That’ll do it for this specific blog - but I’m far from finished.
Check out my new blog, “the Public Interest,” which continues the conversation, but under a name that’s not anachronistic, here.
(& remember to update your bookmark!)
The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08
Dedicated to Advancing the Idea That the Other Side May Have a Point
Archive for the 'The Vote08 Autobi-blog-raphy' Category
ONE YEAR OLD
January 23rd, 2009, 7:08 pm by Dan Lehr
[above: my 1st birthday cake, November 17th, 1970]
I started this blog a year ago today.
That’s the good news.
The bad news (sort of) is this blog is about to die, & be reborn.
Thanks for being a part of this blog in the past year.
I certainly don’t intend to stop anytime soon.
I’m just going to be doing it at a new site, that will still cover politics, but will have a bigger umbrella of topics.
Stay tuned for details & info on changing your bookmark.
ANACHRONISM ABOLITION ANTICIPATED
January 22nd, 2009, 2:32 pm by Dan Lehr
Just as it makes no sense to have cavemen & dinosaurs cavorting together, it also makes no sense to operate a blog with “Vote08″ as a title, as no one at the moment is “voting,” & it is no longer “08.”
So stand by for a link to my new blog, which (hopefully, pending approval) will be up & running in the next few days.
I do want to assure you that the content you’ve come to expect at this site will be virtually the same - a sprinkling of politics, plus whatever else catches my fancy. I do hope to expand the umbrella of what I write about, though.
Again, stay tuned.
UPDATE: Go here.
& SPEAKING OF WORDS
January 13th, 2009, 11:34 am by Dan Lehr
This shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The American Dialect Society has chosen “bailout” for its 2008 Word of the Year (WotY):
“When you vote for bailout, I guess you’re really voting for ‘hope’ and ‘change,’ too,” [chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society and co-host of the nationwide public radio show A Way with Words & the man whom I credit with getting me involved in a career in journalism** Grant] Barrett said. “Though you’d think a room full of pointy-headed intellectuals could come up with something more exciting.”
Click here to read some of the words that didn’t make the cut.
The western Tennessee political blog Right at Home is despondent:
“The Word of the Year for 2009? Bailout.
Without saying another word, that should bring a tear to the eye of any true conservative. I’ll give you a moment to compose yourself.
Yes, “bailout” has certainly become a mantra in Washington. I’m surprised that “too-big-to-fail” wasn’t even in the running to go along with it. Sadder still is how few people in Washington shed a tear over this word, including our Republican politicians.”
Click here to hear Grant Barrett on NPR’s Morning Edition about this story.
Grant & I met when we were freshmen in college at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Barely a week into my first semester, (actually it may be before classes even started) Grant suggested to me that we go check out the college radio station to see about becoming DJs. A blissful 5-year stint at KCOU 88FM followed, as did a career (for both of us) in broadcast journalism (though Grant has by far had the more successful career).
After the jump, I post a picture from our early days which is designed to do nothing but embarrass him.
THIS BLOG’S WORDLE CLOUD
January 13th, 2009, 11:11 am by Dan Lehr
“Wordle” is a website where you can enter a URL & the site produces a “cloud” of most commonly used words on a website.
Check out the Blog Formerly Known As Vote08’s current Wordle Cloud here.
Interesting omission (which used to be this blog’s biggest Wordle Cloud word back during election season): the word “Obama.”
REVEALING MY INNER BOOKWORM
January 12th, 2009, 11:15 am by Dan Lehr
[above: me reading with my stepson & stepdaughter, 2002]
I’ve made some changes & an addition to my blogroll that I hope to update on a regular basis. (Scroll down, right hand side of this page, after the (far too long) list of categories).
There are now separate blogroll categories.
Obama’s “Change.gov” gets its own category.
For now, all news & blogs (many of them locally-based) are in their own category.
& I’ve added a category called “What I’m (probably) Reading Now.” I often have a huge stack on my nightstand. I’m currently in the middle of each of what you see on the list, & hope to update it as I go. Feel free to comment or inquire further about anything you see on the list. (& suggestions are always welcome, though it may take me a while to get to it!)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
January 9th, 2009, 8:36 am by Dan Lehr
[above: the Tooth of Time, Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico, August 4th, 2005, 9:55 a.m. Photo by Lee Solomon.]
“Smile, make a difference, & don’t sweat the small stuff.“
Who said it?
OH, GOOD GRIEF
January 8th, 2009, 3:18 pm by Dan Lehr
That’s me, in the fall of 1976. I re-print this photo to demonstrate that I am a Spiderman fan from way back.
So, apparently, is the president-elect.
But that, in my view, should be no excuse for this:
HOUSEKEEPING: ADJUSTING THE ‘ROLL (part 1)
January 6th, 2009, 8:54 am by Dan Lehr
‘STALE’ (ELECTION 2008-related) BLOGROLL LINKS GOING AWAY
1. Barack Obama’s campaign website.
2. FactCheck.org.
3. FiveThirtyEight.com (I’m keeping it bookmarked, as Nate’s still putting out some interesting stuff. This blog was one of the best of the past year, & I’m sure will be in the running for the best of the year 2012.)
4. MSNBC’s 1st Read. Not as essential that it be read, much less 1st, now that the election is over. I’m keeping it bookmarked in my browser, though, & will check periodically.
5. Politi-Fact. Again, worth checking again in 4 years.
6. RealClearPolitics. Another one for my personal bookmarks, but I’ve found this site, that seemed so essential in 2004, fell back in terms of its importance over the last year. Pollster.com left RCP’s polling pages in the dust.
7. Tennessee Ticket. Joe Lance, whom I first met covering this, stopped blogging when he announced he’s running for Chattanooga mayor. You can find his campaign website (which we’ll track with great interest) here.
8. Time’s ‘the Page.’ Mark Halperin was the source of much frustration for me over the past year. His was one of the most constantly updated sites re: election news, but his insider-ism & cheekiness (not to mention his penchant for trying to make the race a tight one when it clearly wasn’t) always disappointed. Bob Cesca elaborates:
“Ultimately, the problem with Mark Halperin is that he lacks his own unique insight and therefore simply repeats whatever ridiculousness crosses through his internets. And because he’s literally employed by a colossus of the establishment press, he can be far more destructive in his drone-like repetition of these items than outsiders like Ann Coulter or even Matt Drudge. He’s like a money launderer — cleansing the awfulness and making it palatable for the Sunday shows.”
That’s it for now.
I have many more blogroll additions coming.
Stay tuned.
MY DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
January 2nd, 2009, 10:13 am by Dan Lehr
[Above: me at my Dad's ol' Apple 2E, 1987. No, I don't have an excuse for the outfit.]
2009 is here.
& even though this blog’s name (look at the address bar) is now obsolete, & thus for the time being will not be promoted on the air, it will continue on indefinitely - or, at least that is my hope.
I want to express to you what I intend for this blog as we move into a new year &, in many different ways, a new era.
EASY READER
December 29th, 2008, 3:44 pm by Dan Lehr
Francis Bacon:
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, & some few to be chewed & digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts;; others to be read but not curiously; & some few to be read wholly, & with diligence & attention.”
&
“Read not to contradict & confute, nor to believe & take for granted, nor to find talk & discourse, but to weigh & consider.”
(both from “Of Studies,” 1625)
“It all started on New Year’s Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New Year’s resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who’d gotten out of the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, “I’m on my second. Where are you?” Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest.
THE CONTINUANCE OF A SORRY TRADITION
December 24th, 2008, 4:22 pm by Dan Lehr
Above: Me, Christmas, 1976.
Above: My stepson, exactly 20 years later.
“Sorry” - I know this isn’t politically related. Thanks for indulging me.
VOTE08’s IDENTITY CRISIS
December 22nd, 2008, 11:37 am by Dan Lehr
(above: The Thinker by Auguste Rodin - 1902)
Please bear with me for a little transparent navel-gazing exercise (no, I don’t mean literally).
At the moment, Admiral James Stockdale up there is speaking for me.
I’m in a bit of an identity crisis these days. By “I,” I mean this blog, of course.
Take a look at this blog’s name. Now look at a calendar.
This blog’s name is less than 10 days from becoming an anachronism. (One could actually argue it’s been an anachronism since November 4th, or, possibly, December 2nd (the last day we saw any serious ‘voting’)).
I’d be lying to you if I said I’ve felt somewhat adrift - rudderless, even - in the past couple of weeks in terms of what to do with this blog.
I have discovered that I truly enjoy bringing it to you.
In fact, I dare say that I enjoy doing it a bit more than what one could call “my day job” - that is, producing the 5:30 newscast.
But I’m having a bit of trouble deciding what will become of this blog in the coming year. What to call it. What focus to take. How to keep it relevant. How to keep not just you interested, but me as well.
I love covering national politics & foreign policy.
I love discussions over the futures & strategies of both political parties.
I am intrigued & encouraged by the possibilities (both good & bad) a new administration brings to Washington.
But what does that mean for this blog? How can it be relevant to NewsChannel9.com viewers? Do you as a resident of the Tennessee Valley find this blog helpful in any way in understanding what’s going on in the world? What about those of you who don’t reside here? Does this blog add anything to your world view?
If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them, particularly if you’ve come to enjoy this blog over the past year. If there is anything you like or - particularly - you don’t like, I’d love to hear that, too.
If not, that’s okay too. I just wanted to get the word out about my current state of mind.
oh, & P.S.:
THIS BLOGGER NEEDS TO MAIL SOME PRESENTS…
December 16th, 2008, 5:35 pm by Dan Lehr
..& thus I will be off until Sunday.
In the interim: enjoy President Richard Nixon tickle the ivories, in a composition he wrote. (the sound, inexplicably, cuts off halfway through, & for that I am sorry)
GIVE ME A BREAK
December 11th, 2008, 8:00 am by Dan Lehr
Twas a busy year, & thus I kept from taking a lot of my allotted vacation time off until after the Presidential election was over. Now’s one of those times. I’ll return to posting full-time on Monday, but will keep abreast of what’s going on & may do a quick post here & there between now & then.
In case I haven’t said this often enough, I want to thank you for viewing this blog. It’s been a true labor of love all year long, & I hope you keep coming back.
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