Dancing with the Press

Sometimes the press can just get very annoying. We’ve all been quite amused by the story that has come out this week about Mr. Cheney accidentally shooting one of his hunting companions. The man unfortunately suffered a relapse when one of the small pieces of shot triggered a mild heart attack. I think we will all admit that this is a tragedy and just another example for those of us who don’t care for guns as to why to avoid using them.

However, I think most reasonable people would also agree that either Mr. Cheney or the White House Press Secretary (Scott McClellan) deciding not to inform the Washington Press Corp immediately does not equate to the withholding of the Nixon tapes. In fact, the press was notified very soon after the incident, the local Corpus Christi press. Now, the Washington Press Corp is throwing a very public temper tantrum about being scooped by the small town folks in Corpus Christi. In fact, there apparently was an incident prior to the cameras being turned on in one of the press briefings where the NBC correspondent asked a question about why the Vice President’s office hadn’t informed the press immediately after the incident. Mr. McClellan told the reporter to wait until the cameras were on, but also implied that he would tell the reporter to direct that question to the Vice President’s office. The NBC correspondent apparently got very angry and started yelling at Mr. McClellan, accusing him of being a jerk and withholding information. If this were a young child, I think most people would have taken this person over their knee and given him a good spanking or at least a time out.

Unfortunately, because the old guard media no longer has complete control over the story, they are losing market share and that in turn makes them more whiney, pompous, and under the delusion of privilege than ever before. In my profession, if someone new comes along and starts doing my job in a way that my bosses prefer more to mine, then it is up to me to find out what my bosses want and improve my performance to suit their desires since they are the ones that pay my salary. This concept of the Washington Press Corp needing to be the only ones who disseminate any information regarding political figures is just annoying and very tiresome.

On a lighter note, we are now the semi-finals of Dancing With the Stars. Given the way the marks have been going, I expect Drew and Stacy to lead the pack with Lisa coming in right behind in third and Jerry finishing fourth with the judges. However, because of the fan vote, Lisa will go home. In the finals, I suspect that the producers will encourage the judges to give Drew and Stacy tying first place scores, with Jerry rounding out the bottom. Thus, when the fan vote is tabulated, Jerry won’t be able to sneak in for the win. Let me elaborate:

Mrs. X and I think that the scoring is as follows: the scores from the judges determine the ranking order. In the finals, the top couple would receive 3 points, the second 2 and the last 1. Then the fan vote comes in. The top couple in the fan voting receives 3 points, next 2 and the last 1. Then the points are added together. Let’s say that in the finals, Drew receives the top score from the judges, Stacy is second, and Jerry is last. But, in the fan voting, their numbers are reversed: Jerry –1, Stacy – 2, and Drew – 3. Added together, all three couples would have 4 points, but fan voting breaks the tie and Jerry Rice would win the crown. But, if Stacy and Drew tie for first, each would receive 3 points while Jerry gets 1. Thus, even if Jerry gets the top spot in the fan vote, one of the two remaining would get 5 total points to top Jerry. Plus, the fans would feel reasonably mollified because it was their voting that decided which of the two top contenders would win and the show would avoid the cries of “foul” that marred last year’s show. I’m sure the fan vote has been reasonably consistent that the producers already know who is going to win and have only had to do a marginal amount of manipulation. My gut tells me that Stacy is who is going to win, because nothing ever beats sex appeal when it comes to marketing.