Met All My Heroes, Found Out They Were Zeroes.*

What a total letdown.

I grew up watching Tom Brokaw. Millions of us did. As a long time broadcaster myself, I respected Mr. Brokaw for many things not the least of which was his unimpeachable journalistic integrity. Boy, was I wrong!

MoveOn sent me this:

Dear MoveOn member,

Sunday on Meet The Press, Tom Brokaw moderated a debate between McCain strategist Steve Schmidt and Obama strategist David Axelrod on topics ranging from Iraq to the Wall Street bailout. At the end, Tom Brokaw did something strange. He opted to give himself the last word and told the audience:

In fairness to everybody here, I'm just going to end on one note. And that is that we continue to poll on who's best equipped to be Commander in Chief, and John McCain continues to lead in that category despite the criticism from Barack Obama by a factor of 53 to 42 percent in our latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

We checked, and the latest NBC poll actually has no question about Commander in Chief. We contacted NBC about this, and it turns out Brokaw was referring to a poll taken weeks ago--right after the Republican convention and well before Friday's big national security debate. And in each of NBC's last two polls, Americans chose Obama over McCain.
(MoveOn link with sources here).
(Demand an NBC retraction thru the "Meet The Press" feedback forum here).

"In fairness to everybody here"? is a bizarrely inappropriate us of the phrase. There is no goddamn "fairness" whatsoever in quoting out-of-date poll numbers to inaccurately portray one candidate as strong and the other as ineffectual. I was dumbstruck before I clicked on Media Matters to find this:

On Sunday's Meet the Press, NBC's Tom Brokaw allowed McCain strategist Steve Schmidt to falsely claim that John McCain had called for Don Rumsfeld to be fired. That's an old lie that the McCain campaign had abandoned long ago -- but Brokaw let Schmidt get away with bringing it back.

What the fuck?!? This fucking guy is moderating the second Presidential debate on Oct. 7th! How could it possibly get worse? Oh, it can and it does.

HuffPo tips us to today's NY Times Brokaw profile:

But less widely known is that Mr. Brokaw has also played a pivotal role out of public view, both within NBC and in its dealings with the campaign of John McCain in particular.

In an interview here after Sunday’s broadcast, Mr. Brokaw said that over the summer he had “advocated” within the executive suite of NBC News to modify the anchor duties of the MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on election night and on nights when there were presidential debates. Their expressions of strong political opinions from the MSNBC anchor desk has run counter to the more traditional role Mr. Brokaw played on “NBC Nightly News” for more than two decades. NBC said earlier this month that the two hosts would mostly relinquish their anchor duties to Mr. Gregory, while being present as analysts.

“Keith is an articulate guy who writes well and doesn’t make his arguments in a ‘So’s your old mother’ kind of way,” Mr. Brokaw said. “The mistake was to think he could fill both roles. The other mistake was to think he wouldn’t be tempted to use the anchor position to engage in commentary. That’s who he is.”

Mr. Brokaw said he had also conducted some shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks between NBC and the McCain campaign. His mission, he said, was to assure the candidate’s aides that — despite some negative on-air commentary by Mr. Olbermann in particular — Mr. McCain could still get a fair shake from NBC News. Mr. Brokaw said he had been told by a senior McCain aide, whom he did not name, that the campaign had been reluctant to accept an NBC representative as one of the moderators of the three presidential debates — until his name was invoked.

“One of the things I was told by this person was that they were so irritated, they said, ‘If it’s an NBC moderator, for any of these debates, we won’t go,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said. “My name came up, and they said, ‘Oh, hell, we have to do it, because it’s going to be Brokaw.’”

So Brokaw is acting as mediator/go-between/chief-sucker-upper for NBC to McCain-Palin 2008. If this sort of interaction occurred between a kid running for high school class president and his high school's paper, it would be considered unseemly. This is one of the Big fucking Three! NBC's use of Tom Brokaw in this role is not only distasteful, but it also spells the very death of their news division's integrity and objectivity. This is absolutely one of the strangest moves I've ever seen a network pull.

NBC's motivation is unclear. Is Brokaw moderating this debate in order for NBC to guarantee McCain's participation? Or were McCain's handlers' complaints about Keith & co. a successful blackmail campaign+ that forced the network to ensure a McCain-friendly Brokaw as moderator? Or both? Or something else entirely? Dunno. And why the hell, at this stage in an otherwise stellar & legendary career, would Tom Brokaw willingly let NBC pimp him out?

But wait...There's more:

Last week during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Mr. Brokaw said, he spoke briefly with Mr. McCain, who has not appeared on “Meet the Press” since Mr. Russert’s death. While Mr. Brokaw said he and the Republican nominee are not personal friends, he did say they are “friendly” and “always had a great relationship.”

Of the prospects for a potential booking, Mr. Brokaw said: “We’re going to get him. I don’t know exactly where or when.”

As for Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, thus far she has passed over “NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” in favor of interviews with “World News With Charles Gibson” on ABC and the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.” She has also yet to accept an invitation to appear on “Meet the Press,” a point Mr. Brokaw said he raised with her when they met for a moment at the Clinton Global Initiative.

“I told her, ‘I’m the only one in this business who ever had Susan Butcher as a house guest,’ ” Mr. Brokaw said, referring to the Iditarod champion, who died in 2006. “Susan Butcher is to Alaska what Cal Ripken is to Baltimore.”

Ugh. I cannot tell how much of this Brokaw bungle can be attributed to: intense NBC News' pressure to secure McCain and Palin for "Meet The Press", individual ideology, diminished ability, the network's and/or his personal desire to overcompensate (for the Olbermann/Maddow faction's many "sins"), poor judgment, weariness, a massive McCain man-crush or what have you.

What I do know is that the Tom Brokaw I grew up with would never quote a three-week-old poll and present it as current. What's worse is I now find it entirely conceivable that Brokaw's lil' poll faux pas may been accidentally on purpose. That's a very bad thing.

C&L's Nichole Belle has more here and here.

-AF

*(I'm paraphrasing some damn song and it's driving me crazy that I cannot recall the title). +McCain has obviously adopted the Bush administration "punish any critical news media" credo.

Frank Rich Rips "Angry Old Ironsides McCain" McCain A New One

Rich has no patience for John "Drama Queen" McCain's antics. McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere:

What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his “country first” will take the country down with him if that’s what it takes to get to the White House.

For all the focus on Friday night’s deadlocked debate, it still can’t obscure what preceded it: When John McCain gratuitously parachuted into Washington on Thursday, he didn’t care if his grandstanding might precipitate an even deeper economic collapse. All he cared about was whether he might save his campaign. George Bush put more deliberation into invading Iraq than McCain did into his own reckless invasion of the delicate Congressional negotiations on the bailout plan.
(Emphasis added)

I couldn't have said it better myself.

-AF

NY Times On Economy: "People Failed"

Don’t Blame the New Deal:

This year’s serial bailouts are proof of a colossal regulatory failure. But it is not “the system” that failed, as President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others who are complicit in the calamity would like Americans to believe. People failed.

For decades now, antiregulation disciples of the Reagan Revolution have eliminated vital laws, blocked the enactment of much-needed new regulations, or simply refused to exercise their legal authority.

Because he refuses take any responsibility for any error, Bush must to blame the "system." If he didn't he'd have to confront the reality that this disaster was set in motion by "Saint" Reagan (R), President Bush, Bush cabinet financial wizards, the GOP's tragically misguided, patently dishonest "trickle down"/laissez-faire bullshit economic philosophy & the Republican Party as a whole.

-AF

John McCain's 'Lil Gambling Problem

The NY Times has everything you ever wanted to know about John McCain, his lobbyists/advisers and the gaming industry.

-AF

Paul Newman 1925-2008

The impact of Paul Newman on film as actor, director & producer cannot be overestimated. He was that rarest of rare Hollywood personalities: A bona fide movie star, an actor's actor and a devoted family man. His death leaves a massive void that cannot be filled.

List the crème de la crème of Newman's movies and the result is astounding:
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Long Hot Summer
The Hustler
Hud
Cool Hand Luke
Hombre
Rachel, Rachel
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Sting
Towering Inferno
Absence of Malice
The Verdict
The Glass Menagerie
Mr. and Mrs Bridge
Nobody's Fool

Paul Newman played another 80 or more parts scattered across stage and screen. It wasn't unusual for Newman's performance to salvage an otherwise mediocre production. In the 25 years since he introduced his Newman's Own line of foods, Paul Newman became a peerless philanthropist too.

We shall not see the likes of Paul Newman again.

*Update: Here's a few links:
Newman's Own website eulogy.
NY Times obit: Paul Newman, a Magnetic Titan of Hollywood, Is Dead at 83
NY Times appreciation: An Actor Whose Baby Blues Came in Shades of Gray
NY Times: Newman Remembered as a Good Neighbor and a Good Friend
LA Times obit: Actor Paul Newman dies at 83
LA Times appreciation: Paul Newman wielded his beauty like a craftsman
The Chicago Tribune: Tribute to Newman from Hollywood and beyond
The Chicago Tribune: Paul Newman had the last great movie star grin
The Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert: Paul Newman dies at age 83; Ebert: "He lived a full life"

Bail Out Cause Of Liquidity Panic?

Over at TPM Cafe, Elizabeth Warren tells how she spent yesterday:

At a Harvard panel discussion yesterday, economics professor Ken Rogoff made an interesting point: The liquidity crisis isn't real. Or, to restate it: Any liquidity crisis is caused by the promise of a government bailout. Ken said that his many friends in investment banking said that there is plenty of money to invest in financial services, but right now it is "sitting on the sidelines." Why? Because the financial services industry does not want to pay the terms demanded. As he put it, why do business with Warren Buffett who will negotiate a tough deal, if you believe that the government will ride in soon with cheaper cash?

Ken also talked about the need to shrink the financial services sector. He thinks it is good that the investment banking houses are failing and many people on Wall Street are losing their jobs because, in his view, we have an oversupply in that sector and our economy just can't support it.

Mind-blowing but it this makes sense to me. Rogoff is a very smart man -- possibly the keenest economic mind of our generation. Sadly, no one in Congress is listening and/or can hear this voice of reason over the lobbyists' din.

As I said the other day, I vote we don't give any cash to Wall Street until they stop acting like crack addicts. Congress' compulsion to give these financial wizards $700 billion+ worth of "crack" can only make the problem worse.

-AF

Holy Shit! Bail Out Brawl.

The New York Times:

The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end the financial crisis that has gripped the nation. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the Cabinet Room of the White House, urgent warnings from the president and pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support.

“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” President Bush declared Thursday as he watched the $700 billion bailout package fall apart before his eyes, according to one person in the room.

It was an implosion that spilled out from behind closed doors into public view in a way rarely seen in Washington.

Our nation's economy is at stake and these jackass politicians are grandstanding:

But once the doors closed, the smooth-talking House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, surprised many in the room by declaring that his caucus could not support the plan to allow the government to buy distressed mortgage assets from ailing financial companies.

Mr. Boehner pressed an alternative that involved a smaller role for the government, and Mr. McCain, whose support of the deal is critical if fellow Republicans are to sign on, declined to take a stand.

Here's the most striking and damning part:

In the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr. literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to “blow it up” by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.

“I didn’t know you were Catholic,” Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: “It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans.”

Mr. Paulson sighed. “I know. I know.”

Nice work fellas. It's not like we were depending on you or anything.

-AF

Carl Bernstein Rips McCain's "Devolution"

The Palin Pick -- The Devolution of McCain. Here's a taste:

John McCain is a serious man, as anyone who has spent time with him knows. But he has not run the kind of serious campaign he once promised.

Not for the first time, as many of his fellow Republicans (as opposed to friendly reporters and sympathetic Democrats) had long maintained, McCain's more reckless inclinations and lesser impulses prevailed. A great political movement that would transcend rabid partisanship and hard ideology does not seem in the cards.

Ouch!

-AF

McCain Surprise Sabotages Bail Out

John McCain:
Pretty pleased with himself tonite.








Since early yesterday, we been told that a "fundamental agreement" had been reached on the big bail out bill. That is sooo yesterday. That was before John McCain rode into DC and, this time with his House GOP henchmen at his side, tossed a surprise bail out bomb on America. McCain did this just before the bi-partisan Congressional bail out confab with President Bush. (musta delighted our panicked Preznit). The very meeting Johnny planned as his big photo op.

Think Progress has the deets. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D) describes the drama:

All of a sudden there was some new core agreement floating around, which no one had heard of before, until we sort of got to the White House...

...we’re told it came out of the Republican House. We were even told at one point that this was, maybe, John McCain was floating the idea. That Hank Paulson was considering it. And of course Barney Frank and I, along with Republicans from the House and the Senate, of course, had spent three hours this morning working on a different core. We were told for the last seven days this was the core issue that would give the secretary the authority to move, to deal with the crisis.

As Johnny has confessed to know jack-all about economics, it's a sure bet that this "new core agreement" was whipped up by key McCain advisors. A CBS News report that this new plan features more, not less, deregulation seems to confirms my theory.

Obviously, the plan his top lobbyists advisors, didn’t pass the sniff test.

This could be a win-win-win-win-win-win move by Johnny.

McCain gets to say:

1. “As promised, I rushed to America’s rescue.”“The reckless Obama-led Dems want America to continue suffering."
2. “Instead of debating tomorrow, I’m crawling into the corner w/my blankie & my top lobbyists advisors.”
3. “Delay my debate & we hafta delay the VP debate too.” Johnny wants this baaad.
   
4. This one's huge: the McCain camp gets the chance to craft a brand new "core agreement" in which any “compromises” will still be incredibly advantageous to McCain’s Wall St. donors.
   
5. There will be less time and greater pressure on the "do nothing" Dems to make new McCain plan law.

Gee, I thought John McCain was desperate before when he sold his soul to the evangelical nuts the first time. Then crazy Johnny went all drastic pushing himself deeper in bed with these Jesus freaks going so far as to let them pick his running mate. But this shit takes the cake.

Will the media and the voters fall for it?

Stay tuned...

-AF
*Update: McCain sabotage central@HuffPo.
**Update: The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder sez:

Republicans like John Boehner brought up the concerns of House GOPers and McCain acknowledged hearing about their concerns. McCain, and staffers, did seek to gauge the level of support of the GOP working group's white paper. The Democrats were left with the impression that McCain endorsed the GOP efforts, but they concede that he did not raise them directly.

Smartly, McCain's well insulated on this one.
***Update: That completely contradicts Ambinder's report one hour earlier:

During the White House meeting, it appears that Sen. John McCain had an agenda. He brought up alternative proposals, surprising and angering Democrats. He did not, according to someone briefed on the meeting, provide specifics.

Armbinder needs to get his stories straight.
(HT:TPM)

They Said It. I Repeat It.

The last refuge of a scoundrel regulator, is to shout 'systemic risk.'

George Kaufman
Finance Professor
Loyola University Chicago
via The Chicago Tribune