There’s not a thing wrong with remembering Andy Griffith as Mayberry’s sheriff and Opie’s dad. But I’ll remember Andy the Villain — when he was Lonesome Rhoades, the Arkansas no-account who becomes a media and political sensation in Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd:”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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Continue reading Remember Andy Griffith — as a 1950s version of Glenn Beck, but meaner »
Politico.com may have come up with today’s best behind-the-scenes piece:
If you’re a regular listener of Glenn Beck’s radio show and you wanted to contribute to a political group that would advance the populist conservative ideals he touts on his show, you’d have plenty of reason to think that FreedomWorks was your best investment.
But if you’re a fan of Mark Levin’s radio show, you’d have just as much cause to believe that Americans for Prosperity, a FreedomWorks rival, was the most effective conservative advocacy group. And, if Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity are who you listen to, you’d be hear a steady stream of entreaties to support the important work of the Heritage Foundation.
That’s not coincidence. In search of donations and influence, the three prominent conservative groups are paying hefty sponsorship fees to the popular talk show hosts. Those fees buy them a variety of promotional tie-ins, as well as regular on-air plugs – praising or sometimes …
Continue reading The quiet money behind talk radio’s biggest names »
Using the departure of Glenn Beck as a starting point, Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine has a terrific look at Roger Ailes and Fox News’ (allegedly) faltering plans to groom the next Republican presidential candidate. It includes this:
All the 2012 candidates know that Ailes is a crucial constituency. “You can’t run for the Republican nomination without talking to Roger,” one GOPer told me. “Every single candidate has consulted with Roger.” But he hasn’t found any of them, including the adults in the room—Jon Huntsman, Mitch Daniels, Mitt Romney—compelling. “He finds flaws in every one,” says a person familiar with his thinking.
“He thinks things are going in a bad direction,” another Republican close to Ailes told me. “Roger is worried about the future of the country. He thinks the election of Obama is a disaster. He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven’t elevated the …
Continue reading Roger Ailes, Sarah Palin and the Fox News presidential machine »
If you curled up in front of the TV on Tuesday, you saw members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, pair up like awkward fourth-graders at the school dance.
“The night of polite” became an underlying theme of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union evening — a bipartisan effort to muddy the clichés of talk radio and cable TV.
But if you had ventured into a bone-chilling rain and pointed yourself toward The Temple in midtown Atlanta that same evening, you might have seen the real thing: A Muslim scholar — one of the world’s best — explaining the Quran from the pulpit of a major synagogue.
In front of him was a mixed audience of 200 or so. Not of Republicans and Democrats, but Jews and Muslims, men and women, some in yarmulkes and some in hajibs. With the occasional bare-headed gentile thrown in for good measure.
The purpose in Atlanta was the same as in Washington — an attempt to escape the cartoon corner we have painted ourselves into.
On one hand, we …
Continue reading ‘A night of polite’ between Jews and Muslims in Atlanta »
Drunk-driving citations by state troopers have jumped by well over a third in the last four years. But it may not be a matter of unemployed commuters trying to wash away their depression.
From Walter Jones and the Morris News Service:
Citations issued by the Georgia State Patrol for drunken driving have increased 37 percent in the four years since the start of the recession….
Tickets for drivers without insurance increased 29 percent in the same period. Seat-belt and child-restraint infractions are also higher. However, speeding tickets are down by 25 percent.
Drivers’ behavior might not explain all of it. The tight state budget might.
“We’ve asked troopers to conserve fuel where they can, and they have been good about doing so,” said Gordy Wright, a spokesman for the State Patrol.
Troopers are parking their cars and conducting more stationary roadblocks. The change trimmed the average car’s gas bill to $410 per month in the fiscal year that ended in June.
***
A continuing …
Continue reading Your morning jolt: Drunk-driving citations up by 37 percent »
Earlier this month, Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky, the U.S. Senate minority leader, was asked about a poll that indicated that nearly one in five Americans believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim.
“The president says he’s a Christian. I take him at his word,” McConnell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
This morning’s editorial in the Augusta Chronicle doesn’t even cut Obama that tiny bit of slack. The first two paragraphs:
Much has been made recently over questions of the president’s religious views.
In reporting a poll that says 18 percent of Americans believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, national media have condescendingly added the words “mistakenly” and “incorrectly.” Yet, it’s quite possible Americans aren’t as dumb as the media think: Maybe they’re aware of Mr. Obama’s Christian affiliation — and just don’t believe it.
We are beginning to tread some very shaky ground, ladies and gentlemen.
***
Thousands of Tea Party activists gather for a "Restoring America" rally at the …
Continue reading Your morning jolt: Questioning Barack Obama’s religion »
More on this later, but the guessing in Georgia’s education community is that Gov. Sonny Perdue will appoint a caretaker to fill out the last six months of School Superintendent Kathy Cox’s term rather than either of two Republicans in the contest the advantage of the incumbency.
As if having an “(i)” next to your name is an actual advantage in this climate.
Here’s the situation: Cox gave notice of her June 30 resignation after the qualifying period that ended in April. So Perdue’s choices for a long-term superintendent are limited to three Democrats and two Republicans.
Perdue intends to pick a successor before Cox leaves, so that Georgia can continue to pursue a competition for federal dollars known as “Race to the Top.” This is important.
Assume that to choose a Democrat would prompt a GOP revolution. That leaves the two Republicans: John Barge, a Bartow County school administrator; and Richard Woods, an Irwin County administrator.
As of Wednesday, neither candidate had …
This morning, before his 10 a.m. town hall on health care reform in Oconee County, U.S. Rep. Paul Brown (R-Athens) put a call into radio host Glenn Beck, to discuss his thoughts on an America that’s careening toward dictatorship.
The YouTube clip has already been posted:
At one point, the topic of discussion was liberal violence that’s been ignored by the mainstream media — whose adoration of Obama, says Broun, is one of the key ingredients of the coming totalitarianism:
Beck:…There was some violence. A guy had his finger bitten off by a supporter of Obama care.
Broun: Glenn, this morning in the Athens Banner-Herald, the editorial talks about possible violence at my town hall meeting. I’m sitting just one thin door away from a meeting hall where I’m holding a town hall meeting.
We have had information that Obama folks are busing people in here to disrupt our town hall meeting.
Quite a few Democrats did show up. No buses mentioned. But according to Blake Aued’s …
Continue reading Paul Broun was only ‘one thin door’ away from…. »
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