Riehl World View

Susan Roesgen Out At CNN

You may rememer her from the Tea Party reporting fiasco. Hope she likes the smock. Actually, I hope she gets another gig. Out of work is still out of work.

Oy! CNN, Puhlease!!

CNN offers a quick look, all the details aren't being made public, at Michelle Obama's Great, Great Grandfather, born in 1850 and believed to have been a slave in South Carolina. Many Americans might take exception to CNN's word choice below. I thought we did away with a "ruling class" a revolution, or so, ago.

It makes Friendfield Plantation a symbol of something more than servitude. It's the symbol of something that's never happened before: One important segment of an American family's journey from the humiliation of slavery to the very top of the nation's ruling class.

The Hill Should Correct This

The Hill's blog has published a misleading item that speaks to the heart of the Boxer versus Alford matter. And it needs to be understood clearly. Most especially, read the NAACP resolution below. Boxer did not enter a "report" into the record. She merely entered a political resolution that says little about climate change and a lot about black colleges. Alford was there to present objective data, not black opinion.

NBCC head Harry C. Alford took strong exception to Boxer having referenced an NAACP report favoring climate change legislation during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which Boxer is the chairwoman.

Here and below is the sum total of the NAACP report. Report is a gross mischaracterization of what Boxer introduced against Alford. There was no rationale other than race to enter that resolution into the record at that particular time.

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) are at the precipice of major change.  Colleges and universities like Southern University, Grambling State, Florida A&M, Howard University and other historically black colleges and universities have a chance to play a major role in the U.S. march towards energy independence and environmental security.

Currently, Congress is crafting legislation that will lessen the U.S. dependence on foreign oil, achieve energy independence and advance a clean, safer environment—a much-needed step in the right direction. 

As part of this new initiative, the NAACP urges the federal government to fully engage historically black colleges and universities in the process of research and development as well as educating and training for these new alternative energy sources.  HBCU’s can be on the forefront of solar, wind and hydro technologies.  These public and private institutions need more resources to develop, implement and improve their programs in order to create green jobs.  Curriculums are being developed and expanded, and teachers are being trained in this and new, and growing technology.  HBCU’s need to have the capacity to equip technicians, installers and maintenance workers with the skills needed to participate in the green job revolution.

Let your Senators and Representatives know that allocating resources to historically black colleges and universities needs to be a key component of any new, green legislation or initiative.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

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NY Times Palin Journalists

What a crew, or is that, a motley bunch?

Conflict Of Interest?

The MLF blog highlights an image of Politico's Eamon Javers, raising it as a potential conflict of interest concern. While it may be a fair question, I'm not sure I'd go that far. But what it does point out to me is the Beltway establishment and how incestuous it is. More and more I see journalists inside it as interested in being a part of that political mix, as opposed to representatives of themany people outside Washington trying to get a clear look within. And with more and more newspapers around the country reducing their bureaus in DC, I fear it is only going to get worse.

Theoretically, Beltway journalists could work even harder at keeping potential subjects at arms length. Unfortunately, I've never had the feeling they are interested in doing that at all.

“Eamon Javers (left) at the famous Bretton Woods golf course, in an event sponsored by Patton Boggs, Trammell Crow Company, Hisaoka Public Relations, and others. Should he have been playing with companies whose clients he could well be writing about? Were it anyone else, Javers would declare this a clear conflict of interest.”

Reuters Running Staged Photo?

Is Reuters running a staged bloody photo from Honduras?

Access: WaPo Selling Its Assets

Update: Obama's Lewinski?? ha!

Whatever it takes in a bad economy while your business model is tanking?

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

Politics Daily has word on an internal WaPo memo in response. Without the newsroom, much of the value is lost. I guess WaPo wasn't planning on covering it?? ha What a sad joke.

The paper's editor, Marcus Brauchli, responded by sending a memo to all Post employees saying that the language in the flyer advertising the pay-for-play event precluded participation by anyone in the newsroom. (Duh.):

Colleagues,

A flyer was distributed this week offering an "underwriting opportunity" for a dinner on health-care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate.

The language in the flyer and the description of the event preclude our participation.

We will not participate in events where promises are made that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable.

There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can do these things in ways that are consistent with our values.

Marcus

As If McCain And Crew Didn't Do Enough Damage Already

Do political operatives think we have no memory at all? The Vanity Fair piece everyone is linking, but I won't, is as much about rehabilitating John McCain and his political operatives, as it is trying to sacrifice Palin in the cause. John McCain himself blew any chance he had of becoming President when he collapsed around the economic stimulus package. That's when his numbers went down through the floor. You do remember that fiasco of his own making, I trust? And Palin more than held her own versus Biden in the debates, while McCain was repeatedly hung out to dry by Obama.

In the town-hall setting, Obama understood that the television audience was the real audience. He mostly stayed at his stool and looked into the camera. McCain wandered about the stage looking down at the crowd and gave every appearance to the home audience of being lost. In the final debate, Obama savaged McCain on economics and McCain didn't even respond. Now these are the same people who let it out that McCain was uncomfortable discussing economics in the middle of a financial collapse, yet it's Sarah Palin's fault that he lost? What a bunch of nonsense.

Finally, VP nominees don't win, or lose races. That advice is as old as presidential politics itself. And the worst kind of politics is all the Vanity Fair item can possibly be. Evidently McCain, or at least his closest advisers, don't want people remembering 2008 for what it was - a complete failure as a presidential candidate on the part of John McCain.

I spotted a revealing bit of wisdom from the Vanity Fair article on Palin at Hotline On Call. See below.

Apparently there's a 10,000 word opus on Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair. I didn't read it and am not going to bother. I saw McCain's people mentioned via Memeorandum. What? They didn't do enough damage to the GOP with that crummy campaign they strung together?

Read Geraghty and, or Kristol, or someone else. As for this below - even if it were accurate, we're honestly supposed to believe Biden is executive material? What would these same people be writing if they had him on a ticket and lost? Palin did more to help McCain with money, enthusiasm and crowds, despite his not even allowing her to assume the traditional attack dog role that is the task of every VP nominee. John McCain blew any chance he had himself and wouldn't let anyone attack his challenger, even when they had every right to do so, as with Reverend Wright. Evidently those closest to McCain need someone besides McCain, or themselves to blame. It's pathetic and sad.

As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain's campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor's guilt: they can't quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be. They quietly ponder the nightmare they lived through. Do they ever ask, What were we thinking? "Oh, yeah, oh, yeah," one longtime McCain friend told me with a rueful chuckle. "You nailed it." Another key McCain aide summed up his attitude this way: "I guess it's sort of shifted," he said. "I always wanted to tell myself the best-case story about her." Even now, he said, "I don't want to get too negative." Then he added, "I think, as I've evaluated it, I think some of my worst fears ... the after-election events have confirmed that her more negative aspects may have been there ... " His voice trailed off. "I saw her as a raw talent. Raw, but a talent. I hoped she could become better."

Better? What, the next John McCain? No thanks. I'll pass. We've seen more than enough of him already over his years as a politician.

The Prima Donna Press At MS-NBC

Geez. David Gregory's show is tanking, so is Scarborough's book - and now there's a lover's spat over George Stephanopoulos' "This Week" at ABC. Olbermann's not mentioned but we already know about him. These are the serious folks at NBC dedicated to bringing the Left their news. No wonder they're so misinformed and confused. It's all about them.

Stephanopoulos declined to comment, but an ABC source said, " 'Meet the Press' has lost more than half a million viewers on David Gregory's watch. That explains his tantrum, but it does not excuse it."

An NBC rep told Page Six: "NBC News never approved an appearance by Joe on George's show. But it's flattering to know that when ABC needed a smart political analyst, they turned to us. As far as any issue between David and Joe, he's hosting a book party for Joe [last] night in DC."

Cooper: Pitney Being "Crucifitied"??

Good grief - via Matthew Cooper, who apparently doesn't even know how to spell it: The Crucifixtion(sic) of Nico Pitney. Liberals should just start tattooing a "V" for victim on their foreheads in case the need ever arises. If this is where Cooper comes from, he's a waste of time. Maybe The Atlantic should just repost HuffPo items on the affair. Talk about a once prestigious masthead looking for ways to squander its storied name on line.

This is what a crucifixion looks like, Marc Matthew. Get a grip next time, you might not go over the top.

Gannon's resignation highlights the no-holds-barred atmosphere of the Web, which both enabled him to function as a reporter -- his stories appeared on a site founded by Texas Republican activist Bobby Eberle -- and produced a swarm of critics determined to expose him.