The Kicker

The New York Observer, discussing Carl Cameron’s nabbing of a Palin interview, keeps a “tally of correspondents/anchors from each network who have interviewed Governor Palin so far”: Fox News: 2 ABC News: 1 CBS News: 1 CNN: 0 NBC News: 0 MSNBC: 0 PBS: 0

Everyone was wondering: Now that we’ve entered the PC (post-Couric) era of Campaign 2008, who was going to be the next person to score an interview with Sarah Palin–the woman who’s quickly becoming the J.D. Salinger of presidential politics? Well, today, we have our answer: The next tete-a-tete with the reclusive elusive vice presidential candidate […]

Our economy? It’s sagging. What does that mean? What now? Well, some things are going to grow and some things are going to shrink. We’re going to see less of some things and more of others. For example, from the past week: “Tent cities spread in U.S. as economy sags,” CBS News Some things will […]

Okay, so we’ve all done the Sarah Palin/Tina Fey double-take. But, you know, in passing. And, upon scrutiny, we’ve realized the mistake. Since the ladies look similar, after all, not identical. But our francophone neighbors to the north may be a little less discerning in their differentiation (it’s not their potential Heartbeat Away, after all). […]

So the financial bailout bill–“larded up,” the Boston Globe‘s Jay Fitzgerald noted, “with legislative sweeteners, such as tax breaks for bicycle commuters, toy arrows and Caribbean rum makers”–has been passed by the House. Proof of, among other things, the fact that Captain Morgan always wins.

In light of last night’s colossally-cliché-but-apparently-somehow-instructive Focus Groups Featuring Undecided Voters (on CNN, Soledad O’Brien chatted with elusive undecideds in Ohio; on Fox, Frank Luntz did the same in St. Louis), I couldn’t help but recall Samantha Bee’s Daily Show send-up of the cloying tradition…from the 2004 campaign. As are most of the show’s archival […]

As I type this, Annie Leibovitz, the brilliant/hackneyed/overexposed/racy/dull celebrity photographer, is hovering over the Manhattan skyline, in a helicopter, capturing images of the still-brand-new New York Times Building. The photos, if past experience is any indication, will likely be racist or vaguely suggestive of incest or otherwise somehow scandalous. So, while we’re not quite sure […]

Per the television transcript database TVEyes, here are the number of times the phrase “talking points” has been used in TV news and commentary over the past six days: Sunday: 20Monday: 83Tuesday: 58Wednesday: 20Thursday: 183 Friday, as of 10:30 a.m.: 124 Update: Friday, as of 4:30 p.m.: 147 times

Political pundits–and columnists, in particular–are torn, in some ways, between the past and future. They make their judgments, on the one hand, based on history–prior experience, both individual and collective–but also based on their assessments of what tomorrow will bring. The two concerns are connected, to be sure. But at a certain point, and particularly […]

Stephen Colbert takes on the McCain campaign’s recent attempt to “pre-report” last week’s presidential debate–“He was getting his version of the story out before the press could mangle it with what happened“–and suggests that other public figures may want to follow suit:

On yesterday’s pre-debate episode of Hardball, Chris Matthews and his favorite Damsel Duo, Salon’s Joan Walsh and IWF president Michelle Bernard–he brings them on to talk about women’s issues-related stuff; the former skews liberal, and the latter, conservative–discussed the precarious gender dynamic that was to be a part of last night’s debate. Matthews, taking advantage […]

Palin really appreciates having the ability to speak with people “without the filter of the mainstream media telling viewers what they’ve just heard.” So I guess Palin would like you all to turn off your televisions before the post-shows start. Not a terrible idea.

Is Biden’s Supreme Court answer meant to bring something else up in voters’ minds?

Gwen picks up where The Hill left off, and asks if the VP’s office is in the Executive branch or the Legislative branch. Palin either doesn’t know what she actually thinks about this, or doesn’t want to say. And Gwen didn’t push twice to find out. Which is too bad. But it’s great that Ifill […]