• bias

    Kurtz: McCain's Constant TV Appearances Prove Liberal Bias

    Let's check in with famous and successful media critic Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. What is Mr. Kurtz writing about today? The Monday after John McCain's much-discussed appearance on Saturday Night Live, his second of the general election campaign and coming just weeks after his running mate Sarah Palin's well-publicized cameo, Kurtz's column is, of course, about how Obama is on TV all the time, and all the television talk shows are In The Tank for Barack Obama. More »
  • four more years!

    Mike Mayor For Life!

    Goddammit. Mike Bloomberg is going to be mayor again, forever. He will pay lip service to the poor and raise the cigarette tax to $400 dollars and ban watching too much tv and give the entire Bronx to some developers and the NYPD will continue to shoot black people, tase crazies, and arrest hippies. But we need him, now, because he is a Serious Nonpartisan Grownup Expert Business Manager, and the City is in a Crisis. [NYT]
  • racism

    The Racist Anti-Obama GOP Newsletter Listicle!

    Boy, there are some real wackos out there, right? And this election, whoo, it really brings out the worst in the crazies. Stuffed monkeys with Obama stickers, shouts of "kill him," insane email forwards, there are countless examples from this miserable election of outright racism. But those are just fringe losers—bunch of racist nobodies, right? That's why it's fun that this week's three worst examples of outright bullshit hate-mongering all come from professional, official Republican party staffers! More »
  • journalismism

    Palin On Hewitt: 'I Am a Regular Joe Six-Pack American' And Other Gibberish

    Sarah Palin was kind of embarrassed by her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, so she sought out the more comforting company of Secret King of All Hacks Hugh Hewitt for her most recent solo media appearance. Hewitt, who is really indefensibly hacky, interviewed her like a child he was particularly fond of. And she responded like a particularly slow child. Above, the very first question from Hugh and Palin's very first answer. You will not be disappointed in either of them! (Because you should be incapable of disappointment by now, haven't you been paying attention?) More »
  • sigh

    Sadness. At the Movies Just Finished Its Final Episode

    I really dislike critics of any kind, subscribing as I do to the theory that they're people who cannot even for a second do the things they are paid to bitchily criticize. But I've watched At the Movies since I was a little kid and over those long years I developed a love for Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. And, given some time, I even learned to appreciate Richard Roeper when he replaced Siskel after Siskel's tragically untimely death. And I knew that Ebert and Roeper had disowned the Disney-run show and were being replaced by a couple of young nothings from nowhere. But it just hit me really hard when tonight's episode ended with Roeper announcing that it really was his final episode. And that went for Ebert too. Fuck! They really won't be back! More »
  • is that lol there is

    'Slate' Has a Funny Video About Kittens

    With the possible exceptions of various sarcastic asides by John Dickerson and Jack Shafer, online journal of contrarianism Slate has run like one intentionally funny piece in its 100 year history—this examination of Chuck Klosterman jacket photos by Doree—so we're not entirely sure why they keep trying. Humor is not really your bag, Slate! Today we received an ominous email from Slate's indefatigable flack: "Slate V Spoofs Lolcats: Polcats—What if Barack and Hillary Wuz Kittehs?" It might go... a little something... like this: More »
  • politics

    Mark Penn: Unkillable

    Good news! You thought the career of Mark Penn, scurrilous bastard Clinton pollster and world's worst PR guru, was finished? You thought he'd never ineptly manage the press strategy of another big Democrat again? Especially after those wonderful, wonderful Clinton campaign memos all got dumped on the Internet this week? The joke, as always, is on you, where "you" means "common sense and the hope that the Democratic party won't once again shoot itself in the foot." If Barack Obama chooses Even Bayh as his running mate (please, no, not The Ethanol Ticket), Penn's back on top! "For years, Penn and his wife, Nancy Jacobson, have been close advisers to Indiana Senator Evan Bayh." He'll lose this one for us yet! We'd be happier with fucking Biden. At least he's poor! [Atlantic, Photo-illustration]
  • journalismism

    How to Cover the Conventions

    In a word, don't. As Jack Shafer says, the political conventions are stupid and pointless pageants. Free publicity for candidates and parties with absolutely no real news to be found. Faker than the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. But, you know, the press swarms on them because it's a party. Except twice every four years tens of thousands of journalists get to act like people with white collar jobs who go to "conventions" to hang out in hotels in cities where they don't know a soul and spend a long weekend getting wasted with their peers. It's a little vacation! But it's bullshit. So. How to cover the conventions responsibly—or, rather, entertainingly? Shafer's advice, and ours, below. More »