So you sit down to write and look what happens: Shh. “The Godfather” baptism scene is coming on AMC. I need to watch it for the seven millionth time.
Look at baby Sofia, playing the infant. So beautiful, hands like little starfish. Let’s see if I can spot a detail I missed the first 6.99 million times. …OK, here’s one: All the anointing, all the hands laid on other bodies — this I never noticed before. Cicci gets a barber’s shave with hot cream, the baby gets the holy oils, Moe Greene’s masseur rubs him down with…probably witch hazel, back then. No faggy essential oils in the ’50s.
Michael Rizzi, will you be baptized? I will. I still get a chill.
The good-vs-evil Mafia montage is a cliché now. Done well, as David Chase did with the season-ending “Sopranos” episodes, it’s an homage, but mostly it’s just a cliché. But like the song says: The original is still the greatest.
As always, when I watch a little Godfather, I wonder what happened to Al Pacino. How did Francis Ford Coppola rein him in? His whole performance is delivered via the eyes, and look what happened when you took those away, made him a blind man — “Scent of a Woman,” that’s what.
It’s just as well cable TV delivered, because I have little for you today. The steady lengthening of the days is no longer a rumor — “be home by dark” gets Kate 45 minutes more freedom than it got in December, but, perversely, spring seems further away than ever. Fourteen degrees at the moment, bright sun, a glacier-glasses sort of day. I’m working on a piece that’s a real bolus, and every find-new-motivation strategy I deploy just feels like procrastination. Time to put the modem in the freezer.
But there’s plenty going on in the world, just the same. Out for discussion: Is Hillary finished? I’m especially interested in hearing from you Buckeyes, as that’s the next battle, and it’s make-or-break for her. Here in Michigan, the dumb-ass Democratic party is trying their best to start an insurrection; the power players are trying to figure out a way to deliver the now-you-see-’em-now-you-don’t — all of Michigan’s perhaps-mythical delegates — to Hillary. The very hint of such a coup makes Alan kick the baseboards and vow to vote for McCain if they even dare to think such a thing, but then, he voted for “uncommitted” in January. I guess I don’t have a leg to stand on, having chosen a strategic Romney vote last month.
What is rickrolling? (This baby is not played by Sofia Coppola.) The Church of Scientology, rickrolled. A more clinical explanation. I used to dance to that song in aerobics class. Not as bitchin’ly as the original Rick, however. Ha.
John reveals his inner Hawaii Five-O fan. Also, a tribute to Adobe After Effects, with which, on his last visit, he demonstrated how they got “300” to look like that.
I don’t care how Barack Obama talks, as long as he can pronounce “nuclear.”
Time to return to my bolus. Sigh.
Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 10:08 am
Polls show Hillary still substantially ahead in Ohio, but two weeks is plenty of time for things to change. Obama has been sending a lot of surrogates into the state; if the man himself starts showing up, you’ll know he smells blood.
Meanwhile, I hope someone woke up McCain for his meeting this morning with our editorial board.
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michaela said on February 20, 2008 at 10:29 am
Working on my own bolus over here… at least I think I am (not sure I totally get the meaning of bolus in this context… and this after 2 cups of coffee). If you find any meaningful strategy for avoiding procrastination, please post it. (See? Another procrastination opportunity right there.) I am about to print my tax info for my accountant, rather than finish writing about bond quality. Argh.
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 10:38 am
Well, I believe the pundits who say that 3/4/08 is D-Day. Increasingly bad things become all the more probable, if the contest remains deadlocked all the way to April and Pennsylvania
If Senator Obama wins Texas and Ohio, then Senator Clinton’s campaign simply implodes, and Obama cruises to the nomination;
Somewhat less clearly, if Senator Clinton wins both states, then she has at least a solid claim on (and a good moral defense for) anything that happens after that, which culminates with her nomination.
But if they split the states – if Obama wins Texas, and Clinton wins Ohio (for example) – THAT is the doomsday scenario. I think the only way that McCain can prevail in November, with his divided and dispirited Republican party versus the fired up Democratic party – is if the fully up-to-speed Democratic party smashes into the walls at their convention in Denver.
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Dorothy said on February 20, 2008 at 10:48 am
I followed a link at Undercover Black Man and saw a picture of the Queen with Don King’s hair. Hilarious!
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Sue said on February 20, 2008 at 11:14 am
Looking at vote totals for my city in yesterday’s primary, I found it very amusing that in my hugely conservative Republican town, two thirds of the voters voted for either Hillary or Obama.
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Jolene said on February 20, 2008 at 11:33 am
Sounds like your town reflects the state as a whole, Sue. Obama and Clinton together got 1,098,764 votes. McCain and Huckabee together got 375,376–roughly one-third of the total vote. (Numbers from The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.)
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Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 11:36 am
I wonder how many Wisconsin Republicans, figuring McCain has the nomination wrapped up, decided to sneak over and cast a Democratic vote.
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Jolene said on February 20, 2008 at 11:47 am
I’m sure that happened, Kirk, but I’ve read several articles observing that it’s a small portion of the total. If substantial numbers of Republicans were voting in a way designed to produce a more favorable environment for their candidate, we’d have seen many more votes for Clinton, as many polls have shown that McCain does better against her than against Obama.
Here’s an article by a political scientist on a pattern that he’s calling “the enthusiasm gap.” An excerpt:
In a January 10-13 Gallup Poll, for example, 74 percent of Democratic voters said that they were “more enthusiastic than usual” about voting this year compared with only 44 percent of Republican voters. Forty-eight percent of Republican voters said that they were “less enthusiastic than usual” about voting this year compared with only 15 percent of Democratic voters..
The pattern of much higher turnout among Democrats than among Republicans has been occurring in all the contests reaching back to the Iowa caucuses.
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Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Because I never change the subject here, I reserve the privilege of doing so just this once to note the passing of a footnote in Beatles history, the old feller in the background who’s staring at the Beatles as they cross Abbey Road on the album cover. He died last week in Pensacola, Fla. I’m technically challenged, so I don’t know that this will actually come through as a link, but here’s the URL for a nice little obit.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/15/30gtpaul-cole-man-on-beatles-abbey-road-cover/
Hey, it worked.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Good link, Kirk.
Jolene, enthusiasm is a wildcard. Even the Obama girl did not vote.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 1:47 pm
You know, I was just listening to Abbey Road this weekend and admiring the picture and explaining the significance of the barefoot Paul to a friend. I miss the big artwork of the vinyl age. CD covers are just too small.
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Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Right you are, Danny. Many album covers were works of art worth spending plenty of time gazing upon, and a lot of good photographers shot a lot of really great ones.
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alex said on February 20, 2008 at 2:04 pm
CD covers are just too small.
Yes indeed.
Calls to mind a funny exchange with my significant other one time. He yelled from the kitchen to say he was cleaning the pot. “Oh, goody,” I said. When I went in there I found him scrubbing the Dutch oven in the sink.
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Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Another astute observation.
Alex, you knocked out the part of your comment that made mine semi-germane.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 2:38 pm
As I recall, double albums like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “One More from the Road” were the best for separating the … ahem … wheat from the chaff.
At least, that is what I’ve heard.
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alex said on February 20, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Sorry, Kirk. Thought better of it and decided to try a subtler approach.
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Kirk said on February 20, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Danny’s got it covered.
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Other great 5 minutes in heaven movie scenes –
The feather dancer/Yeager X-plane test flight montage from The Right Stuff
The docking in 2001; A Space Odyessy
The opening 5 minutes of the Wizard of Oz, on the farm in Kansas
About any 5 minutes in Bonnie and Clyde, or Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, or Father Goose
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Jeff said on February 20, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Ohio, at least east of Columbus and what i know of the Cleve-o-rama, is still pretty Clintonian, and stalwart about protecting the last remaining union jobs. Obama hasn’t made much headway among the classic rank-and-file for that reason, or it may be that i don’t want to believe that all these life-long local officers and shop stewards are just not willing to vote for, as i still hear with lessening, but steady frequency, “the colored feller.”
There’s very little love lost for Hillary as a candidate (see previous aside, re: “the little woman”), but she’s supposed to keep more manufacturing jobs here in da rust belt than anyone else — like the president can do much in that area — and NAFTA is still a curse word among most working-class folk.
The problem in big chunks of the Buckeye State is that the working-class folk are mostly retirees, and the younger college graduates run across the state line after commencement in larger numbers than even our oft’ mocked neighbors across the Ohio River, West b’god Virginia. Those of my age and many of you’ns who comment here are hanging onto state, education, and health-care related jobs, and we do most of the talking, as befits baby-boomers, but when it comes to voting, we’re looking at a fairly small percentage.
So i think Hillary Clinton ekes out a win in this state, but i agree with Brian that Obama is moving up fast in Texas, but with the Hispanic variable (see my first aside re: “el hombre nigro no”), she could hold onto a win there, too — but if both are 51% wins for HRC, then we’re heading for the convention, where i keep hearing the most fascinating Al Gore on horseback rumors.
Yipppee-kai-yay, Democrats. Meanwhile, since Dwight Eisenhower, there have been nine presidents. How many were Navy officers?
Right, Carter, Annapolis . . .
Yep, Lyndon was a Navy officer, sort of (don’t ask about the Silver Star) . . .
Oh, right, Jack Kennedy, PT-109! 3, then?
The answer is six of nine, including Nixon, Ford, and G.H.W. Bush, with Reagan, Clinton, and Dubya not. So McCain would make seven of ten . . .
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Jeff said on February 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm
[One could also note that, whatever you think of Reagan’s Hollywood service in WWII (you’re right) and Dubya’s abruptly terminated service in the Vietnam era (open for major questions), you also see nine of the last ten presidents with military service on their resumes. Were Mr. Hillary’s terms in office a new trend, or an outlier? And i’m not saying McCain *should* win because he’s a vet, but asking the question, from my perch here in the Buckeye State, also known as Appalachia North, *will* he win for that reason? In Ohio and West Virginia, the answer is very likely yes. Texas, i dunno.]
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I think McCain is almost a sure loser; he looks like Bob Dole versus Bill Clinton – 1996.
A race between McCain and either Clinton or Obama would personify “yesterday” against “tomorrow”
Two jokers in the deck are, first – Sammy and Zawahiri – who tend to want the limelight in election years (and ‘Katy, bar the door’ if they strike us in October); they could get McCain elected
and second – McCain’s health. If he physically buckles (not even to mention dying, and then a national funeral) soon enough – say, by August 15 (!) – then a black-banded Mittster might have a shot (I’m thinking of the Missouri Senate race a few years back, where one of the candidates got killed in a plane crash, and then the wife defeated the then-frozen GOP up-and-comer….10 points if you name the defeated Republican, who’s election hopes were reduced to ashes, in the plane crash that killed his opponent)
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nancy said on February 20, 2008 at 3:44 pm
John Ashcroft!
I’ll cash in those chips for a beer Friday night.
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 3:46 pm
You got it!
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I dunno, Brian. It’s harder to read the tea leaves this year. Lately, I’ve been hearing some of Michelle Obama’s speeches and she does not seem to be a positive for the campaign. According to her, we have “broken souls” that will be “healed” by an Obama presidency. If that rhetoric continues, McCain vs Obama sounds more like Reality vs Scary-Nightmare-Bullcrap-Artist.
With so long to go until November amd so many ways to screw it up for all of them, this horse race is far from over.
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 4:32 pm
this horse race is far from over.
Absolutely true. I really, really like Michelle Obama; watching her work a room (on C-SPAN) is something to behold. She doesn’t read her text (or maybe she doesn’t feel the need to, anymore) and she warms to her subject, and really communicates with the people in the room. One can understand how easily any number of her comments can (and will) be taken out of context.
I think I understood her “really proud” comment – nonetheless I can see how remarks like that might genuinely put some folks off.
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Dexter said on February 20, 2008 at 4:43 pm
nancy says, “So you sit down to write a book and look what happens.”
Eventually, what happens is pictured in the last panel of this week’s The New Yorker cover.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/toc/2008/02/25/toc_20080218
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Dexter said on February 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
…with the old movie theme, I’ll add this: I watched “The World According to Garp” last Sunday.
I had not seen it for 25 years .
Even so, I remembered a very famous line, delivered by Roberta Muldoon (John Lithgow).
Garp’s wife was having an affair. Garp was told about it. His wife consented to give her lover one last gift if he’d leave their driveway. Garp turns off his car lights and rams into the lover’s station wagon, killing one son and half-blinding another.
The line occurs when Roberta is comforting Nurse Jenny, ascending a staircase, she says “I had mine surgically removed, but TO HAVE IT BITTEN OFF IN A BUICK!”
THAT was WHY they had the lover driving around in a behemoth Buick station wagon in the FIRST PLACE !! Few college students drove Buick station wagons around…it was awkward…but that line tied it up in a wonderful coming-together of the plot.
So they f’in change the line!! Now , Roberta says, “but to have it bitten off.”
I thought my cable cut out audio , but I doubted it…so I Googled:
A line of dialogue was changed for the recent Warner DVD release: when Roberta Muldoon is talking with Garp’s mother Jenny about the accident, in the original theatrical version she said “…to have it bitten off in a Buick.” In the new DVD version the reference to Buick was removed, so Roberta now just says “…to have it bitten off.”
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 5:18 pm
That is really odd, Dexter. And I too remember that movie well.
The only way they could make up for that dialogue change is if they added, “He should have bought a Hummer.”
Ba-da-Bah!
You’ve been a lovely audience!
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Dexter said on February 20, 2008 at 5:21 pm
*groan* uhhhhhggggghhhhhh!
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Dexter said on February 20, 2008 at 5:31 pm
BO closing fast …huge lead evaporating….HRC vulnerable in Buckeye land…tired old speeches are doing her in…we got Bill last Sunday but no Hillary, about a thousand people in Toledo to hear Bill.
I think Hillary will take OH, PA, but now I wonder seriously about TX.
Super Delegates are vague…of 21 Ohio has, HRC has two, BO one, and 18 are uncommitted so far. That all changes after March 4.
Will I vote? Damn straight I will! And the old fashioned way, too…none of this early voting nonsense. A cup of joe, some arguing about the empty promises of BO, and a trip to the voting booth. The American Way. I remember when Adlai Stevenson ran. But you’d expect that much from a kid who went to a two-room schoolhouse , now wouldn’t you? I even have a cane to shake at unruly grandchildren and scold …”get out of my New Yorkers and don’t step on my feet!” [time for green tea and my medicine]
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michaelj said on February 20, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hillary actually seems to know what to do. How important this might be and how it makes any difference is cloudy at best. Since Obama is so clearly JFK, not my characterization but apparently the public’s, let the metaphor stand and make her the barracuda VP.
I was an early supporter of Barrack (rhymes with Jack). Back in the day, the comparisons were with the more estimable Kennedy brother. I’ve no problem with Obama. I could do that job and so could most of you.
Can he get anything done? Well there’s where he seems most like Jack. LBJ could accomplish anything he wanted. He actually went from your typically racist Tejas representive in the world’s greatest deliberative body to the guy that ensured voting rights for black Americans. Maybe Jack could have gotten that done, but he didn’t.
Bobby could have done everything by the force of his personality, but the country jumped the shark. The spectacular difference in how Americans act and think engendered by this one guy’s assassination is positively stunning.
Would we have bought lies made up years before? That were peddled to a previous President? That took a mannikin with Cheney’s arm up his back? I don’t think any of this really bad stuff would have happened.
And Obama might be JFK, if John Kerry hadn’t already nailed that. But he sure as hell isn’t Bobby, at least yet. And his followers sure need to back off the more “progressive” than thou. What’s ‘Progressive”? We beep if we find your Thunderbird annoying. Far as I can see, calling oneself ‘progressive’ means you’re such dumbasses you voted for Nader and can’t understand how things went so wrong.
Oh and I find Michelle Obama the most smarmy, obnoxious political wife since Quaker Oats. Geez, Bar Bush again?
Lyndon Johnson would love Barack Obama if he weren’t running against him. And if Deanie Babies weren’t so hyped to take on the party, I might take a caucus result seriously.
Barrack’s navel as the center of the universe seems to fascinate him slightly too much. But God, vote for the Democratic ticket. One way or another. Anything’s better than some chimp pulling his pud and accompishing nothing better than killing more people. This guy might be alright. What he says about the war is bullshit. Read the so-called enabling act. It told W to listen to al Baradei, not to do anything else. Claiming that isn’t true isn’t plagiarism, it’s just outright lying. But you know, he’s a politician, so he’ll say anything.
You know what Charles Barkeley said”
Wolf Blitzer vs. the Round Mound? In Valhalla, baby.
You all do realize you’re talking in a wotrd that barely exists where somebody is listening to everysinglething you say/
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michaelj said on February 20, 2008 at 6:41 pm
If ya’ll want to investigate, I’d suggest Teillhard. He seemed to know what he was talking about.
You’re phones are being listened to. I’m guessing you aren’t
talking to terrorists.
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alex said on February 20, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Dex, maybe they’re thinking Buick might go the way of Oldsmobile and don’t want the movie to be any more dated than it already is. (It was one of my faves at the time, but I haven’t seen it in 25 years either. I remember Nurse Jenny’s pat response to everything: “Lust.”)
Re Scary-Nightmare-Bullcrap-Artist, I’m surprised you can’t come up with a better put-down, Danny. You’d no doubt feel differently about Obama if he were saving souls rather than healing them. You might actually get your wish for such a president when decrepit old McCain croaks and Huckabilly succeeds him.
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joodyb said on February 20, 2008 at 7:33 pm
It’s been flogged and blogged: HRC won’t be anyone’s VP. Some say she’s already done that. I’d think a lot more of her if i thought she had the grace to, but she’s worked too hard for too long not to have this go her way.
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Jeff said on February 20, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Saving souls is a little bit more my department, but both Danny and Obama are free to offer meaning and uplift however they best see fit to do so. Less theologically, if McCain had any interest in offering second chair to Huckabee, he’d be out of the race by now. That’s not gonna happen — or if it does, McCain will lose more potential support than he would pick up. Now, if McCain picks a ringing right winger, i’m “out,” but there’s no sign of any kind of pick out of Camp McCain right now.
Obama is preaching, and i respect that; i’d argue with you, Danny, in that Clinton’s campaign spends more time talking like everything’s going into the crapper than Obama does. Barack’s sermonic speeches are focused, effectively i’d say (along with voters in the last ten states), on how much better things could be. That’s a winner, and Hillary won’t pull him back by saying ever more loudly, “No, America is even worse off than my opponent realizes.” But she’s trying.
I can see all kinds of benefits, nationally and internationally, in having Barack Obama sworn in a President of These United States, but he can’t explain how he will eliminate tax cuts, grow the economy, protect US businesses, relate better to a global economy, pay for education and health care for all out of the federal pot from which a chicken shall be pulled for all. That’s why i can’t support the guy — we just did the math, and on a family gross income of $75,000, we pay in property, local, state, and federal income and FICA taxes almost $30,000. That’s 34%, plus we’re some of those odd folk who give a minimum (we beat it, most years) ten percent to support what we believe in, from our church to the National Parks Conservation Association, another $7,500.
We live just fine on 56% of our income, better than 98% of the world i know, but i gotta say as the Little Guy moves toward college and we watch our parents age, i’m really, really not interested in hearing how my taxes should go up. And i know our numbers aren’t unusual, just that most people haven’t done the math. 30 to 40% in total taxes are the norm in the middle class.
Oh, but i’m watching MSNBC (7:47 EST), and i guess McCain is toast. So it will be Romney vs. Gore in November . . . what a country, in Mr. Smirnoff’s words.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Oh yeah, sniper. The Huckster is definitely my wish. Whatever.
Actually, I almost have no horse in this race. This is shaping up to be a lesser-evil type of election for most conservatives. I’m torn between staying home to write my shampoo manufacturer about their wonderful product or pulling the lever for the most wanton derelict-of-duty candidate who will most surely cause the pendulum to swing back to the correct way of thinking. Obama looks like he could do nicely in that cause.
And looky here, just as I guessed. Now that McCain has the nomination in the bag, the NYTimes is reminding the rest of the country of that messy Keating Five stuff.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Yeah, Jeff, I definitely perceive a one-upmanship in the Dem race for who can portray our current circumstances as more dire and in need of TLC, liberal-style.
I know people complain about Republicans trying to scare the country with 9-11 (and I agree that this is mostly a line of bull too) , but I really don’t see much difference coming from the other side of the aisle.
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alex said on February 20, 2008 at 9:21 pm
We’re probably still paying for the savings & loan scandal the same way as we’ll be paying indefinitely for the Iraq debacle.
No wonder the Dems have to tax and spend. How else do you propose we pay for the carnage after the GOP swindles and spends?
McCain deserves scrutiny on this one and he knew this going into the race. This and not the overhyped “maverick persona” BS is why the party chooses to be distant. He’s damaged goods in a financial scandal that by rights should have cost him his office.
Putting in the fix for friends to enrich themselves while ruining an entire industry that has to be bailed out on the public dole doesn’t go over well with anybody, let alone those who loathe taxation. And you’d think it would have the moralists’ twats in a knot as well, although they’re so fixated on who sleeps with whom and who wishes people “merry Christmas” that it may not matter.
When you look at this nice young man next to these two hardened and cynical politicians, it’s hard not to see what’s making a lot of terrorized, weary people suddenly feel optimistic if not inspired to give him a crack at the presidency.
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brian stouder said on February 20, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I’m not a big conspiracy guy – but this “BREAKING NEWS” New York Times strory about John McCain’s bimbo eruption…..from 10 years ago!!!! – strikes me as puzzling.
Why is it “news” now? Why wasn’t it news last month, or last year?
And the story is so thin; there’s not much to it. It clearly looks like a prelude to……what?
My fear is that this story is a ‘credibility innoculation’, for whatever salacious story is coming down the pipe on some other leading candidate. (on the other hand, this could be McCain’s own campaign’s way of blunting the charge that he’s about to keel over! Maybe the catch-phrase is “Sure he looks like a stiff – and you don’t know the half of it!”
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Jeff said on February 20, 2008 at 10:40 pm
My e-mails say — this is largely the output of a frustrated and disgruntled Marshall Wittman (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Wittmann) who is not happy with Johnny Mac moving forward without him. But i’m with Brian — the turmoil within the Grey Lady that’s being reported in the reporting on this story says that the only reason this copy came out of the mothball drawer is that there’s another story they think they gotta run, and dimes to doughnuts it’s about Bill-ster.
I still have this nauseating vision of Gore v. Romney after the convention bloodletting ends.
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Danny said on February 20, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Brian and Jeff, looks like we may be witness to the Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
When you look at this nice young man next to these two hardened and cynical politicians, it’s hard not to see what’s making a lot of terrorized, weary people suddenly feel optimistic if not inspired to give him a crack at the presidency.
Alex, that is a very good way to put it.
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Dexter said on February 20, 2008 at 11:44 pm
brian st: McCain is much sleazier than most realize. The 4-page story gets better when you get past the sex part. McCain is always one step ahead of ruinous scandal.
He was never going to be able to enter big-time politics so he snags this Hensley woman, just 26 or so at the time, and begins tapping her for her multi-millions she had from her father’s various shady bootlegging, horse racing, all types of gaming and gambling enterprises.
The sex scandal is low on the reasons he could be forced to withdraw…this crooked lobbyist angle, favors, Phoenix to D.C. air route he sponsored…it goes on and on.
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alex said on February 21, 2008 at 6:59 am
Danny, we are living in interesting times. You couldn’t satirize them.
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Jeff said on February 21, 2008 at 8:57 am
Re: why Tom Lehrer stopped writing his marvelous satirical songs commenting on current events — “after they gave Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize, i felt that satire was no longer possible.” (from memory, trusteth not)
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MarkH said on February 21, 2008 at 9:35 am
I remembered this as well, Jeff. But the attached wiki entry supports my memory that he didn’t quit, just said that awarding the prize to Kissinger made satire obsolete. He certainly disappeared for a long while, though.
Are you old enough to remember “That Was The Week That Was” (TW3)? David Frost hosted it in the early ’60s, and Lehrer was a big part of it for a time. Funny stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer
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Danny said on February 21, 2008 at 9:50 am
Mark, I think I am old enough to remember that show, but there must have been a schedule conflict with Speed Racer of the Six Million Dollar Man, because I don’t remember watching it.
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Kirk said on February 21, 2008 at 10:13 am
I was only 12 when it came on the air, but I was already following politics and was a faithful fan of TW3. I think it was on about 9 o’clock on Friday night. Elliot Reid was in the cast, too. Can’t remember who else. It was pretty cutting-edge for the mid-’60s.
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joodyb said on February 22, 2008 at 5:40 pm
the US version of TW3 aired 64-65, and i remember it because it was the first place i saw calvin trillin, who looked like one of my teachers. Nichols and May were on it, and so was Woody Allen.
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michaelj said on March 1, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Hillary actually knows what she’s talking about. Obama is pretending to be Bobby. Pretending to be Bobby is pretty annoying to anybody that actually went on the line. “We’ll have problems, we’ll have bigger ones.’.
We do have Hillary’s comment about after the contest. Obama didn’t know who his supporters would vote for. McCain? What an asshole. If the guy can claim the Clintons are racists, I guess he’s capable of just about anything. But they’re guilty of smears.
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