Update: the panel video is now on YouTube
This afternoon, I'm speaking on a panel at Google in DC, repping the Onion. The full lineup and schedule are below.
2008: The First 21st Century Campaign
Date: June 11, 2008
Location: Google DC
Time: 2:30 pm ET - 7:00 pm ET
Overview: Gathering to highlight new tools on the campaign trail and winning strategies that leverage this technology.
Event MC: Jim Barnes
Schedule
2:40 pm - 3:45 pm :: Covering the 21st Century
Moderator: Judy Woodruff
Participants:
Mark Halperin
Katherine Ham
James Kotecki
Phil Singer
Kevin Madden
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm :: Running the First 21st Century Campaign
Moderator: Ron Brownstein
Participants:
Joe Rospars
Peter Daou
Mindy Finn
Mark Soohoo
Joe Trippi
5:30 - 6:30 pm :: Pop culture Politics
Moderator: Tammy Haddad
Participants:
Baratunde Thurston, The Onion
Ben Relles, Obama Girl
Zoe Stagg, CitizenSugar
Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair
Lizz Winstead- Creator of the Daily Show
Viewing entries in
Baratunde-News
cross-posted to Jack and Jill Politics
Wednesday morning I got a call from the UK asking if I would write an editorial about the significance of Barack Obama's nomination in Black America. I find it hard to resist that crisp British accent and made room to compose my thoughts.
The piece has been published in print and online under the title Baratunde Thurston: I used to be cynical about my country. No longer...
Not quite the headline I'd have chosen, but pretty accurate. In the piece, I share a story for the first time from my experience with the Obama campaign in Dallas and write about the power and limits of symbolism.
Here's an excerpt
Despite our sacrifices – fighting in wars and paying taxes – we are constantly reminded we're not full members of the club. Yet, Barack Obama made me feel American. He has, and this is really quite annoying, made me care enough to get more involved. His early opposition to the war, the grass-roots nature of his campaign, and his habit of speaking in grammatically correct sentences have all helped. His very composition from white Kansan and black African parents tells a story that is authentically American. Beyond him, however, the reaction of the American people best demonstrates Obama's impact. For black America, the defining moment occurred on 3 January, when Obama won in overwhelmingly white Iowa. It was a sign that things in this country were changing. Although Obama is the nominee, the path ahead won't be easy. People still ask, "Is America ready for a black president?" That's the wrong question. America has never been "ready" to extend its ideals to all of its citizens without being pushed. Was America "ready" for emancipation or women's suffrage or Simon Cowell? No, but we've got them now and in two of those three cases, we are much better for it.Check out the full editorial at their fancy British website!
Update: Here's an excerpt of my comments from the panel here on YouTube
I will be speaking in Minneapolis at the National Conference for Media Reform.
I'm on a panel Saturday at 11:30...
Speakers: Baratunde Thurston, Cenk Uygur, Duncan Black, Gina Cooper, Robin Marty Date: Saturday, June 7th Time: 11:30am to 1:00pm Room: Auditorium 2 Track: Journalism and Independent Media Session Type: panel The rapidly growing progressive political blogosphere — a.k.a. “the Netroots” — is transforming politics and challenging the traditional media. The Netroots impact on the national political conversation is undeniable. But now that they’ve “crashed the gates,” what comes next? How are the Netroots connecting with the grassroots and organizing for lasting change? How is the landscape changing as new voices emerge, blogs go local, and corporate media tries to capitalize on what’s happening online?I'll also be co-hosting the Saturday night keynote with Lizz Winstead (creator of the Daily Show).
Speakers: Arianna Huffington, Baratunde Thurston, Byron Dorgan, D.J. Nikoles, Dan Rather, Grace Lee Boggs, Lizz Winstead, Maria Isa, Michael Copps, Naomi Klein, Romal J. Tune, Shá Cage, Silvia Rivera, Tim Wu Date: Saturday, June 7th Time: 8:00pm to 10:00pm Room: Auditorium Track: Keynotes and Plenaries Session Type: plenary A fast-paced, multimedia night of inspiring speeches and music, dance and spoken-word performances. Emcees Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, and Baratunde Thurston of Laughing Liberally will crack us up, and the DJ will keep us moving. Plus we’ll hear from conference-goers and unveil the 2008 inductees into the “Big Media Hall of Shame.”Drop me an email, tweet, facebook msg, or comment so we can try to meet up. I'll be posting updates to my twitter account if you want to catch snippets there.
Yesterday I was on News & Notes again with Desmond Burton of Afronerd and Carmen Dixon of All About Race.
We talked about three topics
- Post primaries
- Bo Diddley and Black Rockers – follow up to interview with Rob Fields
- Confederate Flag Could Fly Near Tampa
The New York Times ran a Sunday piece about Drinking Liberally and its achievement of surviving for five years and having a chapter in all 50 states. I knew I gave them some quotable goods but had no idea they'd close the story with me. Dang.
Baratunde Thurston, 30, a stand-up comedian, performs around New York City with Laughing Liberally. “After the 2004 election, Drinking Liberally meetings were like a support group,” said Mr. Thurston, who was a co-host of the Boston chapter at the time. “There were a lot of questions: ‘What happened? How could fellow Americans re-elect this man? How exactly do you move to Canada?’ In 2006, the mood started changing from pity party to newfound hope regarding the midterm elections. Local politicians would come by and make their pitches. We did joint events with human-rights groups and abortion-rights groups. It was like a swap meet of liberalism.” Through Laughing Liberally, Mr. Thurston met other politically oriented comics and found his current job as a Web editor and writer at the satirical newspaper, The Onion. “This group has been an amazing tool for so many of us, injecting the political process into our everyday social lives,” Mr. Thurston said. “Talking about politics can be intimidating if you don’t know the inner workings of HR-257 or what FISA means. Having a social entree into the whole process makes it much easier.”
This is a great day! One of the best parts of working at the Onion is being on the editorial staff and actually writing headlines. After months of intensive study and Zen-like devotion to the craft, one of my headlines has actually made it through the comedic fires and come out the other side as a piece for Onion Radio News.
And just to clarify, I only did the headline. Others wrote and recorded the segment. It's a very collaborative environment around here.
Obama Voicemail Message Not Than Inspiring
cross-posted to jack and jill politics
We were on NPR's News & Notes (audio is at the link) again yesterday and got to talk about the Sean Bell protests, the death of Mildred Loving and a lightning round on the Democratic primaries.
First of all, I must confess, I almost missed the joint! I got too cute with my time and arrived at the studio just in time. Just call me Lake County :)
Hopefully, I didn't sound too out of breathe. As usual, Carmen brought some knowledge and insight to the discussions of race, and it was good to rap with Casey Lartigue for the first time although I think he misinterpreted one of my statements. I mentioned people were experiencing fatigue in the Sean Bell case because we're constantly reminded of the dual justice systems in this country. He thought I meant Sharpton fatigue. No biggie.
I also gave some love to Black Agenda Report for their perfect description of the Sean Bell verdict: the decision may have been legal, but it wasn't justice.
I'm most proud of my campaign lightning round comment about life post-NC/IN in which I stated:
I'm just happy to welcome the mainstream media to the Democratic primary. They've finally caught on to the Wrath of the Math which hasn't really changed since Obama's 12-state sweep post-Super Tuesday. That, I think, is the biggest change. The facts on the ground haven't changed, but the media narrative and perception has, and I'm glad to see it has.BTW for those who don't know, "The Wrath Of The Math" is Jeru the Damaja's second album. I started using it to describe the Democratic primary when we were on News & Notes from Dallas the day after the Texas primacaucus Carmen also represented, raising the point we've been hitting a lot in the Afrosphere about Hillary's inability to win the black vote being more legitimate than the question of Obama's capture of the white vote. Finally we talked about the death of Mildred Loving and the status of marriage equality. Thankfully, we didn't get sidetracked into discussions of interracial extramarital affairs (which I don't really see as relevant to equal protection under the law) and instead stayed focused on perceptions of interracial marriage and the larger issue of marriage equality. I tried to make the link from the Loving decision to the need for marriage equality for same sex couples as I've done here and here. Big up to Farai Chideya and the entire News & Notes staff for running a substantive show. Thanks to the JJP and Afrosphere fam for contributing to the important democratic (small "d") conversation in this country. Again, you can listen here.
cross-posted to jack & jill politics
So it's always kind of a big deal to get on primetime TV, and thanks to the entire JJP fam for providing your suggested topics, talking points and coverage throughout the day. Yall are like a community-powered media prep team. Sadly, Governor Ventura's segment went way over, and the blogger segment on CNN's Election Center got cut short.
Here's the video for those who missed it.
That's right. I got one sentence in! Dang! I accomplished my first goal: don't look like an idiot. If you watch my eyes in the closing minutes (after she says the segment's over), you can see them saying "Wha'choo talkin bout Campbell??" Such is national television, but Jack & Jill Politics is likely to return in the near future to try to represent real thought on the airwaves. Had I known I would only get one sentence, I might have kept my message to Iraq as economic failure, but I think it's worth putting pressure on those who keep saying "No we can't" leave Iraq to ask them just when they think it will be possible. So that's the on-air part, but what yall missed was the green room where I spent mad time talking with none other than Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. We arrived at about the same time, and I wasn't sure whether to shake his hand or choke him! The man is disturbingly personable. He's like a genuinely nice and funny person. Here's the killer photo I got of him reading JJP!
Details at JJP.
Would love it if someone could record the segment and post decent quality to YouTube. It takes forever to get DVDs from CNN. I'll use Redlasso for the immediate conversion.
Lewis Black's new Root Of All Evil show also has a VH1-talking-head-style web component. I went in last week to tape a segment about March Madness. I told them I didn't really know about or care about basketball, and they were like, "That's fine. Work with it." So I did. Turns out most of the comics shared my apathy.
It's a really funny segment. Check it out. You can also find it and any other Comedy Central stuff I do on my comedian page at ComedyCentral.com