Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
The Palin-for-President Fixation
November 24, 2009 02:11 PMWe’ve probably devoted too many pixels already to arguing that the national political media is paying more attention to Sarah Palin than is warranted. But the press can’t break its Palin fixation, and since the latest argument that we need... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln…
November 23, 2009 03:42 PMWhat does Blanche Lincoln want, and why does she want it? The question is, at the moment, more consequential than it might normally be. As a member of the small, happy band of moderate Democrats who control the fate of... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Well, It May Deserve an Award in Something
November 20, 2009 02:12 PMMemo to Sean Hannity, who is calling for James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Andrew Breitbart to get a “journalism award” for their video sting of ACORN: Generally, when in possession of what one believes to be newsworthy information, the journalistic... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Let’s Get this Party Organized
November 20, 2009 11:44 AMIn Politico today, Ken Vogel has a very interesting and worthwhile article about the emerging internal conflicts—both philosophical and personal—within the Tea Party movement. Vogel writes: The grass-roots activists powering the movement have become increasingly divided on core... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Now a Little Bit Less Excluded
November 20, 2009 09:37 AMToday’s New York Times features a front-page news analysis by Kevin Sack about the controversy sparked by the new cancer screening guidelines. The article closes with this graf: “It’s going to take time, there’s no doubt about it,”... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Everybody’s On Edge
November 20, 2009 08:00 AMI think half the news sites I read have lately been running a highly irritating ad for The Economist, which covers the entire screen when you click on a link. I usually skip the thing as fast as I can,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Popular Diplomacy
November 19, 2009 04:52 PMAs media narratives go, this whole “Barack Obama is a popular individual and a gifted speaker with a compelling personal story, but doesn’t automatically get everything he wants!” thing is getting awfully old, awfully fast. The theme popped up months... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Thoughts on the Gelman/Silver Op-Ed
November 19, 2009 02:24 PMAs anyone who’s read my writing can probably tell, I think political journalism should pay more attention to what political scientists have to say. So I was heartened to see that today’s New York Times includes an op-ed... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Kudos to Times on Chamber Membership
November 19, 2009 11:05 AMThe lead story in today’s special “Business of Green” section in The New York Times is about the controversy over the Chamber of Commerce’s stance on climate change. Reporter John M. Broder notes that some high-profile members have... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Collins Outlines the Columnist’s Credo
November 19, 2009 10:24 AMGail Collins owns up to a writer's truth today: I have never believed that everything happens for a reason. But I do feel very strongly that everything happens so that it can be turned into a column. The rest--which has... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Brooks vs. Brooks on ‘Fiscal Puritanism’
November 17, 2009 02:21 PMDavid Brooks, in his column today, writes: “The standard thing these days is for Americans to scold each other for our profligacy, to urge fiscal Puritanism. But it’s not clear Americans have ever really been self-disciplined.” That sort... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Straying from the Facts
November 17, 2009 01:33 PMOver the weekend, there was a bit of a dust-up between the Associated Press, Sarah Palin, and their respective supporters over the AP’s “fact check” of Palin’s campaign memoir, Going Rogue. Much of the discussion focused on the AP’s decision... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
What Money Can’t Buy
November 17, 2009 08:00 AMRobert Pear’s excellent story in Sunday’s New York Times, about how lobbyists framed the health care debate in Congress, probably made the front page because of its “smoking gun” quality. Pear, having noticed that House members from both... Continue reading
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The Kicker
New Palin Polling Data from the Post
November 16, 2009 10:38 AMApropos of my Friday piece on Sarah Palin, a new Washington Post poll finds her drawing somewhat stronger support among Republicans than the Gallup poll I mentioned. Full data seems not to be available to the public yet,... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Fact-checking Bra-Burning, and Related Thoughts
November 15, 2009 11:53 AMKudos to Jessica Valenti for setting interviewer Deborah Solomon straight on a point of fact in a Q&A in this week’s New York Times Magazine (and to the magazine, which heavily edits these conversations, for including this exchange):... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Sarah Palin: Just Not That Popular
November 13, 2009 02:24 PMThe Wall Street Journal’s editorial page takes a break from running Sarah Palin-authored op-eds today and instead runs a piece by one of her biggest journalistic supporters, Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard. It is, as Brendan Nyhan... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Government Programs Don’t Always Increase the Deficit
November 13, 2009 11:50 AMThe federal budget deficit, it seems, is back on the White House’s agenda. David Brooks, in his column today, asserted in passing that once (if?) health care reform passes, President Obama will "pick some fights with his own... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Lou Dobbs and Cesar Chavez, Back in the Day
November 12, 2009 03:59 PMIn the wake of Lou Dobbs’s abrupt resignation from CNN, there’s been plenty of speculation about what he’ll do next: Jump to Fox? Run for president? Indulge his love of outer space? But the... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Response, Arab and American, to the NYT’s Blackwater Story
November 11, 2009 04:38 PMAmong the questions prompted by the New York Times’s latest national-security scoop—this one alleging that executives at the private security firm Blackwater approved a plan to bribe Iraqi officials in the wake of a 2007 episode in which... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Organizing Armey
November 11, 2009 03:44 PMI’m late to the party in discussing Michael Sokolove’s profile of Dick Armey in last week’s New York Times Magazine, but for anyone interested in the current state of American politics, it’s really worth a read. Much of... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- The impossibility of tablet-native journalism Why Murdoch’s The Daily didn’t make it
- Anti-paywall dead-enders Why worry about evidence when you can argue against straw men?
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
Behind the News The Media
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The Kicker last updated: Mon 11:37 AM
- Farewell to The Daily
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
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The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
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