Monthly Archives: October 2006

While I Slept

Posted on October 22, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

So far, I’ve spent the majority of this weekend asleep. I’ve been battling some sort of bug for well more than a week, and at best I was holding it to a draw. So this weekend I tried to sleep it off. When I do 14-hours of sleep in a day (two naps and a long night), that means not much blogging. So here are a collection of links to things that accumulated while I was in the land of nod.

One of the sleaziest strategies in this election has been the unsubtle use of the race card by the GOP in the Tennessee election. The Democratic candidate, Harold Ford, is black, his opponent is white, and time and again the Republicans have made a very big deal of Ford being around or dating white women. Thus, the big push early in the campaign about Ford being at some party (when single) that had (white!) Playboy bunnies. And national Republican party issued a press release about Ford having gone on a date with a (white) college sophomore when he was a single thirtysomething. The national Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has paid for an entire web site just to push the Ford and white women angle — while all the time saying it’s a “values” issue (that a single man went on dates?)

And now, the TV commercial — using at least some actors posing as voters — that really lays on the sleaze:

Despicable.

Other links of note:

Push-polling season begins. And the GOP thinks the winning smear issue is … Mexicans swarming over the border.

Joe Sestak, Democratic Congressional candidate in Pennsylvania, responds to attempt to Swift Boat him.

Great patriotic song.

US troops in Baghdad have had enough: “not an infantry mission anymore” and “worthless” “wasting our time”.

Heavy-handed political commentary from Olbermann.

Heavy-handed humor: Too stupid to be President.

Posted in Linkorama, Politics: US: 2006 Election | 3 Comments

Tough McCaskill Ad

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

It looks as if the party that wins two out of three of Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee might have a majority in the Senate.1

Democrats have a tiny, uncertain, lead in Tennessee. Virginia looks leaning GOP, despite everything revealed about the incumbent. So that means the pressure is on in Missouri. Here's one of the hardest-hitting ads I've seen in a long time, starring Michael J. Fox, for Claire McCaskill, running against incumbent Jim Talent.

1 To get a majority the Democrats must pick up six seats. The assumption is that Democrats retain New Jersey & Connecticut (in some form or other), gain in Rhode Island, Ohio, Montana, and Pennsylvania. Of these, Montana and New Jersey seem the least safe bets.

Posted in Politics: US: 2006 Election | 4 Comments

Character Counts

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Dana Milbank lets the facts do the snarking.

During National Character Counts Week, Bush Stumps for Philanderer: So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the reelection of a congressman who last year settled a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he beat his mistress during a five-year affair

….

While representing the good people of the 10th District, the married congressman shacked up in Washington with a Peruvian immigrant more than three decades his junior. During one assignation in 2004, the woman, who says Sherwood was striking her and trying to strangle her, locked herself in a bathroom and called 911; Sherwood told police he was giving her a back rub.

At a time when Republicans are struggling to motivate religious conservatives to go to the polls next month, it is not clear what benefit the White House found in sending Bush to stump for Sherwood — smack dab in the middle of what Bush, in an official proclamation, dubbed “National Character Counts Week.”

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | 4 Comments

Annals of News Management

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Here’s on way to keep the Iraqi death toll down: Iraq Aims to Limit Mortality Data:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office has instructed the country’s health ministry to stop providing mortality figures to the United Nations, jeopardizing a key source of information on the number of civilian war dead in Iraq, according to a U.N. document.

We may not be able to stop the ‘insurgents’ but (for the time being) we can still manage the news.

Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on Annals of News Management

Dan’s Young Turk Appearance

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

My brother was interviewed on the Young Turks radio show yesterday. It’s great radio, which doesn’t make it the most exciting TV, but they do have a YouTube version. Here’s part one:


And here’s part two:

I did a couple Young Turks segments when they were starting out (pre-YouTube), and it’s a great group of people.

Posted in Dan Froomkin | Comments Off on Dan’s Young Turk Appearance

Privacy ‘Focus Group’ Regarding Miami-Dade Wifi Initiative

Posted on October 20, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

I’m a member of the Steering Committee advising Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez on his Wireless Miami-Dade initiative.

The Mayor’s office has been holding a series of (not that well publicized) focus group meetings on various topics.

Today’s three-hour meeting, set for 1:30pm, is on “Privacy and Security” issues, and I’ll be one of the lead-off speakers. If you’d like to attend, it’s taking place at the Stephen P. Clark Center, located at 111 N.W. 1st Street, Suite 2910, Conference Room 29-A.

The Stephen P. Clark Center, by the way, is very accessible by MetroRail: it’s the building in which the “Government Center” stop is located. To get to the 29th Floor, take the escalator down to the ground level, pass through security, then take the elevator bank on the right to the top floor. The meeting is open to the public, and covered by Florida’s rigorous Sunshine law, so you don’t even have to sign in in order to attend, despite what they’ll tell you at the front desk on the 29th floor.

Incidentally, the latest news from the staff is that they are now leaning towards a WiMax/Wifi hybrid system, sort of on the Portland model (but probably not free, rats), which given the size of the territory we’re talking about seems much more reasonable than wifi alone.

Posted in Miami: Wireless, Talks & Conferences | 2 Comments