bustardblog

Tina's Quote

Have been travelling a bit lately, and when I returned home found an interview in New York Magazine by the estimable Michael Kinsley of the execrable Miss Tina Brown. Kinsley, finally, ends any speculation as to the real Miss Brown.

In discussing the short half lives of celebrities these days, Miss Brown said:

"When Vanity Fair began, it was enough to have a movie star on the cover, but Oprah made some psychic scar de rigueur for exposure to have any traction. Now you can't get on a talk show unless you can brag about being a victim of pedophilia or anorexia. It's such a bore, all the whining."

(emphasis added, New York Magazine, Issue dated November 26, 2012, page 49)

Won't England take her back??

Please

 

 

Rubin to Ailes: Hire ME!

Jennnifer Rubin continues to fine tune her ability to intentionally deceive the reader. 

Today she states that "In a blockbuster report, John Solomon, the former Associated Press and Post reporter, has ferreted out the" supposed truth about Benghazi.

Note that she credits Solomon for having worked at the A.P. and at the Washington Post. She neglects to mention that he more recently was at the Washington Times. (May the Rev Moon rest in peace.) In fact, acccording to a newspaper that Ms Rubin does find worth mentioning, (the WaPo) Solomon was back at the Washington Times as recently as June 6. How odd that she did not mention this?

Back in August of 2012,Solomon was characterized in the Columbia Journalism Review thusly:

"Then again, Solomon has a history of bending the truth to his storyline. As a reporter for the AP and The Washington Post, he dug up his share of genuine dirt, but he also was notorious for massaging facts to conjure phantom scandals

Similarly, reporters who worked under Solomon as an editor—seven of whom were interviewed for this article—say he often pressured them to mold the truth to his vision of the story. “He had this sort of thesis or idea of what the story was,” says one Center staff member. “Facts be damned.”"

Looks like both Rubin and Solomon could have a bright future at Fox. 

It's hard to imagine a more apt description of Bengazi than calling it a "phantom scandal." 

H/t Meme

Fiscal Responsibility?

I generally think that Matt Taibbi is spot on. Today, not so much. He writes that the Republicans could have won the White House if they weren't so myopic. I agree that their proclivity for insulting Americans and America, as well as their belief in gut over science harmed them, but I also think issues mattered.

As the Huff post noted, Taibbi "argued that Republicans' message about financial responsibility could resonate with a lot of people, but unfortunately it is a cover for their belief that women and minorities are "parasites."

I have to believe that the next time a candidate supported by Karl Rove -  the man who just spent $300,000,000 for nothing, bupkis, zilch -  tries to lecture the country about fiscal responsiblity the electorate will burst out laughing. Since World War II, deficits are almost always worse after Republican administrations than Democratic ones.

In fact the Republicans have not actually had a message about financial repsonsibility for decades. 

(meme)

 

GOP Vs. Science

Conor Friedersdorf of the Atlantic Online has a great piece on the disservice the conservative media did to the conservative cause in yesterday's election. They simply kept on telling their audience what they wanted to hear, steering far from fact. In his conclusion, he writes that "But I expect that it'll be quickly forgotten, that none of the conservatives who touted a polling conspiracy will be discredited, and that the right will continue to operate at an information disadvantage."

It took the folks at Breitbart very little time to prove Friedersdorf right. Their Joel Pollack's first sentence reads that "Though Obama failed to win a majority in the popular vote--and may even have lost the popular vote outright--he won enough votes in the Electoral College to claim victory. " Yet the Wall Street Journal has Obama at 50%, Romney at 48%. The rabid right seems incapable of telling the truth. 

In a similar vein, I was struck by how their distrust of science, especially the social sciences, continues to hurt the right.  When telephoning people in Ohio for  Obama, I was amazed at how precise his team's targetting was and how much they had learned about the psychology of motivating people. 

Peggy Noonan could feel that Romney was going to win. Scarborough could call Nate Silver an ideologue because it was outrageous to suggest that it was clearly going to be a victory for Obama.

Reality does have a liberal bias, especially if you try to ignore it.

 

(h/t meme)