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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Cincinnati media watch

From Robert Novak's column Monday:

VP PORTMAN?
Republican political operatives close to President George W. Bush are floating the name of one of his former Cabinet members, ex-Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio, as John McCain's vice presidential running mate.

Portman, at age 52, would be two decades younger than McCain, built a lifetime American Conservative Union voting record in Congress of 89 percent, and has both high-level executive and legislative experience. His biggest asset is coming from Ohio, which was a presidential swing state in 2004 and may be one again in 2008.

After starting in Washington as an aide to the senior President Bush, Portman served 12 years in Congress representing a Cincinnati district and rising to the chairmanship of the House Republican leadership. He left the House in 2005 to become U.S. trade representative and later director of the Office of Management and Budget.

From Broadcasting & Cable Monday

Presidential campaigns can be a mixed bag for local stations. While there is plenty of campaign cash out there-Barack Obama raised a stunning $32 million in January-broadcasters are beholden to strict Federal Election Commission rules that guarantee candidates the lowest unit price for airtime.

"It's a double-edged sword," says Bill Fee, general manager of WCPO, the Scripps-owned ABC affiliate in Cincinnati.

Ohio will hold its Democratic and Republican primaries on March 4 along with Rhode Island, Vermont and delegate-rich Texas. Fee says WCPO received requests for airtime availability from Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama the morning after Super Tuesday.

"Because we're only four weeks out," says Fee, "a [station] will probably have to pre-empt its regular advertisers [for federal candidates], which we are required to do. That is an inconvenience to our advertisers and to the station. So not every political dollar that comes in to Ohio over the next four weeks is actually added money. It's an example of taking two steps forward and one back."

But Scripps, which also owns a station in Cleveland, should reap a windfall because stations in hotly contested states typically sell out every commercial position.

Labels:


10 Comments:

at 1:13 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why doesn't the enquiReR tell us how even the Repugnicants are telling the Bushitler war machine to buzz off, as the Mayor of Toledo just did? The right-wing media doesn't want you to know that even the Repugs are growing tired of the Bushitler War Machine and the illegal war they started. The right-wing corporate media doesn't want you to know the Mayor of Toledo is a Repug.

 
at 1:36 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

WCPO airs corporate propaganda disguised as news.
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/content/comments/wcpo_airs_fake_tv_news/

They air fake news and shut independent candidates that are on the ballot out of the debates. They have corrupted our democracy and should have their licenses revoked!

 
at 1:53 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just what we need; another Bushie as VP. Or another Bushoe as President, and that's exactly what McCain is; a Bushie. A vote for McCain is a vote for a 3rd Bush term.

I hate to be the one to break up a love affair, especially with Valentine's Day just around the corner, but I can no longer stand idly by and watch the media and independent voters continue to throw themselves at the feet of John McCain.

The John McCain they fell in love with in 2000 -- the straight-shooting, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may maverick - is no more. He's been replaced by a born-again Bushite willing to say or do anything to win the affection of his newfound object of desire, the radical right.

And we've got the money shot of his betrayal on tape: McCain singing the praises of Karl Rove, calling him "one of the smartest political minds in America," and saying, "I'd be glad to get his advice."

So, please, stop pretending that McCain is still the dashing rebel that made knees buckle back in the day -- and stop referring to him, as the New York Times did this weekend, as "moderate" and a "centrist."

What is it going to take for you guys to face reality? McCain verbally stroking Rove should be the equivalent of that great scene at the end of The Godfather where Diane Keaton's Kay watches in horror as Al Pacino transforms, in the kiss of a ring, from her loving husband Michael into the next Don Corleone. This ain't the same man you married.

I know it's hard. I myself was deeply enamored of the old McCain. In 2000, I invited him to give the keynote address at the Shadow Convention I'd helped organize. He spoke with passion about the need to clean up the "iron triangle of lobbyists, big money, and legislation."

And now he'd be "glad to get" advice from one of the preeminent architects of that triangle?

Of course, McCain's embrace of Rove is just the latest proof that the new McCain bears no relation to the old.

The old John McCain once rightly called Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and like-minded religious bigots "agents of intolerance." The new John McCain now slavishly seeks their endorsement.

The old John McCain talked about trying to do something about global warming and encourage renewable energy. The new John McCain didn't show up for a vote last week on a bill that included tax incentives for clean energy, even though he was in DC. And then his staff misled environmentalists who called to protest by telling them that he had voted for it.

The old John McCain once stood tall as a fearless leader on immigration, co-sponsoring a humane, bipartisan reform bill with Ted Kennedy. The new John McCain, when asked during a recent GOP debate whether he would support his own proposal, replied: "No, I would not." In other words, he was for his core beliefs before he was against them.

What's the opposite of a "maverick?"

So McCan has backed an amendment that would limit the right to habeas corpus, has endorsed an Arizona constitutional amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but deny benefits to unmarried couples of any kind (lest those pesky gay people find some kind of loophole), and has discovered a newfound support for teaching "intelligent design" in schools.

The old John McCain once tried to take the mantle of true conservatism away from George W. Bush. The new John McCain is now essentially running to give America a third Bush term - and, indeed, will even out-Bush Bush when it comes to staying the disastrous course we're on in Iraq.

Right on time, the new McCain got Bush's blessing on Fox News Sunday: "I know his convictions," Bush said. "I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative."

There you have it: John McCain, a Bush conservative. If you love George Bush, and all that he's brought you over the last seven years, you're gonna love John McCain.

And though McCain threw the mouthbreathers at CPAC into weeping, lamentation, and gnashing of teeth last week for not being right-wing enough, he is demonstrating every day that he will be more than right-wing enough come November.

As it turns out, the new John McCain doesn't need any advice from Karl Rove. He's already internalized the Boy Genius' lessons.

If you think the problem with the United States right now is that we haven't given Bush enough time to finish his agenda, then John McCain is your man. If not, it's time to stop running on the fumes of romantic notions past and find a good divorce lawyer (and, yes, I'm talking to you in the campaign press corps and to you independents and to you moderates and to you anti-war McCain voters in Florida).

The Thousand Year War Express is careening along the road to the White House, and the new John McCain is gunning the engine. And he has to be stopped.

 
at 2:18 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Portman is a fine man but a poor choice for VP. Outside of the tristate, Rob is an unknown.

 
at 3:44 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

1:13 - The Mayor of Toledo is a democrat, jackass.

Here's the Mayor's wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carleton_S._Finkbeiner

What an idiot you are. Get your GED and come back on here in a couple of years, lib.

 
at 6:45 PM, February 12, 2008 Blogger usefullidiot said...

Is this another Hellery 527???

 
at 9:02 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Portman would make a great VP for McCain. Real person and brings lots of operational experience.
Downside >> low profile & unfair Bush association.

 
at 10:38 PM, February 12, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter who McCain picks. The Republican ticket doesn't have a snowball's chance in you know where. Portman is just another Bush lackey who wouldn't help the ticket at all. McCain needs someone known beyond Ohio to elevate his upcoming defeat from mega-landslide to landslide.

 
at 12:09 AM, February 13, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

3:44, well, if it's in Wikipedia, it's got to be true. Ha! I bet you believe everything Rush Limbaugh and FoxNews tell you, too.

 
at 4:08 PM, February 13, 2008 Anonymous Anonymous said...

12:09 AM moron -

So are you saying the Mayor of Toledo is NOT a democrat?

The Lucas County democrats' website lists "Mayor of the City of Toledo" as a member of the Lucas County democrats:

http://www.lucasdems.com/elected_officials.php

I hope you are sterile, because the world already has enough idiots like you to go around.

 
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