Posts tagged media

longreads:

The presidential bully pulpit isn’t as effective as one would think. Evidence shows that the louder a president speaks to support an issue or bill, the more committed the opposing party will be to ensure that it won’t pass:

To test her theory, she created a database of eighty-six hundred Senate votes between 1981 and 2004. She found that a President’s powers of persuasion were strong, but only within his own party. Nearly four thousand of the votes were of the mission-to-Mars variety—they should have found support among both Democrats and Republicans. Absent a President’s involvement, these votes fell along party lines just a third of the time, but when a President took a stand that number rose to more than half. The same thing happened with votes on more partisan issues, such as bills that raised taxes; they typically split along party lines, but when a President intervened the divide was even sharper.

“The Unpersuaded.” — Ezra Klein, New Yorker

See also: “Power and the Presidency, From Kennedy to Obama.” — Robert Dallek, Smithsonian, March 21, 2011

shortformblog:

Olbermann cancels ‘Worst Persons in the World’ bit … again

After conservatives compared comments he made about Michelle Malkin & S.E. Cupp to Rush Limbaugh’s “slut” comment, Current TV host Keith Olbermann announced that he would be canceling the “Worst Persons in the World” segment of his show. He says it might even be permanent this time. While he continued to deny that his comments were sexist, the host did promise to apologize to both of the conservative women during his announcement video. source

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So far, Sleep Number, The Sleep Train, Quicken Loans, Legal Zoom, Citrix, Carbonite, ProFlowers, Tax Resolution, AOL, Bonobos, Sears, Allstate Insurance, Sensa, Bare Escentuals, Vitacost, Hadeed Carpet, Thompson Creek Windows, PolyCom, Service Magic, AccuQuote Life Insurance, Geico, John Deere, Stamps.com, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bethesda Sedation Dentistry, Cascades Dental, Philadelphia Orchestra, Goodwill Industries, Heart & Body Extract,Netflix, Downeast Energy, Capitol One, JCPenney, Matrix Direct, Reputation Rhino, Consolidated Credit, Constant Contact, RSVP Discount Beverage, Cunningham Security, Regal Assets, Freedom Debt Relief, Norway Savings Bank, Portland Ovations, The Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington and O’Reilly Auto Parts have pulled ads from the program.

View The Pinterest Board: 

At least 21 companies have pulled their ads from the “The Rush Limbaugh Show” since the conservative talk show host called a law student a “slut” on the air last week, as the social media blitz against the popular radio program showed no signs of slowing down Tuesday.

Companies are continuing to join the rapidly growing list of businesses that have ceased advertising on Limbaugh’s show, responding to the flood of grievances that are pouring in from disgruntled customers.

The list of companies that officially announced on Twitter or Facebook that they would stop advertising on the radio show include: AccuQuote Life Insurance, Allstate Insurance, AOL, Bare Escentuals, Bonobos, Carbonite, Citrix, Hadeed Carpet, Legal Zoom, PolyCom, ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, Sears, Sensa, Service Magic, Sleep Train, Sleep Number, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Tax Resolution, Thompson Creek Windows and Vitacost.

wonklife:

(via xkcd: First Post)

cracked:

If The News Was Forced To Tell The Truth