Channel the anger you felt from Thursday's vote to helping the troops directly. IAVA has some links to organizations that help troops and their families. Also, listed are organizations that help Iraqi civilians.
Below the fold: Multiple Choice Mitt, Toobin zings, Obama and HRC sing, sports rants and more.
The Lineup (link back here, if you're copying to another site):
- Meet the Press: Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM)
- Face the Nation: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL); Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); CBS's Kimberly Dozier
- This Week: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ); Commerce Sec. Carlos Gutierrez; Jim Gilmore (R-VA); roundtable of LA Times' Ron Brownstein, Donna Brazile, Jake Tapper and George Will; voices segment features Beth and Michael Belle (parents of fallen Marine)
- Fox News Sunday: Mike Huckabee (R-AR); Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA); Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX); commencement speeches
- Late Edition: Pakistani PM Shaukat Aziz; Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY); Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA); Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE); Maj. Gen. William Caldwell; Walter Isaacson; roundtable of Candy Crowley, Andrea Koppel and Elaine Quijano.
More TV Alerts (all subject to change) (would appreciate a link back to this diary or my Penndit post, for those copying this to other sites.)
- Political Capital with Al Hunt: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on 5/25 (Bloomberg, repeats thru weekend)
- Chris Matthews Show 5/26-5/27: Howard Fineman, Gloria Borger, Andrew Sullivan, Josie Hearn discuss "Will new revelations about Hillary Clinton derail her, despite her double-digit lead going into the summer? JFK would have turned 90 this week. Conspiracy theories of his assassination still live on in two new books." Quotes here.
- Newsmakers (C-SPAN, 10am): FEMA dir. David Paulison on 5/27
- Road to the WH (C-SPAN, 6:30pm): 08ers delivering commencement addresses
- 60 Minutes: 1st Battalion of the 133rd Infantry of the IA National Guard in Iraq, their families and transition to and from Iraq on 5/27
- Q&A (C-SPAN, 8pm): CAP's Joseph Cirincione on nuclear proliferation on 5/27
- "Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed" (History Channel, 9pm, 5/28) features Stephen Colbert, Nancy Pelosi, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Newt Gingrich.
- Tavis Smiley: "Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward" for week of 5/28
- Today Show "On the Trail" segments: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on 5/29; Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) on 5/30
- "Flashpoint: Kimberly Dozier and the Army's Fourth ID -- A Story Of Bravery, Recovery And Lives Forever Changed" on CBS at 10pm on 5/29
- Letterman: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) rerun on 5/29
- Leno: Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) rerun on 5/29
- Regis & Kelly: Charles Gibson on 5/30
Sunday Talk Ratings for Last Week's Shows
Hotline 5/24: "For the week of 5/20, NBC's "Meet the Press" won with a 2.8 rating/8 share and 3.589M viewers. CBS' "Face the Nation" and ABC's "This Week" both had a 1.9/6 but "Face" came in with 2.645M viewers and "This Week" had 2.531M viewers. "Fox News Sunday" had a 1.0/3 and 1.186M viewers" Last week's guests here.
Don't forget to complain to local TV websites if you see bias
Research Brief:
A new 85-market study, available at the Editor & Publisher/Media Week Interactive Media Conference May 23-24, comparing local TV and newspaper web sites reveals that local TV stations are gaining strength with online visitors.
Also, CNN's online video service, Pipeline, is going to be free. (It's been a subscription service.) So, if you're at work and want breaking news video, you can try CNN pipeline.
Evening news watch: Ratings for May Sweeps. Basically, if something is aired on CBS, it is less damaging/helpful than if it had aired on NBC or ABC...
No More Boltons
Trying to prevent Bush's recess appointments
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a little trick up his sleeve that could spell an end to President Bush's devilish recess appointments of controversial figures like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie "pro forma" session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall. Senate workers and Republicans are miffed
Buckle Up, Folks!
I'm sure you all know that Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) was in a car accident. He neglected to wear a seatbelt. Background on the PSA he taped and the accident. Kudos to him for trying to make up for his major mistake, and using this as a learning/teaching opportunity. I watched the press conference he had when he was released from the hospital, and he was very emotional... a departure from his usual staid, professorial demeanor. This PSA is also compelling.
YouTube of Note
Want Bill Moyers stuff? Real Time Overtime? Countdown clips? Check out heathr234's YouTube channel.
Sports Rants
NFL Coaches Gone Wild
Allen Iverson's Classic: "Practice"
Depressing
Defunding the war would not end it.
Tim Russert: Governor, why won't the United States unite behind a policy of stopping the funding for the War?
Mario Cuomo: I think it wouldn’t work. I think obviously it wouldn't work. You are now running the biggest deficit in American history. What's to stop the President from simply running a continuing deficit to pay for the War? [...] The President wouldn’t stop sending soldiers. He'd do what the government is doing now, running a damn deficit, making it bigger and bigger and bigger. You don't need cash to run this government. You don't have to balance a budget like a state.
At the very least, it'd be nice if the Dem leadership made this point: defunding doesn't "end the war." Congressional defunding only means that Bush would move money within the DoD budget, raid the Iraqi treasury, etc. And if the fight ended up in front of SCOTUS, well... Nothing short of a new president is going to bring the troops home.
Plus, we've got to make our case on overall security better to those folks who still viscerally trust individual GOPers more than individual Dems. (And don't give me that the focus group was a sham... Peter Hart is excellent at them, and many netroots people praised this project when it was done in 2004.)
And now for some folks who should not be president in 2009 and beyond.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) must be defeated
Shady Rudy
The New Republic has the goods.
Freddie's Son
The Blotter
Former Tennessee Senator and potential Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has shut down a political action committee that paid out more money to his son than it did in political donations.
Federal Election Commission records analyzed by the Blotter on ABCNews.com show Thompson's committee paid $178,000 to his son's political consulting firm, Daniel Thompson Associates, since 2003.
Multiple Choice Mitt Video Vault
If you know of other videos, add them in the comments!
On the Contract With America:
On Campaign Finance:
On his being a "life-long hunter":
On abortion:
Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan perfectly describes Romney in 5 Words
Romney makes plastic look real
Mr. Plastic is running ads on CNBC right now. Overproduced schlock... I just find that everything he does is very forced and fake.
McCain's Egregious Absenteeism Gets Noticed Locally
State Rep. Russell Pearce (R-AZ) calls for McCain to resign
According to the Washington Post, McCain has missed 43 votes, nearly 50 percent of the current Congress' votes. In comparison, Hillary Clinton has missed less than 2 percent of votes and Barack Obama has missed 6.4 percent, according to the Post.
"We need a senator," Pearce said. "I think if McCain wants to be a full-time candidate and not be at the Senate, he ought to consider resigning."
[...]
McCain doesn't have any plans of doing so, but if he were to resign, his seat would be filled by Gov. Janet Napolitano - a Democrat who would need to appoint a Republican.
Asked if he would prefer a Napolitano appointee over McCain, Pearce said: "Even poor representation is better than no representation."
"You look at the others who are running, even on the Democratic side, and they've done what's right," said Pearce, who has not endorsed any candidate.
The absentee rates for everyone will go up later this fall. Presidential candidates missing votes is understandable to a point, but for McCain to have missed so many votes already in the 08 election cycle is just awful. Shocking isn't it that he managed to show up for a vote after being called on his absenteeism. Here are how often other 08ers have been missing votes as of 4/26/07. If anyone has a more recent count for all Senators running in 08, please post it!
Besides Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) - who's missed the entire year as he recovers from a brain hemorrhage - McCain has now missed more votes, 60, than every other senator, making it to less than 60 percent of roll-call votes.
The next three most absentee senators are also 2008 candidates, Joseph Biden (D-Del.), Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). But they've only missed 41, 37 and 26 votes, respectively. And two top-tier presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), have been present so often on the chamber floor you wouldn't even know they're running for the White House.
Also, absentee rates for House members running for Pres.
Now from presidential politics, to the media!
FOX News reports less about Iraq than MSNBC and CNN
Speaking of absenteeism...
Overall, MSNBC and CNN were much more consumed with the war in Iraq than was Fox. MSNBC, for instance, devoted nearly a third of the time studied to the war (26% on the policy debate, 3% on events on the ground and 2% the homefront). Fox, by contrast, spent less than half that much time on the war-15% in all, (10% on the policy debate, 3% on events in Iraq and 1% on the homefront). On CNN, Iraq coverage totaled 25%, again mostly focused on policy debate (14%). Events on the ground received 7% of the coverage (coming in second overall) while the homefront trailed at 3%.
Cablers more interested in DC debate than what's happening on the ground in Iraq... probably also a result of how difficult and dangerous it is to gather news in Iraq these days...
Watered Down
Want to know why the 20/20 DC Madam story was such a let down? Disney and ABC's lawyers got involved.
Hotline TV's 5/17/07 Scandal Special
A bit dated, but relevant:
US Atty Purge
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN legal analyst:
You know, John, I was a lawyer in the Department of Justice. And I worked with what I thought were some of the best lawyers in the United States, who could have -- who could have gotten -- made a lot more money elsewhere.
And to think that those great lawyers work for a fifth rate lawyer like Monica -- like Monica Goodling, you know, with her seventh rate law school education, I mean, it's just appalling to think how much power a woman like that has.
[...]
You know, this is the immaculate conception of firings. Nobody fired these people, apparently. Nobody remembers who made the decision. Nobody remembers why they were fired. Alberto Gonzales doesn't remember. Kyle Simpson, the chief of staff, he doesn't remember. Monica Goodling doesn't remember why they were fired or who made the decision. We haven't heard from Karl Rove or Harriet Miers.
You know, the scandal has been going on for several months, and I can see why people are sort of impatient with it. But the most basic question, which is who fired these people and why, remains unanswered.
As always, TPMMuckraker provides background on all things related to this Bush scandal. And I wrote on Friday (at my blog) that Dubya is a lot like his father when it comes to using the federal government to influence an election.
And in other Bushie corruption news... Is it me, or does disgraced GSA administrator Lurita Doan look a lot like SNL's Maya Rudolph? Anyways, Doan is gonna testify again. Stock up on the popcorn, folks.
Jokes
- Conan O'Brien: "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has come to the United States and checked into a weight loss clinic because he's dangerously obese. ... A spokesperson for the clinic said, 'You can't blame the leader of Iraq for eating every meal like it's his last.'"
- Jay Leno on the Carter/Bush spat: "Today President Bush lashed back at Jimmy Carter saying, 'Hey, if it wasn't for me, there wouldn't be that many poor people for you to build houses for.'"
- Leno: "According to a new survey in Money Magazine, six percent of Americans said they would be willing to sleep with their boss if it would help their career. When he heard about it, the head of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, said, 'I need names. I need phone numbers'"
- Leno on the immigration compromise: "They're going to have to pay a $5,000 fine. Where are these people going to get five grand? I mean, what are the chances Wal-Mart's going to give them a raise?"
- Old Dan Quayle joke regarding Quayle avoiding service in Vietnam: "What do you get when you cross a chicken with a hawk? A Quayle."
Obama Doodles for Charity
Barack Obama doodles for charity. You can bid on his doodle; the auction ends Monday. The money goes to benefit NF, Inc. which is an organization that benefits individuals and families affected by neurofibromatosis. Obama's is pretty cool. The guy in the center looks like Harry Reid. The female looks like Dianne Feinstein. Is that Chuck Schumer on the left and Ted Kennedy in the lower right hand corner? That's who the people look like to me. Well anyways, Barack Obama draws better than I do. eBay link
Need YOUR Suggestions
Mulitple Choice Mitt is one 08er with an appropriately derisive nickname. But we need nicknames for McCain and Giuliani. (We'll get to the GOP second tier should they start moving up in the polls.) Suggest some possibilities, and they'll be put in a poll for next Sunday's Sunday Talk fest.
'08 Idol
Barack Obama sings happy birthday to Philadelphia's Timmy. Timmy has severe handicaps; he's sung the national anthem at various Philly events and did so at Obama's 5/22 rally.
Hillary sang the national anthem several weeks ago.
If you've got anything from any of the other 08ers, send them in, and I'll try and set up another poll at a different time.