MagneticMediaFed

Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed my day off by watching the fourth episode of The Wire season five on HBO On-Demand. As I was sitting in my living room watching it there seemed to this perfect storm of politics swirling around me as the episode played out. I was home from work for the MLK holiday, which obviously has its own political implications, especially as I enjoyed the comfort of my gentrified New York neighborhood watching a series ostensibly about the progress (or lack thereof) of the African American community in our country’s cities. The best parts of the episode (and I might argue the best parts of the this season as a whole) dealt with the complex maneuvering of political capital by Baltimore’s fictional mayor in order to further his own political ambitions. While watching this and thinking about why I was staying home form work I couldn’t help but also think about the current presidential race that is now going full bore and the disconnect between what I was currently seeing on screen and what the candidates have been screaming about on the stump. More (with very minor spoilers) after the jump…

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A spherical head

I suppose this is something of a holdover from Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, but I’ve been thinking about it since the AP called the race for Hillary Clinton. Let me set the scene: My roommate and I are watching MSNBC’s coverage because we’re both hopelessly addicted/in love to/with Tim Russert and I find Keith Olberman fine enough. We’re kind of doing that thing where we’re half watching the slowly creeping numbers of their various on-screen graphics and half making fun of everything on screen despite the fact that not-so-deep-down we clearly love all of this and don’t want it to end. Then the AP calls the race for Hillary Clinton and the night is ostensibly over. But instead of flipping off the television I flip back over to CNN to see what Wolf “They’re so black” Blitzer has to say about things. What they had to say was that CNN “was not prepared to call the race for Mrs. Clinton.” GAME ON! More after the jump…

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Last week the right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation put on a panel to discuss America’s image in the war on terror. The panel, hosted by levelheaded former drug-addict Rush Limbaugh, featured various members of the Department of Homeland Securty (including Skeletor Michael Chertoff) and the creators/cast of FOX’s 24 (minus Kiefer Sutherland).

Chertoff expressed to the audience that the actual department of homeland security isn’t all that much like 24’s counter-terrorism-unit, which frankly, I was surprised about. Though he did add that– like the show– his department is frequently “trying to make the best choice with a series of bad options.” You tell ‘em Cherty!

Limbaugh, always the diplomat, asked the panel if they felt creating a “pro-American show” made them the targets of liberal Hollywood. And wait until you hear what the panel said… after the jump…

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