Recent columns by Howard Kurtz

Recent columns by Howard Kurtz

July 3, 2009

Post Co. Cancels Corporate Dinners

Media Agreed to Stay Silent on Kidnapping of Reporter David Rohde

Husband of Ex-Mistress Sought Cash, Ensign Says

Barack Obama

The Nexus of Life and Law

Secretly Selling Sotomayor

Perpetual Palin

Reporters, Race and the Coverage of Michelle Obama

The Other Women

Bernie's Wife Bails

Dr. Nancy, Making the Television Rounds

White Glove Journalism (By Howard Kurtz, June 26, 2009; 10:13 AM)

A Governor Unravels (By Howard Kurtz, June 25, 2009; 10:52 AM)

A Governor Unravels (By Howard Kurtz, June 25, 2009; 7:56 AM)

Battle of the Briefing Room (By Howard Kurtz, June 24, 2009; 10:59 AM)

Rahmbo and the Reporters (By Howard Kurtz, June 23, 2009; 9:51 AM)

Gawking at the Media World (By Howard Kurtz, June 22, 2009; 9:30 AM)

Media Notes: Gawker Widens Its Withering Gaze (By Howard Kurtz, June 22, 2009)

Media Stayed Silent on Kidnapping (By Howard Kurtz, June 21, 2009)

Obama's Rough Patch (By Howard Kurtz, June 19, 2009; 10:44 AM)

Obama's Rough Patch (By Howard Kurtz, June 19, 2009; 7:46 AM)

Easy to Criticize (By Howard Kurtz, June 18, 2009; 10:05 AM)

Easy to Criticize (By Howard Kurtz, June 18, 2009; 7:41 AM)

Obama's Latest Miniseries (By Howard Kurtz, June 17, 2009; 10:01 AM)

Tongue-Tied on Tehran (By Howard Kurtz, June 16, 2009; 2:59 PM)

Living on Twitter Time (By Howard Kurtz, June 15, 2009; 9:48 AM)

News Finds Fresh Niche On Twitter (By Howard Kurtz, June 15, 2009)

Deficit Attention Syndrome (By Howard Kurtz, June 12, 2009; 10:04 AM)

Deficit Attention Syndrome (By Howard Kurtz, June 12, 2009; 6:12 AM)

Dave Steps in It (By Howard Kurtz, June 11, 2009; 10:31 AM)

20090703 sdosm Recent columns by Howard Kurtz

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PETA miffed at President Obama's fly 'execution' - Carol E. Lee - POLITICO.com

PETA miffed at President Obama's fly 'execution' - Carol E. Lee - POLITICO.com

Shared via AddThis

PETA miffed at President Obama's fly 'execution' find it here: http://tinyurl.com/mqlmd2 Hat Tip: @HowardKurtz

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23886.html

"The president has been getting lots of kudos for a lightning-fast, Mr. Miyagi-worthy swipe he employed to slay a pesky house fly that was buzzing him in mid-interview during a taping with CNBC that aired Wednesday."

[...]

But now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling it an "execution," wants the commander-in-chief to show a little more compassion to even "the least sympathetic animals."

"'Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution,' a blog on the group"s website explained. 'In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.'"

"The group has sent Obama a device that traps a fly so it can then be released outside..."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23886.html#ixzz0ItLXfyj6&D

Barack TV by Howard Kurtz

Barack TV by Howard Kurtz

Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 17, 2009 8:01 AM

POTUS has become part of my morning routine. I have a lot of things to get done at an early hour--read the newspapers, surf the Net, file this column--but when I get to the office and flip on the cable channels, by 10:30 or 11, there he is.

Read Mr. Kurtz’s entire – lengthy column here: Barack TV by Howard Kurtz

20090417 Barack TV by Howard Kurtz

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

20080617 Pretzel Logic by Howard Kurtz Washington Post

“Pretzel Logic” by Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post

In case you missed Howard Kurtz’s latest post – at the Washington Post, please do a u-turn and go visit it.

It is an adventure into the latest in analysis of the presidential campaign landscape in 2,235 words, but it is worth the time – and I did not have to look up one single word.

He lays it out cleanly and clearly, includes source materials and cites to back up his insights into everything from Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s utterances about gun-control; flip flopping; New York Senator Hillary Clinton; Colin Powell; Karl Rove; to Lloyd Bensen’s absolutely devastating Dan Quayle with his famous line about Jack Kennedy and Tom Brokaw cancelling a fishing trip to Russia set for September.

Hat Tip: Doug Ross: Friday, June 27, 2008 “Obama's Speeches need a "Born-on Date" And while you are over on Mr. Ross’ site, also check out “8,400 murdered in DC since gun ban went into effect”

Pretzel Logic

By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, June 27, 2008

Barack Obama is under hostile fire for changing his position on the D.C. gun ban.

Oh, I'm sorry. He didn't change his position, apparently. He reworded a clumsy statement.

That, at least, is what his campaign is saying. The same campaign that tried to spin his flip-flop in rejecting public financing as embracing the spirit of reform, if not the actual position he had once promised to embrace.

Is this becoming a pattern? Wouldn't it be better for Obama to say he had thought more about such-and-such an issue and simply changed his mind? Is that verboten in American politics? Is it better to engage in linguistic pretzel-twisting in an effort to prove that you didn't change your mind?

Regardless of what you think of the merits of yesterday's Supreme Court ruling overturning the capital's handgun law, it seems to me we're entitled to a clear position by the presumed Democratic nominee. And I'm a bit confused about how the confusion came about.

[snip]

New York Post columnist Charles Hurt suggests the appearance of a reversal by the "most liberal member of the Senate," but doesn't provide the evidence on this point:

"Obama may as well have strapped on his John Wayne chaps and holster yesterday to announce his support of the Supreme Court's decision that the Second Amendment guaranteeing gun rights actually means what it says . . .

"As Obama moves rightward and gets tougher, Republicans are desperately trying to portray him as some sort of arrogant flip-flopper. But these audacious moves by him are not signs of weakness; they're signs of a man who will win at any cost.

"Isn't that what they used to say about the Clintons?"

The conservative blogosphere, however, brings out the heavy guns. Hot Air's Ed Morrissey points out that Obama is, after all, a lawyer:

"Barack Obama has been spinning like a top, and watching his positions on, well, just about everything is like watching table-tennis matches on TiVo triple fast forward. FISA, public financing, and NAFTA have all been reversed in the last couple of weeks, and Obama's not through yet . . .

[…]

Red State: "May I suggest that Senator Obama start putting a 'Freshest if used by' date on all his speeches? It'd be a help, really."

[snip]

Read the entire column here: Pretzel Logic