Category: Media Watch

If ever there were a waste of the legal system’s time, good offices and personnel, it is our current high-profile, shock jock defamation trial. Todd “MJ” Schnitt is suing Bubba the Love Sponge Clem for defamation. Or is it the other way around? Who cares? The case has been frothing for five years, and now it’s finally gross-out game on.

Clem would appear to have a winnable case. Schnitt’s a public figure, there was, arguably, no malice intended, and ostensibly defamatory statements can often be characterized as “pure opinions, rhetorical exaggeration or hyperbole that reasonable listeners would not consider to be true.”

Just one caveat. That part about “reasonable” listeners.

* “Europe has more responsibility for its own security, and Germany has to step up to that, particularly considering its new economic power in Europe.”–Constanze Stelzenmuller, senior fellow at the Berlin-based German Marshall Fund.

* “We are not a deadbeat nation.”–President Barack Obama.

* “Ultimately, parties tend to be defined by their most visible personalities.”–Mitch Daniels, former Republican governor of Indiana.

* “House Republicans have just enough real power to raise conservative expectations but not nearly enough to bend a liberal president and a Democratic Senate to their will.”–Ross Douthat, New York Times.

* “The banks will not get this country in trouble; I guarantee it.”–Warren Buffett.

* “As the federal government becomes a health care state, there will have to be a generation of defense cuts that overwhelm anything in recent history.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “I’m a hunter. Believe in Second Amendment rights. But you know what? I don’t need an assault weapon to shoot a duck. And I think they ought to be banned, and I think we need to put a ban on the amount of shells you can carry in a magazine, and I think we have to strengthen our background checks.”–Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn.

* “Biden did for the president on Capitol Hill what J.F.K. was always too wary to let the experienced  L.B.J. do for him.”–Presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

* “Given Obama’s ideology, perhaps it would make more sense for him to swear in (on) Das Kapital.”–Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League.

* “We need to provide a path out of the shadows for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the United States today–provided that they meet strict conditions.”–Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

* “Watching America’s legalization movement with gloom are the Mexican drug cartels, whose vast profits from grass smuggling will wither with the loss of their most lucrative market.”–Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald.

* “It seems to me to be rather odd and unusual that the governor would take a direct role of this sort in a search for a university president that is traditionally the  province of the board of trustees and the faculty.”–John Biro, president of the University of Florida’s faculty union chapter, on Gov. Rick Scott’s active involvement in persuading UF President Bernie Machen to postpone his retirement.

* “I am not real happy.”–U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, commenting on news that MacDill Air Force Base was no longer in the running to land the first of the Air Force’s next-generation air-refueling aircraft.

* “If not for William Reece Smith, legal services to the poor would probably not exist in this country.”–Dick Woltmann, president and CEO of Bay Area Legal Services.

* “I’m excited about having the opportunity to have a dialogue and find out exactly what the Rays’ long-term plans, goals and intentions are. Up until now, it’s been nothing but speculation and what little we read in the paper.”–Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan in confirming that the Rays will talk to his board on Jan. 24.

* “We would like to see people–that is, the general populace–demand that Florida come out of the solar Dark Ages.”–Scott McIntyre, CEO of Solar Energy Management.

* “I want Tampa’s streetcar expanded in both hours and routing. If we’re bringing people downtown to discover what we have, then we will need better transportation.”–Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

* “The number of residents in downtown/Harbour Island has reached the tipping point where a grocery store makes financial sense.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

* “If I lose this, it’s going to be very disturbing for people who do what we do.”–Bubba the Love Sponge Clem on the defamation law suit brought against him by Todd “MJ” Schnitt.

* “If our South is ever to be what we wish it to be, we will plant a flower of nobler resolve for the South now upon these four small graves that we dug.”–The last line of Eugene Patterson’s most famous column, written for the Atlanta Constitution in 1963 in the aftermath of the Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls.

* The latest regional media poll on Gov. Rick Scott’s popularity shows 42 percent rating his job performance as “poor” or “not so good,” 23 percent rating it “good” or “excellent” and 27 percent rating it “average.” A couple of questions are begged.

First, how is this not more one-sided? Have that many voters bought the by-the-numbers makeover effort that has Scott getting credit for job growth that is cyclically normal, for cynically recalibrating “principled” positions and for no longer giving his budget address in Eustis? Has 10-figure, Medicare fraud become the mere equivalent of an expense-account faux pas or a dubious political contribution? Are there that many Tea Partiers still celebrating the demise of high-speed rail between Orlando and Tampa?

And what the hell is the criteria for “average”?

* The St. Petersburg Tribune. Who would have thought?

* Technically, Tea Party loon and former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., is now unemployed. Alas, likely not for long. He got voted out of the HenHouse, but a fellow Fox now awaits.

* For the longest time, we hadn’t heard from retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Last time was when he pre-empted cashiering by publicly “retiring” after a controversial article in Rolling Stone contained unflattering comments about the president and vice president by some McChrystal aides. Now we’re hearing from McChrystal because, well, he has a book (“My Share of the Task”) out. We get that. This time he’s using the media.

But what we still can’t fathom is this: How does a Rolling Stone writer get embedded in Afghanistan? We’re not talking the Associated Press, the New York Times or Reuters, let alone Stars and Stripes. By way of explanation, McChrystal writes that “by nature” he “tended to trust people and was typically open and transparent.”

Good thing Al-Jazeera didn’t ask.

* Anybody notice an evolving, sometimes snarkily-clichéd tone–“editorial independence” notwithstanding–on the opinion side of the Wall Street Journal? Seems more like the Wail Street Journal some days. You really would think Rupert Murdoch owned it.

Entirely too often I watch one of the MSNBC politi-chat shows–typically, “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Like a lot of you, I have my political-junkie side. MSNBC is really the Fox News counterpart, only with lower ratings. But it can also be ideologically obnoxious, even though on the proper side of most, but not all, issues I care about.

A couple of observations.

Ever notice that when a guest is, in effect, trying out for a host role, they are so much more palatable? They don’t need a shtick and haven’t yet been asked to do marketing promos. They’re contributing, not starring. And, yes, Rachel Maddow would be Exhibit A.

Second, how does Chris Matthews keep his job after Michael Smerconish guest hosts for him? Smerconish is a superior interviewer and, unlike the regular host, never hucksters for his own side projects. He’s also not obsequious with guests, as Matthews is with his civil-rights heroes. Smerconish is a well-prepared professional who listens and doesn’t interrupt. As a result, I don’t find myself yelling at the TV because the host won’t let somebody finish a point.

I know these prime-time political programs thrive on conflict and reasoned civility only gets you time on the PBS NewsHour. But surely there are plenty of political junkies who don’t need a conflict fix every weeknight. Surely.

* “China increasingly reminds of South Korea or Taiwan in the early 1980s, when an educated middle class was nibbling away at dictatorship.”–Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times.

* “Ireland is coming out with its own version of the show Cheers. Yeah, a sitcom about people who sit around drinking at a bar all day–or as they call that in Ireland, reality TV.”–Comedian Jimmy Fallon.

* “The U.S. secretary of defense today is a high-stakes actor in international diplomacy. America is well-served when the Pentagon and State Department work together, as they have since Robert Gates took over the Pentagon in 2006. With Mr. Hagel at Defense and John Kerry at State, America would again benefit from that cooperation. Chuck Hagel would be a great secretary of defense.”–Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

* “Whether Egypt turns out more like Pakistan or India will impact the future of democracy in the whole Arab world.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.

* “The American Dream is in peril.”–Speaker of the House John Boehner.

* “I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds.”–U.S. Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., in response to Hurricane Sandy-relief delays in the House.

* “The tax issue is finished. Over. Completed. That’s behind us. Now the question is what are we going to do about the biggest problem confronting our country and that’s our spending addiction.”–Sen. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

* “It’s an iron law of politics that prospective losers lobby harder to block change than prospective winners do for its adoption.”–Robert H. Frank, New York Times.

* “We are all for properly trained, properly selected school-based police officers. It’s not a job for every police officer. It really is a field of specialization.”–Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, commenting on the post-Newtown trend for increased school policing.

* “Some (Congress members) might have been willing to support this (budget compromise) deal, but the environment of Republican primaries has become frightening if you are not on board with the conservative wing of the party.”–University of Florida political scientist Stephen Craig.

* “These days everyone’s a pundit. Got an opinion? Why, step right up to the microphone. If you’re ‘good TV,’ you too can be a ‘contributor.'”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.

* “If you want to learn something from a movie, watch a documentary.”–Actor Samuel Jackson commenting on Django Unchained.

* “Today 48 percent of Floridians were born in another state, 19 percent in a foreign country and 33 percent in Florida. The percentage of native born is the lowest in the nation. …Is it any wonder that Floridians lack a sense of community, a mythic identity, and a knowledge of the state’s past?”–David R. Colburn, author and interim director of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida.

* “I don’t understand why everybody’s not a Republican. Anybody who believes that they want to improve themselves should be a Republican.”–Gov. Rick Scott.

* “Listen, you can’t underestimate any guy who’s going to spend $100 million to get re-elected. A landslide (gubernatorial) win in 2014 is going to be by one or two points.”–Democratic strategist Steve Schale.

* “Tampa Bay is an underserved international gateway when you look at the demographics.”–Chris Minner, TIA vice president of marketing.

* “This more clearly demonstrates our belief that every town and local community deserves to have its own focused news coverage and voice.”–Tampa Tribune publisher William Barker in announcing the debut of The St. Petersburg Tribune.

* “We’re going to continue to push services out. We can operate better closer to the people we serve.”–Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill.

* “I think the statistics are showing this program works, and it works as a safety measure.”–Tampa City Councilman Harry Cohen on the city’s implementation of red-light cameras.

* “The future of health care is that you have to have relationships. That doesn’t mean mergers necessarily. … What it does mean is you have to figure out how to align yourself with other players where it makes sense.”–Jim Burkhart, president and CEO of Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, who takes over in March for Ron Hytoff as head of Tampa General Hospital.

* “He’s the one that makes the trains run on time. He can deliver a message but do it without rancor. He does it without leaving a trail of bodies.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on his chief-of-staff,  Santiago Corrada.

I’ve mentioned before what a great read “The Presidents Club,” by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, is. Coincidentally, there’s a reference to the most recent member, Barack Obama, that is all too ironically relevant right now. And if you’ve been fortunate enough to have seen the movie “Lincoln,” you’re well prepped.

President Obama tells the authors that compromise need not be interpreted as selling out one’s convictions. He then cited President Lincoln as a prime example. And The Emancipation Proclamation, which hangs prominently in this president’s Oval Office, is Exhibit A. President Obama makes the point that it did not emancipate everybody.

There were provisions and exceptions, and it obviously couldn’t be enforced by Lincoln in areas under Confederate control. But it was a rallying point, and it was a critical step in paving the way for the ratification of the 13th Amendment, the one that actually abolished slavery.

“Now think about that,” underscored the president. “The ‘Great Emancipator’ was making a compromise in the Emancipation Proclamation because he thought it was necessary … in preserving the Union and winning the war.

“So you know what? If Abraham Lincoln could make some compromises as part of governance, then surely we can make some compromises when it comes to handling our budget.”

You would think.

* This year’s presidential election reinforced some basics about polls. You can’t always trust them. So many variables, so little verification. But here’s one that, despite it’s almost unprecedented numbers, absolutely resonates. A Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/AM 820 News Tampa Bay Poll shows nearly 90 percent of respondents favoring a ban on texting while driving. Seven percent opposed such a law for this state.

Florida remains one of 11 states that has not outlawed text messaging for drivers. That’s a disgrace–and the poll numbers surely reflect the outrage. As for that 7 percent? That’s still too high for a blatantly obvious public-safety threat–even given the number of telecom lobbyists and self-styled, politically partisan, “personal liberty” champions out there.

* I always look in on the Outback Bowl, regardless of who’s playing. To be honest, however, I’m most interested in those network cut-away shots that feature local color–from Busch Gardens and Ybor City to waterfront skylines and Gulf beaches. Especially when the weather is notably balmy here–and not even close most other places. That’s a gratis marketing coup on national television every New Year’s Day. On Tuesday, the scoreboard showed that South Carolina won, but Tampa Bay is an Outback winner each year.

* NBC Nightly News follows the industry standard by teasing to its own network programming, in this case “Rock Center” and “Meet The Press.” Often. It’s part of the business of news. We all get that. But that’s no acceptable, self-interest rationale for how it handled the flap about “Meet The Press” host David Gregory’s dramatic display of a high-capacity magazine in his interview with NRA vice president Wayne LaPierre. It was all over the internet and print media that Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department had opened an investigation as to whether NBC and Gregory had broken a law, namely the one that prohibits the sheer possession of such magazines.

NBC’s immediate response: no comment by a spokesperson. But more to the point, the “Nightly News” couldn’t so much as mention it. There’s taking care of your own–and then there’s self-serving, news-judgment negligence.

* Thomas Sowell is a well-known conservative author and scholar. And as a black Republican, he occupies, especially these days, a unique media niche. He’s presumed to personify the truth-teller who’d rather stand on principle than embrace a brother. As it should be. Unless, that is, you say this in a recent Creators Syndicate column:

“After watching a documentary about the tragic story of Jonestown, I was struck by the utterly unthinking way that so many people put themselves completely at the mercy of a glib and warped man, who led them to degradation and destruction. And I could not help thinking of the parallel with the way we put a glib and warped man in the White House.”

That’s not writing; that’s spewing. Thomas Sowell has morphed into Allen West.

* “The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know.”–President Harry Truman.

* “The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity.”–John Maynard Keynes.

* “It’s not that this proposal is regarded as great or is loved in any way, but it’s regarded as better than going over the ‘cliff.'”–Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

* “It’s good to have hope, but if we’re going to be realistic, there’s little chance for Middle East emergence of what we in the West call democracy.”–Walter Williams, Creators Syndicate.

* “Soprano state.”–What American officials have nicknamed North Korea for its trafficking in state-sponsored organized crime such as counterfeiting, drugs and insurance fraud.

* “In a world without a serious military rival, the U.S. becomes the world’s emergency call center.”–Fareed Zakaria, Time magazine.

* “We will continue to oppose a ban on semiautomatic weapons that are used for perfectly legitimate purposes. We’re talking about sporting arms.”–David Keene, NRA president.

* “To me, essential freedoms have been those that the government takes away from you in prison. To the NRA, freedom is the ability to own three assault rifles, four Glocks and unlimited ammo.”–Randy Schultz, Palm Beach Post.

* “It’s a terrible idea. It’s a horrible, terrible, no-good, rotten idea.”–Carol Lear, chief lawyer for the Utah Office of Education, commenting on the free gun training offered to teachers by Utah’s leading gun lobby.

* “The problem with the Republican Party is the quality of the people who vote in their primaries and caucuses. … It can’t win with a base that is at war with math, physics, human biology, economics and common-sense gun laws all at the same time.”–Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.

* “The party right now is a holding company that’s devoid of a soul.”–Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

* “You just try to tell a good story that captures a moment in time, and hopefully that stands the test of time.”–Kathryn Bigelow, director of “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

* “The cost curve is extremely steep, and unless you’re in a power conference, the revenue is flat.”–Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University, on the reality of any school moving up to the top level, the Football Bowl Subdivision.

* “I believe the state collects taxes to educate children, not to fund schools.”–Newly appointed Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett.

* “My job is not to listen to any one group as the sole proprietor of information.”–New Florida Speaker of the House Will Weatherford.

* “There is a built-in critical mass in downtown Tampa that if you could walk to a stadium you would have a lot more people in the seats. You would energize downtown in ways we can’t even imagine.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

* “Part of the problem is that the road speeds are much too fast for sharing lanes.”–Jim Shirk, chairman of the Hillsborough County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Let’s see if we have this right.

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, Gov. Rick Scott remains unpopular with Florida voters.            Tellingly, 53 percent of  Republicans say they’d like another Republican to mount a primary challenge to Scott in 2014.

The poll, however, also found that Republican voters do give Scott a 63-19 percent job approval rating. Moreover, GOP voters say–by a 55-26 percent margin–that he deserves a second chance. Say what?

I say Quinnipiac should be out of chances.