Media and Law Roundup: The DAILYNESS of it All!

Kim Pearson — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:51:47 -0500

Former New York Times editor James "Scotty" Reston was reputed to exclaim, "Oh! The dailyness of it all!" whenever breaking events interfered with his plans to cover some story in depth. That's the the way I feel right now -- this post was supposed to be a preview of this Thursday's All-American Presidential Candidates Forum for GOP candidates, similar to the post that fellow CE Laurie White and I did for the CWBA Democratic Forum back in June. But then the president of Iran came to Columbia U., Bill O'Reilly learned that black people who go to expensive Harlem restaurants have home training, and NPR's Farai Chideya got a scoop on the ongoing saga of the Jena Six that raises all kinds of interesting questions. Where to begin?

Something About Mahmoud

Let's start with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad contentious appearance at Columbia University yesterday. A lot of the blog analysis is concerned with who scored propaganda points (Stanley Kurtz at the National Review it was a good day for Iran's critics. Meryl Younish isn't so sure.) Kathy at Liberty Street is worried that lawmakers opposed to Columbia's invitation might make good on their threats to pull government funding from the school -- a move she finds, "Extraordinary. Not to mention dangerous and illegal..." Anne Appelbaum says we're all missing the point -- the Iranian dictator accomplished his goal of appearing to be democratic by appearing in an open forum and taking questions.

One of the things I found most striking was an exchange about the invitation between MSNBC chief Dan Abrams and conservative pundit Pat Buchanan on Abrams' show. (I haven't found a transcript of the exchange, so I'm afraid this is from memory.) Abrams, who referred to Columbia as his alma mater, led the show by condemning the university's invitation. Buchanan commented that he didn't like Columbia's decision either, but it was strange to him that Abrams was upset that the University had given Ahmedinejad an audience of 2-3,000 people, but MSNBC and others had given him an audience of millions by carrying the event live. Abrams said that was different -- this was now a news event. Still, I thought Buchanan had a point, and found it remarkable that while there was a lot of controversy over whether Ahmedinejad should speak, no one questioned the full-press news coverage the event received.

Even more striking is the relative inattention that this "sense of the Senate" resolution (.pdf) on Iran is receiving. The resolution, an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, calls for the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a "foreign terrorist organization," and urges the US government to use its military, economic and political resources to attack those deemed to be Iranian proxies attacking the US-led coalition in Iraq. Offered by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Susie Madrak sounds the alarm:

"As early as today (Sept. 25), the Kyl-Lieberman amendment to the FY 2008 Defense Authorization will go to the floor. If passed, a war with Iran could be right around the corner.

"Call your Senators at the Capitol Switchboard 202-224-3121. Tell them to vote NO on the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment (No. 3017), a provocative measure that will only undermine efforts to resolve tensions with Iran through diplomacy."

Pres. Bush on Race Relations, His Contributions, GOP Outreach

This week, Pres. George W. Bush told Fox News' Juan Williams that Columbia University's invitation to Ahmedinejad "speaks volumes about the greatness of America." The purpose of the interview, though, was to elicit Bush's views on race in light of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock High School. Bush told Williams:

"[W]e've obviously progressed, because it is accepted that black children and white children are going to go to school together.

"You know, I've thought about that. I went to the high school when I — since I've been president, and it struck me that an American president had to commit the 101st Airborne to get these kids into school. And it was a very ugly chapter in America. And we've progressed beyond that."

Williams didn't ask Bush about this report (.pdf) from the Civil Rights Project showing that we are re-segregating more rapidly than ever, but it's sobering news for anyone who thinks we've achieved the beloved community.

Finally, about Tavis Smiley's Forum

Pres. Bush did say he thought his administration's domestic initiatives, such as No Child Left Behind, and his faith-based initiatives, and his promotion of home ownership, were among the reasons that he felt Republican candidates should feel comfortable reaching out to people of color.

But the leading candidates for the GOP nomination are bowing out of this week's forum, citing schedule conflicts. Bob Cox, the president of the Media Bloggers Association, which put together the blogger pool for both forums, thinks that's a bad move on their part. Jack and Jill Politics rounds up responses from black Republicans. Prometheus 6 thinks perennial candidate Alan Keyes is running just to keep the Morgan State stage from looking too empty.

What do you think?

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Media and Law Roundup: The DAILYNESS of it All!

Something About Mahmoud

Pres. Bush on Race Relations, His Contributions, GOP Outreach

Finally, about Tavis Smiley's Forum