Uhhhhh pic.twitter.com/5AOvqsbaZv
— Abraham Riesman (@abrahamjoseph) August 15, 2014
Still less risible than Mike Allan Allen!:
There is no better illustration of the devolution of Beltway journalists into semi-pro PR flacks than Mike Allen –>
http://t.co/aCkYrnbWSs
— billmon (@billmon1) August 15, 2014
As the Huffington Post reports, out of the five clauses in his one-sentence report, Mike Allen makes four mistakes:
YA CAN’T MAKE IT UP – Wesley Lowrey, 23-year-old Congress/politics reporter for the WashPost, responding on CNN to suggestions that he should have obeyed police amid a riot: “[L]et me be clear about this: I have LITTLE PATIENCE for talking heads.”
(He mispelled Lowery’s name and got his age wrong, apart from the editorial misstatements about “obeying police” amid a “riot”. Even PR flacks should get the names and dates right, yes?)
I like how the Allen slam takes the form of a "BELIEVE IT OR NOT!" factoid. "A REPORTER claims to have motivations BEYOND appearing on TV!"
— alex pareene (@pareene) August 15, 2014
***********
Apart from being glad you’re not Mike Allen, what’s on the agenda as this horrible week winds down?
schrodinger's cat
Regarding Allen, I am glad that you read him so that we don’t have to.
Violet
This seems like an appropriate thread for this gem:
Villagers have a right to good treatment? In the workplace? How often is this “right to be treated properly and not shabbily” discussed in relation to other people’s workplaces? Almost never? Hmmmm….
And once again, note the concern about tone: it’s “unseemly”. Heavens to Betsy! Cover the children’s eyes! Hide your women! What will the help think?
schrodinger's cat
@Violet: Villagers fee-fees are so tender and delicate! Their pearl clutching is hilarious.
Glocksman
@schrodinger’s cat:
You should show some sympathy and care for our betters.
Shame on you.
*Too bad we don’t have any Snark tags, because I would have used them above for the clueless.
scav
@Violet: Imagine that, not knowing if you’ll have any work the next week, let alone what the schedule is. In Public! Horrors! Nasty Rights-abusing Free Hand.
Karen in GA
The burning question of the day, though: will Chucklefuck Todd keep the goatee for Press the Meat?
(And Iggy gets a training aid.)
schrodinger's cat
@Glocksman: I will get the fainting couch, stat.
SarahT
Watching EXTREME FIGHTING, but with PENGUINS : http://youtu.be/SimMH3Q6zLw
Glocksman
@Violet:
Of course.
If you or I get fired for bullshit reasons or have to work 2 jobs in order to afford a cheap apartment, they don’t give a damn.
Yet if one of their fellow trustafarians gets shat upon, just watch the outrage.
Fuck them.
Schadenfreude is the way I feel when I read about shit like this.
BGinCHI
Mike Allen, let’s take it outside, shall we?
This mild-mannered professor has some time in his schedule to kick your ass.
schrodinger's cat
@Karen in GA: Who cares, he will be clueless moron no matter what style he sports.
piratedan
@Violet: I’m sure part of it was the concern that by firing Gregory they couldn’t be sure that in doing so he wouldn’t be likely to take a good chunk of John McCain’s ass with him, since his lips have been placed firmly there for the last 8 or so years in a kind of parasitic symbiosis…..
Violet
@schrodinger’s cat: It’s comical when they let the mask slip like that.
@scav: I know! It’s shocking! How can this be allowed to happen? Can’t NBC think of poor David Gregory and his mortgage on his just-purchased $5.45 million dollar home?
Glocksman
Whatever happened to the old adage that a reporter’s job was to ‘afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted’?
Today the majority of so called journalists subscribe to the opposite description.
scav
@BGinCHI: BG, BG, BG, Your politeness and discretion is unwarranted, if not cruel. We want to watch, perhaps even indulge in a spot of mild-manneredness ourselves if you could bring yourself to share.
Violet
@piratedan: John McCain has a shocking way of getting rid of no longer needed parasites and attaching himself to the next in line.
HR Progressive
@Glocksman: This. So much this.
Also, I am glad I grew up and stopped reading Politico for *guffaw* analysis several years ago.
Yes, back when I had stars in my eyes, and Barack Obama had just been inaugurated, I remember reading Politico right along side various other political blogs, this one included, for opinion and analysis.
Proof positive that you can in fact quit beltway-centric fluffery if you try.
Cacti
Anonymous Twitter user @ThreePharoah may have live-tweeted the death of Michael Brown in real time.
Story generally seems to match the accounts of Dorian Johnson and Tiffany Mitchell.
I hope they come forward.
Karen in GA
@schrodinger’s cat:
You say that like it’s a bad thing. /featurenotbug
kc
I’m so damn confused by this Mike Brown case.
Shana
@SarahT: Oh my god! That video has to be the go-to for something. Come on gang, I know we can come up with the perfect circumstance. Get on it!
Weekend plans: hosting a canvas out of my house on Saturday afternoon to help Mark Warner’s and Gerry Connoly’s campaigns. Restaurant Week dinner with hubby tomorrow night.
Turgidson
Agenda is pretty simple:
I’m going to continue to mostly ignore current events, which I am certain has helped greatly in lifting my recent depressive symptoms.
I’m going to pour myself a double mint julep when I get home from work.
If I can get rid of the remnants of a nasty and persistent cough/cold, I’m going to spend at least one afternoon this weekend on a hike in Tilden with my pup (seen in the link below, smiling for the camera), and wife, if she is feeling up to it.
also subject to getting rid of said cough, I’m going to undertake some long-delayed garage reorganizing, etc.
Beyond that, vegging sounds pretty good.
PsiFighter37
Mike Allen is a living piece of shit. I wonder how he can wake up every morning, knowing how awful of a journalist/hack that he is, without wanting to commit violent acts against himself.
kc
@Turgidson:
I’m fixing to start ignoring current events myself. Too much . . . shit.
Anonominous
Odd how quickly things in Ferguson turned around and calmed down after a couple of white reporters got roughed up.
BGinCHI
@PsiFighter37: At least shit serves a biologically useful purpose.
SiubhanDuinne
@kc:
I know, it’s like Whack-a-Mole.
Ruckus
@PsiFighter37:
He doesn’t need to think about committing any acts of violence against himself, there seems to be a long list of people willing to do that to him.
exurbanmom
The penguin extreme fighting video could be the theme video for Morning Joe.
Trentrunner
Ok, so: Mike Allen, Chuck Todd, and Chris Wallace are on a plane going down, and there are NO parachutes.
Not a joke, just daydreaming…
kindness
I hardly ever take a link to Politico any longer. The comments there are bad but not as bad as The Hill. I refuse to follow links there any longer.
Turgidson
@kindness:
I get all the Politico I need from reading Pierce’s ongoing “Guzzle Antifreeze” series.
kc
@SiubhanDuinne:
I googled for updates before I came here and saw two contradictory headlines in the top results. Both from mainstream media outlets.
Mike in NC
Allen has a face that begs for a fist.
BGinCHI
@Trentrunner: It flies over Sarah Palin’s house….
BGinCHI
@Mike in NC: Get in line, bub.
SiubhanDuinne
@exurbanmom:
Penguins bitchslapping penguins. And a disapproving-looking penguin wandering around in the background.
schrodinger's cat
Totally Mike Allen unrelated: India celebrates its 67th Independence Day
debbie
@Violet:
Frankly, I think he deserves to twist in the wind for years.
schrodinger's cat
Plus, sights far prettier than Mike Allen.
Villago Delenda Est
Allen and VandeHeil: the two poster boys for what is wrong with journamalism in this country.
Villago Delenda Est
@Glocksman: Pass the cocktail weenies, please.
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet: That high pitched whirring sound you’re hearing? Mike, once again spinning in his grave and wondering how in the name of all that is holy he fathered that thing.
Scott Peterson
Hokey smokes:
Plantsmantx
@Scott Peterson: @Scott Peterson:
I’m still dancing.
SarahT
@Scott Peterson: Yowza ! That’s even better than a penguin slapfest !
chopper
@Violet:
Woah, a guy from fox defending the protesters in Ferguson?! Amazing!
Oh. Never mind.
different-church-lady
The Twitters: IT’S A TRAP!
Dog On Porch
Allen and Politico are small potatoes. It’s those officials (elected and otherwise) who purportedly serve the interests of the democratic party’s rank-and-file, yet whom appear regularly on FOX, that do more to devalue honest journalism every week than a dozen Mr. Politicoze can accomplish in a year.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Uh, I have a storage unit there….
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Gin & Tonic: Eep. Hope it’s not in the same building.
Glocksman
@Trentrunner:
There is one parachute, and the pilot says ‘It’s mine, suckers’ the moment before he jumps out.
:)
Glocksman
@BGinCHI:
It he ever visits Evanshell, don’t be surprised to read a blurb about ‘local man assaults a reporter’.
Sadly, that would probably garner far more reportage than the disgrace in Ferguson.
DissidentFish
Love Balloon Juice but love CBR. What is “risible” about a blog post that examines what parts of our real lives inform the origin and acceptance of a popular culture object. A blog post written by a young and talented African American writer?
Honestly so disappointed I felt like crying. I should go back to sleep, I think.