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How to Pick Which Election Coverage to Tune Into on Tuesday

CitizenSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:00:49 -0700

With less than a week left until election night it's time to start making plans - not what election parties or events you're attending, this is a much, much more important decision- who you're spending the evening with, teevees-wise. The media has been as important this campaign as the candidates - and since McCain is saying they've all been fooled as to the real state of the race, I can't wait to see the results. I know who I'm watching, I've been so CNN-loyal the whole campaign, the thought of abandoning my Wolf wouldn't happen by a hair of his chinny-chin-chin. I might peek to see what the other kids have going on though, so luckily there's a whole passel of lists to help us decide who to watch.

To see them, read more.

Men's Vogue has ranked the news teams broken down into crucial details like what their set looks like, their biggest scoop during the campaign, and who their MVP talking head is. They said my poor Wolf's set is "Monitor-cluttered set design ripped off from Shatner-era Star Trek Enterprise." But John King's map! Rules!

New York Magazine has rounded up the Top Ten Cable News Election Coverage Gimmicks, including yes, CNN's "Perception Analyzer" that line graph thing they used during the debates - but a few I even missed. Fox had a text-in flash poll? The sample and results didn't turn out as randomly as some would hope. If you're into gizmos this list can help.

Finally, my list of Top Ten Newscasters That Push My (Remote) Buttons. While there are quite a few CNN-ers on the list, my precious Wolf is nowhere to be found.

Who are you tuning into for your election night coverage?

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Hillary Talks Sexism, Obama's Job Offer, and Mad Men to Vogue

TresSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:35 -0800

Hillary Clinton finally sat down for a long-overdue Vogue interview. She offended editor Anna Wintour during the primaries by turning down the fashion mag out fear of looking "too feminine." And though she won't be on the December cover, the article is as substantial and satisfying as a cover story.

From night swimming alone to her favorite shows (Mad Men!), we see a side of Madame Secretary that all the vetting in the world would not unearth. See some of what she had to say below.

On visiting countries as a high-ranking female: "You can go to some countries and there's not a woman in the room. They don't even make the effort to give me the token woman minister. . . . And in lots of African countries the honorific for women is 'Mama.' So I had lots of people say to me, 'Mama, what about this; Mama, what about that?'"

On President Obama's job offer: "I was stunned after the election when President Obama asked me to consider this. . . . I really was very unconvinced. I did not think it was the right thing to do. I didn't want to do it. I just really had a lot of doubts, and I kept suggesting other people: Well, how about this person! How about that person! This one would be really good! But then a friend of mine called me and basically said, 'How would you have felt if you'd been elected and you'd called him and asked him to do this?' And that really made a big impression on me. How do you say no? And so . . . I said yes. And here I am."

On Mad Men: "That's how it was! That's why the women's-liberation movement was so shocking. It was like news from outer space"

See what else she had to say after the jump.

Fox News Won't Air Anti-Obama Ad, Time For a Real Debate?

LibertySugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:30:06 -0700

Fox News says it won't air an ad connecting Barack Obama to a 1960s radical William Ayers. The ad was produced by American Issues Project which happens to have a board member who was paid as a McCain consultant until July 2007. Thanks to its nonprofit status, AIP can spend an unlimited amount of money. Election experts worry that the ad is illegal because it advocates a candidate, which cannot be done with nonprofit funds. Fox News did accidentally air a portion of the ad, but even a nominal rejection signals that ads like these are starting to raise eyebrows.

Ayers is a college professor and former member of the Weather Underground, a radical organization that wanted to end the Vietnam War through acts of domestic terrorism. He served with Obama on a board until 2002, and also held a campaign event for Obama when he first decided to enter politics in the 1990s. The American Issues Project ad hits Obama hard saying:

Obama's political career was launched in Ayers's home. And the two served together on a left-wing board. Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?

Obama hasn't backed away from the Ayers issue. To find out what he says about Ayers, and to see the ad itself, read more.

Obama has painted the connection as innocent, saying the following:

Mr. Ayers is a 60-plus-year-old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was 6 or 7 years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois. We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education.

While it's important for voters to have crucial information about the candidates and their policies, advertisements by somewhat rogue groups definitely toughens the task of sorting out truth from smears. What do you think of the ad?

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Front Page: IAEA Concerned About Iran, Zimbabwe Toll, Fox Commentator Apologizes

CitizenSugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:55:05 -0700

IAEA Concerned About Iran: The International Atomic Energy Agency issued an honest and specific report yesterday saying that Iran’s suspected research into the development of nuclear weapons remained “a matter of serious concern” and that Iran continued to owe the agency “substantial explanations.” The report pegged Iran with a willful lack of cooperation, especially answering whether nuclear capabilities are intended more for military use than for energy generation. According to Western intelligence agencies, Iranians have ventured into explosives, uranium processing, and a missile warhead design - nuclear weapons activities. One official said of Iran's actions, “There are certain parts of their nuclear program where the military seems to have played a role. We want to understand why.”

Zimbabwe Toll: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said today of the violence resulting from the contested election held in March, "Over 50 Zimbabweans have been killed in the past six weeks. More than 25,000 people have been displaced. I've been saddened that Zimbabweans are willing to shed the blood of other Zimbabweans over political differences." The runoff election between Tsvangirai and incumbent Robert Mugabe is to be held June 27.
Fox Commentator Apologizes: Over the weekend, Fox analyst, Liz Trotta, said while discussing Hillary Clinton's RFK remark “now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama, um, Obama - well, both, if we could.” The Fox News anchor interviewing her was startled saying, “Talk about how you really feel,” as Trotta laughed. Yesterday Trotta went back on Fox News Channel to apologize. She said, “I am so sorry about what happened yesterday in that lame attempt at humor. I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I’ve offended. It’s a very colorful political season, and many of us are making mistakes and saying things that we wish that we hadn’t said.”

To see the video of the incident, read more.

Thanks to ladychaos for the video!

Hillary Clinton Going on O'Reilly Factor: Good Idea?

LibertySugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:15:46 -0700

Hillary Clinton is set to appear on the Fox News' O'Reilly Factor tonight! Democrats and progressives in general typically view the show's conservative host, Bill O'Reilly, as a sworn enemy, or at least unworthy of recognition. But, it looks like tonight, there is another Bill in Hillary's life.

I suspect that the interview will be pretty civil, and O'Reilly's "gotcha" questions will probably give Hillary a chance to deride her absent opponent Barack Obama. O'Reilly may have an incentive to see Hillary win the nomination, as many conservatives have an anti-Hillary script readily available for the general election.

Last Sunday, Barack made his debut on Fox News, where he rejected Hillary's calls for another debate.

What do you make of the Hill-Bill showdown? Does Hillary deserve some credit for treading into hostile territory?

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Obama Refuses Public Financing. What Does This Mean?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:37:29 -0700

I might be a special brand of crazy, but when I woke up to this news this morning, I started hyperventilating: Obama is not accepting public financing.

In shunning each tax-payer's $3 contribution we kick in when we pay our taxes, Obama is the first candidate to do so since Congress passed 1970s campaign finance laws after Watergate in the 1970s. McCain, the Republican nominee in waiting, has already taken steps to accept the public funds in the general election - matching funds that put a cap on how much each candidate can spend.

Obama said of his decision in a video released to supporters:

It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system. And we've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations.

There are a million factors to consider:

Does the above statement mean he's going to police all 527s on his behalf, making sure they're silent and not "broken"?
Obama is the best fundraiser this side of an ATM - he's coaxed $265 million in donations so far. But do his supporters want him raising money? Or focusing on being the best, most prepared person for the job?
Last November he said this: “If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." Is he going back on his word, or should "publicly financed" be in quotes with a winky-face after it?
The campaigns and respective fight/momentum each has had to work with has been vastly different. Obama's been in a grudge match to the death until two weeks ago. That will inspire the wallets of supporters much more than a candidate who's been assured for months, creating an inequity that starting the general election fresh, with public-financing, would solve.

Those are just some of the thoughts that are racing through my tending toward indignant head. What do you think? Is Obama making the best, fairest decision for his own campaign? Is public financing broken like he says? Or did he just cash a blank check made payable to "The Next President of the United States"?

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Front Page: Late Rallies Hope to Push Voters to Morning Polls

LibertySugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:30:00 -0800

Last night the candidates wrapped up two years of campaigning. Barack Obama saved his biggest Virginia rally for last - a jam-packed event in Manassas with 90,000 people reportedly in attendance. Meanwhile, a fired-up John McCain told supporters to "be strong and fight" in an election eve rally Monday, his last before voters in swing state Nevada weigh in. - Huffington Post
Long lines formed when polls opened in Eastern states. Barack Obama's bid to become the first black president faces the final test of his remarkable two-year journey, while Republican John McCain presses for an Election Day upset. - MSNBC
A report released on Monday by a state board found that Gov. Sarah Palin did not apply improper pressure to try to dismiss a state trooper who was her former brother-in-law and did not violate state ethics laws in the firing of her public safety commissioner. The report by the Alaska Personnel Board contradicts the conclusions last month of a separate inquiry into the matter overseen by a bipartisan legislative panel. - New York Times

Taiwan and China set aside decades of hostilities today, agreeing to expand flights and allow shipping links across the Taiwan Strait, a hotspot that has long threatened to become a war zone. - Associated Press
Iran's parliament sacked its interior minister after he admitted a degree he said he obtained from Oxford University was a forgery. It is a setback for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad eight months before he faces presidential elections. - BBC News

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Last Night's CNN Hologram Technology: Freaky and Amazing

GeekSugar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:35:09 -0800

During last night's election coverage, I found myself bouncing around from high-def channel to high-def channel, seeing what ABC, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC had to offer. I already knew that CNN correspondent John King would be showcasing election news from the high-tech Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall, but I had no idea CNN would take their techiness to the next level.

Were you as shocked as I was when they showed correspondent Jessica Yellin in "hollographic 3D form?" Turns out this impressive technology was made possible by Vizrt and SportVu with the help of 44 HD cameras and 20 computers. The A+ geekiness award definitely went to CNN last night!

Did you happen to see it in action? What would you think if they used "virtual" correspondents regularly?

Barack Obama's Grandmother Loses Her Battle With Cancer

LibertySugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:08:24 -0800

Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, died today after a battle with cancer. A statement released by Obama and his sister said:

She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

Last month, with only two weeks to go before election day, Obama took two days off from campaigning to make a final visit to his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. Now, with the sad news coming only one day before the presidential election, the Obama family must be filled with many emotions. Our thoughts go out to them.

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Candidates Broke Late-Night Show Appearance Records

CitizenSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:30:32 -0800

The Presidential candidates worked the late-night talk show circuit during the 2008 campaign, making more than four times the number of appearances with Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, and the likes than the 2004 lineup did, according to new research.

Candidates showed off their face-to-face skills with 110 appearances on late-night comedy shows, a sharp shoot up from 25 in 2004, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs. Fifty of those spots occurred before the primary votes were even cast, offering the chance for candidates to show their comedic chops and create ideal YouTube or cable news sound bites. And, as a former Hillary Clinton adviser said, "It's a lot more risky, as Sarah Palin will attest, to do an interview with Katie Couric than it is with Jay Leno".

John McCain made 17 guest appearances and created quite a hullabaloo when he canceled on Letterman. President-elect Barack Obama clocked 15 appearances, third behind Republican Mike Huckabee, who now has his own show on Fox News Channel and was promoting his book. Do you think the late-night appearances helped you get to know the candidates?

Photo courtesy of NBC