As the hardreading staff noted Friday, it was the Boston Globe that whacked Elizabeth Warren (D-It’s All Good) for her Marcel Marceau press conference on Thursday, while the Boston Herald gave her rare hall pass.
The feisty local tabloid made up for it, however, in this Saturday editorial . . .
Read the rest at IGTLTDT.
Republicans and Democrats are both claiming that the 2012 election results are a mandate for . . . well, whatever they want.
Version 1: New Taxes on the Rich
From Saturday’s New York Times front page:
Obama to Insist on Tax Increase for the Wealthy
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that he would insist that tax increases on affluent Americans be part of any agreement to avoid a year-end fiscal crisis, setting up a possible confrontation with Congressional Republicans who say they will oppose a rise in tax rates for the rich.
In his first remarks from the White House since his re-election, Mr. Obama made it clear that he believed his victory had validated his relentless campaign call for wealthier Americans to pay more and that he expected Republicans to heed that message.
“I just want to point out this was a central question during the election,” he said in brief remarks in the East Room. “It was debated over and over again. And on Tuesday night, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach.”
Except, maybe, for the majority of Republicans.
Version 2: No New Taxes on the Rich
From Saturday’s Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview:
Mitch McConnell: ‘We Have a Voter Mandate Not to Raise Taxes’
In the wake of President Barack Obama’s electoral victory, gleeful Democrats believe that the impending “fiscal cliff” has Republicans trapped into finally accepting higher tax rates. But as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sits for an interview in his Capitol office 48 hours after the election, one thing is certain: He is in no way chastened by Tuesday’s results. If Mr. Obama wants fiscal hand-to-hand combat, he will get it.
“Let me put it very clearly,” says the five-term Republican senator from Kentucky. “I am not willing to raise taxes to turn off the sequester. Period.” On Jan. 1, Washington faces both a huge tax increase and an automatic spending cut known as the “sequester,” which could tip the economy back into recession. A newly emboldened President Obama is likely to take his soak-the-rich case straight to the people, I remind the senator. The political pressure to capitulate could become intense.
“Look, he may think it would be helpful to his presidency to continue to divide and demonize us,” says Mr. McConnell. “But my answer will still be short and firm: No. We won’t agree to any tax increases that will hurt the economy.”
Sounds like a fiscal cliffhanger to us.
For the past two decades, Boston mayoral races against Tom (Mayor for Life) Menino have been where challengers go to die.
Call the roll: Jim Brett (1993), Peggy Davis-Mullen (2001), Maura Hennigan (2005), Michael Flaherty (2009) – all of whom went down like the Hindenburg.
Now comes William Dorcena, who sent the hardworking staff this Facebook message:
His pitch:
I believe that Boston is the best city on Earth, without a doubt. I was born, raised and educated here.
However, business as usual in city government is not good enough. Too many children are not attending our colleges and universities, countless youth fall victim to senseless violence, and local jobs continue to evade Boston residents.
We can do better, and as Mayor, I will lead Boston to a more prosperous future for all who live, work and play here. It is time for the people’s voices to be heard and respected again.
On Thursday, November 15, I will lay out my vision for Boston’s future. Bring a friend, family member or just yourself. This campaign will be won with your support and my determination to stand up and fight for the interest of the people.
I look forward to seeing you and sharing my vision with you.
-Will Dorcena
We’ve heard that song somewhere before, no?
Regardless, Dorcena has been planning his run for the past year, as witness this Dorchester Reporter piece from January:
Dorcena eyes mayoral run as Sanon launches another bid for City Council
Two months after finishing in sixth place in a seven-way scrum for four City Council At-Large seats, Hyde Park’s William Dorcena said he is campaigning for City Hall’s top job in 2013. Dorcena’s campaign launch was first noted by a sympathetic blog, “Marry in Massachusetts.”Dorcena grew up in Uphams Corner, like his sister, state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, who has been estranged from him for a number of years. Rep. Forry is married to Reporter managing editor Bill Forry.
Dorcena becomes the second candidate to announce a mayoral bid. (Mayor Menino has not yet publicly said whether he is running for a sixth term.) The first, Charles Clemons, co-founder of TOUCH 106.1 FM, made the announcement at his 50th birthday party in August.
Wait – Dorcena’s estranged from his sister? To the point that the Dorchester Reporter makes a point of it? What’s that about?
The hardwondering staff will keep you posted.
Product placement is big business in America, as this helpful primer from MediaPost indicates:
Product placement –- a.k.a. brand integration – has grown into a roughly $25 billion industry in the U.S., supporting its own battery of go-getters, an extensive Wikipedia entry, a Morgan Spurlock movie about the practice and its own awards competition and Top 10 lists.
But while products all across the consumer spectrum are fighting (and paying) to get into entertainment programming, some actually want out . . .
Read the rest at Sneak Adtack.
Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren’s Marcel Marceau press conference yesterday got – wait for it – very different treatment in the local dailies today. But in a rare role reversal, it’s the Boston Herald giving her a free pass, while the Globe gave her a tune-up.
Herald piece . . .
Read the rest at IGTLTDT.
There were numerous losers in the wake of the 2012 elections: Todd Akin fan fiction websites, Nate Silver short-sellers, Eric Fehrnstrom Limited Edition Etch A Sketches, and etc.
But Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal A-Hed just might feature that saddest lot of all:
Not Everyone Is Happy to See Political Ads End
For Voice-Over Actors, Elections Are Paydays; Recording in Closets
On odd-numbered years, Jane Lueders has been the friendly voice of Washington, D.C.-area directory assistance, Washington subway customer service and Pentagon weapons-training videos. In election years, she is the well-modulated and ubiquitous expression of Democratic anger, hurt, frustration, vulnerability, righteousness and quaking betrayal.
The monthslong barrage of political ads will come to a sudden halt Wednesday—by one estimate more than a million have aired since June alone—and most people will be thrilled.
Not Ms. Lueders, one of an elite cadre of actors clustered around Washington whose calendars explode every four years. The voice-over specialist is communicating these days via email, because she is nearly speechless, croaking “this is what happens,” into the phone line after an election season in which her annual income has risen by 50% and her voice has gone bust.
As have the negative campaign ads Ms. Lueders “loves doing.”
Take heart, voiceoveristas! The 2016 campaign (not to mention the 2014 midterm election) has already started.
Full employment is just around the corner.
Yesterday it was Herald columnist Holly Robichaud telling Bay State voters what a disgrace they were for dustbinning Scott Brown (R-Cuppa Coffee) and electing Elizabeth Warren to the U.S. Senate.
Today it’s the Herald editors yelling at Bay State voters for re-electing John Tierney (D-Jackpot) in the 6th Congressional district . . .
Read the rest at IGTLTDT.
The Boston Herald illustrated one of its reports of Elizabeth Warren’s U.S. Senate victory over Scott Brown (R-Cuppa Coffee) with this photo:
Seriously, guys?
That’s the very definition of a sore loser.
There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth and bitter recriminations at the feisty local tabloid over Scott Brown’s loss to Elizabeth Warren in the U.S. Senate bakeoff (Pow Wow Chow, anyone?).
And know whose fault it is?
YOURS!
[Wednesday] morning’s edition started out benignly enough with this front page . . .
Read the rest at IGTLTDT.
Click to subscribe to RSS
Campaign Outsider 