I would like to give my quarterly Props to Bob Somerby of the Howler!

[trumad]

The Daily Howler that is.... http://www.dailyhowler.com

Mr. Somerby is by far the my most influential writer on the web. He has taught me more about political punditry than anybody out there. It's like I'm back in college listening to my favorite Professor and being captivated by his brilliance.

EXCEPT Bob's doing via his web page. He's funny, his prose is beautiful and he's absolutely dead on in his takes on the Media Ho's that permeate our media outlets.

Here's to you Bob: :toast:

[rumguy]

1. yep he is essential reading

[VolcanoJen]

2. The Daily Howler fills the void.

I miss The Horse, but Daily Howler is right there for me, every single time.

:toast:Bob Somerby!:toast:

[trekbiker]

3. Agree... he needs a TV or Radio show...

Air America segment??

I would love to see a show where guys like him could honestly go one on one with Neo-cons.. only the neo-cons would chicken out if they couldn't control the screens or format

[pmbryant]

4. I'll second that!

He provides an invaluable service. Here is a sample of his writing from today's edition (http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh042804.shtml):

THE BUTLER DOES IT: Readers, sometimes you have to throw back your head and enjoy a good laugh! On the front page of today’s New York Times, Jodi Wilgoren pens a profile of Marvin Nicholson, a campaign assistant to Candidate Kerry. How absurd is Wilgoren’s piece? Let’s use a standard we’ve used before: If such work appeared in the Washington Times, observers would laugh at the way the conservative rag was pimping those RNC spin-points.

Who is John Kerry in the RNC spin-book? As we all know, he’s a man with “a proclivity to fall on both sides of every issue”—a man who can’t give a straight answer. But he’s also a man who has too much money—a man who attended a fancy school among the troubling, French-speaking Swiss. That’s why we see RNC shills like Katharine Seelye and Nedra Pickler working such images into their stories (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/27/04). When Seelye reviewed Kerry’s military records, she managed to cite the young soldier’s “patrician manner”—a point which only she, among living humans, could find in the documents under review. Meanwhile, Pickler used her first paragraph to remind AP readers that soldier Kerry “spoke fluent French…the fruits of a privileged upbringing.” Anyone with an ounce of sense will know where these oddball spin-points come from. They come straight from the RNC; propagandists cram them into “news reports” in service to Karl Rove’s machine. Of course, Seelye performed this service for over a year in her coverage of Candidate Gore. She “made no attempt to hide her contempt for the candidate,” the Financial Times eventually observed.

And so you really have to laugh at Wilgoren’s profile this morning. In the headline, we see the first spin-point—Nicholson is described as Kerry’s “butler!” And as we read the report, the image develops. In paragraph two, we learn that Nicholson is “the man literally behind the man, ready with an uncapped bottle of water whenever Mr. Kerry’s throat runs dry.” In short order, we learn why Kerry has this “butler”—this “former caddy”—at his beck and call:

WILGOREN (pgh 6): Mr. Kerry is comfortable being catered to. He has his moods and his myriad personal needs. A social loner, he is happy with an aide half his age.

The strange suggestion in that last sentence is explored throughout Wilgoren’s piece. Kerry’s butler “orders, delivers and usually lays out Mr. Kerry’s meals,” she writes. And that isn’t all; he “keeps little black books filled with the names and numbers of people Mr. Kerry meets.” (He also “dials many of telephone calls,” and “helps select his neckties.”) Homoerotic imagery abounds. At night, Nicholson—Kerry’s “glorified valet”—“often stays by his side until he is ready to go to sleep.” Indeed, “hen Mr. Kerry stays overnight at supporters’ homes, it is Mr. Nicholson who accompanies him; in Iowa once, they shared a bathroom.” (Yes, she actually wrote that.) Indeed, “When Mr. Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, joins him on the road, Mr. Nicholson’s routine hardly changes.” But then, “it is the 6-foot-8 Mr. Nicholson who anticipates Mr. Kerry’s needs as they make eye contact across the crowds. It is Mr. Nicholson ready with a fresh shirt after a rally in 100 degrees.” Somehow, Wilgoren forgot to ask how often this “butler” does Botox.

Is Jodi Wilgoren an RNC shill? Here at THE HOWLER, we really don’t know. (With Seelye, the answer has become obvious, although we remained agnostic for years.) But as Wilgoren notes in passing, every presidential campaign has a person who plays the role described in this piece. But isn’t it strange? Only Kerry’s campaign assistant gets described in the way we see here. Only Kerry has a “butler”—a “glorified valet”—in headlines adorning page one.

Did Wilgoren insert these images by design? Here at THE HOWLER, we really can’t say. But we can say one thing for certain. Karl Rove perked up when he saw the word “butler.” And he loved it when he saw “valet,” and when he saw “Kerry is comfortable being catered to.” Last week, “patrician manner” was pure RNC spin—but so are the images driving this piece. Do Wilgoren (and her editors) know this? If not, we can only throw our heads back and roar at the New York Times’ endless buffoonism.

[sadiesworld]

5. The Daily Howler is AMAZING...

And Bob Somerby :yourock: