Repeating mistakes

NEWS ABUSE

         Serious people can take comfort in how viewers, critics and other media summarily criticized CNN for their abandonment of principal and their failure of sound judgement in giving a free platform to the anti democracy, impeached ex president. 

        CNN CEO Chris Licht has acknowledged there were mistakes in the so called town hall meeting. There was such a clamor he had to back peddle from his original crowing about the broadcast. The idea was bone headed and Licht was made to take some medicine.

        As the ex-president is the leading republican presidential candidate the legitimate media has an obligation to cover his campaign, but does not include free and unchecked use of a network to, predictably, lie, demean, bully and to do his grift of fundraising. The appearances are his primary means of financial endeavor, bilking true believers to fund his legal defense needs and to bankroll his tortured campaign.

        It was CNN under the deposed and tarnished Jeff Zucker who gave the reality television actor free airtime that propelled him into the lead of the republican field in 2016. You would think CNN has some institutional memory and at least a residual sense of shame and guilt for their role in foisting the ill prepared man onto the American public and into the White House.

    It seems journalists are wrestling with how to cover the as yet un-indicted ring leader of the January 6 insurrection. Viewers and advertisers can and should leverage influence as well. There is an odious and ignominious cloud over CNN now.  Licht needs to heed the overwhelming public revulsion.

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

       California Senator Dianne Feinstein is exercising faulty judgement and so is the exclusive club to which she is clinging, the US Senate.

        Feinstein has been an exemplary public servant most of her life, but it is obvious her health is no longer robust enough to meet the obligations of representing California. 

        Long time members of the Senate do not go easily but Feinstein and her staff are ignoring public good for the vestiges of power. At 89 it is best for her to attend to her health and it is best for California and the Senate Democrat caucus that she step aside. 

        It is time for the "Senate Club" to address the issue of absence, illness, incapacity, and the ability to fulfill the obligations of Senate work. 

MICKEY 1  SWAMP CREATURE 0

        The other blunder of judgement getting our attention is Governor DeSantis' decision to go to war with Disney. Presently DeSantis is getting his head handed to him by Mickey Mouse. DeSantis is being cast as a dud, early in his challenge of another cartoon character for the Republican nomination. 

        The fact Disney is threatening to pull back billions of commitment to future building and work in Florida is evidence enough the bully Governor's self righteous moral crusade was not only overstepping and wrong it was also bad for Florida business. 

        Somebody please suit up the governor, it would be fitting to make his campaign appearances in a Goofy costume. 

ARAB MENDACITY

SYRIAN SLAUGHTER & SAUDI SUCCOR

        Syria's readmission to the Arab League is an offense to civility and the idea of diplomacy. Syria's Assad is guilty of slaughter and brutality that could be the worst in recorded history. He is a war criminal and butcher and deserves the strongest dose of discipline the world can apply. Instead the bazaar prince MSB, who issues kill orders and slimes his way to power in the "Kingdom," has embraced Assad and welcomed him back to the league. There is no honor among thieves and the next 1001 Arab nights deserve close scrutiny. 

     Stay vigilant. See you down the trail.   

The Demise

         There's a chop out there. Tough days in the newsroom, especially at CNN. Testing time on the diplomatic front. And I'm going to violate one of my mother's rules of conduct.

        Mom would often say, "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." But I can't ignore Jeff Zucker or Vladimir Putin. 

        From my view, they've been exposed, seen through and both have been up to no good. 

        They're dark agents and we deal with their legacy.

        I don't know Zucker though our paths crossed many times as we treaded the news and journalism events over the years.

        Zucker got respect for his early work at NBC bringing the Today Show to a new era. I worked 15 years at an NBC affiliate, was in and out of New York at NBC events or with the NBC crews in the field and we shared moments of history. 

        I followed his career track but when he got to CNN my opinion of his professional decisions tanked. Zucker turned CNN from a 24/7 News Network into a news and personality heavy yack format.

        Viewer interest in broadcast news rises and falls based on any number of variables, but substituting personality for reporting or investigative work and documentaries changed the nature of the network. Zucker was more about ratings and the bottom line than the public's need to know.

        

        The darker cloud over his now tarnished reputation was his fawning and irresponsible devotion to Trump. 

        Under Zucker's command CNN  gave then long shot and unlikely candidate Trump millions of dollars of free airtime during the Republican Primary. CNN's deplorable judgement  put on a countdown clock ticking away until the next Trump appearance. Never had a candidate been singled out for the spot light and free air time. No candidate ever was so propped up. No candidate was ever as undeserving.

        Zucker tossed out balance in news policy and philosophy to pander and let an infantile and crude hustler trash the sober Republican party, and infect the American political system with a rotting disease from which we still suffer. Zucker alone among all credible news group executives aided and abetted.

        I care less about Zucker's personal life. There are questions about his professional judgment and CNN is in a crisis. His damaging influence on news broadcasting is a greater offense. It is, however, another example of how self indulgent some in the information business are and how out of touch they are from the working and struggling audience and citizens.

       

        One has to wonder if Putin's campaign of interference, undermining and collusion would have happened without the  media shine on the narcissist stooge.

        In a December 9, 2013 post I referred to Putin as being a taker. The world watches as his motive and intent have been revealed and counter played by the US and allies. Thus far President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Security Advisor Sullivan, NATO, and European leaders Macron and Scholz have been more than a match for the little Russian. But Putin is old school KGB, steely and immune to public opinion. 

        The table of options of response to an invasion are wide.

Putin is counting on a moronic partisan strife in Washington. We once enjoyed the adage that politics stops at the water's edge. That was before Jeff Zucker and Donald Trump.

        Stay safe and stay tuned. 

        See you down the trail.

        

          

In the weeds....

we need a little more light

     After four nights of "debates" some thoughts emerge.

• By next summer when the Trump campaign and the Democrat candidate's organization meet to discuss a debate format they should agree to avoid inviting any networks to the planning discussions.

      The Fox "Town Halls," the MSNBC Nights of Ten and the CNN Debate are not working nor are they helpful. The Fox sessions have been the most revealing. The CNN outing was  particularly goofy.

      The CNN questioners came off as more interested in provoking confrontation and argument rather than exploring issues and leadership qualities. The questions were contrived and off the point. They may think setting up "battles" and provoking challenges will hold audience, but they do little of value. And sadly most of the candidates took the bait. We are a culture showing signs of intellectual decline. 

       

• Most of the questions were framed about issues that exceed Presidential mandate or control. 
• Health care for example is the province of the legislative branch. A President may help shape his or her party's position, but the House and the Senate write the law and the President approves or not. LBJ exercised some influence over Medicare but he was a powerful legislative force, the likes of which no longer exist. Obamacare was the work of the House and Senate. Getting into minutia is meaningless, but it gives the candidates a chance to argue with each other.
• Ditto immigration policy. A President's view is not unimportant, but any meaningful immigration reform will come from Capitol Hill. Does the candidate have an idea about how to fix the problem? Hear it and move on, the specifics, the details will be something other than what any of the candidates say.
• US voters like to probe and poke Presidential candidates, but often a President's major action is in reaction, to legislation more more likely to events at home and abroad. It's good to know the measure of a candidate's mettle, but there's been more peripheral and contrived controversy in what we've seen so far. It's resembled a cattle call.

the democrat road show

    The Democrats have shown they have a wide range of candidate philosophy, from moderate right to progressive.

     Who speaks to and for voting constituencies that will control the election outcome? The long political season will help to shake it out.  

       

    Joe Biden is the target now. With his decades of service his long record is being picked apart by Harris, Gillibrand  Booker, De Blasio, and others. He has what they don't, poll numbers. As the Front runner he's a target, but that's lame politics and dangerous. 
     What debaters say now could make it a challenge to take back and/or support the eventual candidate. Taking each other apart is off target, off message, damaging, and not helpful. It is a silly sport.
       All of the Demos want improvement in the health care system and want to stop Trump's destruction of what is left of the Affordable Care Act. They argue about how to do it. A legislative process will deliver the specifics, but viewers are being given a chance to see the wide range of Democratic thinking and that maybe helpful, to a point. 
      Elizabeth Warren keeps telling us she has a plan. They all should and it would be more helpful to hear those plans than the kind of wonky food fight we've seen so far. More intelligent and less confrontationally contrived questions would help.
     

a long way up

    I heard a long time Washington insider, a veteran of Capitol Hill, campaigns and the media say if there was truly a leader of the Democrat Party, she or he would get all of the candidates in the same room and remind them the person to defeat is Donald Trump and the message should be to the public, not to play act in some silly charade game like the TV debates have been.

     Two long shots have sounded wise and for the most part stayed out of the tit for tat food fight.  Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Buttigieg have appeared to be thoughtful and less combative, though Gabbard hit Harris hard on Health Care.

Interestingly, they are both military veterans and have been tested by more than political bull shit. 

    

     If I were advising a candidate I'd tell them their core audience should be working women with children and the overlay would be 18 to 45 year old working people. The outer core of voter would be women 45 plus. 

     Those groups are both urban and rural.  I may be entirely wrong. I've been covering politics since 1964 and my hunches have been both spot on and dead wrong. My gut tells me women voters are the jackpot in 2020. And, according to the Sevareid rule, I reserve the right to change my mind. 

     See you down the trail. 

MATTERS OF CONTROL

     Lana's knee replacement surgery meant I spent a few days at the hospital, a rich tableau for an old reporter and watcher of people.
     One thing I am sure of is that nurses run things. Doctors matter of course and so do the administrators, but the nurses are the heart and soul and a good portion of the brains. It's similar to the army, where Sergeants run things. Nurses and sergeants know things based on practical experience on top of their considerable training. If you want to know something, ask a nurse. If nurses offer advice, take it.
     I'm biased because my youngest daughter Katherine is a nurse and so are several of our good friends.
     Maybe this nation would be a lot better off, if nurses were running the show.

there's a cure for that

        branding and castration in Templeton California

        I take it as my patriotic duty to rail about a couple of items and offer up a solution as pictured above.

         A military parade? Just one more warning sign on the growing checklist this guy is separated from reality,  normalcy, decency and intelligence and that he's acting so like a banana republic dictator he represents a danger to our democratic republic. He's got no politics or policy that we could fight about it, it's just his ego insanity, arrogance and lack of knowledge.

         Scores of experienced men and women warned us in the campaign, he's unfit, unqualified and lacks the intelligence to do the job. He won't even read the daily presidential briefs, he spends hours doing his "hair," comes to work late, leaves early and cannot be trusted.

         Yea, I know I'm sick and tired of it too. But we cannot for moment let this tyrant go unchecked or unchallenged so some times we have beat a dead horse. 

        There is the vexing matter of those who continue to support him, and the republicans who refuse to rebuff him. I submit they will be remembered by history as fools and a cancer on the great American experiment. 

         Wouldn't you love to see this bloated over the hill playboy and scammer meet justice-Batman or Avengers style? Or from a cowboy like those pictured above.

an example of the decline

          It was an item many would have missed. The Sinclair Broadcast group, the nation's largest owner of TV stations, is fighting for deregulation so they can amass more stations. That alone is a topic for discussion, but the point today is Sinclair asked executives, including news executives and local news directors to contribute to the legal fund.

         They are nuts! They are turning their back on 50 years of journalistic cannons. All major news organizations, ABC, NBC, CBS, FoxNews, and CNN forbid journalists from contributing to candidates, parties or political organizations. Frankly, as a journalist, you wouldn't want to. It helps eliminate conflict of interest or the perception of a bias.

        "I've never seen anything like this," says Professor Lewis Friedland of the University of Wisconsin and a former TV producer, "it's blatantly unethical."

        Sinclair's senior vice president of strategy and policy said there was nothing wrong with the request since it did not go to reporters, anchors or other newsroom employees. Rebecca Hanson said the news directors "were solicited as a result of being part of our managerial level, not because of their role in editorial." Ms Hanson, you cannot have it both ways.

        I was a news director at the flagship station of a TV chain and a member of the management, but also responsible for day to day news operations and content on three stations. Journalists and news people always put priority on content. Hanson's comment and lack of understanding of the ethical violation is so typical of profit driven corporate management where the only thing that matters is the bottom line. And it is not unlike the logic of those who can support donald trump. Oh, by the way, Sinclair mandated that local stations run pro trump commentaries, right wing harangues and pro trump news stories. Mandated that! They are further right than Fox News and they plan to challenge Fox by purchasing new stations, but first they must challenge the Federal Government. 

        I would not, nor could I have, worked for Sinclair. They are a bane on real journalism, but this is the age of trump, where someones opinion carries as much weight as facts, science and truth. It's an age where money and lies persuade.

       There are days when I wonder if traditional American values or principles of fairness, honesty, experience and the value of intelligence and history can survive an age of Facebook, social media, news by flavor, right wing news bias, low information citizens, big money and swindlers like trump and Putin. Maybe not, but not without a fight and a full defense of the constitution and bill of rights. 

        The staff person who was tasked with explaining to the president what the 10 amendments that are bill of rights were says he got to the fourth, trump rolled his eyes, used his finger to blubber his lips and that was it. It is a good bet donald trump has never read the constitution, doesn't know what the separation of powers or checks and balances are -but he's pretty sure his button is the largest.  

        

        See you down the trail.

        

ERADICATION AND IT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD

     Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it is also where you find it. And it depends on mindset.

     Super gardener Lana sees this year's abundant thistle crop as evil run amok, nature's symbolic response to the election perhaps. Everything nasty about thistles is true, but they can possess a photographic beauty.

     Still they are nasty self propagators and they have flourished in this first post drought year. They are hard to cut and clear. There is a lesson in that for you of political persuasion. More about that later.

     Frequent readers may recall an earlier post on the early roll out success of Calder The Musical. Full disclosure here-a co-writer and producer is a friend and associate of decades, Tom Alvarez.

     The CD is now in release as Tom and his partner Dustin Klein take the show to the next level. And that's the point of this review-get to CD Baby where you can sample and buy your own copy.

     There is an infectious joy and energy in the music of Calder the Musical from the rousing opening Ton of A Man to the closing Dance With Me, which makes you want to do just that.

     There is a message here in this tribute of "art to life."  Alvarez and Klein bring life to this art of theater with the universal advice of following dreams. This is an inspiration to follow your path and it is told in song in a way that is a joyful coaching for the young and a reminder for those of us who are not, to reclaim our passion.

     Tom has been a barrier breaking producer and talent and an impresario of creativity for as long as I have known him. I take a great joy in imagining how he and Dustin conceived and gave birth to this fresh and exciting new production.

     It is hard to pick a favorite song from this show. That's For Sure is catchy. A Prize in the Sky is simply beautiful and in league with some of theaters all time best. Were It Not For Me will also work it's way into your heart and mind. 

      It is an energetic soundtrack with range and diversity and will have you swaying or wanting to dance through out. It has the kind of music that will leave you humming or singing.

       Alvarez and Klein make musical magic and give us an innovative take on life, art and a famous name. I didn't want the CD to be over. Calder the Musical leaves you wanting more. 

     I wish Tom and Dustin all the best as they work to share Calder the Musical on more stages.

Americana

     The women's division of the Cambria pie eating contest

packed in the crowd and gave us a chance to forget about the American divide.

     Everyone, even those who identify as conservative and/or republican seems embarrassed by the president's behavior this past week. His personal attack on a media personality and that childish tweet of him attacking CNN were new lows in the American presidency. His numbers continue to dive.

     Like those nasty thistles and their pernicious impact, uprooting the trump impact on the US and its values will take work, by true republicans and democrats as well as traditional conservatives and liberals. The president is none of the above. Time for the round up and weed begone.

    See you down the trail.

    
     
     

NOT A DEBATE-FLOWER WARS-SENTIMENTAL THROWBACK

WOULD RATHER HAVE WATCHED THIS

    Soccer enthusiasts abound in Cambria and that is even more so for some folks of Mexican heritage. Strong family ties are evidenced in the volunteer coaching by moms and dads in Shamel Park. Maybe some future world cup players being groomed in the village.
    As we watched a recent afternoon drill I wondered what these kids thought of Donald Trump and some of his immigration worrying debate colleagues.

NOT A DEBATE

    Let me give you my bona fides.  I've moderated many state and federal debates-Governors, Congress and Senate. Having said that I thought Jake Tapper did a good job according to his assignment-but there in lies the rub.  

      CNN was not so interested in serious examination of issues, solutions and philosophy as they were in stirring up a verbal fight. The brain trust at CNN decided they'd pander and play "Real Candidates of The Campaign Trail."  They could have called it Sass and Ego at the Reagan. 

     Tapper had instruction to set up verbal sparing and he did that well. He did a pretty decent job of controlling the bombast and the real journalist in him even snuck out a few times where he got to questions that were not merely set ups for more verbal warfare. From inception it was more about atmospherics and theatrics than real substance and analysis, but such is the business of politics when twitter and trending is as important as intellect.
     Dana Bash was able to ask a few real questions. Hugh Hewitt should have been left in the make up room or in the GOP pom pom squad. What a joke he was!  
     In three hours of gab and BS we probably learned a bit more about the candidates, due to time and exposure more than it was to the format. Next time CNN should arm the candidates with paint ball guns and Nerf bats.

MYSTIQUE

    Now that I see the bromeliad bloom above and the bloom below they don't look as much alike as I thought they did. Boomer memory you know…

   The plant above is called a cama or Indian Hyacinth. Native Americans in the Northwest Territory, including Indiana were said to fight over them.  In some tribes they were considered "old ghosts," "old spirits" and the tuber or bulb was a source of food or medicine.
   It is a Camassia, a kind of asparagus. We had large patches of them growing on our old growth forest acreage on the Indianapolis north side.

   There were times of day, early morning or late evening especially when the camas seemed to radiate the gloaming light and appeared to be small ghosts dancing as they tossed on the breeze.

 SENTIMENTAL SEPTEMBER THROWBACK

   Back at our Indianapolis home late September was time to begin marking the change of season by tending to leaves and winterizing the house.
   One September was particularly sentimental, the year our eldest moved to Florida. Graduated from IU she was ready to "leave home."

   She left at the height of "leaf season" and I teased her about timing the move so she left fall chores to mom, dad and younger sister Katherine.  On 3 1/2 acres of old forest we had a lot of clean up.

     This September she is busy building a nest for her own growing family and sister Katherine begins work as an RN in cardiac telemetry. Lana and I are pleased that our boomer backs, shoulders, arms and legs are not putting up winter shutters.  We do hope for California rain, but no shoveling is required!

      See you down the trail.

      

THE SHIRT-A MARIJUANA MIRACLE-LIKE A CARTOON

OK-HERE'S THE SHIRT

     This blog is nothing if not sensitive to you, dear reader. Several of you responded that I should have shown the neon yellow tennis shirt which earned me such derision last week.  Some of my tennis mates even suggested I should show the shirt.  OK, I hear you.

   I admit it is way out of my usual white or blue color zone, but I've been reminded that a couple of others have been seen sporting the color on the pro circuit.

The great champion Rafa Nadal...

Courtesy of thesidelinesagenda.com

...and the battling Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro

Courtesy straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com

     Wow is it empowering to be linked in the same post to Nadal and Del Potro!  Pretentious and absurd too!

A MARIJUANA MEDICAL MIRACLE?

     Dr. Sanjay Gupta, one of the best of the broadcast journalists, presented an astounding and heart rending story  in his CNN Special Report WEED.  The piece linked here, details how a compound in marijuana has essentially saved and then improved the life of a young girl with a medical condition that results in seizures.  As a result of the success many other children are being treated as well.

     I was surprised to learn that Israeli medical researchers are leading the world in finding medical application for marijuana in treating dementia and cancer-the disease states and not just the symptoms. 

     CNN is attempting to reassert itself as a valued news organization and Gupta's work is a big piece of that.  He's found a way to report medicine and science in an accessible and enlightening manner.

LIKE A CARTOON

    I saw this the other day and thought the termite control tenting made it look like a cartoon house-something out of a Tim Burton movie.

   See you down the trail.

NOW WHAT-FOR OBAMA-FOR REPUBLICANS

HOW ABOUT THE 2016 RACE?
ARE YOU READY?

     Heaven forbid!!!!

     Before we leave this most expensive presidential campaign in history, a few thoughts from a self avowed political junkie-who got paid to cover politics. (Talk about larceny!)

      WHAT NOW FOR THE GOP?

      Lot of people are saying the GOP needs to "reform" or change, to shift away from being a party dominated by whites, males, conservatives and the wealthy.  I'm not sure I buy those descriptions as being the complete sum total of the party.  But if it is true, the party ran a very close race as it is.  Charles Krauthammer says instead the GOP needs to look to a younger generation of itself, particularly to younger governors or members of the senate.

      Aside from Jon Huntsman the other GOP candidates were extremists, flawed, whackos or unqualified.  Romney won in a court of dunces.  In truth he was a north eastern moderate who had to play to a party that is in the grip of a right wing, some of whom border on zealots.  Old line republicans were not in evidence and frankly some held their heads down in shame.  

      The Republican party needs to do a few things.  Throw off the control of social issue, right wing, moralizing and/or tea party extremists.  It needs to move toward an historic moderate position where it could tolerate candidates as liberal as Nixon, Reagan, Dole and even Eisenhower. Many of the current crop of Republicans would dispute the policies of their own historic leadership. Just as Romney did with his own previous Massachusetts record. The GOP "base" is too far right. Let the right wing go start their own third party movement.  The GOP needs to come to grips with the changing demographic of America.  More about that in a moment.

WHAT NOW FOR THE DEMOCRATS & OBAMA

      The Obama machine and the Democratic leadership has been terribly shortsighted.  Yes re-electing the president was paramount, but should not have been their only interest.  The Democrats, and even the Republicans, should both begin to rebuild national parties.  Today the association is only nominal and temporary. National, grass roots based organizations should exist to hear local needs, respond to those issues, demand accountability, train and vet future candidates for state legislatures and federal office.  Think of how much better off Obama would be if the Democrats controlled the House.  Strong national parties, engaged in finding and funding strong candidates for the House are a lot healthier for this Republic than the big money of Super Pacs and special interests who now control who has the money and ultimately who gets elected.  Those interests are beholden only to themselves.  

     Parties worked historically.  But now if you've got enough money, a good organization and pollster you can declare yourself whatever you say you are and run, and may get elected. To a large extent Obama is a case in point. So, the newly reelected President should preside over helping his party to rebuild a true national party.  

     The President needs to bang Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid on the head, repeatedly, until they are ready to put partisan politics behind national need. (I mean the head banging figuratively, at least for Pelosi)

      The Democrats need to hear what millions of voters think.  People don't like taxes.  Some of us understand that taxes are in fact necessary, but with bullies and simple minded people like Howard Jarvis doing their stupid oath taking, there is a lot of work to be done before Americans understand the relationship between accountability, accounting, needs, revenue and strategic planning. This nation faces critical financial issues that need something more than we've seen in the past 12 years.

      The first trick Obama needs to clear is how to move forward-truly building a structure that will embrace the House Republicans and bring them to cooperation, or to bulldoze over them.  Here again, if his guru David Axlerod had been more forward thinking the campaign would have rolled in a flood of House Democrats. Instead he faces a Republican majority who spent the last two years doing a dance of insanity and obfuscation.  This nation needs genuine problem solving.  That would be problem solving ahead of political advantage.

      So someone needs to take Mitch McConnell to a heavy metal funk bar, dose him on some mind altering elixir and turn him into a roadie for 50 Cent until he cries uncle. The Senate filibuster rule needs to change.  

      John Boehner should be chained to a stake like a dog and spend a week in a Mississippi shack eating gruel and watching how people in poverty struggle to stay alive.

      I don't know how Obama is going to transverse the perils that led us to gridlock, but he is the Chief Executive and he needs to evince a leadership that will lead to a new way of doing the nation's business. But it takes the other side willing to help.

      The 2014 mid term could/should be a Democratic priority. They need to find a way to win the house and hold the Senate.

THE DEMOGRAPHICS QUESTION

       African American, Latino, women  and young voters are the apparent alliance that put Obama back into the White House.  Republicans-how does that picture jive with your party?  Truth is Latino voters will continue to play a powerful role in American politics.  There are pockets of the nation where the Asian voting patterns hold power.

        Many women have made it abundantly clear that their bodies, their health and their well being are theirs and that politicians who don't understand may not get their vote. I am not implying that women vote only on such issues, but some do.

      It is healthy for all Americans that more women will now serve in the Senate.  Again it is matter of perspective.

Don't be surprised to see the 2016 field fill with Latino faces of both parties.  

AND FINALLY VOTER SUPPRESSION IS WRONG

      Voter fraud and cheating is as old as the Republic. Still is wrong and this year we saw evidence of voter suppression.  A political operative pal sent this along to demonstrate. BEWARE-this might make you laugh. But it might also make you think.  Now there's a good start for the next cycle.  Thinking.

                                          

THE NEW AUDIENCE FOR ALL OF THOSE
CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS

   Well done complements to John King of CNN and Chuck Todd of NBC for their masterful work with touch screens that help crunch and illustrate the returns in last night's coverage. It was a great blend of interpretative journalism and technology.  

    See you down the trail.