"Our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others."

Barack Obama, ending his fourth State of the Union address. (via washingtonpoststyle)

"To the extent that the election was about anything more than negative advertising and relentless micro-targeting, it was a triumph of moderation over extremism, tolerance over intolerance, and the polyglot future over the monochrome past."

John Cassidy, “A Victory for Obama and for Obama’s America,” The New Yorker

(Source: newyorker.com)

motherjones:

Our home page right now.

Dear 100 percent of you: Thanks.

"It should be illegal to publish poll numbers."

Matt Taibbi in last month’s Rolling Stone. He went on:

Think about it: Banning poll numbers would force the media to actually cover the issues. As it stands now, the horse race is the entire story – I can think of a couple of cable networks that would have to go completely dark tomorrow, as in Dan-Rather-Dead-Fucking-Air dark, if they had to come up with even 10 seconds of news content that wasn’t centered on who was winning. That’s the dirtiest secret we in the media have kept from you over the years: Most of us suck so badly at our jobs, and are so uninterested in delving into any polysyllabic subject, that we would literally have to put down our shovels and go home if we didn’t have poll numbers we can use to terrify our audiences.

(Source: tumblr.thefjp.org)

(Source: gifwich)

Zing!

apiphile:

Barack Obama: I am told that the last three speakers here have been the Pope, Her Majesty the Queen and Nelson Mandela; which is either a very high bar, or the beginning of a very funny joke.

(Source: flushedwithcash, via gq)

New York Times: “Latest Word on the Trail? I Take It Back”

I’ve never had to get quotes approved — then again, I don’t interview politicians — but check out the latest nightmare for media folk. This report comes from The New York Times:

The quotations [from the U.S. presidential candidates] come back redacted, stripped of colorful metaphors, colloquial language and anything even mildly provocative.

They are sent by e-mail from the Obama headquarters in Chicago to reporters who have interviewed campaign officials under one major condition: the press office has veto power over what statements can be quoted and attributed by name.

(Source: The New York Times)

wnyc:

Cool behind-the-scenes.

-Jody, BL Show-

newyorker:

New Yorker art editor Francoise Mouly on the July 9th & 16th issue’s blown covers: 

We seldom attempt to anticipate the news when we solicit ideas for the covers, but I made an exception recently, in the week leading up to the Supreme Court ruling on Obama’s health-care law. I told the artists that the decision, to be announced on Thursday morning, right before we’d go to press, would herald a real defeat for Obama and the end of health-care coverage for many—hence this sketch by Christoph Niemann.

Click-through for a slide show of images that become even funnier when you know that none of this ever happened:  http://nyr.kr/MUYASG

cheatsheet:

Meow! 

(Source: affordablecarecat, via motherjones)

“The Life of Julia,” a case study on the effectiveness of Obama’s education and health plans, is a stellar example of effective copywriting. Oh, and it’s also informative! Take a look.