The Seattle Times: Newspaper/Democratic Advertisement

As I am writing these words (about 7:30pm) Hillary Clinton is speaking at the Democratic Convention. My God, it's like fingernails on a chalk-board.

Anyway, that's not what I want to write about (oh, geez, she just introduced her husband and they're playing "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow", good God!), sorry, what I want to write about is today's Seattle Times. Half of the entire A section is taken up by the Democratic convention, it is one enormous political advertisement for John Kerry. I could go through every story, one by one, and pick them apart, but it would take thousands of words and more time than I have.

But, to give you an idea of the tenor of today's paper, the front-page headline (presumably the most important story of the day) is called, "McDermott Rides Fame as Democrats Get Started". The piece is about how Washington State House Representative Jim McDermott is apparently now a "big star" because of his appearance in "Fahrenheit 9/11". This story speaks volumes. First, is this REALLY the biggest news item of the day? I sincerely doubt it. Second, this story (like many others) illustrates the Times' cozy relationship with Moore's movie. As I said two days ago, the Times is going to keep the "buzz" going on this movie as long as it possibly can (right now, Bill Clinton is speaking and trying to create a new Kerry tag line "Send Me", I say "Gag Me").

It will be interesting to see how much the Times devotes to the Democratic convention the rest of this week. But, of course, the true test will be how the Seattle Times covers the Republican convention. Will they give equal coverage? I doubt it.