• by October 18, 2004

Oh my, it seems that several readers, or at least the ones who were outraged enough to write, were offended by The Minute's ruminations on events surrounding the upcoming presidential election.

Regarding the Oct. 12 column on the crash of the Manchester Union Leader's Web site after cartoonist Garry Trudeau placed its URL in a recent strip, Andrew Dassing took us to task for bringing to light what he termed "blatant political indoctrination via newspaper comic strips." Dassing asked, "What's next -- stumping via kid's cartoons and children's shows using cute purple dinosaurs spouting URLs? Hooked On Politics? Kids Vote The Darndest Things?"

Jack Parnell viewed our interest in the speculation among bloggers and online news organizations about the possibility of President Bush being wired during the second presidential debate as "a James Carville ploy." Parnell wondered if we would have "printed it if someone, anyone, had said the same thing about Kerry?" The answer, by the way, is "yes, absolutely." We will take equal opportunity potshots.

Mike Losee writes that he looks forward to the occasion when The Minute suggests Senator Kerry's botox session was actually a procedure to give him a transmitter for communication via satellite with French president Jacques Chirac. In "A Minute to the Left," D. Brewer takes us to task for injecting partisanship into The Minute and requests that we stick to the mission at hand - delivering news and analysis about online advertising. From D. Brewer:

"Is the "Online Minute" really the place to spread rumors about a presidential candidates debate performance? Please put your partisanship away and deliver your readers what they signed up for: news about online advertising."

Fair enough, D. Brewer, but no one says we can't be topical. By the way, nice use of the MediaPost archive! (Brewer points out at least two other instances in recent months when The Minute made digs at Republicans and another in which the Republican convention was likened to a military coup).

Finally, Andrew Keys said he's had enough of the "anti-Bush crap."

Dear readers, you have spoken. The Minute has heard you.