DAY’S END ROUNDUP

by Walter Alarkon - 12/15/08 6:37 PM ET

Caroline Kennedy’s overt campaign for a Senate appointment gets a cold reception online. Sunday’s shoe attack in Iraq on President Bush has instantly become a defining moment of his presidency, according to Bush critics. But the media coverage of the shoe throw has been unfair, according to conservative bloggers.

Kennedy, by first telling New York’s political figures of her desire for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) seat, is showing her sense of entitlement and is forgetting about the little people, writes Jane Hamsher at The Huffington Post. People who aren’t named Kennedy would be more wary about pursuing a Senate appointment in the wake of the Senate seat scandal in Illinois, writes Ross Douthat.

A shoe thrown at Bush in Iraq is akin to a rotten tomato thrown at the guy who screws up everything, writes D-Day. The praise for the shoe thrower in the Arab world reflects the low opinion the world has of Bush, which President-elect Obama should be able to improve upon, writes Taylor Marsh.

But the journalists playing up the glee over the shoe attack fail to recognize that Bush was the one who made the freedom to protest possible, writes Sister Toldjah. A New York Times story featuring supporters of the shoe thrower fails to note that one of its sources is close to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, writes Bill Roggio at The Weekly Standard.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Kennedy Lets Elites Know – Jane Hamsher, HuffPo
Kennedy to Seek Appointment – Chris Cillizza, The Fix
The ‘Campaign’ Begins – Ross Douthat
The Shoe Thrower Uprising – Taylor Marsh
A Defining Moment – D-Day
‘So What?’ – Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
Brother Explains Shoe Toss – R. Muhammad, Baghdad Bureau
Losers: Mainstream Media and Far Left – Sister Toldjah
Nuanced View on Shoe Thrower – B. Roggio, Weekly Std.