Slacker Friday
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
We've got a new Think Again column -- the first in a series actually -- called “The Bush Legacy: War on the Press” and you can find it here.
Hey, great idea, Mike. I wonder if anyone beat you to it, bub.
The conventional wisdom is quite clear: The press always turns skeptical and becomes combative when new presidents come to town. Except, of course, when the press does not. In truth, the model being touted today by media insiders didn't apply to the previous two administrations. That model didn't apply to Bill Clinton in 1993 because the press wasn't simply skeptical about his administration, the press savaged it. And the model didn't apply to George W. Bush in 2001, because instead of turning combative toward him, the press rolled over for the Republican. Read more here.
I know it's considered bad manners to speak ill of the dead, but...
Worst Band Name Ever, Press Release:
Rumored to be the brainchild of Robcore labelhead Rob Crow of indie wunderkinds Pinback, Goblin Cock is focused, primed, and ready to pull the pin on the follow-up to their mammoth debut Bagged And Boarded on Absoultely Kosher Records, which was nominated for three Plug Awards including Metal Album Of The Year.
With songs about undeniably HEAVY topics such as apparitional gloryhole afficienados, an “ode” to Native American Green Beret Vietnam War Veteran, hapkido karate Hippie Billy Jack [which rivals his own themed penned by original Satanic Black Metal Gods “Coven”], comic books [of course] and a Power-Ballad devoted to homoerotic fetish artist Tom Of Finland, Goblin Cock is taking yet another brave step in the re-defintion of TRUE METAL.
Boasting another iconic album cover by Star Wars: New Essential Guide to Characters And Magic Card artist Mike Sutfin, prepare for Lord Phallus to be the Farrah Fawcett of the 00's thanks to the foldout poster insert. Fans across the United States have already started duct taping their glasses to their heads in anticipation of the upcoming Cock Across America tour this January & February.
“No one really knows who they are.
No one knows exactly where they are from.
One thing is certain.
No one can leave a Goblin Cock show without at least a slight limp.”
-- William F. Buckley [probably not]
Come With Me If You Want To Live Track Listing
01.) Hissless
02.) Loch
03.) Big Up Your Willies
04.) We Got A Bleeder
05.) Ode To Billy Jack
06.) Beneath The Valley Of The Island Of Misfit Toys
07.) Haint
08.) Mylar
09.) Tom's Song for [T.O.F.]
10.) Trying To Get Along With Humans
Name: Michael Vandamm
Hometown: Greenbelt, MD
The estimable Mr. Engelhardt's piece that you borrowed on Thursday doesn't address the most obvious way in which to meet President Obama's (God, I love that expression) 16-month schedule for withdrawal from Iraq, namely by pulling back to Kuwait, where we can clean, disinfect, and shrink-wrap all of that unlovely hardware at a reasonable pace.
Hometown: Newton, MA.
Hey Doc:
“Rubbing sticks and stones together/Makes the sparks ignite.”
Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: “Put a Spell on You” (Honey Island Swamp Band) -- Henry Paulson has offered me a hefty fee to make sure the world knows how much I love New Orleans.
Short Takes:
Part The First: If you needed yet another reason why Parson Meacham is a blight on American journalism in his capacity as editor of Newsweek, this ought to be it. And, sad but true, I guarantee you that at least three editors and a couple of fact-checkers saw this superstitious twaddle before it hit print. This is one of those stories that makes me wonder how some magazines work. I know that, in all of the ones for which I've ever written, I'd get edited and/or fact-checked within an inch of my life on this, and that's assuming it didn't get laughed out of a story conference right from jump, which it would have.
Part The Second: I have now read more about the Starland Vocal Band in one week on this blog than has been written about those mush brains in 30 years. Let me know when you've scheduled the extended Captain & Tennille Retrospective, so I can make sure I have a flight to Guam. Yeesh.
Part The Third: Oh, Christ, you should pardon the expression. Not this again. Let me clear things up for all you news directors out there. His Eminence, Cardinal Mulchforbrains there? He represents nobody but himself. He's a crank, a fool, a sidewalk loudmouth in a red beanie. Every time you come to him, he's going to spout the same nonsense, and sensible Catholics are going to sit back and wonder when they all died and left people like this in charge. At this point, it's bear-baiting. You want the “controversy” through which public idiocy drives your ratings. Knock it off, OK? Pax vobiscum.
Part The Fourth: Of course, with the ghost of hacko di tutti i hacki Halperin still haunting the place, it's probably wrong to expect much from ABC News, but, Jeebus Christmas, Wes Pruden is one short step removed from his shoeless, swamp-running segregationist ancestors. How is anything he writes worth highlighting? Ever?
Part The Fifth: People are starting to notice what I wrote about a few weeks ago as regards the talk-radio crowd's Roswellian theorizing about The Return of The Fairness Doctrine. (dum, du-dum, du-dummmmmmm!). Apparently, it's bled over into the Neolithic precincts of the print media as well. If you are struck by the irony of reading a free-speech diatribe by a man who then brags in his author ID about getting an Ice-T song yanked from the airwaves, well, you have no future on wing-nut welfare, kid. Anyway, as it happens, I attended Michael Harrison's annual New Media Conference, a kind of trade show for radio thugs, last year, as part of the research for this thing. And, I can assure you that, long before Barack Hussein Weatherman X was even a viable candidate, they were already wetting themselves over this issue. Remember, always, that without the tender feelings of the suckers, there is no talk radio. Ask this guy if you don't believe me. It makes me nostalgic for the War on Christmas.
Part The Last: I'd like to thank the citizens of Missouri for finally deigning to bring the 2008 election to a close this week.
It is important to remember that Michael Dukakis never recovered in the minds of many of the Heathers from the fact that he looked silly in a helmet while riding around in a tank. It is important to remember that Al Gore never recovered in many of those same minds from a bunch of stuff he never said or did. It is important to remember what kind of heat Barack Obama got from many of those same minds when he tried to bowl in Pennsylvania. It is important to remember all of that while watching this, the single most hilarious piece of video involving a politician ever filmed anywhere. I don't know what the best part of it is -- the fact that she goes blithely on while turkeys are fed into what appears to be a wood chipper behind her, and a torrent of blood overflows that little trough there, or the fact that the actual turkey slaughterer occasionally turns and smiles at the cameras. If there's any justice in the world, this little bit of Gobbler guignol ought to follow Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods for the rest of her career. The woman is fundamentally a public clown. She was one during the campaign.
She has been one during her extended post-election media blitz. She will be one when she addresses the dead-enders at the CPAC conference in January, where she will be wildly applauded. She will be one no matter what Cokie Roberts, that abject twit, thinks about how popular she is. Sarah Palin has no more business in national politics than does the guy behind her, grinning at the television people while he feeds the birds into a blender and the blood rises over his shoes. He's at least good at his job.
And, please, tell me I'm not the only person who, when they saw this for the first time, thought immediately of this. As God is my witness...
Hometown: Lake Oswego, OR
Eric:
Years ago, I used to fly the Washington-New York shuttle fairly often. As you may know, it was a real cattle-car operation. Once, around 1980, I was on a flight to New York that was virtually full when Diane Sawyer entered the cabin. From the look on her face you would have thought she was entering county lockup. I actually laughed out loud. It was probably her last flight in coach.
Hometown: Carrollton, GA
Eric,
A student in my freshman world geography course came by to visit me yesterday. Initially, she was concerned about whether she would be able to earn a B in the course and regain her scholarship. As we talked, she let slip her profound despair over the larger “stuff happening” in the economy, which was leading her to view choosing a major as a futile exercise. What's the point?
As she explained, “This is happening because we have turned away from Christ, and he's not to be caught off guard by that. And now, 'many people' believe that we have elected the anti-Christ as our leader.” When I asked, she explained that Obama's “Muslim upbringing,” charisma, and “promises to do big things” revealed his true identity. She appeared stunned to hear that Obama is and was raised a Christian. Nevertheless, she continued, the only way out of the world financial crisis is for Christians “to drop to their knees.”
I asked her if she thought Christians could, in that way, improve the job market by the time she graduated in five years. “No,” she said, “I shouldn't even be here by then. I'm a true-believer, and we're supposed to not be around when the Antichrist comes. He'll reveal himself.”
Yikes, what a depressing meeting on my daughter's first birthday.
Hometown: Medford, NJ
Wow, Huckabee's reasoning sure appears to be airtight!
By his definition, if handicapped people aren't actually being physically beaten down, then why do we need those silly laws to protect their rights?
Without those laws, the worst that could happen would be minor inconveniences like parking problems, lack of ramps, lack of curb cutouts... oh, and discrimination in the workplace. How trivial can you get?! If they're not getting beat up, why so much concern for the handicapped? It's not like these issues affect their every waking moment or anything.
And what's with all those laws concerning women and their rights? What the heck, we already have laws on the books saying you can't physically abuse them. So why all the ruckus about allowing them to vote and get the same jobs as men and stuff? Apparently, some people want it all, handed to them on a silver platter!
Hometown: Langhorne, PA
Huckabee says that they're not getting their skulls bashed? Matthew Shepard's parents might disagree. I grew up on the Jersey shore, and I knew guys who would cruise the boardwalks at night, pick up a gay guy, take him under said boardwalk where friends would be waiting... and they'd beat the crap out of the guy. Now, this was in the late '60s so the statute of limitations has run out, but still. Huckabee is full of it.
Hometown: Cheyenne, WY
I am snob enough to consider myself a person with excellent musical taste. I am also a grandmother. On behalf of grandmothers with a passion for many genres of music, I take exception to a dis like music “appealing to grandmothers.” If I had time, I would take on a few musical challenges around here. Remember when Gloria Steinem said, “This is what 40 looks like?”
Frankly, when all my music genre loves are said and done, I figure you gotta rock. Btw, how many great female musical artists might be grandmothers while they are reggaeing, rocking, folking, conducting. You get the picture. Personally, I've always thought the Starlight Vocal Band sucks, but that is just one grandmother's opinion.