Happy October, y’all! Real fall weather is right around the corner, it’s finally acceptable to be eating/drinking anything pumpkin flavored, and hey, it’s the Tennessee game Saturday. Here’s your it’s-finally-coming-up-Gators edition of...
Darts & Laurels
Gov. Rick Scott is in a tough re-election fight with Democratic nominee Charlie Crist. The incumbent governor has consistently struggled to gain significant support among female voters. The College Republican National Committee decided to try to reverse this trend by releasing what might be the most bizarre ad of the campaign season so far. The ad, a parody of TLC’s reality series “Say Yes to the Dress,” features a young woman choosing between two wedding dresses, the stylish “Rick Scott” and the old-fashioned “Charlie Crist.” Apparently, Republicans think the best way to reach these voters is to demean them by portraying them as superficial and obsessed with fashion. An even-more-out-of-touch-than-we-thought DART to Gov. Rick Scott and the College Republican National Committee.
The NFL has been a hotbed of disgrace and controversy lately. The domestic violence incidents involving players Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and Jonathan Dwyer, and the league’s subsequent actions have cast a dark shadow over its reputation. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson decided to take action on this serious and troubling issue by launching the “Pass the Peace” campaign this week. The campaign is partnering with Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation to promote awareness of domestic violence and raise funds for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. It’s refreshing to see an NFL player on the right side of this issue for a change. We’re giving a setting-an-example LAUREL to Russell Wilson.
The New York Post has long been known as one of the most sensationalist and least credible print publications in the U.S. In 2013, after the Boston Marathon bombings, the Post put a picture of two men on the newspaper’s front page and claimed they were being sought by law enforcement in connection with the attack. That assertion was almost immediately proven to be false. The Post reached a new low this week with its headline about the birth of Chelsea Clinton’s daughter, the granddaughter of Bill and Hillary. “Party Pooper,” the headline read, with the subhead: “Another liberal crybaby for Dem Clintons.” Insulting a baby repeatedly within a day of its birth? That’s the kind of quality journalism we’ve come to expect from the Post. A you’re-not-even-trying-anymore DART goes to The New York Post.
Religious scholar Reza Aslan first came to national prominence after an appearance on Fox News. Aslan demolished anchor Lauren Green’s argument that, as a Muslim, he had no credibility writing about the life of Jesus in his book “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.” Now, Aslan has done it again. In an appearance on CNN, he calmly and intelligently eviscerated the media’s portrayal of all Muslim countries as uniformly primitive and oppressive. “To say Muslim countries, as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same … it’s frankly, and I use this word seriously, stupid!” he said during the interview. Even if you disagree with Aslan’s points about Islam, his commitment to nuanced and reasoned arguments is something the American media could use much more of. We’re giving a putting-the-media-in-its-place LAUREL to Reza Aslan.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 10/3/2014]
