Monday, February 02, 2004

Jay Rosen: "Wolf Blitzer...has a journalistic mind not just conventional, but wholly conventional." 8:35:43 PM    comment []

Cam Barrett, who heads up online community development at the Clark for President campaign, will participate in the "Effective Political Blogging" session at the Teach-In next week. 8:18:36 PM    comment []

President Bush's re-election campaign, taking advantage of the protracted Democratic primary process, is assembling a massive grass-roots political machine months earlier than usual. (Washington Times, via GeorgeWBush.com.) Republicans have come to realize what Democrats had known for years — nothing else gets voters to the polls like face-to-face contact. Instead of relying mostly on TV commercials and slick mailers, Republicans are knocking on doors to make the sales pitch in person...Republicans plan to place particular emphasis on the final three days of the contest, which they call the "72-hour campaign." 5:55:05 PM    comment []

Monkeytime still has no love for John Edwards, and says opposition to the war in Iraq should remain a central issue for Democrats. About this I disagree less than Monkey thinks I do -- but it is very important for Democrats to frame the issue correctly. Bush's credibility on the case for war was, is, and shall remain a ripe target. Ditto the planning for post-war Iraq. I think voters can separate those things from things they might like about the war -- the removal of Saddam, the attempt to remake the Middle East, the message to governments that might sponsor terrorism that this is what the United States does to its enemies, jingoporn, whatever. And to the extent that voters cannot make those distinctions, I think the Democrats are doomed. 11:54:47 AM    comment []

There is some joy in Mudville, or at least an appreciation of an exciting Super Bowl and a lovable Panthers team, but the younger citizens are taking it hard. 11:17:47 AM    comment []