Blogcritics Author: Mark Schannon

Bush And Obama: What Really Happened at the White House

Mark Schannon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:21:37 EST

What really happened when President Bush and President-elect Obama met at the White House? Here's the real dope.
President-elect Barack Obama made his first visit to the White House at the invitation of George Bush. Although reporters were kept away from the meeting, and the two offered no remarks after the visit, your intrepid reporter has sources deep inside the presidential mansion and has learned much of what transpired between the two former adversaries....

Stephen Colbert and Jameson Irish Whiskey: I Learn From The Master

Mark Schannon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:53:26 EST

Stephen Colbert has taught me the fine art of begging. And so I beg, you, Jameson Irish whiskey... show me the money.
Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert is perhaps the most successful self-promoter in the history of the human race. All others are but pale copies of his masterful manipulation of the cosmic realm. When he wanted to run for president, he got Doritos to fund his campaign; likewise, Doritos footed the bill when he wanted to spend a week in...

Obama's First News Conference: Questions We Wish They'd Asked

Mark Schannon — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 01:44:52 EST

What might we have learned had reporters asked the right questions at Obama's first news conference as President-elect.
Is there a group more trapped in the world of hysterical obviousness than the presidential press corps? In his first news conference as president-elect, Obama was called cautious in his responses by The Washington Post. Perhaps that’s not the right word. Bored brainless might be better. Every question, regardless of whether it was on...

The Lisa P. Maxwell Agency's Radical Approach to a Business Web Site

Mark Schannon — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:01:35 EST

This public relations firm needs to do a lot more website testing before promoting its new online approach.
Blogcritics received an e-mail yesterday from Aneisha Howard, public relations director for Lisa P. Maxwell. As she wrote, this "small creative agency based in Chicago, IL, recently launched a new web site. We feel that the site will be unlike anything you have ever seen and that it has the capabilities of changing the way companies interact...

Obama: It's All In The Numbers

Mark Schannon — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 18:11:18 EST

The numbers don't lie. Absent a deus ex machina, our next president will be Barack Obama.
For all the McCain election hype about closing the gap, aided by a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows Obama's lead shrinking from ten to eight points, 51% to 43%, and a Fox news poll with Obama ahead by seven points, 50% to 42%, there's no way to avoid the simple fact that the numbers are overwhelmingly in the Democrat's favor. On...

BC Politics Rocks! Take That!

Mark Schannon — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 14:37:37 EST

BC Politics rocks! And that's the truth... sort of.
There were times, many years ago in a galaxy far away, when I was a BC Assistant Politics Editor, that I despaired at the vitriol spilling from the comments on the politics site, infecting the rest of our esteemed BC and threatening its integrity, honor, and decency.You betcha!But in my too-long hiatus, from which I still have not yet fully...

It's Just An Election... Relax

Mark Schannon — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:31:20 EDT

Stop demonizing your opponents and start hugging them. It may be the only solace we get for a long time.
Fear, anxiety, and, dare I say it, panic abound in the election-o-sphere these days, as captured in an article in today's Washington Post. The good voters of America are anxiously awaiting the ten plagues of Egypt, Arab hordes swarming over our shores, economic meltdown a la Chernobyl, and really bad acne attacks... regardless of who they...

Experience, Judgment, and the Presidency

Mark Schannon — Wed, 3 Sep 2008 15:44:25 EDT

America can�t afford a maverick president.
I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.Words spoken by someone whose background is that of a fighter pilot—a special and essential quality where your life depends on an unconscious ability to react in the blink of an eye.Words...

Satire: Iraqi-Mania... And What Do Americans/Iraqis Want?

Mark Schannon — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:48:50 EDT

Ever feel like you were watching the world through one of those fun-house mirrors?
“We’ll be greeted as liberators,” said VP Dick “My Other Car is a Waterboard” Cheney, fifty-three years ago when we started the Iraq war.“Mission accomplished,” crowed Pres. George “Huh?” Bush on an aircraft carrier just thirty years into the war.“Oy, did we fuck up,” said General...

Is A Reasoned Approach Possible With Gun Control?

Mark Schannon — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 21:38:03 EDT

The gun control issue will never be resolved until we admit the 2nd Amendment is flawed and start negotiating with empathy and understanding.
Daddy was right. Ain't no use in talking about religion, politics, whether that dress makes yer wife look fat, or guns... unless you're sitting among a bunch of hunters all dressed up in their "out-to-kill" finery, oiling stocks and cutting cross-hatches into their bullet points.Take abortion. The gyrations politicians go through...