* Sen. John McCain dropped in at Meet The Press last Sunday to put the nomination of Chuck Hegel as secretary of defense into context. He’s “confident,” he said, that Hegel “will probably” have the votes for confirmation. But he couldn’t resist being McCain. “No, I don’t believe he’s qualified,” he added. No one bothered asking if he had ever gotten over erstwhile Republican Senate colleague Hegel backing Barack Obama for president in 2008.
* More often than not, Saturday Night Live misses the satirical mark. No exception last Saturday with its opening skit lampooning that Carnival cruise from hell. Maybe the subject was just too cringe-able for quality spoofing. But then they come back with a “Fox & Friends” interview with Ted Nugent that was demonically spot on and a faux trailer for Djesus Uncrossed that had to be hilarious to all but the blasphemy sensitive.
*The Tampa Bay Times is pulling out all the marketing stops in heralding its newly redesigned–make that “reimagined”–tampabay.com website. Yes, it’s impressive. But one question is begged in the Times’ serious foray into digital journalism. Where have you been until now?
*Always interesting when the two local dailies give the same story different play. Last Saturday’s Tampa Tribune accorded page-one, above-the-fold status to the “Poly Wants Another $25M” story. It reported that Florida Polytechnic University’s new trustees “are asking” the state for $25 million in extra funding. The Tampa Bay Times played it more conservatively–“Florida Poly Might Request $25M” on page 7 of the B section. Hedging (“preparing to ask”) is usually the better journalistic call–no matter how tempting the headline potential–but the Trib’s placement better reflected local interest and relevance. Just ask Rep. Mike Fasano. Both dailies did–and he pulled no “boondoggle” punches in his scathing reaction to the Poly folly update.