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34 responses to “Get you six mo’.”
brian stoudersaid on June 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Well, in the interests of equal-time buffoonery, what the hell was Governor Granholm doing last night, in Detroit?
If there isn’t a YouTube yet, there will be — but the Canadian seemed to be pretty much came uncorked and seemed to be going all Kruschev on the audience, when she referred to Senator Clinton, and took her shoe off and waved it??!!
edit — here’s a still, but it’s gotta be YouTubed somewhere
She was giving an impassioned speech.…almost angry, really (and indeed that suits the challenges facing our region of the nation, just now. Still, it was somewhat off-key, I thought, for Obama’s rally)
edit 2: maybe Granholm’s rant encapsulates Michigan’s ‘mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it anymore’ mythology, as opposed to texas’ self-flattering brand
LAMarysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I don’t have sound here at work, so I only got the visuals. Please tell me the sound didn’t make it even more bullshitty.
derwoodsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
But, he’s doing the Lord’s work for Texas.
Gack.
daron
I caught the shoe waving moment but hadn’t been listening in prior. Strange.
Kirksaid on June 17th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
That’s the kind of superficial horseshit that this country runs on.
nancysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Mary, the sound and the video are evenly matched for bullshittery.
Missed Jenny’s shoe act. Maybe she was doing one of those Iraqi beat-on-the-statue things.
Dannysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
OK, as Brian said. Equal time and all that rot.
It’s now making the airwave rounds about the Obama campaign staff and congress folks involved in the Countrywide Mortgage sweetheat-deal scandal. Obama has been running as the pristine, above-scandal-and-influence outsider while criticizing the sub-prime mortgage lending fiasco pretty heavily.
I can’t wait till he’s discovered a rubbin’ shoes with some guy in an out-of-state bathroom.
Big John.
Big bad John.
Big bad gay John.
coozledadsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
“Ya see, I’m from Texas where we do things quick. I’ve got to see a specialist about my…
Big John”
MichaelGsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I can’t play the sound here either, Mary, but I can hear the stirring music and the deep, manly voice anyway.
I visited the Alamo once (it’s right in the middle of town) and discovered that it’s not a historic building, monument, museum, preserve or such. Nope. It is a Texas State Shrine.
Says so right on the plaque.
Jolenesaid on June 17th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Good lord.
colleensaid on June 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Gack. that reminds me of the video they use behind the star spangled banner at my husband’s work functions.
coozledadsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I didn’t watch it all the way through. Does his fey ass wind up in the bottom of a mine?
Jolenesaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Here’s a little something else from the Texas GOP convention. Am sure sorry I didn’t get my tickets in time.
brian stoudersaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Pam and I visited Texas a year and a half ago; it is definitely a self-conciously unique place. We visited the battleship USS Texas (BB-35), which looms over the San Jacinto battlefield (both the battleship and the park are administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department!).
Picked up and read a book called “18 minutes”, about the war for Texas independence, and I was taken aback at how brutally remorseless that short war was. Santa Anna ordered the execution of all the combatants who surrendered at the Alamo, and then, when another part of the Texan army (under Fannin) surrendered at Goliad — the Mexican commander there didn’t want to slaughter them; but direct orders to execute them all came from Santa Anna, and it was done.
A few lucky men managed to escape from the slaughter, as it became clear what was happening, and eventually made it back to Houston’s small army, and fought at San Jacinto.
The battle lasted 18 minutes, and the Mexican army was routed.…but the killing continued for several hours. The Texans weren’t taking any prisoners (Santa Anna himself was captured a few days later, and negotiated the end of the war)
It is as if the brutal history of Texas, from the formative days of its youth deformed the conciousness of the place, forever
Yvettesaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I lived in Texas (Dallas and Austin) for a combined 7 years. Was called the N-word for the second (and last, so far) time in my life in Dallas in 1986.
First was in Hobart, Ind. in 1984. ‘Nuff said.
These buttons are a pathetic way to make money. And there IS that freedom of speech thing. But the RNC should have put up a big sign saying:
THIS VENDOR HAS THE RIGHT TO SELL THIS CRAP. WE DON’T HAVE TO LIKE IT.
Suesaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Coozledad, you’ve done it again.
And Texas has always scared me, even before our current president. I think I would only visit if Lyle Lovett would agree to stay right next to me at all times and explain things (“that’s right, you’re not from Texas”…).
alexsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
The Texas female dress code, with its big blond hair and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane makeup, stands in quite a contrast to the more flattering basic black favored by the Islamofascists.
nancysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
The Freep on the guv’s shoe gambit:
The crowd booed when Granholm said the name of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s rival during the primaries, whom she supported until she dropped out of the race this month.
Taking off a navy blue pump and waving it aloft, she said, “These high heels have carried a lot of weight for first women everywhere. But I’m proud to say that I’m supporting Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.”
LAMarysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Oh. I see. She loans her shoes to other women in politics.
brian stoudersaid on June 17th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
She’d a’ done better if she had on boots, and did a riff on “These boots were made for walkin’ and that’s just what they’ll do”, etc, ala Weeds (the best thing about that show is the opening)
joodybsaid on June 17th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Shoe Power! Seriously, was that all she could come up with? or did i miss some inside baseball?
Did anyone look at the DMN comments about the button (which also made Salon.com today)? someone raised the photoshop issue; another asked if anyone had called the Texas GOP for public comment. these are at the very least valid questions. why didn’t we hear or see it before w/all the media there? i’m even more suspicious now: all the pix of the button scattered hither and blog are the exact same one. …
ION, did anyone see the baby mama thing last week on Fox? that michele malkin is one crazy chick, man.
Crabbysaid on June 17th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
This is a cool pic of the rally, you can pan up, down & 360 around.
As a GREAT singer,song writer from Texas,
by the name of Ray Wylie Hubbard says in one of his best songs,
SCREW YOU, were from Texas.
SCREW YOU, were from Texas
SCREW YOU, were from Texas
Were from Texas so SCREW YOU.
It’s a great bluesy type song.
Ray Wylie Hubbard also wrote Up against the wall red neck mothers.
Laughing at life,
pilot Joe
brian stoudersaid on June 18th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Did anyone look at the DMN comments about the button (which also made Salon.com today)?
joodyb — I went in search of ‘the button’, and I didn’t know what ‘DMN comments’ meant, but I went to Salon.com and tripped across alink to this excellent (and entirely entertaining) article New Yorker article on Olbermann uber allis
Some of the interesting tidbits in there include
He has been given a diagnosis of Wittmaack-Ekbom’s syndrome, also known as “restless-legs syndrome” (and also “the kicks,” “Jimmy legs,” and “jitters”), a neurological disorder that produces a prickling, itching, or crawling feeling in the legs, profoundly disturbing sleep. Reclining exacerbates the condition, so Olbermann got out of bed, took a pill for the ailment, and, while waiting for the drug to kick in, scrolled through his BlackBerry, scanning recent messages. One arrested his attention. It was a link to the Web site Politico, which featured an interview conducted that day with President Bush. Olbermann was struck by two questions from the interview, and by Bush’s answers to them
at which time he dashes off his 18 page jeremiad and then e-mailed it (at 3am) to his producers, for a “Special Comment” that aired in the next Countdown broadcast!
the piece goes on to show the the immense amount of hubris and conceit that is at the core of the guy.…and takes a glance at how cable lip-flappers like O’Reilly and him feed off one another, and also subtly (and not so subtly) sway the “real” news operations of their respective employers.
Thanks joodyb!!
Gasmansaid on June 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Ah, the bullshit still runs wide and deep down in the heart of Texas. I did 14 years down in the Lone Star State, so I’m very familiar with the “you ain’t shit if you ain’t from Texas” attitude that was palpable.
They have an impressive tradition of idiot governors — “Good Hair” Perry and his predecessor Bush, come to mind — and it looks like they’re expanding it to include Senators. We had already fled the state by the time Cronyn was elected, so I had nothing to do with it.
How about that jacket in the video? He looks like he was auditioning for a part in the sequel to Brokeback Mountain. Texas is no place for ladies, queers, or liberals. Cronyn would probably say they’re all the same.
Drinking and driving was legal in Texas in the mid 80’s, but the blue laws said that you couldn’t buy a Bible on Sunday. That’s Texas style logic for ya’.
Remember the words of General Phil Sheridan: “If I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell.”
He clearly recognized the true glory of Texas.
Terry WAltersaid on June 18th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Here in the Fort,there is a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. When the waitress came around, I asked her if she had ever been to Texas. This was my lead-in to a diatribe about what the eff do those people think they’ve got to brag about. Her reply,” oh, I’m FROM Texas”. Well, not wanting to act like a Texan, this just led to some small talk about the old home. Nice girl, must be the better ones plan their escape.
Thanks for the link to the New Yorker article about Olbermann. Though there are similarities between O’Reilly and Olbermann it’s a mistake to equate the two. Olbermann’s been justifiably mad as hell about a misleading president and a press corps comprised almost entirely of lemmings; what’s O’Reilly ever been justifiably mad about? Immigrants? Gay marriage? “Happy Holidays?”
I read the New Yorker piece on Olbermann. You have to love anybody who got so sick of the Monica Lewinsky affair being highlighted every-day-for-months that he almost refused to go on air for the show “White House in Crisis” to deconstruct it. Anger can be a good thing too. Charles Dickens wrote about the virtue of having “a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires …”
brian stoudersaid on June 18th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Olbermann’s been justifiably mad as hell about a misleading president and a press corps comprised almost entirely of lemmings
True enough — but as the piece points out, he’s been mad as hell since the 5th grade!! — about EVERYTHING!!
It WAS a revelation to me that he almost got the CBS news gig. That sort of explains his hostility toward Couric. (and speaking of hot women on TV, it was also news to me that he dated Laura Ingraham back in the day…although his ungallant remarks about her were no surprise at all)
I saw her ungallant remarks about him (something about calling in a medical team for him) but what were his ungallant remarks about her?
On a related note, I’m always amazed at the hotness factor of some of the cable TV news women. (Not so much with the men.) CNN’s got this lovely conservative black female political pundit whose eyes are googly like she’s downed some belladonna … and then she opens her mouth and sounds like a Chi Omega sorority girl.
Reminds me of the portrait of Kramer on Seinfeld about which the art patron remarked, “It is repulsive … and yet … I cannot avert my gaze.”
I just looked at the article again and, not to be too picky but I didn’t see anything in it about Olbermann being mad at everything since 5th grade — though he did skip a grade and was unathletic and got beat up some.
brian stoudersaid on June 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Well, del, I guess reasonable people can disagree reasonably. This passage seems to be where I inferred “mad at everything since 5th grade” — which you do not see; and where you inferred that he “got beat up some”, which I don’t see.
(emphasis added)
He also had the reputation, even among those who admired his talents, of being somewhat difficult. Growing up in suburban Hastings-on-Hudson, in Westchester County, he was the sort of kid who, when his parents thought psychological testing was in order, responded to the Rorschach test by saying, “It looks like an inkblot.” Advised that Keith might be better served by a private education, his parents — Theodore, a commercial architect, and Marie, a preschool teacher — enrolled him at the Hackley School, in Tarrytown. It wasn’t an easy adjustment; Keith had skipped a grade and was younger than anyone else in his class, and he wasn’t a jock. But he was a good student, and the school’s radio station became his home. Olbermann worked as a sports stringer in college, at Cornell, and when he graduated, in 1979, he went directly to a sportscasting job at UPI radio in New York.
Other parts of the article point out how he got himself fired with some regularity, and how he burned bridges (or “napalmed” them, as an ESPN colleague said!) whenever he left one place to go to another; and indeed the piece ends with his current boss comparing him to a jerk of a boyfriend that the women in his audience have to live with, since they have “no place else to go”.…which sounds wrong enough that one almost wonders if Kieth-O might have knocked a serious crack into his viewrship base.
But in any case, I find the guy more entertaining than not, and watch him at least a time or two each week.…although to be honest, my pro-Obama bias made me very much happier with Kieth-O, in recent months. Nowadays I’ve turned the wick down on the day-to-day politics fix (we’ve got all summer and fall for this steady accumulation of crap, right? Wake me up at the end of September)
I love it that Keith said that the Rorschach blot looked like and inkblot. Maybe that’s being difficult or maybe that’s just stepping outside of the box and telling the truth — I think my Psych 101 text referred to that as an “Einstellung.” (Will check Wiki) Same goes for his withering exit interview; most lemmings diplomatically offer measured feedback with an eye toward future needs; not too many to tell the terrible truth to power. More power to him, I say. Though life is difficult for folks who don’t compromise their integrity. Also, Keith said in the article: “This is an old schoolyard thing I learned from being repeatedly beat up in the fourth grade.” I don’t agree with everything the guy says but I certainly do respect him.
(Order your Amazon through me and I earn 4 percent. Click the “powered by Amazon” logo.)
brian stouder said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Well, in the interests of equal-time buffoonery, what the hell was Governor Granholm doing last night, in Detroit?
If there isn’t a YouTube yet, there will be — but the Canadian seemed to be pretty much came uncorked and seemed to be going all Kruschev on the audience, when she referred to Senator Clinton, and took her shoe off and waved it??!!
edit — here’s a still, but it’s gotta be YouTubed somewhere
http://www.newser.com/image/113013 – 6-20080617032747.image
She was giving an impassioned speech.…almost angry, really (and indeed that suits the challenges facing our region of the nation, just now. Still, it was somewhat off-key, I thought, for Obama’s rally)
edit 2: maybe Granholm’s rant encapsulates Michigan’s ‘mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it anymore’ mythology, as opposed to texas’ self-flattering brand
LAMary said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I don’t have sound here at work, so I only got the visuals. Please tell me the sound didn’t make it even more bullshitty.
derwood said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
But, he’s doing the Lord’s work for Texas.
Gack.
daron
I caught the shoe waving moment but hadn’t been listening in prior. Strange.
Kirk said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
That’s the kind of superficial horseshit that this country runs on.
nancy said on June 17th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Mary, the sound and the video are evenly matched for bullshittery.
Missed Jenny’s shoe act. Maybe she was doing one of those Iraqi beat-on-the-statue things.
Danny said on June 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
OK, as Brian said. Equal time and all that rot.
It’s now making the airwave rounds about the Obama campaign staff and congress folks involved in the Countrywide Mortgage sweetheat-deal scandal. Obama has been running as the pristine, above-scandal-and-influence outsider while criticizing the sub-prime mortgage lending fiasco pretty heavily.
Stay tuned.
James said on June 17th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I can’t wait till he’s discovered a rubbin’ shoes with some guy in an out-of-state bathroom.
Big John.
Big bad John.
Big bad gay John.
coozledad said on June 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
“Ya see, I’m from Texas where we do things quick. I’ve got to see a specialist about my…
Big John”
MichaelG said on June 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I can’t play the sound here either, Mary, but I can hear the stirring music and the deep, manly voice anyway.
I visited the Alamo once (it’s right in the middle of town) and discovered that it’s not a historic building, monument, museum, preserve or such. Nope. It is a Texas State Shrine.
Says so right on the plaque.
Jolene said on June 17th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Good lord.
colleen said on June 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Gack. that reminds me of the video they use behind the star spangled banner at my husband’s work functions.
coozledad said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I didn’t watch it all the way through. Does his fey ass wind up in the bottom of a mine?
Jolene said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Here’s a little something else from the Texas GOP convention. Am sure sorry I didn’t get my tickets in time.
brian stouder said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Pam and I visited Texas a year and a half ago; it is definitely a self-conciously unique place. We visited the battleship USS Texas (BB-35), which looms over the San Jacinto battlefield (both the battleship and the park are administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department!).
Picked up and read a book called “18 minutes”, about the war for Texas independence, and I was taken aback at how brutally remorseless that short war was. Santa Anna ordered the execution of all the combatants who surrendered at the Alamo, and then, when another part of the Texan army (under Fannin) surrendered at Goliad — the Mexican commander there didn’t want to slaughter them; but direct orders to execute them all came from Santa Anna, and it was done.
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/republic/goliad/goliad.html
A few lucky men managed to escape from the slaughter, as it became clear what was happening, and eventually made it back to Houston’s small army, and fought at San Jacinto.
The battle lasted 18 minutes, and the Mexican army was routed.…but the killing continued for several hours. The Texans weren’t taking any prisoners (Santa Anna himself was captured a few days later, and negotiated the end of the war)
It is as if the brutal history of Texas, from the formative days of its youth deformed the conciousness of the place, forever
Yvette said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I lived in Texas (Dallas and Austin) for a combined 7 years. Was called the N-word for the second (and last, so far) time in my life in Dallas in 1986.
First was in Hobart, Ind. in 1984. ‘Nuff said.
These buttons are a pathetic way to make money. And there IS that freedom of speech thing. But the RNC should have put up a big sign saying:
THIS VENDOR HAS THE RIGHT TO SELL THIS CRAP. WE DON’T HAVE TO LIKE IT.
Sue said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Coozledad, you’ve done it again.
And Texas has always scared me, even before our current president. I think I would only visit if Lyle Lovett would agree to stay right next to me at all times and explain things (“that’s right, you’re not from Texas”…).
alex said on June 17th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
The Texas female dress code, with its big blond hair and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane makeup, stands in quite a contrast to the more flattering basic black favored by the Islamofascists.
nancy said on June 17th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
The Freep on the guv’s shoe gambit:
The crowd booed when Granholm said the name of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s rival during the primaries, whom she supported until she dropped out of the race this month.
Taking off a navy blue pump and waving it aloft, she said, “These high heels have carried a lot of weight for first women everywhere. But I’m proud to say that I’m supporting Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.”
LAMary said on June 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Oh. I see. She loans her shoes to other women in politics.
brian stouder said on June 17th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
She’d a’ done better if she had on boots, and did a riff on “These boots were made for walkin’ and that’s just what they’ll do”, etc, ala Weeds (the best thing about that show is the opening)
joodyb said on June 17th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Shoe Power! Seriously, was that all she could come up with? or did i miss some inside baseball?
Did anyone look at the DMN comments about the button (which also made Salon.com today)? someone raised the photoshop issue; another asked if anyone had called the Texas GOP for public comment. these are at the very least valid questions. why didn’t we hear or see it before w/all the media there? i’m even more suspicious now: all the pix of the button scattered hither and blog are the exact same one. …
ION, did anyone see the baby mama thing last week on Fox? that michele malkin is one crazy chick, man.
Crabby said on June 17th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
This is a cool pic of the rally, you can pan up, down & 360 around.
Cool freep pic
Joe K said on June 17th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
As a GREAT singer,song writer from Texas,
by the name of Ray Wylie Hubbard says in one of his best songs,
SCREW YOU, were from Texas.
SCREW YOU, were from Texas
SCREW YOU, were from Texas
Were from Texas so SCREW YOU.
It’s a great bluesy type song.
Ray Wylie Hubbard also wrote Up against the wall red neck mothers.
Laughing at life,
pilot Joe
brian stouder said on June 18th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Did anyone look at the DMN comments about the button (which also made Salon.com today)?
joodyb — I went in search of ‘the button’, and I didn’t know what ‘DMN comments’ meant, but I went to Salon.com and tripped across alink to this excellent (and entirely entertaining) article New Yorker article on Olbermann uber allis
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_boyer?currentPage=all
Some of the interesting tidbits in there include
He has been given a diagnosis of Wittmaack-Ekbom’s syndrome, also known as “restless-legs syndrome” (and also “the kicks,” “Jimmy legs,” and “jitters”), a neurological disorder that produces a prickling, itching, or crawling feeling in the legs, profoundly disturbing sleep. Reclining exacerbates the condition, so Olbermann got out of bed, took a pill for the ailment, and, while waiting for the drug to kick in, scrolled through his BlackBerry, scanning recent messages. One arrested his attention. It was a link to the Web site Politico, which featured an interview conducted that day with President Bush. Olbermann was struck by two questions from the interview, and by Bush’s answers to them
at which time he dashes off his 18 page jeremiad and then e-mailed it (at 3am) to his producers, for a “Special Comment” that aired in the next Countdown broadcast!
the piece goes on to show the the immense amount of hubris and conceit that is at the core of the guy.…and takes a glance at how cable lip-flappers like O’Reilly and him feed off one another, and also subtly (and not so subtly) sway the “real” news operations of their respective employers.
Thanks joodyb!!
Gasman said on June 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Ah, the bullshit still runs wide and deep down in the heart of Texas. I did 14 years down in the Lone Star State, so I’m very familiar with the “you ain’t shit if you ain’t from Texas” attitude that was palpable.
They have an impressive tradition of idiot governors — “Good Hair” Perry and his predecessor Bush, come to mind — and it looks like they’re expanding it to include Senators. We had already fled the state by the time Cronyn was elected, so I had nothing to do with it.
How about that jacket in the video? He looks like he was auditioning for a part in the sequel to Brokeback Mountain. Texas is no place for ladies, queers, or liberals. Cronyn would probably say they’re all the same.
Drinking and driving was legal in Texas in the mid 80’s, but the blue laws said that you couldn’t buy a Bible on Sunday. That’s Texas style logic for ya’.
Remember the words of General Phil Sheridan: “If I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell.”
He clearly recognized the true glory of Texas.
Terry WAlter said on June 18th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Here in the Fort,there is a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. When the waitress came around, I asked her if she had ever been to Texas. This was my lead-in to a diatribe about what the eff do those people think they’ve got to brag about. Her reply,” oh, I’m FROM Texas”. Well, not wanting to act like a Texan, this just led to some small talk about the old home. Nice girl, must be the better ones plan their escape.
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Sen. Cornyn — you need a bucket of irony mixed in with yer feed trough, ‘cuz you ain’t gettin’ enuf in yer diet.
Plus some roughage. Yer a bit backed up, too.
del said on June 18th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Thanks for the link to the New Yorker article about Olbermann. Though there are similarities between O’Reilly and Olbermann it’s a mistake to equate the two. Olbermann’s been justifiably mad as hell about a misleading president and a press corps comprised almost entirely of lemmings; what’s O’Reilly ever been justifiably mad about? Immigrants? Gay marriage? “Happy Holidays?”
del said on June 18th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I read the New Yorker piece on Olbermann. You have to love anybody who got so sick of the Monica Lewinsky affair being highlighted every-day-for-months that he almost refused to go on air for the show “White House in Crisis” to deconstruct it. Anger can be a good thing too. Charles Dickens wrote about the virtue of having “a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires …”
brian stouder said on June 18th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Olbermann’s been justifiably mad as hell about a misleading president and a press corps comprised almost entirely of lemmings
True enough — but as the piece points out, he’s been mad as hell since the 5th grade!! — about EVERYTHING!!
It WAS a revelation to me that he almost got the CBS news gig. That sort of explains his hostility toward Couric. (and speaking of hot women on TV, it was also news to me that he dated Laura Ingraham back in the day…although his ungallant remarks about her were no surprise at all)
del said on June 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I saw her ungallant remarks about him (something about calling in a medical team for him) but what were his ungallant remarks about her?
On a related note, I’m always amazed at the hotness factor of some of the cable TV news women. (Not so much with the men.) CNN’s got this lovely conservative black female political pundit whose eyes are googly like she’s downed some belladonna … and then she opens her mouth and sounds like a Chi Omega sorority girl.
Reminds me of the portrait of Kramer on Seinfeld about which the art patron remarked, “It is repulsive … and yet … I cannot avert my gaze.”
del said on June 18th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I just looked at the article again and, not to be too picky but I didn’t see anything in it about Olbermann being mad at everything since 5th grade — though he did skip a grade and was unathletic and got beat up some.
brian stouder said on June 18th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Well, del, I guess reasonable people can disagree reasonably. This passage seems to be where I inferred “mad at everything since 5th grade” — which you do not see; and where you inferred that he “got beat up some”, which I don’t see.
(emphasis added)
He also had the reputation, even among those who admired his talents, of being somewhat difficult. Growing up in suburban Hastings-on-Hudson, in Westchester County, he was the sort of kid who, when his parents thought psychological testing was in order, responded to the Rorschach test by saying, “It looks like an inkblot.” Advised that Keith might be better served by a private education, his parents — Theodore, a commercial architect, and Marie, a preschool teacher — enrolled him at the Hackley School, in Tarrytown. It wasn’t an easy adjustment; Keith had skipped a grade and was younger than anyone else in his class, and he wasn’t a jock. But he was a good student, and the school’s radio station became his home. Olbermann worked as a sports stringer in college, at Cornell, and when he graduated, in 1979, he went directly to a sportscasting job at UPI radio in New York.
Other parts of the article point out how he got himself fired with some regularity, and how he burned bridges (or “napalmed” them, as an ESPN colleague said!) whenever he left one place to go to another; and indeed the piece ends with his current boss comparing him to a jerk of a boyfriend that the women in his audience have to live with, since they have “no place else to go”.…which sounds wrong enough that one almost wonders if Kieth-O might have knocked a serious crack into his viewrship base.
But in any case, I find the guy more entertaining than not, and watch him at least a time or two each week.…although to be honest, my pro-Obama bias made me very much happier with Kieth-O, in recent months. Nowadays I’ve turned the wick down on the day-to-day politics fix (we’ve got all summer and fall for this steady accumulation of crap, right? Wake me up at the end of September)
del said on June 19th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I love it that Keith said that the Rorschach blot looked like and inkblot. Maybe that’s being difficult or maybe that’s just stepping outside of the box and telling the truth — I think my Psych 101 text referred to that as an “Einstellung.” (Will check Wiki) Same goes for his withering exit interview; most lemmings diplomatically offer measured feedback with an eye toward future needs; not too many to tell the terrible truth to power. More power to him, I say. Though life is difficult for folks who don’t compromise their integrity. Also, Keith said in the article: “This is an old schoolyard thing I learned from being repeatedly beat up in the fourth grade.” I don’t agree with everything the guy says but I certainly do respect him.