Hey All

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THE CANDIDATE, THE SHOWGIRL, AND THE NET WEASELS

by Jerry Politex

I was working at "Bush Watch" on December 27th when I received an e-mail from James Ledbetter, New York Bureau Chief of "The Industry Standard," who wondered why a days-old "National Enquirer" story about a woman alleging an affair with George W. Bush had not shown up on any of the Bush scandal sites. He didn't say which ones he had checked. He wrote that he was working on a story "about political rumor and the internet."

A visit to the "National Enquirer" web site was not fruitful. There were links to various stories, but nothing about Bush. (They've since posted the story.) I wrote back, asking Ledbetter for some documentation. I told him that I was "as surprised as that the story hasn't surfaced somewhere." It turned out that the "Enquirer" Bush-Showgirl story had surfaced on Christmas Day, two days previously, in a "New York Post" gossip column, "Page Six." There, reporter Richard Johnson made it pretty clear why the story had received the yawns of Bush scandal sites on the internet. The "Enquirer" didn't even believe its own story: "The supermarket weekly flatly calls story 'false' and says it 'raises the question of who put her up to trying to destroy the Bush campaign.'" I sent the "Page Six" reference to Ledbetter on the morning of the 28th.

By the end of the day Ledbetter had posted his story on the "Industry Standard" site under FLASH! Net Ignores Steamy Rumor. His thesis was that the Internet's "nonchalent treatment" of the "Enquirer" story could indicate that it has " abandoned its role as the leading incubator of political rumor" Although Ledbetter had a reference to the "Page Six" disclosure of the "Enquirer" story as well as a detailed description of the story, itself, he suggested that " Internet rumor sites are a highly precise barometer of public opinion. That is, they are ignoring the notion of a Bush girlfriend because, in the post-Monica political climate, few Americans believe that, even if true, the allegations have any political significance." However, he offered no specific explanation why "Page Six," having vetted the story almost immediately after its publication, is not such a barometer of public opinion.

Ledbetter earlier suggested cogent reasons for the Internet's lack of interest in the Bush-showgirl story: it appeared during the down-time of the holidays, it lacked documentation, and the tabloid was slow to create a link for Internet users. "Although both the 'Enquirer' and its sister 'Star' have Web sites, they do not use them to push their dirt. That's probably because tabloid readers are not the nation's most wired demographic; regardless, if the tabloids don't post their stories in a timely fashion, would-be Web publicists have nothing to link to. 'I don't check out the 'National Enquirer' for stories on a regular basis,' says Politex. 'In fact, I don't recall ever using an Enquirer story, either as a headline link or a reference in a commentary.' However, the same day we called Ledbetter's attention to the "Page Six" story we linked our Bush Watch readers to it. At that time we regretted that the "Enquirer" story was unavailable as a link. (We presently regret that we can't link our readers to subscriber-only Bush stories in "The Wall Street Journal" and the London "Economist.")

Two days later when "Slate" decided to reprint the Ledbetter story it inaccurately became A Scandal the Net Won't Touch. This version was substantially the same as the one published by "Industry Standard," except for two contradictory changes. The first change was a decision to remove all references to Bush and the showgirl, although the date of publication for the "Enquirer's" story is added, giving its readers a reason for a quick visit to the nearest convenience store Given "Slate's" decision not to mention Bush in its story, this--reasonably-- included removing all of my statements made to Ledbetter from the original article. "Slate" explains: "Although the 'Enquirer' named both names, 'Slate' will not do so. We want to be able to tell the story of the story without being accused--reasonably--of just using that as an excuse for telling the story itself." (To the left of that statement is a red button link to the contents page of "Industry Standard" which lists the earlier Ledbetter story naming Bush, the showgirl, and some of the specifics. That's called having it both ways.) Unfortunately, the other substantial change in the Ledbetter story appears to undercut "Slate's" appeal to its readers as taking the high road of responsible journalism.

In the "Industry Standard" version Ledbetter writes, "Even indefatigable Bush-bashing sites like 'GWBush.com' and 'Bush Watch' have thus far been silent about the Enquirer story." "Indefatigable" I like, "Bush-bashing" I don't, because I'm just looking for the lesser of two weasels and we have a long way to go before election day. However, this is how the editors at "Slate" revised Ledbetter's sentence: "Even two sites devoted to full-time bashing of the candidate have thus far been silent about the Enquirer story." Assuming this sentence is alluding to the same two sites that are named in the "Industry Standard" version of the story, anyone who has actually spent some time at "Bush Watch" knows that its commentary, its headlines, and its links do not add up to a full-time bashing of Bush. In short, while the site is "indefatigable," it does not bash Bush "full-time." In that sense, it is similar to "Slate," itself, which covers both the pros and the cons of the Bush candidacy.

Although I believe Ledbetter's question about the interest of Internet denizens in the kinds of rumors that launched Drudge is a good one, the apparent, built-in falsity of the particular example he chooses to consider (Bush and the Showgirl), along with the particular time of year the rumor reached the surface (Christmas Day) suggests that we should hesitate to generalize just yet. Meanwhile, let's keep in mind that the Internet is as much a telephone as it is a newspaper, and, unfortunately, rumors are always going to be part of the mix. If we can live with the "New York Post" and the "National Enquirer," surely we can live with the "Industry Standard," "Slate," and those unnamed Internet sites.



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BUSH DEFENDS "HERITAGE" OF THE STARS AND BARS "It's hard to decide who's more full of it, all those hoorawing South Carolina white boys whose sacred 'tradition' requires them to fly the Confederate Battle Flag on the state Capitol or Republican presidential candidates trying to signal discomfort with bigotry to civilized voters without diminishing the GOP's appeal to unreconstructed rednecks as the White Man's Party. So far, the creepiest crawler of all has been the Texas Dauphin, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. His daddy was creepy about it, too. Here's how Bush responded to questioning on the issue by NBC's Brian Williams during the South Carolina debate....In the face of catcalls from the audience, Williams persisted: 'As an American citizen, do you have a visceral reaction to seeing the Confederate flag--?' 'As an American citizen,' Bush waffled firmly, 'I trust the people of South Carolina to make the decision for South Carolina.'...South Carolina raised the Rebel flag in 1962 as a way of showing its middle finger to the civil rights movement. The 'heritage' being defended is white supremacy. That Bush can't summon the guts to say so speaks volumes about him and today's GOP." --Gene Lyons, 1/19/00



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Bush Faith-Based Education, Florida Style If six year old Elian Gonzalez remains in the U.S., here's what his guardians will have him learn from "The Citizens Training Handbook," his 315 page school guide, between now and his eighteenth birthday: "He lives in a Christian society and should support prayer in public and private schools. He should oppose abortion homosexuality.... He should love the American flag and realize that 'the influence of The United States in the world has been beneficial to all.'...Elian will learn from the school's main textbook that Cuba, where he came from and where his father and grandparents still live, 'has not been able to provide for people's most basic needs such as food, clothing and housing.'... Elian will read that Richard Nixon got a raw deal when he was forced to resign as President, and that Americans now regret this and honor him." Private Christian school owner Demetrio Perez, who authored the guide that would be used by Elian in grades K-12, said "We want children who think in a healthy way. We would not want a child who leans toward the communist way of thinking." Perez, who notes that his school fully complies with all Florida laws, does not believe that Elian has a real father in Cuba: "The father is not really the father. In Cuba, Castro thinks for everyone. He is the father, and the child does not need Castro to care for him or make decisions." In a few weeks Elian will sing and chant slogans as he participates in a march in the school's honor. Perez says Elian's participation "is a way for him to fight indoctrination." MH, 1/18/00. Here's info about Bush faith-based education, Texas style.



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"Straight-Talk Express" Equipped With Gay-Dar. McCaine Implies Bush-McCaine Gay Military Policy Doesn't Work George W. Bush, like John McCain, backs the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays in the military. Yesterday, however, McCain said that in his military experiences gays were recognized by their behavior and their attitude. "Well, I think we know by behavior and by attitudes," he told reporters yesterday. "I think that it's clear to some of us when some people have that lifestyle. But I didn't pursue it , and I wouldn't pursue it, and I wouldn't pursue it today." --Politex, 1/18/00



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WOULDN'T BE WISE. WOULDN'T BE PRUDENT George W. Bush celebrated the Martin Luther King holiday today by staying inside the Governor's Mansion with the windows closed so he wouldn't hear the 5 thousand Martin Luther King celebrants listening to speeches right outside his window on the Texas capitol grounds, less than a football field away. While Bush says he wants to reach out to minorities, he could have easily done so, literally, but he didn't. We know he was in there because he had a telephone interview with the AP about taxes. He also didn't attend another Martin Luther King Day meeting of students from all over Texas who assembled on the grounds of the Texas capitol to hear an anti-handgun speech by a tearful student from Colorado's Columbine High School. Perhaps leaders from both the anti-gun group and the racial harmony group should have apologized to Governor Bush for possibly disturbing him as he talked to the AP reporter about his candidacy to bring the country together. Politex, 1/17/00


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SCHEDULE OF PRIMARIES
Date, contest (percentage of delegates for winning nomination at stake that day)



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DUBYA'S 10TH DAZE O' CHRISTMAS

Letter to Virgrinia... A Christmas Letter to Governor Bush... Jennifer Visits the Bush Mansion

Y2K Political Bugs Found



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thinks i find can sometimes be usefull haha

:P

And you broke them by about...oh....75 paragraphs. :D

I don't mean to be offensive, since you obviously are a new DUer. You will learn the ropes as you continue on DU.

I just wanted to note that if you are going to quote a copyrighted article, then you can only put four paragraphs max on the post and then you would have to post the link.

Thank you. :-)

COPYRIGHT ISSUES AND BANDWIDTH THEFT

Don't post entire copyrighted articles. If you wish to reference an article, provide a brief excerpt and include a link to the original source. Generally, excerpts should not exceed three or four paragraphs.

Do not plagiarize.

Do not steal someone else's bandwidth by posting images that are hosted on another website. Democratic Underground is a high-traffic website, so posting images from other sites will cause their server load to increase dramatically, and might even cost the website owner money. If you wish to post an image from another website, you must contact the owner of the other website to get their consent.

If you post copyrighted images, always post the source of the image.

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

Hey, Brent -- you as cool and smart as your dad???

:hi:

n/t