Blue Spot

Happy Father's Day to all. Farewell to the great Tim Russert. I was sometimes a critic, but I never missed his show.

Labels: Journalists, Media

Marc Ambinder (April 24, 2008) - Ambinder The Dupe?

Politically, there seem to be a lot of Democrats out there who think that Clinton is a really, really bad person. There are very few Democrats out there who think that Obama is a bad person.

As an amateur observer of human social behavior, I am quite impressed by the steel wall of aversion that some Obama supporters put up whenever they're confronted by something that does not fit with their established perception of Hillary Clinton -- namely that there is just NO way that Hillary can raise that much money in such a short period of time...because she is, well, Hillary. The fundamental attribution error is at work: it must be a lie because Hillary is a liar; the situation -- a 9 point victory in Pennsylvania, or the roughly half of the Democratic electorate who supporters her -- well, it matters much less. Many Clinton supporters exhibit the same behavior. I exhibit the behavior when it comes to defending members of my tribe -- journalists.

Anyway, here's a representative e-mail from a reader:

Dear Marc, I have enjoyed your campaign coverage, in large part because you generally are a difficult person to dupe. The Clinton campaign got you this time though. I would suggest that you run a few numbers: the Clinton campaign says that it has raised $10 million online, by attracting 100,000 donors, 80% of whom are new donors. That is a tall tale for an incredible number of reasons but here are the most obvious: if Clinton really raised an average of $100 per internet donor, that's about 5 times higher than the typical average internet donation. The claim is specious, but possible--especially given that the Clintons say they directed their large donors towards their website. That begs the obvious question, though: how many "big" donors have the Clintons left untapped? The thousands that it would take to raise that average? That seems unlikely. What also seems unlikely is that they raised money from 80,000 new donors yesterday. That would be increasing their online donor base by 30 to 40 % in one day. The likelihood of that happening is absolutely miniscule, and you know it. The Clintons have had an awfully poor track record of lying about donations over the past three months. And I don't blame them--they have every incentive to lie. The official reports will not come in until the 15th of next month (I believe, though you should know), and by that time how much money they have will be wholly irrelevant because a new storyline should have taken hold in the press; but, if their lies are passed on now, it will create the appearance of momentum, which in turn creates momentum, and may give their campaign a few more weeks of life. So the Clintons have an incentive to lie; your incentive to pass on that lie, without putting a critical eye to it, is what I question. There isn't one. So, with all due respect Marc, dig a little deeper. There's a story there, and you're too smart to miss it. Best, Patrick Moore

Wow...when I look at the comments for the videos I put up on YouTube, the Obama supporters usually have something equally ignorant to say. Usually, it's something like "you're grasping at straws." Well, judging from the above post, it looks like it's Obama's supporters who are now beginning to grasp at straws.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Journalists, Obama supporters

'Killing Fields' survivor Dith Pran dies - Life- msnbc.com NEW YORK - Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died Sunday, his former colleague said.

Dith, 65, died at a New Jersey hospital Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer, according to Sydney Schanberg, his former colleague at The New York Times. Dith had been diagnosed almost three months ago.

Labels: Journalists, Local, World news

Looks like even Chris' dad thinks he's a sell out. Mike asks Chris to give his answer to the accusation, but why would he even bring it up if he didn't believe it?

Labels: Fox propaganda, Journalists, Media

Bill Moyers on how the media enabled the Bush administration's case for war.

Labels: 9-11, Dissent, Fox propaganda, Iraq War, Journalists, Media

Following a suicide bombing and ensuing gunfight in Afghanistan, a US soldier forced an AP photographer to delete his photos, then became angry and raised his hand as if to strike the journalist.



read more | digg story

Labels: Journalists