Sunday, August 21, 2016

Sunday Morning Comin' Down


Crazy/busy week and thin gruel on the Sunday Showz, so I wasn't sure if I would have the get-up-and-go to write anything, or have anything worth writing about.

Other than Trump's brand new campaign manager lying her ass off.

And the head of the RNC lying his ass off.

And another Trump surrogate lying his ass off.

And yet another Trump surrogate lying his ass off.

And still another Trump surrogate lying his ass off.

And, what is this?  Another Trump surrogate lying her ass off?  Sadly, yes.

(Big, collective h/t to Crooks & Liars)

So, like I said, not much going on.

And then...like a stream of bat's piss...that shines out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark...





Note to Matt: I have been closely following politics and the slow devolution of American political media for +25 years, blogging daily for going on 12 years and podcasting with my wife every week for six years.



And so I did ask questions.

Which Mr. Dowd did not deign to answer.




OK, I have to admit that bit about Matthews Dowd and Marck Halperin being the only unbiased analysts on teevee completely cracked me up.






Like many, many other prominent, life-long Republicans, Mr. Dowd spontaneously became a born-again-Both-Siderist-Independents at exactly same moment the Bush Administration went tits-up, joining a cult whose creation myth is laughable on its face, but whose dogma just so happens to profit him personally while at the same time protecting him from the toxic fallout created by the last cult he joined.

You know, on a pure, mammalian level I can respect the survival instinct of someone getting the hell out of a burning building even if they're the one that started the fire.  But even rats escaping a sinking ship have the decency not to get all righteous after-the-fact about how they were motivated to scurry down the gangplank and away from an unfolding catastrophe by sudden pangs of conscience.

Update: And Monday morning, bright and early, we find Mr. Dowd back working hard at his one and only job...



8 comments:

dinthebeast said...

Yeah,looks like it's gonna get ugly again... On the other hand, I accidentally saw Breitbart slamming Fox, so perhaps that whole "Trump TV/ Ailes media empire" trope might have some merit after all?

-Doug in Oakland

bowtiejack said...

". . . someone getting the hell out of a burning building even if they're the one that started the fire."
And the winner of the Golden Apercu Award is . . .

Meanwhile, speaking of the Sunday shows, David Cay Johnston has a new book out, The Making of Donald Trump, which is a close examination of the slime trail that has been Trump's actual career (SPOILER ALERT! "Follow the money").
Johnston is a very smart, incredibly meticulous guy, but the darndest thing is happening. Wait let him tell about it:

"Last week I did 19 hours on TV and radio one day, and then 12 hours, and 12, and 11. It’s all I’ve been doing since the book came out. It’s TV and radio to the point where it’s all a big blur. I have been on national television in Australia, multiple channels; Japan, Canada, multiple channels; England, multiple channels; France, multiple channels; Germany, national news programs.

"None of the three U.S. networks have had a word about my book. And they have not had me on the Sunday morning talk shows."

Curiouser and curiouser, huh?

"I had a producer for a cable show, who I know and bitched about some of this with, and who said to me, “David, they would never have you on a Sunday morning talk show for the most obvious reason. You should know that.” I said, “What’s the obvious reason?” She said, “Well, you would talk actual facts and substance. Watch these shows, they’re all superficial nonsense.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/new-book-reveals-con-man-donald-trump-is-even-sleazier-and-more-underhanded-than-you-think/


bowtiejack said...

dinthebeast

Don't know the details, but Ailes, age 76, supposedly has a non-compete clause as part of his buyout that would run into his 80's. With what they paid him ($40 million?), can't believe they don't have a non-compete bolted together with titanium rivets.

HOWEVER, the principals (Trump & Ailes) have enormous self-confidence in their own specialness and being above the rules. The perfect denouement would be their trying to get away with some cuteness ("just an informal advisor") in a media deal and Murdoch's sons going after them with flamethrowers and castrating shears to protect the Fox News investment.

Neo Tuxedo said...

“Well, you would talk actual facts and substance. Watch these shows, they’re all superficial nonsense.”

"You know this and I know it, and what folly is this to be toasting an independent press."
-- John Swinton to the New York Press Club, date uncertain

Sam said...

Why don't you accept people for where they are in the present, Driftglass? The reason you will never be anything but a pariah dirty hippy blogger is that you keep insisting that history actually hapenned. Take two nepenthe and call me in the morning.

Jimbo said...

Matthew Dowd argues like a child, frankly, but I guess that is the standard for the Sunday Shows nowadays.

Neo Tuxedo said...

"Take two nepenthe and call me in the morning."

They do say a gramme is better than a damn, and that evil's an unreality if you take a couple of grammes.

ChicagoPat said...

I read "Trump/RUS connection" and thought "rodents of unusual size?" before realizing she meant Russia, then I realized the former was much more accurate and comprehensive.