Monday, October 13, 2003
The new "partisan" think tank
I just got an email from The Nation about their upcoming debate at CUNY, the sort of embarrassingly-titled "The American Empire: Effectively Imposing Liberty or Doomed Overreaching?"
I noted that the debate is "Moderated by Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress." This is, I believe, the new "liberal" think tank people have been talking about--the one founded (or chaired) by John Podesta. I heard Podesta on PRI this morning, talking about how the Center's mission is to not confine itself to scholarly journals, but rather to promote its ideas out where somebody might actually hear about them. Definitely the right idea. Between CAP and Al Gore's new cable news channel, we might have some good things coming our way.
I'm starting to think more and more that it doesn't matter whether you believe in the liberal or conservative media conspiracies--the important thing is to help raise the pitch of the debate until finally, thank god, networks give up on the whole "objective," "nonpartisan" charade (which only hurts liberals, in any case) and go full-bore into the new era of wholly partisan forums for news and politics. As long as it's Fox News v. the "balanced" CNN, or the Heritage Foundation v. the "sort of liberal I guess but mainly just well-educated and -credentialed" Brookings Institute, there will be no competition.
posted by Blicero : 10/13/2003 06:35:00 PM
I noted that the debate is "Moderated by Lawrence J. Korb, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress." This is, I believe, the new "liberal" think tank people have been talking about--the one founded (or chaired) by John Podesta. I heard Podesta on PRI this morning, talking about how the Center's mission is to not confine itself to scholarly journals, but rather to promote its ideas out where somebody might actually hear about them. Definitely the right idea. Between CAP and Al Gore's new cable news channel, we might have some good things coming our way.
I'm starting to think more and more that it doesn't matter whether you believe in the liberal or conservative media conspiracies--the important thing is to help raise the pitch of the debate until finally, thank god, networks give up on the whole "objective," "nonpartisan" charade (which only hurts liberals, in any case) and go full-bore into the new era of wholly partisan forums for news and politics. As long as it's Fox News v. the "balanced" CNN, or the Heritage Foundation v. the "sort of liberal I guess but mainly just well-educated and -credentialed" Brookings Institute, there will be no competition.
posted by Blicero : 10/13/2003 06:35:00 PM
