A Pox on Both Houses

"I had hope for Howard Dean when he was elected, I really did, but now I'm coming to the realization that he's doing more harm than good for our party. The focus hasn't, and won't be, on our message because we have a party leader who, instead of doing everything within our power to talk about the issues that affect the lives of Democrats, Republicans, Independents, whatever, keeps attacking Republicans. . . . So, I say again to Howard Dean: can I get ya to shut up?"

Salon's Eric Boehlert is still steamed about the absence of Memogate:

"In setting up his question to Ken Mehlman on Sunday, Tim Russert said, 'Let me turn to the now famous Downing Street memo.'

"Famous? It would be famous in America if the D.C. press corps functioned the way it's supposed to. Russert's June 5 reference, five weeks after the story broke, represented the first time NBC News had even mentioned the document or the controversy surrounding it. In fact, Russert's query was the first time any of the network news divisions addressed the issue seriously. In an age of instant communications, the American mainstream media has taken an exceedingly long time -- as if news of the memo had traveled by vessel across the Atlantic Ocean -- to report on the leaked document. Nor has it considered its grave implications -- namely, that President Bush lied to the American people and Congress during the run-up to the war with Iraq when he insisted over and over again that war was his administration's last option. . . .

"And yet, as Russert's weeks-late inquiry illustrates, the Downing Street memo story has also refused to simply fade away. Championed by progressive activists, media advocates, nearly 100 Democratic members of Congress, liberal radio hosts and bloggers, ombudsmen, a handful of columnists and an army of newspaper readers -- who have flooded editors with letters demanding that the story be reported -- the British memo continues to enjoy a peculiar afterlife."

Bill Scher at Liberal Oasis backs William Schulz, Amnesty International's U.S. director, over his "Fox News Sunday" interview on the "gulag" flap:

"Schulz faced a particularly abominable Chris Wallace, yet calmly swatted back Wallace's loaded questions. . . .

"Overall, Amnesty's aggressive posture throughout the past week, despite having a smaller megaphone than the White House, has helped them get the truth out."

No verdict yet in the Jacko case, but "the lead defense attorney delivered a stinging rebuke to people claiming to speak for the pop star," says the Los Angeles Times. "The statement followed a day when two spokespeople tried to paint favorable portraits of Jackson. The Rev. Jesse Jackson condemned what he called 'psychological warfare' against the unsequestered jury in a television report that showed a jail cell where the pop star could be sent if convicted. Jackson also painted a rosy portrait of Michael Jackson's finances."

This involved a Dan Abrams report on MSNBC. "He was followed by Raymone Bain, who has been a spokesperson for the family throughout the trail and told reporters that Jackson was awaiting a verdict by spending time with his children. She insisted that she spoke with the backing of defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., which could have created a problem since a gag order has been issued on all participants. 'I have not authorized anyone to speak or hold any press conferences on behalf of Michael Jackson or his family,' Mesereau said in a posting on the Jackson web site. A companion message was issued by the Jackson family:" Hey, with 1,200 media types there, anything is news.

Finally, Jeff Jarvis continues his crusade against what he calls "national mammarophobia: Teen actress Lindsay Lohan's breasts have been digitally reduced for forthcoming Disney film 'Herbie: Fully Loaded,' to avoid offending family audiences.

"Test screenings for the new movie, the fourth sequel to the 1968 film The Love Bug about a Volkswagen Beetle car with a mind of its own, indicated that some parents felt Lohan's character Maggie Peyton was too raunchy for a children's film.

"Disney technicians were forced to plough through numerous scenes - especially those showing the busty actress jumping up and down at a motor racing track, reducing her breasts by two cup sizes and raising revealing necklines on her T-shirts. The director denies it.

"The problem these days -- when grown people make news hunting down nipples -- is that you can't tell the parody from the truth."