the gift of junk for the political junkie

The New York Times' "blog" has a interesting piece about holiday gift ideas that are politically themed. (Personally, I would rather get a poster of this map to hang in my room).

Giving someone Orin Hatch's Christmas CD, or any of his CD's is a violation of the 8th amendment I believe.

For another good laugh, you could get them a subscription of the Politico, the ultimate in the Washington Establishment set of always wrong pundits/journalists, by a self-proclaimed supergroup of writers who left their jobs at big papers to start this "paper."

Here's a taste, thanks to the New York Observer

The Post “came back with an unprecedented offer for us to stay,” Mr. VandeHei said, an offer that included positions leading the newspaper’s online political coverage.
[snip]
"I think we’ll show that we’re better than The New York Times or The Washington Post," Mr. VandeHei said.

Lastly, the Times suggests getting your political geek a mirror. But better yet would be a mirror with the seat of the office of the president on it. Get it for the Senator on your list.

And really, I am tired of stories talking about the fashion choices of the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Who cares if she wears nice pearls or Armani suits? Why didn't we talk about the gigantic gut of then-Speaker Hastert, or the tacky outfits of other powerful men? It really is demeaning to women leaders, especially since many of it is coming from women reporters. Women are more than their clothes, hair, makeup, and jewelry. But it is hard to tell from the breathless coverage by the MSM. So you have 24 hours to kill on a cable news show--why don't you do in depth reporting on a single topic, or talk about the leading story on the internets, rather than become a national local news show. Do I really need to know about white power given to a teacher in NJ without any context? Do you really need to know the brand of clothes or type of pearls Speaker Pelosi prefers? Do I care?

The reason Anderson Cooper and Keith Olberman shot up in ratings these last years is because they cut through the crap and get to what really interests Americans without going into "Entertainment Tonight" mode.

To me though, the story of the day on the internets is the news that Atrios has become the CW for Democratic primary voters. And I have to say, there is a lot of truth to that. When he makes a point, it ends up sticking in the dialog on the left blogosphere. How ironic that he is now what he despises, David Broder, at least to some degree.