Loverboy was right; everybody’s blogging for the weekend. Or something like that.
- Jason Tolbert points to Timmy! Griffin taking his ridiculous radio ad to a television screen near you. No, you are not high1; Tim Griffin is actually making CHARACTER an issue in this race, and he is doing so by quoting liberally from what could most aptly be described as Paul Greenberg defecating on the basic tenets of journalism and editorial writing so that he might carry water for one of the worst people to run for Congress in a long time.Hyperbole on my part? Hardly. Greenberg decided that Joyce Elliott’s mentioning of Griffin’s crooked past — you know, back when he was disenfranchising large groups of people in Florida and Ohio because Karl Rove wanted him to — was worse than what Griffin actually did. If this seems beyond insane to you, that’s because it is; Paul Greenberg has officially moved into a role of “talentless hack who carries water for the Republican party under the guise of journalism.”
Further, simply because I am feeling ten-feet tall and bulletproof at the moment, allow me to DIRECTLY QUOTE from the editorial in question that appeared in the Democrat-Gazette and quote myself in fair-use commentary2 on that D-G excerpt:
THIS CAMPAIGN is still young yet, and many another low blow may yet be struck, but it’s important to note each one, rather than sit back and accept this kind of indifference to the truth as just par for the course in politics.Call it the Elliott Rule: “What is said about politicians is fair game, and if it’s not true and you can disprove it, then you disprove it.” That is, when it comes to the truth or falsity of the accusations she makes, well, that’s not her look-out but her opponent’s.
The “Elliott Rule?” Holy irony, Batman! You are defending a Karl Rove protege who worked in the same administration that lied about and smeared almost anyone who opposed them, and you are calling this the “Elliott Rule” because she pointed out factually substantiated wrongdoings in Griffin’s past? When does “op-ed” become “opinion proffered by horribly biased hack with a penchant for distorting facts and reality to their breaking points?”
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- File this under “Bad News For People Like David Meeks, If Only The Public Paid The Slightest Bit Of Attention, Which They Sadly Do Not3“: Talk Business reports that Arkansas’s “national income rank increased more than in any other recession dating back to 1929” and “the October 2010 per capita income rank of 44th is ‘an all-time record high.'”
- Blue Arkansas had a live blog chat session with Secretary of State candidate Pat O’Brien today. Definitely worth a read, if only for O’Brien’s candid exchange with BHR’s favorite conservative commenter, Skywalker, as well as an interesting (if all-too-brief) discussion of Oregon’s election system.
- Max Brantley relays a tale of Blanche Lincoln that would make me bang my head on my desk if I still held on to any hope at all that Lincoln would (a) win, (b) make a race of this, (c) even pretend to be a Democrat.
- Suzi Parker reports that President Bill Clinton will make a campaign stop next Wednesday for AR-01 candidate Chad Causey. While I have repeatedly wondered aloud how much an endorsement matters in big races, I think the timing of this “We Miss Bill” meet-up could not come at a worse time for Rick “No, Really, I Didn’t Say What That Video Of Me Said That I Said” Crawford.
- Off-Topic: FBI Trails Student, Who Finds Tracking Device, Which FBI Wants Back; A brief rebuttal of the tired-light theory for observable red shift in distant galaxies; A really fascinating look at the downside of companies like Facebook being among the biggest creators of value over the last decade.
- Sports this weekend: The undefeated Michigan Denards Wolverines take on the similarly undefeated Michigan State Parental Disappointments Spartans Saturday, with the winner in the driver’s seat for battling Ohio State for the Big 10 title; Your first-place Houston Texans (3-1) take on the New York Giants at Reliant, with Brian Cushing returning; Your first-place St. Louis Rams (no really!) (2-2) take on the Lions in Detroit; Baseball playoffs continue — hey, maybe someone could get a hit or two! Oh, Arkansas takes on the Texas A & M Aggies this weekend, too. Nobody ask Joe Ferguson how he remembers those battles.
- Things that you might want to check out here on BHR starting Monday at 8:01am:
- More on Mark Martin.
- An argument calling out Representative Ed Garner, among others, to defend a rather ludicrous position.
- A look back at some legislative acts in 2005.
- Updates on the refusal of Mark Martin, Mark Darr, and Jim Keet to return the Twin Lakes money.
- Mentions of t-shirts and drinking adventures that you can have!
See you all Monday at 8:01am…
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1 I have no idea if this is true. You very well might be high. But, regardless, that doesn’t change the rest of my point. Beside, why are you actually reading the footnotes? I only write these for my own amusement. MOVE ALONG!
2 No, that bold-faced type is not accidental.
3 Well THAT is a rather unwieldy file name, no?