Tag: Jon Keller

Jon and Barney Keller

Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz quotes me in his story today on WBZ-TV (Channel 4) political analyst Jon Keller‘s family tie to Republican congressional candidate Jim Ogonowski. Keller’s son Barney is Ogonowski’s spokesman, which has raised questions as to whether Jon Keller has a conflict in covering the race involving Ogonowski, Democrat Niki Tsongas and three minor-party and independent candidates.

Moskowitz represents me accurately, so no need to belabor this. But I do want to expand just a bit on the points I made to him yesterday:

  • There’s no conflict quite like having a spouse involved in a campaign you’re covering, and that’s not what we’re talking about here. No one has any control over what his or her adult kids do, and it’s just not that big a deal. Moskowitz seemed surprised when I told him that, and asked whether it would be natural to think Jon Keller would want Ogonowski to win because of Barney’s involvement. My response: no.
  • Some degree of disclosure is appropriate, and Keller has been doing that. I don’t think he has to disclose every time, but he should remind people now and again that his son is working for Ogonowski.
  • The reputation of the reporter has to be part of this, which is what I was referring to in my quote that not everything is a “one size fits all” situation. If anyone has a reputation as an equal-opportunity abuser of politicians, it’s Keller. It’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t go after Ogonowski if he had a reason to do so — although perhaps in some people’s minds that’s offset by the fact that Keller is somewhat conservative by Massachusetts standards.

As I also told Moskowitz, Keller’s a friend. It doesn’t affect my thinking on this, but it’s something you should know. And, yes, I recommend his book, “The Bluest State.”

Tribute to Sully

Because I was on duty in Maine last night, I missed Paul Sullivan’s final show on WBZ Radio (AM 1030). So I really enjoyed Jon Keller’s tribute on Channel 4. For some reason, I’m unable to generate a direct link, but it’s easily found here.

You can also find Sullivan’s last show in two parts on the WBZ home page, and I’m going to give it a listen.

Best wishes to Sully.

Megadittos on Leibovich II

Jay Garrity, the Mitt Romney aide who New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich says pulled him over and claimed to have run his license plate, is now under investigation in both Massachusetts (for allegedly impersonating a state trooper) and New Hampshire (for the Leibovich incident). Nice people you have working for you, Mitt.

Megadittos on Leibovich

Just a brief note on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s denial that one of his goons — uh, aides — tried to intimidate New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich as Leibovich trailed the Mittmobile in his car.

Like Jon Keller, who provides the relevant links, I worked with Leibovich at the Boston Phoenix in the early 1990s. And I endorse this Keller observation: “If Mark Leibovich says it happened that way, it happened exactly that way.”

This isn’t a big deal. Why can’t Romney tell the truth?

Political whoppers, Bush edition

Jon Keller has nominated his top five list of all-time political whoppers. Although Dick Cheney makes an appearance, President Bush is strangely absent. To rectify that, the crack staff at Media Nation has been hard at work for the past 12 or 13 minutes, putting together an all-Bush edition.

We think this holds up well even against such classics as “I am not a crook” (Richard Nixon) and “Last night I announced to the American people that the North Vietnamese regime had conducted further deliberate attacks against U.S. naval vessels operating in international waters” (Lyndon Johnson). But we’ll let you be the judge.

Here are our top five Bush whoppers, in chronological order. We realize we could have chosen many, many more.

1. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” (Jan. 23, 2003)

2. “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.” (May 1, 2003)

3. “There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring them on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.” (July 2, 2003)

4. “[W]e are fighting terrorists in Iraq so that we will not have to face them and fight them in the streets of our own cities.” (Oct. 3, 2003)

5. “We do not torture.” (Nov. 7, 2005)