Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit

The Lion Sleeps with the Lamm--Updated (Again)

I usually carry a little blue mead spiral notebook so I can keep track of things--daily reminders, appointments, mileage, what I eat, the names of people who tick me off, my weight, the first hundred digits of Pi.  You know, the usual stuff.  One section is filled with stuff I call "Pundit Partials."   

"Pundit partials" are just what they sound like;  it's a list of story ideas that are generated by things that I find odd or interesting.   They aren't important on their own but often two or three pundit partials coalesce into a full blown story.  Sometimes I get a tip and sometimes I get lucky, but pundit partials often become pundit stories. 

Take this story by Channel 3's Carey Pena about Andrew Thomas that aired on Wednesday night. The story is about the high level of fraudulent petitions found in the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative (ACRI) and how that might reflect badly on Thomas since he was the Chairman.

Isn't that odd?   If the angle is petition fraud in initiatives supported by elected officials, why not ask the Governor about TIME?   TIME, State Trust and ACRI had the same group of circulators and the same problems.  Napolitano supported two of the initiatives and Thomas supported the other one.  Does anyone really think that either Napolitano or Thomas committed fraud or knew about the fraud?  It's not reasonable for Pena to single out Thomas with her long breathless story.

Sounds like something for the pundit partials list.

Then I noticed that Sonoran Alliance has an interesting story about a defense attorney named Jason Lamm who has endorsed Thomas' opponent Tim Nelson and given him the maximum campaign contribution.  Sonoran Alliance points out that Lamm calls himself a "Child pornography lawyer." 

In fact, Yvonne Wingett prominently features Lamm in this Republic story.

Jason Lamm, a Phoenix criminal defense attorney, believes that Thomas is more driven by agendas that cater to popular opinion rather than running the prosecutor's office. That's why he donated the $390 maximum to Nelson.

Isn't that odd?  Considering that Thomas' team is referring to Nelson as "ACLU Tim" you would think that a guy who specializes in Child Pornography defense would keep a lower profile in the campaign.

Definitely something for the Pundit Partial list.

So if you Google Jason Lamm, you get a lot of interesting stuff and eventually you even find out where he and his wife registered for their wedding last year.

Jason Lamm and his wife...Carey Pena...were registered at Williams Sonoma and Bloomingdale's. 

Now I have two more items on my Pundit Partials list to check out.  Is that the same Carey Pena?  What's Channel 3's ethics policy about reporters writing hit pieces about one side of the campaign while the reporter's husband writes checks to the other side of the campaign?

But most importantly...did they get that espresso machine that they wanted?

Shadegg in the WSJ

In case you missed this.

Democrats Still Aren't Serious About Drilling

After a five-week paid vacation, Democrats are back in Washington and claiming that they want to do something about oil prices.

But the problem is that their plan, which passed the House yesterday and will likely come up for a vote in the Senate later this week, will not produce a single drop of oil.

Why? Because it does nothing about environmental groups that are suing to stop drilling.

The Democratic proposal is not a death-bed conversion, it's designed to solve their political problem. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her members in August that they can say they are in favor of drilling, but that she wouldn't allow a vote on a drilling bill. Now that she has been forced to, she knows her environmental allies will block new drilling from going forward.

Now THAT's Creative Writing

I've developed quite a few sources at the ASU School of Journalism and that allows me to get an occasional glimpse into the inner workings of the school.  One of the students sent me a copy of a paper that he received back from his professor and I’ve scanned and included the professor’s comments.  I’m in no position to comment on the penmanship, but I thought the word choice was interesting. 

The professor is concerned that the paper is too “repetitial.”  I think she was looking for the term “repetitious.”  I’ve left the professor’s name out of the picture because I don’t want you to accuse me of being “malitial” or even “pernitial.”

Hell Freezes Over

Political junkies know that Legislative Democrats took over the state Budget process this year and "balanced" the budget through a series of fund sweeps, accounting gimmicks and fee increases. 

If Republicans had taken $30 million from the cities without a hearing or notice (to cite just one example), the media would be in a frenzy but so far, the Governor and her unanimous Democratic caucus have been left unscathed by a somnolent and sycophantic media. 

But perhaps that's changing.  Occasionally, I read the paper and I'm stunned by a "Hell Freezes Over Moment." Here's a sentence from last Sunday's Arizona Daily Star that provided one of those moments.

At this point, the budget is largely a fictional document and prudent cuts should be made before the state is crippled by its spending.

Wow, the most liberal paper in the state is pointing out that the budget is fictional and the state has to cut spending.

The media still refuse to admit that the budget was written by Governor Napolitano, supported by every Democrat and opposed by nearly every Republican, but they are starting to point out what a disaster the document was. 

Jesus as Community Organizer II

Last Thursday, I commented on the bizarre Democratic line that "Jesus was a community organizer and Pilate was a Governor."  I chastised Sam Coppersmith for using the line.  Here's his responses.

The story has grown exponentially in the last week.  Here's an interesting article that points out the the quote is unhistorical, offensive and frankly "pretty damn stupid."

More importantly, the third problem with this trope is that it is an attempt — conscious or not — to undermine the gravity of Jesus’ role in Christianity and in history. From Albert Schweitzer to Episcopal “Bishop” John Spong to Oprah, outside-the-Christian-mainstream critics have tried to make Jesus only a man with a plan, a social reformer, a self-help guru, you name it — anything but the crucified and resurrected Son of God as described in the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. Community organizers don’t raise the dead, heal the blind and sick, walk on water, or return from death themselves.

Liberals are free to disbelieve what orthodox Christianity teaches about Jesus, but they are not free to ahistorically and insultingly appropriate Him for their own narrow political agendas, no more than the religious right is. Ms. Brazile is Catholic, so she should know better; Representative Cohen is Jewish, so he can be forgiven for not, although it’s worth observing that were a Christian legislator to opine publicly on a non-Christian religious figure — saying, for example, “Mohammed was (merely) a community organizer” — the critical outcry, and not just from Muslims, would almost certainly be deafening (at best); so why the double standard when a non-Christian makes a glib, politically expedient remark about Christianity’s founder?

Thirty-Seven Laid off at the Republic

Here's the note from the publisher.

"During the past 30 days I've shared with you the difficult personnel decisions that have been made throughout the newspaper division. Those decisions were made based on unstable business conditions across the country. While the announcements were communicated at the corporate level, the necessary decisions to realign resources for each market are a local one. In Phoenix, the process of realignment has been in the works for many months driven in large part by the far reaching economic impact of the housing market. Every department has gone through an assessment to determine ways to operate their respective areas more efficiently. During the past two months we have restructured several departments and offered early retirement options to reduce payroll. Today, we had an additional reduction with the elimination of 37 positions.

This is a tough day for each of these employees and for all of us. These individuals made valuable contributions to the company and will be missed.

Your company plays an important role in this community and will in the future. I appreciate all that you do and know that together we will get through the tough times.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to stop by and see me."

John Zidich

Media Manipulation 101: Implied Causation

Did you hear that the Feds are investigating allegations that Sheriff Arpaio has targeted day laborers and trampled on civil rights during his immigration enforcement raids?

It's a great story and fits with the mainstream media theme that Arpaio is out of control and federal forces are swinging into action.  Of course, it's not actually true.  But you can be excused if you think it's true because the media has used a great trick to manipulate you into believing it. 

The Republic and Tribune each ran the story last Thursday.  The Trib example is much more egregious, but let's start with the Republic example in order to set the stage.

Here are the key paragraphs from the Republic article, let's see if you can detect the trick.

Federal investigators will conduct an audit later this month of an 18-month-old agreement that gives the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

The audit comes amid allegations that the Sheriff's Office is violating the agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement by targeting day laborers instead of violent criminals and trampling on the civil rights of Latinos.

Did you catch it?  The key words are "comes amid." That very clever phrase is a great way to compare two unrelated events and imply that they are related.  The reader is supposed to conclude that the events in the first paragraph are occurring because of the events in the second paragraph. 

The Republic article goes on to make it clear that the ICE probe and the allegations of Arpaio's misconduct are NOT related.

The agency has already conducted audits of ICE agreements with the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Florida, the Mecklenberg County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina, and the Alabama State Police.

"These are routine. This is not something punitive," Rocha said.

He said ICE believes the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is "acting accordingly within (the agreement)."

That's pretty definitive.  The ICE spokesman makes it clear that the ICE believes Arpaio is in compliance, the audit is routine and is not punitive.  Later in the article, he makes it clear that the audits are conducted based on the age of the agreement and size of the jurisdiction.

A routine audit isn't really newsworthy, so the reporter creates the impression of causation by using the term "comes amid" in order to make it into a story. The website Seeing Red AZ pointed out that the article was inaccurate.  But I wanted to make the point that the manipulation is intentional and show you how it's done.   

Here's an even better example. 

The Tribune's Paul Giblin used the same trick in his coverage of the story. 

The increased scrutiny comes as a growing number of community activists and some elected officials have called on the federal government to intervene in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's operations targeting illegal immigrants. Critics say deputies' tactics include racial profiling, a charge that sheriff's officials strongly deny.

Notice that Giblin implies causation by using "comes as." 

Giblin's article is an even more egregious example of manipulation because while he points out that the Sheriff denies wrong doing, Giblin never bothers to mention that the Federal investigators themselves maintain that the audit is routine. 

Giblin compounds the miss-impression when he writes that Arpaio's office insists that the audit is routine.

Arpaio dismissed reviews by ICE and the GAO, Congress' federal government watchdog, as routine.

Using that quote makes it look like Giblin is giving Arpaio an opportunity to respond.  It gives the impression of balance.  But his use of "dismissed" leads the reader to doubt Arpaio's response.  That word choice, combined with Giblin's refusal to mention that ICE itself insists that the the audit is routine leads the reader to doubt Arpaio's denial. 

I wanted to give Giblin the benefit of the doubt.  When I read the article I wondered if Giblin knew that ICE maintained that the investigation was routine. 

That's why I was stunned by Giblin's appearance on Horizon's Journalist Roundtable last Friday.  Giblin was asked about ICE's statement that the audit was routine.  In an astonishing response, Giblin admitted that he knew that ICE said the audit was routine, but Giblin replied that he had been to the dentist for "routine" visits that didn't end up being "routine." 

What? 

Giblin knew that both ICE and the Sheriff maintained that the audit was routine but he chose not to disclose ICE's denial because he simply didn't believe it--based on his trip to the dentist? 

Even if Giblin was kidding with his flippant line about dentistry, he was clearly admitting that he knew ICE maintained that the audit was routine and that he left the information out of the article.

So Giblin linked the two unrelated issues together with the phrase "comes as" and then refused to disclose that BOTH agencies maintain that the audit is routine.  I guess routine audits don't make good stories. 

Thats one more example of why readers don't trust the mainstream media.  It's also another reason that the Tribune will be lucky be around by the end of 2009. 

No Resurection This Time

A lot of people have made a pretty good run at the Messiah thing but they usually find out that the finale is pretty tough to pull off. 

I first ran this picture with a post called "Obama Feeds the 5,000." I was trying to make the point that the campaign was starting to look like an old fashioned televangelist revival and Team Obama was in jeopardy of some serious blowback.

Maybe it's just me, but I think there are a lot of Democrats who work in brake shops and diners in Ohio and Michigan who look at this picture and get really ticked off.

Well, it's hard to pick the peak of any market, but It looks like that very moment was the peak of the Obama phenomenon.  He may still have enough momentum to win the race.  But let's face it, with the media incessantly pounding Republicans on the economy and Iraq, the Democratic candidate should be CRUSHING McCain. 

The Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer summed it up beautifully.

But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues -- there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues -- but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.

The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked -- and had now entered a period of its steepest decline.

Dang, I was looking forward to the rise of the oceans beginning to slow and our planet beginning to heal.

(My original post had 29 comments, but alas, instead debating whether or not the Berlin trip was a strategic blunder, most of the commenters chided me for not recognizing that Germans like the Simpsons.)

Showdown at Gender Gap

Gender issues have dominated this campaign season.  Governor Napolitano addressed the issues on Face the Nation Sunday morning together with three other prominent current and former female office holders.  The two big issues, of course are the glass ceiling and "equal pay for equal work."  The other class issue that oftentimes gets raised in the same context is income inequality. 

It seems to me that the three institutions that are the worst offenders--Hollywood, Wall Street and Law--are the very three industries that are most dominated by Democrats.  If you were to take the top thousand actors, investment bankers and lawyers, they be overwhelmingly men.They would also be paid much more than their female counterparts and the gap between the highest paid an lowest paid members of the profession would be the largest of any industries.

Maybe Democrats should look at their own supporters before they complain about John McCain.

Jews for Jesus

There's a bizarre one liner that's been making its way around the Internet since the McCain camp picked Sarah Palin.  I didn't think that anyone credible would actually say it, but then Sam Coppersmith used it on Channel 12 during McCain's convention speech.  And here, Rep. Steve Cohen uses a variation on the House Floor. "Jesus was a community organizer and Pilate was a governor."

This isn't a slip from some crazy precinct Committeemen, Cohen is a Congressman and Coppersmith is a former Congressman and respected attorney.  And it's not like they were caught off guard in front of an open mike.  They both intentionally made the statement on TV.  The Democrats  seem to think it's a great line and it's being used in a variety of forums.  Why would they compare Obama to Jesus and Palin to Pilate?  Don't they understand how offensive that is?  Would anyone consider it smart to say that our candidate is like Christ and your opponent is like Pilate? 

And why mess with someone else's religion?  Cohen and Coppersmith are both Jewish, so they have a very different view of Jesus than I do.  That's fine; I respect that.  But those of us who consider Jesus to be the Messiah aren't pleased to see him belittled as a mere "community organizer." 

Is that their view of the Christianity?  Jesus spent three years organizing Galilee but he failed because Pontius Pilate killed him.  And now we have an opportunity to make it right because we have Obama organizing the community and you--dear voter--can make sure that evil Sarah Palin doesn't interfere like Pilate did 2,000 years ago. Just make sure you go to the polls on November 4th. 

Is that the twisted message?  Is there any other explanation?