Saturday, February 06, 2010
This election's cranky old man thought.
Four years ago, watching TV, I wondered what some wet behind the ears Tulane professor from who knows where could possibly tell me about New Orleans politics. Now that Brian Brox finally looks old enough to shave, another station trots out some kid from who knows where who looks even younger. He was on ABC26 tonight, but I couldn't find a picture of Michael Sherman anywhere.
I set a personal record for procrastination this election, but it was partly Troy Henry's fault. Back in August, I wrote:
I started to return to the second point one night a few weeks ago, by adding a correction to this old post:
The plan was to write a post about the irresponsible amount of fun that the Margaret Carlson*/Maureen Dowd wannabes of the local media had heaping scorn and snark on James Perry over one commercial after work the next day. Troy Henry gave his media-bashing press conference the very next day, and I thought I should include that in a post about media coverage of the election. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to get around to doing that. At any rate, at one point, I counted four articles or columns, two each in the Picayune and in Gambit, after only one static-interrupted phone interview. That was not the full extent of the coverage that the two papers gave to the commercial, I just tallied up the snark and scorn filled columns that I saw before there was a follow up to the one cell phone interview -- an interview that in the reporter's own words was interrupted by a burst of static. Only a few days earlier, Clancy DuBos had written a column lamenting the fact that Mardi Gras and the Saints' playoff run would subtract from the amount of serious attention that might otherwise be paid to the election. I mean, come on man.
The election's over, but I'm still pissed off, so I may or may not, return to that subject after the Super Bowl. Since Batt's in a runoff, I'll definitely do the "Batt has Baggage" post one night this week. In the meantime, read Oyster.
*CARLSON (10/10/00): Gore’s fabrications may be inconsequential—I mean, they’re about his life. Bush’s fabrications are about our life, and what he’s going to do. Bush’s should matter more but they don’t, because Gore’s we can disprove right here and now…You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator or you look at his record in Texas. But it’s really easy, and it’s fun, to disprove Gore.
...
CARLSON: I actually happen to know people who need government and so they would care more about the programs, and less about the things we kind of make fun of…But as sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us. And we can disprove it in a way we can’t disprove these other things.Link
I set a personal record for procrastination this election, but it was partly Troy Henry's fault. Back in August, I wrote:
1. Though almost nobody acknowledged it, it was obvious by the end of 2005 that Nagin really didn't give a shit about the city.
2. The consensus historians and pleasant conversationalists of the local media either couldn't see or refused to acknowledge the obvious fact that Nagin has never given a shit about anybody but Nagin. They have no business defining the candidates in the next mayor's race.
3. Jay Batt has too much baggage to be either effective or believable as a reformer.
I started to return to the second point one night a few weeks ago, by adding a correction to this old post:
My memory was faulty, I can't believe that I forgot an ad by the first presidential candidate that I ever voted for. In the 1979 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Edgar Mouton ran a commercial that showed his opponents making promises before implying "bullshit" by cutting to a cow mooing -- I'm pretty sure that I remember that commercial correctly. Barry Commoner took it a step further the following year.
The plan was to write a post about the irresponsible amount of fun that the Margaret Carlson*/Maureen Dowd wannabes of the local media had heaping scorn and snark on James Perry over one commercial after work the next day. Troy Henry gave his media-bashing press conference the very next day, and I thought I should include that in a post about media coverage of the election. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to get around to doing that. At any rate, at one point, I counted four articles or columns, two each in the Picayune and in Gambit, after only one static-interrupted phone interview. That was not the full extent of the coverage that the two papers gave to the commercial, I just tallied up the snark and scorn filled columns that I saw before there was a follow up to the one cell phone interview -- an interview that in the reporter's own words was interrupted by a burst of static. Only a few days earlier, Clancy DuBos had written a column lamenting the fact that Mardi Gras and the Saints' playoff run would subtract from the amount of serious attention that might otherwise be paid to the election. I mean, come on man.
The election's over, but I'm still pissed off, so I may or may not, return to that subject after the Super Bowl. Since Batt's in a runoff, I'll definitely do the "Batt has Baggage" post one night this week. In the meantime, read Oyster.
*CARLSON (10/10/00): Gore’s fabrications may be inconsequential—I mean, they’re about his life. Bush’s fabrications are about our life, and what he’s going to do. Bush’s should matter more but they don’t, because Gore’s we can disprove right here and now…You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator or you look at his record in Texas. But it’s really easy, and it’s fun, to disprove Gore.
...
CARLSON: I actually happen to know people who need government and so they would care more about the programs, and less about the things we kind of make fun of…But as sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us. And we can disprove it in a way we can’t disprove these other things.Link
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the joy of facebook. i can send you a picture of the young professor. how can i email it to you?
# posted by 
: 7:34 PM
: 7:34 PM
Sorry to be so responding, but I'd appreciate that. It's hard to find, but it's at the bottom of the links, right above the archives. I just added to the profile so it should be easier to find: bayoustjohndavid My account's with yahoo mail. Thanks.
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