Mainstream Media

(Via Firedoglake.)

No matter what happens next, this is exactly what Obama needed to say. The media spent weeks implying, but pretending not to say, that as a black man, Obama may not love his country, sympathizes with violence, is not patriotic and does not understand or relate to ordinary Americans’ concerns and hopes. No credible journalist believe this nonsense, yet MSM pundits like Russert and Matthews wallowed in these false images as though somehow they might be true. As Matthews conceded, Reverend Wright helps their ratings.

Full story here.

(Via Philadelphia Inquirer.)

Still undecided?

If you’re a Pennsylvania Democrat and today dawned with you still struggling, it could mean one of several things:

You could be one of those terminally indecisive people, for whom even ordering at Applebee’s becomes an hour-long agony.

More likely, it means you’re an earnest citizen who feels how momentous this choice is - but not a person who can resolve it through identity politics, the tug of “first woman” or “first black.”

Perhaps you’re a substance maven whose study of wonky Web sites has taught you that, along the grand spectrum of political thought, the differences between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can be measured in microns.

Or, maybe, Barack and Hillary (and, after six weeks, we Pennsylvanians are on a first-name basis) have come to strike you as pushy houseguests who overstayed their welcome. Their bickering and bombarding ads have left you equally annoyed with each.

Whatever the root of your indecision, let me as a fellow citizen share the thought that decided my own mind. Today, I’m going to push the pad that lights up Barack Obama’s name. I’m going to do this though concerned he may be a little callow for the job; though put off by his self-righteous pouting at the last debate; though respectful of Hillary Clinton’s smarts and superb service as a senator; though unsure who has the best chance of winning in the fall; though aware how much a Clinton win would mean to the person whose opinion I value most in the world, my wife’s.

Here’s what it comes down to: Clinton and Obama have different understandings of what it will take to lead America in 2009 and beyond. And I prefer Obama’s.

Full story here.

(Via Marc Ambinder.)

Quoted from comments by Brian on the above article.

The dynamic in this case isn’t really anything to do with Obama, it’s the pundit-driven “outrage” over the outrage the pundits are sure people feel. This exact same situation happened to Clinton before NH (the “tears”). Pundits were so sure that it was going to kill Clinton, and people either didn’t care or kind of liked the show of humanity.

The DC media just has no idea what people really think. They are completely cut-off, living off of decade-old readings of the political mood, not realizing the difference in the electorate in an Internet, post-Bush, post-reality show world where voters lean Democratic, get their news from a variety of sources, and are far more comfortable with the messiness of unscripted moments.

It’s not about Obama, it’s about a script the media is following that is outdated and doesn’t resonate in people’s lives.

(Via The Huffington Post | Full News Feed.)

Richard Prince reports that Tavis Smiley is leaving the “Tom Joyner Morning Show”:

After 12 years as a fixture on radio’s syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” activist, commentator and broadcast personality Tavis Smiley has quit the show, Joyner told listeners on Friday.

“He called me yesterday and said, ‘I quit,’” Joyner said.

Joyner said Smiley told him he was working on too many projects, but believed the real reason was that “he can’t take the hate.

“He can’t take the hate he’s taken over Barack Obama. He’s always busting Barack Obama’s chops. They call. They e-mail. They joke. You know Tavis like I do. He needs to feel loved.

“We’re so emotional about this Barack Obama candidacy. If you don’t say anything for Barack Obama, you’re considered to be a hater. . . . It’s just that it hurts so deep when the people you love don’t agree with you.”

Read the rest of the article here, or read Smiley’s HuffPost blogs here.

(Via The Huffington Post | Full News Feed.)

Richard Belzer will fill Randi Rhodes’ 3pm-6pm time slot on Air America all next week, the Huffington Post has learned. Belzer is perhaps best known for his role on “Law & Order,” where he plays Det. John Munch, but he is also a stand-up comedian as well as a Huffington Post blogger.

Developing…

(Via Firedoglake.)

Chris Matthews, or as he is not-so-belovedly termed in the liberal blogosphere, “Tweety”, is profiled in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

Matthews show “Hardball” is among the most prototypical of political scream shows. It’s all about process, the eternal horse race of who is up and who is down. Rarely does anyone learn anything while watching Matthews show, except that being loudest equals political victory. Matthews often declares, loudly of course, that he loves politics — apparently, in the way Mark David Chapman loved John Lennon.

He loves a politician who wears old aftershave apparently craving to smell them in Jake Tapper fashion; he loves people who pose as extra “masculine”; he loathes the Clintons, especially her [there's no subjectivity here, it's a well-documented reality that even the most strident Obamaphile would agree with] but mostly he loves himself, man does he love himself.

Full post here.

(Via The Huffington Post | Full News Feed.)

Chris Matthews showed up on Ellen Wednesday wearing his dancing shoes. After some shuffling and arm moves, he swung host Ellen around, grabbed her boob and near-tackled her to the beat. On Thursday, instead of doing a monologues, Ellen did a moment-by-moment dissection of what went down. She even had a pointer and freeze frames. It seems Chris was nervous, she didn’t want him falling down the stairs and now she pretty much never wants to see him again.