Time to work the refs, and nip this false meme before it gets bigger.

While Big Tent Democrat went after Brooks for being nasty, the NYT editors don't care about nastiness toward a Democrat.

BUT they do care about factual errors.

And Bob Somerbyhas found the error.  Brooks claims Nancy Pelosi was "chauffeured" to school.  According to Somerby, Lexis Nexis finds no references to this anywhere else.  Brooks is making up a story to run down her character.

Send a demand to letters [at] nytimes [dot] com for Brooks to admit his error.  They made Krugman correct something once.  They should hold Brooks to the same standard.  Especially if we politely but firmly remind them.

If you can't shoot the messenger, take aim at his wife.

That clearly was the intent of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in leaking to a reporter that former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent. To try to conceal the fact that the president had lied to the American public about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, Rove attempted to destroy the credibility of two national security veterans and send an intimidating message to any other government officials preparing to publicly tell the truth.

Bush lied about Iraq's nuclear program, and Rove violated national security to cover up the truth that would expose Bush's lie.

<scroll>Tonight on Larry King: Tom Cruise explains why Aspirin is a 'Street Drug.'</scroll>

Now the New York Times is noticing that meth is moving into suburbs.

... more below the fold...

I heard on NPR that the Kerry campaign is spinning the flu shot crisis as directly attributable to the outsourcing of flu vaccine production overseas, while the Bush campaign is blaming the high cost of liability insurance. Both sides have a point but are missing the bigger picture, which (surprise) makes the Bush administration look criminally negligent. America has had a flu season every year since, well, probably since we've been a country. We've had over 6 months to make a vaccine against this particular viral strain. And yet, we've run short. Imagine (drum roll) if this had been anthrax, VEE, or smallpox? Let's assume the evildoers gave us 6 months notice: "Hey, we're going to aerosolize some anthrax over all your major cities and airports, starting October 20th." Would it be OK for the Bush administration to claim that vaccines weren't available because the naughty Democrats were stalling tort reform?

A wealthy white Republican contributor is funding adverts on black radio stations in important battleground states denouncing the Democratic presidential challenger, John Kerry, as "rich, white and wishy-washy".

The adverts also ridicule Mr Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, for boasting of her African roots. She was born and raised in Mozambique under colonial Portuguese rule.

In another, Mr Kerry is criticised for not voting on a bill to extend unemployment benefits, because he was campaigning.

Some media channel was taping Kerry's speech and feeding it straight to the war room of the Bush campaign.  Note the second paragraph, especially.  I think the editors & reporters of the Times might be tired of taking sh*t over Judith Miller and want to point out poor practices on the part of TV media.  That's why they put that information so close to the top of the story.  Surely somebody in the Kerry campaign reads dKos--speak up, tell us who had cameras there!  

And there it is!  A year ago, Rove & Bush were ridin' confidently along on high polls & war fervour, never for a moment thinking they would need McCain's support.  And that shows how smart the Kerry campaign was when they floated the idea of McCain as VP:  They increased the media stock of a rival Republican (not to mention one Bush no doubt hates because McCain has the history meritrious conduct Bush lacks), they enticed numerous channels & newspapers to spend airtime and column inches saying "How awesome would Kerry-McCain be?" which is to say, "Wow, wouldn't that be better than Bush-Cheney?" AND that helps paint Bush as being Rightwing in contrast to Kerry-McCain as being Moderate.  

A year ago, Rove probably expected Bush to be THE dominant political personality, and Kerry has managed to open a new front on them.  Just as Nixon's trip to China made the USSR a little less certain of itself, so have Kerry's overtures to McCain pulled Bush down a little.  

I expect to see some more smart moves like these as we get closer to November.

At 02:22 PM 6/3/2004, I wrote:

Tenet & Bush
This article states that Bush is "Texas-born" but he was born in CT.
Keep doggin' Judith Miller.  It doesn't matter what prizes she has won in the past because she ran irresponsible articles on WMD, and the truth needs to be told.
Especially on the front page.
Joel Patterson,
Cambridge, MA

Dear Mr. Patterson,
Thanks for the heads-up.
I alerted NYTimes.com and noted the mistake to the appropriate editors in the hope that a piece in the paper tomorrow doesn't repeat it.
Cheers,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor

So, are local Dem parties doing every little thing possible to help ordinary people vote?  In South Dakota, are Dems helping eligible Native Americans get the photo IDs they'll need to vote (there's a new law)?  In St. Louis, are Dems and black churches spreading the word about just exactly what IDs a voter will need?  Are we letting people know that if they double-vote, the ballot will be ignored?  Are we encouraging absentee ballots, because a lot of people need to work on Election Day or can't find a babysitter?  Just running a few commericals about how Democrats understand that working people may not have time to vote on Election Day would demonstrate that we are responsive to the needs of the ordinary Americans who work hard only to see that their government is not looking out for them.  If we respond to their needs, they'll vote with us.