Idiot

Chris Matthews is a most excellent media cretin. I wish we could forget his career.

Joe the Plumber Is Not A Surrogate

By now, you're probably like me on the Joe the Plumber thing, sick of it. Even Joe say's he's sick of it, as he jets off to the next media appearance. I knew when McCain talked him up during the debate that we would hear more from this guy. I had hopes that once the media had talked to him post debate, his 15 minutes would be up and he could go back to being an obscure plumber in the occasionally making the news town of Toledo, a place I know well.

Alas, not to be. Next thing poor Joe knows, he's getting a media colonoscopy. His credit info posted online, all his business in the street about owing back taxes and not having like an official plumbers license and probably some other stuff. Biden goes on Leno and cracks on the guy.

Now, on the one hand, Joe wasn't trying to ask Obama a real honest question, he was trying to make him look foolish. For all his playing coy with Couric about who he supported, the guy is a McCain supporter which really was not too difficult to figure out after listening to him talk about the issues for a minute or two. I really didn't get the keeping it a secret on that front either. So this guy was just out to do some damage to the One.

Nonetheless, Joe is a citizen, not a combatant in this political warfare, and the media should not have treated him any other way. He's just a voter. I had hoped the Obama campaign would issue a statement about the media not tormenting Joe. That would have been a nice gesture and maybe helped the media restrain themselves, but they didn't. So Joe didn't get much cover.

Memo to media. Lay off Joe's personal business and stop treating the guy like a surrogate . He was not really a confused voter trying to get clarity, but he is a voter, not a candidate and just because he got in the One's face, you don't need to put the smack down on him. He's little people.

Note to Joe: Now that you have had all your business put on front street, I highly recommend you do some quick self promotion and throw up a snarky anti-One website with some ads on it and milk your remaining 10 minutes. Maybe trademark Joe the Plumber, buy your plumbing business with the proceeds and make it your company name, start pulling in those dollars in so you can spread your wealth to the minions of the One.

CNN Puts Media Hit on Ron Paul

The CNN website is running a story on Ron Paul highlighting a series of newsletters authored under his name in the 90's that include prejudiced and insulting statements about blacks and gays. Bloggers and their readers have of course known about them for quite some time. This story is far from new, its been out there for quite a while. This clearly represents the MSM deciding that its time for Ron Paul to make his exit and they look to speed him on his way with a racist character assassination job. However, it will have little effect on Ron Paul's campaign. His die hard supporters won't be swayed and in fact may be in complete agreement with the sentiments in the newsletters and since he is already such a fringe figure, there's not much there.

National Media Contact Page

Here is a listing of contact info for media when you are trying to get the word out:


ABC News
47 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-222-7777
General e-mail: netaudr@abc.com

ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings:
Phone: 212-456-4040
Fax: 212-456-2795
E-mail: netaudr@abc.com

Nightline:
1717 DeSales St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-222-7000
E-mail: niteline@abc.com

20/20:
147 Columbus Ave., 10th fl, New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-2020
Fax: 212-456-0533
E-mail: 2020@abc.com

ABC's Good Morning America:
147 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-5900
Fax: 212-456-7257
E-mail: netaudr@abc.com

CBS

CBS News
524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321
Fax: 212-975-1893
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-457-4385

CBS Evening News with Dan Rather:
Phone: 212-975-3691 or 202-457-4385
Fax: 212-975-1893

The Early Show:
Phone: 212-975-2824
Fax: 212-975-7133 or 212-975-2033

60 Minutes:
555 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019-2985
Phone: 212-975-2006
Fax: 212-757-6975

60 Minutes II:
Phone: 212-975-6200

CNBC
2200 Fletcher Ave.
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
Phone: (201) 585-2622
Fax: (201) 583-5453
Email: info@cnbc.com

CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906
E-mail: cnn.feedback@cnn.com

CNN Washington Bureau
820 First St. N.E., Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-898-7900
Fax: 202-898-7923

Crossfire
Phone: 202-898-7655
Fax: 202-898-7611

Larry King Live
Phone: 202-898-7690
Fax: 202-898-7686

Fox News Channel
1211 Ave. of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229
Email: comments@foxnews.com

MSNBC
One MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094
Phone: (201) 583-5000
Fax: (201) 583-5453
Email: world@msnbc.com

NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Phone: 212-664-4444
Fax: 212-664-4426


Washington Bureau
4001 Nebraska Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016
Phone: 202-885-4200
Fax: 202-362-2009


NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw:
Phone: 212-664-4971 or 202-885-4259 Fax: 202-362-2009 E-mail: nightly@nbc.com

NBC News' Today:
Phone: 212-664-4602 or 202-885-4231
Fax: 212-664-4426
E-mail: today@nbc.com

Dateline NBC
Phone: 212-664-7501
Fax: 212-664-7864
E-mail: dateline@nbc.com


Public Broadcasting

PBS
1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-739-5000
Fax: 703-739-8458

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
3620 South 27th St., Arlington, VA 22206
Phone: 703-998-2150
E-mail: newshour@pbs.org

National Public Radio
635 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001-3753
Phone: 202-513-2000
Fax: 202-513-3329
E-mail: Jeffrey Dvorkin, Ombudsman ombudsman@npr.org

All Things Considered:
Phone: 202-513-2110
E-mail: atc@npr.org

Morning Edition:
Phone: 202-513-2150
Fax: 202-513-3329
E-mail: morning@npr.org

National Newspapers

Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 800-528-4637 or 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-4712
E-mail: letters@latimes.com

New York Times
229 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-556-1234
Fax: 212-556-3690
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-862-0300
E-mail: letters@nytimes.com

USA Today
1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22229
Phone: 800-872-0001 or 703-276-3651
Fax: 703-247-3108
E-mail: editor@usatoday.com

Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281
Phone: 212-416-2000
Fax: 212-416-2658
E-mail: editors@interactive.wsj.com

Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW, Washington, DC 20071
Phone: 202-334-6000
Fax: 202-334-5269
E-mail: ombudsman@washpost.com

Associated Press
50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020
Phone: 212-621-1500
Fax: 212-621-7523
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-776-9400

Magazines

Newsweek
251 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-445-4000
Fax: 212-445-5068
E-mail: letters@newsweek.com

Time
Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, New York, NY 10020
Phone: 212-522-1212
Fax: 212-522-0323
E-mail: letters@time.com

U.S. News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson St., Washington, DC 20007
Phone: 202-955-2000
Fax: 202-955-2049
E-mail: letters@usnews.com