I've had this blog three days and I'm already moving to Typepad. Believe it or not, Blogger, the site that everyone can manage successfully has proven too difficult for me.
I'll be watching Calvin Woodward of the AP from now on here .
Let me be clear that I'm not blaming Blogger for the move. I think it's a great service and I wish I had the time to make it work for me.
I haven't found an article from Mr. Woodward yet but this piece from the AP's Nancy Benac, showed up in my search. It's a good example of lively writing that doesn't editorialize. It covers an important issue too - what are the Dems going to do about taxes and how are they going to communicate those plans to the voters? It also brings up the question of why Gen. Clark's tax plan was so badly ignored by the press when it came out.
I don't have an article yet today from Mr. Woodward but this article by the AP's Nancy Benac came up in my search. It's a good example of a lively piece that sticks to facts and covers the important issue of what the Dems are going to do about taxes.
I'm building up my positive karma so that when I need to be strict, I won't feel so bad :)
Mr. Woodward hasn't been nearly as biased in today's less-than-clear article about the Democratic candidates as he has in the past .
In their latest debate, the Democratic candidates gave flight to rhetorical excesses here and there.
But Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, who tracks misstatements in the presidential debates, said the candidates have shown more caution about their claims in recent matchups and become less apt to throw around fuzzy numbers.
"The candidates are being more careful in this debate about the use of statistics," she said. "They're making more claims that are based on opinions."
Nothing wrong there. And I have to like it that he's using advice from a media professional. I'm unsure if he's still relying on Ms. Jamieson though when he tries to pin lie on Sen. Edwards:
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, trying to make the point that minorities have odds stacked against them, said there are two economies and two tax systems - meaning one for the disadvantaged and one for everyone else. The claim is hard to support if taken literally, however - the tax system does not make racial distinctions.
I think this catch was Mr. Woodward's alone. And it's silly. Sen. Edwards was not saying that the tax system makes racial distinctions. He was saying exactly what he said. And anyone who tries to claim that there isn't a different tax system for the rich is going to have a very hard time. It's especially annoying that Mr. Woodward is literal to the point of being dense on this subject because it is one of Sen. Edwards' most cogent points and it deserves to be made loudly and repeatedly in the face of the Norquista's growing influence on our economy.
Mr. Woodward closes the article by mentioning the question to Gov. Dean regarding the appointment of people of color to Gov. Dean's cabinets and administrations.
Al Sharpton attacked Dean for not making minority appointments when he was Vermont governor, prompting an exchange that lacked clarity on both ends.
Sharpton alternately accused Dean of appointing no blacks or Hispanics to a "senior policy position," to his Cabinet or to any job in his administration.
"I beg to differ with your statistics there," Dean snapped back. But he only identified one such appointment. "We had a senior member of my staff on my fifth floor," he said.
Pressed, he acknowledged appointing no blacks or Hispanics to his Cabinet - a step taken last year by Republican Gov. Jim Douglas - but said he only had six Cabinet members.
During his terms as governor, Dean had five agency heads and a varying number of additional heads of departments or commissions.
There's a lot here even though it's a short section. The line, "But he only identified one such appointment" is the biggest annoyance. He only needed one appointment to challenge Rev. Sharpton's accusation. All Mr. Woodward needed to do here was leave out the "but". It's hard to imagine why he wouldn't. Also, I'm suspicious of how scattered the writing is because I think that Mr. Woodward is a better writer than that. For instance, the "lack of clarity" comment is left unexplained and doesn't do much more than link "lack of clarity" with Dean's position. And the last paragraph feels tacked on, again, to no purpose unless Rev. Sharpton brought up those numbers in the debate. I don't know since I didn't see this particular exchange. Lastly, I'm not crazy about the immediate party identification of Gov. Jim Douglas. However, if Mr. Woodward is as quick to identify all people who figure in political stories in the future, I'll applaud his consistency.
My first reference to a Calvin Woodward article is a positive one! This article is a good example of facts set out without comment - solid reporting.
Gah. When Atrios said, Just Do It! , I guess I let myself get swept up and away by the idea of saving the world. Never a good thing. This after a few weeks of thinking about it, but not actally learning how to blog. As a result, this is proving to be vastly more difficult than I thought it would be. For instance, I have to find out how to link to blogs so that the link jumps right to the part of the blog I want to cite. And that's the tip of my bloggy iceberg.
All this computer hacking is making me thirsty.
"It's been widely reported, which makes it fact-esque." - Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show ............................................................................................................... This blog is part of an effort to adopt a journalist and track his/her writing during the 2004 campaign. I chose Calvin Woodward of the AP because although he can be less than fair, he can also do good work.
