Author: Michael O. Allen

A Good Story

I am a regular reader of Newsweek magazine. Most of the time, I don’t like what I read in there. I find its journalism often sloppy, if not downright dishonest. The fact is, I read it through gritted teeth most of the time.

For instance, I think they’re highly tilted toward John McCain in this election. He was their preferred candidate during the Republican primaries. Although they’re intrigued by Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, especially now that he’s the Democratic Party nominee, McCain remains their man.

They’ll do anything, including shred any credibility the magazine has left to get him elected.

But, I am writing today to praise Newsweek, not to bash it. At least praise Christopher Dickey, its longtime foreign correspondent, for a superb piece on the magazine’s cover this week.

Southern Discomfort is a special piece of journalism, well written. As a writer, one of the things I struggle with is the pronoun “I.” Dickey wielded it judiciously in this piece to great effect. He did not get in the way of telling this story, which is quite an achievement.

I could try to quote from it but there’s so much that’s good in the piece that you, dear readers, would be better off buying the magazine at the newsstand, or reading the piece here:

I cannot resist one quote from the article, which got me:

“I think if there were a better economy more people would take a risk on Obama,” said Patricia Murtaugh Wise, a lawyer from Nashville sightseeing with her kids at Atlanta’s landmark Varsity Drive-In restaurant. Her friends are blaming Bush more than his party, she said. “I’m not sure people are saying, ‘Because Bush got us into this, let’s vote for a Democrat.’ I think people are saying, ‘Let’s get a new person in there’.”

Her name notwithstanding, the quote and the reasoning behind it are patently stupid. If, as the woman said, times are good, her excuse not to vote for Obama would be that he’d ruin the good thing she had going.

Compare and Contrast

Obama: National Priority

Script:

John McCain.

He’s been in Washington for 26 years.

And as gas prices soared and dependence on oil exploded, McCain was voting against alternative energy, against higher mileage standards.

Barack Obama.

He’ll make energy independence an urgent national priority, raise mileage standards, fast-track technology for alternative fuels.

A thousand dollar tax cut to help families as we break the grip of foreign oil.

A real plan, and new energy.

Brave New Pac’s Post

Make McCain Disavow His Dishonest Obama Ad

“What’s worse than John McCain’s dishonest ad? Finding out he had another, equally dishonest ad ready to air if Obama DID visit the hospital. He just wasn’t going to be honest with American voters no matter what happened, and now everybody knows it, even the press he calls his “base.” He’ll never live it down.” —Kagro X, Daily Kos

The traditional press is up in arms over John McCain’s latest dishonest ad attacking Barack Obama. MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell called the ad “completely wrong, factually wrong!” The New York Times said it was “a false account of what occurred.” The Washington Post said the ad offered “no evidence” to support McCain’s claims.

McCain must disavow this ad and make sure it never airs again. We won’t let this race degenerate into ad distortions like the last election; we won’t be silent in the face of lies. That’s why we created this video entitled When McCain Attacks.

Help end McCain’s campaign of dishonesty. Sign our petition to compel McCain to disavow this ad and yank it from the air. Then send it to all your friends, family members, and colleagues. Tell them to spread it to everyone they know, and Digg it!

Hurry, because we’re already seeing McCain’s lies insidiously spread by other news outlets. Join us in declaring that we’ve had enough lies and dishonesty, we’re ready for a new kind of politics.

Evan Bayh and the L-word.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Sen. Evan Bayh’s chances of winding up at Obama’s VP. Along with that buzz has come a lot of grumbling from the NetRoots about Bayh’s centrism and DLC past. That makes today’s post from stathead Nate Silver a must-read. Money quote:

Bayh is considerably more liberal than you would expect of a Democrat from Indiana. The most conservative states to presently have elected Democratic senators are Indiana, Nebraska, and Arkansas (which has two Democrats). Bayh is notably more liberal than either Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, or Arkansas’ Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln. The next-most conservative states with Democratic senators are Louisiana and South Dakota; Bayh is more liberal than Tim Johnson or Mary Landrieu. Put differently, there is no senator more liberal than Bayh in any state more conservative than Indiana.

Cross-posted from Facebook

A question for McCain's fans in the press corps

What About the Curve? By Josh Marshall, 08.04.08 — 11:30AM

Out of general fondness, the Washington press corps (which is not just a phrase but a definable community of people) has for almost a decade graded John McCain on a curve, especially in the last eighteen months when he’s slipped perceptibly. Now, in response to the bludgeoning and campaign of falsehoods his campaign has unleashed over the last ten days, a number of his longtime admirers in the punditocracy have written articles either claiming that they’d misjudged the man or lamenting his betrayal of his better self.

So my question is, do they and the top editors who with them define the tone of coverage, keep grading McCain on the curve that has so aided him over the last year?

Continue . . .

Political news roundup

On His 47th Birthday, Obama Is All Business CBS News
(CHICAGO) – It’s Barack Obama’s 47th birthday, but from his campaign schedule you wouldn’t know it. Obama will hit the trail today to kick off what the campaign is calling “Energy Week.

Obama proposes tapping oil reserves to drive down gas prices AP

LANSING, Mich. – In a reversal, Barack Obama is proposing the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum stockpiles.

AP: Poll: McCain’s attack strategy paying dividends
Intensified attacks by Republican John McCain on the character of his Democratic opponent have coincided with Barack Obama losing a nine percentage point advantage in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the weekend.

CNN: Is McCain’s ‘Celeb’ ad accurate?
John McCain’s campaign got a lot of attention last week for its ad that likens Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad calls Obama “the biggest celebrity in the world,” but asks, “Is he ready to lead.” In addition to the flashy imagery, the ad also claims that Obama would raise taxes on electricity. But is that claim true? CNN’s Josh Levs reports.

Oil Futures Flat Despite Storm, Iran By CAROLYN CUI, Wall Street Journal
NEW YORK — Crude-oil futures were flat in jumpy trading Monday, as the latest Gulf of Mexico storm was seen causing little damage and traders kept Iran talks in abeyance.

McCain visiting motorcycle rally, nuke power plant AP

WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidate John McCain hopes to enhance his appeal to blue-collar voters and those in the Northern Plains with a visit to a giant motorcycle rally in South Dakota.

A good Obama comebacker

“Pocket” TV Ad

Obama unveils energy plan, new attacks on McCain

(CNN) — Barack Obama’s campaign released a television ad Monday that calls for a windfall profits tax and accuses John McCain of being in the pocket of big oil.

The ad charges that major oil companies have donated $2 million to McCain’s campaign and says that “after one president in the pocket of big oil, we can’t afford another.”

McCain surrogate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday blasted the ad as being “dishonest.”

“That’s really sad,” he said on CNN’s “American Morning.” “I didn’t know that Obama had stooped to dishonesty.”

Romney said it was dishonest because corporations cannot give contributions to candidates and because employees of oil companies have also donated to Obama.

The Washington Post reported that McCain received $1.1 million from oil and gas industry executives and employees in June — three-quarters of which came after he called for lifting the ban on offshore drilling on June 16.

Obama’s ad sources the Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics, which showed that Obama has received about $345,000 from the oil and gas industry this year.

Under Obama’s proposal for a windfall profits tax, the government would tax some of the profits from big oil corporations and use it to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.

Obama’s ad comes as he kicks of “Energy Week” — with stops planned in Ohio and Indiana where gas prices and rising heat bills will be on the agenda.

Obama travels to battleground Michigan on Monday to unveil details on his energy policy.

Continue reading “A good Obama comebacker” →

A question that needs to be asked

The former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green (and a man who has run every office under sun in New York State) asks a pertinent question:

What about McCain’s character? By MARK GREEN, Monday, August 4th 2008

Pundits on the the talk shows say that the ’08 election is all about Barack Obama: Can he pass the commander in chief test and avoid gaffes and reassure white voters? But another question is whether John McCain can pass the character test.

So far, he’s failing.

What? A bona fide war hero and POW survivor is being questioned about character?

Well, yes. It’s time that McCain and his acolytes stopped assuming that his extraordinary military service nearly 40 years ago gives him immunity to questions about being President today in a different century.

First, there is the unpleasant fact that in the past week McCain has sounded more like Joseph McCarthy in his patriotism-baiting of Obama. When he repeatedly says that Obama “would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign,” he’s imputing a political motive that he can’t know and that is contradicted by the available evidence.

Continue . . .

Gergen exposes McCain's codes

Gergen Calls Out Racial “Signals” of McCain Ads

From HuffPo:

On Sunday, longtime Washington hand David Gergen took umbrage with John McCain’s recent attack ads, charging that the Senator was using coded messaging to paint Barack Obama as “outside the mainstream” and “uppity.”

“There has been a very intentional effort to paint him as somebody outside the mainstream, other, ‘he’s not one of us,'” said Gergen, who has worked with White Houses, both Republican and Democrat, from Nixon to Clinton. “I think the McCain campaign has been scrupulous about not directly saying it, but it’s the subtext of this campaign. Everybody knows that. There are certain kinds of signals. As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘he’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’ Everybody gets that who is from a southern background. We all understand that. When McCain comes out and starts talking about affirmative action, ‘I’m against quotas,’ we get what that’s about.”