They must be only giving the info that they are getting from Mr. Blumenthal.

I'm sure the perceived pro-Clinton news balances out with the clearly pro-Obama blog postings/comments.

The Kantor video doesn't sound like it deserves to be mentioned if it's as iffy as I'm hearing, but I agree about the press conference. I didn't even know he was having one.

I agree with all you say; however, I am relieved Josh and the other folks here are not reporting on the Cantor story. Steve Benen over at Carpetbagger has a good take on this one. It is so easy to destroy a person's good reputation just because we are frightened and angry. We need to be careful not to do this. It's just not right, and I don't think it would help Obama either.

I'm new here, but the Blumenthol story seems an important one, particularly as he is a person many of us once admired.

I've been thinking about it a lot today, and my theory is that even in the liberal blogosphere, we can get into a kind of "cronyism." People are friends; they go back a long way. Nobody wants to rat out a friend.

However, what do you do when that friend has been spreading right-wing rumors for months? This seems like a story that should have been covered here.

Anyway, I wish people would cover it now, and also explain why this information wasn't brought out before.

Maybe people just felt the way I do: sad.

I keep saying the word "sad" today, but I really did like Blumenthol. I thought he was one of the good-guys.

He may still be, but his actions are unconscionable.

The lesson: even the liberal blogosphere may need to watch out for its own brand of cronyism. The cronyism that created the drumbeat towards the war in Iraq can infect this important realm of truth, too.

Peace,

Laura

Read the press release (linked above).

This is as intelligent, succint, and substantive argument for his candidacy as any I have seen (other than his 2002 speech against the war. Brilliant.

The gas tax debacle tells us virtually everything we need to know about the character of these two would be political leaders.

Great stuff. Read.

I just witnessed the electric atmosphere surrounding our next POTUS. I went to see Barack tonight in Raleigh. There had to be between 10 and 12k in house. About 1/3 where Hillary supporters left over from The Jefferson Jackson Dinner. They seemed as excited as everyone else.

There was a truck there with dual large video screens showing Obama ads. I had seen scrolling ads, but this showed video while in motion.

Narrow win in NC and IN.

I have been a big fan of TPM since about the very beginning. I got hooked with the 2000 election theft and Josh's excellent coverage of it. He even emailed a few times and once sent me information on how to contact a Gore person so my son could get Gore to sign a Presdential Academic Excellence Award he received that had been signed by Bush. I remember him writing about his dissertation on early interactions between Native Americans and settlers in New England. (I remember that because I am Native American and was thrilled that my "blog hero" had an iterest in us Indians! *smile)

TPM has always been the first site I've gone to each day to find out what was really going on. But I must admit I am kind of sad that as an Obama supporter I am feeling kind of left out. I'd guess if somebody took time to do what the author of this diary did for the past few months they would find a definite pro-Hillary bias. I never thought I would see that kind of bias here. Especially since Hillary is being desrtructive to the Dems.

On the other hand, I was glad to see on the front page whre Josh writes that Josh is taking on McCain. And Josh still does not freak over every little rumor or news tidbit and run with it. if I read it here I can still assume it true. But I don't see the balance with Obama/ Hillary on the site any more. (I also do NOT think the stupid video should be covered.I watched it closely a couple times and it sound and looks to me like he says something like they are (must be?)shitting. Bury that thing-deep Dems!

Still, there are other things that seem to be given more prominence if they are positive for Hillary and negative for Obama. This is still my favorite site, but I am sad to say I feel like I have to look elsewhere for complete "Obama" coverage. I hesitate to even post this, but after over 7 years of reading I hope it is okay for me to express how I see things.

I would also like to say I am very proud of Josh Marshall and all that he has accomplished with this site. It really is amazing.

regards,
jenniestarrish

The media is justifiably stuck on the "horse race" concept. I also believe that there are deeper issues at work.

Solomon and Chomsky nailed it years ago in their work "Manufacturing Consent." In order to be part of the media complex, you will be the target of advertising and flak (customer outrage). The truth is the ultimate casualty of this relationship.

TPM gets more eyeballs and ad revenue by playing into the horse race. Obama supporters and Hillary supporters will come here to vent, analyze, and snark. As long as the carnival continues, there is no reason for TPM or any other increasingly mainstream outlet to tell the customers that it is last call.

The bottom line is that the media is served if Hillary wins Indiana and Obama wins North Carolina... this continues the false tension of a horse race even though this outcome completely seals the legitimate nomination of Hillary Clinton for POTUS.

The fact is, Josh, Greg, Eric and others, that the biggest fraud being perpetrated on the Democratic Party is the very horse race the media has confabulated since Super Tuesday. You choose to continue this myth while holding to your so-called journalistic standards about the doctored video of Kantor. In Ethics 101, this is called hypocrisy... the only difference is that the horse race is a bigger lie with exponentially greater consequences... including (but not limited to) the continued redefinition of the political center in American life.

This continued rightward lurch of the political center has paved our current landscape. The unitary executive, the shadow boxing of a weakened Congress, the Corporatist Supreme Court giving greater civil liberties to a business collective than the individual citizen... these all spell EMPIRE. Worse yet, when politicans don the Ceasarian purple and hand out ducats to the plebes, it is the media that calls it vox populi instead of bread and circuses.

Just as an FYI, Josh, it may be that the "white ni**er" part of the video was doctored (it WOULD be good to hear what some technical folks say) but the comment about folks from IN being sh** was actually commented on in a WaPo review of the movie in '93 (indicating that people in IN were upset about it when the film originally came out--The War Room)...which was posted on some TPM thread yesterday. That part of the comment seems to be at least historically accurate, and, to some extent, interesting...at least as interesting to the folks in IN as some of the other videos floating around out there bloggesphere (sp?).

"TPM has not posted anything relating to the Kantor video (which admittedly might not be legitimate, but will still echo across the campaign this weekend and potentially damage Clinton)."

This is an incredible specimen that I was able to excise from your highly recommended post. You write above that you realize that the Kantor video might not be legitimate but you wanted it reported anyway because, in your little echo chamber reality, you had the impression that Kantor's comments, true or not, would "still echo across the campaign this weekend and potentially damage Clinton".

In short, I do commend you for your candor. You openly state that you wanted something spread around relating to race, even if it ain't true, to hurt Hillary Clinton. And perhaps you still want done that even though the video was shown to have been doctored, and even though TPM took the extraordinary step of deleting at least two highly recommended posts solely designed to spread this lie, a lie which is yet another example about how zealots like you on both sides of this contest have made ugly use of the race card.

So, here you are, one of the most ardent and obnoxious of the Obama right or wrongers at the TPM Cafe, and you are openly complaining that TPM didn't facilitate your sleazy use of the race card, and your post is recommended by many of your like-minded ilk. Congratulations.

Now tell me this: what on earth does your conduct have to do with the compelling message of the Obama campaign? Your conduct is the antithesis of that message. . .and you are exposed. Yes, you are candid, but you are still stinky.

I'm glad your post is highly recommended. I want it to stay up. It should be studied by us so that we do not forget how low, how utterly low, some of the folks on both sides of this contest have gotten in this campaign.

That may not be as funny as you think...

I noticed the same bias yesterday in the NYT--all the new political stories were about Hillary and nothing about Obama. Even silly stories like about her with the coffee, were reported in a fairly positive way (can you imagine how "elitist" Obama would have been labeled if he couldn't get coffee out of a service station machine?).
Personally, I really think this gas tax thing should be hammered by every responsible media source; it's just so indicative of the characters of the two candidates.