I've so many thoughts this morning...I'd humbly request that you check out Cesca, Uyghur, and Schaeffer on Huffpo. Schaeffer can be a tad tedious constantly reminding you he used to be a leader of the Religious Right ala Falwell/Robertson et al; but since he came to his senses he's interesting.

Cesca and Uyghur are consistently intelligent and witty. On Kos, Bill from Portland Maine is the type of Gay man I'd like to have for a friend if I knew many/any gay people.

NONE of them to my recollection has ever taken a shot at Biden. Harry Reid, however is a different story. But then his brand of timid innocuosness is often deserving of a poke with a sharp stick. (I think Chris may have a special one with Reid's name on it).

More on Biden...for me, a large measure of how I view a person is who they choose for a partner in life. Both Biden and Obama were attracted to, courted, and won the heart's of women who were at minimum their intellectual peers, if not their superiors. Going back, I gave Bill Clinton huge brownie points for being married to Hillary. (To REALLY stretch this point, the only civil thing I could say about George Bush is that he married "up" with Laura. She's GOT to be much brighter than he is, although sadly that's a pretty low bar to beat).

I could drone on, but seriously Elizabeth, I think you should check my writer's out and get back to me with your opinion. That goes for all the people who frequent this happy home...(That goes for you, too, Chris; if you don't read them already).

It’s not so much a need for Biden-friendly content that I’m after...I mean, it’s not like I’m obsessed, or anything...geez! ;-)

No, it’s the idiotic storyline on Biden that the media/blogosphere/punditocracy have used to perpetuate their asinine national Biden myths of epic proportions. If your favourite writers - at HuffPost, or anywhere else - have contributed to any of this idiocy, in any way, shape or form, then they have very little credibility with me - on any subject!

After all, there are not enough hours in the day to waste reading stuff that I have to constantly question the veracity of...you know? Now, I realize that I may be missing out on a lot of good writing as a result of my very selective screening process but, I just don’t have the patience or the ‘intestinal fortitude’ anymore to deal with the multitude of disparaging Biden tripe that emanates from ALL political directions.

By the way, IMNSHO, you live in the most beautiful part of the country...and, just a glorified hop, skip and jump away from Hawai’i, too!

And, Canadian politics may be on the verge of becoming very interesting and, dare I say, relevant in the world...IF we are smart enough to elect Michael Ignatieff as our next Prime Minister. Of course, I won’t be waiting with bated breath since my political picks aren’t exactly always on the money...to say the very least!

P.S.- Here in British Columbia we're about to have an election in six weeks where we'll probably re-elect a Bush-lite clone named Gordon Campbell...sigh. American politics are so much more interesting...they've got hope with Obama and we've got ciphers like Harper..Yech.

Showing my age, I feel like Claude Rains in Casablanca...I'm shocked, shocked to find out that you're not familiar with the Daily Kos from your research. Anyhow, here, hopefully, is the link for Bill from Portland Maine..

http://bill-in-portland-maine.dailykos.com/

The trick is to click on the highlighted "there's Moreville" part of his posts..it took idiotic me about six months to discover that most of his column was unveiled by making that leap/click..

Chris, I really am surprised you didn't know about him...I assumed you read Kos if only to check out the competition... It is pretty hard not to stumble across him if you check out the site each morning...

Elizabeth - I've never made fun of your Biden fandom. From my admittedly sparse knowledge, he's a good, intelligent man. (If anything, I'm a fan of his son for his convention speech about Jill Biden.. I think I could have a crush on her...)

As a fellow voteless Canadian, I lean slightly more towards Kuchinich after his "Wake Up America" speech at the convention. To cut to the chase, I mildly resent your need for Biden-friendly content in my other preferred writer's work. Even our Chris-God has minimal Biden references...:-)

I like the Sunday Talking Heads article, although at times he gets a bit too frisky for my liking. But sometimes he's hilariously funny, too.

But there's a big difference between me and him -- he gets paid for what he does at HP. When they start paying me, I'll consider working Sundays, how's that?

Michale -

While I would argue with your use of "least" I am, in essence, in agreement with you on the subject of the television media.

kevinem2 -

Got a link to the Maine guy? I've got friends in Maine who would be interested in checking it out.

Elizabeth and kevinem2-

I have to start posting these things earlier on Fridays, maybe that will help. Part of the problem of getting noticed on HuffPost these days is that they've become a victim of their own success. The last time I heard Arianna talk publicly, she said there were over 2,500 bloggers at HP. That's a lot of competition!

I've tried convincing the DNC to put a link up on their site's blog (they have a rather limited blogroll list) to just the Friday Talking Points, but they never got back to me. I'm not suggesting writing them an email or anything (ahem) but I think such a link might help get the FTP to the correct (and wider) audience, personally.

Anyway, thanks to all for the kind words!

-CW

Yes we can! agree on Mr. Weigant's supremacy.

Now, as for your other HuffPost favourites...let me know if any of them have ever had anything good to say about Joe Biden - the senator and/or VP - and I'll let you know if they meet with my approval, grudging or otherwise! :-)

By the way, I'm thinking that Chris's latest blog may just have gained him all sorts of new fans, eh?

I didn't phrase that very well, and I concede your point. I too look at the number of comments Chris's work gets on Huffpo, and want to scream at my monitor "you idiots!! this is great stuff and why aren't you reading and reacting to it."

In my defence, I've posted here several times my wish that Chris had an influential position in the Obama government. He is BY FAR the most thoughtful and constructive writer amongst my internet favourites.

I'm almost afraid to mention again my other Huffpost fav's; Bob Cesca, Cenk Uygur, and Frank Schaeffer. I hope they meet with your grudging approval.

At least we can agree on Mr. Weigant's supremacy. :-)

Actually, I'm not much of a fan of Jason Linkins' sunday column Sunday...he may be in the ballpark, but he's not playing in the same league as Chris...not even close!

I was just saying that by teaming up with him, Chris could easily attract a good number of people who love a little reality-based political commentary and lively debate and entice them over here.

Too many people are missing out on what Chris is doing here. And, that's just not right!

"That guy", Jason Linkins, is by far the best Huffpo staffer...Admittedly, he's not as good as Chris, but he's in the ballpark and ahould be treated with a little more respect. :-)
Glad to know that you check out his Sunday talking heads column...that and Chris's FTP are the highlights of my weekly surfing. Along with Bill from Portland Maine's weekday Cheers and Jeers columns in the Daily Kos. Good, witty writing all around.

IMNSHO, I couldn't agree more!

IMNSHO, the Media's obsession with the tele-thingy is the LEAST of the indications of their idiocy....

:D

Michale......

I saw that nice comment on HuffPost and it brought a wide grin to my face...frankly, I should think that FTP would be on everyone's short list of favourites...maybe you should team up somehow with that guy who does the quasi-live blog/wrap-up of the Sunday morning talk shows and judge the credibility, or lack thereof, of the guests on the basis of your talking points.

But, then again...it wouldn't be fair to that blog as it wouldn't be long before FTP became the only place to be - before, during, and after the Sunday political mele. Of course, you wouldn't have a spare moment to yourself anymore, either!

As for the credibility of the media and their approval rating...it's currently at zero and going backwards at a pretty good clip, as far as I'm concerned...and it doesn't matter much whether we are talking about the 'print' or 'talking heads' or any other variety since there is little or no daylight between them.

As for the TelePrompTer designation - as much as I like to see it in print and type it out myself, the media (all moving parts of it)/blogosphere/punditocracy) had better collectively put their special brand of TelePrompTer idiocy to bed or risk hastening their impending demise. Yes, I have about had it with the lot of them!

Yeah, I really need to start separating my criticism into "print media" (which generally does a decent job) and "teevee talking heads" (which generally don't). Point taken.

As for brand names, business fight like cornered rats to avoid the "common noun" or "verb" status of their brand names. Fighting hard (but losing) this battle today are Kleenex and Band-Aid, since they're both well on their way to being normalized. Also, believe it or not, Dumpster.

It's interesting to me that different English-speaking countries do this to different brands. Ask someone from Britain, and they'll tell you it's a "plaster" not a "bandaid". But then they'll be confused if you talk about a "vacuum," and not a "hoover."

I don't even think it's a brand name anymore, to tell you the truth. TelePrompTer (the company) was absorbed by Westinghouse in the 1980s, I believe.

Having said all that, I still think TelePrompTer is cool (how many words have three capitals in them?) and will continue to use it. Schoolkids will continue to ignore me, and we'll all get along fine.

And I just can't resist, but it really should be "English-speaking schoolchildren" -- I'm a stickler for hyphens on compound modifiers as well!

Heh heh.

Michale -

I thought you'd like that first section somehow. I forgot to give applause for Barbara Boxer (one of my senators) for voting "nay" in the Senate. Boxer is always overshadowed by Feinstein, but she is a consistent progressive vote in the Senate and deserves more attention for it.

The GOP was afraid to put numbers on their budget precisely because of the deficit. They have two stark choices: admit that even with their ideas the deficit is going to be enormous for years to come; or slash so much out of their budget they would be cutting the government by enormous percentages -- which isn't the best idea in a recession.

Personally, I applaud Obama for boldly sweeping away a lot of the accounting tricks introduced under Bush (5-year budgets instead of 10, for instance). Or, I should say, "attempting" to do so, since Congress put most of the tricks back in the budget anyway.

But still, 98% is pretty good in Washington.

-CW

Is the GOP's "no numbers" better or worse than the Obama's numbers of 2+ TRILLION dollars in the hole???

THAT is the question...

Michale.....

It takes all the wind outta my sails... :(

Michale......

Have you considered the enormous clout a 59 seat Senate majority gives each Dem senator? Given how costly even one defection would be? And how the reconciliation process would also make Democratic Senators dispensable? Sadly, Republicans hold no monopoly on putting politics above country.

As for the media -- Cheap shots, Chris.

They're such easy targets. Newspapers failing, network ad revenues and ratings dropping, "journalism in crisis."

They're just giving us what we want. Just ask them! Its not their fault if we -- uh -- Don't want it!

"That's En-ter-tain-ment!"
 
And I have to take issue with you on the teleprompter spelling. When brand names like Kool-Aid, Google, Polaroid, TelePromTer, etc. enter the English language as nouns and verbs, (particularly new technology) they take on standard capitalization.

Would you have no way to distinguish words from trademarks, or trademarks excluded as words? (Litigators would love that!) Capitalization no longer indicating proper nouns? The inclusion of words from every other language don't make English spellings tough enough for you? You want words with random capitalizations? You want WALL STREET IN CHARGE OF ENGLISH SPELLINGS!?

... Why does Chris Weigant hate English speaking schoolchildren?

Hey, check it out, I have another Canadian fan over at HuffPost!

I want to see some polling numbers on the MEDIA instead of the politicians. I bet their approval rating is sinking, personally...

-CW

This whole TelePrompTer issue sums up, in a nutshell, all that is wrong with the media - in general and present company excepted, of course! And, damn...leave it to the Canadians...Globe and Mail, no less...to get the capitalization right. I just knew there must be a good reason why that word hasn’t been looking quite right to me! Though, I'm not quite ready to start paying attention to the Canadian media again. Sigh.

I would bet the farm - even if it’s in Iowa - that the media as we know them are well on their way to irrelevancy and obsolescence. One thing is for sure - they are not going to be able to keep up with President Obama...not a chance!

I couldn’t agree more with your choice this week for MIDOTW award - I’ll make a prediction now that this will be one of many MIDOTW distinctions that Secretary Geithner will receive over the next several months and years...though, it seems there won’t be much of a shortage of candidates in the Obama/Biden administration deserving of the honour. This is just too darned refreshing!

And, by the way...don’t even think about trying to be brief! Others may need to be brief or forget about it altogether...but not you!!!