Land of the Hanging Chad

NH Debate: The Loser is Wolf Blitzer

June 4th, 2007

The question, is are Palm Beach County voters any better informed now, after the CNN debate, than they were before the event?

Begrudgingly the Chadvillian in Charge gives some positive spin to the TV debate jointly staged by CNN, WMUR, and the New Hampshire Union Leader. The looser format, while still not giving even close to enough time to fully discuss or debate the issues, did give some latitude for disagreement, rebuttal, and even a smattering of actual debate.

As one might expect, this flexibility (and a live program, not an edited one) resulted in some candidates getting more talk time than others.

Of course this has been immediately slammed as ?unfair? because Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich didn?t get as much time as Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.

No matter what their justification might actually be, and no mater how reasonable it may or may not seem, CNN should at least offer an explanation for why the candidates in the top two tiers received noticeably more talk time during their debate. These numbers can’t be explained away be mere randomness.

The Chadvillian recognizes this as a potential problem, but in watching the show, I heard about all I wanted to from those guys, and wished for more from the so-called first tier candidates.

More upsetting than the time allotments to the candidates is that Wolf Blitzer got more time than anyone except Hillary and Obama.

A lot of this time was taken up by ?raise your hand? questions. The high point of the debate at least as measured by audience reaction was when candidates challenged these questions as divisive and meaningless and in short refused to play Wolf?s game to turn the whole thing into a visual sound bite. It should point out to CNN and even the candidates that the folks from the Granite State aren?t a bunch of lemmings. They think and applaud when someone points out the absurdity of a TV host?s questions.

As to the unequal time allotments, CNN is a 24 hour news operation. It is routine for them to run beyond normal time restraints when covering all kinds of news events. Why isn?t getting to know the candidates for President of the United States important enough to break through the scheduling barrier and make it come out pretty close to fair and even. Please dear readers, do not go from here to ?Fair and Balanced.?

The Republicans do it Tuesday ? same place, same time June 5, 7 PM Eastern, CNN. I already sense too much time will be allotted to all of them. These are the guys who willingly submitted to the hand raising bit where we saw 3 of them didn?t believe in evolution.

Posted in Politics, TV Debate | No Comments »

Alex, The Question Is . . . “Who Is Arthur Anderson?”

May 14th, 2007

The “Answer” was, “besides insurance rates, the drought, and the impending hurricane season, what Palm Beach County voters are talking about.”

Who would have thunk it?

Dr. Anderson has managed to get involved in current events without exerting much energy . . . a skill he has perfected during much of his tenure as Elections Supervisor. The basis for his election campaign was that he would provide a paper trail, and he would clean up the political influence alleged to be part of his predecessor’s reign. He has yet to deliver the paper trail, though he has managed to convey that absolutely nobody influences his decisions — including his political mentor and original supporter, Congressman Robert Wexler (FL-19), who remains a solid proponent of the paper ballot trail.

Through it all Anderson has studied, analysed, speculated, etc., about the paper trail, but taken no action to implement his campaign promises. Now, our Republican Governor (who thus far is doing a better job representing my Democratic positions than I would have expected from his Democratic rival) has pushed through the Republican dominated Florida legislature, what appears to be at long last our paper trail.

You would think the office of the Supervisor of Elections would be celebrating. You would be wrong.

Instead, Dr. Anderson has found several ways to fight the paper trail. Among other things, it would cost us money — not that all his years of investigating and hiring consultants on the issue have been free . . . etc.

In addition the above mentioned Supervisor of Elections finds himself prominently mentioned in what may become Coultergate.

Jose Lambiet’s Page Two reports in the Palm Beach Post:

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been cleared of allegations that she falsified her Palm Beach County voter’s registration and voted illegally — this, after a high-level FBI agent made unsolicited phone calls to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to vouch for Coulter.

The caller wasn’t just any G-man. According to PBSO documents, he was Supervisory Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald, of the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va. — the closest reality gets to the serial-killer catchers on CBS’ Criminal Minds . . .

County Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson, meanwhile, decried what he called “FBI intrusion.” He referred the Coulter case to PBSO after poll worker Jim Whited originally reported the incident.

“This doesn’t bode well in terms of the public’s impression that celebrities receive preferential treatment,” Anderson said. “I’m curious about how anyone can justify the FBI’s intrusion.” . . .

And finally Arthur Anderson will apparently have a spirited and popular opponent for the Supervisor job this election, term limited and popular State Representative Susan Bucher (FL-88).

What looked like the summer doldrums in Palm Beach County politics may shape up to be better than TV reruns after all. Stay tuned!

UPDATE:

The Brad Blog, the mover and shaker in this story reports:

He [Dan Borchers] also tells us something that Lambiet didn’t mention in his report: The FBI man in question, Supervisory Special Agent Jim Fitzgerald, was Coulter’s former boyfriend!

This story could be your vacation reading material!

Posted in Politics, Florida, Robert Wexler, Palm Beach County, Elections, Charlie Crist, Susan Bucher | No Comments »

Republican TV Debate — Misogyny Rules In The GOP

May 4th, 2007

Attention women of Palm Beach County and “all the ships at sea” — to paraphrase Walter Winchell — you are in deep trouble with ALL of the so-far announced Republican candidates for President in 2008.

In a televised debate, nine of the ten candidates put women “in their proper roles”, as subservient to the wishes of middle aged white men in how they should behave and treat their bodies.

The “debate” was billed as dealing with Iraq, Iran, Bush, and plans for the future. Some of the rehearsed sound bite “answers” did in fact deal with these issues, but the real candidates emerged when the subject was changed to the role of women in America . . . as viewed by the Republican candidates.

The only dissenter from repealing Roe v. Wade, was none other than Rudy — I’ve been married 3 times, once to my cousin, and I brought my current wife home to fool around in front of my then wife and kids while I was Mayor of New York City — Giuliani . . . well maybe . . . sort of . . .

Break out your summer and cruise season Burkas!

Posted in Politics, Florida, Palm Beach County, TV Debate, Elections | No Comments »

ALL Palm Beach County Congressmen Voted Yea on HR1591

May 2nd, 2007

All 4 US Representatives from Palm Beach County voted for “Passage, Objections of the President Not Withstanding” of HR 1591 – the emergency supplemental funding bill vetoed yesterday by the Decider.

Unfortunately, the vote fell short of the necessary majority to override the veto.

It is important to let your elected officials know you supported their votes, and while you’re at it, encourage them to not now surrender to the White House, but to continue to push for an end to the occupation.

Posted in Politics, Florida, Palm Beach County | No Comments »

Political Advantage — Can We Use It?

May 1st, 2007

Palm Beach County Democrats “enjoy” a unique position in the political world.

In Florida government, our elected Senate representatives are Democratic by a 4–2 margin, Jeff Atwater and Ken Pruitt (who happens to be the President of the Senate) are the Republicans. In the House, the margin again is in favor of Democrats 7–4.

On first glance you might think we have the advantage here, but let’s put it in context. Fact: Republicans control both houses by more than 2–1 majorities (Palm Beach is NOT the only county in Florida) and the only thing going for our Palm Beach County elected Democratic officials is Charlie Crist who, acting in the “populist Governor role”, still finds it difficult to deal with the Republican controlled legislature.

On the flip side: Our Nationally elected officials have a “majority” environment in which to operate. The question is, will they?’

Make no mistake, voting to end this Iraq occupation is a politically perilous postion. Your representatives need to hear your support and your committment to reelecting them for the next term IF they standby their committment to end this Iraq occupation.

They ALL (THE DEMOCRATS) vote appropriatley, but NONE OF THEM LEAD.

THEY WORK FOR YOU. LET THEM KNOW YOR FEELINGS!!!

Posted in Politics, Florida, Robert Wexler, Palm Beach County, Charlie Crist, Ron Klein, Tim Mahoney, Mary McCarty, Ken Pruitt | No Comments »

Not In Our Name — Sign The Bill

April 29th, 2007

We, the citizens of Palm Beach County, Florida, are faced with a national crisis which we as the people in charge here must address.

The President of the United States, has proclaimed publicly that he will ignore the clear will of the people and the oversight of the US Congress, and veto the “emergency” spending bill to extend the occupation of Iraq.

If the President exercises his veto how do we address this crisis?

You probably should read the entire statement, but to summarize my thoughts:

President Bush has declared: “you’re either with us or against us.” Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare.

There are several “legal” avenues including impeachment of the President, or Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s plan to impeach the Vice President.

The chances are that both of the above mentioned impeachees will be out of office before either plan can become reality, and in the mean time more lives will be lost and more American prestige will be lost — not to mention further destabilization of the middle east and the ever present possibility that the same “deciders” will make a similar mistake with Iran.

The answer is obvious. We MUST inform our elected representatives that we want them to get off their butts and NOT JUST VOTE FOR, but BECOME LEADERS for pushing Bush to SIGN THE BILL.

That failing . . . take a cue from the ’60s . . . take to the streets . . . POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!

Posted in Politics, Florida, Palm Beach County | No Comments »

While You Enjoy Your Weekend . . .

April 28th, 2007

The Bush/Cheney/Exxon-Mobile administration sneaks by a new plan just off shore from your beaches in search of ~~heroin~~ oil.

This search for more Hummer food is limited to Virginia, Alaska and THE GULF OF MEXICO. Can Chadville be far behind in the search for profits?

In America we don’t elect leaders, we elect representatives. Speak to them. Let your voice be heard!

Posted in Politics, Florida | No Comments »

Be Careful What You Wish For. You Might Get MSNBC.

April 27th, 2007

Naively, I plugged the first Democratic Primary Debate as the place to get a leg up on who will hopefully replace George W. Bush in January 2009.

Now I’m torn between declaring Chris Mathews or Joe Scarborough the winner.

The full absurdity of cable news was unleashed. Forgiving the obviously promotional material, the “coverage” began at 5 PM ET with the South Carolina State marching band and Elizabeth Edwards as the first guest, and continued till after 1 AM. The “debate” was somewhere in between.

This “probably illegally” procured comment from AP sums it up:

The debate, nine months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, was 90 minutes long without opening or closing statements from the candidates. A similar format awaits GOP candidate next Thursday.

A ground rule limiting answers to 60 seconds made for a rapid-fire debate but prevented follow-up questions when any of the eight sidestepped , as when Clinton and Biden avoided saying whether they agreed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s assessment that the Iraq war is lost.

Punditry abounded.

As I post this, Howard Fineman is pronouncing Hillary the winner, Chris Mathews is praising her pearls, and they’re all laughing at John Edwards’ haircut.

Maybe the true mission of cable news really is to bring us more on Anna Nicole. They seem uniquely suited to that.

And still . . . reputable news reporters including Cynthia Tucker, well deserved Pulitzer Prize Winner from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, continue to be a part of the circus. Imus is gone, let’s go for Chris Mathews.

Posted in Politics, TV Debate, Elections, TV News, media | No Comments »

“Buying the War”

April 26th, 2007

If you watched Bill Moyers’ 90 minute documentary “Buying the War” last night on PBS, you might see some ray of hope of honest journalism raising it’s ugly head again — and in that, some ray of hope America will come to it’s senses before we do our part to destroy the world.

On this TV program Bill Moyers presented an array of responsible and respected journalists who reached the common conclusion that our “free” press blew it bigtime in their coverage of events leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

Meteor Blades discusses the program:

Any working journalist who failed to watch Bill Moyers’ devastating report Wednesday evening or who fails to catch it on-line ought to just walk away from the profession. Because those searing 90 minutes contain a cogent lesson in what it really means to serve the public in the first nation to inscribe freedom of the press in its founding document.

I would add that watching this program is important, not for just working journalists, but for every American.

Today the United States Senate is expected to pass a military spending bill that would attempt to correct some of our policy errors in the Iraq war. Of course, those who co-opted the press to help get us in the war are at it again. At this moment, Bill Krystal is on C-Span using the Gonzales defense “I don’t recall an invitation to appear on that program.” Then, the inevitable attack, “Is Moyers feeling guilty about what he did to Lyndon Johnson?”

And of course, “The Decider” will veto the bill.

It is vital the American public be adequately and accurately infomed. This is an area where we cannot fail again.

Find some way to watch this program.

Let your public TV station know you want more of this, and let all your media outlets know you are tired of being bamboozled by what is alleged to be news.

Tags: Bill+Moyers

Posted in Politics, TV News, Bill Moyers | No Comments »

TV Debates — They’re Here!

April 24th, 2007

It should be obvious to readers of this and other “progressive” blogs that the most important vote in decades will be in November 2008 for President of the United States, and that your vote should be for the Democratic candidate.

The question is who should be the candidate.

Fortunately, the field is rich with talent. Almost anyone in the “top tier” and a few in the lower tiers would make a good president — one who would restore true American values and begin to resurrect America’s image, both at home and abroad, quickly end in some way the occupancy of Iraq, and avoid at all costs the inevitability of attacking Iran.

How is one to make up one’s mind?

A good beginning would be to watch (and pay attention to) the first Presidential Primary Debate broadcast on Thursday, April 26, at 8 PM from South Carolina State University and broadcast on MSNBC moderated by NBC Nightly News Anchor and Managing Editor, Brian Williams — incidentally NOT carried on NBC in order to bring you the viewer the latest episodes of “My Name is Earl” and “The Office.”

MSNBC, to their credit, will “do it up right.” They will devote practically an entire day to coverage of the 26th debate, and they promise more of the same for the May 3rd Republican debate from Reagan Library at Simi Valley, CA.

Let’s give the network that dumped the racist and sexist Imus the benefit of the doubt. They start out with a good plan —

From South Carolina State University:

. . .co-anchors [will be] Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman … featuring NBC’s Tom Brokaw. The debate will telecast commercial free from 7:00 to 8:30 pm (ET) with NBC’s Brian Williams moderating. The debate will also stream live on MSNBC.com. In addition, the South Carolina NBC affiliates, WIS-TV in Columbia, WYFF-TV in Greenville and WCBD-TV in Charleston will broadcast the debate. The South Carolina Democratic Party has already announced that Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson are all confirmed to participate.

MSNBC’s coverage will continue immediately following the debate, with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews interviewing candidates, campaign surrogates and political analysts, beginning at 8:30 pm (ET). MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough will be live in the “spin room,” with interviews with campaign officials and additional analysis. Matthews and Olbermann will anchor until midnight. Joe Scarborough will anchor the network’s continuing post-debate coverage from midnight to 1:00 am (ET).

Tune in — get informed!

Posted in Politics, TV Debate, Elections, TV News | 1 Comment »

Land of the Hanging Chad

NH Debate: The Loser is Wolf Blitzer

Alex, The Question Is . . . “Who Is Arthur Anderson?”

Republican TV Debate — Misogyny Rules In The GOP

ALL Palm Beach County Congressmen Voted Yea on HR1591

Political Advantage — Can We Use It?

Not In Our Name — Sign The Bill

While You Enjoy Your Weekend . . .

Be Careful What You Wish For. You Might Get MSNBC.

“Buying the War”

TV Debates — They’re Here!

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