Category: media analysis

Bang the Frum Slowly

Howie Kurtz is from Brooklyn and he knows a good street fight when he sees one. The Post's media masturbator does his thing this morning on David Frum's role as top bruiser in the righty gangland war over Harriet:

The fratricidal battle, as Frum describes it, goes to the heart of a conservative media establishment that, to outsiders at least, has long seemed to operate with enormous message discipline. But the new dissension raises a host of questions: Does the White House see journalists on the right as being on the team, and punish transgressors by limiting access? Do conservative media folks have a responsibility to challenge Bush when he deviates from their principles -- and if so, why haven't they done it until now? Are former administration officials expected to abide by an unspoken loyalty oath, and how long does it last?

The buzz around town for the last two weeks has been that Frum shouldn't take himself so seriously because no one else does: he left the Bush White House on less than stellar terms and has always had the "insider" status of the lucky nebbish who totes a hot chick to Studio 54.

Yeah, well, this is about as convenient a buzz as the Bush White House would now want to have generated about one of its wayward sons, especially when it's the loyalists who seem to be coming up short of proper explanations for themselves.

Whether friend or foe of Ms. Miers, many conservatives think she's toast before any confirmation hearing. I've heard a weepy "For the good of my country" withdrawal speech played out hypothetically more times than I care to remember this weekend.

So who's to thank or blame for that? --MICHAEL WEISS

On the Right, Caught in the Middle [WaPo]

READ MORE: SCOTUS , conservative faction fight , david frum , harriet miers , howard kurts , media analysis

Anderson Cooper Ends Torrid Love Affair With Sanity

Precision-timed heart of a heartless world Anderson Cooper has lost his shit. His latest CNN.com column, entitled "The Agony of Nail Biters," has all of us in peejay-land a little frightened, to be quite honest. Is this the downy white run-off that precedes the great avalanche of psychic undoing, or just temporary backlash-backlash following the San Francisco Chronicle's mean-spirited shark jump of the Coop? Whatever it is, it ain't pretty:

Doctors will tell you that nibbling nails is a sign of anxiety and insecurity, a nasty habit that can lead to infection.

I'm sure they're right. There are certainly plenty of less painful ways to deal with stress, but really, how many times a day can you masturbate?

Rhetorical question! Nothing to see here, folks... But wait -- there's more:

See, each nail breaks in a distinctive way; with time you begin to notice the pattern. It becomes something of a pleasurably familiar routine.

Where else do you see patterns, Anderson? It's okay to share. Fractals? Ever look at a nice, naturally reduplicative fractal? Like sand on the beach? Shhh. It's going to be all right. Promise.

I tried one lotion when I was a kid. It was really bitter, but after the first couple of licks I stopped noticing.

These days I try not to bite my nails in front of others. I'm not ashamed, but it's like videotaping yourself having sex: not something other people should really have to watch.

It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. --MICHAEL WEISS

The Nuthatch Coop [CNN.com]
Sure, Anderson Cooper is cute and young, but get a grip [S.F. Chronicle]

READ MORE: CNN , anderson cooper , early on-set dementia , media analysis

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