Author Archive
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The Kicker
EXUBERANT HEADLINE! Buzzkill Lede
May 21, 2008 02:01 PMThe sound of the lede bursting the headline's bubble: Kentucky Enquirer headline: "CLINTONS' VISITS PAY OFF AS HILLARY ROLLS IN KY." Pay off, you say? The story's buzzkill of a lede (it's AP copy-- emphasis mine): "Hillary Clinton... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Cartoon Candidates
May 21, 2008 11:41 AMLast night MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, to his own visible satisfaction, added to last week's colorful characterizations of Camp Clinton on MSNBC: OLBERMANN: I have often wondered if we have not seen a Democratic primary that rather resembles one of... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Lynn Sweet, The “Specialist”
May 21, 2008 09:51 AMThe New York Observer profiles Lynn Sweet, the Chicago Sun-Times' Washington bureau chief and Obama campaign reporter. Says Sweet: “I don’t write a story saying how Obama came out of the rough-and-tumble of Chicago politics,” she said, quietly and... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Dowd Hears Voices
May 21, 2008 08:46 AMToday, the New York Times' Maureen Dowd fancies herself a fly on the wall, drafting "The Last Debate" between Sen. Obama ("Twiggy," "Skeletor," "Bones," "Senor Appeaser") and Sen. Clinton ("Sweetie," "Sister"). The dialogue between Dowd's caricature-characters reads, shocker, like... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Clinton and the “Cloak of Invisibility”
May 21, 2008 08:33 AMHow a TV critic comes to the conclusion that it's all but over for Hillary Clinton: While Sen. Obama's and Sen. McCain's statements about Sen. Ted Kennedy's condition "were replayed over and over" on TV into yesterday evening, Alessandra Stanley... Continue reading
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The Kicker
“Just This Great Distraction”
May 20, 2008 02:52 PMFrom tonight's Nightline story on US Weekly ("Stars, Skin, Scandal: Secrets of US Weekly"): "There was a lot of depressing news out there, obviously, beginning with 9/11 and then a prolonged involvement in Iraq and a presidency that a lot... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Today’s “Reckoning”
May 20, 2008 10:03 AMMore "reckoning" on this morning's Today Show ("The Gender Factor: Did being a woman hurt Clinton?") in which another one of those pleasingly simple (TV-friendly!) either/or's is presented by host Meredith Vieira (and shot down by her guests): Vieira:... Continue reading
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The Kicker
CNN Does=Politics! (Domestic Politics, At Least)
May 20, 2008 09:49 AMAccording to the new Campaign Coverage Index by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, last week "cable news devoted 74% of airtime to the election despite significant breaking events such as the Chinese earthquake and ongoing coverage of the... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Never Met a Poll He Didn’t…
May 20, 2008 08:28 AMHate? I thought the campaign press loved polls -- those snapshots from which all sorts of alarming conclusions may be drawn and discussed. Thank you, Chuck Todd ("Chuckie T"), for bringing a voice of reason to the discussion of one... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The “Reckoning”
May 19, 2008 12:21 PMJodi Kantor writes in today's New York Times: Along with the usual post-mortems about strategy, message and money, [and, I'd add, the dishing/blame-dodging on all of the above by Clinton staffers offered anonymity in The... Continue reading
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The Kicker
It Pains McCain to Prevaricate?
May 19, 2008 11:05 AMFrom Matt Bai's New York Times magazine cover story on John McCain: John McCain has never been very good at political artifice. Like every politician I've known, McCain will sometimes surrender to the cheap ploy or prevarication when the... Continue reading
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The Kicker
CNN’s Declaration of Independence
May 19, 2008 08:31 AMThis CNN ad campaign was new to me (I saw it over the weekend on NY1). (VOICEOVER) Every American is an independent thinker. No matter your party. No matter your candidate. Get the facts from the only news channel... Continue reading
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The Kicker
People? Perception!
May 15, 2008 10:00 AMWhat really matters (some version of which can be found in most of the Edwards Endorses Obama coverage): ``[John ]Edwards is a prominent Democrat who speaks on behalf of lunch bucket-carrying, hard hat-wearing, Dunkin' Donut-eating Democrats,'' said Chris... Continue reading
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The Kicker
John Denver? John Edwards!
May 15, 2008 09:37 AMTV Newser rounds up the networks' treatment of the Edwards Endorses Obama Rally last night. ABC News "spent nearly six minutes" on the event, all told (Charlie Gibson: "Timed for maximum exposure. Timed to coincide with the evening... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Press: Press McCain On…
May 15, 2008 08:34 AMGive what the Boston Phoenix's Adam Reilly sees as John McCain's "well-documented knack for charming the press into submission," Reilly offers the campaign press a " handy list of 10 McCain stories worth pursuing over the next few months."... Continue reading
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The Kicker
What 7.9 Magnitude Looks Like
May 14, 2008 03:02 PMReuters (with help from stringers) puts images to the phrase China's "deadliest earthquake in decades." Continue reading
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The Kicker
And I Swear
May 14, 2008 12:53 PMWhat is it with TV anchors and the f-bomb? Bill O'Reilly dropped it (while helming Inside Edition). Last night, "in solidarity with you, Bill," Stephen Colbert revealed that he did much the same (back in his mid-day local... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Bored Reporters Play for Their Base (Each Other)
May 14, 2008 11:01 AMFrom Dana Milbank in today's Washington Post: If there is importance in the results of the primary in West Virginia, the press corps isn't letting on. During the security sweep at Dulles, some play Hacky Sack with a cigarette... Continue reading
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The Kicker
How Do You Top “Practically Lactating?”
May 14, 2008 10:28 AMTo quote a colleague: "The does-the-candidate-bowl-and-drink- beer-in-a-masculine-seeming-way? approach to political punditry is [Maureeen Dowd's] one move—never mind that it’s been shown, as clearly as possible, to be facile and destructive. But really, what does that matter when you’ve... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Headline Here, Headline There
May 14, 2008 09:45 AMHeadline on the front page of today's Charleston (WV) Gazette (print edition): HILLARY RACKS UP BIG WIN; Observers Still See Obama as Nominee ("observers" becomes "most observers" in the body of the story.) And, headline on the front page... Continue reading
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