Goodbye Old Media

Howard Kurtz notes an important point.  Much of the old-line media was practically ignored at Tuesday night’s Obama newser.

Breaking with tradition and using a prepared list, Obama did not recognize journalists with The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal or USA Today — the last four of which were not picked at last month’s news conference, either. Instead, he called on reporters for Ebony magazine, Stars and Stripes, Univision, and Agence France-Presse.

Interestingly, this approach didn’t soften the questioining, but rather brought forth good, sharp, questions …

Web Ad For Bobby Jindal Uses Voices (Including Mine) Without Permission

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks correctly identifies me, among others, including himself, as being used in a misleading ad promoting the presidential prospects of Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. A group calling itself “America for Change” cobbled together a bouquet to Jindal that gives the impression that Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Chris Wallace, Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, Uygur, and I all endorse a Jindal run for president in 2012.

I can hear myself asking Jindal, “Do you see the Republican Party fighting for, a face for, a direction?”  As that is totally out of context, I …

Obama’s News Conference

Politico has 10 questions for him.  What are yours? How did he do?…

On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• Alan discusses tonight’s prime-time presidential press conference with Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

• Should Dick Cheney return to an “undisclosed location”? Alan explains why Republicans are so troubled by the former veep’s refusal to go away quietly.

• Pro-Life Action League National Director Joe Scheidler defends right-wing efforts to prevent President Obama from addressing the graduating class at Notre Dame.…

Anti-Choicers Upset With Obama Commencement Invite To Notre Dame

Groups like the Cardinal Newman Society (an orthodox Catholic group) and Operation Rescue want Notre Dame to rescind an invitation to President Obama to address the graduating class this year.

The Cardinal Newman Society, an advocacy group for greater orthodoxy on Catholic college and university campuses, has set up a protest Web page, notredamescandal.com, that includes the phone number, e-mail and mailing addresses of Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins.

The group calls Obama’s upcoming commencement appearance “an outrage and a scandal.”

Jenkins says that just because you invite the president, it doesn’t mean you endorse all his policies.  …

GOP To Cheney: Leave Us Alone

Republican lawmakers want Dick Cheney to go back to his undisclosed location and stop doing media appearances which are hurting the party’s attempts to reinvent itself.

Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) said, “He became so unpopular while he was in the White House that it would probably be better for us politically if he wouldn’t be so public…But he has the right to speak out since he’s a private citizen.”

Another House Republican lawmaker who requested anonymity said he wasn’t surprised that Cheney has strongly criticized Obama early in his term, but argued that it’s not helping the GOP …

Poison Vegetation Latest Ham-Handed Anti-Immigrant Idea

The Border Patrol is spending $2.1 million dollars to plant poison vegetation along the riverbank in Texas so illegal immigrants and smugglers can’t hide in dense foliage.

UPDATE: I got this one wrong.  The fed plan is to spray planted vegetation with poison, not “plant” poison vegetation.  My position, however, remains the same, given that the locals are worried about how this could harm the local water supply, and how often the idea that our safety is somehow protected when we compromise other values.

The Houston Chronicle reports opponents of the action compare it to the Vietnam War-era Agent …

This Won’t Be Pretty

The best coffee is made by Dunkin’ Donuts.  This is not a matter of dispute. It is a fact.  Not Starbucks, certainly, and not any other so-called coffee company.  However, my radio producer decided to post on Facebook that McDonald’s coffee is better than Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee.  I am not going to take this lying down, and neither should you.

This is what a coffee offender looks like:

This is what a good cup of coffee looks like:

This could get ugly.…

Steve Croft Wasn’t Being Rude

He was commenting on President Obama’s demeanor, and asking him to respond to people who might misinterpret it.

…

On Monday’s Radio Show…

Alan’s back!

• The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, discusses his new book, Eyes On the Horizon.

• Tim Gaynor, author of Midnight On The Line, explains how the drug war threatens America’s border security.

• Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell sits down with Alan for an even wilder-than-usual edition of First Word.…

Another One Bites The Dust

Newspaper, that is. Last week it was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  In February, it was Denver’s Rocky Mountain News.  The San Francisco Chronicle is in trouble.  Now, the Ann Arbor News announces it will become an online-only publication after it publishes its final hard copy in July.

“This is a difficult day for all of us at The Ann Arbor News,” publisher Laurel Champion said in a letter published in Monday’s edition.

“As we say hello to AnnArbor.com, we will say goodbye to The Ann Arbor News.”

The news website will be complemented by a “print product” …