Reason #3,723 Why People Think Bloggers Are Idiots

Daily Kos moron claims Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy to cover for teen daughter.  We kid you not.  Even more pathetic are the comments and poll results.

Nevada Newspapers Outblog The Bloggers In Denver

The results are in.

Nevada newspaper bloggers kick "real" bloggers' tail in covering the Democratic convention.  And, sadly, it wasn't even close.

For all the hype and promises of delivering the kind of inside scoop that only a "true" blogger can do, Nevada's representatives to the convention, the Las Vegas Gleaner and Reno & Its Discontents (via the Big Tent), combined for just 26 postings during the four-day affair.  Or, to put it in perspective, the same amount as the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Molly Ball managed all the while producing daily copy for the print version.  Oh, and it was Ball's first time blogging for the LVRJ too.

How bad was it? For criminy sakes, Nevada Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley posted over twice as much on her inaugural blog.  Granted, there were a lot of Twitter-like blurbs in her 59 posts, but still she was letting people know what she was seeing and experiencing.

So while it may be fashionable for most bloggers to dismiss the traditional media as hopelessly out of touch and a dinosaur on its final legs, when it counted (and on a big stage), they couldn't even come close to backing it up.  Plain and simple, Nevada's new media were schooled by the state's traditional in a big way this week.  And worse, for the high and mighty, it was on the bloggers' turf.

Here's a breakdown of convention blog posts:

Anjeanette Damon (41 posts) -- The Reno Gazette Journal's resident political reporter has had a company blog, Inside Nevada Politics, for some time so blogging is second nature to her.  And it showed. Damon cranked out 41 blog posts on top of numerous daily stories filed for the ink-and-paper version of the RGJ.

Ball (26 posts) -- Like Damon, doing double-duty as blogger and print reporter.  And blogging for the first time to boot.

Erin Neff (26 posts) -- LVRJ political columnist's first venture into blogging and, like Ball, equals the combined efforts of the "real" bloggers.  Some funny stuff too.

The Gleaner (14 posts) -- Some longer posts, plus pics, but a surprisingly low total amount of output.  Picked up by The Guardian which hopefully resulted in some pounds making their way to his bank account.  But for those hoping for nonstop tidbits and updates, kind of a disappointment.

Reno & Its Discontents (12 posts) -- After complaining how readers weren't sending her money so she could represent the progressive women of Nevada, R&D ends up rewarding those who final gave with a pair of posts on how sweaty it was in the Big Tent, an Obama press release, a line about McCain deciding on a VP, C-Span liking Twitter and a couple recappings of a Nation Journal blogging panel she was part of.  Oh and getting a massage in the HuffPo Oasis.  Except for a video with Jill Derby and how the Big Tent hates Harry Reid, this could have been mailed in from Reno.  Granted, she didn't arrive until Tuesday night and has promised other videos, but it looks more like readers were financing a schmooze trip rather than a reporting one.  For all the hype and begging, a major bomb.

Nevada GOP Problems, NARAL's Swag and Orangina Porn

Nevada GOP's problems continue while Andrew Sullivan uncovers the wildest animation for a product ever.  Also a story on political nepotism that doesn't mention the last names "Reid" and "Miller" and some questionable convention freebies.

• How bad has the Nevada Republican Party screwed the pooch?  So bad even the RNC calls you "inept."

• Pro-choice beer bottle openers?  In a world of political swag, cartoonist Rob Rogers wonders about the appropriateness of NARAL's "Yes We Can" can and its fun contents.

•  Ahhh ... political nepotism alive and well.  And not just in Nevada. 

•  So that's why I loved Orangina as a kid.

McCain Not Too Popular On FatWallet

FatWallet.com fans aren't too keen on John McCain as two offers on the money-saving tips site were heavily voted in the red by forum readers.  Or, then again, maybe $7.00 for a yard sign and bumper sticker or $13.99 (though the final price ended up being $10.77) for a NoBama t-shirt isn't that great of a deal.

Convention's Weird Vibe, Olbermann's Ego and Lottery Losers

Two requisite Democratic convention bits and a story of misplaced priorities and, well, just plain stupidity.

• Maureen Dowd talks of "weird vibe" at the Dem convention.  And yes, it involves Hillary and Bill.
  

• Remember when Keith Olbermann made sports reporting fun? I remember him on L.A. TV back in the late 80s and he was a blast to watch. His jump up to ESPN was a given. But now he's just an egomaniacal partisan tool who apparently thinks he runs MSNBC.  MSNBC claims everything is under control, but nobody is buying it.
  

• With Nevada once again trying to establish a state lottery, perhaps sponsors should bring this guy in for support.

Kid Rock: Voice of Celebrity Political Reason

Are you tired of hearing some Hollywood star who probably wasn't even registered to vote two months ago tell you what you should do come November?  Sure, it's pleasing to the eye to watch a Scarlett Johansson talk about politics, it's just the listening part that is almost always painful.

Thankfully not all celebs feel compelled to impart their talking-point supplied political wisdom to the unwashed masses. Kid Rock feels our pain.

"I truly believe that people like myself, who are in a position of entertainers in the limelight, should keep their mouth shut on politics," said Rock. "Because at the end of the day, I'm good at writing songs and singing. What I'm not educated in is the field of political science. And so for me to be sharing my views and influencing people of who I think they should be voting for ... I think would be very irresponsible on my part."

Amen.

Did Jack Joseph Save Bill Raggio?

About a week or so before the Nevada primary we received, like everyone else in Reno, the Jack Joseph Coupon Book.  The funny thing was, across from a mexican restaurant's free entree coupon was a campaign ad for Bill Raggio!

My first thought was "For criminy sakes he is spending boatloads of cash on microtargeting consultants and they come up with dropping $1,000 to share space with 2-for-1 buffet coupons, auto shops and carpet cleaners?"  So we were going to make a joke about it and post "Will Raggio vs. Angle Be Close?" but when Ralston and others came out with predictions of a landslide victory for the Republican incumbent we put the story and picture on the back burner. Naturally, the race went down to the wire.

So does Raggio owe his 548-vote victory to the insanely broad demographics of the Jack Joseph Coupon Book, or was he just throwing a little cash to a local legend?

Local Bloggers and the Democratic Convention

Some are excited, some aren't.  And one is mad at another.

• Jerz thinks the conventions are a waste, for voters and media.  I suspect America concurs.
  

• If you don't, and need a fix, there's the official Nevada media blogs (RGJ's Anjeanette Damon, the LVRJ's Molly Ball and Erin Neff), the official official's (Barbara Buckley), the official state's Gleaner and the unofficial Reno & Its Discontents.  And if you want to completely overload your Google reader go here to add all 125 credentialed blog feeds.
  

• R&D makes RGJ.  RGJ.com forgets live link. Then remembers next day.

• Gleaner boots Texex from blog.  Texex starts own blog.  Texex boots Gleaner.

Where's The Political Center?

In the never-ending media frenzy to create something marginally interesting out of a tightly-scripted keep-on-the-message event that is today's political conventions, the National Journal has decided to poll a group of bloggers on a variety of topics during the Dem meeting.  The problem?  They only chose left-of-center and right-of-center bloggers.

Since when does a Daily Kos or a Hot Air represent the views of average Americans?  It may come as a shock to the political blogging world but the vast majority of voters simply don't give a crap about your rants for impeaching Cheney or investigating Vince Foster's death.  Fire-breathing partisans who only know one side to every story, damn the facts, represent (thankfully) only a small portion of the real world.  When will the media wake up to this.

So what earth-shattering results did the National Journal garner with their panel?  Gee, 16 of 23 liberal bloggers thought Michelle Obama's speech will help her husband, while 16 of 22 conservative bloggers think it will hurt.  What a surprise.

Can The Nevada State Fair Get Any Worse?

It seems like every year, as we leave the Nevada State Fair, we turn to each other and ask ourselves that question and the answer always seems to be "How can it?"  Yet here we are one year later and, once again, it continues its death spiral.  But this time, I think, it has reached its true nadir. If this was a toilet flushing it would that last swirl before the gurgle. In a state that has found its way to the top of numerous lists we'd rather not be on, we can now add another -- "Worst State Fair."

Obviously we're not expecting the Silver State's fair to match the behemoths in California or Texas, but for God sakes even dinky Tehama County (pop. 56K) blows Nevada away.  And it's not even close.  Look at their entertainment this year and compare it to our State Fair.  Yeah, I don't know who the hell Danielle Peck is either (though Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett is), but there is Pro Bull Riding, a destruction derby, magicians, a hypnotist, pony rides, a science show and more.  They even have the Wild World of Animals Tiger Show which, adding insult to injury, was also managed to be booked by Fallon's Cantaloupe Festival!  Nevada, though, gets Brad's Reptiles for the umpteenth time (which is cool ... the first time) and a science display that looks about half the size as last year.

You don't have to be an old fogey to remember in the not too distant past the big cats show (complete with tigers, lions and a Florida panther one could have a picture taken with) or the bear family (again, with the chance to have a photo taken with one) .  Or the professor who covered himself in bees.

Even the actual fair exhibits are embarrassingly small.  The whole works, from paintings, to quilts, to tomatoes to 4-H is housed in one building.  Tehama County's covers half a dozen.

I'm not the only one wondering what the hell is going on.  I was talking to one of the shaved ice vendors and he was complaining about the foot traffic, it was a lot less than last year.  His complaint was the same as the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake vendor I talked to a few years back.  He was wishing he had went to a small California county fair (Glenn, I think) instead.  He didn't return to Nevada the next year or since.

Maybe the board members are trying, parking is free this year and there is no additional cost for the truck pull and demolition derby, but even the state tourism board once again steered clear of this mess.  Not that many years ago they always seemed to have a booth giving away Nevada magazines, maps and brochures for the state's many attractions.  It was specifically from that info we decided to take a trip over to Ely and back, pumping money into a handful of towns.  But what does it say if they don't even bother to show up in what is suppose to be a showcase for their own state?

One constant positive, though, has been the 4-Hers.  Always willing to discuss their animal or display and almost any question you throw at them, they are one of the few bright spots at the fair.  Kudos to them.

On a political note, there were a few campaign-related booths.  One was registering voters, which I think was non-partisan (didn't see any signage), as were the Republicans, though their table was empty Wednesday night.  There was also a pro-life booth, across from the GOP's, that was pretty well-stocked and manned.

Nevada Presidential Poll, Begging Blogger and Partisan Lobbyists

• In what guarantees your TV commercial breaks will be filled with negative presidential campaign ads for the next few months, and let's not forget a bunch of 529s as well, Nevada is officially a toss-up battleground state.  An RGJ/KTVN poll of 600 likely voters has Barack Obama up by one over John McCain.  Libertarian Bob Barr slipped to three points while Ralph Nader scored two.  Just six percent claimed to be undecided.

• If you have to beg to be voted Reno's Best Blog, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?  (Although if you are going to answer his pleas, and I figure only a handful need do to make the list, can you at least have the good sense to vote Murrieta's  "Best Mexican Restaurant" too.)

• Even lobbyists are partisan.  And both sides of Congress are only too happy to keep cashing those checks.

Derby Gives Blog Interview, Uses Inane "Independent Voice" Line

Kudos to My Silver State for scoring an interview with Nevada CD-2 candidate Jill Derby (though one figures their unabashed support for her may have played a slight hand in securing the story).  But, hey, it's always good when a politician actually talks with a blogger.

That said, Derby's answers were the same boilerplate talking points we've heard before.  Nothing really new or substantive.  In fact, she once again leads with the insanely ridiculous argument about "Nevada voters want(ing) an independent voice in Washington ... not one that will not [sic] march in lockstep with a party."  (Although, technically, if that's not a typo she is either endorsing the Republican rubber-stamping Dean Heller or being shockingly candid about her own aspirations to blindly tow her party line.)

Let's face it, if voters truly wanted real "independent voices" why do Reid, Ensign, Berkley, Porter, Gibbons, Titus, etc., keep getting re-elected over and over again?  Plus, even more absurd, is the fact that Derby was head of the Nevada State Democratic Party for criminy sakes!  How much more establishment can a candidate get.  If elected, she will vote in complete lockstep with her party's leadership 90+% of the time.  That's what Democrats and Republicans do.  To say otherwise is a baldface lie.

If Derby wants to be an independent voice, free from the confines of party bootlicking, then perhaps she should register as one and join the ballot with the Craig Berglands and Sean Patrick Morses of the CD-2 election world. If not, she needs a new script.

HuffPo Moron and Corsi

Although many would consider "HuffPo Moron" redundant, we came across one that was especially egregious.  Plus, a difference of opinion on Jerome Corsi from the right.

• Reason #786 why the average person thinks political bloggers are a bunch of nitpicking morons who see partisan bogeymen behind every tree in their myopic world view.  Some HuffPo twit sees racism in a six-year-old Toby Keith song.  Amazingly, Willie Nelson, who sung on the duet, somehow escapes Max Blumenthal's asinine rants.  But then Keith is a conservative while Nelson isn't.  Wouldn't that actually make the song nonpartisan?
  

• Maybe Blumenthal will pour through country singer Sara Evans' catalog looking for Trilateral Commission conspiracies and references to the gold standard now that she's agreed to perform at Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic.
  

• On the other side, proving not all partisans are blind and stupid, The Next Right's Jon Henke says it's time to kick Jerome Corsi out of the conservative tent as he is an embarrassment to all.
  

• Well, sadly, not embarrassing to Chuck Baldwin. 
  

Do Democrats Just Sue More?

I always thought the conventional wisdom was that if you had a business you don't publicly flaunt a party affiliation. After all, why run the risk of alienating half your possible customers. Granted, if your business is specifically geared towards politics (polling and strategy outfits) or are in a niche that tends to attract a certain type of crowd (head and gun shops, for instance) it's probably a benefit. But what about others?

This popped up over the weekend while in Northern California. I noticed that on the back of my Mom's Yellow Pages was an ad for Max G. Arnold, a local personal injury attorney. This prompted a laugh, as he is kind of a lower-rent version of SoCal's Larry H. Parker. Arnold's been around for decades and his trademark was cheesy commercials.  Many involved his kids where they would crash their toy cars into each other and proudly say they needed a lawyer. He also had a memorable radio commercial which feature the sound of a cash register ringing and, if memory serves, a tagline of "We turn accidents into cash!"

His greatest ad, though, was when he had run afoul of the state for some reason. I remember the local news, KRCR-TV, ran a story on it and when they went to break the very first spot up was a hastily shot ad with Arnold saying "Despite what you may have heard, I am still in business and taking clients." Classic Max G.

So while it was sort of funny to see Arnold still chasing ambulances throughout Northern California, it was the blurb under his name that caught my eye. It read "Member of: Consumer Attorneys of California, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, ACLU and Democratic Party (our bold)."  Needless to say, my Mom was mortified as, I would assume, the Democratic Party would be.

But from a business standpoint, is advertising as a Democrat a positive for a personal injury lawyer?  Let's face it, from the other memberships he listed it would be fairly easy to deduce that Arnold probably wasn't a card-carrying member of the GOP. But to specifically point out the political party affiliation seems odd. So are Democrats bitten by dogs more, stumble over sidewalk cracks at a greater rate or in more car accidents than Republicans?  Or is he just damn proud, though not overly generous, of being a Democrat.

Pickering In, Schumacher Next?

With about 87% of precincts reporting, we feel pretty safe in calling Kris Pickering the winner of the Nevada Supreme Court Seat B primary.  She currently has about a 3,000-vote lead over Deborah Schumacher.

The real question, though, is who will Pickering face in the November general election. Although Schumacher has the two slot now, Don Chairez (more so) and Nancy Allf are within striking distance.  What will make the difference is where the precincts left are. Currently Clark County, where Chairez and Allf have ran strong (30% and 27%, respectively) is showing 214 precincts left to count (about 19%).  Washoe County, meanwhile, shows 113 precincts left (about 20%) and has been, as expected, a stronghold for Schumacher (43%).

GOP Assembly Incumbents Suffer Bloodletting

While John Marvel (AD-32) was edged by former assemblyman Don Gustavson, a pair of other Republican assembly incumbents joined him in defeat during Tuesday's Nevada primary. Both Francis Allen (AD-4) and Bob Beers (AD-21) were blown out in their races. 

With just a few precincts left, Allen is actually in danger of falling to third in her race.  Richard McArthur will win with a 20+ point advantage.

Beers, meanwhile, has been buried by Jon Ozark 69% to 31% with just one precinct to go.

Raggio Survives Angle, Gustavson Upsets Marvel

Although Sharron Angle closed to within a couple points of Bill Raggio, the Senate Majority leader has pulled out to a 500+ vote lead with just three precincts to go.  Uncomfortably close, and surprising to many pundits, but a win none the less.

Over in Assembly District-32 (R), former assemblyman Don Gustavson has a three-point lead over incumbent John Marvel with just two precincts left.

Nevada Supreme Court Race Could Go Late Into the Night

When we first saw the early results for Nevada's Supreme Court Seat B, only about five points separating the four candidates, we were thinking that while extremely close it looked like Nancy Allf and Kris Pickering were headed for a November showdown.  But between then and now, 9:45 p.m. and 71% of the precincts in, a funny thing happened -- Allf dropped from two-points up to three-points down and, more importantly, currently out of the money in third.

With 1,405 of 1,991 precincts reporting:
Pickering -- 38,450
Deborah Schumacher -- 36,454
Allf -- 33,973
Don Chairez -- 33,528
None of the above -- 10,305

Allen and Beers (the other one) Ousted?

Even with Nevada's SOS election site loading like it is on AOL dial-up, and the fact it can be foolish to draw conclusions with so little of the vote in, there are a couple interesting early results.

Assembly District 4 (R) -- Incumbent Francis Allen trails Richard McArthur 1,370 to 688.  In fact she is in danger to falling behind Andrew Brownson (616).  Could stabbing, allegedly, her husband do what Chuck Muth and his robo calls couldn't in 2006?

Assembly District 21 (R) -- The other Bob Beers appears to be in for a beating tonight as challenger Jon Ozark holds a 69% to 31%  lead.

UPDATE: Although the Nevada SOS doesn't bother putting what percentage of precincts have reported for the above races, thankfully Clark County does.  As such, it's getting close to calling them as 54% are in for AD-4 and 71% for AD-6 as of 9:30 p.m.

RGJ Screws The Pooch On "Warren Buffet In Reno" Story

We're not ashamed to say our heart beat a little faster when we saw the "Warren Buffet to talk in Reno after documentary" story in Sunday's Reno Gazette Journal.  A chance to see and hear the greatest investor of all time, plus the CATO Institute's William Niskanen, discuss the nation's budget deficit would be priceless.  Well, actually a well-spent $12.50 and a trip to the Summit Theater in south Reno.

But there was a problem.  You see, when we went to the distributor's site, Fathom Events, we were surprised to find that the August 21 event, opening with the I.O.U.S.A. film, was also happening in a whole lot of other places.  On the same day, same time.  Actually, not the same time.  For us in the West it is a tape-delayed 7:30 showing of the movie and Warren Buffet. 

So no Buffet, and no live discussion in Reno. Suddenly, not so priceless.

Dowd Rips Edwards, Old Media Flogs Self for Ignoring It (sort of)

Now that John Edwards has finally confirmed what the National Enquirer has been trying to tell America for the past 10 months, it's time for two things.  One, the Enquirer isn't the late Weekly World News (you know, "Elvis Fathers Bat Boy With Area 51 Alien") and, two, the traditional media has some explaining to do.

But first, you need to read Maureen Dowd's take on the fall of the Breck Girl if for no other reason than to read this line, "The creepiest part of his creepy confession was when he stressed to Woodruff that he cheated on Elizabeth in 2006 when her cancer was in remission. His infidelity was oncologically correct."

It's got to be painful being shown up by the investigative reporters from the Enquirer, so The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times explain what happened.   While the NYT's editors seem unrepentant, it's the public editor that thinks mistakes were made, the LAT's Tim Rutten minces no words, starting with his column's title -- "Old Media Dethroned."

Also, it appears Edwards' hopes of his apology sneaking through on a late Friday night appearance, when most everyone who actually has their TV on is watching NBC's Olympic coverage, was crushed when ABC began hyping the Nightline interview during the day.  Insiders say Edwards was "apoplectic that ABC News broke the story on its website and began promoting it early on Friday, giving the rest of the media a chance to play catch-up and cite ABC News’ report."

A Fistful of Friday Links

From dueling economists, angry Canucks, cussing bloggers and stupid people to the National Enquirer's day of vindication, a bunch of links for stuff we've bookmarked over the week.

• Dem bloggers cuss more.

• Traditional Canadian media dislike bloggers too.  Although, his point about how old-school media has the means to actually pay someone to research, vet and, you know, report news (while new media usually comments on what someone else churned out) is dead-on.

• One economist shoots down another economist's big government idea.
  

• In case you missed the photos, here's the John Edwards cover-up story.  Damn, how happy do you think the offices of the National Enquirer are today?
  

• And with that, we think this story is now moot.

• Not everyone complained about Jon Ralston on his questioning Barack Obama.
  

• And, finally, please tell us these Floridians aren't registered to vote.

Enquirer Right, Edwards A Philandering Sleaze After All

Lo and behold, the much-maligned gossip rag National Enquirer actually nailed the John Edwards story. (Kind of like the sleazebag was doing to Rielle Hunter while his wife battled cancer.)  The former Democratic presidential candidate admitted he had an affair with Hunter and will allegedly tell all to ABC's Bob Woodruff on Nightline tonight.

Conveniently, the admission occurred once the Enquirer dropped the other shoe -- actual photos.  Edwards, though, denies being the father of Hunter's baby.  Apparently the world will have to wait for the Enquirer to dig up DNA to know the truth on that one.

Obama Tire Gauges, Porkbuster Video and Politically Aware Party Girls

Free camcorders, funny political swag, pictures of a former presidential candidate with hot, drunken girls and why the "he's a party-liner and I'm not" argument is just BS.

• While the verdict may still be out on whether including Paris Hilton in an ad was humorous, the latest from John McCain's camp is pretty damn funny.  A Barack Obama tire pressure gauge.

• Shoot some video of government waste and actually get paid (well at least travel expenses).  Porkbusters teams up with Eyeblast.tv for "Porkbusters on Patrol."  Plus a free camcorder if you're chosen.

• John Kerry accosted by drunken coeds who actually recognized him.  Unlike John Edwards, though, Kerry smiles for the camera and slowly walks away.

• Since the "(Blank) voted with (Bush or Pelosi) over 90% of the time" line of attack is gearing up we'd like to take the time to note that most everybody votes the party line and anyone who says they will be dramatically different are full of it. The Salt Lake Tribune (the online version now costs $2.95, but this .pdf is thankfully free) recently looked at the voting records of McCain, Obama, Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett.  Results?  McCain was four times as likely to break party ranks as Obama.  Even Hatch and Bennett reached across the aisle more.  Still, all four voted the party line the vast majority of time.