PolitiFact Lie of the Year 2011: “Republicans voted to end Medicare”
Despite the extra scrutiny brought by the “big lie” (your interpretation) above, I appreciate fact-checking websites, and the rising industry that J-school professors and media pundits love to tut-tut these days. But who among us doesn’t find Washington Post’s Pinocchio icon chuckle-worthy? And how could any truth-seeker not bask in the flames of the “pants-on-fire” rating dispensed by PolitiFact’s truth-o-meter? Are you not entertained, people? But gimmicks aside, the explanations these sites offer are mostly thoughtful and transparent (also see: factcheck.org). With all the handwringing about “objectivity,” we should welcome the rise of fact-checker sites that attempt, in their way, to add more clarity to a fuzzy arena.
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“You will no longer hear the buzz of African belly flies / There will not be a weekend wrap-up of the continuing Sudanese Genocide / There are far too many characters for every fallen hero to be eulogized / But the photo of your junk, it will be publicized…”
It’s true, a cappella rap battles ruined spoken word, mocking poetry slams’ finger-snapping pretension with WorldStar worthy debates about who “styled on” whom. But the message of Ronnie Butler, Jr.’s latest satirical poem Photographs of Your Junk (Will be Publicized) added a few extra layers to some important, if obvious, truisms. That is, the internet has ended privacy as we know it; and the nets can be a brain-draining wasteland, where social responsibility and intellectual curiosity
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Tim Scott at his first meeting with (Democratic-leaning) blacks in SC.
If you follow me on Twitter, you might recall some weeks back when I said I was on the campaign trail with South Carolina’s black Republican hopeful Tim Scott, who is a frontrunner in the race for the state’s 1rst congressional seat. Today it looks like Scott is about to make black Republican history as the first black Republican congressman from the south since Reconstruction. As the only reporter on duty when this black elephant quietly strutted into a meeting with black leaders; connected with black Democratic politicians; and embraced one white man who’d never imagined he’d vote for “a man of color,” I see the GOP’s race issue in a new light. Here, I’m on a three-stop mission with Tim Scott, as he offers a message to blacks everywhere: “Welcome to the Tea Party.”
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“I feel like a black Republican, Money I got commin’ in/ Can’t turn my back on the hood, I got love for them”- Nas ft. Jay-Z, from “Black Republican”
As the first African-American Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele has a thankless job. Unlike Barack Obama’s historical first-black presidential break-through, which was celebrated as a “post racial” moment for all Americans, Steele has been mocked by blacks and kicked around by his fellow Republicans. Of course, it hasn’t helped that, since his appointment, his voice box has been replaced by a gaffe machine. He’s been beat down by his own party for calling the Afghanistan war one “of Obama’s choosing.” The establishment dissed him for promising to set the Republican party in more “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.” And he was smacked down by the GOP pro-lifers when he called abortion an “individual choice.” To be sure, there are many other instances in which Steele’s words caused a stir and based on his desire to speak his mind (see below), there will surely be more to come.
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“Under what circumstances would I have P. Diddy on the show? Him saying Yes. Any day of the week. Ever. Are you kidding me?”
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