As America prepares to take the weekend off to celebrate our status as land of the free and home of the soccer-deprived, Isthmus presents an appropriate theme on our cover this week: "America's Worst Politicians."
The bulk of this presentation is selected material from a greater work devised by members of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, of which we are members. The story is a collaboration of a number of AAN papers, as Miami NewTimes editor Chuck Strouse, project coordinator, explains in his introduction. The artwork with the story also comes from NewTimes and the hand of Alvaro Dias-Rubio.
Isthmus' contributed a couple of entries by news editor Judith Davidoff. With a wealth of candidates to choose from among Wisconsin's political firmament, she settled on Joel Kleefisch and Brett Hulsey, and few would argue with the appropriateness of those choices.
Our in-paper presentation of the story measures about 3,000 words. We've picked some savory ones from around the nation, as well as the local talent, to appear in print. The whole project, though, came in at about 30,000 words, which you can find at TheDailyPage.com. Isthmus contributor Joe Engle designed and executed the website, which is available to all 120-plus members of the national association to link to.
Rounding out our holiday package is a visit to Madison in 1964, when the age of protest began, spurred by the assassination of President Kennedy, the first of a rash of murders of liberal leaders and the looming specter of the Vietnam War. It presaged more than a decade of turmoil, as a significant part of the nation battled its own government. It also signaled an age of activism and involvement to come and created a mindset that continues to influence public life today. It was the beginning of American citizens learning how to say "no" to business as usual as it was then.
