corrente

I thought he did well, minus his comments on Bush/Sharon/Israel (more to come on this admittedly big one). I thought the media whores would have a hard time dissing Kerry's performance, especially compared with the President's solo hour with Tim.

Silly me. If there is one circumstance can prod one of those sedentary Washington heathers to put out a concerted effort, it's an opportunity to dis a Dem. (see post immediately below)

So, it was with some relief that I started to pick up approving notices from around blogovia. Here's Pandagon, and check out the comments.

Then again, what the hell do we know? We're only ordinary citizens, and voters. We're among those throngs of the wrong-headed who actually enjoyed those long Clinton SOTUs, the idea of the President addressing we, the people, at such length and specificity, to the angry frustration of the impatient, easily bored Commentariat.

Last night on MSNBC, on Keith Olberman's Countdown, I saw something that years of exposure to the unseriousness of our major media did not prepare me for. I hesitated posting about it, but now I see that you can see the tape yourself on the Countdown website and judge for yourselves what the point was, besides making Kerry look like an ass.

Here's the piece as transcribed.

OLBERMANN: If you go, by the way, to COUNTDOWN.MSNBC.com, you can read excerpts of Bob Woodward‘s book, “Plan of Attack.”

And this programming note: Chris Matthews, special guest Wednesday night on “HARDBALL”: Bob Woodward. Be there, aloha.

And one more thing before we leave the No. 5 story: Politics and presidents. It‘s all been Mr. Bush so far tonight, to be fair, something about Senator Kerry. If you missed him on “Meet the Press” yesterday, we have boiled down his 60 minutes with Tim Russert to the most important 45 seconds. Well the most important 45 seconds based on the news judgment of a show that‘s obsessed with numbers, like ours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM RUSSERT, “MEET THE PRESS”: Senator Kerry, welcome.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Glad to be here. Thank you, Tim.

First of all, No. 1...No. 2...No. 1...No. 2, then No. 3, we need a president who understands No. 4. Guess what, Tim? Eight million...ten million.

Guess what, Tim? Eleven million.

RUSSERT: Senator...

KERRY: Let me just finish...think of the year 2000...2004...the year 2020...2029...I think we can do better...2037.

Let me be very clear to you. You and I earn a lot of money.

$6 trillion in the last six-five-four years, that‘s what you said, but that said, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4...and here‘s the bottom line: No. 1.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: And that‘s 30 for today. Thus the fifth story, Woodward and Bush, Kerry and the COUNTDOWN‘s completed. Yes, we will show that again later in the show.

And he did. To see it yourself, click here, and then scroll down and click on the "Launch".

Let me know if there is something there I'm missing.