5 p.m.
I did a Blogpulse trend chart and input Karl Rove, Iraq war, and Supreme Court. I was surprised to find that Rove has now surpassed both of the other topics in terms of chatter on the blogs. It's amazing how quickly a swarm can start. There's even a website called "Plame Game" devoted just to this story.
Many bloggers are reacting today to Joe Wilson's interview on the Today Show. Some think it was just more of the same lies and others view him as a hero willing to stand up to the White House. Either way, there is an ongoing credibility clash between Wilson and Scott McClellan. Somebody's not telling the whole truth.
And Arnold has a man-sized problem that will take more than muscle to fix. Just before being sworn in as Governor of California he accepted an $8 million dollar consulting gig from some fitness magazines. His salary was to be paid in revenues from ad sales, most of which were ads for dietary supplements. Last year he vetoed a bill that would have restricted the supplement industry. Woops. Bloggers are reacting.
And we have something different for you today. We have assembled a panel of entertainment journalists to discuss the "culture clash" between the left and right. Some great topics in that roundup. Join us.
Links:
Blog Pulse
Angel Dressed in BlackAmericaBlog
Clayton Cramer
12 p.m.
There is so much to discuss today, it was hard to decide what to include in the show. On our daily conference call we each pitch out something in the news that would be right for Ron and Monica. Today the table was bountiful: Discovery got scrapped for the time being, Chief Justice Rehnquist has been hospitalized, Judith Miller sits in jail as Karl Rove and Scott McClellan dance around press inquiries about the CIA leak. And then, of course, there is the sentencing of Bernie Ebbers, WorldCom CEO. He got 25 years yesterday, the stiffest sentence on a similar crime to date.
We settled on Rove, Rehnquist, and Ebbers. Jonathan Alter and John Fund will join us to help make some sense of the Rove situation and the possible Rehnquist retirement. As for Ebbers, was the sentence a just one? The victims who lost savings probably think it wasn't enough. However, there is a debate about whether such sentences deter these crimes, and whether our justice system should punish in order to set example or should punish based solely on crime and precedent.
Maybe you saw Joe Wilson on the Today Show this morning, an exclusive interview. A couple of days ago I received a statement from the RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman saying that Wilson was engaged in a partisan political attack on the White House and had endorsed John Kerry in 2003. The statement failed to mention that in 2000 Wilson was a contributor to the Bush/Cheney campaign. It's all really fascinating. We'll discuss.
And more today on the Santorum story I brought you last night. The Boston Globe isn't letting this one go. Good thing Bostonians can't vote in the Pennsylvania Senate Race.
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