The Kicker

…for this moving, important, and brilliantly written profile of Eugene Allen, a White House butler for thirty-four years who, since Tuesday night, “has even more reason” to carry himself with pride.

The Chicago Tribune estimates that CNN’s ridiculous/awesome/innovative/bizarre/unnecessary election-night holograms cost, in all, between…$300,000 and $400,000. Andrew Orloff estimates that, anyway. Orloff is creative director of Zoic Studios, a Los Angeles firm that, per the Trib, “creates visual effects for TV, movies, commercials and video games.” His take on the hologramification of election night? “It was […]

Slate sums up the end of the presidential race in two minutes:

Presidential pooch Barney does what his owner has probably been tempted to do on several occasions:

Before Rahm Emanuel became Barack Obama’s officially announced chief of staff, I tried to interview him about ballet. A few years ago, I was working as an editor at Dance Teacher magazine and saw Emanuel on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, and I thought he seemed cool. His wikipedia page said that he […]

Chris Matthews might need a refresher course…in Journalism 101. Talking about the Rahm Emanuel rumors with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Rick Stengel, and Lawrence O’Donnell on today’s Morning Joe, Matthews declared that his job as a journalist is “to make this thing work, this new presidency work.” At which Scarborough et al pounced: MATTHEWS: You […]

CabinetStakes, Horror Film Edition. As reported by the Boston Globe, the speculation that John Kerry might join President-Elect Obama’s Cabinet and thus leave his Senate seat up for the taking takes on a distinct Scary Movie vibe: In fact, there has not been an open Senate seat in Massachusetts since 1984, and the result has […]

With the election out of the way, let the Bush administration legacy reporting begin in earnest! From the Associated Press today, “Analysis: Bush foreign policy goals largely unmet:” [Bush’s] goals of democratizing the Middle East and winning worldwide respect for the United States are at best works in progress… Iraq has become less volatile, but […]

“CNN essentially doubled its audience from the 2004 Election night,” drawing 12.3 million viewers Tuesday night. But, of the 65 million people who watched returns “on the main broadcast and cable news networks,” ABC News ranked first with 13.1 million prime-time viewers (per AP, per Nielsen). To the drawing boards for 2012, CNN! You had […]

You’ve probably read (or seen) the newspaper scarcity reports. (Who says print’s dead?) From the San Diego Union-Tribune: Due to the overwhelming demand from last night’s historic election, the Union-Tribune is printing additional newspapers today. Copies will be available early this afternoon at locations such as 7-11, Circle K, AM/PM as well as the front […]

Instead, in Le Monde, this. In part: The first worldwide good news since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 needs more than a pirouette or an amused wink. At this moment – but for how long ? – we can say with far more conviction than on 11 September 2001 : we are […]

Yesterday morning after voting in Wasilla, Gov. Palin expressed a desire “to help improve” journalism because of her “great respect” for the field. And last night, from the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Palin again offered to help. Fox News showed footage this morning of Palin saying: I have such great respect for the role of […]

The Obamas are getting a puppy. And already, the questions are flying. Obama made the announcement during his victory speech last night, saying, “Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House,” but surprisingly “he did not go into details […]

Among urgent post-election concerns, Politico explores, “Can The Daily Show Survive Barack Obama?” With Obama’s victory, the country was about to change, and so too was the nature of the comedy. For the past eight years, Stewart and Colbert have gorged themselves on the carcass of the Bush administration and the disintegrated Republican Party…. Said […]