“In a letter to Brauchli on Tuesday that was signed by 32 women, the organization Women, Action and the Media demanded an explanation for what it called “the video's patently sexist — and otherwise tasteless — content,” which the writers said displayed “misogyny” and “utter contempt for women” as well as racial insensitivity.

“Although the scripts for “Mouthpiece Theater” were approved by editors, Milbank and Cillizza often ad-libbed parts of it, as was the case with the inclusion of Clinton's photo. “We did not have an effective system for vetting videos and other multimedia content,” Brauchli said, insisting that will change. He said the paper will keep experimenting with new media but that “we need to hold ourselves to our standards to deliver that.”

And Milbank, who still needs lessons in Sexism 101 and How to Apologize 101, lays blame at us brutal bloggers and the woes of being “high-profile targets:”

“…Both men, who frequently appear on television, became high-profile targets, particularly among left-leaning bloggers but also on such outlets as Twitter.

“”It's a brutal world out there in the blogosphere,” Milbank said. “I'm often surprised by the ferocity out there, but I probably shouldn't be.”"

Frankly, it's almost like the media blaming the media.

jwest wrote: “I’ve just seen on a different website that Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 50%.”

What a coincidence jwest… “I’ve just seen on a different website that” the Republican Parties approval rating has dropped to 15%… You gotta love the value of unnamed websites!

Here's some actual data… from a known and respected website, pollster.com. Their compilation of all the major polls says that Obama's average Approval Rating is currently at 52.3 %

National Job Approval: Barack Obama
Pollster ……. Dates ….. N/Pop … Approve . Disapprove . Undecided
Rasmussen …. 8/3-5/09 … 1500 LV …. 49 ……. 51 ……… -
Gallup ……. 8/2-4/09 … 1500 A ….. 56 ……. 37 ……… -
Zogby …… 7/31-8/4/09 .. 1005 LV …. 53 ……. 38 ……… -
Gallup ….. 7/31-8/3/09 .. 1136 A ….. 56 ……. 40 ……… 4

Considering the distorted half truths, mischaracterizations and blatant lies being directed at the White House and the Democrats in congress by the health care / health insurance industries these lower numbers should come as no surprise.

Keep up the good work though jwest… at least Rasmussen's on your side. Seems you two are running neck-and-neck in the accuracy in polling (position?) game.

Joe,

I’ve just seen on a different website that Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 50%.

Didn’t you used to follow polls? I seem to remember headlines for every quarter-point drop Bush suffered.

Thanks for keeping us on top of the Milbank/Cillizza situation.

anyway, these two guys will wobble through this and go on having weathered this. All of us who perform on stage have our stories about an act or two we did that later was one of those, “how did I ever go temporarily insane like that and how come no one came after me with the hook immediately”

I could see our two guys, Cillizza and Milbank, however, reprising on SNL. Look out…

Dr. Estes
assistant editor TMV