The stenographer weighs in on the open seat race in Kansas' 3rd Congressional District (Johnson County) in today's Kansas City Star. The rumor reported by the Star is that Stephene Moore, the spouse of retiring Congressman Dennis Moore, is considering a run. Consider the following two statements in the article:
...Democrats view the always-on-the-move nurse and community activist as sharp and pleasingly energetic...
[emphasis added]
...Doubters are surfacing. One of them showed up at a talk I gave last week on the Plaza.
"What has she done besides being a congressman's wife?" one man asked with obvious disdain...
Uh, that question was clearly answered earlier in the article. Yes, it was a direct quote from an unnnamed "doubter," but really, shouldn't the Star's political stenographer expend a little less ink on repeating baseless cliches about women?
Desiree Rogers resigned as White House Social secretary this week when she realized her job was not SOCIAL secretary but social SECRETARY. about 24 hours ago via web
....VARGAS: And then, of course, this weekend, we have a brand-new White House social secretary appointed to replace Desiree Rogers, a close friend of the Obamas who is exiting after a bumpy tenure, I would say. Cokie, you spoke with her. She -- she was highly criticized after the Obamas' first state dinner in which she arrived, looking absolutely gorgeous, but in what some people later said was far too fancy a dress, but most importantly, that was the state dinner that was crashed by the Salahis, who walked in without an invitation when the social secretary's office didn't have people manning the security sites....
[....]
....KRUGMAN: Can I say that 20 million Americans unemployed, the fact that we're worrying about the status of the White House social secretary...
VARGAS: It's our light way to end, Paul.
DONALDSON: Paul, welcome to Washington....
The incomparable Digby on Sally Quinn's self-righteous indignation:
...If only she still had a newspaper column, she could have written yet another in her series about uppity upstarts from "somewhere else" whom she ran out of town, their tails between their legs. Now she'll have to content herself with tweeting into the ether or writing a post for her blog "On Faith" which requires her to desperately try to tie her nasty little back biting into God's work. It's tough...
Sally Quinn's a blogger? Crap. Now the rest of us are gonna have to vacate blogtopia (y, sctp!) and find a respectable line of work.
This is the forty-first post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB
What, from that headline you'd think that the evil Ben Wesly has victimized the university?
Where to start?
"There must be a lot more behind the scenes to the story of why Benoit Wesley pulled the plug on his significant, longtime contributions to the University of Central Missouri..."
No shit, Sherlock. Might I be so presumptuous as to suggest reading the previous forty posts conveniently linked below the fold here?
"...The remarks in question were made by Greg Hassler, part-owner of a radio station that broadcasts UCM sporting events.
Special note: He's not even paid by the university...."
Special note: the university pays him in meals, lodging, and warm-up suits. Oh, and his radio station has a ten year exclusive contract [pdf] with the university. With, you know, clauses in it. Like payments. And advertising revenue. And sloppy bookkeeping when it comes to advertising revenue.
...So, so, we developed a situation where now where we're at, at this point, we receive a rights fee every year. An up front amount of money, uh, that we know we're gonna get. Then, my self, my staff and the sales staff of the radio station, we sell the advertising together. And we split the advertising where the station gets seventy-five percent, we get twenty-five percent. If I sell to somebody on their list they get the money, the, the person who's the sales person, so they don't lose any commissions.
The, the point being is, is we have a situation where we are true partners. We work together, but, but the onus is on them to go out and make the money. Uh, as an institution what I want to do is just get our events on there. But they're so happy to, to be making the money and to be the home of Central Missouri Athletics and, and we're so happy to have this great partner. And so it works very well.
And now we have football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, some softball games on the air. They let us use their Internet site to carry some, some softball, some volleyball. We have coach's shows. We have a weekly coach's show. Uh, they give us advertising now. I mean they literally give it to us, uh, and a chance to promote our upcoming events because we're truly partners.
Uh, we don't treat them like, uh, just a member of the media. Um, you know, and, and we share all revenues, we, we trade spreadsheets often. So, it's a very nice situation.
And, and when you make somebody a partner it's important when we have that, uh, that gear day that you guys all know and the coaches get their gear in. I make sure that the sports director at the, at the local station, he's got his new shirt and his new warm ups. And, and if we have a team that is fortunate enough to advance and, and maybe participate in an elite eight or, or win a regional and, and we're buying rings for the team, you know, I, I go to my, my boss, the athletic director, and say, can, can we get a ring for the sports director, he travels, we've got this partnership? And, and those are the kind of things we do. So, we've really created a, a wonderful relationship there we're really proud of....
This is the fortieth post in an ongoing series as we file Missouri Sunshine Law (RSMo 610) requests and investigate the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky. Links to previous coverage are below the fold. BG and MB
The Star published a substantial (for them) story on-line and on page A5 in today's Kansas City Edition:
...Hassler told The Kansas City Star that his remark "was spun out of context" and he apologized on the air in December.
"I said that is not what I meant," Hassler said. "I have nothing against anybody at all. I am not anti-Semitic.
"Did I actually say I was sorry? No, but I think that could be considered an apology. The whole thing is just silly."
Podolefsky said he didn't think it's silly...
A source has since confirmed that the following is from a December 10, 2009 radio broadcast:
...Greg Hassler: ...But there's another blogger out there that has taken some things that I have said, eh, out of context and has spun them around and at, attacked me on blogs, calling me a racist, a bigot, which I'm not. They've also called me anti-Semitic, which I'm not. I love all people of all religions, I do. I'm not anti-Semitic.
other voice: I would agree with that.
Greg Hassler: You know what I am?
other voice: What are you?
Greg Hassler: I'm a big Mules and Jennies basketball fan, [laughter] that's what I am....
As we noted on January 26th:
...The content in the audio [transcript], supposedly from December 10, 2009, is almost a verbatim quote of an e-mail sent by Greg Hassler in response to a reporter from the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, described in an article published on November 13, 2009...
"...Did I actually say I was sorry? No, but I think that could be considered an apology. The whole thing is just silly..."
Evidently Ben Wesly doesn't think so and some at the University didn't appear to understand that.
Well, it's official now: John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, says he didn't know what he was talking about....
Of course, the media that hyped the original story will run a retraction in five, four, three...
For years, the Southeast Missourian has had guidelines for letters that encouraged readers to submit their opinions on topics of general interest. Those guidelines discouraged letters about candidates for public office. A new policy, effective immediately, gives letter writers an option for expressing their opinions about candidates.
The new guidelines create a new category of letter called the Paid Election Letter. For a flat fee of $25, writers may endorse or oppose candidates -- in up to 150 words. Longer Paid Election Letters will be considered, but each additional word over the 150 limit will cost 50 cents...
Which particular political party with close to unlimited resources and a history of utilizing astroturf do you think will benefit most from this policy?
Former Missouri lawmaker Brian Yates couldn't hold back.
Having resigned his seat Dec. 1, midway through his final term, the Lee's Summit Republican let loose last week with a no-holds-barred assessment of the state of Jefferson City....
....Serving in the General Assembly, he said, had become a "scam...."
....The 34-year-old lawyer ticked them off: the passage of legislation in exchange for campaign donations, the underhanded dealings of former House speaker Rod Jetton, price tags placed on committee chairmanships, wealthy folks getting all the attention, all that political money sloshing around the Capitol....
Rep. Brian Yates (R-Lee's Summitt) is officially resigning at noon tomorrow to work full time for QC Holdings. It's a payday loan company, with stores operating mostly as Quik Cash or National Quik Cash.
H'ray usury!
We did a search at the Missouri Ethics Commission for campaign contributions by QC Holdings during 2008 and this is what we came up with:
....Hardly a week goes by when I fail to read something by some schmuck with a blog who believes his own stories about newspapers coming to an end. But get real. If that ever came to pass, what would replace newspapers? Bloggers? Some of them are nothing more than political wonk wannabees who would be happy to rail - either being always conservative or always liberal - about one idea or another, but would they be willing to stand for hours on a country road to tell the story of a suicidal man and his standoff with law enforcers? Would they print photos of proud young men and women who have joined the military? Would they stay awake while sitting at long school board or council meetings?....
"...some schmuck with a blog..." Heh. Evidently he was not referring to us. We do that standing for long hours thing, go through public records, cover events and type transcripts, research, you name it.
Yesterday we posted a story on another subject, and while doing a bit of research we came across the content shown in the following excerpt:
In today's issue there is an AP story regarding the University of Central Missouri president and comments of treatment of his family by our community; his outstanding accomplishments and how well liked he is by a majority of tenured professors; and the unfairness of not having his contract renewed...
...They have voted not to renew President Podolefsky's contract. They have no obligation to explain their votes to this newspaper, university staff or the general public. While I don't necessarily agree with this policy in its entirety, it is simply the bottom line.
- Wm. James
Well Mr. James, maybe you'd think differently if you actually filed a few more Missouri Sunshine Law requests instead of listening to someone else's whispered conventional wisdom about what masquerades as acceptable public policy.
Irony impairment indeed.
Also in today's edition, front page above the fold, was an Associated Press article on the Aaron Podolefsky story - quoting me, apparently from the interview I did with KSHB-TV.
Another irony. It's a difficult and convoluted process to get permission from the Associated Press to quote myself from their article quoting something I wrote here. You'll just have to settle for the original:
....Michael Bersin: I think that's really the issue, is that people are mystified by this....
....Michael Bersin: And, the, the point is that it shouldn't be a mystery. Because we're the university community, the entire university community is owed an explanation by this board....
Our previous coverage of the non-renewal of the contract of University of Central Missouri President Aaron Podolefsky:
...The ultimate winner will get the opportunity to write a weekly column that may appear in the print and/or online editions of The Washington Post, paid at a rate of $200 per column, for a total of 13 weeks and $2,600. Our Opinions lineup includes a dozen Pulitzer Prize winners, regulars on the national political talk shows and some of the most influential players inside the Beltway. We'll set our promising pundit on a path to become the next byline in demand, the talking head every show wants to book, the voice that helps the country figure out what's really going on...
"...the voice that helps the country figure out what's really going on..." Words fail.
I wonder if Paula Abdul is one of the judges.
...If memory serves, you won, proving that good looks and charm win over brilliance and the ability to govern. And for the record? You are stupid...
Washington Post punditry is the third worst in the Universe. The second worst is that of the Faux News Channel. During a recitation by their Pundit Master Glenn Beck of his screed "Health Care Reform Is A Communist Plot Which Will Kill Your Grandma" four of his audience members died of internal hemorrhaging, and the President of the National Press Club survived by gnawing one of his own legs off. The very worst punditry in the universe was written by the stenographer of Kansas City....
The stenographer holds forth in the Kansas City Star on President Obama's Wednesday speech on health care to a joint session of Congress - referring to, among others, Emanuel Cleaver (D), Sam Graves (r), Bob Dole (r), John McCain (r), and Dennis Hastert (r) - and then coming to the brilliant conclusion:
...For me last week, our politics suddenly seemed off-kilter, out of sorts, utterly off-track. A system that had been suffering from out-of-control partisanship - from both sides - had finally hit a wall and broken into a hundred parts...
Suddenly? Uh, where has he been for the last twenty years?
Both? Ah yes, false equivalence.
Uh, how is Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's mind going to be changed by the speech? He supports the President's agenda. And asking the question somehow makes sense?
The agenda of the republicans in Congress is nothing more than obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. And asking them if their minds were changed by the speech is somehow relevant?
John McCain complained that the process hasn't been bipartisan. Really?
Bob Dole had a "bipartisan" health care plan? Really? Was it passed by unanimous assent and signed into law? If so, I guess that would make him a successful bipartisan politician when it comes to much needed comprehensive health care reform. I rest my case.
The stenographer citing the words or "legacies" of two Democrats and eight republicans tells us all we need to know. It's the republicans' and a stenographer's fantasy world, the rest of us only live in it.
Senators Mitch McConnell (r), John McCain (r), and Kit Bond (r) came to Kansas City on Monday for a closed (to the public) health care forum. They obviously weren't too interested in fielding questions from teabaggers.
The coverage in today's Kansas City Star was revealing. The dead trees headline in the Kansas City Edition, page B1:
HEALTH REFORM BLASTED IN KC: At Children's Mercy, three GOP senators say say compromise with Democrats hasn't been found
....The Republicans said they also were miffed at Democrats for not doing enough to include them in ongoing negotiations.
"So far, there's been no bipartisanship involved in reforming health care in America," McCain complained....
[emphasis added]
Okay, just hold on a minute there. Senator Claire McCaskill (D) stated in Jefferson City (and at three other town halls I attended):
....[18:40] And the other thing you can do there, which might be interesting, 'cause you're here and you obviously care very deeply, you might watch the live video, not live, it's taped video, of all the the mark up sessions in the [Senate] bill. Fifty-two hours of mark up sessions on the bill. Thirteen Democrats, ten Republicans. There were a lot of amendments, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds that were written up. There were about two hundred that were considered. Of the two hundred amendments that were considered and adopted on this bill in this fifty-two hours a hundred and sixty-seven of them were sponsored by the Republican members of the committee and thirty-one of them were sponsored by the Democratic members of the committee. So, there was [applause], there were really a bipartisan [crowd shouting], the interesting thing [voice, shouting: "What happened to the other thirty (inaudible)?"] there really was a bi, and you can watch it. You can go on and watch it. You don't have to read something that somebody else has written. You can go on and watch it live. You can see the Republican members offering the amendments. You can see the discussion. You can understand, maybe the, the thinking behind some of the amendments and why they were offering them. And it might be a way that you could see, face to face, what really happened in fifty-two hours of consideration on this bill, instead of some of the misinformation that's gotten out there [19:57]....
"...Of the two hundred amendments that were considered and adopted on this bill in this fifty-two hours a hundred and sixty-seven of them were sponsored by the Republican members of the committee and thirty-one of them were sponsored by the Democratic members of the committee...."
Someone other than a stenographer might try to reconcile those competing statements.
Within the flurry of coverage of yesterday's disruption of a health care town hall in the St. Louis area was the news today that Senator Claire McCaskill had to cancel one event scheduled for next week because the people in charge of the location were concerned about safety.
Our Twitter exchanges with Tony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch swirled around that news:
tonymess SEIU union council in Missouri issues statement blaming Tea Party activists for assaulting "reverend and SEIU member." about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck
tonymess RT @clairecmc: Very disappointed that U City school dist cancelled our event. We will expand the time on afternoon event ... about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck
tonymess Tea Party activists today are crediting @clairecmc for how she is handling protests (at least for her tone on Twitter). about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck
TheyGaveUsARep @tonymess Think perhaps the 3 teabaggers who can pass for sane are taking assessments & see an unpleasant near future & R backing up a bit? about 2 hours ago from web in reply to tonymess
At this point Senator Claire Mccaskill was posting via Twitter about the cancellation of the Tuesday morning town hall.
TheyGaveUsARep @tonymess They don't get a pass just because some of the less dangerous ones want to back up today. Also today:SEIU threatened,@clairecmc=/= about 2 hours ago from web in reply to tonymess
TheyGaveUsARep @tonymess They may find that the genie doesn't go back in the bottle willingly, and they deliberately uncorked the crazy,"rattle him""shout" about 2 hours ago from web in reply to tonymess
tonymess @MBersin What false equivalence? I talked to libs and conservatives today who are asking their members to avoid conflict. That's both sides. 44 minutes ago from TweetDeck in reply to MBersin
MBersin tonymess "What false equivalence?" Oh, please. You've never heard of Glenn Beck and the rest of the Mighty Wurlitzer? The same rhetoric? 36 minutes ago from web in reply to tonymess
TheyGaveUsARep @tonymess So do you condemn "Freedom Works" and the like for initiating the disruption strategy that set us on this path? 31 minutes ago from web in reply to tonymess
MBersin @tonymess False equivalence: "shut 'em down" or "gee, we'd like a public option". Sesame Street: "One of these things is not like the other" 26 minutes ago from web in reply to tonymess
The Twitter exchange ended here.
And while we're talking about false equivalence, let's take a another look at hotflash's video from yesterday's town hall.
The Charleston, South Carolina Post and Courier has 570 pages of material [pdf] from around the time of Governor Mark Sanford's trip to Argentina supplied to the newspaper in response to a public records request to the governor's office. Via TPM.
On June 24, 2009 David Gregory at NBC e-mailed Joel Sawyer, Communications Director for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. Here is a series from David Gregory:
(12:24:17 PM)
Hey Joel...
Left you a message. Wanted you to hear directly from me that I want to have the Gov on Sunday on Meet the Press. I think it's exactly the right forum to answer the questions about his trip as well as giving him a platform to discuss the economy/stimulus and future of the party. You know he will get a fair shake from me and coming on MTP puts all of this to rest.
Let's talk when you can...
(6:02:52 PM)
You aren't doing anything at all this week....no other intvus anywhere?
(6:13:58 PM)
Look,you guys have a lot of pitches .. I get it and I know this is a tough situation ... Let me just say this is the place to have a wider conversation with some context about not just the personal but also the future for him and the party ... This situation only exacerbates the issue of how the GOP recovers when another national leader suffers a setback like this. So coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to...and then move on. You can see you have done your interview and then move on. Consider it.
Thanks
"...So coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to..."
Walter Cronkite died yesterday. And that was the end of television journalism.
It gets even better. David Shuster of MSNBC e-mailed the governor's Communications Director on June 22nd:
Today's Kansas City Star has a lead editorial in their dead trees edition scolding all those unruly Internet barbarians populating the Star's very own web site.
Incivility? Oh, the humanity. Well, yeah, welcome to blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase!).
...There's virtually no argument that the Internet has promoted incivility....
...Check out the comment section on any newspaper Web site (preferably The Star's). Sandwiched between well-reasoned points and fully constructed arguments are vitriolic ad hominem attacks...
Their point seems to be that we should all learn to keep a civil tongue. Okay. Where have you all been the last twenty years? It's their world, the rest of us just live in it.
But they're also complaining about the content in the comments at their own web site. Uh, it's your web site, do something about it. And please don't whine about the volume.
It all started late last night with this little Twitter post from Chad Livengood, political reporter for the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader:
RT @edronco: (via @faraichideya) "I would trust citizen journalism as much as I would trust citizen surgery." - Morley Safer, CBS News about 9 hours ago from web
In September 2002, after almost two years out of office, former Vice President Al Gore publicly criticized the Bush administration's rush to war with Iraq in a speech in San Francisco:
...Moreover, President Bush is demanding in this high political season that Congress speedily affirm that he has the necessary authority to proceed immediately against Iraq and, for that matter, under the language of his resolution, against any other nation in the region, regardless of subsequent developments or emerging circumstances. Now, the timing of this sudden burst of urgency to immediately take up this new cause as America's new top priority, displacing our former top priority, the war against Osama Bin Laden, was explained innocently by the White House chief of staff in his now well-known statement that "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August..."
After being out of office and power for a fraction of that time former Vice President Dick Cheney has been speaking out against the policies of the Obama administration:
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.
In his address to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy organization in Washington, Cheney said that the techniques the Bush administration approved, including waterboarding - simulated drowning that's considered a form of torture - forced nakedness and sleep deprivation, were "legal" and produced information that "prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people..."
Evidently some of the media aren't as worshipful as he'd like, but he does get access. Why would Dick do this?:
The Kansas City Starprime buzz links to Dave Catanese at KY3 citing a Boston Globe article from February 2009 which happens to mention that Claire McCaskill (D) is "sitting on the fence" when it comes to changing Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Skelton A Potential Hurdle to Overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
...AND: Midwestern Dems Could Be A Problem...
The Boston Globe article:
Obama seeks assessment on gays in military No rush to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell'
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / February 1, 2009
...Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and a senior member of the Armed Service Committee, is preparing to introduce legislation to lift the ban, but not until he can get a Republican co-sponsor, according to a congressional aide. The aide said Kennedy's office is lobbying several GOP colleagues to join him, including Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Some powerful members of his own party also appear unconvinced.
"I still think we have significant issues with a lot of the Midwestern Democrats being on the fence," the aide said, adding that some Democratic senators are considered "shaky." Some of those include Evan Bayh of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska - all representing states with significant conservative constituencies. All three declined to provide their views...
[emphasis added]
I don't think so. Doesn't anybody do any basic research anymore? There's a really neat thing on the Internets that's really easy to use, it's called teh Google:
So we're at the point that a comedian has to take a break from fart sounds and funny faces to dish out some journalism. Because otherwise, there isn't any? Journalism, that is.
-Jay Ackroyd 07:28
CBS picked up the story, even garnering praise for their coverage in a prominent diary on the Great Orange Satan.
...But the real question is this: How do we get the hard questions asked before things go wrong? That is the very serious question the late-night comedian was raising.
[emphasis added]
Good question. I would suspect, when you're a journalist with access, that it might involve something along the line of actually asking those, you know, hard questions.
...Brownback wasn't saying how he would vote on Sebelius. He appeared to be opening the door to a "no" vote amid an anti-Sebelius backlash from anti-abortion groups...
...His struggle brought back memories of a similar difficult choice that former Democratic senator Jean Carnahan of Missouri confronted in 2001. That year, President George W. Bush nominated Missourian John Ashcroft, a Republican, for attorney general...
Sure let's compare someone who was overwhelmingly re-elected by the voters of her state and was nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services by a president who was elected by a strong majority to someone who lost a statewide re-election campaign and was nominated for Attorney General by a president who lost the popular vote and was anointed by the right in the aftermath of a controversial Supreme Court ruling. Yeah, that's roughly equivalent.
The only things the two have in common are the right wingnut extremists who are inserting themselves into the process and that Kansas and Missouri share a border.
