Rachel Maddow STILL Hearts That Dam Bridge

Hoodie-loving MSNBC host Rachel Maddow apparently came through these parts recently in order to make an example of the American can-do spirit out of ... the Hoover Dam and the Bypass Bridge. She did a whole slew of them, which you can see here.

The 45-second bursts are for the Lean Forward series of promos on MSNBC but they're just fun to see, too. Here's one:

This one's about the drought:

It should be no surprise that Maddow is high for the Dam and the bridge. On the day it was christened last year, here's what she did with it on the show:

VIDEO: CNN MisID's Giffords Suspect, Apologizes, Does it Again

Update: CNN and a friend of the kid whose photo was used both called, asked me to blur the non-suspect's image. So here's a new version of the video and a second blog post is coming. -sf

One of the most horrifying and irresponsible days in American journalism just got measurably worse when CNN, at about 8:59 p.m. PT apologized for airing a photo they said was Jared Lee Loughner, suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and slaying of six in Tucson. Lemon explained that the image they had shown of a young man at a sporting event was taken from Loughner's Facebook page archives and that CNN was sorry for the error.

Then, about two minutes later at the top of the hour, CNN showed the same erroneous image again. It's stunning enough that ripping something off Facebook and not bothering to check the accuracy is what's done in the highest circles of American journalism today. But to get it wrong, apologize and then do it again is absolutely unbelievable.

The entire day has been appalling. First, of course, there was Reuters and NPR reporting the Rep. Giffords was dead. She wasn't, but all manner of credible news folk, including Ben Smith and Jon Ralston, retweeted it:


Next there was the bizarre spectacle of Fox, MSNBC and CNN going on all day about vitriol in politics and Sarah Palin's personal responsibility in this without having any specific information about the alleged gunman's motives. Also, if anyone is responsible for the vicious partisanship in this country, it's Fox and MSNBC first and second, with CNN in third for inventing the TV shoutfest concept with "Crossfire." Then, maybe somewhere down on the list might be Palin and other incendiary camera whores who are products, not the engineers, of this dynamic.

Speaking of camera whores and a lack of perspective, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. went on the air to twice call the Arizona shooting a "dastardly deed" -- greatly offending the Joker, Dr. Evil and Lex Luthor, no doubt, because they figured they had the corner on the "dastardly" market -- but also claimed this was the worst "dastardly deed" he's seen in his lifetime. Apparently he shrugged off 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Mumbai attacks or Columbine.

I loved when he went on later to Tweet this:


Unspeakable, and yet there is he blubbering along on TV, huh? See, that's what I'd love to see, this guy tell Fox's producers, "No, no, I can't come on. This is just unspeakable. I cannot speak to it." Tee hee.

Finally, our local media in Vegas was utterly worthless. The Review-Journal sent out just a single news flash or Tweet about what was happening in Tucson:


You know what we got LOADS of info about from the Review-Journal's Tweeter today? Every frigging bowel movement by everyone on the Runnin' Rebels.

And nobody locally seems to have noticed the one Vegas-related connection: The owner of the Golden Nugget, Tilman Fertitta, flew Giffords' husband from Texas to Tucson on his private jet. Nicely done, folks!

Chickens For Checkups? Well, Maybe

In a bizarre reversal today, I'm pretty much the only one in the media willing to NOT fall for the predictable snark that has emerged from Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden's suggestion that people try bartering for health care. She, of course, wants to unseat Harry Reid this year.

It's just much too easy to make fun in this case. Y'know what's harder? Actually looking at whether bartering for health care is even possible.

Turns out, it is. Maybe not by arriving at a doctor's office with a chicken under your arm, but there are certainly serious ways to do it. Read all about it in my just-up AOL News piece. If you can provide any service -- dog-walking, house-painting, copy editing, lawn-mowing -- then there is, in fact, a way for you to build up credits through a barter exchange and use them for certain sorts of health care services. It's not an actual, broad-based solution to the rising cost of health care, to be sure, but it's also not as ridiculous a notion as it seems on first blush. And yes, I thought it was nuts when I first heard it, too.

If my piece doesn't convince you, here are pieces from years past from MSNBC, CNN Money and Kaiser News Network. The Vegas and DC punditocracy finds these stories inconvenient because to them the actual substance of her remarks don't matter. Is it not the media's JOB to tell the public that (a) Lowden didn't say it was a total fix but (b) it is actually something that is practiced and could be viable for some people in some situations?

MSNBC's Countdown and Rachel Maddow shows, of course, have mocked Lowden. But guess what? Countdown host Keith Olbermann presented this report below in 2005 with a remark by the reporter, "An old-fashioned idea working for modern medicine" and Olbermann saying, "It sounds like it does fulfill needs on both sides of the equation."

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Mediaite slammed fill-in Countdown host Lawrence O'Donnell for somewhat mischaracterizing Lowden's proposal but still agreed she's loony tunes. Can't wait until there's video of Olbermann saying in 2005 that bartering sounds like an interesting innovation and in 2010 finding it hilarious.

And, to borrow from Maddow, one more thing. Look at the screen behind Rachel during this report last night:


Yes, the WHHSH cliche is irksome, obvious and cheap. But in Lowden's case, it's also inaccurate. Her two major public remarks about bartering occurred in Mesquite and Reno.

We'll Never Learn

THIS...

...DRIVES...

...ME...
...BANANAS!!!

The AP, Fox, MSNBC and CNN have already called Vermont for Barack Obama and John McCain. The polls have only been closed for 13 minutes there and not a single vote total has been released. I know they've got their exit polls and all that jazz, but I really thought these TV stations had learned not to do this. It serves absolutely NOBODY'S interest to call races before ANY votes have been counted. And every single time these projections prove wrong, the networks promise not to do it again.

So pathetic. It's NOT OK, just because polling shows something to be so.

Live From The MSNBC Democratic Debate!

I know you're not interested in a play-by-play on the debate, which better sources than I can and wish to provide. But I figured you'd like to see what it looks like from the media's point of view. Here we are all scattered in an enormous, very echoy exhibition space at Cashman Center watching flat screen TVs all over the place. The candidates are debating in another room similar to this, but I'm not real sure where that is.


The Democrats are supposed to be so concerned about the disadvantaged, but not a single TV here has captions on. I'm sure if I asked someone they'd say, "Well, it's really pretty loud." And it is. In this case, it's so loud as to be distorting. Oh well. They did, however, feed us an oft-replenished buffet of chicken breast, salad, pasta and very rich brownies...


Anyhow, the stars have descended on Vegas. Here's the shameless blowhard Chris Matthews of MSNBC with the brilliant and rocking Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post.

...and the lovely, very friendly and much slimmed-down Candy Crowley of CNN...

And the hardest working journalist in Nevada (besides me?) this week, Jon Ralston...


Here's the big screen with the big graphics that's set up as the backdrop for the MSNBC post-show events. That should be fun...


And, finally -- for now, until the spinmeisters come in here -- is my favorite shot of a clearly well-traveled journalist's laptop...