Mike Allen’s Punditry Ether
Today, Mike Allen published one of the most masturbatory articles I’ve seen come out of the beltway in quite some time.
In it, he describes how Bush’s minions still push Bush’s spin to reporters to try to salvage his legacy. What’s weird, of course, is that these minions are presumably pushing the spin to Allen. Which means the anonymous journalists used as sources in the article may well be none other than Mike Allen!
The defense never rests. When President Barack Obama released his own policy this week on former President George W. Bush’s practice of attaching controversial signing statements to legislation, a reporter quickly got a tip from a Bush loyalist: the cell phone number for a White House lawyer in the past administration.
[snip]
A few days before Obama announced he was abolishing Bush-era limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Bush supporters who frequently appear on TV received an e-mail from an adviser saying: “I wanted to send you the following two documents on President Bush’s record on stem cell research: 1. a Bush White House fact sheet on President Bush’s record of advancing stem cell research in ethical, responsible ways and 2. a November 2007 Washington Post column by Charles Krauthammer, ‘Stem Cell Vindication.’”
Recipients said the information was helpful and that they were struck by the fact that it wasn’t talking points — just a savvy reminder of points the press was likely to overlook.
What are the ethics behind a reporter granting himself anonymity under his own byline?
(To be fair, I’m not sure whether recipients here refers to the minions or to the journalists. And who is this advisor if Bush isn’t pushing Bush himself?)
Then Allen goes on to describe the minions as "approaching celebrity."
Participants say the effort is not coordinated or organized but, rather, a natural result of the hunger by bookers and reporters to get the views of aides who approached the status of celebrity through their service in a two-term presidency. The Bush alumni said they make their points subtly — both because the former president does not want to feed an Obama vs. Bush story line and because they know they will never win that battle.
What Allen doesn’t point out is how his own adulation for these hacks is one of the only things that accords them any celebrity–many of them are virtually unknown except among political junkies.
The Bush defense forces include Fleischer; former press secretary Dana Perino; Bush political czar Karl Rove, who has contracts with Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek; economics guru Tony Fratto; the prolific Peter Wehner, former director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives; and the graceful speechwriter Michael Gerson, who writes an opinion column for The Washington Post.
Sure, Karl Rove has his own well-deserved notoriety. Dana Perino is by far the best looking of Bush’s press secretaries. But what did Michael Gerson ever do to graduate from being a plain old speechwriter to being "graceful" one? I’m a political junkie myself and have no idea who Peter Wehner is, much less what he’s done to be labeled "prolific." And jeebus!! Who in their right mind would label Tony Fratto an "economics guru"?!?!?!?
Ultimately, Allen’s point is that Bush’s flaks are still out there and still relevant.
So the Bush message persists in the punditry ether.
But if it weren’t for Allen’s own writings, would they even register?
If a disgraced Bush hack shits in the punditry ether and Mike Allen’s not there to record it, does the hack really make a sound?
I wish the new administration would declare Politico a “terrorist organization” and its “reporters” Enemy Combatants. [Or Enema Combatants.]
I have mused occasionally about the Obama Admin. dishing the Bushies a taste of their own medicine by declaring Certain Ones = Enemy Combatants and subjecting them to all the processes [mostly no charges brought, no trial; they can omit the torture] that that “status” confers. Let’s then see how fast they argue about the constitutionality of the designation.
It really frustrates me what some so-called journalists will do nowadays. Bush had an amazing number of Pet Reporters, who’d run just about anything for a good stroking. And does ANYBODY check sources anymore or are editors just glorified spellcheckers?
Walter Cronkite is spinning in his grave fast enough to generate electricity.
Boxturtle (440v three phase, at least)
Walter Cronkite will be spinning in his deskchair. When did Uncle Walt shuffle off this mortal coil?
I think Fox news killed him.
Boxturtle (either that or I admit I made an error)
the last time I heard anything about Uncle Walt he was the opening speaker at a Non Proliferation Conference a while back
“Reviving Nuclear Disarmament
in the Non-Proliferation Regime
Opening Remarks by Walter Cronkite
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Panel Discussion at the Seventh Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations, May 4, 2005
This panel on “Reviving Nuclear Disarmament in the Non-Proliferation Regime” is of tremendous importance to the outcome of this Seventh Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Beyond that, it may prove vital to the present and future security of our planet. I am very pleased to be a part of it.
Although the public is largely unaware of this, it is no secret to any of you that nuclear disarmament is a central component of the non-proliferation bargain. On the one hand, this treaty provides obligations to halt nuclear proliferation; on the other, it provides obligations to achieve nuclear disarmament.”
http://www.wagingpeace.org/art….._print.htm
Not “coordinated.” Not “talking points.” Random noise….
I saw the WWII memorial this weekend. Very nice.
Thank you Groege W for supporting the wonderful representation of history.
Speaking of random noise…
Politico where “Reporters stand out from the crowd in a number of ways. Some regularly break news before their competitors. Some have a gift for interpretation, for connecting the dots in illuminating ways. Still others stand out through their eloquence and original storytelling.”
Indeed.
stem cell, shem shell, who cares.
Let the businesses or scientists decide what they want to do research on.
should the gov be involved, no. But big gov likes to have it’s hands into everything, so why not give money for research, our tax money, like all of the other earmarks and oink bills.
If a disgraced Bush hack shits in the punditry ether and
Mike Allen’sGregOPauls not there to record it, does the hack really make a sound?GoP’s been a busy fella today; he’s over at Christy’s blog about homeless children, too.
Well, it certainly looks like Allen got his work with Bush the same way Bradbury did – reclama’ing a blowjob exam at least five times to get it right!
That Bush! He really knows how to put his minions through their paces! I’ll bet Mikey’s even got a pair of Judy Miller Brand ™ Golden Kneepads on his mantle, too!
fella
fellafellatio?These people call, talk to, and send Bush-friendly material to Mike Allen.
In and of itself, that alone makes them important & special.
Mike Allen ran out of tissue writing that one.
If that were true, Mr. Allen wouldn’t have needed to pimp for them. Fleischer, Perino, Rove, Fratto, Wehner, Gerson, like Bush’s legal henchmen Gonzales and Addington, are all looking for gigs they can’t find in order to pay the rent. They also want to avoid falling into the seventh level of hell for a Beltway Bimbo – being ignored. Allen’s pimping is payback.
“they know they will never win that battle”
Do they? That seems a little too realistic for this crowd.
or, perhaps, farts in punditry ether…
metaphorically speaking. *G*
Yesterday Ari Fleischer was quoted in a Michael D. Shear article in Washington Post. Polemicizing in his usual publicist mode, Fleischer proceeded to deprecate the historical understanding demonstrated by current supporters of the new administration’s policy to implement a more judicious use of presidential signing statements than was evident in the prior, WBush administration. Ari characterized the ongoing critics of Bush hogwild use of signing statements as “pouncing critics”. Fleischer:
“This has been a standard practice going back decades. It’s just when President Bush did it, his critics pounced,” said former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. “They’re going to do the same thing, whenever they feel like it.”
There is a substantial discussion of the signing statement controversy during 2006 at the Georgetown law faculty blog in a post collaboratively authored by an aggregation of former employees of the Department of Justice’s office of legal counsel. That post shows that Fleischer’s characterization is too superficial. The post’s authors, with their affiliations at the time of the law faculty article are:
David Barron (Harvard Law School)
Walter Dellinger (Duke Law School)
Dawn Johnsen (Indiana School of Law, Bloomington)
Neil Kinkopf (Georgia State Law School)
Marty Lederman (Georgetown Universty Law Center)
Chris Schroeder (Duke Law School)
Richard Shiffrin (University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law)
Michael Small (Akin, Gump, Strauus, Hauer & Feld, LLP)
Check out the 2006 article there. The GU lawfacblog thread has a nice exchange about Thomas Jefferson and the Sedition act, as well, q.v. Fleischer needs to spend some time reading some history books, he’s got it wrong, and so does journalist Allen, with respect to the vitiating effects of the WBush proliferation of signing statements.
Ari seemed to be the first to resign after the Plame outing.
Here’s just one bizarre thing about that article: Mike Allen’s puffing of Tony Fratto’s credentials:
Tony Fratto was a lobbyist before he joined the Bush 2000 campaign. Then he served as a press flack at Treasury before becoming an assistant press secretary. His job has always been spin about economics, not economics.
pres OCarter, Jimmy all over again.
The light is visible at the end of the tunnel.
The new resident troll is much less amusing than the previous one.
We’ll have to give him time to grow into his new position. It’s fairly clear has spent a lot of time around places like RedState, so we can’t really expect him to be able to put forth logical arguments backed by evidence.
Boxturtle (Seen his type before)
DUDE
i been lookin for you
YOU BELONGS TO ME
I checked my contract, an all your trolls are belong to me
so, ya fucking putz, How does it feel to belong to the dumbest member of the smartest blog on the innertubes ???
it’s gonna take me a while to know you well enough to insult you enough to make you go away, so i figured we should get to know each other better
I’m gonna be chewin on your sloped head, and talking shit about your mouthbreather comments, and laughing at that ridiculous haircut (did you lose a bet), so welcome to your new life
btw, it’s kinda hard to get dropped in my cage, but you managed it, so get your ass on the skewer and let’s get to roastin you ass
Bout time; thought i was gonna have to contract out for an assistant troll dispatcher. Get on with it now.
I dunno if you need an assistant troll dispatcher or if you need to bite the bullet and add a second shift.
I nominate Mary. Her first two page rebuttal ought to cause 90% of trolls to slink away without responding.
Boxturtle (If they’re fool enough to respond, they’ll get 5 pages of cited references to gnaw upon)
would not want Mary after me..she could turn you to dust
come on, thas some pretty weak trolling
Santino has got better game than this clown
and jes a note to Box Turtle; why should we respect the trolls by having the smart people address them. The whole point is that they get to deal with ME, not somebody who contributes brilliant prose. I like to fuck with people just to watch them get irritated (I’m easily amused). let em deal with the idiot brigade. if they can’t defeat the slowest guy here, why send somebody else out to face em ??? Dealing with me is an insult, and if you don’t believe it, give me five minutes to prove it …
I don’t give a fuck how subtle thet are, they ain’t gonna win that argument
even Alan Greenspan is throwing george under the bus
here’s how it’s gonna be for george in the history books, either:
those are the only two choices being served up, georgie
and we’ll have an answer in 8 years
chances are, you and the rest of us will still be alive then
guess you was wrong about us being dead, eh ???
and, when ya think about it, it’s kinda good that you was wrong about us being dead, ain’t it, george ???
in case you didn’t notice, stupid people hate talking to me …
THERE you are! Cleanup in asle 22!
Boxturtle (He’s been tenderized a bit and should be ready for broiling)
At the home that Ruth built?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/…..id=3970679
Another horror story about Dark Side Dick:
http://tinyurl.com/asmvrs
Now this is starting to sound more like the magnitude and nature of a threat that would keep members of the domestic political “opposition” from growing a spine, as we say.
That’s a great report — thanks. It’s chilling, and yet it’s no more than most of us have figured for a long time, and not just about the Cheney/Bush regime.
There’s one thing I was disappointed to hear from Hersh. I really wish that people would stop using that crooked, lying, romanticizing expression “the best and the brightest” to refer to moral idiots. Halberstam was using it ironically, and Graham Greene had already exposed it as a lie in 1955 (in The Quiet American). It doesn’t matter whether good marks at a good college gave some pretty young person a vast sense of entitlement to go clodhopping around other countries he knows nothing about doing about the most internationally destructive and shameful things that are done on this planet. If he is still asking Hersh, in all his wide-eyed innocence, that spoiled-brat question, then he is a moral idiot, and there is something wrong with the system that praised him all the way along.
I had grasped the significance of Nuremberg by the time I was thirteen years old. It’s time that the so-called best and brightest learned it, and learned to take responsibility for putting all the rest of us in such terrible danger for all the wrong reasons. Where do we think these brats have been deployed most recently? My first guesses would be Iran, Pakistan, and Somalia. No way the locals don’t know that this is going on (all those “collateral deaths,” y’know), and all you have to do is look at the gathering crises in Pakistan and Somalia, at least, to know that it presages nothing but disaster.
I’ve been a fairly longtime reader in the Wheel House, and I care little for the bleatings of the occasional trolls. However, my usual method of dealing with them is to ignore them, once I have figured them out.
I find the encouragement of freep as the designated thought policer to hound the trolls with insults to be distasteful. Why are we, who elsewhere battle so fiercely for free speech, so intolerant of free speech here? Why are we, proud of our ability to use four letter words, so militant against the four letter ideas of trolls?
I spend a lot of time here because of the high proportion of intelligent commentary. I don’t think thought police are needed. It is easy enough to identify and skip the thoughtless commentary.
BTW, h/t BoxTurtle, I much prefer Mary’s method of dealing with trolls.
Yer old curmudgeon,
Bob in HI
I have to agree to disagree…
Freep’s work is poetry not prose…
He make me laugh and calls me to take life, not so seriously…
It must be my Catholic upbringing, but when I use the f-bomb, it’s
like helicopter blades kicking up…
it is nice to be loved and every word cherished.
The fact is OCarter was only elected because of self proclaimed intellectuals that you think you are http://howobamagotelected.com/index.asp the previous site explains.
What a shame that you all can not see the intelligence in right in front of you. There are many people in DC that can and will do a better job then the spending package now in office. I guess that not being a communist makes me not wanted on a blog, a blog, ha, ha.
I have some of the same views as some of you. But not as radical, it is always nice to see the other side with open eyes. If you hid in a corner and listen to your self you learn nothing.
jebus, you really ARE stupid
yaeh
right
it was up pointy headed “self proclaimed intellectuals”
we didn’t have any help from george w bush and a bunch of incompetent asshat in the repuglitard party
and we didn’t have any help from fools like you
America doesn’t pay any attention, so America doesn’t notice asshat idiots that keep recommending the same foolish behavior
you repuglitarded idiots are doing everything right
keep up the good work
we’re gonna help the repuglitards out with that “going galt” thingy, in 2010, Arlen Specter is going galt for sure
The turd lands and poduces a blossom but it makes no noise and it sticks to high heavens.
produces
stinks?
Bob in HI
PS– have you tried using Edit, our new friend?
thanks bob – good to know-tice, thee’s a time limit apparently
I heard this a.m. that Glenn Beck insists on ethics before science and now EW is insisting on ethics before journalism!
My head hurts.
PS I was just joshing not trollin’ yikes! BTW my favorite four letter word these days is….
RISK!
self-poclaimed moderate doesn’t respect Carter or Obama. Funny.
I’m thining Allen confuses notoriety (like, say, of someone granted immunity for their role in outing a CIA agent in exchange for testimony) with celebrity.
The Fratto reference is laugh out loud funny though.
@23, ew wrote a while ago about Ari’s refurbishment August 28 2007. Mike Allen’s byline* appears as well in the 1×2×6 article with Dana Priest, according to another ew timeline June 9, 2008.
—–
*http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/06/09/scottie-mccs-chronology-september-27/#more-2255 [tag seems too orthographically rich for fdl html parser but link works fine].
Yeah, I was thinking of that myself. Probably Allen’s source on that was Bartlett, not Ari–though the possibility that it’s either of them sure supports Swopa’s old theory that 2 in 1X2X6 are Bartlett and Ari, not Rove and Libby.
And yea, I still think it’s funny that the Village never found it interesting that Ari was off the reservation until Cheney and Bush got off with no charges.
31 – that is a disturbing read. What has happened to America that anyone, including Hersh, would be reduced to saying our “best” are assassins, and our “brightest” are torturers? Somedays the only prayer left is God forbid.
“Slopehead?” Freep’s been reading hisself some neocon Vietcong stories, the kind where Chuck Norris beats the bad guys with a burlap bag full of rats tied round his head. Our usual discussions are rather more civil, with all due respect to the unique qualities of our valued Special Ops fraternity.
“One of the most masturbatory” articles you’ve ever seen and you gave us a picture of a dog…chasing his tail?
This is a *G* rated site. Use your imagination, though consider what parts a dog can reach, all without opposable thumbs.
and why do dogs do that?…because they can!
ba dum bump
I read this earlier. I wondered why this guy Allen was even writing this crap, it is so irrelevant
And the BigMedia circle jerk continues…
Apparently, The NYTimes enjoys losing money. Meet their new Op-Ed writer to “replace” Bloody Bill Kristolnacht:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybqhWShURmI
Of all the great writers out there, this is who they pick…
Boggles the mind that BigMedia outlets don’t ever seem to hire people with proven fan bases or try anything innovative, even when they’re in massive downward slides. Of course, if their reason for being is to push ideology on the electorate instead of making profit, then that would explain it.
If they are not called “talking points” does the fact that they are “talking points” mean that calling them not so makes them not so?
They’re not talking points until a wingnut calls them talking points. The rules are entirely clear and transparent…to them.
Maybe it’s the reference to ether, maybe it’s the way political pundits over the last few years have seemed in need of study by entomologists, but rather than the dog chasing tail, this is what Punditry ether brought to my mind
nom