While the Democrats are fighting it out and raising unbelieveable amounts of money, McCain started out the process of winning by purchasing the billions of dollars of free advertising provided to him by our puerile campaign press corps. Who needs a campaign war chest when you have the entire press swooning over you because you just charm the pants off them by throwing them a BBQ? Say what you will about the Republicans’ collective inability (more like inability to care) at running a government—they know how to win an election. While the hard right threw a fit over McCain, the voters wisely chose to nominate the man who will probably get a major pundit to literally give him a hand job live on-air before this is all over. Which will then be described as an excellent demonstration of McCain’s natural skills at foreign policy—if he can fuck Chris Matthews, surely he can fuck the world, will go the reasoning.
The trick of banning the press from his inner circle and then letting them in to feed them Man Food like ribs seems very obvious to non-puerile human beings, but let’s face it, it’s a brilliant maneuver. Some high school nerds reject rule by jocks and assholes in high school, resenting them, often with sarcasm, and then moving onto careers in the arts, sciences, and high-paying tech jobs. They then become hip nerds, with their indie rock and their microbrews, or if they’re Boomers, their organic foods and record collections. But never mind the normal people. Some nerds never get over trying to impress the assholes of the world, as they’re secretly convinced that they’ll one day get an audience and be able to make their case and finally get accepted. For reasons I don’t quite understand, those nerds all seem to go into political journalism.
I disagree with this statement:
Few candidates work as hard to woo the reporters who cover him as McCain. In the past he has jokingly called the news media his constituency. Most candidates tend to see such events as snake handling, interesting but the thing could bite you at any moment.
Not that reporters aren’t his constituency—they are. McCain is no fool on this one. But the first rule of not being taken for a fool is waving away the possibility that you are a fool. As soon as you’re saying, “I won’t be won over with these delicious and strangely erotic baby back ribs, because I’m an all-powerful snake in the grass crazy ninja motherfucker reporter,” you’ve already been won over by the baby back ribs.
When dealing with people with this specific mix of low self-esteem and delusions of grandeur, it’s best to treat them like McCain has treated these reporters. Act like you’re too good for them. Grow very cold for apparently arbitrary reasons, and make them fall over themselves trying to please you. Excluding them from your inner circle, making it seem very cool and mysterious, so by the time you let them in, they’re acting like the teenage characters in a nerds-at-high-school-graduation-party—they can’t believe that the popular kids finally noticed them and invited them to the party. This is going to be the best night ever!
It would all be very funny, if these were not the people with the power to puff up McCain’s status as a “moderate” and a war hero, while simultaneously obscuring his avid war support, his absolute disinterest in improving the economic lives of Americans, and his willingness to suck up to every Bible-thumping maniac out there.
Meanwhile, sure that they’re really, truly in the inner asshole circle now, the Villagers will try to distance themselves from the Democratic nominee. For whoever he or she may be, he/she will symbolize the nerd inside that you’re halfway convinced was eliminated by a heavy application of baby back ribs. And in order to prove to yourself that you’re not that hand-waving, know-it-all nerd, but truly belong at the beer-drinking, baby back rib table (and how cool is it this time that the candidate you’d rather have a beer with can probably do it, since he’s not a recovering alcoholic?), you have to bash the out and proud nerds with a vengeance. Granted, this trick might be easier to pull with Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama, since the former can be fit into a type we all know very well. Think: Hermione Granger. Tracy Flick.
Your average voter has neither the time nor the energy to obsessively comb through political coverage and get to the real story behind the bullshit. It’s not people’s fault that they watch 2 hours of news a week and consider that a dutiful amount of time being a good citizen. In reality, it should be enough. They should be able to get 2 hours of entertaining but informative coverage, so that they can make a truly informed decision. It’s so obvious that this should be enough, that it’s hard for most people to question whether or not that’s actually happening, and instead they assume they’re getting the truth. And that non-truth that seems like truth will be that we’ve got two appealingly moderate candidates, but one is an awesome war hero who knows how to take charge and the other is a babbling nerd who looks down his/her nose at you for being a yokel. The real policy differences that could actually cause people to vote for the Democrat will be swept under the table.
Even with the war going on, in other words, I fear that we’re looking at a repeat of the 2000 election.
50 Responses to “The baby back ribs that took our democracy”
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Amanda said, “And that non-truth that seems like truth will be that we’ve got two appealingly moderate candidates, but one is an awesome war hero who knows how to take charge and the other is a babbling nerd who looks down his/her nose at you for being a yokel. The real policy differences that could actually cause people to vote for the Democrat will be swept under the table.”
Ahhhhhhhh. Stop being insightful! Fear and BBQ ribs. Is that what this country responds to? This makes me want to bang my head against the table.
Please, don’t be so general - name names, and preferably associated email addresses. The only (faint) hope to get these useless fools to behave remotely honestly is to deluge them with complaints and mockery, -every- time they fall into Mccain worship.
The reporters who attended that little shindig should be ashamed of themselves. They have compromised their objectivity in covering their story for a few bites of succulent grilled pork.
…I’m hungry now. I think I’ll go to journalism school.
There really isn’t any Deep, Psychological reason for the media handjob needed. It is this simple:
The United States (and at this point, THe World) is run by Big Corporations;
Grandpa Surge has shown everyone in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that he will do whatever the corporatists ask. Anything. Kill, commit treason, establish martial law…..whatever the corporations need. He is their lap dog and lap dancer.
The Media, which is owned by Big Corporations, gives him a two year handjob, even though he is clearly an absolutely crappy candidate.
It’s that simple.
And that worth fighting against. I for one, DO NOT welcome our Corporatist Overlords!
8 years ago bush fed them hot meals & gave them cute nicknames. So after that they all rolled over & played dead.
No kidding this kind of BBQ wooing at McCain’s Sedona spread sways weak journalists! During the 2000 campaign, some journalists got all swoony over the lavish food on George W. Bush’s press plane, where they were fed five times a day. And on things like lobster ravioli! How they gritched and moaned when Tipper Gore, concerned about everyone’s health on the campaign trail, started serving fresh fruit and granola bars for snacks on the press plane. And journalists actually complained, in print, about this!
It’s all grimly documented in Bob Somersby’s archives at www.dailyhowler.com, but I remember Margaret Carlson as being one of the most smitten by W.
GHWB did it too (his initials always remind me of that date-rape drug) by inviting reporters to off-the-record “social” events at Kennebunkport. Since neither Clinton nor Obama has a swank summer home that I know of, will they be able to do anything comparably awful? I hope not.
No kidding this kind of BBQ wooing at McCain’s Sedona spread sways weak journalists! During the 2000 campaign, some journalists got all swoony over the lavish food on George W. Bush’s press plane, where they were fed five times a day. And on things like lobster ravioli! How they gritched and moaned when Tipper Gore, concerned about everyone’s health on the campaign trail, started serving fresh fruit and granola bars for snacks on the press plane. And journalists actually complained, in print, about this!
It’s all grimly documented in Bob Somersby’s archives at www.dailyhowler.com, but I remember Margaret Carlson as being one of the most smitten by W.
GHWB did it too (his initials always remind me of that date-rape drug) by inviting reporters to off-the-record “social” events at Kennebunkport. Since neither Clinton nor Obama has a swank summer home that I know of, will they be able to do anything comparably awful? I hope not.
“I for one, DO NOT welcome our Corporatist Overlords!”
You WILL be made to atone for your sins.
2+2=5
The Sky is Red
War is Peace
Etc….
If McCain wore a flightsuit, all the reporters there, male and female, would have had to change their underwear.
And then immediately afterward, they would have carried him bodily to the White House for the anointment…
The interesting thing is, the GOP has learned to handle the snakes, and they’re not going to bite. If they did, there’d be lots of other GOP faithful attacking them and scorning them as part of the “liberal media”. Attack liberals, and you don’t get the same kind of attack dog response. So why not pal around with the reporters? Why no do nice things for them, knowing full well it will bias them? They’re not going to attack. And if they did, well, it’s obviously just one sourpuss, because, look, the other reporters are still sucking it all up and spewing it all back out.
Which makes me wonder if the answer is to develop the attack dog response on the left in the hopes that they decide that if they’re screwed no matter what they do, they might as well be screwed for doing their jobs well.
I really hope that the change I seek, rather than being myself, is not instead under the benches at the bus station.
Still, it’s too early for despair. ‘Tis a long way till August, and longer still until November. As 2006 has shown, ugly things popping out of ugly places can work wonders. I just have to hope the actual ugly things outnumber the imaginary ones that the GOP and MSM are going to come up with.
Please, don’t be so general - name names, and preferably associated email addresses. The only (faint) hope to get these useless fools to behave remotely honestly is to deluge them with complaints and mockery, -every- time they fall into Mccain worship.
It’s a very faint hope. The reaction from reporters would be more like, “You just don’t know him like I do! You can’t keep us apart forever!”
(Yes, you should be hearing the voice of a 14-year-old girl there.)
I wouldn’t get too optimistic based on what happened in 2006. That election was a) throwing out a Congress run by petty, evil people that would creep you out to stand behind them in line at the grocery store b) during an unpopular war and c) a tanking economy where d) the media didn’t have a major Republican figurehead to squeal about all damn day. We should have won it in a landslide, and instead it was a squeaker.
You have to feed the press monsters, the Democaratic nominee has to fight BBQ with donuts, burgers with enchiladas, let no food group be left covered on the brunch table of the election. And then just when you have the press corps sated and happy, you can drop them off the plane at altitude and be done with them.
I dunno … those ribs look pretty good. There are three things that can shake my resolve to keep up some semblance of maintaining kosher laws — good ham, good bacon and good baby back ribs.
I can’t blame the press
Amanda,
The thing is, though, that B & C are still factors, and disgruntlement with them has increased dramatically, not least because people’s own pocketbooks are getting slammed day after day.
However, an argument can be made that the politics of fear still works–3AM phone calls & all–and that people can vote against their own interests even in the worst of times.
However, at this stage it’s a hypothetical, since for all of Clinton II’s wins, Obama’s still ahead in delegates until the funny business starts up closer to the convention.
As to the general election, I’m giving my traditional pessimism a rest until it gets its call to enter, stage left.
1. Those ribs in that picture look extremely delicious.
2. I don’t think this will be a repeat of 2000. I think the turnout among Dem voters for the primaries…the PRIMARIES where a lot of us could live and be happy with *either* candidate…will ensure that 2000 does not happen again.
Amanda, you’re overthinking this. It’s not about the ribs, it’s not about “nerds” and “jocks”; it’s about treating reporters like human beings and giving them access.
When he’s on the campaign trail, McCain spends time almost every day answering reporters’ questions. That may sound like an obvious thing to do, but it’s surprisingly rare. A lot of major-league politicans act like rock stars when they’re out campaigning, doling out bits of their precious time to favored journalists, usually the big names from the national papers, magazines and networks. Worse yet, some of them act hostile and suspicious, convinced the press is out to get them. Nothing annoys a reporter more than accusing him or her of ulterior motives; it’s like telling a cop, “I know you guys are all on the take.”
Reporters are like anyone else; they respond positively to people who treat them decently and make their jobs easier. I wouldn’t vote for McCain for dogcatcher, but I give him credit for being comfortable enough in his own skin to have regular, unscripted encounters with the press. His opponents could learn from that.
You have to feed the press monsters, the Democaratic nominee has to fight BBQ with donuts, burgers with enchiladas, let no food group be left covered on the brunch table of the election.
You think you’re joking, but I was in journalism for a while. Reporters will eat the garnishes off the buffet table once everything else is gone and then grumble that there wasn’t enough food.
A little off topic - the cowardly Washington Post is springing a suprise q and a with their favorite misogynist, Charlotte Allen today. Please send her some questions! Of course, John Pomfret, the editor who apparently thinks “Women are dumb” stories are just hilarious, has kept himself well hidden - no question and answer for him. Although giving Charlotte Allen even more Washington Post space is typical for the clueless and sexist WAPO, still, it is a chance to express some outrage.
So, there will be a column on the Clinton campaign assigning reporters to a bathroom?
Thanks for the heads-up, roger. Got my question in, though I suspect it’s already been round-filed. Not properly obsequious to Ms. Allen, I suspect…
Scott, usually the chats at the Washington Post actually feature the guest picking through the questions to answer the ones they find interesting or striking or whatever. So really it’s probably going to be a question of whether Ms. Allen feels like posting your reply.
Also, if she does get a large number of questions and comments, she may not even have time to look at all of them. So cross your fingers that she feels like she has to prove you wrong.
Mnemosyne- I rarely joke about food. I have made a volunteer career out of being the one who makes sure that staff gets watered and fed, attendees get fed, speakers are kept happy usually with food and that reporters give positive press coverage again usually done with plentiful, cheap and hand held munchies accompanied with wine, beer and fizzy water. Low blood sugar is the bane of a successful event.
This is completely true, but does not cover or excuse the printing/broadcasting of deliberate, easily provable falsehoods.
As for the two-hours-a-week principle: Yes, if the news stuck to the news and didn’t run with stories that are not stories, two hours a week would be plenty.
Reporters are like anyone else; they respond positively to people who treat them decently and make their jobs easier.
I’m angry.
Their fucking job isn’t to be treated decently and have easy jobs. Their job isn’t to get fat off of ribs and buffets.
Their job is to fucking put McCain on the spot about things he doesn’t want to talk about. Their job is to get Clinton to release her tax records, just like everybody else in the primaries did. Their job is to inform, explode rumors, not to make the rumors the story. Not use “Whitewater” as a way to imply scandal without actually having any. Their job is find out the truth, not sit there complacent and fed at McCain’s stupid party and swallow his bullshit wholesale. Their job isn’t to grovel and scrape in Clinton’s bathroom, all in the name of “access.”
Between all this crap, and stuff like Margaret Seltzer’s fraudulent memoir, I think we’re living through the most fundamental failure of journalism in two centuries of the American press. “Access” is bullshit. The job of journalists is to force access, not receive it in trade.
While the way the press is slobbering over McCain does not make the Democrat’s jobs any easier (I for one look forward to the “Tweety gives McCain a blow job LIVE! Hot man-on-man action!*” show) but this is not 2000, not by a long shot.
For one thing, look at the Democratic turnout. Dems are voting in droves - far more than voted in 2000. For many people it’s a matter of “voting for a candidate I actually LIKE” rather than “I’m gonna hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils” that went on in 2000 and 2004.
People were not enthused about Gore in 2000. Sure, we can all chorus what a wunnerful, wunnerful guy he is NOW post-”An Inconvenient Truth” and all. But who saw that in 2000? Who really was enthused about Gore and thought he’d be great then? Anyone? Bueller? Dems and Repubs alike THOUGHT and PERCEIVED that there was no real difference between Bush and Gore (of course we know better NOW, but THEN, face it that’s what a lot of people thought). OTOH, people ARE enthused about Obama, and about Sen. Clinton as well.
The netroots/grassroots - yes, I believe they DO make a difference, and they ARE vastly stronger than in 2000. The Dems are doing great at grassroots organizing - I don’t see the Republicans mustering up popular support and networks and enthusiasm, even for McCain.
So while McCain is a dangerous opponent, and the MSM’s shameless cocksucking doesn’t help our side, it’s way, way too early to turn tail and admit defeat. Way. Too. Early. The fat lady won’t be singing until November 2008. Then - THEN, if there’s a Repub victory, THEN we can admit defeat.
I asked this question of Charlotte:
If women are too dumb to work outside of the home, and you are a woman, why are you being published in the Washington Post? Wouldn’t you be considered too dumb, because of your gender, to do that? Aren’t you afraid that thinking will put a strain on your uterus?
We’ll see if it goes up.
Perhaps this is the column that Charlotte wishes she could write for the Washington Post. Note that it is satire. Really.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030400708.html
Man this is dumb, drugstore sociology. Nerds and Jocks and Assholes? Guess what, not all jocks are assholes and not all nerds are good. Some jocks voluntarily stay in POW camps to get tortured. Whatever that is, it isn’t asshole behavior. Admiring that sort of character is not a symptom of insecurity in nerds. It’s a symptom of humanity.
Man this is dumb, drugstore sociology. Nerds and Jocks and Assholes? Guess what, not all jocks are assholes and not all nerds are good. Some jocks voluntarily stay in POW camps to get tortured. Whatever that is, it isn’t asshole behavior. Admiring that sort of character is not a symptom of insecurity in nerds. It’s a symptom of humanity.
Mnemosyne- I rarely joke about food.
My Italian ancestors would rise up in a body and smite me if I dared joke about such a serious subject.
I have made a volunteer career out of being the one who makes sure that staff gets watered and fed, attendees get fed, speakers are kept happy usually with food and that reporters give positive press coverage again usually done with plentiful, cheap and hand held munchies accompanied with wine, beer and fizzy water. Low blood sugar is the bane of a successful event.
It has become part of my paid job’s function to arrange for lunch or dinner for people. It’s WAY harder than most people seem to think, especially when you have a VIP who refuses to eat fresh tomatoes. I’m still cringing that I forgot that pico de gallo is made with them. I got to sit there and watch him carefully pick them out of his burrito.
Seriously, though, journalists are by far the whiniest and most entitled group when it comes to free food. Almost everyone else is happy to eat what’s provided.
Anyone who wants to see how long and difficult this campaign will be, and how much we have to overcome, can compare this story of the baby back ribs barbecue and suckupfest to the story from a couple of months ago about Hillary providing breakfast for the reporters. How did they react? They were rude. They refused to speak to her when she tried to talk to them. They grumbled about the food and complained that she was trying to “buy” them.
These people have no shame. Remember that. They are not interested in doing their jobs at all. Anything we achieve will be totally in spite of them. Who cares what their reasons are — and I suspect a lot of it is that they are lazy and vain — but those are the facts.
Has anyone found a website that tallies all the votes cast thus far, and for whom?
I have a(n unfounded) suspicion that both Clinton and Obama have individually received more votes than the sum total of all Republican votes cast to date.
Any help, folks?
Thanks!
Their job is to fucking put McCain on the spot about things he doesn’t want to talk about.
Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Their job is to produce material that will make people watch/read/listen to their reports, and most importantly absorb advertisements. People too often make the error of thinking that they are the customers of the media - we aren’t. We are the product, or at least our attention is the product. The customers are the advertisers.
It’s the basic rule of capitalism - if you aren’t paying full price, you aren’t the customer (though the converse is absolutely *not* true).
I think you’re right, teac, and hopefully that is a trend that will continue, no matter who finally gets the Dem nod.
“Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi- you’re my only hope!”
Their job is to produce material that will make people watch/read/listen to their reports, and most importantly absorb advertisements.
Oh, I beg to differ. That’s certainly the job they think they’re supposed to be doing, but that’s nowhere near the purpose of a free press in a democracy. Audience as product is part of the fundamental failure I’m referring to.
Mnemosyne- prior to feeding any large group of strangers it pays to watch the morning “news” shows. Whatever food scare or trend that appears there will inevitably be what causes you to pull your hair out on the day of the event. I once hand washed 2 bushels of locally grown spinach for a special dish only to have 4 farms in California mess up my entire menu. I also try to never use the same ingredients (barring the basics) twice in a menu to avoid picky eater syndrome.
“That’s certainly the job they think they’re supposed to be doing, but that’s nowhere near the purpose of a free press in a democracy.”
While I agree that “The Press” should function as a source of information to help us be better citizens, the fact is The News Is Entertainment.
Movies & TV = Entertainment
“Professional” Wrestling = Entertainment
Any sport featuring a ball or puck = Entertainment
NASCAR = Entertainment (for some)
News = Entertainment
We are in effect living in the biggest “Reality Show” on the planet. And like all reality shows, actual, literal, unpredictable reality is to be feared. So to guarantee the biggest audience, please the advertisers and corporate overlords, and get people talking around the water cooler, “reality” must be very carefully scripted.
There must be the right amount of the right type of conflict, there must be a certain level of “controversy”, and the fact that everything is actually scripted must be kept hidden, so the rubes don’t get upset.
We are just the audience, and as long as the advertisers are getting a return on their investment, all is well with the world. And if democracy dies in the process - well, it was nice while it lasted…
Teac, I found this regarding total number of votes:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21660914
Laura Rozen at War and Peace has been writing some excellent posts about the rebarbative and cowardly Post. My question for Allan was about the mechanics of the piece. How long has she known John Pomfret? What did he and others at Outlook say about her article before they printed it? Certainly, her Q and A makes Pomfret a liar, as Rozen points out - Allan never presented the article as a satire, and she was clear that she meant women are genetically inferior in her q and a.
The Post is being pretty pathetic about this, hoping that it blows away. I hope it doesn’t. The way the Post op ed page has shifted to make even the Wall Street Journal page look rational (remember, thie Post is the paper that published an editorial praising the greatness of Pinochet after he died) has been a pretty distressing experience - the arrogance of the thinking of the mostly male editorial crew that they could stomp on women like they were back in their little frathouse, though, has to be confronted.
Teac, I found this regarding total number of votes:
It’s pretty interesting to look at some of those results with a calculator in hand. Sure, we knew that California would go blue and Alaska would go red, but who thought that Colorado and Georgia would switch to blue? Bush carried Georgia by around 500K votes in 2004 and Colorado by about 100K. But looking at the relative turnout of the Republican and Democratic primaries, it looks like the Democrat could win both of those states.
Assuming they don’t fuck it up, of course. Sigh.
Brilliant, louise, thanks!
Maybe after class tonight I’ll whip up a little spreadsheet. Cuz inquiring minds want to know!
The ideal of press as watchdog is nice, but I don’t see a clear path towards that ideal that doesn’t involve unrealistic demands on human nature. We need to find a way to structure the incentives for media organizations in a way that rewards watchdogs and independent analysis. Air America tries to be a home for anti-limbaughs, and I like most of the shows I’ve listened to, but it’s still an ad-based network.
I suspect that in the long term something will emerge from the internet that at least partially provides the needed independence and commitment to the truth, provided we can keep net neutrality. Blogs are a start, but even they have only a tiny fraction of the audience of the MSM.
The ideal of press as watchdog is nice, but I don’t see a clear path towards that ideal that doesn’t involve unrealistic demands on human nature.
We had it that way for a century and a half. Human nature certainly includes the qualities that make for a lazy press, but human nature also includes things like adherence to an ideal, respect for ethical boundaries, and pride in a job done well, not by cutting corners. A watchdog press isn’t inconsistent with human nature; it’s simply inconsistent with selfishness, cynicism, and laziness.
you guys are all thinking of “yellow journalism”, a phenomenom (or however its spelled) where, to sell papers, jounralists go and find the GREAT WRONGS, like children working in textile companies. these GREAT WRONGS were perpetrated by evil, evil rich men, not the WONDERFUL GOVERNMENT, who never in any way wanted any sort of mass industrialization or larger taxes.
i’m sorry, my sarcasm is drowning me today…
Yeah, right, DAS, like those are all from the same treyf animal… a wonderful, magical animal.Excellent post.
I think this points to a more general problem of democracy: there are influential but dirty jobs out there that are currently dominated by “jocks”, and the only way the “nerds” are going to get some leverage in these areas is by rolling up their sleeves, holding their noses and wading into the pigpen.
Political reporting must be a nearly unbearable job for anyone who actually cares about policy. You have to spend all your time hanging out with politicians and their publicists. You have to socialize with the kinds of pundits and schmoozers who think that politics is a football game, rather than a dealy serious exercise of our self-determination as a people. People who work in politics, and especially in political reporting, are probably the most apolitical people on the planet.
Other jobs have the same problem. Criminal prosecutors tend to be very conservative, and it creates a vicious circle: what thoughtful law school grad wants to work 12 hour days putting 14-year-olds in prison for drug possession charges alongside a bunch of raging lock-em-up colleagues? The military is dominated by the most conservative and reflexively nationalistic sections of the population… and then we wonder why they get their kicks torturing brown people. Ditto for the CIA and FBI, and law enforcement generally.
The only jobs where nerds predominate are those that have actual qualifications of skill (e.g. technical jobs) or those that are so bereft of actual influence that the conservatives and jocks aren’t interested (e.g. academia, the arts). Our culture being dominated as it is by the jocks, they’ve done a good job of structuring our institutions so that even the high-skill technical jobs are insulated from any actual authority. When was the last time we had an engineer or a PhD in a position of political power in the USA? Our numbers are shocking compared to Europe, China, India, or just about anywhere else. And this is true not just in politics, but in industry as well: we’ve created a mythology whereby technical skill is necessarily equated with a lack of interpersonal skills, this mythology being used to ensure that the professional political class never gets infiltrated by eggheads. I’m afraid that liberals in the arts and humanities are rather complicit in the perpetuation of this mythology.
The divide-and-conquer strategy, as you point out, works quite well on self-loathing nerds.
I didn’t realize that the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island was secretly run by rich men and not the state of New York. So who was the secret owner, Carnegie or Rockefeller?
Honestly, we can bitch all day about the fact that the press should be doing its job (and one of the major tenets of the Society of Professional Journaists’ Ethics Code is to not accept gifts from sources) but the fact is that we’ve got to work with the world we’ve got.
Or we can fund a nonprofit media source–a nice big paper like The Guardian?
And so yes, Clinton and Obama should make nice with the press, stat. Have some barbecues.