Exile on Jones Street

Ah, what a tizzy

kmr — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:45:35 +0000

We’re at one of those moments where one horse race is over and another is beginning before the media have had a chance to frame it. When there is no settled on theme, it makes for strange reporting. The scramble is on to find the hook.
The big story for the moment is when/how the Clintons stand down. It is certainly foolish to think that anything — money, math, etc. — will drive that decision. There may be a lot of factors, but it won’t stop until they say it stops.
While that story has a lot of people in a tizzy, it’s a sideshow compared to what’s forming on the main stage. The presidency, the sea change, that’s the story. Unfortunately, media coverage has not reflected the seriousness of times and the decision coming in November. It is still depicted as a contest of personalities rather than ideas. The old rules continue to restrain reporting while in the drive to compete with those working under new rules the compunction now is to cajole, prod, wheedle and tweak — to work the embarrassing clip up to a level of political importance, because it is far and away more entertaining that their own clever insights.
What is painful to watch is how anything will be seized on — random acts, events, phrases — and turned and twisted and worked over again and again. And everything around the snippet is ignored as though the incident or the words were uttered in a vacuum. That’s the level of desperation that has infected those in whom we trust to carry the news.
Give me boredom. Give me a long, boring discussion of the economy, of how a troop drawdown would work and of how when it comes to gas prices we’re at the mercy of the supply and demand curve. Surely, someone at some network has the number for a few people who could inform us.

Pattern

kmr — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:55:00 +0000

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.

Yes, there is.

Yes

kmr — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:38:40 +0000

I think it’s pretty well over. Anybody who heard that speech in Raleigh Tuesday night understood the language.
Walk good everybody. We’re in the general.

Onion on Hansbrough

kmr — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:55:58 +0000

The Onion’s got the scoop:

Tyler Hansbrough Staying In School To Take This One Awesome Philosophy Class

. . . Hansbrough, adding that he is going to read all the books and everything. “And my girlfriend is taking it too, so it should be pretty sweet.” . . .

Monday Morning Post

kmr — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:47:51 +0000

. . . And in the spring of 2008, many more people voted.
• Ed’s vocabulary lesson about the use of the word elites
• Can’t keep the campaigning straight without a scorecard
• You can always tell the important political stories. They’re the ones with anecdotal leads.
• The absentee count is pushing half a million (right, top). Past results in case you’re curious.
• What does the recent discovery of mommy blogging say about the future of the newspaper industry?

Packed house

kmr — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:06:06 +0000

We could have handled a thousand or two more, but with a nice breeze blowing and plenty of shady places around to retreat to, it sure is a nice day for a rock show in Carrboro.

Rally in Carrboro

kmr — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:50:36 +0000

Sitting in my office at the paper about a half a block from the Town Commons. Arcade Fire is soundchecking. Crowds are gathering. There was a line at the ‘gate.’ A couple of people were playing chess. The fire department was helping out the stage crews. The stage is like nothing the Town Commons has ever seen. I’m wondering if most folks really had any idea that when they said rock show they meant rock show.

Morning Post

kmr — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:52:27 +0000

Morning. I’ll be brief:
• No sanctions for the Heels/Obama practice. Hi Anne.
• Glazier want to end abstinence only education
• Accountability lacking in school punishments
Gas tax holiday — yeehaw, we’re saving $25 and calling it a day.

Morning Post

kmr — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:21:27 +0000

Spent a little time in the Dean Dome last night. I can hardly wait to hear what CNN says I think of it all.
Meanwhile,
• Picking up on a pattern: Newspaper runs big take out thumbsucker fretting over the dying newspaper industry then a few weeks later offers ‘voluntary’ early retirement packages to most of the people making decent money. Word from the newsroom is that many of the senior people got an offer.
• Fresh from Italy, the Guv endorses Hillary. I can hardly wait for CNN to remind me he is our most popular Governor evah.
• If you get a call from Lamont, just hang up.
• Early voting expands in Meck.

Morning Post

kmr — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:21:49 +0000

Good morning. Do ya ever get the impression that until, say, the time of the conventions, politics is all about re-fighting past elections?

Meanwhile,
As Ed points out, states are starting to feel the pinch. In NC, a projected budget surplus has all but evaporated, which is not good during an election year because there are promises to be kept. The upshot is that for those less connected this will be a session of defense. So what else is new?
• NCGOP’s much discussed ad fits nicely with the media strategy
• The Fed, cheap dollars and the food crisis
• What’s this? My guess is it is something we used to call a contrary view.
• It’s not just an ad or two, but a sick pattern of ratcheting up what they deem acceptable in terms of racially charged comments. If this is where we are now . . .