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They say the Democratic candidates’ gloves came off at the Philadelphia debate on
Oct. 30, when Obama and Edwards “piled on” Hillary. If that’s true, then the
latest flurry of belligerent e-mails suggests the gloves have now been
shredded, burned, pulverized, and blasted out of a cannon into the mighty Mississippi.
First there was this
little dust-up over Barack Obama’s childhood abroad amounts to foreign
policy experience. Then today, after the Washington
Post revealed
that Obama’s PAC has given a large chunk of its money to officials in early
states, Clinton’s camp released a list of
questions—and good ones, too—asking for more information about why Obama’s organization
gave to these officials and who knew about it.
Obama’s people responded with a line that sounds all too
Clintonesque: “Whatever happened to the confident
frontrunner who said she wouldn’t attack other Democrats just two weeks ago?” You
half expect them to accuse her of abandoning the politics of hope. Team Clinton shot back that
Obama’s “failure to deny that it committed campaign finance violations speaks
volumes.”
It’s true, the Obama camp doesn’t
quite deny that the donations are shady—it only insists that they were
disclosed (which doesn’t necessarily make them legal). Of course, Obama’s not
alone. The Post story suggests that conveniently
timed donations like these are common enough, but that the FEC doesn’t usually
crack down on the practice. But if Clinton or someone else could quietly get
the commission to intervene—now that might actually ruffle a few feathers.
If this is what the
post-Thanksgiving sprint is going to look like, they'll need to start selling Orville Redenbacher's in bulk.
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At 11 a.m. today, one of FoxNews.com's top stories was an article about a Nevada brothel owner endorsing Ron Paul. But the story wasn't written by Fox News; it was a tweaked version of an Associated Press story that hit the wires early Monday. And, to make matters even more muddled, that story was taken from a Reno Gazette-Journal piece. Something was lost in translation.
The original article was a solid piece about a strange scene at a Ron Paul event in Reno. Tucker Carlson, who was trailing Paul for a magazine piece, invited his friend Dennis Hof out to the event. Hof, who owns the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel, emerged from a limousine with Carlson and two prostitutes. He then took a liking to Paul and decided to endorse the Republican, saying that he would "get all the Bunnies together, and we can raise him some money."
The Associated Press then adapted the story and sent it out on the wires. But the AP story that Fox News published is different than the one the AP originally ran.
Changes include:
- The headline: "Paul Endorsed by Nevada Brothel Owner" became " ‘BunnyRanch' Brothel Owner Endorses Underdog GOP Candidate Ron Paul." Note that Fox News thinks you need more detail to know who Ron Paul is. Also, they add the brothel's name in the headline--the Playboy bunny allusion makes it a bit sexier. It's common practice for news organizations to spice up AP headlines.
- The donation box: One of the best details in the AP story is Hof's plan to put a "collection box" outside the brothel's door for patrons to donate money to Paul. It's not in Fox's story.
- The kicker: In the most curious change, Fox took a sentence from the middle of the AP's article and stuck it at the end. By concluding the piece with the true statement, "Paul also is a devout Christian who opposes abortion," it makes Paul sound like a hypocrite for accepting the brothel owner's endorsement. You don't get that impression reading the AP's article, which is more about the oddity that a political candidate isn't trying to distance himself from Nevada's brothel industry.
In principle, Fox hasn't done anything wrong. News outlets edit AP content all the time, and the AP's senior managing editor told me that Fox was within its rights to make changes to the copy. He added that he doesn't think Fox's tweaks change the fundamental tone of the story.
I disagree. The emphasis on its home page and the altered kicker suggest Fox is getting in a dig at Paul, however minor it may be. But if Fox wanted to make Paul look like he was taking money from prostitutes and their patrons, why remove the detail about the donation box? I'm not asking for fairness or balance--just consistency.
One more detail that Fox inexplicably eliminated: The damning revelation that MSNBC anchor Tucker Carlson emerged from a limousine with prostitutes at a political event. Have Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes gone soft?
UPDATE Nov. 27, 11:25 a.m.: The Associated Press has video from inside the brothel.
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What is it with Massachusetts governors and convicted killers?
Back in 1988, a hapless Michael Dukakis buckled after George H.W. Bush managed to turn a murder committed Willie Horton, a convict released under a Massachusetts furlough program, into a major campaign issue. (See Bush's famous political ad here.) Now Mitt Romney is trying to beat a similar rap.
Romney’s opponents pounced last week after Daniel Tavares, a murderer released from prison in Massachusetts after serving 16 years for killing his mother with a carving knife, was arrested again for killing a couple in Washington. Now why, you may ask, is this Romney’s fault? It turns out that Kathe Tuttman, the superior court judge who approved Tavares’ release, was appointed by Gov. Romney in 2006.
Romney quickly called for Tuttman’s resignation, but not so quickly that Rudy Giuliani couldn’t beat him over the head with it. On Saturday, Giuliani said that “it's not an isolated situation” and that “the reality is, he did not have a record of reducing violent crime" as governor. Romney’s camp fired back: “[T]he fact is under Governor Romney violent crime in Massachusetts decreased and he had a strong record of appointing law and order judges.”
Tavares isn’t likely to cripple Romney the way Horton did Dukakis. For starters, Dukakis continued to defend the furlough program under which Horton had been released. Romney, in contrast, came right out and denounced the judge’s decision. Also, the Horton flap drew attention to the death penalty, a major campaign issue that hurt Dukakis even more when he gave a seemingly emotionless response to a question about what he would do if his wife were raped and murdered. This latest tiff may well carry over into Wednesday’s debate, but I don’t see it dogging Romney into January.
For Giuliani, of course, this stuff is catnip. In one clean motion, he gets to attack Romney’s judgment, remind conservative voters that Romney was governor of Massachusetts, and bring up his own crime-fighting record for the 742,118th time. He's on fire!
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Now this is how you rally voters. From today's New York Times piece on Obama organizer Rory Steele:
On the Fourth of July, [Steele] vowed to have himself tattooed with the
initials of whoever turned in the most signed supporter cards. Delane
Adams, a campaign organizer from Chicago, won by submitting 33.
So
on Mr. Steele’s right bicep, just below a Marine Corps tattoo, is
another work of art: “DA 33 July 4.” (“I thought it would have been
weird to tattoo “Obama” on my arm,” he said, “but now I have some
dude’s initials on me.”)
Imagine the fundraising possibilities. Who wouldn't pay for some real estate on Hillary's ankle?
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You know it’s 2007 when a candidate, in this case Mike Huckabee, holds a bifurcated conference call, first with reporters, then with bloggers. I listened in on both calls to see what the differences were. The reporters’ questions were much more concise and polished. But the bloggers’ questions were more substantive by a long shot. Here’s a sampling of the reporters’ questions, paraphrased:
How much flak are you getting for endorsements by Chuck Norris and Ric Flair?
Is the drop in violence in Iraq making it a less important campaign issue?
What’s it like facing the Clinton political machine?
Why aren’t you spending more time in Iowa right now?
What do you think of Romney and Giuliani going after each other?
What’s going to be your strategy coming out of Iowa?
Compare that with questions raised by the (largely pro-Huckabee) bloggers:
Can you speak about the Arkansas home-schooling bill that came up when you were governor?
How is the Fair Tax likely to affect tourism in Michigan?
What are your thoughts on a parental rights amendment?
How do you plan to make education a bigger issue on the trail?
Can you respond to claims that your economic policies are in line with populist traditions of the Democratic party?
What would you say to immigrants turned off by all the anti-immigration talk among Republicans?
Everyone knows the media is shallow, horse-race obsessed, blah blah blah ... but in many cases, bloggers really are the ones driving discussion of the issues.
That said, the reporters’ call did yield this yarn—classic Huckabee—about why Mitt Romney isn’t polling better despite spending so much money in Iowa (largely paraphrased):
There’s an old story about a guy who opened a dog food company. He spent a lot of money. He got best food nutritionist, the best marketing people, the best sales force. He was going to launch the biggest, best food company around, and it was going to take the market away.
But then when it launched, sales were flat. He called all his people together and asked them: Who has the best formula? “We do, sir.” Who has the most ingenious marketing plan? “We do, sir.” Who has the best distribution? “We do, sir.” Who has the best labeling? “We do, sir.” Then how come we’re not doing better in the market? “Because the dogs won’t eat the darned stuff, sir.”
Forget ponderous campaign books. Huckabee should do fables.
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