Comments on: "It's Always Darkest Before . . . "

By: themaverickformerlyknownasbasilbrush

themaverickformerlyknownasbasilbrush — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:10:22 +0000

Sarah Palin - the Alternative to Energy Candidate.

By: Dee in Columbia MD

Dee in Columbia MD — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:55:17 +0000

Yet why were some reporters like Sam Donaldson, when he reported from the White House in the 70s and 80s, were able to challenge all presidents with questions, regardless of their party?

Andy perhaps you don't remember that Sam Donaldson got kicked out of the Reagan whitehouse and was generally out of sight for a while when he made a report that suggested that Reagan's alzheimer was already symptomatic. Perhaps that's the lesson these younger reporters learned.

By: Andy from MA

Andy from MA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:49:47 +0000

On the Maeve Reston mea culpa

There would be an opportunity for editors to rotate the @ssignments of these reporters on the bus to maintain at least the appearance of objectivity. However after the dire financial straits news organizations are in must make this practice very difficult.
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Yet why were some reporters like Sam Donaldson, when he reported from the White House in the 70s and 80s, were able to challenge all presidents with questions, regardless of their party?
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KT mentions the lack of access to Joe Biden in her article here:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1854640,00.html

Is access to the campaign truly the value the MSM appears to think it is? Can reporting outside rope about what you can't see a more effective tactic to show how remote the candidates are?
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Any thoughts or comments?

By: Andy from MA

Andy from MA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:39:37 +0000

Paul D or anyone: Is Maeve Reston related to late NY Times reporter James "Scotty" Reston?

By: Paul Dirks

Paul Dirks — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:33:52 +0000

Not to be missed:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/29/reston/index.html

By: Joe Bftsplk

Joe Bftsplk — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:32:21 +0000

Hey, for once I'm glad to be moderated!
It will delay revelation of my inability to spell "Cheney" in a post expressing suspicion about gas prices plummeting right before the election.

By: Joe Bftsplk

Joe Bftsplk — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:29:19 +0000

New topic...
Gas prices are WAY down right before the election:
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http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/29/news/economy/gas_prices/index.htm?cnn=yes
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What's Cheyney's role?

By: Eric the student

Eric the student — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:05:08 +0000

6 days to go :: Obama up by 9 in Ohio and 12 in Pennsylvania.

By: ivb3016

ivb3016 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:04:10 +0000

Michael was just on one of our local NPR programs. Alas, I was doing things and didn't really listen until after he left. He was discussing his article, 7 things that can go wrong...
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Anyone interested can get the audio in an hour or so at http://www.whyy.org and the program is Radio Times. I would put up the link, but am going out until early this evening.

By: Paul Dirks

Paul Dirks — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:03:43 +0000

You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to THE math.

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/karl_roves_math.php

One is of course struck by the utter dissimilarity between this person's job and what actual research would entail. The difference between using data to determine a result vs using a desired result to massage the data is dramatic.

Reposting my moderated comment - test