Getting Hot

"This could be a blip, but I'm going to guess that it's a bit more than that. And I'm going to guess, based on the polling trends of the last month, that it's wider than the blogs, but picks up on the whole liberal internet-infused organizing movement . . .

"1) No one is putting up a fight. I have heard virtually no direct criticisms of her from any of the candidates.

"2) The other campaigns are getting weaker. Obama's rise has hit a ceiling, and Edwards is not running a particularly coherent or inclusive campaign. Richardson is out of step with the times.

"3) Clinton is a charismatic television figure and she's beginning to inspire liberals . . .

"4) This is a blip."

But liberal suspicions are underscored by this Nation cover story by Ari Berman:

"If Clinton really wanted to curtail the influence of the powerful, she might start with the advisers to her own campaign, who represent some of the weightiest interests in corporate America. Her chief strategist, Mark Penn, not only polls for America's biggest companies but also runs one of the world's premier PR agencies. A bevy of current and former Hillary advisers, including her communications guru, Howard Wolfson, are linked to a prominent lobbying and PR firm--the Glover Park Group--that has cozied up to the pharmaceutical industry and Rupert Murdoch. Her fundraiser in chief, Terry McAuliffe, has the priciest Rolodex in Washington, luring high-rolling contributors to Clinton's campaign.

"Her husband, since leaving the presidency, has made millions giving speeches and counsel to investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. They house, in addition to other Wall Street firms, the Clintons' closest economic advisers, such as Bob Rubin and Roger Altman, whose DC brain trust, the Hamilton Project, is Clinton's economic team in waiting. Even the liberal in her camp, former deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes, has lobbied for the telecom and healthcare industries, including a for-profit nursing home association indicted in Texas for improperly funneling money to disgraced former House majority leader Tom DeLay . . .

"Not only is Hillary more reliant on large donations and corporate money than her Democratic rivals, but advisers in her inner circle are closely affiliated with unionbusters, GOP operatives, conservative media and other Democratic Party antagonists."

And here's a new twist for radio: getting canceled before you say a word:

"After several days of criticism for inviting Bernard McGuirk onto its airwaves, WRKO yesterday canceled the appearance by the former producer for shock jock Don Imus," says the Boston Globe.

"McGuirk was slated to begin a three-day stint tomorrow as a guest on a talk show hosted by former [Mass.] House speaker Tom Finneran -- an appearance that station officials had said was a try out for the man who first said the word 'ho' in the on-air conversation that led to Imus's downfall.

"George Regan , a spokesman for Entercom Communications, the parent company of WRKO, declined to say why the invitation was rescinded. But over the weekend, criticism of the station mounted after statements from a 1997 interview on CBS's '60 Minutes' surfaced. In the interview, Imus was quoted using a racial slur to say that part of McGuirk's job was to tell jokes about blacks on 'Imus in the Morning.'(TM)"