411 Politics Fact or Fiction: Week 52
Posted by Ryan Latimer on 07.16.2007
Hear that? It's the world's smallest violin.
Howdy ho, young and old, and welcome to another edition of 411 Politics FOF. I'm your host Ryan Latimer, and I was the guy who told Michael Moore a few minutes before his TV appearance that CNN was being mean to him.
In all seriousness, I've wanted to disclose something for a few weeks, but I had difficulty "triggering" it, so to speak, primarily because I myself didn't really know how I felt for a while. But I might as well just come out with it.
I've come to the decision of taking a break if not completely resigning from my position(s) at 411mania.com. It would take too long to explain everything, but I'll condense the stories down to saying that in addition to starting a new full-time job (and life in general) soon, moving cross state, getting tired of writing as a whole and basically just not enjoying my time at the site anymore (this is certainly not a commentary on the quality of the 411 one bit), it's all starting to pile up and I'm getting this nagging feeling of just wanting to pack it in for a while. This is essentially the best explanation I can summon. I've been in a lot of positions with the site on and off for a good 3-4 years now, and perhaps I feel it is just time to change things up a bit, if that makes any sense. There is going to be a great deal of change in my life in the next few weeks and months and I think this is one of those changes that needs to happen.
I'll admit that while doing FOF for the past 6 months was an Excedrin headache at times I enjoyed the heck out of it and also appreciate Jason Easley giving me the gig. At the same time I believe that job also peaked me out; I really don't have that same sense of excitement or motivation to churn out online articles anymore, and this is likely a product of my career transition from writing to education, among other elements. I could be wrong, but the result is still the same. But being the swell jackass that I am, I'm not just ditching Jason, 411 or the readers out of the blue or leaving them hanging. I will continue to do my duties of FOF for the remainder of the month in which Jason will either install a replacement of take over matters himself, and I have been told I can contribute to roundtables and other group events whenever I please. I also will likely be a guest on Jason's radio show in the future. I highly appreciate all of it. 411mania.com has done wonders for me, particularly my writing and communication skills over the years. I may not be anywhere near Roger Ebert or (shudder) Bill O'Reilly, but I'm not a COMPLETE incoherent idiot anymore, so that's something to account for.
But back to happier, more happenin' times, this week in Politics FOF we have Reader Week 1 with Jeremy Learned taking on Matt Kratz. Everyone welcome these fine chaps to the arena. I don't even have to check their credentials; if you read 411mania.com you must know what you're talking about. Plus, one of the participant's last names is "Learned." C'mon.
Have at it…
1) The finance director for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has resigned, joining a majority of senior staff members last week as McCain's hopefulness of being President in 2008 takes a huge hit. This is the beginning of the end for John McCain as a candidate.
Jeremy Learned: FACT - You can point to the John Kerry campaign and see that jettisoning senior campaign staffers can have a positive effect. But, McCain doesn't have the benefit of being in a race with someone who is going to go out and act crazy at a campaign rally like Howard Dean did. McCain rose to prominence mostly because he was a media darling for being a maverick. While this made him popular with the less conservative and more casual members of the Republican party, it made him mostly despised by conservative media and most right-wing activists. His biggest problem now is the main stream media won't support him because of his stance on the Iraq war, and the core Republican part members won't support him because his stand on immigration reform. It's hard to say a candidate polling in 3rd place nationally at this early stage is out of it, but it sure does look like it's over for him. Replacing campaign staff doesn't necessarily signal the beginning of the end, but when you couple that with eroding support from the media and lack of motivated support from the party base, I don't see how he can win.
Matt Kraatz: FACT - Honestly, though McCain's second quarter financial results really shocked me, I'm not surprised that his campaign lost its legs: his candidacy has been questioned from the very beginning over his age and his unwavering support for the Iraq war. John McCain and his supporters made the assumption that he would be a first tier candidate in the Republican primaries. Unfortunately, despite his media prevalence, the finances and the preliminary polls have thrown him from the ranks of Guiliani and Thompson, and his staff has started abandoning the cause. If this staff loss hasn't killed his campaign, the distressing media reports announcing his campaign as a downward-spiraling plane sure have.
This certainly doesn‘t look good for now, but I‘d say it‘s still far too early to count him out based primarily on this. We often forget how far in advance the media began covering the subject of the 2008 race. 1 for 1
2) According to Nielsen Media Research, Al Gore's Live Earth Concert on NBC Saturday night was seen by 2.75 million people -- fewer than the number of viewers who watched the soccer match between Argentina and Peru that night on Univision. The Live Earth concert was a failure.
Jeremy Learned: FACT - The bottom line is people don't want to be preached at by holier-than-thou musicians. I was going to say the American people, but I just read the ratings in England were just as bad. People aren't as stupid as Al Gore thinks - they see the hypocrisy in all of this. Gee, let's fly all these performers all around the world in private jets, put on stage shows that use more power than most third-world countries and use this to preach to Joe Six-pack in America that he should give up his SUV and start riding the bus. I think most people are of the opinion they'll start believing "global warming" is a crisis when the people who are telling them it's a crisis start acting like it is.
Matt Kraatz: FICTION - Al Gore and company were stupid to predict 2 billion viewers. And all of the speakers were a little ridiculous in shouting how much we were all a part of history by watching some bands play a concert. And Live Earth definitely pales in the too common comparison to Live 8. But an utter failure? No. The event got a lot of people excited about the cause, and it sparked an interesting conversation between common people, artists and their government. And Nielson also reported that 19 million people watched at least some portion of the Live Earth concert on NBC or its sister networks (I watched 10 hours of it on Bravo). Not nearly as successful as Gore had hoped, but worth the effort and the cost. Plus, the Smashing Pumpkins were BADASS.
They predicted 2 BILLION viewers? Billion with a ‘B‘? 1 for 2
3) "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan bid farewell to her former "peace camp" near President Bush's ranch and began a path toward a Washington, D.C. run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sheehan officially announced that she intends to run as an independent against Pelosi in 2008 if Pelosi doesn't move to impeach Bush by July 23, the day she expects to reach Washington. Sheehan has a chance of winning.
Jeremy Learned: FICTION - What reason has Cindy Sheehan given to convince voters she's better than Nancy Pelosi - that she'll hate George Bush more than Pelosi will? All Cindy Sheehan wants is attention. I do feel bad that her son died in Iraq - no one should have to suffer the loss of their child. However, he joined the military of his own free will. I'm not sure what she thinks the purpose of the military is, but it sure ain't for sitting on a base in the tropics and soaking up sun. This is nothing but another ploy to keep Sheehan's name in the news. All of this impeach President Bush talk is nonsense. It's way past time to move on and start governing instead of trying to play the gotcha game with members of the opposite party.
Matt Kraatz: FICTION - Oh, please. As much of a hardcore liberal as I am, I have great difficulty ever taking Cindy Sheehan seriously. She's the very loud voice of ignorant extremists with no regard for our political process. Remember Howard Dean's slip that cost him any chance of the nomination in 2004? That's Sheehan's entire vocabulary. She'd have a very hard time getting honest support from either side of the aisle. And what could possibly be her platform? Aren't all the candidates already anti-Bush?
When a "hardcore" liberal or conservative slaps you down for being too extreme, you know you had better rethink your strategy -- and volume level. 2 for 3
4) U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Chicago last Tuesday that he has a "gut feeling" the nation faces a heightened chance of an attack this summer, but that there were not enough indications of an imminent plot to raise the current threat levels nationwide. This was an irresponsible remark on the part of Chertoff.
Jeremy Learned: FACT - Michael Chertoff may be "in the know" when it comes to these things, but it's totally irresponsible to broadcast his "gut feeling" of a imminent terrorist attack. If there's not enough intelligence to raise the threat level, then Chertoff's "gut feeling" shouldn't be told to the public. During Katrina this guy came on TV and consistently turned in a worse performance than Fall Guy Brownie. He's the type of weasel who will blame everyone around him for his own failings in a tell all book once he's no longer Homeland Security Secretary. His only reason to broadcast his "gut feeling" is self-serving. If, God forbid, something does happen, you bet we'll be seeing Chertoff on TV saying "I told you so!". If intelligence suggests we're in danger, then raise the threat level. No one wants to hear terror warnings based on a "gut feeling".
Matt Kraatz: FACT - This was irresponsible, ignorant, inflammatory, heinous and should be met with consequence. From the Homeland Security Secretary I expect nothing but facts, being that his job is not to exercise his budding psychic skills. The minute the United States begins operating on "gut feelings" is the minute we finally immerse ourselves in fascism and engage in a 21st century witch hunt for terrorists (not that we aren't already close to that point). In a country where the common people are already very concerned about their safety and their government's ability to protect them, this ill-advised comment is incredibly harmful to the public.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. Seriously, what was the point? Oh, you have a gut feeling people are going to die sometime soon but have no evidence to back it up or even the slightest hint of information in regards to what and where? Well, thanks for that. 3 for 4
I have two more readers lined up for next week, so perhaps I will extend the Reader Week promotion from two to three weeks as a means of riding into the sunset. Someone shed a tear for me.
STAY CURRENT