Journalistic Ethics, Continued
It turns out CBS isn't the only major network that likes to barter its news division for ratings advantage. Sharon Waxman reports on how NBC negotiated with Michael Jackson.
Edwards, Part Two
A friend emails to say that folks in New Hampshire, who know Kerry well because of their exposure to Boston media, are not going to give him the kind of bounce one would expect after his impressive Iowa victory (and kudos to Michael Whouley on that). He predicts an Edwards surge after the Kerry mini-bump, on the Kausian theory that enthusiasm for Kerry is inversely related to proximity. The closer you are, the less enthusiastic you are about him.
It does appear, judging from this morning's reports, that Edwards has decided to campaign hard in New Hampshire.
Cliche Alert
In the spirit of Kausfiles, a contest. Predict which reporter/columnist will be the first to say that the Dean campaign was a dot.com and the bubble burst. Email your entries now. My guess: the one and only, R.W. Apple.
Postscipt: Change that to "in the spirit of James Taranto," who thought of it first.
PPS: We have what looks like a winner. And perfect symmetry as well!
Edwards
With Kerry now certain to get a strong bump in New Hampshire, the question for the Edwards campaign is this: NH or SC? Does he go hard at New Hampshire and come what may? Or would the wiser course be to basically concede NH (and let the story be: Clark's demise) and battle it out in South Carolina?
If Kerry wins Iowa and New Hampshire, can he be stopped? That's the question on the table for the Edwards campaign. They have about 2 hours to decide.
That Sound You're Hearing
Is the air going out of General Wesley Clark's campaign. If the early numbers from Iowa are correct (and there's every reason to believe that they are -- more or less), then Senator John Kerry is well on his way to front-runner status in New Hampshire. The tracking polls will mark the shift by Wednesday and by Thursday, Kerry will be even with or ahead of Dean.
And then, sometime around 6am on Thursday morning, the Clark campaign will be faced with a choice: go hard negative on Kerry or be done. The entire premise of the Clark campaign was to be the "not-Dean." But if Dean is "not," then what is Clark?
Postscript Make that: sometime around 6am on Wednesday morning.
The Des Moines Register Poll
It's always been a remarkably reliable indicator and it points to a very long night for the decision desk operations at the major networks. There are those of us who still believe that Sen. Paul Simon, not Dick Gephardt, won the Iowa Democratic caucuses in 1988. It seems possible to me that we will not know who really won the Iowa caucuses until well into Tuesday morning or later.
Postscript: Never mind.
News or Not?
This from the People magazine interview with Howard Dean:
Q: And later, when you were having anxiety attacks in Vermont, what were those like?
Howard: It was not a big deal. I was just anxious and I didn't know why.
Q: So it wasn't a paralyzing —
Howard: No. Not a bit. I didn't miss a day of work. I didn't worry about what was going to happen. I just wasn't sure what was going on and then I traced it to my brother.
Q: Through counseling?
Howard: Yeah.
Q: Was that hard, for someone —
Howard: No, it actually was great. It was really helpful. I mean, I like that kind of stuff. I had done a lot of it — I learned a lot about it in medical school. I had done some during my psychiatry rotations, so it was actually a terrific experience. It wasn't easy. You've got to work and you've got to uncover things that matter to you. And of course, we talked a lot about my father and all that other stuff.
Q: Was it just talking it through or were you ever medicated?
Howard: No. It was just anxiety.
Q: Well, today, you say the word "anxiety" and there are eight or nine different anti-anxiety drugs —
Howard: I'm not a big fan of most anti-anxiety drugs, just because they have addiction potential and things like that. You know, once in a while, I take stuff for sleep. That makes sense. But, listen, I don't want to dispense medical advice in PEOPLE magazine. The anti-anxiety drugs are very good for people who —
Judy: And a lot of them are NOT addictive these days.
Howard: Right. And you know anti-anxiety drugs and sleep drugs were essentially the same thing when I was practicing. And my experience was whenever I took a sleeping pill, there would be rebound insomnia and so I didn't like to take them.
Q: And since then, it was as if you went in, you took care of the problem and that has never been a problem since?
Howard: No. That was in the early eighties.
Q: It sounds as if you had a little bit of an anxiety attack when you got the word that you were now governor.
Howard: I did. I hyperventilated and I started hyperventilating and I thought, You better stop that or you won't be much good to anybody.
Q: Has that happened since, or before?
Howard: No.
Q: Why was that such a —
Howard: To suddenly get told that you have responsibility for 600,000 people — it provokes a little anxiety.
Q: But now you're asking for responsibility for 250 million and then, the global reach of the U.S. presidency. That doesn't provoke a little anxiety?
Howard: No. I mean, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't — first of all, I think everybody has a little anxiety when they approach a job like that. But I think that over my life, I've made hard decisions about people who could die if I made the wrong decision. I've made decisions that have helped people to live who were about to die. I've seen a lot of people die, which nobody could do much about and for 11 years, I made decisions about all the things that presidents have to make decisions about — who gets what in the budget, things like security issues after 9/11, like my own security. So when you're used to making tough decisions, you know you have to make the tough decisions. The key to making tough decisions is to make it, not sit around and agonize about it.
What It Has Become
This is emblematic of what the presidential campaign nominating process has become. It says a lot more about ABC News than it does about Governor Howard Dean.
Like Fungus
Good report in The Observer on the "organic" growth of terror networks across the Continent. Click here. (link via ABC News Investigative Unit "Insider")
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