‘THE RETURN OF FAITH’
[Het Parool, The Netherlands]
With finger-pointing over the global financial crisis rapidly spreading, William Waack of Brazil’s O Globo warns that developing countries are in no way shielded from the effects - and that blaming others won’t do a thing to help Brazil or the world emerge from the hole they are in.
“‘Contagion’ suggests that it might be possible to prevent the “disease,” as long as the potential victim remains isolated from the source of infection (in this case, the American economy). That’s pure nonsense, and it’s dangerous, because it overshadows what must be done and delays the adoption of protective measures. … We can dispense with the notion of ‘decoupling.’”
“The more advanced and competitive a national economic system is, the more it will be affected by the crisis. Therefore, it’s Brazil the exporter and innovator which is connected with the global economy that will face the worst consequences. And it is that modern country - industry, agro-business, services and competitive exporters of mineral commodities - that have ensured our prosperity so far. … Schadenfreude, a German word that has been adopted by the Anglo-Saxon press, means to take pleasure in the misfortune of others. The New York Times this Thursday pointed out the fact that many Latin American leaders, among them Chávez [Venezuela], Morales[Bolivia], Correa [Ecuador], Kirchner [Argentina] and Lula [Brazil], allowed themselves be get carried away with schadenfreude in regard to the crisis in the United States. And now, they’re getting carried away with fear. ”
Is it reasonable to hear Russian criticism of U.S. election smears and mudslinging, when their national election, held recently, featured the outright arrest of opposition candidates?
“The current election is a unique mixture of drama and soap opera, a mudslinging-struggle over ideals, well edited truths and even more carefully constructed lies. As they say in America, victors don’t win elections, the other aspirants lose them. And that’s one area in which these elections are no exception. It has to be won on TV screens by undermining the competitor with compromising information and by forcing him into fighting to preserve his reputation. The task isn’t to prove the truthfulness of your statements as it is to knock the wind out of your opponent.”
This is a war in which months of high ratings can be wiped out in an instant. Because elections aren’t won in August, September or October, but on the first Tuesday in November of every leap year.
Alaska governor Sarah Palin went on the attack today, claiming that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had longstanding ties to The Weather Channel.
“What does it say about our opponent that he thinks this nation’s weather is so imperfect that he needs to be allied with The Weather Channel?” she asked a crowd in Tampa, Florida. “There’s a fine line between hating America’s weather and hating America herself.”
Gov. Palin said that she learned about Sen. Obama’s ties to The Weather Channel last week “when I was trying hard to read The New York Times.”
“They said that Sen. Obama was hanging out with weathermen,” she said. “Do we really want to elect someone who has been palling around with meteorologists?”
There’s more so click on the link above and read the whole thing.
October 6th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
Wired interviews Joe Quesada, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and comic writer Mark Waid, on Stephen Colbert running for president in the Marvel Universe:
Wired.com: Do you wish he’d run for president in our more boring universe?
Waid: Dear God, yes, if only because it would rock to have Jon Stewart as the veep.
Quesada: Stephen tried to run for president in our boring universe, but unfortunately his campaign was stymied by the powers that be. Not so in the Marvel Universe, where his campaign is in full swing and gaining momentum, once again proving that we would all rather be living in the Marvel Universe than the real one.
The Colbert issue of Amazing Spider-Man hits streets Oct. 15.
Colbert was at The New Yorker Festival over the weekend. Rachel Sklar was there and summarizes his comments on his character:
October 2nd, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Even with the global financial crisis looming large on the horizon, and its consequent crippling effects becoming clearer, the US media’s/blogs’ continued obsession with “what Obama/McCain/Palin/Biden said”, and then “what Obama/McCain/Palin/Biden replied” would appear myopic and tragic.
The media/blogs have seemingly abdicated their traditional responsibility of explaining/warning about major/critical issues.
In this theatre of the absurd, Playboy magazine is “offering a new way to lose your shirt on Wall Street.
“The adult entertainment magazine, long famous for its photo spreads of nude women and lessons in living the urbane life of the well-heeled bachelor, is launching a search for models to pose for its upcoming feature, ‘Women of Wall Street’.”More here…
ON THE KNIVES IN BUSH’S BACK: REPUBLICAN ON BUSH’S CHEST: EMERGENCY PLAN - NO CAPTION: REACTION OF SUPPORTERS
Perhaps more than at any other time in recent years the current financial crisis brings to the fore a question at the root of the great American - and transatlantic - political divide: What is the proper role of government?
According to William Waack, chief international columnist for O Globo of Brazil, the current crisis should prompt the State-Market pendulum to swing decidedly in the direction of the State. But he cautions Social Democrats from being holier than thou:
“What are the long-term social and political consequences of this cataclysm? (Yes, we are confronting a catastrophe). … European commentators (French and German in particular) are signaling the end of the Anglo-Saxon “way” of looking at financial markets. … There’s a debate between the two sides of the Atlantic which is much more cultural than ideological, about the proper role of government - and not just in crisis situations.”
“Curiously, Europeans are again raising the banner of fundamental economic values like work and savings, versus the “Anglo-Saxon style” of taking out loans and taking risks on capital markets. It’s interesting to note that in societies elsewhere on the planet (Japan for example) “work” and “savings” are values that are greatly cultivated. But even this - and not very long ago - failed to allow the Japanese to escape from a very difficult economic situation.”
“But one can say that in terms of the ‘cultural’ aspects of the debate between State and Market, the pendulum should move strongly in the direction of the former. All of this should considerably raise our level of insecurity when confronting a world in which everything not long ago seemed explained, connected, adjusted and, in the end, controllable.”
September 28th, 2008 By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Could Tina Fey’s cutting Saturday Night Live parody of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin prove to be a political plus? If viewed in the context of the upcoming Vice Presidential debate’s expectations game, the answer is yes.
Fey’s parody like most satirical comedy is grounded in the use of shared assumptions, which are then shattered or traits that are exaggerated. Here’s her second appearance as Palin on last night’s SNL in a bit lampooning Palin’s interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, which most pundits (including some Republicans) considered disastrous:
The downside for Palin and the GOP: The parody wouldn’t get laughs and be embedded on so many websites if it wasn’t using humor successfully to point out what some perceive as to be truths about Palin.
The upside for Palin and the GOP: All she has to do in her debate with Democratic Sen. Joe Biden is to put in a credible performance and not make any gaffes. She has been kept away from the press by McCain’s high command so she already suffers from a bad press due to her inaccessibility. She has become a comedian’s punchline. And she has been lampooned mercilessly by satirists. If she comes across the debate as being serious, thoughtful and able to respond aggressively with accurate facts to back up her responses, many will consider it a win.
Expectations — and Fey’s two SNL parodies — have now been set so low that even a blah performance with no major gaffes will allow Palin’s partisans to proclaim it a home run and Biden in the eyes of public opinion could indeed be overshadowed.
Emmy Awards winner Tina Fey manged to pull off yet another “spot on” impersonation of GOP Sarah Palin in a much expected return as a guest on Saturday Night Live this week. After she and Amy Poehler started off the season with a hugely successful Palin-Hillary Clinton sketch, the comedians reunited for the reenactment of a recent interview that the Republican Vice Presidential candidate gave earlier this week.
The “30 Rock” star, who was just awarded by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with Emmys for lead actress in a comedy series, comedy writing and another one for the show she created, “30 Rock”, is obviously not a Palin fan. She impersonates her brilliantly, but says she wants to get it over with. “I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5,” she said, making it clear that until then, the comedic bits featuring the Alaska Governor will be more ruthless, thus funnier than before.
The financial crisis and the huge bailout being pursued by the federal government beg the question: When the deal is done, will it tie the hands of the next president so much that he won’t be able to fulfill his campaign promises, ie.: cut taxes, revamp health care, rebuild the American military, etc.?
Continuing with our Brazilian escapade of recent days, O Globo’s chief international columnist William Waack ponders the apparent impotence of the two contenders for the White House in the face of the most dire financial crisis in decades.
“Even if the details of this government salvation end up being approved by consensus (and the markets, at this moment [Monday], showed that they didn’t believe it would be), it is impossible to run away from the essential point: the next American president will have to save a lot and spend little (forget the promise of tax cuts that were even made - even by Obama himself).
“Neither of the two seem willing to admit that he’ll be obliged to demand sacrifices from the people - and after a very hard period - will have to ask for even more sacrifices. … it will be up to them to display the kind of political leadership that has been so rare historically. The classic example of this comes from their own country. After the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt went down in history as the president who managed to combine long-term vision with short-term political expediency. Obama and McCain are confronting exactly the same challenge. ”
You can buy their great CDs here (I have quite a few). Unlike left and right talk radio who only deride one side, the Capitol Steps poke fun at them all.
September 15th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
In just about a half an hour, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report return from a week long hiatus after their hilarious Indecision 2008 convention coverage. While they were on break, I took the opportunity to speak about that coverage with Dr. Robert J. Thompson, Professor of Television and Popular Culture and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University:
How do you think they did with the convention coverage?
I have to say it again and I’ve said it a hundred times before that these shows are becoming an important part of our civic conversation. I TiVoed all these different approaches to these conventions and they’d have the speeches and then these long round table discussions afterwards and then I would watch what The Daily Show was doing and not only has it been really, really funny – I think some of the best American humor that’s being churned out in any medium right now – but at the same time it is spot on analysis. It’s rude sometimes as comedy is and not necessarily fair and balanced but the way they get these clips together and show us the primary sources, it may not be journalism but it certainly is good analysis.
Do you think Jon Stewart has any bias toward one side or the other?
Well I think the first bias of any comedian is the bias against anyone in authority because they’re the most fun to skewer. And, certainly, the comics loved going after Bill Clinton. He was every comedian’s dream come true. I’ve always said when comics die and goes to heaven Bill Clinton will still be president up there. And certainly one gets the sense listening to Jon Stewart over time that there’s certainly no love lost between him and the Bush administration. One gets the sense that people coming from the Right have done much better on talk shows on radio and people coming from Left of center have done better in the comedy realm. He’s surely got political opinions though if Obama wins I imagine that The Daily Show is going to have great fun making fun of him as well..
The problem with Barack Obama has been that he gives you so little to work with. He’s the reverse of Bill Clinton. He’s every comic’s worse nightmare. At least Jimmy Carter had a peanut farm. We could do something with that. Gerald Ford fell down a lot. But Barack Obama… some comics may have a bias against him because he’s harder to make fun of. But no president is in office very long before the comics find something to latch on to. Read the rest of this entry »
One thing that the selection of Sarah Palin shows about John McCain, is that in terms of sheer inventiveness, he is at least Obama’s equal. This is the thesis of Le Figaro’s chief editorial writer Pierre Rousselin.
“The flood of revelations, intended to harm the suddenly praised unknown, has in fact served the Republican ticket by mobilizing his supporters, who once more are convinced they are being targeted by the left-wing media. One wonders, moreover, if this sequence of criticism wasn’t deliberately orchestrated by Republican strategists.”
“The Republicans succeeded in doing what was most important: they are campaigning as if George W. Bush never existed and have seized the theme of change that Barack Obama had confiscated for his own benefit and on which he had brilliantly based his entire campaign.”
Exasperation over the standard of debate in the U.S presidential race is definitely global, and in ‘Old Europe,’ this exasperation centers on how sex and religion insert themselves into a debate that ought to be about better public policy.
“What I don’t understand is all the fuss about Sarah Palin. She, the clueless, internationally inexperienced Governor of the pygmy state of Alaska has been chosen by John McCain to be the Vice President of the United States, and all the media can get animated over is the fact that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is expecting a child?”
“Why should I be at all interested in their husbands or wives, their mothers or children?
What does it matter if Palin’s husband was driving drunk, if her teenage daughter’s sex is good or bad, or whether Barrack Obama’s stepfather taught him to box in Indonesia? Why during an out-sized mass-gathering in Denver, do I have to witness Obama’s two little daughters standing in the spotlight waving like little dolls whose batteries are about to run out? Why should whether John McCain and his wife Cindy are happy be relevant?
“As far as I’m concerned, Sarah Palin’s children might not have sex at all, John McCain could be single and Obama’s children could play at home with their slot cars. They could all be bad husbands or wives, frequent brothels and subsequently lie to their families about it.”
September 9th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
Wired’s Threat Level brings word of an ambitious new nonprofit organization. Remix America is headed by Emmy Award-winning comedy television writer Fred Graver, and was co-founded with Norman Lear.
Their goal is to use mashups to engage an online audience in political ideas and expression. And, through a licensing arrangement with Kaltura for an online video editing tool, they provide the means to do it:
“I thought to myself: Gee, there’s a whole culture out there, but nowhere for them to go except YouTube, it’s all a bit amorphous,” Graver says.
Wouldn’t it be cool too, both he and Lear thought, if the remixers’ multimedia opinions could be put in the context of the big ideas that have driven American political trends and history?
To that end, Remix America has uploaded hundreds of hours worth of archival footage of landmark political speeches and moments in American history. That footage is accessible on the site under “The American Playlist,” which Graver says contains “200 plus expressions of the “Great American Ideals — everything from the Declaration of Independence to readings of the Gettysburg Address, speeches from Franklin Delano Roosevelt and video after the 1950s.”
The Threat Level Challenge:
Threat Levelchallenges you to share your 2008 presidential campaign perspective as expressed through a mashup, using the online editing tool provided by Remix America. The site’s managers have uploaded hours and hours of convention footage, but they’ve also enabled users to upload footage from other sources. Graver has created an online video tutorial that gives you a quickie tour of the site’s functionality. And here’s the site’s Terms of Service (if you were wondering.) All content uploaded to the site is automatically licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license.
Threat Level has created a Reddit widget that enables you to submit your mashups and to vote on each others’ submissions. Check it out!
“Attack a woman like Palin, and the result is to make her a victim of machismo, sexism, prejudice, etc. Turn your back to her and you’ll be left with a nice bite on your rear end. And Obama’s must be hurting now: Palin attacked him in a way that not even Hillary Clinton had the audacity to do. She didn’t even spare Obama’s wife Michelle.”
“Irony, sarcasm and good humor are components of a well-organized speech to a chosen public when one is playing at home (as is the case for the Republican convention). It’s difficult to calculate how well Palin will be able handle the pace of the next nine weeks, especially when she’s no longer a novelty. The election isn’t lost for the Democrats, but Obama-Biden is still far from a guaranteed victory on Nov. 4.”
September 6th, 2008 By JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor
The Comedy Central gang had fodder for a terrific week. As a freshly-minted small town guy, I’ll start with their “best news team on the planet” finding out what small town values really mean at the RNC:
He has been hiding in the shadows long enough and, if he accepts the nomination, John McCain must fill in the blanks of an unexamined life for the American people.
Once and for all, he must tell us whether or not he wore a uniform and for how long? What about those rumors that he flew a plane, was shot down and incarcerated in some kind of foreign detention facility?
Reticence is an admirable virtue, but this strong-silent-man stuff deprives voters of a window into his soul. Is he really the mild-mannered man we have been led to believe or does he occasionally lose control and speak above an amiable whisper?
(I have quite a few). Unlike left and right talk radio who only deride one side, the Capitol Steps poke fun at them all.
