Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Here's some much needed catch-up.
First, a couple of more letters on the whole "Dean Implosion."
My good friend Ken, who worked on the Dean campaign here in Philly sent me this:

> I continue to believe that the best thing about Dean
> > is the campaign, not the man.
> >
> > His passionate (and therefore alienating to
> > Americans used to consultant-paralyzed politicians
> > as exciting as milquetoast) outburst on stage at his
> > 3rd place speech in Iowa, he has walked into the
> > hands of Democratic opponents and Karl Rove. That
> > very well might have been the death of the campaign.
> >
> > However, we now all see that his presence has forced
> > the other Democratic candidates to get a backbone
> > when it comes to the future of our country. Their
> > campaigns had to acknowledge that Dean's steadfast,
> > blunt (although to a fault), and inspiring
> > opposition to Bush had tapped into actual political
> > ENERGY! Just imagine if Dean had not run. We might
> > just have Gore-like boring, vote-suppressing,
> > consultant-induced campaign stupor.
> >
> > Love,
> > Ken


I responded with an indictment of Howard Kurtz, the "media critic" at the Washington Post who's now being investigated for corruption (more on this below):

> Ken, thanks for that email.
>
> Tday I saw the funniest thing ever: Howard Kurtz's "On
> Media" column in the Washington Post, which this
> morning began with "after months of propping up the
> dean campaign..."
>
> That's been changed to "MANCHESTER, N.H. -- As if
> Howard Dean didn't have enough problems after
> sputtering to a third-place finish in Iowa, the press
> is starting to question his chances of survival."
>
> In both cases, that's a lie. Howard Kurtz is a liar.
> Dean's campaign was not "propped up" by the media, but
> by volunteers who gave him millions of dollars on
> small donations,, making him eligible for federal
> funds. Dean's foray into large-scale donations
> started only after he asked his supporters if they
> approved of that. That's the truth. I know this
> because his campaign sends me so many damn emails, I
> could probably tell you the lint content of Dean's
> bellybutton. Dean only got media coverage after
> defying the odds that the media had already set. The
> media is not "starting to question his chances for
> survival;" the media has been saying he couldn't
> possibly win since day one.
>
> I am not writing this email because I am some big-time
> Dean supporter: I am writing this email because I am
> sick and tired of liars like Howard Kurtz thinking
> they can get away with lying because they have a perch
> at the Washington Post and CNN (it's always struck me
> as a bit ironic that a tried and true member of "big
> media" does a media criticism column, which is kind of
> like Mr. Bush's plan for dealing with pollution in
> which the polluters voluntarily police themselves).
>
> Don't make me laugh, Howie Kurtz (I've cc-ed him in
> this email): as anyone who's watched the Dean campaign
> knows, the press started out with "Dean can't win,"
> then swerved into "maybe dean can win but probably
> not," back to "Dean can't win."
>
> "Starting to question his chances?" Dude, you haven't
> so much questioned his chances as said Dean's a dead
> duck since day one. Talk about your self-fulfilling
> prophecies.
>
> Last week's columns, attacking Dean on everything
> EXCEPT his policy positions, were shameful. It is one
> thing to say "Dean's ideas suck." But all the
> Washington Post (and the New York Times, etc etc) had
> to say was "where's his wife," "does he go to church",
> and other canards over and over and over again. My
> favorite was Marjorie Williams' editorial in the
> Washington Post, in which her central argument was
> "you can't trust Dean to govern, because he's a doctor
> and you can't trust doctors." That's some fine logic
> there, isn't it? I guess it would have been better if
> my girlfriend went to a car salesman when it came time
> to deliver our kid.
>
> I think (I hope) most of my friends know that I'm not
> a hardcore Dean supporter: I lived in Western
> Massachusetts about 20 minutes from Vermont for most
> of his years as governor, and I'm well aware of his
> record. You can look it up: Dean was fiscally
> conservative and attackled regularly by Vermont's
> newspapers as "too conservative." That record has
> been skewed, BIG TIME, by people like Howard Kurtz.
> Almost as skewed as Kurtz's claim that "the media"
> propped up Dean's campaign.
>
> Buddy, if what you all did was "propping up" Dean's
> campaign, then please, please start propping up George
> Bush.
> I guess all I'm saying here is people like Howard
> Kurtz need to blow it out their collective bunghole.
> Oh and here's his email, if you'd like to drop him a
> line of your own: kurtzh@washpost.com
> Your friend,
> Brendan Skwire


And then, just yesterday, I was at buzzflash, where I found a link to media whores online, who point out that Mr. Kurtz is being investigated!
It seems Mistah Kurtz, he use-a his column to promote his wife's business concerns: in case you didn't know, Mrs. Kurtz is a consultant for right wing republicans.
Read all about it here, complete with links.
http://www.mediawhoresonline.com/
I have said for a long time that Howie Kurtz is full of baloney. Now it seems that the baloney was rotten.
Howie's email is kurtzh@washpost.com. Perhaps you'll want to drop him a line after you read about his
interesting, and lucrative, side career.