Checking in for the latest, we find that, while the Rather Roast still holds its appeal (though the latest Roger Stone tidbit is perhaps more palatable for the lefties), some bloggers have begun to step back from the remains of the CBS BBQ in order to bemoan the state of the media in general.
Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy sadly points out the pickle that the media-consuming public finds itself in, noting that “one can’t double-check everything,” and yet “the same sources that claim to be so trustworthy are, it turns out, often untrustworthy.” He comes to the rather grim conclusion that “We have to learn to live with a world of extraordinarily imperfect information. And that’s a lot more work than assuming that the media (or at least certain media) is highly accurate.”
The Daily Howler was also despairing yesterday over the “slipshod, lazy, incompetent work” of the “mainstream press corps” and the cable pundits’ treatment of the CBS episode as an “outlier.” Elaborating on his thesis of a “fallen press culture,” Daily Howler laments that cable pundits fail to mention the “other bungled stories” of election year, and goes after the “hapless” Chris Matthews for failing to call Pat Buchanan on a “false factual statement.” He concludes with his own dismal pronouncement that gone is “any last chance we may have had for an intelligent campaign discourse,” and informs his readers that “you’re now part of a vacuous nation, a country incapable of conducting real discourse.”
Reeling from this doomsday verdict, we went in search of something to stiffen the upper lip. Whiskey at Captain’s Quarters decided to stick Edwards’ latest speech into the blender and set it on “grate,” chopping up the “Kedwards” four-point plan for Iraq in his blow-by-blow critique. Andrew Sullivan counters that he’s not too pleased with President Bush’s tendency to see Iraq through campaign-tinted glasses and questions his “grip on the situation.” Charles Taylor at Salon doesn’t look fondly upon the “just-kidding smile” that Kerry couples with his Bush jokes, preferring the band Green Day (the act that followed Kerry on Monday’s Letterman show), which “acted as Kerry’s id, saying the things we fantasize … him saying.”
Finally, some gloomy liberal bloggers are all but conceding the coming presidential debates to Bush. Matt Yglesias is not terribly optimistic about Kerry going “mano a mano with average Americans” next to Bush’s “unmatched” rhetorical skills. His doleful conclusion: “People would rather listen to what Bush has to say than to what Kerry has to say.”
Not so, says Ezra Klein at Pandagon: “Four years ago, Bush had to beat himself, he had to prove he wouldn’t drool or piss on the Oval Office furniture. This year, he’s president, a known quantity facing a hardened electorate.” Furthermore, “in a time when voters want serious leaders who demonstrate competence, strength and judgment, Bush’s glib moralizing and self-effacing jokes are not going to save him.”
Looking for actual news about the debates, we abandoned Blogostan and delved into newspapers. Voila! the New York Times was there with the inside story on the hard negotiations that ensued to insure that each candidate will get to pick his own make-up artist before the harsh TV lights shine down.
Now that’s information.
–Susanna Dilliplane
Susanna Dilliplane is a contributor to CJR.