality you display.
Roger Moore
@Poopyman:
Is it possible for something to be so unbelievable that not even NoiseMax would touch it?
NonyNony
@Corner Stone:
Apparently, this:
So basically a highly placed and highly reputable source has revealed that Barack Obama and Beyonce are totally having an affair. Which is, you know, completely plausible. It isn’t like Beyonce is one of the most famous people in the world and is being constantly followed by paparazzi who would notice if she was having an affair with ANYONE, much less someone who is also famous and also being followed around by paparazzi. And also when you want to have a clandestine extramarital affair, you absolutely do it with a guy who has his own Secret Service detail following him around.
(There’s a reason Clinton’s affair during office was with an unknown intern and not with Elizabeth Hurley. And that reason is access and opportunity.)
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: I suppose now that there’s a Pat Robertson line, anything is possible.
Cervantes
@Hill Dweller:
Are you sure?
? Martin
@Corner Stone:
Hillary dropping ‘skull fuck a kitten’ in the 2nd Dem primary debate.
SatanicPanic
@Corner Stone: I guess the media are already bored with Bill Clinton + Liz Hurley stories.
Roger Moore
@jl:
It’s odd, because I don’t remember the tabloids treating the First Family that way when Reagan and Bush I were in office. Did they just start treating them that way during the Clinton years, or am I just failing to remember the past accurately?
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
And the 2014 World Cup. Actually.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: Senility and space aliens was more the currency of the 80s.
Corner Stone
@? Martin: On an “accidentally” hot mic.
“Do not fucking tempt me Rafael. I will break you in half, like a boy. And then skull fuck a kitten until you cry.”
jl
@Roger Moore: I do not remember. Maybe because I am so devastated that Hillary and Laura broke up with their ex-prez husbands, and made ceremonies with ex-presidents just so dang awkward.
Cervantes
@Mark S.:
Yes, if only to see whether I should keep the subscription.
Poopyman
@Roger Moore: Actual Newsmax headline right now:
What was your question again?
Corner Stone
A tragic real life example to answer IowaOldLady’s physics question:
Newlywed BASE jumper falls 2,000-feet to her death in front of husband after parachute failed to open
“Clayton Butler tried to save Amber Marie Bellows, his wife of two weeks, by leaping off Mount Kinesava in Zion National Park, Utah, after her.”
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: That’s not physics, that’s desperation and disbelief in a split second.
Suffern ACE
@Roger Moore: With the Reagan’s it was “Nancy the seance holding, china set indulging new age weirdo who’s weilding too much influence.” But yeah, it really got started with “Hillary is having a lesbian affair with the family vet.”
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
FSM, not that I want to defend Scott Walker, but in the interview he prefaces his statement about “voting for Reagan” by noting that he had “just become a teenager.” So this is no big scandalous catch on TPM’s part. Walker was almost certainly referring to a mock presidential election at his school (granted, he or the interviewer could have and should have made it clearer).
some guy
Pierce has a nice piece out today, much of which refutes the basic assumptions of some of the lickspittles posting above.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/tyrone-hayes-surveillance-021014
Villago Delenda Est
@Cassidy:
It’s because they, like the idiots who call themselves “conservatives”, don’t think things through, don’t understand cause and effect, and are unable to create chains of events in their heads. These people think that their SUV runs because they turn the key in the ignition, and then, by magic, it rolls forward or backwards.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: Necessary to capture the ‘Chris Christie Democrat’ vote.
Elizabelle
Down is up in the media world.
Or so we are informed.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
The “theory” of gravity once again bites someone in the ass.
MikeJ
@Poopyman:
Any trick that’s picking up 75 year old hookers is pretty weird.
BGK
@MomSense:
About which Fox was shrieking this morning. March organizers asked marchers to have photo ID on them, among other things. I would presume because there is a nontrivial chance of being arrested or injured, in which case ID would be required and/or life-saving. It wasn’t a requirement to participate, though. Which, naturally so, all the conservatards immediately lied about. The prevailing meme is how hypocritical the march was, as it “required” ID to participate, but the rabble don’t think they should have to produce same to vote.
jl
@SiubhanDuinne: OK. He’s a conniving schnook, then. But I guess we all knew that.
Ash Can
@jl:
Exhibit A for why a Scott Walker presidential campaign would go precisely nowhere — because he fucks stuff like this up. (Although it does kind of make me hope he does run. It would be non-stop comedy gold.)
Corner Stone
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m not sure I understand your comment here. Could you expound a little?
Cervantes
@Roger Moore:
I don’t know from the tabloids but there’ve always been rumors, even if you limit yourself to “First Families” (as opposed to candidates and campaigns). Stories about JFK and LBJ are legion. There was talk about Nancy Reagan and Frank Sinatra in the White House. Then there was Jennifer “Who Has Served President-Elect George [H. W.] Bush In A Variety Of Positions” Fitzgerald. Some of these things were stated flat-out in books and, I guess, in tabloids; others were carefully insinuated (though never stated) in the mainstream press.
What changed when Bill and Hillary Clinton arrived in DC? Everything.
Corner Stone
@some guy: White people problems, amirite?
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
Yeah, I’m still waiting for Laura to give the deserting coward the marital heave-ho.
Well, come on. What are you waiting for, Laura? Jeb to formally declare his candidacy?
some guy
@Corner Stone:
lickspittles feel compelled to lick the spittle. nobody has ever surveilled them, so what’s the problem?
ruemara
@some guy: Not as cogent as Ben Franklin’s comment. The Russian judge gives it an 8, though, for the disparagement.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
Well, you know, the “theory” of evolution isn’t scientific FACT, according to our “conservative” friends, so the “theory” of gravity can’t be, either, now can it?
You should just be able to will away the weak force that is pulling you to your doom. This is what’s known as the theory of intelligent falling. It’s right up there with the theory of intelligent design.
Ash Can
@SiubhanDuinne: Fair enough. I take back all of my earlier comment except for the “comedy gold” bit. And the “presidential campaign would go nowhere” bit. And the fucking-stuff-up bit. And the…
Cassidy
Is lickspittle the new cudlip? Or did someone get a new list of vocabulary words today? It is Monday.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
She’ll be skull fucking the kitten for a very long time to make Rafael cry, because I think the guy would actually get off on it.
Corner Stone
@Villago Delenda Est: Sorry, I was referring to this comment:
“It’s because they, like the idiots who call themselves “conservatives”, don’t think things through, don’t understand cause and effect, and are unable to create chains of events in their heads. These people think that their SUV runs because they turn the key in the ignition, and then, by magic, it rolls forward or backwards. “
jl
@Villago Delenda Est: Laura was interviewed recently, and she gave the GOP and media some needling on double standards and hypocrisy wrt to appearance and gender in politics. She suggested when that day soon comes that we have a woman president, the First Mister should get his appearance and attired critiqued just like those of the Fist Ladies have been. In the name of gender equality.
Edit: BTW, what was the big fuss about the Cost/Obama interview? Other than the Prez looking slightly tired, I saw nothing unusual about it at all. Maybe he was up all night watching the Olympics? Maybe Michelle forgave him for the Beyonce excursion and he had been up all night? Or whatever, who cares?
Edit2: Or, maybe he stays up all night singing dictatorial executive orders? I’d be down with that.
Mike E
@MomSense: They kicked ass, totally exceeded their goal of the original civil rights march in Selma which was what Rev Barber used as his benchmark.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cassidy:
Everyone is channeling Klaus Kinski’s small, but pivotal role in Doctor Zhivago.
NonyNony
@Roger Moore:
Reagan was old when he hit office – if they started talking about his sex life it would have squicked out a good 2/3rds of their audience (the other 1/3 remembered the real scandals of his previous marriage and would have been pissed to be reminded of them). Bush the Elder was Bush the Elder. He was a boring man who wasn’t attractive to look at. Not tabloid fodder. And in general I think tabloids had the attitude that people at the supermarket checkout weren’t interested in the sex lives of politicians. They wanted to read about the sex lives of glamorous people. Because they could both fantasize about being the glamorous person with the exciting sex life AND feel moralistic outrage and schadenfreude when said glamorous person’s sex life was wrecked.
Gary Hart was the one, I think, who turned it around for the tabloids. They saw how much copy the “legitimate media” sold with the Monkey Business stuff and thought “hey, there IS a buck to be made here”. First president for them to really try it out on turned out to be a goldmine for them because Clinton’s sex life was pretty much made to sell tabloid copy.
Then I think they had to do the same to Bush the Lesser because tabloids are cargo cult journalism. And if “real papers” pay lip service to “balance” then by golly “balance” must be important so “both sides” must be smeared equally. Obama now gets it because lazy tabloid reporting is basically Mad Libs where you shuffle the names around to make new stories.
(Then there’s the sad feedback loop, where tabloid editors wanted to be “legitimate newspapermen” and newspaper publishers envied the money that the tabloids were raking in. Which explains so much of 90s journalism that it just hurts.)
some guy
@Cassidy:
when you lick the boot do you twirl your tongue or do you just lightly swab?
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
So senility was the big thing and Reagan didn’t get a look-in? They cared about astrology and didn’t say boo about Nancy? There must have been an informal agreement to lay off the First Family.
different-church-lady
@some guy: Sad to see Pierce embrace the velcro ball. Tyrone Hayes and the NSA are two different issues that have some things in common. Yet one can just munge them together, toss in a reference to the Snowwald twins, slap a “surveillance state” tag on it and move on to your next bit of high-difficulty blogging gymnastics and too few of your regular readers will notice.
Chyron HR
@some guy:
When you go to the bathroom in a Russian hotel, do you feel even the slightest twinge of awkwardness knowing that Putin is filming your genitals, or are you utterly secure in the knowledge that Dear Leader Greenwald ordered you not to mind?
Corner Stone
@jl:
Do you think he sings them to the tune of “Naughty Girl” or “Crazy in Love” ?
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
Oh, sorry, didn’t click back on your reference line.
Those liberal suburban types you were referring to. Many of them don’t pay attention to cause and effect, a chain of events, etc. They just take the pablum the MSM serves up to them at face value without critically thinking about it. It’s a problem on both sides of the political spectrum on any number of issues. To some extent, it’s a symptom of our specialized society in which people don’t apply the same principles they wouldn’t dream of discarding in their specialty to other matters as well.
For example, see me totally missing the boat on the 2014 World Cup, because I don’t pay much attention to Football football except for draws and the actual events, and the occasional sniggering over awarding the World Cup to a half acre of sand in the Middle East.
Cervantes
@SiubhanDuinne:
Exactly. Walker makes enough real mistakes. We don’t need to make things up. As an old friend used to say, when you add to the truth, you’re really subtracting from it.
some guy
@Chyron HR:
it really depends on if they are using a wide-angle lens.
Roger Moore
@Poopyman:
Note, though, that the “one weird trick”, bible money code, survival food, etc. crap are paid ads that NoiseMax is including in their feed, not their editorial content. Also, I haven’t seen them publish anything about how the government is actually controlled by lizard people or space aliens, blaming Castro for the JFK assassination, or even some of the kooky 9/11 truther stuff, all theories that actually have some currency on the lunatic fringe. So it appears that there is some material that’s too crazy for them.
jl
@Corner Stone: I don’t care. I am a miserable lefty and am just happy that Obama is so evil he sings his evil executive orders late into the night. He can use any tune he likes.
different-church-lady
@Villago Delenda Est:
Which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much the exact model most voters use to pick their political views.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: In other words, NewsMax makes no functional distinction between their news content and their advertising content.
Hill Dweller
@Cervantes: In Quinnipiac’s Oct. 11th presidential poll, they had Romney leading Obama 48-47 in Colorado. Obama won by 5 points.
some guy
McGruff the Crime Dog busted for Growing Ganja:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-played-crime-dog-mcgruff-busted-pot-farm-weapons-article-1.1606569
Villago Delenda Est
@jl:
Personally, I’d prefer he sign his dictatorial orders to combinations of Brit invasion stuff and classic Motown, but that’s just me.
different-church-lady
@Hill Dweller: To be fair, Oct. 11 was the week after Obama’s no-show in the first debate.
Hill Dweller
@different-church-lady:
Yatsuno
@? Martin: Way to keep that hit count on Google up there. Though I haven’t tested the “Skull fuck a kitten” algorithm lately.
(I just did it again. Blast!)
different-church-lady
@Hill Dweller: So it was a steady trend on Q’s part? How’d they do in the days immediately preceding election day? I seem to remember a lot of polsters suddenly tweaked their models to be slightly more accurate.
Not trying to defend Q here, just curious.
Cassidy
My movie choices on Netflix sucks. I blame Obama. Where is GG to expose this injustice!
different-church-lady
@Cassidy:
I know, I can’t believe half the shit you pick.
Signed,
The NSA
JustRuss
@Mandalay:
I’m pretty sure Bezos isn’t dictating editorial policy at BJ. On the other hand, Huff Post had Breitbart on the front page within a week after it was sold. Haven’t been back there since, so I can’t say how bad it’s become.
Cassidy
@different-church-lady: Prison Girls Unchained and In Heat was a complete accident.
different-church-lady
@Cassidy: The metadata says you watched it through to the end, with two rewinds.
Not that we care, mind…
Gene108
@Tone In DC:
Rand Paul has a ton of support from folks, who have been raised to distrust the government. This of course seems to include everyone born after Watergate.
Rand stands against government surveillance and thus government abuse of power.
If liberals want to be the party that requires a level of trust in government, that trust has to be absolute.
When people stop trusting the government over drone strikes or NSA metadata, liberals lose. Even if liberals do not trust government over those things either.
It makes it easier to say that government cannot be trusted due to NSA metadata, therefore you cannot trust government to be responsible and not abuse power with SNAP benefits.
For conservatives to get buy in for their agenda is easier. Government is the problem, except for military/ homeland security spending. Any distrust of government feeds into their doctrine and is a net win for them.
WereBear
Exactly.
Government, there’s the off chance someone will get in trouble, chances are heinous stuff is against the rules, and if it isn’t, they can be changed.
Business, the sick dirtbag involved gets promoted, there are no rules, and if anyone finds out… good luck suing the bastards.
Cervantes
@Hill Dweller:
You’re misreading that poll.
First of all, the headline they used was “COLORADO: Romney 48 – Obama 47, compared to Obama 48 – Romney 47 Sept. 19.” This tells you something right away, if you’re paying attention.
Second, the poll was taken October 4-9, immediately after the first presidential debate in Denver (remember it?).
Third, Quinnipiac said the margin of error in their poll was 2.8%. Examine that number.
And fourth, in their analysis, they said the race was “too close to call” at the time.
Now do you see the problem with your complaint?
So what?
And as for:
OK.
Meanwhile, my own review suggests that Quinnipiac was the best (or close to the best) pollster in 2010; and not particularly bad in 2012.
Also, for what it’s worth, I find that, if anything, their numbers in 2012 tended to skew Democratic rather than Republican.
Hill Dweller
@different-church-lady:
I can find earlier polls, but nothing closer to the election. FWIW, they had Obama and Romney within a point of one another in their Sept. Colorado polling.
But if they did tweak their numbers right before the election, that doesn’t say much for their credibility.
Cassidy
@different-church-lady: Don’t judge me.
Mandalay
Right. And hopefully he isn’t at WP either, given the bile that it spews. But that bile doesn’t deter BJ from hopping into bed with Bezos so they can both make some $$$.
And that is fine, until BJ starts dishing out pompous lectures on avoiding specific web sites based on their ownership, but also rants about lunacy in WaPo articles from Cohen, Rubin et al, while BJ is in bed with the owner who publishes that stuff.
Like I said, people in glass houses…
MomSense
@BGK:
Way to miss the point, Fox.
Hill Dweller
@Cervantes: Link to the article. This is the headline: October 11, 2012 – Debate Changes Little In Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News Swing State Poll Finds
WereBear
So, does coming up with crazy stuff like this qualify as “hard work”?
karen marie
@different-church-lady: Not as splashy becaus it’s no worse than the Waltons but:
karen marie
@different-church-lady: Not as splashy becaus it’s no worse than the Waltons but:
Cervantes
@Hill Dweller: Yes, the Colorado-specific headline was what I quoted for you.
In any event, do you see the problem with your complaint? When a pollster literally says the race is too close to call and tells you the margin of error is 2.8%, it’s passing silly to pretend that the surveyed 1% lead for one candidate or another means anything whatsoever.
We are on the same page now?
Poopyman
@different-church-lady: Yep! Up in the upper right hand corner here, it’s all under what Newsmax itself calls “Newsmax Headlines”.
Cervantes
@karen marie: See also here:
There’s no excuse for not knowing this stuff.
On the other hand, it’s clear that human beings — all of us — are very good at ignoring inconvenient truths.
different-church-lady
@Cervantes: Private ambulances are cheaper than HVAC?
Hill Dweller
@Cervantes: My point is it was never as close as the Quinnipiac polling suggested. It was never too close to call.
The same could be said nationally. The Obama campaign polling never had him trailing(nor losing), even after the first debate. But the punditry/polling never reflected reality.
karen marie
@Cervantes: Woody Allen is a monster but Bill Cosby is “America’s dad.” In this world, purity is what each person chooses.
StringOnAStick
I’m a Colorado resident, and while some arts of this state are dense with RWNJ’s, the same is true of many states, including true blue CA. When it comes to polls I like to note that I am not the only one who never answers a phone call from a number I don’t recognize, but my winger parents answer every call no matter what.
Tanna Nicholson
Someone may have already said it (I couldn’t read all 160 something posts) but AOL has already “spun off” Patch to another company.
Goblue72
@jl: is that still true though? I know when it was passed, part of the unpopularity of ACA was due to liberals wanting single payer – and quickly became a meme amongst liberals.
But I have my doubts that the current unpopularity involves much of that.
Cervantes
@different-church-lady:
Entire books have been written about Bezos and Amazon. Here is one relevant example. (Buying a copy from Amazon would be perverse.)
Here is one of numerous reports available:
Look here to find other reports, and details, including:
ffredpalakon
Whether or not anyone here is interested in the subject, I worked on a long piece on disreputable repulican political consultant Roger Stone – part one is here, part three deals with his infamous consulting firm of the 1980s, Black Manafort Stone & Kelly, part seven deals with Florida politics. Part eight that I’m working on and that I hope to have finished by tomorrow deals with the 2012 election.
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
There are some functional differences. The advertizing is always at the bottom of the list and the editorial content at the top, and the advertizing takes you to the other guy’s web site rather than continuing to masquerade as NoiseMax stuff after you’ve clicked through. Not that it’s a huge difference, but I think it’s worth pointing that stuff out.
Cervantes
@Hill Dweller:
OK, here’s what you said originally:
My point is: they did not have “Romney leading Obama in Colorado three weeks out from the election.” They said (literally) that it was too close to call. See the difference?
Now if what you’re really arguing is that Quinnipiac’s numbers weren’t as good as the Obama campaign’s internal estimates in Colorado, I’d agree wholeheartedly. But then again, I’d point out that they were reasonably good (and, if anything, skewed Democratic) compared to other pollsters.
Cervantes
@ffredpalakon: Thanks.
What would you say is new in what you’ve written? (Haven’t read it; honestly have no idea.)
Fred
@Roger Moore: I don’t remember the press treating the first lady that way during Bush II. Funny, huh? You don’t suppose it has something to do with their politacal party do you? Naw, I guess not. That would be all conspiracy theoryish and stuff.
Hill Dweller
@Cervantes: My original point was Quinnipiac doesn’t have any sort of special insight into Colorado, and used the 2012 presidential polling as an example. We can argue whether a 1 point lead is a toss up or lead, but they were both inaccurate.
And if they leaned Democrat, yet still underestimated Obama’s chances in Colorado, what will it look like when they correct their bias?
Quinnipiac finished in the middle of the pack in terms of accuracy during 2012, which was a devastatingly bad year for polling. They weren’t even the tallest midget.
aimai
@Roger Moore: That sounds wrong, somehow. Are you saying that Colorado was both a tipping point state and a bellwether?
Cervantes
@Hill Dweller: OK, with regard to that Colorado poll in particular (released October 11, 2012), I think what happened is that you saw the 1% difference somewhere in a headline but then failed to see (or understand) the 2.8% margin of error. No need to discuss this part any further.
With regard to Quinnipiac’s polling record in general, I think we are in agreement. As I said, I found them very good in 2010, more or less middling in 2012.
Thanks.
different-church-lady
@Fred:
Also has a lot to do with their audience. Liberals ain’t nearly as interested in consuming bashes of a first lady.
Cervantes
@piratedan:
Funny peculiar but not, alas, funny ha-ha.
As the man said:
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
See here.
Hill Dweller
@Cervantes: The 1 point lead was not in the headline. I saw it reading the actual numbers.
Furthermore, it’s a margin of error, not algebraic geometry. It’s not a difficult concept. Nevertheless, it still doesn’t change the inaccuracy of their polling, which was outside said margin.
Again, Quinnipiac has no special insight into Colorado.
Tone In DC
@Cassidy:
Prison Girls Unchained and In Heat was a complete accident.
The sequel was waaay better, dude.
Corner Stone
@ffredpalakon: I’m actually very interested. Like to hear more if you get the chance after completing your work.
NR
@Cassidy: Obama’s drones are killing innocent civilians.
But keep up your bitching about Greenwald. God knows, he’s the real villain here.
Cassidy
@NR: Oh no. I want that staunch protector of liberal beliefs to investigate how Netflix and Obama are working together to deny me a simple genre menu.
Howard Beale IV
@Mandalay: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Corner Stone
@NR: Some dudebros just don’t give a shit about brown people getting killed. It’s the brogressive creed to loudly state they don’t give a shit when people who aren’t them get dead.
Cervantes
@karen marie:
Leaving aside for a moment the question of their respective guilt/innocence, are you saying they are treated differently by the media? As far as I can tell, they each have their admirers and critics — is this not so?
Not sure what you mean here, sorry.
Cervantes
@MomSense: Thank you.
Cervantes
@Corner Stone:
If that is their creed, then they, too, are dead. They just don’t know it.
NR
@Corner Stone: Yep. It’s always worth pointing out how morally bankrupt people like Cassidy are.