Thursday, February 07, 2008
Political "news" via Facebook and spams
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Thinking about Super Tuesday (it will be history when you read the article, my deadline coincides with the primary) brings back to mind the rapidity with which politics have moved ahead. A month ago the Democrats had three contenders, the least of which moved ahead through the Iowa primary, to be overtaken in New Hampshire and reemerge as victor in South Carolina. Then one candidate, Edwards, dropped, reducing the field to two. The Republicans had four and, likewise, lost the sometime leader Giuliani, when his strategy tanked. Most interesting has been the realignment of their supporters. The front-runner, MeCain, does not have the blessings of some big Conservative guns. Ann Coulter considers Hillary less objectionable — after all Clinton is only a standard Liberal, while McCain is a traitor to the principles, advocating Liberalism under a midstream guise. Rush Limbaugh, the radio gun, has the same problem — but then the Conservatives have issues with the Mormon candidate as well. David Keene, President of the American Conservative Movement, has determined that McCain is a creation of the media, without substance. All this comes through on the internet from essentially four types of “news sources:” the political fundraiser websites, the 527 organizations, the spammers, and the ever-present chain letters. How does one luck out to receive their unceasing bulletins? Well, once you ask one of them a question, you become the captive of their expanding networks. Some examples:
The MoveOn people, the 1998 pro-Clinton Democratic fundraisers, not an outstanding news source, are typical. During the political off-seasons they are dull, and revive only when a big target like Gen. Petraeus, whose name they rhyme with “betray us,” comes in sight. Their MoveOn Political Action, with 3.2 million members, takes no funds from corporations, unions, foundations and the like, and works directly or through social networks, such as Facebook (60 million members) to influence voters. MoveOn’s endorsement of Obama is slightly veiled, so as not to bug off the supporters of the Clintons. The messages from the official Democratic campaign committees, sporadic senders of pleas, intercepted by the Earthlink blog catcher and segregated as suspicious messages, are less newsworthy. The DCCC - Congressional fundraiser, led by Brian Wolff— and DSCC, its Senatorial counterpart, with letters signed by James Carville, have a few emergency announcements, prompting the calls for money. There are also occasional requests from Nancy Pelosi and ex-VP Al Gore. Some place between fundraising and investigative reporting fall the stories of Greg Palast, news writer and TV commentator, who has a 501c(3) organization that supports his efforts to whack George Bush and his cronies with misdeeds beyond belief, seemingly substantiated with facts. Since the fall of the House of Bush the Palast effort has somewhat subsided, diverting into less sensationalist tales. News disseminators on the Conservative side are truly prolific. A protest letter I sent to Ann Coulter that elicited a reply opened the floodgates for weekly articles from the scrappy sensationalist writer, published in Human Events, the right-wing journal dating back to the 1950s, founded by National Review people. Then came weekly summaries of the magazine itself, weekly release from Newt Gingrich, and Robert Novak’s ENPR (Evans-Novak Political Report), a substantial periodic review of activities of pols of both parties, House and Senate.The heaviest, right-wing hitter is the Conservative Newsmax, claiming 2 1/2 million monthly visitors, with a newsmagazine ol 600K subscribers. Founded by Christopher Ruddy, its main financial supporter is Richard Mellon Scaife, the angel behind most of the anti-Clinton efforts during the 1990s, and their Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler, ex-Washington Post, has his own signed releases. The Conservative Internet is abuzz, between intimations of Obania’s Muslim background, revivals of old Clinton stories and denunciations of McCain’s midstream direction and purported Liberalism. Despite his great support of social Conservatives, the Populist Huckabee comes in for beatings as well.
If it were not enough, chain letters are chiming in with political observations. This comes on top of such stories as that of Jackie Mason’s Bilingual America (he gets ferkplempt and has broygges when listening to the schmegegges about official use of languages other than English), and advocacies of garlic as the perfect cure for all ailments.
There is a rather cute one, retelling of the story of owning two cows, under various regimes. If you are a Democrat, you will feel guilty, and Barbara Streisand will sing for you. A Republican will ask — so what, a Socialist will give one to a neighbor and form a cooperative dairy, a Communist will take both. An American corporation will sell and lease back one, then do an IPO, and, when one dies, claim gains from a cost reduction initiative. A Frenchman will drink wine, strike for a third cow and reflect how great life is, and so it goes.
Thinking about Super Tuesday (it will be history when you read the article, my deadline coincides with the primary) brings back to mind the rapidity with which politics have moved ahead. A month ago the Democrats had three contenders, the least of which moved ahead through the Iowa primary, to be overtaken in New Hampshire and reemerge as victor in South Carolina. Then one candidate, Edwards, dropped, reducing the field to two. The Republicans had four and, likewise, lost the sometime leader Giuliani, when his strategy tanked. Most interesting has been the realignment of their supporters. The front-runner, MeCain, does not have the blessings of some big Conservative guns. Ann Coulter considers Hillary less objectionable — after all Clinton is only a standard Liberal, while McCain is a traitor to the principles, advocating Liberalism under a midstream guise. Rush Limbaugh, the radio gun, has the same problem — but then the Conservatives have issues with the Mormon candidate as well. David Keene, President of the American Conservative Movement, has determined that McCain is a creation of the media, without substance. All this comes through on the internet from essentially four types of “news sources:” the political fundraiser websites, the 527 organizations, the spammers, and the ever-present chain letters. How does one luck out to receive their unceasing bulletins? Well, once you ask one of them a question, you become the captive of their expanding networks. Some examples:
The MoveOn people, the 1998 pro-Clinton Democratic fundraisers, not an outstanding news source, are typical. During the political off-seasons they are dull, and revive only when a big target like Gen. Petraeus, whose name they rhyme with “betray us,” comes in sight. Their MoveOn Political Action, with 3.2 million members, takes no funds from corporations, unions, foundations and the like, and works directly or through social networks, such as Facebook (60 million members) to influence voters. MoveOn’s endorsement of Obama is slightly veiled, so as not to bug off the supporters of the Clintons. The messages from the official Democratic campaign committees, sporadic senders of pleas, intercepted by the Earthlink blog catcher and segregated as suspicious messages, are less newsworthy. The DCCC - Congressional fundraiser, led by Brian Wolff— and DSCC, its Senatorial counterpart, with letters signed by James Carville, have a few emergency announcements, prompting the calls for money. There are also occasional requests from Nancy Pelosi and ex-VP Al Gore. Some place between fundraising and investigative reporting fall the stories of Greg Palast, news writer and TV commentator, who has a 501c(3) organization that supports his efforts to whack George Bush and his cronies with misdeeds beyond belief, seemingly substantiated with facts. Since the fall of the House of Bush the Palast effort has somewhat subsided, diverting into less sensationalist tales. News disseminators on the Conservative side are truly prolific. A protest letter I sent to Ann Coulter that elicited a reply opened the floodgates for weekly articles from the scrappy sensationalist writer, published in Human Events, the right-wing journal dating back to the 1950s, founded by National Review people. Then came weekly summaries of the magazine itself, weekly release from Newt Gingrich, and Robert Novak’s ENPR (Evans-Novak Political Report), a substantial periodic review of activities of pols of both parties, House and Senate.The heaviest, right-wing hitter is the Conservative Newsmax, claiming 2 1/2 million monthly visitors, with a newsmagazine ol 600K subscribers. Founded by Christopher Ruddy, its main financial supporter is Richard Mellon Scaife, the angel behind most of the anti-Clinton efforts during the 1990s, and their Washington correspondent Ronald Kessler, ex-Washington Post, has his own signed releases. The Conservative Internet is abuzz, between intimations of Obania’s Muslim background, revivals of old Clinton stories and denunciations of McCain’s midstream direction and purported Liberalism. Despite his great support of social Conservatives, the Populist Huckabee comes in for beatings as well.
If it were not enough, chain letters are chiming in with political observations. This comes on top of such stories as that of Jackie Mason’s Bilingual America (he gets ferkplempt and has broygges when listening to the schmegegges about official use of languages other than English), and advocacies of garlic as the perfect cure for all ailments.
There is a rather cute one, retelling of the story of owning two cows, under various regimes. If you are a Democrat, you will feel guilty, and Barbara Streisand will sing for you. A Republican will ask — so what, a Socialist will give one to a neighbor and form a cooperative dairy, a Communist will take both. An American corporation will sell and lease back one, then do an IPO, and, when one dies, claim gains from a cost reduction initiative. A Frenchman will drink wine, strike for a third cow and reflect how great life is, and so it goes.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 1:23 PM 
