i think this is kind of sweet.

salon's alex pareene tackles the tone issues of yesterday's nytimes feature hit-piece on 2Pz preferred mayoral candidate bill de blasio's social justice background:

Despite the article’s myriad problems of tone and its various insinuations, it’s a useful and interesting look at the background of the guy who might soon lead America’s biggest city — a city that has a great deal of money and also a huge, struggling underclass. It’s heartening, actually, to see the idealism of young de Blasio, especially for those who supported him but were concerned that he was perhaps just another empty Clintonite Democrat with a consultant-crafted “progressive” message. The guy actually does care. A romantic attachment to a popular revolutionary movement suggests a sincere commitment to justice. (via)

elizabeth warren : class act.

BROCKTON, Mass. -- Moments into a speech before volunteers here Wednesday evening, Elizabeth Warren was interrupted by a Tea Party supporter who hurled a gender-based epithet at the Senate candidate. The man, who said he'd been unemployed since February 2010, objected to Warren's expressed affiliation with the frustrations of Occupy Wall Street, and argued that the Tea Party has been protesting Wall Street excess for longer than the nascent global movement.

The crowd tried to shout the man down, but Warren told her supporters to let him speak. "No, no, it's alright. Let me say two things," she said. "I'm very sorry that you've been out of work. I'm also very sorry that the recent jobs bill that would've brought 22,000 jobs to Massachusetts did not pass in the Senate."

Speaking in a packed VFW hall, Warren went on to address his question about her association with Occupy Wall Street. "I've been protesting what's been going on on Wall Street for a very long time," she said, but added that the movement has its own independent agenda and will proceed along its own course.

"Yeah, so has the Tea Party," the man said, before losing his cool.

"Well, if you're the intellectual creator of that so-called party," he said, "you're a socialist whore. I don't want anything to do with you." The crowd shouted him down as he added that Warren's "boss," presumably referring to the president, was "foreign-born." He then attempted to storm out through a side door. Finding it locked, he retreated out the back of the VFW hall instead. (via)