Jan. 7: Bhutto blame?/ Clinton struggles/ Hall of Fame

*Bhutto to blame?

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with Lara Logan on CBS' "60 Minutes" that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was to blame for her own death because, essentially, she stuck her head out the window. Yes, and she was also to blame for breathing, getting dressed and brushing her teeth.

Musharraf's excuse is as ridiculous as the Pakistani government's lack of an investigation into Bhutto's assassination. The government's version and actions sounded suspiciously like some of the statements in the closing argument New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, gave in his closing argument during the movie "JFK." No autopsy, the evidence washed.....Maybe Oliver Stone needs to investigate this one, too.

Speaking of Bhutto, Parade Magazine ran an interview with her in the print edition, anticipating the election that has now been postponed. The print edition has no correction.

The magazine editor explains:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080107/ap_on_re_us/bhutto_magazine_cover_1

There is a note at the Parade Web site:

http://www.parade.com/benazir_bhutto_interview.html

But boo to the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which did not post at least an editor's note - at least, I didn't find one yesterday. Anyone want to correct me on that?


*Bottom Line: Hill ain't Bill

The Chicago Tribune writes about former President Bill Clinton campaigning in New Hampshire:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-bill_zuckman-web,1,1587145.story

The problem isn't that New Hampshire is changed. The problem is that the candidate running is changed. It's not Bill Clinton, and voters know that.

Hillary Clinton is intelligent, but doesn't have her husband's charisma or straightforward approach on issues of public policy. And instead of adopting the former president's "roll with the punches while counterpunching" attitude on media attacks, she got sensitive - not a good idea for someone who will consistently be attacked because of who she and her husband are. It hurt her in Iowa, and may do so again in New Hampshire.

Speaking of the Clintons, here's a Washington Post piece about Chelsea:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404003.html

Part of me wants to say that if she's willing to go out and campaign, she should be willing to speak to the press. On the other hand, if she thinks she'd be burned because of the family ties, that's why she's staying silent.

Of course, I don't think her widely reported response to the 9-year-old Scholastic News reporter did her mother any favors last week.

*Not change, but unity

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was among those gathered at a bipartisan conference in Oklahoma to tell the presidential candidates to stop their bickering. Of course, the subject of most of the glare was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who keeps saying he's not running for president, but, of course, has the perogative to change his mind.....

Graham's presence is telling....Or, not telling. Without (for now) Florida as a factor in terms of delegates for the Democratic candidates, he may have decided not to endorse anyone. He's also spoken favorably of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is a friend of his, and who worked closely with Graham in the Senate. Is Graham frustrated with the Democratic slate?

*Covering the bases

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Web site has a great section about newspaper front pages from last week's Iowa caucuses, courtesy of the Freedom Forum's Newseum in Washington. My favorite: The New York Post. Scroll down about halfway:

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=135290

Jon Friedman's Media Web column has some not-very-surprising conclusions about the television coverage of the campaigns - more focus on personalities, less on issues, too much on polls. Essentially the same problems that have been going on for decades.

My formula for election coverage is PBS and the Project Vote Smart Web site (http://www.vote-smart.org/). The latter is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that records congressional voting records and the stances of candidates for elected offices. (By the way, Project Vote Smart hasn't gotten answers from most of the leading presidential candidates, except former Sen. John Edwards, about stands on the issues. This includes McCain, one of the founding board members. Tsk, tsk.....

*Another threat to good journalism

Edward Wasserman's always-astute media column, printed Mondays in The Miami Herald, is about a threat to good Web journalism; those pesky page-view counts:

http://www.miamiherald.com/430/story/369434.html

Is there any way we can get the federal government to officially declare journalism an endangered species, so we can start to build it back up to where it should be?

Speaking of which, "right-sizing" is the "insult-to-my-intelligence" term of the day, courtesy of Yakima Herald-Republic Publisher Michael Shepard:

http://www.yakimaherald.com/page/dis/324232716925513

I like Alex Dering's response at the Poynter Institute's Romenesko site:

http://www.poynter.org/article_feedback/article_feedback_list.asp?user=&id=135314

*Strange bedfellows

You mean I actually agree with Federal Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin about something? According to Alex Beam in today's Boston Globe, that something is paying for whatever cable channel one wants, without paying for whatever one doesn't want - what's known as "a la carte" cable television. However, I still disagree with him about lifting restrictions on media ownership. He said it wouldn't lead to media concentration; I say it's already happened, and needs to be reversed in the public interest.


*Huzzah (Sort of) for Stewart and Colbert

Well, still no writers, and still no agreement with the Writers Guild of America, but Jon Stewart will return to "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert to "The Colbert Report" tonight. But given the main topic - politics - who needs writers? Let's face it, the politicians' antics pretty much write themselves.

*Sports: Dawson, Gossage deserve Hall entry

Chicago Tribune writers discuss their candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080105baseballhalloffamvoting,1,3805028,print.story

I agree wholeheartedly on Andre Dawson and Goose Gossage fully deserving entry to the Cooperstown shrine. Tim Raines dominated in stolen bases, but may not get consideration because he didn't dominate in other categories and wasn't seen as the biggest of the big-money players. His early-career addiction to cocaine may hurt him, too.

By the way, speaking of someone who may be up for consideration in a few years: Did I believe Roger Clemens, interviewed by Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" last night, about never having used steroids or human growth hormone? About as much as I believed Pervez Musharraf blaming Benazir Bhutto for her own death.

Wallace should have asked Clemens one more question: Why come back for the last few seasons in May, instead of working through a whole spring training with a ballclub?

Incidentally, Clemens has filed a defamation suit against his former trainer, Brian McNamee. McNamee has threatened his own defamation suit against Clemens, which would be a counter-suit if it goes forward. Let's see what the courts get, not to mention Congress, if Clemens testifies next week.

The New York Times has an article by Alan Schwarz about how far athletes, including baseball players, try to go to get an edge:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/sports/baseball/07drugs.html?ref=baseball

Presuming that the congressional panel that will ask questions of Clemens, fellow pitcher Andy Petitte, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr reads this article, they need to ask Selig and Fehr in particular about allowing this sort of atmosphere. Remember, those two will be under oath, too.

The Palm Beach Post has an article about how various halls of fame address dark days in sports (or don't):

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/content/sports/epaper/2008/01/06/a1b_baseballhall_0106.html

One item is forgotten in football: The O.J. Simpson saga. Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame years before the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. Simpson's still in the Hall, though he's a perfect candidate to be kicked out.

Quote of the day:

"But those who watched the debates saw history in the making, as it became clear, over the course of the evening, that one person, and one person only, embodies the wisdom, the judgment, the maturity and -- yes -- the simple humanity that this nation desperately needs in its next president: Charlie Gibson."

Dave Barry, in today's Miami Herald