David Corn - Compare

"it’s not enough to replace a good blog post"

whereIstand interview with David Corn

Will microblogging replace blogging?

 

I don’t think it will replace it. Microblogging is maddeningly frustrating because of the length of words. You don’t get to put sources in. A lot of tweets come with links to blog posts or articles so they’re more like the traditional news ticker, like when they invented the wire service news ticker. It didn’t replace newspaper stories.

 

Microblogging is far more convenient but it’s not enough to replace a good blog post, which goes into detail about an event or provides deeper analysis.

In the John/Paul faceoff, I’ve always been on John’s side.

whereIstand interview with David Corn

Who was the best songwriter for the Beatles?

In the John/Paul faceoff, I’ve always been on John’s side. But I thinkin some ways if you look at song for song, George Harrison has a better record in a way. The few songs of his that they recorded were all winners. He was a great songwriter and was eclipsed by John and Paul.

 

The thing about the Beatles was that you need the Yin and Yang of Lennon-McCartney. Lennon was this cynical one with the edge and McCartney was the one with more sugar. When they got together they tempered each other. And even when they wrote songs separately I still think the influence of the other was ever present. So they were both quite lucky to have the other.

 

But I’d go with John, especially if you look at their post-Beatles work. John just did much more interesting, better stuff.

It may not be for 20 to 50 years, but I think that at some point in time, it’ll be mostly digital.

whereIstand interview with David Corn

Do you believe the print newspaper will become obsolete?

 

Well, I think print will become obsolete. It may not be for 20 to 50 years, but I think that at some point in time, it’ll be mostly digital.

 

Like, you can buy a few LP records now. Once in a while Pearl Jam will put out an album on vinyl. So there may be some people who do that with print. But eventually everything’s going to become digitalized. The question is ‘How soon?’ and how that transition goes.

Mass media’s always had to be for profit because you need the big numbers

whereIstand interview with David Corn

What impact has the for-profit model had on journalism?

 

Mass media’s always had to be for profit because you need the big numbers. If you look at non-profit institutions in our society- symphonies, libraries, museums - most don’t have mass market appeal.

 

Non-profit journalism has had and will continue to have an important role to play in the overall field of journalism but I’m not sure it could have supported the rise of big city newspapers or certainly not the creation of major TV networks, which just require far too much capital than what you could squeeze out of non profit sources.

Why should anything that’s created with someone’s sweat be free?

whereIstand interview with David Corn

Should online news be free?

 

No. Why should anything that’s created with someone’s sweat be free? Why should people be expected to work for free? Plumbing isn’t for free. When you go to a doctor for medical advice, that’s not for free. If you send somebody to Darfur and risk their life to bring back a story, why should that be for free?

 

Now the internet is great and is very empowering for those of us who deal in communications and media, but it also makes it very easy to duplicate information. Information has sort of lost its moorings in the sense it used to be tied to a piece of paper, or a particular broadcast, and once you can duplicate something and pass it along for free it makes it harder to charge for that.

 

To survive [newspapers] are going to have to find out ways to bring in revenue, and if it’s not advertising it’s going to have to be people paying for the product.

Also unsettling is Obama's decision to re-up Gates at the Pentagon.

Wapo

Also unsettling is Obama's decision to re-up Gates at the Pentagon. Gates is certainly an improvement on his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. He's no ideologue. And by placing a Bush appointee who happens to be pragmatic in charge of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, Obama might avoid a bruising political wrangle over his Iraq policy. But on Gates's watch, there has been little, if any, progress in Afghanistan. And Gates has not truly taken on the Pentagon's biggest domestic problem: its bloated, out-of-control budget.

"A CIA director who has denounced torture, advocated intelligence cuts, and backed greater congressional control of covert operations--that would be....different"

Fom Mother Jones:

A CIA director who has denounced torture, advocated intelligence cuts, and backed greater congressional control of covert operations--that would be....different. This appointment certainly has the potential to spark opposition from inside and outside the agency. But if Panetta manages to make it to Langley without much fuss, that would indeed signal real change in Washington.

"it was the wrong decision to make"

From this Rachel Maddow Show transcript:

But this is a problem of Barack Obama‘s own making. I think no one expected that Rick Warren would be given a special invitation to the inauguration. Barack Obama, in his desire to be inclusive, had no obligation to invite Rick Warren on the basis of everything Rick Warren had said up to now about gay and lesbians who are a big part of Barack Obama‘s base.

So he‘s made this problem for himself. And while I agree with you, it was the wrong decision to make, what would happen if he said could we have that invitation back, please? Then from now until the inauguration, that would be the entire story of the inauguration. And Obama, if you listened to him two days ago in his one press conference, he showed not a sign of regret over this.

the presidential transition of no-drama Obama became infected by the never-ending soap opera of the Clintons

Huff Post

by David Corn

But then this happened: the presidential transition of no-drama Obama became infected by the never-ending soap opera of the Clintons. And it really is time to turn that program off. There are plenty of policy and political reasons for a progressive not to fancy Hillary. She served on the Wal-Mart board when the mega-firm was fighting unions; she screwed up health care reform for almost a generation; she voted wrong on the Iraq war and then refused to acknowledge she had erred. But, worst of all, as the cliché goes, with the Clintons, it always does seem to be about the Clintons.

I would have advised--not that anyone is asking--the Obama camp to open up with a more bipartisan (or less partisan) appointment

CQ Politics

Emanuel, a highly effective partisan, is indeed a guy who gets things done. As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he led the House Democrats back to majority status in the 2006 elections. Yet his selection--the first pick of the Obama administration--could be the wrong signal. I would have advised--not that anyone is asking--the Obama camp to open up with a more bipartisan (or less partisan) appointment, if only for show.

she is something of a winner because there is--sorry, YouTube-- no videotape footage from the debate that makes her look undeniably like a ninny.

The Nation:

When Biden praised Obama, he praised his ideas, his proposals. When Palin hailed McCain, she hailed him, his personal qualities. Fighter. Maverick. Reformer. The debate, in a way, was a contest between a policy-person and a people-person. A CBS News poll of uncommitted voters found that 46 percent of them scored Biden the winner, over 21 percent who favored Palin. A CNN poll gave Biden a 51-to-36 percent win. Policy triumphing over presentation? Maybe. But Palin clearly had stopped her free-fall. And she is something of a winner because there is--sorry, YouTube-- no videotape footage from the debate that makes her look undeniably like a ninny. What did George W. Bush once say about the bigotry of low expectations? Sometimes they can almost work like an affirmative action program.

With this debate, the Sarah Palin reality TV program may be done. And the spotlight shifts to the main contenders. That may be a mixed blessing for the slipping-in-the-polls McCain.

"the week that the Supreme Court was giving the election to George W. Bush"

Alternet.org:

DAVID CORN: Well, yes. And Nomi gave us a great introduction, and it’s a pleasure to be on a show with such an informed and intelligent voice on these matters, which often are quite complicated.

But another part of the history that has led to the subprime crisis involves a sly backroom legislative maneuver mounted by Phil Gramm, who was Republican chairman of the Senate Banking Committee in the ’90s, and this happened actually in the end of the year 2000, and who today is a leading adviser to John McCain, co-chairman of his campaign and mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should John McCain win the presidency.

And what happened in 2000 was—it was a painful period for some of us. It was the right—it was the week that the Supreme Court was giving the election to George W. Bush.

"Bush and Cheney are a pair of lame albatrosses for any Republican candidate in 2008, including McCain"

Davidcorn.com

Why Is Bush Helping Obama?

By David Corn | May 16, 2008 12:39 PM

Bush is about as unpopular as a president can be. If Barack Obama could run against him, he would probably win by 80 points (or maybe a few points less than that). Consider what happened when the Republicans sent Dick Cheney to Mississippi to campaign for a Republican candidate in a special House election this week. Not only did the GOPer lose in this Republican stronghold, turnout was down in GOP precincts. Bush and Cheney are a pair of lame albatrosses for any Republican candidate in 2008, including McCain. Which is why Obama and the Democrats want to depict McCain as running for Bush's third term.

"waterboarding and other forms of torture"

David Corn's Web site:

The legislation backed by Bush and congressional Republicans would explicitly permit the use of evidence obtained through waterboarding and other forms of torture. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and other top al Qaeda leaders have reportedly been subjected to this technique. They would certainly note--or try to note--that at any trial. But with this legislation, the White House is seeking to declare the use of waterboarding (at least in the past) as a legitimate practice of the US government.

The House of Representatives voted for Bush's bill on Thursday, 253 to 168 (with 34 Democrats siding with the president and only seven Republicans breaking with their party's leader). The Senate is expected to vote on the bill today. Its members should consider Blank's photos and arguments before they, too, go off the deep end.

"Sure, it's a stunt--but a telling one."

Corn seems to accept the overall effectiveness of the stunt:

Sure, it's a stunt--but a telling one. One of the rescue workers is living on a monthly disability payment of $1000. Her inhaler costs $120, and she needs at least two a month. She breaks down and cries when she learns she can purchase the same drug in Cuba for five cents. Were she a suspected terrorist in Gitmo, she would get the device for free.

"Anytime she makes it through a debate without being clobbered, she's the winner."

Clinton hopes to blur the edges; Edwards needs to sharpen them. Meanwhile, Obama cannot coast on his original opposition to the war. If he and Clinton are at the same place now on the most critical issue for Democratic voters, he's going to have a tough time upsetting her apple cart. On Iraq--the dominant topic of the night--this debate did not achieve much for Clinton's main rivals. With Edwards' support slipping and Obama's support softening in the most recent national poll, each needs a boost more than she does. Bottom-line (for those keeping score at home): it was a good night for the former First Lady. Anytime she makes it through a debate without being clobbered, she's the winner.

"Moore's right."

Corn accepts the overall portrayal as accurate:

Moore's right. The health care system in the United States is a bad deal for many Americans. (Don't get me started about Oxford, which routinely denies almost every claim I submit for my family.) He glosses over some of the problems overseas (the French social welfare system is under much pressure), but he debunks the hyperbolic scare-'em criticisms hurled at the Canadian and British systems by free-marketeers who defend the U.S. system.