Hillary Clinton, Gennifer Flowers and AP's cheap shot
Thursday, December 6, 2007
(AP) Gennifer Flowers Mulls Vote for Clinton:
(LAS VEGAS) — The one-time other woman in Hillary Rodham Clinton's life says she's considering casting her vote for the former first lady. "I can't help but want to support my own gender, and she's as experienced as any of the others — except maybe Joe Biden," Gennifer Flowers said in a recent telephone interview from her home in Las Vegas.
In the 1992 presidential race, the former television reporter claimed to have had a 12-year affair with then-candidate and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Clinton initially denied the allegation, but later, during his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, acknowledged a single sexual encounter with Flowers.
The article goes on for 468 words, but you get the idea. And I've got to say: This particular story deserves every bit of ridicule that gets heaped upon it. AP deserves scorn for writing it; Time magazine (where I found it online) deserves scorn for running it.
I hold no brief for the Clintons. But this sheds no light on the presidential race at all. It is beneath tawdry.
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Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on December 6, 2007 at 5:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And if I hadn't just blogged the above, I'd totally blog this:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/th...
The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce, southernness, poverty, and gun availability.
Posted by beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) on December 6, 2007 at 6:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Half of the junk written on presidential candidates is nothing more than fluff entertainment disguised as real news...or a biased reporter/media outlet trying to make candidates look bad. I don't find this anymore shocking or tawdry than some of the crap I've come across on Clinton News Network or Fauxnews.com (oops - I MEANT Fox, silly me). After reading the entire article, it would seem to me that Flowers is nothing more than a publicity w*&re (I can't come up w/ a more appropriate term). It's no surprise that the AP would be happy to appease her need for publicity w/this write up. However, I AM surprised that TIME would run it...I thought they were a bit classier. *shrugs* Maybe I've become a bit of a Debbie Downer, but I've come to expect articles such as these from most mainstream media outlets.
____________
And dude - the country music/suicide correlation is quite amusing in a deranged sort of way. That made me laugh out loud!
Posted by ladylaw (Terry Bush) on December 6, 2007 at 7:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WAY back when the 2008 race begain, I went to an event at the Dole Institute. I can't remember who the speaker was, but I remember what he said. He said that if it looked like Hillary might actually win the race (whether primary or general) we should all be prepared to re-hear how she could not "keep that dog on the porch." So now it begins...
Then recently M. Dukakis was at the same facility. His candor and wit was typical of those who no longer are running for office and can (AND DO) therefore tell the whole unvarnished truth. Not a luxury most candidates have - where anything they do or say - EVER - can and will be used against them.
I really wish more public officials could (a) tell us more truths and (b) not have to be "perfect" when examined under a microscope in order to survive. I have no idea why any sane person would run for office these days.
The advent of mass media and world-wide instant communication has changed a lot of things. If John F. Kennedy's private life and escapades were exposed and examined the same way current candidates are, one has to wonder if he'd have been elected, let alone been so respected by a lot of citizens past and present.
The AP is like any other business, in my opinion. As enormously important as a free press is to a free society, capitalism means that our media must also sell something. That is a reality. So I do not blame them for giving people what will best sell.
Whether I like it or not, many Americans cannot turn away from gossip or juicy tid-bits about the personal lives of others. If they could, 90% of TV "news" shows would not be on air. And news reporters always get more attention for bad news then good.
Just my opinion.....
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on December 6, 2007 at 10:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The AP, Time Magazine, and now - most shockingly - Cup O Joel.
I'm going to go listen to some country.
But anyway, this is for my sake:
"hold no brief for"
Refuse to support, dislike, as in I hold no brief for liars. This term is a negative version of the legal expression hold a brief for, meaning [to support or defend a position by argument.] The noun brief has been used in this way since the 1200s.
Posted by bloozman (anonymous) on December 7, 2007 at 7:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
DotDot -- Thanks. You just saved me a little time. I hold a brief for your research.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on December 7, 2007 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Doh! How am I supposed to be a sage if I can't show you what I'm being sagely about?
Posted by buck (Buck Rowland) on December 7, 2007 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, Jennifer Flowers.....Iraq. Monica....Abu Ghraib. Hog futures...Enron.
I sure do miss the Clintons! That all seems SO simple now.
Posted by Feents (Caterina Benalcazar) on December 8, 2007 at 11:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, so if being too hip-hoppy is what got Last Call in such a mess o' trouble, Coyote's better watch out: bars being to country-ish are prob'ly next on the list.
Wait. Doesn't the same guy that owns Last Call also own Coyote's? That poor bastard.
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