Back in February, Saturday Night did a peppery parody of a CNN televised debate in which it painted the press as fawning all over Democratic Senator Barack Obama and dismissing and being hard on Senator Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s campaign and Clinton herself pointed to that parody in their argument that the press was going easy on Obama and part of “Obamanamia” and hadn’t been vetting or challenging him.

Shortly after that, what many believe was Obama’s “free” ride indeed ended — and some pundits attributed it to the SNL sketch and the Clinton campaigns use of it as an example of how it wasn’t only them that had this perception of the press’ behavior.

Obama supporters charged SNL was repeatedly biased in its parodies in favor of Clinton and skewering their candidate — and Dan Abrams on MSNBC noted in a segment that political supporters were going haywire…and that SNL was a political candidate equal offender (click on the link since he includes various excerpts).

The Clinton campaign loved SNL — but it’s likely the love affair is over now with last night’s latest parody which at times seems downright brutal.

[Video is after the jump below]
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The repercussions of a recent New York Times article about how the Pentagon manipulated the American media have begun to be felt in the foreign press.

Serge Truffaut writes for Montreal’s Le Devoir,

“The old adage that “the first casualty of war is truth” is one to which the Pentagon has stuck to with unheard of will, strength, and consistency. Thanks to the Benedictine work a journalist from The New York Times - and there is no better word to describe it- we now know that the U.S. executive has applied itself to building a propaganda machine so powerful, that it highlights the disdain that Bush and company feed on with respect Read the rest of this entry »

I’m here in the media filing center. The Ohio Democratic Party top dogs have given an overview that I didn’t really hear because I was busy figuring out where I am, uploading photos and saying hello to other press. There is supposedly going to be over 500 press here.

In Ohio, it’s 3:30pm EST. I will be blogging through until about 7:30 or so, when I have to go into the audience - I won a ticket to the debate through a lottery, as well as was awarded credentials. MANY bloggers are here and it’s great. I’ve got some video and will be posting that too.

Here are some photos, after the flip. Have questions about what it’s like and what’s happening here? Leave them in the comments and I’ll try let you know! Read the rest of this entry »

The e-mails, phone calls - robo and live, invites and blogs are buzzing through every inch of available space, cyber and otherwise, in Ohio right now. In the last two hours alone I’ve received information about Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to the Jewish community in Northeast Ohio, I was called by a live (as opposed to recorded) Hillary Clinton supporter about attending a rally tomorrow at a local high school and I’m gathering information for a fellow blogger coming into Cincinnati soon, from California, who may drop in on some campaign events.

And there’s still 19 days before Ohio’s primary on March 4.

For those who are curious, the NBC debate - the one that seemed to be in jeopardy because of MSNBC’s David Shuster “pimped out” comment regarding Chelsea Clinton’s activities on behalf of her mother’s campaign - will occur. Tickets are being issued by lottery to Cleveland State University students only, but students, faculty and staff can volunteer. Hardball will be broadcasting all day from an adjacent location with a different sign-up for tickets process, and information on press credentials has yet to be released.

Here are on the ground reports by Ohioans about the campaign events so far:

Scott Piepho reviews Chelsea speaking to students at the University of Akron, 2/14 (with photos)

Annie at The Chief Source describes the same event (with photos)

Eric Vessels gives his account of the Obama organizational meeting in Columbus last night (2/13) (with photos)

Jen at Democratic Underground describes the Obama organizational event in Cincinnati, 2/13

Man with the Muck-rake was at the Obama HQ opening event in Toledo, also on 2/13

For a population that was convinced as recently as the first week of January that Ohio wouldn’t make a difference, we are mostly very glad that we didn’t kowtow and change our primary date.

Major hattip to Holly in Cincinnati for the news from The Trail:

Obama and Clinton will face off on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Cleveland State University, in a debated hosted by NBC News and WKYC, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland. Although terms haven’t been settled, Obama aides said the candidates would also meet in Texas, which votes the same day as Ohio, March 4.

With probably what will be an enormous amount of luck, Ms. Holly and I would absolutely love to bring TMV a live-blog of the debate from CSU itself. I live just a few miles away and will be working it (getting in somehow, that is). If anyone wants to help us get it for you live, let us know.

I come from a long line of old country storytellers; the Magyarok and the meztisos call us, taltos or cantadoras…

In our ethnic family, there’s an old, old story told by our grandmothers about the old bullfrog who tries to fool others into thinking he is naive instead of cunning and deliberate…

“Once there was a large old bullfrog, all spotted with bald forehead and bags under his eyes. This bullfrog really liked to eat mice most of all. But, most mice were too smart to come near him, with his big mouth and long tongue, and all.

“Thus, the old bullfrog had to be discontent to spend his days snapping bugs out of the air, and casting his mouth-net for minnows.

“But, one day, a furry fat mouse with little black eyes and thin white paws found its way to the water’s edge. As soon as the old bullfrog spied him, he said in a voice of innocence and whine…

“”Ah dear mouse, I have heard there is across this deep water, a feast of honor and endless treats awaiting both mice and bullfrogs, if only I can bring a mouse across with me. Consider the waiting feast, dear mouse, for surely if we remain as we are, we must both languish in poverty, eating whatever small dry things we can find.”

“The mouse was wary, but the bullfrog assured he would give the mouse a ride across the deep water ’so the mouse would be safe.’ “I am a strong and tested swimmer,” bragged the old bullfrog…

“”Just to make sure you are safe dear mouse,” the bullfrog continued, “I will tie one of your legs to my legs ’so you wont ‘go astray, or ‘get lost.’”

“And thus, the naive mouse assented to be taken across the water. And the old bullfrog bound one of the mouse’s slender legs to his fatter green leg.

“However, once in the water, the old bullfrog in all his cunning, dove down deep, dragging the mouse with him. The mouse struggled, then drowned.

“The old bullfrog was content to have bagged his prey.

“Thus, he surfaced with the now dead mouse still attached to his leg.

“But for all the bullfrog’s years in the swamp, he still did not realize that there is always a greater consciousness, a greater eye watching… from overhead… one who is wiser, one who sees every small motive and movement.

“So now, from the sky, a black shadow dove and raced across the green water, and suddenly Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a fantastic piece by Paul Waldman at The American Prospect on Tim Russert — who he is, what he stands for, and how the insider media culture he embodies is harming not just political discourse in America but America’s very political process. Make sure to read the entire piece, but here are a few key passages:

Last month, near the end of the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, moderator Tim Russert — known as “Washington’s toughest interviewer” and perhaps the most influential journalist in America — had one last chance to pin the candidates down with his legendary common sense, persistence, and no-bull style. This is what he asked, first to Barack Obama:

“There’s been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values. I want to ask you a simple question. Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?”

When Obama finished his answer, Russert said to the other candidates, “I want to give everyone a chance in this. You just take 10 seconds.” Predictable banality ensued. A foreign visitor unfamiliar with our presidential campaigns might have scratched her head and said, “This is how you decide who will lead your country?”

Indeed it is, because the process is controlled by Tim Russert and people like him. Russert’s Bible question encapsulates everything wrong with him, and with our political coverage more generally. It seeks to make candidates look bad rather than finding out something important about them (if you want to explore a candidate’s religious beliefs, you don’t do it in pop-quiz form and give them just ten seconds to answer). It substitutes the personal anecdote for the policy position, the sound-bite for the substantive answer. It distills the debate into a series of allegedly symbolic, supposedly meaningful moments that can be replayed.

This type of debate question is not about what the candidate believes and would actually do in office, but about how clever the moderator is for cornering the candidate. And above all, it takes a genuinely relevant matter (a candidate’s view of the universe) and crams it through a channel by which the thoughtful candidate will be pilloried and the shallow, pandering, overly rehearsed candidate will garner praise.

Russert claims — and claims repeatedly, ad nauseam — that he speaks for “Buffalo,” the heartland, the working class, speaking truth to power, demanding answers from those in power, demanding on behalf of the people, Buffalo’s man in Washington, at the Georgetown cocktail parties, tearing down the Establishment from within, a horse full of Greeks holding Troy at bay, ready and eager to strike, whenever necessary.
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