Watchdog Blog

Archive for October, 2010

Herb Strentz: Chuck Grassley, Christian Farmer

DES MOINES—Granted, it was a one-word slip, an adjective out of place. But still its usage rankled — given how the religious right dominates politics in Iowa. So, within seconds of the close of the WHO-TV 6 P.M., news cast, I emailed the anchor and the news director: “Why on earth in its profiles tonight [...]

Gilbert Cranberg: Norma

In my work secrecy was a no-no and the right to know sacred watchwords. So when my wife had emergency surgery and the pathology report revealed untreatable cancer, why did I want the truth kept from her? Because she was not an abstraction but a complicated person with anxieties who would be far better off [...]

POGO: Stimulus ‘Lettermarking’ at the Defense Department

By Nick Schwellenbach, crossposted with POGO My friends over at the Center for Public Integrity unveiled a wallop of a story on Sunday afternoon—dozens of Members of Congress who decried the Recovery Act, better known as the “stimulus,” were simultaneously sending letters to government agencies asking for a piece of the action. The Center got [...]

Gilbert Cranberg: Gingrich, the Alliteration Candidate

Newt Gingrich either has a serious memory deficit or he simply will say or do anything to call attention to himself. Gingrich’s latest is to declare that the GOP is the party of paychecks and Democrats the party of food stamps. Catchy, no? Reflect on it a bit and you realize that Gingrich has sacrificed [...]

Myra MacPherson: Shedology on the Mall

An interesting Glenn Beckian tidbit from the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank: “One day, he rhetorically asked his Fox News viewers: “Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s?” As Milbank says, “a good question” seeing as how “we”, the U.S. of A., bought it from the Russians in 1867. It was known as Seward’s Folly [...]