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PoliBlog (TM): A Rough Draft of my Thoughts

A rough draft of my thoughts...

NixonToday

MSNBC’s John Rutherford:

Richard Nixon’s reputation takes a fresh pounding every time the National Archives releases another batch of audio tapes from his presidency, and today’s opening of nearly 200 hours of Nixon White House recordings is no exception.

Indeed.

Nice guy, that Nixon.

Here’s the kind of thing that one really wants a President of United States involved in:

“I can’t have a high-minded lawyer … I want a son-of-a-b—-. I want someone just as tough as I am. … We’re up against an enemy, a conspiracy that will use any means. We are going to use any means… . Get it done.

I want it done. I want the Brookings Institution cleaned out and have it cleaned out in a way that has somebody else take the blame.”

Lovely. (Not that this is actually a new revelation–it is striking nonetheless).

Line of the DayToday

President-Elect Obama on the subject of Bill Richardson’s beard:

“I’m going to answer this question about the beard. I think it was mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole western rugged look was really working for him. For some reason, maybe because it was scratchy when he kissed his wife, he was forced to get rid of it. But we’re deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard.”

First, I simply found this amusing, and am generically pro-beard (obviously).

Second, the amusement was largely inspired by recent conversations with a friend of mine on this subject (context here and here).

Speaking of Twitter…Today

Don’t add FoxNews to your list of Tweets to follow–because that is basically all you will see in your list. Plus, they don’t just put breaking news, but rather seemingly everything into their feed. I removed them and actually discovered that yes, there are other Tweets out there.

Note: This may have been better as a Tweet (if I had abbreviated it, of course) but I am an old-fashioned sort, so I blogged it instead.

The Twitter Revolution?Today

Just shy of four years ago I wrote:

While I have no doubt that there is an interesting, and perhaps significant in the long-term, niche for podcasting, it seems to me that the coverage of the phenomenon has been overblown. Specifically it seems to me that because the MSM came to the coverage of blogs late in the game, that they are trying to not miss “the next big thing”.

I feel the same way about Twittering, which is being hailed in some quarters as the current “next big thing” (even though it has been around for a while now). See, for example, Kathleen Parker’s WaPo piece on the subject: Rise of the Twitterati or Paul Boutin’s recent piece at Wired: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004.

Probably most significantly there was the usage of Twitter during the Mumbai attack: Mumbai: Twitter’s moment. Or, in the realm of the less serious, there is the Twittering between actors Wil Wheaton and Greg Grundberg that may lead to Wheaton appearing on Heroes.

I must confess, I only

Chávez Opponent ChargedToday

Via the BBC: Key Chavez opponent faces charges

Prosecutors in Venezuela have summoned one of the country’s main opposition leaders to appear before a judge on 11 December to face corruption charges.

Manuel Rosales, the outgoing governor of the oil-rich state of Zulia, is accused of defrauding the state lottery and misusing public funds.

[...]

Mr Rosales, previously the governor of Zulia, was elected mayor of the country’s second city, Maracaibo, in last month’s municipal elections.

Adverts featuring alleged telephone conversations made by Mr Rosales, in which he was accused of receiving illegal gifts for his business partners and wife, were also put out by the government.

Now, I have no knowledge of Morales’ guilt or innocence, but it is difficult to not be a bit suspicious of the situation. Not only is it clear that Chávez is currently in a process of trying to augment his power (e.g., indefinite re-election) in the face of some challenges (some losses in recent local elections, the collapse of oil prices), but one would think that if the administration had evidence that Morales had committed these crimes that they would have used it before the recent elections. Indeed, vague threats were made during the campaign:

During the recent regional election camp