John and Elizabeth Edwards: Grace under Fire
I've supported John Edwards for president since his announcement, so the build-up to yesterday's news concerning Elizabeth Edwards' cancer was a time for disoncernment. The news of Elizabeth's cancer returning is not good, yet both of them handled a really difficult situation with grace and strength. John Edwards' vision for this country is too important to give up on, despite the incredibly difficult position he and Elizabeth are in. May this cancer be treated and his campaign be successful.
Further, though I disagree with his politics, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow revealed today that he is having a small growth removed from his pelvis next week. I wish him well, too.
Media Matters' Latest Report
Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog, have created another media analysis of Sunday Talk Shows, called "If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative," and their findings confirm what those of us who watch the media already know: Conservative voices far outweigh progressive ones on Sunday talk shows. Their reports in the past have shown that conservatives such as John McCain are far more apt to be featured in one-on-one interviews than Democrats or progressives. Their latest report reveals that, on 'Meet the Press,' 'This Week,' 'Face the Nation,' and 'Fox News Sunday,' Republicans and conservatives outweigh Democrats and progressives by a large margin, 44% to 27%.
Media Matters makes the important point that, considering Democrats swept the 2006 elections, one would expect a greater amount of Democratic voices on these shows, but only 'This Week with George Stephanopolous" has made strides in having at least as many Democrats/progressives on as Republicans/conservatives and, surprise, surprise, Fox News Sunday has the greatest deficit between featured individuals and their political affiliation, favoring Republicans over Democrats by a margin of 50% to 25%.
And I agree with Media Matters CEO and President David Brock when he says "On the whole, our report shows the all-important Sunday shows are largely out of step with what's happening in Washington and across America. The deck is still stacked in favor of conservatives.This is a serious problem for the networks, one that compromises their integrity and threatens to taint political discourse across the country." Surely, the Sunday news shows need to have more progressive and Democratic voices on their forums and featured interviews, as the right wing has been given too much voice on these programs for too long.
Official report:
http://mediamatters.org/sundayshowreport/online_version/
A Bush Scandal of a Different Sort
Perhaps this blog entry should be labeled "Another Day, Another Bush Scandal," but this particular scandal, or what is amounting to one, is of a somewhat different vein than the backroom dealings the Bush administration had with Enron in creating our energy policy or their illegal and covered-up wiretapping and surveillance of Americans.
Apparently, Pres. Bush is firing U.S. attorneys that don't follow a narrow ideological agenda, specifically those who refused to use the attorney office to subpoena Democrats. New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias, for example, was asked to step down after he refused to issue subpoenas to Democrats before the fall elections at the behest of two New Mexico Republicans, one of whom was Senator Pete Domenici. Moreover, the California attorney who brought down corrupt congressman Duke Cunningham, was subsequently asked to step down -- and she was a Republican who was merely doing her job.
Huntsu over at the preeminent progressive N.J. blog, Blue Jersey, has covered this scandal and has some interesting postulations concerning N.J.'s own U.S. attorney, Chris Christie, who may have been pressured into subpoenaning Senator Bob Menendez ahead of the November midterms:
http://www.bluejersey.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=4164His follow-up covers an Arkansas U.S. attorney who also lost his job (then filled by a Bush cronie a la a Patriot Act provision) due to strange circumstances. Thankfully, congress is going to hold hearings on this possible, or probable scandal.
http://www.bluejersey.net/showDiary.do?diaryId=4164
