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July 28, 2006
Deval Patrick has left Internet footprints on his political opponents.
Google "Christy Mihos" or "Chris Gabrieli" -- and there at the very top of the list in a bright blue, "sponsored link" box is a link to Deval Patrick's web site.
Type in "Kerry Healey" and Patrick's sponsored link is off to the side.
Healey has bought similar "sponsored links. But hers are all off to the side.
It's not a glitzy television ad. But it is smart thinking about how to attract Internet-using voters.
July 27, 2006
Jon Stewart is beloved for his wit. His show is an essential antidote to the crazy world of news and politics. But one criticism of the iconic host of The Daily Show sticks.
Early last year Dan Kennedy of The Boston Phoenix said "If Stewart’s take on the news is inspired, the interviews that fill up the second half of the program are not … He does suck-up interviews with everybody.” When he challenged Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on Crossfire, saying that their type of discussion was “hurting America” Carlson ripped into him for his soft interview with then Presidential Nominee John Kerry.
Recently, however, Stewart has dramatically improved his interviews and has brought outspoken pundits to their rhetorical knees.
Three examples that are worth watching again:
(3) Stewart vs. Bill Bennett
From Stewart’s interview with Bill Bennett, a steadfast critic of gay marriage:
Bennett: Look, it’s a debate about whether you think marriage is between a man and a woman.
Stewart: I disagree I think it’s a debate about whether you think gay people are part of the human condition or just a random fetish.
This interview ran wild in the blogosphere. Crooks and Liars observed: “Jon always boils the debate down to it’s (sic) simplest form which usually causes people like Bennett to look foolish. It doesn’t say much for the class of pundits representing Democratic values when Stewart so easily defeats them.”
(2) Stewart vs. Bernard Goldberg
Stewart makes quick work of conservative author Bernard Goldberg who tackles culture. When Goldberg asks Stewart if culture is an important force, Stewart responds:
"I wish more smart guys like you spent more time — not worrying about Barbra Streisand — but worrying about, you know, Richard Perle, Karl Rove, or whoever the Democrats would have had in that position in the Clinton years."
(1) Stewart vs. Christopher Hitchens
Perhaps Stewart’s finest interview was the shellacking of the impressive and intimidating wordsmith, Christopher Hitchens.
Stewart: The people who say we shouldn't fight in Iraq aren't saying it's our fault. That is the conflation that is the most disturbing to me.
Hitchens: Don't you hear people saying that we made them [the terrorists] nasty...?
Stewart: I hear people saying a lot of stupid [bleep]... But there is reasonable dissent in this country about the way this war has been conducted, that has nothing to do with people believing that we should cut and run from the terrorists, or that we should show weakness in the face of terrorism, or that we believe that we have in some way brought this upon ourselves.
Not bad for a comic who famously (and truthfully) quipped that his show comes on after "puppets making crank phone calls."
Posted by Michael Corcoran at 05:11 PM
July 27, 2006
On Wednesday, Chicago's city council ordered "big box" stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot to pay a minimum wage of $10 an hour by 2010. The Chicago Tribune says 40 stores could be affected.
It's a sign of the times. Welfare reform is old news. Today's stories are about working people who can't make ends meet, even when they work several jobs.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Massachusetts has an income tax that's more forgiving to the working poor.
But given this state's high cost of living, it's dangerously easy to be a worker who can't pay all the bills. In 2003, a family of four needed to earn $54,612 a year to manage the costs of living in Boston, according to the Crittenton Women's Union's Self Sufficiency Standard.
July 25, 2006
William F. Buckley Jr. gives us a conservative look at the Lieberman/Lamont race in Connecticut.
He ends with this observation:
“The Republicans do have a candidate. His name is Alan Schlesinger. And if the New Democrats and the Revival Democrats have a bloody and internecine contest, the result could be... a Republican senator from Connecticut!—carrying on in the tradition of the Republican candidate rejected by Connecticut voters 26 years ago, who had for six years in the 1970s been acknowledged as the Sainted Junior Senator from New York, James L. Buckley."
Posted by Michael Corcoran at 04:55 PM
July 24, 2006
William Kristol laments the “Weak Horses” in his piece for The Weekly Standard.
He applauds George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and The Washington Post for taking a more hawkish stance on the latest conflict in Lebanon.
“Israel is fighting to stop, and defeat, Hezbollah. Bush, Blair, and the Post editors understand that the right policy is to stand behind Israel, and to support that nation in defeating terror--for its own sake, and on behalf of liberal civilization. They understand that we are at war with an axis of jihadist-terrorist organizations and the states that sponsor them. They understand that we need to win the war. With Bush's leadership, we have a good chance to do so.”
But the Bush/Blair alliance may not be as strong as Kristol projects given that, according to The Guardian, “Britain has dramatically broken ranks with George Bush over the Lebanon crisis.”
This has the potential to be a huge blow for Bush, who looks as lonely as ever.
Posted by Michael Corcoran at 05:47 PM
July 24, 2006
How much do members of Congress know about stem cell research? They passed a stem cell research bill, which President Bush vetoed.
But arguments made by some senators weren't entirely correct, according to Wired Magazine. Here's a check of the facts.
Meanwhile, across the ocean, the European Union decided today to continue funding stem cell research, but with tight rules that excludes research that would destroy embryos and human cloning for reproductive purposes.
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