———————–

(Alternate title: Ratings and Relevance – Why the Media Elite Need Hillary to Stay in the Race)

Like many of you, I am fascinated by our Elite Media’s collective reaction to the Obama surge. They appear to be tripping over themselves to minimize the importance of his victories this week. They are muddling the delegate count to make it appear like we have a neck-and-neck horse race, rather than an obvious clear leader today. Tim Russert has to stand on his head wearing those 3-D colored glasses in order not to sound like a complete idiot when he says ‘As I read the results, there is no clear picture in the race today, Chris’. Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, and the rest are all saying how uncertain things are, when in fact we have a darn good idea of what is happening.

So what’s going on here? Aren’t these the same people who couldn’t wait to trash Hillary Clinton from the moment she announced her candidacy? Weren’t these folks practically wetting themselves when it looked like she had a legitimate challenger in the Democratic primary? Yet now, you get the sense they are all cheering her on behind the scenes, although of course they can’t be so blatant as to say so on national TV.

What’s changed?

What’s changed is she looks like she might actually lose. Pretty soon, our media elite might not have Hillary Clinton to kick around any more. And I suspect this is a scary thought to many of them.

There are two reason why having her around is important to them – Ratings and Relevance.

Ratings

Here is a partial list of media figures who saw their career prospects soar while Bill Clinton was President:

Bill O’Reilly

Chris Matthews

Sean Hannity

George Stephanopoulos

Wolf Blitzer

Andrea Mitchell

Ann Coulter

Rush Limbaugh

In a fair and equitable world, Monica Lewinsky would be getting a cut from each of these people’s salaries for life. Back in the day, beating up on Bill Clinton wasn’t just good for ratings, it was great for ratings. To put it mildly, these people have the ‘Attack Clinton’ gene built right into their DNA.

So they continue the pattern when Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy. And then, lo and behold, along comes Barack Obama. Suddenly, a legitimate contender to the Clinton throne! How exciting! So they rush to report just exactly how exciting it is, and whaddya know, ratings go up again! Ah, the power of a knock-down fight with one of the competitors named Clinton. It is ratings gold to these folks. What’s that you say, there’s this pesky fellow named Edwards mucking up our story? Not to worry, we can ignore him till he drops out, then we’ll add to the drama by saying how he shaped the race for the two remaining combatants. Drama! Ah yes, more ratings gold. What a great story! Let’s make sure we give Obama some good press to keep things close for a while, shall we?

Of course, when Hillary beats her challenger in the primaries, we can then move on to the heavyweight championship. Hillary Clinton vs. John McCain! OMFG can you just imagine! We’ll probably also have to pump up John a bit to keep things close and exciting, but that’s not a problem – we’re experts at the game by now.

Ah yes, our ratings will be through the roof in 2008. How wonderful not to have to report on those depressing topics like The War or The Economy for a whole year…

But wait. Oh noes! What’s that? Barack Obama is winning? That, well that just can’t be happening…but…ok calm down…stall for time…maybe we can still have our dream title match…doesn’t look good you say?…um, what if we make it seem like it’s closer than it really is?…I suppose it’s all we can do for now…jeepers I sure hope Obama says something stupid soon…er, does anybody around here have a plan B?

Bottom line, I believe commercial considerations are driving about 90% of the spin we see today in political reporting. Explaining in full detail how Hillary Clinton really is in deep trouble does little for their ratings, so they make it seem like things might just be closer than they are in reality. After all, it’s not yet 100% impossible for her to win, so run with it while we keep those eyeballs tuned to our oh-so-exciting ‘news’ programming! While we’re at it, let’s support Hillary’s call for more debates so we can gain the temporary ratings boost AND we can help spin the results back into her favor if we get desperate enough. Not much of a plan, but you gotta do what you gotta do…

Relevance

Going back to the list above, it’s surprising to see just how many of our media elite today owe their careers to Bill Clinton and his personal peccadilloes. With Hillary Clinton in the White House, they are all nearly assured of continuous influence, ratings, and relevance. And of course, the paycheck that comes along with said relevance. Natch.

But what happens if Barack Obama not only wins the Democratic nomination, but also the White House? Will this change signify a public shift away from not only the two families who have run the show for ages, but also a deeper shift towards a new way of politics? What if talking about blue dresses and cigars just won’t bring folks to your program like it used to?

I don’t think our media elite have fully thought this through yet. Individually, their egos are big enough to believe ‘it won’t happen to me’. But, subconsciously, I think it’s starting to register. You can see it in their eyes. Change is coming, and they don’t know what to do. It’s not clear, but it is possible this could be the beginning of the end to their relevance. It has to happen eventually, so why not now?

Of course, if Barack Obama wins the nomination they will make the best of it. But I suspect their hearts won’t be in it, and they just might start looking over their collective shoulders to see what other change might start heading their way. It’s enough to make you downright nervous in this oh-so-competitive day and age. I mean, what happens if folks decide that, in addition to Bushes and Clintons and such, they are tired of Matthews’s and Mitchells and Russerts and Blitzers and Limbaughs too?

Now there’s a truly scary hopeful thought this Valentine’s Day.

Cheers.

May Spell Trouble

As Iraqis who fled their homes during the war begin to return, some are finding it safer to move into areas inhabited by other members of their sect, creating segregated communities of Shia and Sunni Muslims at ever-increasing rates.

The country has seen a drop in sectarian violence as a result, but some observers are concerned by the trend’s other possible consequences.

This does not bode well for a countries citizens, that once lived in relative comfort in a mixed religious/tribal sectarian society, under the rule of a dictatorship once propped up by the west.

Now, as Iraqis return — due to the decline in violence or because they ran out of money or face new visa restrictions in other countries — many cannot move back to their homes because they are destroyed or occupied by other families, or they are choosing to live elsewhere.

Ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods and sections of the country, taking place under the control of an occupying military, may be bringing a calm to the destructive violence, but it leaves these area’s wide open to control of sectarian groups and not a weak central government.

International Organization for Migration – Report {PDF}

And since about one-third of Iraqis are in mixed marriages, “we’re getting reports of families who are being split up,” Ferris noted.

We have already seen the reports of how our occupation is contributing by walling off neighborhoods of Baghdad, in that report as well as this and this one which also has this video slide show, Fortress Baghdad.

And as I was writing this {home with a flu bug} NPR aired this report:

Baghdad Neighborhoods’ Future Security Uncertain

Morning Edition, February 14, 2008 · With the downturn in violence, some Baghdad neighborhoods have begun to spring back to life. Iraqi forces have been taking more responsibility for security. But with U.S. military officials committed to bringing some troops home by mid-summer, some Iraqis are beginning to ask what the city will look like a few months from now. Peter Kenyon

You can listen here

We created the extremely dangerous unstability by our invasion, in this War of Choice, and we have perpetuated that unstability by our longterm occupation and support of the puppet government!

Will what is taking place in Iraq, under the U.S. occupation, create an even more unstable country and regional problems leading to even more danger to the National Security of this country, and citizens of, and others than already may exist?

Time will tell, but I believe it will, for it was the failed foreign policies of the past and recent present that brought us to this evolving destructive point in todays World!

We aren’t “Fighting them over there so as to not fight them here.”, we are creating even more hatreds, in once innocent people in that country and enhancing the hatreds within the region, and for some they will lash out in the blowback of ‘Criminal Terrorism’, and already have!

Under the Ideologies of Conservative Republicanism and National Security this is the direction of this Countries Policies:

Enhance more Hatreds anywhere possible, through propaganda, destruction, mass death, under the terms ‘Freedom’ and ‘Democracy’ in order to Continue threats against from similar Failed Policies of Past!

Those Hatreds lead to ‘Blowback’ by recipients of the many Failed Policies called ‘Criminal Terrorism’!

Take the word ‘Terrorism’, while practicing same, and paste it on any group needed to Enhance the Fear in Populations causing Perpetual Conflicts and Huge Profits for any Military Industrial Complex and Control by same for Further Policies set up to Fail!

And when ‘Johnny and Jane’ come Marching Home, Dump Them {that one cuts across all Political Ideology and This Society }

It’s Not ‘Strong on National Defense’, it Destroys ‘National Defense’ and brings about more and more ‘Conflicts of Choice’ for Greed and Power!

If we don’t hold those Responsible for the Wrath of Failed Policies Instituted than in the eyes of the World ‘We Have Excepted All That Has Been Done In Our Names’ and are thus Just As Guilty!

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Bonding Combination of the Two The warmth of your smile Providing comfort in a cold world friendship to chase away loneliness support in the face of hostility a willing hand when relief is needed And a hug Two humans working together cooperating for survival sharing the joys and the pains when they arrive And a kiss Having someone to be bored with and sometimes break that boredom someone to share stories with and with whom to make new ones And cuddle Until the end of time –Robyn Elaine Serven –February 13, 2008

I know you have talent.  What sometimes is forgotten is that being practical is a talent.  I have a paucity for that sort of talent in many situations, though it turns out that I’m a pretty darn good cook.  🙂  

Let your talent bloom.  You can share it here.  Encourage others to let it bloom inside them as well.

Won’t you share your words or art, your sounds or visions, your thoughts scientific or philosophic, the comedy or tragedy of your days, the stories of doing and making?  And be excellent to one another!

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

A Valentine’s Day reminder, given chocolate’s status as a conflict substance, that ethical (and tasty!) chocolate is readily available. Why is this important? With Fair Trade chocolate:

* Forced and abusive child labor practices are prohibited

* Farming families earn a price that is adequate to meet their basic human needs

* Environmentally sustainable production methods are required

Where to buy Fair Trade chocolate and other Fair Trade goods?

A partial list is available here

Happy Valentine’s Day from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

Ta!

Hyper Thick Compression Sticks

like Jesus the lost Apostle begotten from Zen

and carved from Chi balancing

in/ rainbows cherub voices fugue

like “smile” on the cutting room floors

of  Billboard’s Top Forty

yeah yeah he hates these cans

and exchoooose me

blunderfoot and bubblehead bounces

in consumption spirals blank

syncopated like cannonball adderly

but a poor man’s version

that’s what I like

make it sparse

make it important

on a hillside at 3 am tingles

trickling spinewords in pinewood caskets

and baskets of wings

clipped by Missus Obstacles

in spent little pentagrams of white chalk dust

escaping

so ignore my days

ignore my gaze

not meant for you

just left over from

another’s reflection bouncing like time

while swinging on vines

or am i a doorbell

ringing

an instant classic that won’t be read on the radio

a stale bread masterpiece with caribou meat

and chalice

balanced at the first supper table’s edge where no one was betrayed in gospel tones and tent revivals

where god gets paid like the mob boss we make him out to be

in harmony off bathroom walls and corridors bleached

meat equals cake

bread equals life

egg is soul

fork is this memory of college before it went bad

and you got lost between the coats, toads and racists

oh bitch face it this dress ain’t for me

magnificent though it is

so go on ignoring

keep on ignoring

me

unintended tragedy singular and hollow

like being lied to at nineteen

when it meant so much

another small gray American upbringing

howling in cracked panes and coarse wood

in roadside shacks beside your car

meditating in motion

and crushing forces

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

The following message is reprinted with permission from Congressman Wexler’s office.

:: ::

Today, in hearings on Capitol Hill, I confronted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her role in the lies, exaggerations, and misdirection that led us into the Iraq war.

During my questioning, Secretary Rice falsely stated that she never saw intelligence casting doubt on the Bush Administration claims that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. This unbelievable statement is flatly contradicted by numerous government reports and CIA testimonials.

Sources such as the 2006 Senate Intelligence Report, a January 2004  Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report as well as former CIA agents (including Tyler Drumheller) have disclosed that there was contrary intelligence to the information provided to the Bush Administration in the lead up to the Iraq war.

See this video:

Secretary Rice’s responses demonstrate once and for all that we need aggressive oversight over this out of control Administration. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has ignored the constitutional right of Congress to provide such oversight.

It is time Congress took aggressive action to assert our rights on behalf of the American people.

The House of Representatives must immediately hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress for their failure to respond to congressional subpoenas.

I have been aggressively lobbying Members of Congress to support a vote on contempt, and I am thrilled to report that Speaker Pelosi told me directly that she agrees it is well past time to vote on contempt. I am anticipating that the House will shortly vote on resolutions of both civil and criminal contempt for both Miers and Bolten.

No one should be immune from accountability and the rule of law.

Not Harriet Miers or Josh Bolten.

And especially not Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.

It is time to defend the Constitution and our rights as a co-equal branch of government.

I will continue to take on the Bush Administration for their outrageous abuses just as I confronted Condoleezza Rice today and Attorney General Mukasey last week. (Click here to see my questioning of Mukasey.)

With your help we will hold these top Bush officials in contempt and continue our efforts to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney.

Thank you, as always, for your great support.

Yours truly,

Congressman Robert Wexler

:: ::

The above message was reprinted with permission from Congressman Wexler’s office. It has been faithfully crossposted to ePluribus Media, My Left Wing, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, Docudharma, Below Boston, The Wild Wild Left and on DelphiForums.