Read it again. He doesn’t criticize Robinson for taking notes. He nails him for relying on notes to report events inaccurately, to tell a pleasing tale (as Sommerby might put it), when he could have used the transcript and reported accurately. Is it too much to demand credibility from major-league pundits writing for the Washington Post?

I did. Reread it, and came away with the same impression. Somerby was complaining that Eugene Robinson took notes and used them. Heck, if he just relied on the transcript, why bother watching the debate?

Speaking from experience, one of the reasons you take notes is to record impressions and thoughts (the kind Robinson made … how do you get the notion that the entire slate of candidates isn’t diverse, and that “country club” would be a good way to describe them from a transcript?) about the speaker or interviewee, things you can’t get through transcripts. That’s why good reporters might record an interview, but also take notes. A seasoned reporter like Somerby knows this.

But, really, you get the impression that Somerby’s big problem is that Eugene Robinson says things that Somerby probably agrees with, but only in different words.

And, for added hilariosity, the above link contains the original definition of the word “Malkin�. I wonder whether that’s why Michelle chose that for her surname…

Qetesh, I assure you the original meaning is *precisely* why I use that abbreviation… as R.A. Lafferty once said, “tongue so far in cheek it protrudes from the vulgar bodily orifice.” Although as I understand it, Michelle didn’t exactly ‘choose’ the name Malkin, she just married it; I’d have kept my own surname but I never planned a career as a Wingnut Wurlitzer Welfare recipient!

Oh, and as much as I admire Somerby, I think he’s a little harsh on Robinson, who’s probably as close to our sector of the Shrill Dirty Hippie progressive axis of the political sphere as is possible for someone getting paid by the Washington Post. I mean, saying that the next president should be a smart person who believes in hard work and science over cheating and appeals to our lizard brains is TRUE. It’s the same thing we’re saying. Maybe Robinson should have said it louder or sooner, but one reason the Reichtards have succeeded in warping our public discourse over the last 30 years is that they don’t mind repeating the same lies, in the simplest possible words, over and over and over until there’s a dim public concensus that “everybody must think this way ‘cuz we see & hear it everywhere”. It’s not enough that everyone with a triple-digit IQ and an eighth-grade reading comprehension understands the Reichtards have screwed things up so badly we’re thisclose to a disaster that will look a lot like the Rapture only without the happy ending. We have to get the message across to e*v*e*r*y*b*o*d*y, even that portion of the Base (such an apt noun) that would rather eat live bugs than vote not-Repub, because they may not change their worst habits but they need to have it hammered home that they’re not going to be allowed to pretend they’re a majority any more.

Read it again. He doesn’t criticize Robinson for taking notes. He nails him for relying on notes to report events inaccurately, to tell a pleasing tale (as Sommerby might put it), when he could have used the transcript and reported accurately. Is it too much to demand credibility from major-league pundits writing for the Washington Post?

I’m sorry, but I want the guy in charge to be smarter and more knowledgeable and more experienced than I am. I want a judge or a legislator or a president who can say, “This goes against my personal philosophy, but it’s the right thing to do.” Or “This is going to hurt my party, but it’s best for the country.”

But Albert Gore Jr. is the anti-politician, a man who’s spent the last 40 years being… dutiful. Doing stuff he’s not enjoying, that he knows in advance he’s not going to enjoy, even though he has enough money that he could find less personally onerous ways of spending his energies. Al Gore works hard for… what, the ‘public good’? The ‘fate of the planet’? Against ‘the assault on reason’?

This became pretty obvious when he continued to work on the global warming issue as a private citizen. I saw the same attitude in Kerry, too–and your summary of Gore’s background is very similar to what I know of Kerry’s. And, surprise, surprise: Kerry got the Gore treatment by the media. A coincidence, I’m sure.

Anne, not sure whether you know this, but merkin has a meaning all its own.

And, for added hilariosity, the above link contains the original definition of the word “Malkin”. I wonder whether that’s why Michelle chose that for her surname…

Yeah, Lex Luthor is so boring!!!!11!!

More precisely, Gore absolutely infuriates Teh Pundit Clarses because he completely blows their secret Sidney Carten fantasy. The current Pundits are mostly upper-middle-class white men who ended up as journalists because the college courses didn’t require any math and they had the “networking skills” to suck up to the “publishing magnates” their dads met on the nineteenth hole. Plenty of them started off as liberals, even maybe progressives, as long as that allegiance didn’t require that they actually do anything harder than sign a petition or maybe show up at a demonstration if they had that weekend free. But they all harbor the belief that, if it hadn’t been for their trick knee/student loans/car payments/other priorities, they would SO have been Clarence Darrow or Tom Paine, bravely stepping up when all other cowered to Resist Tyranny and Fight the Power for truth, justice, and the ‘merkin way…

So here’s dumb ol’ Al Gore, privileged white firstborn male son of a senator, who ploddingly goes out and does all those brave, principled, hard jobs that Teh Pundits have spent their adult lives making excuses for avoiding. He opposed the war, but he went to Vietnam anyway, because not going would have ended his father’s political career. And he went as a journalist, but not the swashbuckling Roland Headley getting soused in every brothel in Saigon, just as the tie-wearing puke trying to get some modicum of truth past his military superiors. Then he came back, and instead of “networking” into some venture-capital firm where he could make a ton of money and still take a lot of four-day weekends, he spent more time on the donkeywork end of local journalism before doggedly running for office. And running again. And again. And again. One step at a time, one boring committee meeting after another.

Even then, Teh Pundits might forgive Gore if only he looked like he were enjoying himself… rather, if he behaved like the stereotypical politician who’s incapable of *not* pressing the flesh, grinning & gripping, working the room, getting the crowd’s validation. It would be okay if they could tell each other that Gore just couldn’t help himself, fella just had some kinda psychological disorder where the rewards of public attention outweighed the sheer physical unpleasantness of New Hampshire diners, Iowa pig farms, and close contact with Teh Pundit Clarse in all their bow-tied smirking glory. But Albert Gore Jr. is the anti-politician, a man who’s spent the last 40 years being… dutiful. Doing stuff he’s not enjoying, that he knows in advance he’s not going to enjoy, even though he has enough money that he could find less personally onerous ways of spending his energies. Al Gore works hard for… what, the ‘public good’? The ‘fate of the planet’? Against ‘the assault on reason’? Who is this sadsack Willy Loman, and why does he keep trying to make Teh Pundits look like bloviating slackers?!?

In fairness, liberalsouth, it didn’t take him nearly that long.

a lot of them voted for kerry in ‘04. i wish more people had followed their leads.

Actually, I think they did. But the GOP operatives really proved their mettle in terms of suppressing or fixing the vote in key states. Yeah, yeah, just go ahead and file me away under “conspiracy theorist.”

Wouldn’t want those literate types running things.

All those big words and the facts they represent…thinkin’s hard.

The next administration may very well be even worse than this one for all we know, but if it’s at least headed by a guy who doesn’t believe we’ve “had an enduring friendship with Japan for the past 150 years”, there’s still hope.

I don’t share ALL of that man’s obsessions — but he’s nailed the press corps in every way you can. He has their number and his thesis has been proven over and over again.

Gene Robinson is either disingenuous or an idiot. That’s really all that’s left to say.

this dynamic was obvious during my stint in college in the 90s. “communications major” was shorthand for “blithering idiot”. marketing, too.

and these are now the people that control the national discourse.

unsurprisingly, a lot of those wingnuts got real disenchanted with the decider, and a lot of them voted for kerry in ’04. i wish more people had followed their leads.

what the hell is wrong with people? don’t they want the guy in charge to be the absolute best at being in charge? they want the best doctor, the best mechanic, the best everything else, but the presidential elections comes around and it’s all about who’s folksier. damn, it makes me crazy.

“Knowledge has fallen out of favor due to the time, effort and energy required to acquire it. It’s self-reinforcing.

And another reason why we’re all doomed…”

This has been my observation as well, and it gives me shivers.