Joe Cutbirth is adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University.

He's taught news writing and political reporting at New York Univesity and lectured at The New School on the phenomena of Fake News (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert) and the role of media satire in presidential politics.

His research has been presented at meetings of the National Communication Association, Eastern Communication Association, American Political Science Association, Midwest Association of Public Opinion Research, and conferences at Georgetown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Cutbirth has been a recurring guest guest this year on Politics Live, where he offers media criticism and political commentary w/ Sam Donaldson and Rick Klein for ABC News NOW.

He is a former communications director for the Texas Democratic Party, where he worked for Gov. Ann Richards' 1994 re-election campaign and the Clinton-Gore/ TDP 1996 coordinated campaign.

Before that, he spent more than a decade reporting on state government and Texas politics for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Morris News Service and The Wichita Falls (Texas) Times. His work also has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Texas Observer, EducationWeekly, Northwest Magazine and The Lonely Planet Phrase Book.

Cutbirth has an M.Phil. in communications from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; a master's degree in communication, culture & technology from Georgetown University; and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.

He lives in the verifiably smallest apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his 6-year-old retriever, Bo. His epitaph should read: He was a (Texas) Longhorn and a Democrat.

Blog Entries by Joe Cutbirth

Happy Birthday Harvey Milk (and thanks for giving us hope)

Posted May 21, 2009 | 04:23 AM (EST)


The defining moment in my adult life came inconveniently about six months after I got the first big break in my journalism career. At least it seemed so at the time.

"You ought to look at our (pro-gay) position papers on gays and lesbians, if you want to see something...

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Digging Further Into the Texas Rape Kit Scandal

1 Comments | Posted May 18, 2009 | 01:48 AM (EST)


Turns out -- to my relief -- my gut reaction to a Houston TV story (picked up by CNN) last week that blasted the Texas attorney general for saddling rape victims "across Texas" with outrageous bills for police investigations in their cases was on target.

I should...

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How Can Texas Ask Women to Pay for Rape Kits?

253 Comments | Posted May 10, 2009 | 03:38 AM (EST)


Journalists occasionally shine light on a public policy that is so disgusting it literally stuns you - just takes your breath away and leaves you speechless.

Your first thought is they've made a mistake. Or this is ratings hype. It can't be true.

After the initial shock wears...

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Rick Perry Should Stop Embarrassing Texas

201 Comments | Posted April 15, 2009 | 09:07 PM (EST)


I've had enough of Rick Perry.

At least the Perry who stood on the steps of the Texas Capitol today bashing our federal government and talking openly about Texas seceding from the United States.

This isn't the Perry I knew 25 years ago, when he first ran for...

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The Pope Can't Get Away With This

Posted March 18, 2009 | 01:02 PM (EST)


Pardon my excess here, but occasionally I just lose it. Someone needs to tell Pope Joseph Ratzinger to stop the demagoguery or abort this trip to Africa.

His statement Tuesday, reported as a virtual Papal pronouncement -- that condoms actually increase the spread of HIV -- is frankly unconscionable....

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My Must-See Moment at Every Inaugural

Posted January 18, 2009 | 01:34 PM (EST)


The scene that hugs my heart each time a new president is sworn-in, is generally eclipsed by the pomp and circumstance of the parade and the swearing-in at the Capitol.

It typically lasts about five minutes, and it's treated like an afterthought by the media and celebrants trying to capture...

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I Voted (Twice) for Obama, and Apparently I Lost

Posted December 18, 2008 | 03:46 PM (EST)


Let's talk hope for a minute.

Barack Obama seized the word "hope" this year, but back in 1977 my first political hero gave a big speech about it out in California. His name was Harvey Milk, and there is a film about him right now every American...

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Vet the Princess Before She's Crowned

Posted December 17, 2008 | 02:47 PM (EST)


Enough.

I don't have anything against Caroline Kennedy, though I sort of hate to see her get into electoral politics.

I was in second grade when her father was assassinated about two hours from my home in North Texas, and I always thought of her as keeper of something...

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McCain's Racist Surge

Posted October 15, 2008 | 12:45 PM (EST)


As I watch John McCain's presidential campaign degenerate into a dark, disgraceful display of veiled racism unworthy of the hero who suffered in Vietnam, I'm reminded of the late J.J. "Jake" Pickle, the venerable congressman who represented Central Texas from 1963 to 1995, and a story he once told...

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Why I Called It for Joe Biden

Posted October 3, 2008 | 06:59 AM (EST)


The Twainesque, Becky Thatcher, awww-shucks shtick is wearing a bit thin. It works for certain audiences under certain conditions, but the stakes were too high on Thursday for Sarah Palin to use it all night.

Her folksy fireworks flat-lined after an hour, and as she sounded more and more like...

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Our National Sue Simmons Moment

Posted September 30, 2008 | 05:30 PM (EST)


Like a lot of Americans, I'm watching the White House and Congress preside over this national economic disaster, and it's got me pretty worked-up.

I'm also disgusted with the frame corporate media have constructed for the whole mess beginning with the cadre of recognizable, well-heeled Henny Pennys parading...

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Oh, HELL NO!

Posted September 24, 2008 | 10:24 PM (EST)


Well, John McCain left the stump Wednesday and ran to his old comfort zone, Washington, D.C., hoping a publicity stunt framed as "suspending the campaign" would stop Barack Obama from talking about the fiscal crisis facing the country.

What else should we expect from a guy who asked

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The Incredible Lightness of Being Sarah Palin

Posted September 4, 2008 | 03:12 PM (EST)


Well, isn't Gov. Palin the gift that keeps on giving?

Just when the pack was sure that John McCain chose her to reach out to disaffected Democratic women and lure Hillary Clinton supporters to the GOP, Palin roared onto the national stage Wednesday with Barack Obama so squarely in her...

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McCain Owes Us More Than Gramm's Resignation

Posted July 20, 2008 | 08:14 PM (EST)


Phil Gramm's resignation from the McCain campaign doesn't do much for me. I'm reminded of the saying Texas football fans had about the Oklahoma Sooners during the Barry Switzer era: It's tough to drown a snake.

The ironic and frustrating thing about Gramm, whose lobbying activities have now been...

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Obama's Mile High Moment

Posted July 8, 2008 | 02:51 PM (EST)


This isn't hype. It's fact. We're about seven weeks from the biggest speech in at least a generation by any figure in American politics.

If you can be there in person, go. If you live west of the Mississippi, take your children. It's an event you'll all remember -- one...

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Hey Scotty, Fool Us Once Shame on You. Fool Us Twice... Well...

Posted May 28, 2008 | 05:16 PM (EST)


Listen up, citizens. Breaking news here.

President Bush used "propaganda" to sell the invasion of Iraq, and the White House press corps was "too easy on the administration" during the run-up to the war. That's what former White House spokesman Scott McClellan has come forward to tell us...

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The Discussion Ratzinger's Trip is Designed to Stop

Posted April 16, 2008 | 04:28 PM (EST)


The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

This Friday, the same day Joseph Ratzinger arrives in New York for the first time as pope to address the United Nations, a film that examines Christianity's role in religious violence will make its long-awaited premiere across town.

Ratzinger is expected to call...

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Obama's Texas Strategy: and the Generational Hispanic Campaign

Posted March 3, 2008 | 03:23 PM (EST)


Listen up friends. If you're interested in the future of Democratic campaigns in this country, there's a name you need to know. It's James Aldrete of Austin, Texas.

Write it down. Stamp it. Earmark it, and commit it to memory.

If tracking polls hold, Barack Obama should...

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The Mauro Factor

Posted February 25, 2008 | 12:13 PM (EST)


Garry Mauro must be having the time of his life.

Hillary Clinton doesn't have anyone anywhere in the country -- including the old and new faces inside her national message machine -- more loyal or eager to help her win the presidency than Mauro, the four-term Texas Land Commissioner...

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A Different Take on Mark McKinnon and Barack Obama

Posted February 16, 2008 | 02:37 PM (EST)


Good Lord! I just read Jim Moore's post on Mark McKinnon saying he will resign from the McCain campaign if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

Now, I've been behind closed doors on political campaigns when Ann Richards and Bob Bullock both chewed staff butt, and I...

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