Walter Cronkite Dead at 92
Walter Cronkite has passed: Walter Cronkite, the premier TV anchorman of the networks' golden age who reported a tumultuous time with reassuring authority and came to be called "the most trusted man in America," died Friday. He was 92. Cronkite's longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan home surrounded by family. She said ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 17, 2009 22:02
2008 Predictions Scorecard (James Joyner)
As 2008 winds to an end, it'll soon be time for the OTB staff to post its predictions for the coming year. First, though, is the painful look back at our predictions for 2008. Predictions that came to pass The Republicans will eventually nominate someone, pundit chatter about a divided base notwithstanding. “Ron Paul won’t win a single state primary. If he runs ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 29, 2008 09:03
Biden Gaffes Covered Up by Biased Media!
Kirsten Powers has an amusing piece in the NY Post headlined "BIDEN'S BUNGLES: A BLATANT BIAS." It echoes sentiments I've been seeing in the comments section: Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate prompted a small wave of warnings about Biden's propensity for gaffes. But no one imagined even in a worse-case scenario such a spectacular bomb as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 23, 2008 06:38
Meet Joe the Plumber
[caption id="attachment_26254" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Joe Wurzelbacher views the debate from his Springfield Township home. (TOLEDO BLADE/LORI KING ) "][/caption] Joe Wurzelbacher, a/k/a "Joe the Plumber," took up an inordinate amount of time at last night's debate, to the annoyance of many. CBS reports that: McCain and Obama mentioned Wurzelbacher 26 times during the 90 minute debate. By contrast, Iraq came up six ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 16, 2008 12:18
Sarah Palin, Ignoramus
Several commentators have objected to my characterization of Sarah Palin as an"ignoramus" in the post below. I'm simply using the term in its precise meaning as "an extremely ignorant person." The dictionary definition of ignorant: 1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man. 2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics. 3. uninformed; ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 11, 2008 09:23
SNL Parodies Palin, Debates
"Saturday Night Live" is continuing to weigh in heavily on the presidential race, hitting Sarah Palin and John McCain hard in last night's installment. Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," again appearing as the Republican vice presidential candidate in an opening sketch. Saturday night's show — the third of the season for the NBC comedy ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 28, 2008 08:05
McCain: Effects Precede Causes in Iraq
Here's an interesting Q&A from Katie Couric's interview with John McCain. Kate Couric: Senator McCain, Senator Obama says, while the increased number of US troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 23, 2008 12:31
McCain: Obama Wants to Lose War
John McCain trotted out a new sound byte yesterday: This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign. Here's the video, which provides ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 23, 2008 07:49
Katie Couric Major Announcement on ‘Today’
Embattled CBS News anchor Katie Couric is is making a "major announcement" on tomorrow's edition of NBC's "Today" show. Let the speculation begin. UPDATE: Drudge: "SOURCE: NBC, CBS, and ABC jointly hosting cancer research telethon. Couric to announce on NBC's TODAY SHOW tomorrow... Developing..." Less interesting than many other theories, including the Katie Couric/Anderson Cooper job swap rumors, but it sounds ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 27, 2008 11:14
Two Blogs that Pass in the Night
Yesterday's exchange with Thers over the state of conservatism reflects a major defect in the blogging medium. For the most part, we write blogs in serial fashion, as a conversation with our readers, and presume that recent posts on the same subject have been read. Most blog readers, on the other hand, parachute into posts based on links ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 26, 2008 08:35
Katie Couric – CBS News Divorce Imminent
CBS plans to oust Katie Couric from the anchor chair of the "Evening News" soon after the election, Rebecca Dana reports for WSJ. After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 10, 2008 08:03
Predictions for 2008
My OTB colleague Dave Schuler made his 2008 predictions on New Year's Eve but I've decided to wait until the first official work day of the year to get a better sense of the lay of the land. U.S. Politics: The Republicans will eventually nominate someone, pundit chatter about a divided base notwithstanding. "Ron Paul won’t win a single state primary. If ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on January 2, 2008 16:52
Rudy Giuliani ‘Shag Fund’ Scandal
While the right side of the blogosphere busied itself with outrage over planted questions in the YouTube debate, our counterparts on the left were exulting over news that Rudy Giuliani billed New York City taxpayers for security services and travel expenses for his then-mistress (now wife) back in 2000. TPM's Josh Marshall has dubbed this "Rudy's Shag Fund," ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 30, 2007 10:11
Press Corps Patriotism
Jonah Goldberg yearns for the golden days of yore, when American journalists wore their patriotism on their sleeve. In a recent speech at the National Press Club, Katie Couric expressed somber disapproval of the jingoistic excesses after 9/11. Among the things that vexed her: "The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying 'we' when referring to the United ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 3, 2007 11:01
Lauren Jones ‘Anchorwoman’ Controversy
There is apparently quite a bit of controversy over the fact that a Texas CBS affiliate has agreed to let swimsuit model and former WWE diva Lauren Jones anchor the local news for a month as part of the Fox "Anchorwoman" reality show. Does citing Katie Couric help her case or hurt it? On the one hand, Jones has ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 13, 2007 10:44
