At this point I think all sentient beings can agree that
A) "Meet the Press" sucks hard enough to bend light,
B) "Meet the Press" is now so routinely godawful week-in-week-out that it virtually defies criticism, and
C) Our national dialogue would be very well served indeed if David Gregory (and the cartel of monied interests who keep goofs like David Gregory in his big chair) wandered off into the woods and ended up making porn or doing a poorly conceived Comedy Central series called "Drunk News" or making drunk porn.
I sometimes get sentimental for the days gone by when one could turn on a teevee and watch Bill Buckley and Noam Chomsky swinging light sabers at each other: our ideals tell us we should be doing so much better, and our history tells us that we are capable of doing so much better. But I also know that when one parts the misty curtains of memory and gets a good look at how things were many years ago, sometimes the degree to which big swaths of our public dialogue have actually not changed one iota is both amazing and depressing.
So as you watch this video from August 15, 1985 of Senator Barry Goldwater talking about deficits and austerity consider -- no matter how bugfuck the GOP might be -- just how much sheer party discipline it has taken for them to stick Hell-or-high-water to these same, terrible talking points almost verbatim for 30 years.
4 comments:
"Drunk History" seems pretty hilarious to me...but I don't have any PC critics scowling over my shoulder as I try to watch it.
The "Jeselnik Procedure" is pretty funny as well...which means it will be gone very soon.
I dropped MTP when it became "St. Tims Fun Time Name Dropping Republican Testicle Cozy Hour!"
With very special guests!
...and also.
These same months ratings drops that are freaking people out at NBC and MSNBC are largely a function of comparing last year's pre election ratings to this years..same old republican Sunday Gasbag conclaves.
Unfortunately, that also means Dancin Dave won't be going anywhere soon...because if it's Sunday, it's Meet John McCain..and it will be until he croaks, or his nap time moves from afternoon to mornings.
I met Barry Goldwater. He came into the store I worked in and I sold him a package of thumbtacks. It was around the time of Gulf War part 1. Shrunken down old man. I was in college, and a Republican in those years. A younger guy was astonished I didn't bother to ask Barry for his ID and bank card to annotate the check. Kid didn't know who he was. I still shop at that store, as I happen to live in the neighborhood again. I will always admire Barry at least for saying: "Every good Christian should line up and kick Jerry Falwell's ass.".
There is no amount of money I wouldn't pay to put a lightsabre in Noam Chomsky's hands.
Charlie Pierce is passing along a rumour that Dancin Dave is next on the IBM block (I've Been Moved!).
The fun part is considering who might replace him. After all, network news has demonstrated that they have little interest in arresting their decline; so the smart money is going for even worse than Gregory.
But who? Luke Russert? Sarah Palin? Ted Nugent?
David Brooks?
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