Greg Mitchell on media, politics, film, music, TV, comedy and more. "Not here, not here the darkness, in this twittering world." -- T.S. Eliot
Friday, February 29, 2008
Obama answers Hillary's scare ad
New Obama music video: cool or...
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White House aide is multiple plagiarist: Now he has quit

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003718053
Amazing new Hillary scare ad
Bill Buckley vs. Gore Vidal, November 1968
Thursday, February 28, 2008
When Wolfowitz told us it would be easy

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003717763
"So Wrong" here at last
The initial reviews are arriving, with Kirkus Reviews saying that it is "worthy of shelving alongside the best of the Iraq books to date." Eason Jordan at his Iraqslogger site called it "must-reading." My previous books include two for Random House on famous U.S. political campaigns and two books with Robert Jay Lifton, including Hiroshima in America. Here are early comments on the new book:
"Greg Mitchell has given us a razor-sharp critique of how the media and the government connived in one of the great blunders of American foreign policy. Every aspiring journalist, every veteran, every pundit—and every citizen who cares about the difference between illusion and reality, propaganda and the truth, and looks to the press to help keep them separate—should read this book. Twice."
— Bill Moyers
"With the tragic war in Iraq dragging on, and the drumbeat for new conflicts growing louder, this is more than a five-year history of the biggest foreign policy debacle of our times—it's a cautionary tale that is as relevant as this morning's headlines. Read it and weep; read it and get enraged; read it and make sure it doesn't happen again."
— Arianna Huffington
"Anyone who cares about the integrity of the American media should read this book. Greg Mitchell asks tough questions about the Iraq war that should have been asked long ago, in a poignant, patriotic, and thoughtful dissection of our war in Iraq. Mitchell names names and places blame on those who’ve blundered. Examining the most complex issue of our time, he connects the dots like no one else has."
— Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America and author of Chasing Ghosts
“The profound failure of the American press with regard to the Iraq War may very well be the most significant political story of this generation. Greg Mitchell has established himself as one of our country's most perceptive media critics, and here he provides invaluable insight into how massive journalistic failures enabled the greatest strategic disaster in the nation's history.”
— Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com writer and author of A Tragic Legacy and How Would a Patriot Act?
"In war truth is too often the first casualty, and it is not just a President or a Secretary of Defense or assorted official spokesmen who do the killing. Our brothers and sisters in the media also participate in the execution. Greg Mitchell has taken that as his lesson and in so doing has done a service to future generations in our business."
--Joseph L. Galloway, military reporter and co-author, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young
Bill Maher's favorite rightwinger makes fool of himself again
How not to strangle a cat....

"We published a story Wednesday that contained a terrible mistake," Davy's correction began, then later added, "…two of our editors inserted an error into the account that fundamentally mischaracterized a press conference attended by Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas, one of the law's co-authors....After conducting an internal investigation, I believe that our editors were not being malicious, furthering some political agenda, or expressing ill will toward Cardenas or anyone else," Davy noted. "Instead, I have concluded that our mistake flowed from a deeply misguided joke that made its way into print. Still, there is nothing more important than running a newspaper that our readers can trust. We have fired the editor who initiated the unfortunate 'joke.' And we have suspended a second editor who failed to keep the error out of print."
Shocker: Study finds 1 in 99 American adults in prison
www.nytimes.com
Coming tomorrow in 'Time' magazine: Obama cover -- and advice to Nader
Stein offers Nader this idea: "Apologize like crazy. I suggested that he adopt the slogan, ‘My bad!’ and produce campaign buttons with his head on Urkel’s body, saying DID I DO THAT?”
'New' Abu Ghraib photos posted

www.wired.com
He was a Friedman in Paris...
Doubting Thomas
Leaning back in his leather chair, often looking up at the ceiling, Thomas takes it all in, but he never joins in."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Russert: Attack dog barking mad?
Colbert on Obama photo
I have returned
No posting here until late tonight....
Bill Buckley, conservative icon, dies
To Zell and back

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The latest "nonhostile" death in Iraq
Final debate post (until October) (please)

The first reporter to really probe wounded in Iraq
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003715679
Must be over 18 to read this...
Handicapping the Pulitzer race...
http://www.editorandpublisher.com
Now smear this!
http://www.attytood.com
The Dodd couple
Monday, February 25, 2008
Pre-Oscar bashing
Congress throwing heat?
Shocker: Two new national polls put Obama far ahead

Karl Rove denies his role in Alabama scandal
Ben Affleck is so gay
Lawrence of Arabia (yes, that one) on British in Iraq
Thank god the strike is over and comedy writers have returned!
"But Obama chose to present his flag-pin removal as a principled gesture. 'You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.' Leave aside the claim that 'speaking out on issues' constitutes true patriotism. What’s striking is that Obama couldn’t resist a grandiose explanation."
Lowest blow yet in campaign?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Oscar winner 'Taxi to Dark Side'
Oscar fun: 'Once' more for good luck
Springsteen and Colbert fans unite!

http://www.nofactzone.net/?p=3244#comment-256414
http://www.backstreets.com/news.html
McCain able -- to avoid special interest links?
My new piece on reporting in Iraq
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003714736
Nader or nadir? Ralph announces bid for president
Sunday transcendence
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Slate links Hillary to....Reese Witherspoon?
Vedder good: Antiwar soundtrack coming
The album was put together by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who composed the first single, "No War," for the film. Pearl Jam's live version of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" is also on board. Springsteen contributed "Devils & Dust," and Neil Young "The Restless Consumer," in which he sings over and over, "don't need no more lies." Other tracks come from, among others, Tori Amos, Public Enemy, and Talib Kweli & Cornel West. Here's the Neil Young song:
Be kind....don't 'Rewind'
'NYT' and McCain story: This ombud's for you
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/24pubed.html?hp
Will 'Once' be enough?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/fashion/24nite.html?_r=1&ex=1361509200&en=dd5966702b0c3ace&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
In 'calm' Iraq: rockets hit Green Zone, top journo shot
"Separately, the head of the Iraqi Journalists Union was shot and wounded Saturday. Union chief Shihab al-Timimi was attacked by gunmen as he was being driven to an art gallery in Waziriya, near central Baghdad, police and union officials said. He had just left the nearby union headquarters." My man, Steve Earle, "Rich Man's War":
More on Obama and the 'phony soldier'
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/179784.php
Friday, February 22, 2008
The future of Iraq?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/world/middleeast/23basra.html?hp
Straight Talker spoke with forked tongue?

"Paxson said he talked with McCain in his Washington office several weeks before the Arizona Republican wrote the letters to the FCC urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station. Paxson also recalled that his lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, attended the meeting in McCain's office and that Iseman helped arrange the meeting. 'Was Vicki there? Probably,' Paxson said in an interview with The Washington Post today. 'The woman was a professional. She was good. She could get us meetings.'
"The recollection of the now-retired Paxson conflicted with the account provided by McCain about two letters at the center of a controversy about the senator's ties to Iseman, a partner at the lobbying firm of Alcalde & Fay."
Now this is priceless: "McCain attorney Robert Bennett played down the contradiction between the campaign's written answer and Paxson's recollection. 'We understood that he [McCain] did not speak directly with him [Paxson]. Now it appears he did speak to him. What is the difference?' Bennett said."
Only Martin Short and Steve Martin are missing
Adam razed McCain?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/114548
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/from-the-fact-3.html
Oscar picks -- and a Jon Stewart prediction
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/movies/awardsseason/22osca.html
Secret service halts gun checks at Obama rally in...Dallas

"Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on. 'Sure,' said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a 'friendly crowd.'"
And the 'hits' just keep on coming
David Brooks riffs on McCain 'rift'
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Yes surge, no surge, writes Michael Kinsley
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022101555.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
'NYT' suggests McCain going to 'war' with paper
In addition to its main McCain response article on its site, it added tonight the following passages: "Later in the day, one of Mr. McCain’s senior advisers directed strong criticism at The Times in what appeared to be a deliberate campaign strategy to wage a war with the newspaper. Mr. McCain is deeply distrusted by conservatives on several issues, not least because of his rapport with the news media, but he could find common ground with them in attacking a newspaper that many conservatives revile as a left-wing publication. 'It was something that you would see in The National Enquirer, not in The New York Times,' said Steve Schmidt, a former counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney who is now a top campaign adviser to Mr. McCain.
"Mr. Schmidt, in lengthy comments to reporters traveling on Mr. McCain’s campaign plane, said The Times had rushed the article into print so it could beat The New Republic in the publication of an article about the story behind The Times’s investigation of Mr. McCain." The author of that article told E&P today that this was mainly McCain "spin" - he had no idea if his article sparked the Times to do anything.
Do not plagiarize this debate wrapup!

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, in light of the "plagiarism" charges, had some fun comparing Hillary's widely-hailed moment near the end with words her husband used in a debate in 1992.
Bill, ' 92: "The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time." Hill, '08: "You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country."If you really must watch the "change you can xerox" moment, here it is:
'NYT' editor on NPR: no 'gotcha' story

“Yet, according to some people who knew him best, he can be surprisingly careless about his reputation, and that’s what I think this, his relationship with this particular lobbyist illustrates, although I think there’s a lot of other illustrations as well in the piece.” There's a little more at The Page at time.com.
'T' for Texas -- Major poll finds Dems tied for lead
Well, they said they wanted feedback...
Not sure if this means anything but on Wall Street, the Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) ended the day at $19.69, down $1.38 or 6.55%.
Dough! -- McCain making hay off 'NYT' attack

A 'Bunch' of trouble for 'NYT'?
"Simply put, as it's playing out right now, the story was -- probably unintentionally, although who knows -- timed perfectly to help out McCain. Its insinuations of an improper relationship between the powerful senator and Vicki Iseman came too late to hurt McCain with the 'values voters' in the GOP primaries, but at exactly the right time to rally right-wing talk radio against the Times, and thus for a candidate they can now support in November while holding their collective nose." Link:
http://www.attytood.com
'NYT' Editor Keller defends story -- and its timing
"'Ready' means the facts have been nailed down to our satisfaction, the subjects have all been given a full and fair chance to respond, and the reporting has been written up with all the proper context and caveats.
"This story was no exception. It was a long time in the works. It reached my desk late Tuesday afternoon. After a final edit and a routine check by our lawyers, we published it." Defenders of McCain have charged that the Times held the story and only released it once he had the GOP nod wrapped up. A McCain aide has claimed that the paper moved after it learned that the New Republic was about to release a story asserting that the paper was debating what to do with the story.
UPDATE: That Gabriel Sherman piece is now up at www.tnr.com. He concludes: "The publication of the article capped three months of intense internal deliberations at the Times over whether to publish the negative piece and its most explosive charge about the affair. It pitted the reporters investigating the story, who believed they had nailed it, against executive editor Bill Keller, who believed they hadn't. It likely cost the paper one investigative reporter, who decided to leave in frustration. And the Times ended up publishing a piece in which the institutional tensions about just what the story should be are palpable."
Note: Any newcomers here who may be interested in my new book on Iraq and the media, "So Wrong for So Long," go here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003711910
UPDATED: McCain denies 'NYT' claims, Weaver Confirms One Part

Next move: New York Times. McCain's denial today that anyone came to him to warn him off the woman does not square with the Times' sources -- so someone is telling a big lie.
UDPATE Marc Ambinder at TheAtlantic.com reports email from McCain associate Weaver who was quoted in Times story: "The New York Times knew about my meeting with Ms. Iseman and asked me about it and why it occurred. I informed the Times, in a written reply, that Ms. Iseman's comments about having strong ties to John's committee staff, personal staff and to him I felt were harmful and not true. And so I informed her and asked to to stop and desist. The moment I answered the inquiry from the New York Times I sent that answer also to Mark, Steve and Charlie. All of this happened in December. I've wanted John McCain to be president since I first approached him in 1997. I do so today. I love John McCain and I believe the country badly needs him."
UPDATE #2 Who does Rush Limbaugh hate more? The NYT or McCain? He seemed to answer in an email to Politico just now: "The story is not the story. The story is the Drive By media turning on its favorite maverick and trying to take him out. The media picked the GOP's candidate, the NYT endorsed him while they sat on this story, and is now, with utter predictability, trying to destroy him.”
Did 'New Republic' force 'NYT' to go with McCain story?
McCain senior aide Mark Salter told Time: "They did this because the The New Republic was going to run a story that looked back at the infighting there, the Judy Miller-type power struggles -- they decided that they would rather smear McCain than suffer a story that made the New York Times newsroom look bad."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Shocker: 'NY Times' finally unleashes its bombshell McCain/female lobbyist story

UPDATE: McCain campaign calls story a "hit and run smear campaign" -- but while it says he has not violated the ethics of his job it does not specifically deny any romantic link....Also, it is amazing to see them claim, considering his steep involvement in the Keating scandal, that he has "never done favors for special interests or lobbyists."....Will be interesting to see how Rush Limbaugh et al play this tomorrow: Who do they hate more, McCain or the NYT?.... Mark Halperin at his "The Page" at Time.com says insiders are asking: "What, if anything, did the Times not publish that it had?" and "How much will other print organizations follow up?".... The Washington Post is out with its own much slimmer story on the same subject. It carried a Howie Kurtz story last December 21 that covered the original "spiking" of the story....Reportedly Politico and the L.A. Times were also on the story at some point.
Now hear this: rare offer to actually hear me talk -- about Iraq, the media, and new book
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003713424
Bill O'Reilly, lynching and a certain black woman
Cindy McCain: A 'formidable' liability?

Here is an excerpt from a March 3, 2003, article in The New York Times by Melinda Henneberger: "[I]f the public had heard of her at all, it was probably as a result of the 1994 headlines about a federal investigation into her theft of painkillers from a medical charity she ran. Or because of the Keating Five savings and loan scandal a few years earlier, which she was drawn into as well. Today, drug-free since 1993, she looks back on that time in their lives as a moment that 'nearly destroyed both of us.'''....
"And she went through quite a bit. In 1991, her husband was mildly rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising poor judgment in meeting with federal regulators who were investigating Charles Keating Jr., the owner of a failing savings and loan who was also a friend and donor. Mrs. McCain was involved in the matter because she had helped keep her husband's books and could not find receipts showing that they had reimbursed Mr. Keating for flying on his corporate jet to his vacation home in the Bahamas.
"It was under pressure of that scandal, and after back surgery, that she became addicted. And though her drug problem went on for a couple of years, her husband never noticed.
"In the end, it was Mrs. McCain's parents who became worried by her behavior and confronted her. More than a year later, when federal authorities began investigating reports that she had stolen drugs from the charity, the senator finally learned of his wife's addiction -- just before her troubles, too, hit the front page."
Ahoy! Swiftboating of Obama coming?

"By law, the 527 cannot coordinate its activities with the Clinton campaign, although at least one major Clinton donor with direct ties to the campaign said last night that the effort was an open secret among donors. (Update: Per ABC's Jake Tapper, the group is calling itself the "American Leadership Project" and is staffed by several veterans of the Clinton White House.)" The group's first ad in Ohio, however, has a more positive spin:
What happened in Haditha?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Springsteen beat Obama and Hillary to 'Youngstown'
Obama wins, McCain hits him -- preview of the fall?

Obama came on stage in Texas, bumping Hillary off the air in her speech, showing advantage of being top dog. But the election night speeches are now made at rallies, and go on forever -- not the tidy 10 minute celebrations/concessions of the past. So you can't really blame him. McCain wons to wrap things up, blasted Obama, citesd his lack of experience in foreign affairs, and said, “Thank you, Wisconsin, for bringing us to the point when even a superstitious naval aviator can claim with confidence and humility that I will be our party’s nominee for President.” Anyone staying up for the Hawaii results? UPDATE: Obama won there too, by a narrow 76% to 24%, for his 10th in a row. Staggering stat of the night: Democratic turnout in Wisconsin topped GOP by nearly 3-1. Gore and Kerry had carried the state by very slim margins.
Gerth, 'NYT' investigative reporter, joins ProPublica
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712509
Update: Cheeseheads vote -- exits favor Obama?
Meanwhile, here's video of Mr. Bill in his debate with George the First in 1992 arguing that experience only counts for so much -- and making the right judgments is what really matters.
Survey finds most in military say U.S. weaker today
Of the more than 3,400 active and retired officers surveyed, 60 percent say the U.S. military is weaker today than it was five years ago. Asked the reason why, more than half cite the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the pace of troop deployments those conflicts require. Nearly 90 percent of the officers—all of whom hold the rank of major or lieutenant commander and above—say that the war in Iraq has “stretched the U.S. military dangerously thin.” Asked about officials in the U.S. government, 66 percent of the officers say they believe America’s elected leaders are either somewhat or very uninformed about the U.S. military.
Finally, in another troubling finding: When it comes to the use of torture, and what constitutes it, opinions were split. Asked if they agree or disagree with the statement “Torture is never acceptable,” 53 percent of the officers agree and 44 percent disagree.
www.ForeignPolicy.com
Too many pundits, or 'Hee-Haw' covers the campaign

PBS 'Haditha' program on tonight.
Resignation, defeat and suicide
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/19suicide.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Monday, February 18, 2008
Talking Points Memo wins major journalism award
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712141
Putting away some fine Kristol
Of course, the Democrats did have a policy, or several of them (Murtha's and others), all aimed at establishing real benchmarks and beginning a slow withdrawal. Every move was blocked by the president and the GOP, and now we have more troops in Iraq than we did when the Dems took over Congress. Yet Kristol hits them for not putting up or shutting up. But go to the Times site and read the rest. You will get a good chuckle out of it. Kristol is not the new Bill Safire -- he is the new Russell Baker.
The Obama 'plagiarism' kerfuffle
Upset in Wisconsin?
Meanwhile, Rick Hertzberg in The New Yorker offers a scathing appraisal of something we raised last week: That New York Times' misplaced front page story on Obama's youthful drug use. Here's the link:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/02/25/080225taco_talk_hertzberg
Kosovo declares independenece -- with the Universal Anthem
Sunday, February 17, 2008
This should be the official Obama campaign song
Yet another takeoff on the 'Yes We Can' video...
Best Film of the Year (so far)
Michelle, our belle?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/112849/page/1
Sunday transcendence
I will link here, in the same vein, to an article in London's The Guardian today, just the latest hailing Daniel Barenboim's performance of all 32 Beethoven sonatas in that city this month as the musical event of the decade. But as I have noted recently, Barenboim is so much more -- a famous Israeli fighting for compassion for the Palestinians. Here's the link and below that, Michelangeli and Sonata No. 2:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_braund/2008/02/the_artist_as_leader.html
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Putting the "ick" in Ickes

Meanwhile, adding a new chapter in the long history of candidates pandering to voters on gun rights, did you know that Hillary Clinton is a hunter herself? Clinton told an audience in Wisconsin she supported gun rights, two days after a student opened fire on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing five before turning the gun on himself. "I've gone hunting," she said, according to AP. "I know you may not believe it, but it's true. My father taught us to shoot." Clinton told reporters later she had once shot a duck in Arkansas, along with "a lot of tin cans, targets and some skeet."
The Dean's December
"More important, he is demonstrating political smarts that even his critics have to acknowledge."
Music video of the day: 'Totally Gay for the USA'
Happiness, warm gun, 2008 re-make

After high school, we now learn, Steve Kazmierczak's parents sent him to a psychiatric treatment center for teens, where he lived for a full year while getting therapy and medication for what was described as "unruly" behavior. Later he was booted out of the Army for an undisclosed reason. Welcome to America, where former mental patients, still on medication, can walk up to a gun dealers' shop (in a basement or garage) and legally assemble an arsenal.
Here's the latest from the ABC News site: "Law enforcement authorities told ABC News that Kazmierczak had likely planned the assault on the school for at least five days. All four guns involved in the NIU shooting were purchased legally from the same Champaign, Ill., gun dealer, ABC News has learned. The Remington shotgun and the Glock 9 mm were purchased Feb. 9, 2008. The Hi Point 380 was purchased Dec. 30, 2007 and the SIG Sauer 9 mm was purchased Aug. 6, 2007 from the same gun dealer. Authorities were still checking where he obtained two other pistols, a 9 mm Sig Sauer and a Hi Point 380.
"In a disturbing twist, authorities report Kazmierczak purchased ammunition from the same website as the Virginia Tech gunman."