The circus is coming to Oxford next September on the Ole Miss campus. for the first of three “real” debates between the party nominees (Clinton vs. Giuliani? Thompson vs. Obama? Kusinich vs. Count Dracula?) in the 2008 presidential campaign. Mike Bloomberg may be there, too.
As if the Republican Party didn’t have enough bad press generated by its very live members, a long-dead president is at the center of a nasty debate between New York Times columnists over remarks he may or may not have uttered at the Neshoba County Fair. (Accuracy is, apparently, not everything: E&P gets the town name wrong. But we nitpick.)
Paul Krugman, columnist for the NYT who is regularly made C-SPAN “Charlie Rose” roadkill by more powerful and overbearing idealogical opposites, argues in Monday’s Times that the world shouldn’t avoid tarnishing Ronald Reagan’s image by refusing to debate what he says was Reagan’s exploitation of white backlash against the Civil Rights movement. In an earlier article, Krugman said Reagan called the movement a “humiliation for the south” in a 1980 appearance at the Neshoba fair.
Columnist David Brooks has said Reagan’s remarks were distorted and that Krugman’s musings amount to a “slur.”
Ever-vigilant, the Neshoba County Times last week reprinted Reagan’s remarks in their entirety.
Denizens of Weir and Choctaw County have worked themselves in a froth in recent weeks over a feature, um, spread in Penthouse Magazine. Seems the tiny town’s penchant for cranking out pro-football worthy players from its powerhouse high school squad caught the eye of a freelance writer who pitched the story idea to Sports Illustrated.
One problem: SI had already run a feature on the Weir Lions and, thus, passed on a replay. The intrepid freelancer then sold the piece to Penthouse. (Hey, the guy’s got to eat.) Angry folk gathered with their torches and pitchforks recently to let off steam during a county school board meeting.
But that isn’t the only dustup resulting from the article. Former Star-Herald publisher Mark Thornton, who we’re told suggested the piece to the freelancer in the first place, is catching flak for an acerbic comment in the article that only “log haulers, crack dealers and pro football players” ever emerge from the sleepy burg. Thorton’s successor in Kosciusko, Robbie Robertson, took the former publisher to task for the comment, which appeared in the second graf of the article.
Others have chimed in, too: Choctaw Plaindealer publisher Joseph McCain wishes “real challenges” facing the community and school district were discussed as thoroughly as the magazine article.
Civic leaders gathered in Robinsonville at one of the quarter boats for the annual Delta Development meeting to discuss strategy for the upcoming legislative session. One topic on the agenda was community foundations and charitable giving by the non-profit CREATE group, to which the Daily Journal was gifted by its publisher and CREATE founder George McLean many years ago.
Tom Pittman of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi and owner of the DeSoto Times also spoke to the flock. Pittman himself is an alum of the Daily Journal.
A few final thoughts from Mississippi columnists and political writers on this Election Day…
Patsy Brumfield, news editor of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: “Mind you, I am a political junkie. For 11 years, I worked in the midst of the perpetual motion machine which is the State Capitol. It’s an art form. It’s a chess game. It’s a train wreck. But it’s never dull. You’d think I enjoy political campaigns. You’d think … “
Charlie Mitchell, executive editor of The Vicksburg Post: “Three top candidates for statewide office have faced defending indefensible positions in this year’s campaigns. This is not a prediction of how any of them will do…”
The Greenwood Commonwealth on efforts by the Choctaws to build a casino on the coast: “Jackson County, strategically located near the metropolitan areas of Mobile and Pensacola, is heavily industrialized. So far voters have twice voted down gambling referendums in the county. But the non-binding referendum Tuesday apparently has some support because it would create what Denson says would be 2,800 full-time jobs with a payroll of $71 million per year.”
Hit Any Key
