More on that C-SPAN caller thing.

So I have C-SPAN radio on this morning as I’m taking my eldest to his eye exam, and I’m in full, helpless, Dear God These People mode while listening to the call-ins.  You can’t help yourself, you know.  They’re endlessly fascinating, in a horrible sort of way.

This one guy, case in point: self-proclaimed Democrat.  Loudly wants Hillary Clinton (who is 67) not to run, because she’s ‘too old.’  …OK, I have the same complaint.  So the moderator asks this guy who he does like, and first he (genuinely, I think) said ‘Elizabeth Warren.’  …Who is 65.  And then the caller says ‘Bernie Sanders.’  That would be the point where I start fake-yelling at the radio, because I know that it’ll make my kid laugh: “DUDE!  SANDER’S OLDER THAN CLINTON IS!” Which he is (73: and mind, I had to look the exact age up).

Ah, C-SPAN.  Never change. Never, ever change.

C-SPAN is 34.

This line from Andrew Malcolm amuses:

…a recent personal visit to C-SPAN’s headquarters overlooking Capitol Hill found a far different scene. It’s a wild, ‘Animal House’-like place where rap music blares, paper airplanes fly about and Friday afternoon beer parties and hallway wrestling matches are legendary.

We encountered C-SPAN’s founder Brian Lamb in cutoff jeans, flip-flops and an “Impeach Everybody” t-shirt, a beer in each hand and a necktie around his forehead. Lamb was celebrating a rare occurrence, an actual budget in the United States Senate after nearly four years of flouting the law.

All that, of course, is hooey. As Lamb puts it in his trademark steady manner, “Other than quorum calls, every day at C-SPAN is a party.”

Continue reading C-SPAN is 34.

#rsrh If you missed Oversight’s Holder Contempt Hearing…

…you can find it here. After C-SPAN finishes processing it, people should be able to clip and embed sections.

Meanwhile: Trey Gowdy probably had the single most epic exhibition (H/T: @DLoesch) of angry, truly righteous indignation, but he had a lot of competition. There are a lot of Republicans out there who stopped listening to administration excuses at about the time that it became clear that the Department of Justice GOT PEOPLE KILLED.

The new C-SPAN video library feature (also: Obama thinks that we’re in recession!).

One of the things that I did as part of attending the Breitbart Awards last weekend was attend a panel on C-Span’s new video library service. It’s actually pretty useful: it allows you to take clips from C-SPAN and email them, Tweet them, embed them and whatnot.

For example: say you wanted to show a clip from today’s disastrous Ohio speech that Obama made. What you’d do then is sign up for a free account, log in, call up the full thing, and find the clip that you wanted. In this case, it’d be this part: Continue reading The new C-SPAN video library feature (also: Obama thinks that we’re in recession!).

#rsrh I’m going to go with “No extra cameras…”

“…for C-Span.”  The current system fixes the cameras on the floor podium and Speaker’s dais, which adequately covers the ostensible reason for C-Span coverage.  Allowing the cameras to pan out from there… well, this means three things will happen:

  • More candid shots of Members of Congress picking their nose.
  • More temptations for outside groups to disrupt the proceedings with staged antics.

Both of these are merely aesthetic issues, and easily survivable.  But here’s the real problem:

  • Control over the cameras means that C-Span gets a vote in deciding what is newsworthy.

I find that I don’t want C-Span’s input on that, actually.  They do an excellent job of presenting the actual business of the government with a calm, impartial eye; I don’t want them having on the spot editorial authority.

Moe Lane

PS: Yup, they do commentary.  And opinion pieces.  But they don’t get to muck about with the raw feed.

“Government Run Healthcare Just Beyond Your Fingertips.”

‘There’s an app for that.’ The NRCC has its moments.

Although you have to wonder how surprised the person in that commercial should have been at being locked out of the process of ensuring less health care coverage for more money. I mean, really: so what if the President promised eight times while on the campaign trail to bring in C-SPAN*? Everybody knows by now that he lies.

Moe Lane Continue reading “Government Run Healthcare Just Beyond Your Fingertips.”