Category: Media Watch

* “There’s a fundamental disconnect with a particular section of young Britain and sections of the political establishment.”–Matthew Goodwin, politics professor at the University of Nottingham.

* “What we’re seeing on the streets in Britain right now is something we may be starting to see here. The cause was not injustice … (it was) greed, selfishness, a respect and even lust for violence, and a lack of moral grounding.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* “Before, Saudi (Arabia) was seen as the main anti-Arab Spring power and interested mostly in preserving the status quo in the region. Now, you have the Saudis actively and openly against the Syrian regime. The reason, of course, is Iran.”–Christopher Davidson, a Gulf-affairs experts at Durham University
in Britain.

* “We’ve let our five basic pillars of growth erode since the end of the Cold War — education, infrastructure, immigration of high-I.Q. innovators and entrepreneurs, rules to incentivize risk-taking and start-ups, and government-funded research to spur science and technology.”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

* “I’m embarrassed by all of us. I’ve never seen a worse Congress in my whole political life.”–Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

* “The real question, even in purely fiscal terms, isn’t whether we’ll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.
* “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress.  It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.” —Warren Buffett.

*“I think the moment we can get some of our Republican friends to stopinterpreting closing loopholes as raising taxes, we’ll get home free on this.”–Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., one of the six Democrats on the supercommittee tasked with proposing $1.5 trillion in savings over the coming decade.

* “You are essentially having a world where you have 25 million people who are underemployed and 2 percent of the population doing better than they ever have. Why wouldn’t that lead to some sort of social unrest? Why wouldn’t people use the latest technologies to effect that?”–Jonathan Taplin, director of the
innovation lab at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications, in commenting on flash mobs morphing from mass dance routines and street pillow fights to chaos and crime.

* “Obama’s an incumbent below 50. Don’t confuse the Republican Congressional ratings with the presidential ratings. The Republicans in Congress won’t be running against Obama.”–Democratic strategist Mark Penn.

*“If we want to beat Texas, we need to play like Texas. It’s time to put Florida’s future first — it’s time to close the Internet sales tax
loophole.”–Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

* “What happens in Pinellas stays in Pinellas; what happens in Hillsborough stays in Hillsborough. But that has to change.”–Ronnie Duncan, chairman of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority.

* “If someone else wants to take over, I’ll support them, but I just don’t have the time or money. It’s sad, because there’s still a lot of support for it.”–Mary Ann Stiles, chairwoman of Elected County Mayor Political Committee Inc., in announcing that her group will not be seeking to put the county mayor issue on the ballot in the 2012 general election.

* “I am from St. Louis, and I thought they were supportive. The support here has been bigger and better.”–Timothy Roberts, chief executive of Ybor City-based, technology company Savtira Corp., on plans to add 265 jobs.

* “Everyone keeps calling the Rays a regional asset, but my folks (city taxpayers) have real skin in the game. If the Rays attempt to leave the city and county, my city will suffer irreparable harm.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.

* “Youngry.”–Bucs coach Raheem Morris’ term for his “young and hungry” defense.

* “They’ve handled themselves very poorly. And they’ve shown a stunning lack of knowledge about the basic U.S. fiscal  budget math.”–Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in criticizing Standard & Poor’s for lowering the U.S. Government’s credit rating.

* “I hope Friday’s (credit-rating) news gives us a renewed sense of urgency.”–President Barack Obama.

* “All Americans, both Beltway politicians and those on Main Street, have to do some serious soul-searching to bring their country back from a potential financial abyss.”–Editorial in Xinhua, China’s official newswire.

* “You just don’t push the world’s largest economy and the most liquid financial markets to the brink of disaster without causing damage somewhere.”–Francesco  Guerrera, Wall Street Journal.

* “Negotiating with fiscal terrorists only encourages them.”–Katrina Vanden Huevel, publisher and editor of the Nation magazine.

* “The Tea Party was a movement that changed the conversation in Washington, but it has steeped too long and has become toxic.”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.

* “They are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they’ve been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it.”–Howard
Dean, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

* “The vision of a second Camelot has turned to a mirage. Obama has seemed more like a Carter milquetoast than a take-charge Kennedy.”–Ann McFeatters, Scripps Howard.

* “The current iteration of the party abandoned real Republican principles long ago to cater to ideologues and corporations — the Koch entities, most notably — whose interests lie in the profiteering of America and the sacking of the middle class.”–Former Republican state Sen. Nancy Argenziano, in announcing
that she would try run for the U.S. House of Representatives (North Florida’s District 2) as a Democrat.

* “People do their homework and comparison shop online so stores are getting more like showrooms.”–William Taubman, COO of Taubman Centers Inc., the developer of International Plaza.

* “I know a lot of people are discouraged that the two parties (Tampa Bay Rays and St. Petersburg) of the (Tropicana Field) contract aren’t talking. And I will say that no one is more discouraged at the lack of communication than I am.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.

* “This is a Super Bowl times four.”–Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on the impact of the 2012 GOP convention on Tampa.

* “I happen to believe if we do the job right, and if we do it the way I know we’re going to, I think they’ll come back in ’16.”–Al Austin on the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa.

* “It’s an elite list of cities we’re on now with this competition.”–Tampa Bay & Company spokesman Travis Claytor on Tampa hosting the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships.

I guess it works — making outrageous comments — because we’re still writing about him. Glenn Beck, that is.

Seems that like the rest of us, Beck was deeply disturbed at the slaughter of teenagers on Norway’s Utoya Island. However, what disturbed him wasn’t what disturbed everyone else. His initial take was to be taken aback by the very existence of a Labor Party youth camp, where the 68 murder victims were gunned down.

On his nationally syndicated radio show, Beck declaimed: “There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler Youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing.”

Actually, there are responses in addition to instant incredulity and utter outrage. Among them: You want a politicized kids’ camp? How about Tampa Liberty School, the 5-day gathering for 40 children, ages 8 to12, at a private Temple Terrace Christian school? It’s put on by the 912 Project, which is affiliated with the Tea Party national movement, which is arguably no less political nor ideological than Norway’s Labor Party. Its instruction includes Revolutionary War history, Founding Fathers’ principles, some free enterprise examples and a guy in a wig and a jabot.

* “So I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm.”–Former President George W. Bush explaining his initial reaction to learning of the 9/11 attacks.

* “The federal government will have absolute and unfettered power to create complex regulatory schemes to fix every perceived problem imaginable and to do so by ordering private citizens to engage in affirmative acts, under penalty of law.”–The Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., in asking the Supreme Court to strike down health care overhaul.

* “The only hope for an AARP society is to keep investing in children’s health, schools and colleges, roads, rail, fiber optics, and research and development to stoke economic growth.”–Fred Hiatt, Washington Post.

* “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what might come of that?”–Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

* “November 2012 constitutes the new conservatism’s one chance to restructure government and change the ideological course of the country.”–Charles
Krauthammer, Washington Post.

* “Many pundits view taking a position in the middle of the political spectrum as a virtue in itself. I don’t. Wisdom doesn’t necessarily reside in the middle of the road, and I want leaders who do the right thing, not the centrist thing. … The problem with American politics right now is Republican extremism, and if you’re not willing to say that, you’re helping make the problem worse.”–Paul Krugman, New York Times.

* “…Hard righters wouldn’t even nominate (Ronald) Reagan today, but why mess with a good myth as long as it’s still
working on the stump?”–Kathleen Parker, Washington Post.

* “Where have all the adults in this (Republican) party gone? … Are you telling me that they are ready to fall in line behind Michele Bachmann, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin? Are these really the pacesetters of modern conservatism?”–Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

* “The Tea Party could destroy itself if it’s not careful.”–David Gergen, senior political analyst for CNN and former presidential advisor in the Nixon, Ford,
Reagan and Clinton administrations.

* “We have negotiated with terrorists.”–Vice President Joe Biden’s characterization of debt-limit negotiations with Tea Party Republicans.

* “He seems to have the charisma that many of his colleagues can only fake.”–Assessment of Sen. Marco Rubio by the Washington publication the Hill.

* “Chaos creates opportunity.”–Stewart R. Massey, chief investment officer at Massey, Quick & Co.

* “Several years ago it became very clear to us that master’s education was moving very rapidly to become the entry degree in
many professions.”–Debra W. Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools.

* “Basically, court proceedings are no longer news but entertainment.”–Judge Belvin Perry, the judge in the Casey Anthony case.

* “I’m Chihulied out, like I am with (architect) Frank Gehry. There’s just too much Chihuly in the world.”–University of California architect professor Stanley Saitowitz, one of five jurists sitting in judgment of firms vying to design St. Petersburg’s $50 million Pier project.

* “Passenger traffic is strong. We expect to see growth by year’s end.”–Noah Lagos, St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport director.

* “I’m not sure playing hardball benefits us.”–Financial advisor and St. Petersburg City Council candidate Joshua Shulman, commenting on the
stadium standoff between Mayor Bill Foster and the Tampa Bay Rays.

* “You have to see yourself as a professional.”–Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, in addressing new county teachers.

* “He is an unstoppable force.”–Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman describing Rays’ Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Andrew
Friedman, who was overseeing the trade deadline from his (post-appendectomy) bed at St. Anthony’s Hospital.

Wasn’t there a time when the weekly news magazines, such as Time and Newsweek, didn’t look like they belonged with the supermarket tabs? With covers shilling the sensational or celebs du jour.  

Take the most recent issue of Newsweek. Please.

It looks like an entity that merged with the online publication, The Daily Beast, which it did last year. And its covers bear the pop-culture input of editor-in-chief  Tina Brown. The current one emblazons: “The DSK Maid Speaks,” which speaks for itself. A couple of weeks ago it ran that compromised profile of Sarah Palin, who was depicted on the “I Can Win” cover with that semi-fetching image courtesy of Runner’s World Magazine.

No, you don’t have to pick up an undersized, ill-edited daily newspaper or catch “Page One” at Tampa Theatre to see out how traditional, respected print media is too often responding to online competition.

* “These are delicate times, and we take a positive role.”–Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s of China in explaining that his country has been buying Spanish, Portuguese and Greek bonds to help stabilize these Chinese export markets.

* “Systemic confidence is essential in a financial crisis. Teaching investors a lesson is a wish, not a policy. U.S. policymakers were applauded for about 12 hours for their willingness to let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt. The shattering consequences that had on confidence are still being felt.”–Lawrence Summers, for Treasury Secretary and past president of Harvard University.

* “The polarization of fiscal policy is one of the worst legacies to come out of the recession. Before the crisis, there was agreement that what you do when you run out of monetary tools is fiscal stimulus. Suddenly, it’s like we’re back in the 1930s.”–Christina Romer, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers in Obama Administration.

* “A moderate former liberal … who would never be elected today, in my opinion.”–Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., R-Cal, in reference to Ronald Reagan.

* “Obama is not the new FDR, but the new Gorbachev.”–Richard Miniter, Forbes magazine.

* “The real (economic) culprit has been hiding in plain sight. We are living through a tremendous bust. It isn’t simply a housing bust. It’s a fizzling of the great consumer bubble that was decades in the making.”–David Leonhardt, New York Times.

* “Here’s what’s certain: as she (Michelle Bachmann) pursues the nomination, the Republican establishment won’t line up behind her, because they don’t think she has a prayer of broadening her ultraconservative base enough to woo swing voters and topple President Obama. And toppling is what they’re all about.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.

* “Obviously hamstrung and far, far below the paper’s true capacity.”–Columbia Journalism Review’s Dean Starkman on the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the News of the World’s demise and ongoing scandal.

* “(Rupert) Murdoch’s media outlets must shill for his business interests. With the News of the World scandal, the (Wall Street) Journal has now shown itself willing to do that too.”–Joe Nocera, New York Times.

* “We trust that readers can see through the commercial and ideological motives of our competitor critics. The Schadenfreude is so thick you can’t cut it with a chain saw. Especially redolent are lectures about journalistic standards from publications that give Julian Assange and WikiLeaks their moral imprimatur. They want their readers to believe, based on no evidence, that the tabloid excesses of one publication somehow tarnish thousands of other News Corp. journalists across the world.”–Wall Street Journal editorial.

* “The new poor are the former middle class. But we can’t get this president or any leaders to say the words ‘poor’ or ‘poverty,’ much less do anything about it.”–Travis Smiley, PBS talk show host and black activist.

* “The current state of political affairs in Florida has fueled apprehension in Republican circles. Gov. Scott has the lowest approval ratings of any Florida governor since Charley Johns in the 1950s and Claude Kirk in the 1960s. Neither Johns nor Kirk won another statewide office after their term as governor.”–David R. Colburn, director of the Askew Institute at the University of Florida.

* “Pinellas County jurors NOT welcome!!!”–A sign at Skyline Chili in Clearwater.

* “It’s hard to combat the national media’s depiction of our stadium. Our situation has become a distraction. It is affecting the clubhouse, and it spills over onto the field of play. It damages the national reputation of St. Pete and Tampa Bay, and it harms the Rays’ brand. Clearly, something needs to be done.”–Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman.

* “I will say that it took him a little longer than nine innings, but he got it done.”–University of Tampa Associate Professor of Education Edward Cloutier on the graduation of former New York Yankee Tino Martinez, who left UT for pro baseball in 1988.

* “If we went so far as to default on the debt, it would be a major crisis because the Treasury security is viewed as the safest and most liquid security in the world.”–Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

* “Today our leaders pop champagne corks when they avoid a government shutdown. When relief masquerades as accomplishment, you know we’ve defined democracy down.”–Matt Miller, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

* “He (House Speaker John Boehner) has House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the wings, eager to seize the speakership. To understand Cantor, think MacBeth with all the vaulting ambition and none of the guilt.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post.

* “People in my camp form a silent majority. But we have been astonishingly passive during these budget negotiations. The tax-cut brigades and the Medicare/spending brigades are well organized. The people who believe in balance and the fundamentals sit piously on the sidelines.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “Taxes are a limitation on liberty. You are stealing money from some people to give it to others.”–Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

* “Ms. (Ayn) Rand warned, ‘Government help to business is just as disastrous as government persecution.’ And I agree. But she did not imagine executives would loot their shareholders, cause an economic crisis and then beg for government help.”–Al Lewis, Dow Jones Newswires.

* “Can liberals start their own tea party?”–recent headline in the Washington Post.

* “It helps that he delivers a good speech and looks like the lead in an old Western movie.”–Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, describing Rick Perry, the Republican Governor of Texas who is a possible presidential candidate.

* “As black America benefited immensely from the Great Society, so it is likely to hurt most as the cuts come. … Incredibly, the question must be asked. Is this Democratic administration about to go to war with its base? Is black America souring on Barack Obama?”–Pat Buchanan, Creators Syndicate.

* “If we want to solve our immigration problem, we need to get beyond the moralistic semantics that cloud the debate. Some 11 million people are in the U.S. without proper authorization. Most are not going to leave willingly, and we’re never going to deport them all. Now, what are we going to do to let them get on with their lives and contribute to our nation?”–Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star.

* “It should not be lost on anyone that the president of the United States, when given a choice, chose a firmly committed pro-Israel Jew to chair the national party.”–Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in addressing members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

* “Never have the airwaves and bandwidths of this country been so clogged with gasbags posing as seasoned courtroom veterans, or lightweight has-beens seeking to jump-start their careers.”–Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald, on media coverage of the Casey Anthony trial.

* “I’d rather go to jail than sit on a jury like this again.”–Anthony juror #12 after quitting her job and leaving town before her name became public.

* “My experience would say that any organization that has 1.4 million customers, that has a premium revenue stream of close to $3 billion a year and a nice chunk of liquidity sitting on its balance sheet potentially has some value to the private world. We owe it to the state to see if it’s a viable option.”–Jim Malone, chairman of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

* “Inmates don’t have a constitutional right to underwear.”–Don Leach, former vice president of the American Jail Association.

* “Oftentimes, we’re not aware of what we have here. … We need to preserve our historic buildings.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, part of a 6-0 Commission vote to appropriate $2 million for the preservation and upkeep of three historic Ybor City buildings, the Cuban Club, the Italian Club and Centro Asturiano.

* “I never thought I’d be excited about a negative 4 percent. In this environment, I’m ecstatic.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn on property tax values declining ONLY 4 percent–not the 6 percent that had been projected.

Whether it’s online or on hard copy, find a way to access an opinion column in last Sunday’s (July 10) New York Times titled “The Good Short Life.” It’s by–as well as about–Dudley Clendinen, who grew up in Tampa. The Plant High grad, 66, is the son of the late James Clendinen, former editorial board chairman of the Tampa Tribune. He’s an author and an ex-newspaper reporter and columnist–from the St. Petersburg Times to the New York Times.

And he’s dying. On schedule. Fate courtesy of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was diagnosed in May 2010. He likely won’t see May 2012.

He’s handling it with urbane dignity. He wants to depart when quality departs from his life. No artificial life support for him. He’s made his plans and his peace. And he savors what he has left.

“I don’t worry about fatty foods anymore,” he notes with benign gallows humor. “I don’t worry about not having enough money to grow old. I’m not going to grow old. I’m having a wonderful time.

“When the music stops–when I can’t tie my bow tie, tell a funny story, walk my dog, talk with (30-year-old daughter) Whitney, kiss someone special, or tap out lines like this–I’ll know that Life is over.

“It’s time to be gone.”

It should be required reading for every mortal.

Here’s a quote from the 1960s which, alas, resonates even more today. Author John Steinbeck, better known for his iconic novels than his political commentary, was referencing the plight of President Lyndon Johnson, who had been sent into early retirement by the Vietnam War.

“We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up…He is ours and we exercise the right to destroy him.”