links for 2009-12-24

The balance of power between the political press and politicians now favors pols. Bandwidth used to be very thin. If you wanted to communicate to voters, you had to get the attention of one of a very small number of national television newscasts or one or two local newspapers. Now there’s much more bandwidth you can take advantage of. At the same time, budgets have declined. Consequently, campaign coverage now consists largely of reporting what candidates or their representatives said or even just putting two proxies on television and listening to them talk. Segments that report in a moderately serious way about what the candidates are all about are a very small share of the total.

#9) EXCEPT FOR SLAVERY, JIM CROW, LYNCHINGS, AND SEAN DELONAS, IT'S NOT A BAD COMPARISON In an article titled "Rise of an Epithet," National Review's Jay Nordlinger admits that the term "teabagger" was originally created by conservative activists — but then likens it to the term "nigger." "When I was growing up, in Ann Arbor, Mich.," writes Nordlinger, "there was a little debate: should school officials try to prevent black students from using the N-word? I don't believe the issue was ever settled. And this brings up the question of whether 'teabagger' could be kind of a conservative N-word: to be used in the family, but radioactive outside the family."