An Anagram, a Little Forced

Steve writes:

Put a leg on the “P” in “patriot.” Scramble up the word. Sooner or later
You’ll make “traitor.” Isn’t that absurd?

Stewart, Maher, TV

Charley writes:

Looks like I’m a bit late writing this (I see you have a new related entry on your blog), but I wanted to add
something: isn’t the point of the Daily Show to bring on people that Stewart can argue with / expose, rather than like-minded individuals? That’s precisely why they bring you on Fox.

That may in fact be the case. Only their bookers know.

I don’t watch TDS daily, so I don’t know, I’m just asking: Has Stewart ever invited Michael Moore, etc.
etc., or is it always conservative popular pundits? If the latter, then it doesn’t seem like an insult, but a compliment, that you haven’t been invited on. I’m glad you made the Goldberg list! 😉 Not sure why John Edwards had the honor though! As a sellout to GOP non-values, Edwards is not even in the same league.
Now, hopefully Bill Maher has had you on Politically Incorrect. Not sure what venue he has now (since his free speech was unceremoniously taken away), because I’ve been an expat for several years, but if he is doing anything similar with guest mixing, that would be the spot I would expect to see you on, more likely.
At any rate, continued good luck with the exposure.

Bill Maher, who wrote the introduction to “To Afghanistan and Back” a few years ago, had me on PI and his current show “Real Time with Bill Maher” (on HBO) a few times, most recently several years ago. During my last appearance, the subject of Bush’s military “service” prompted me to refer to the C-in-C as a “fucking pussy.” Maher’s eyes got really, really big when I said that, and I haven’t been invited back since. On the other hand, maybe they just lost my phone number.

I don’t watch the show since I refuse to pay for HBO, so I don’t have any insight as to the sort of guests who appear on “Real Time” now.

Worse Than a Horror

Judge Roberts seems so…reasonable. As a fellow Midwesterner with bad hair, I even sort of empathized. On the other hand, there he was, next to Piehole. Anyone who has anything to do with That Man, as American women call him, can’t be all good. Or good at all. Thing is, we don’t know exactly how he’s evil.

Bush has brilliantly nominated a cypher. With hardly a record to look at, the one thing we can sure of is that Bush is sure that Roberts is a right-winger. Which should be reason enough to oppose him. One reason Democrats suck, by the way: they view a justice to the left of Hitler as a success for their side. If they knew dick about bargaining, though, they would have demanded a liberal Supreme Court nominee. That’s right, from Bush. And why not? During countless Democratic presidential administrations, right-wing Republicans have been named as federal judges and cabinet members as symbols of their boss’ bipartisan spirit. If the GOP wanted to send a similar message beyond their usual empty propaganda, Dems might have argued, the court could have been balanced out by a nice, normal liberal.

“Balanced”? Yes, balanced. Because Sandra Day O’Connor cast the deciding vote in Bush v. Gore, because she did it only to retire under a Republican president, because that decision installed an illegitimate wannabe dictator where President Gore rightfully deserves to preside. That decision alone makes her the most right-wing, and most dangerous Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. Surely a liberal should have replaced her, if for no reason other than to set things right again.

Obviously, I like to dream.

Roberts will probably be confirmed, which is sad because, as a young man, we’ll be stuck with him a pretty long time. My only advice is: if you’re a woman, now might be the time to get that abortion you’ve been putting off.

Jon Stewart

Paul writes:

First of all, I love the work that you do, and I have been a big fan of your cartoons and essays for a long time. You obviously push all the right buttons (no pun intended!)
I need to defend Jon Stewart though. You say:
“Still think Jon Stewart’s cool? Consider this: he invited Goldberg to publicize his neo-McCarthyite tripe on “The Daily Show.” He’s never asked me. Or, to my knowledge, Aaron McGruder. Nor Jeff Danziger (the third cartoonist) referenced and slagged in the book.”
The one thing that you neglect to add is that, and this is just purely a subjective view, Stewart trashed Goldberg for the tripe that he published in his book, and basically pointed it out to be irrelevant, and clearly misdirected at the wrong people. You can see by Goldberg’s body language that he was obviously angered by Stewarts comments, and I think that goes a long way in pointing out the “with us or against us” mentality of those that would like to keep the public under their intellectual lock-and-key. I do agree with you that I would like to see more Ralls, Klien’s, and Chomsky’s on the show.
Thanks Ted! Keep fighting the good fight!

Word has it that Stewart went fairly easy on Goldberg, but that’s not the point. The point is that he gave a hatemonger a forum that will help him sell many more books than he would have otherwise. A few insults aside, Goldberg should be pleased that he appeared on “The Daily Show.” Meanwhile, books by progressives—far more intelligent books—die a dog’s death due to poor sales.

Matthew wrote:

Still think Jon Stewart’s cool?
Well, yes.
Consider this: he invited Goldberg to publicize his neo-McCarthyite tripe on “The Daily Show.”
And then, in the deftly teasing manner that makes Jon so “cool”, completely ridiculed Goldberg and demonstrated what a tripe-hyping fool the guy is. (Did you see the show?)

Again, all publicity is good publicity. Which is part of the reason I go on Fox. Liberal ideas languish in obscurity largely due to lack of good promotion and distribution.

Grayson says:

Hey man,

I love your cartoons and all your books (I have all of them exceptt “Latchkey Kids”) and check your site daily to read the . Before I knew about your website, I religiously read your column in MRR as well. I read your “Goodies” whenever I need to laugh my ass off, which is about twice a day. I swear, Roach Motel and Fatal Defenestration crack me up every time. Keep it up.

I do, however, disagree with you on John Stewart. I try to catch the Daily Show whenever I can between changing diapers and passing out from exhaustion after work. I agree that he tosses a lot of softballs to his guests (Colin Powell, Ed Gillespe AND Bernard Goldberg, especially). But overall, he does go places other “news” shows won’t dare to. He’s probably the only person on television who has actually said that Bush, McClellan and their cronies “we’re lying” when they denied Rove, Abrams and Libby were involved in the leak of Valerie Plames identity. And he did slam Tucker Carlson and his crew of morons for not living up to their profession’s standards on Crossfire that time. And you can’t argue with his permanent labeling of Bob Novak as “The Douchebag of Liberty.”
I think the fact that his audience is made up of mostly stoner lefties and NYC tourists detracts from the overall effect of his show. And after all, it’s on Comedy Central so no one is going to take it seriously.
You gotta admit though, the Daily Show is fucking hilarious sometimes.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I’ll keep reading it as long as you keep writing it. You’re an inspiration to amateur journalists like myself.

I admit it. “The Daily Show” is hilarious sometimes…though not nearly often enough. And thanks!

Bush’s Pick

The smart money says that Piehole will pick a female Supreme Court nominee. I’m still betting on Alberto Gonzalez, because he knows it’ll drive people like me up the wall. But I really have no idea. We’ll see what we see…prepare to shudder in horror.

America Does Not Equal the President

GI points out the attitude that afflicts many conservatives, namely that they equate the presidency with the nation itself. This is a distinctly antidemocratic idea, worthy of Stalin, but they don’t get it. Besides, Bush isn’t the president anyway:

Ted – regarding your recent column- ignore that previous email (it was sent by accident)
Anyway- here’s an excerpt from a Sermon that Nixon aide Chuck Colson gave to prisoners in his prison ministry- it’s in the new bio of him by fellow felon Aitken (who wrote a glowing bio of Nixon) This is about loyalty:
—
“Jesus had Judas. Nixon had John Dean. Because of both of those betrayals, twelve men came under pressure. Those of us around Nixon at that time could have been called twelve of the most powerful people in the world. But we twelve powerful men couldn’t hold a lie together for two weeks… But none of them snitched. None of them copped a plea by confessing to thier tormentors.”
—–
Ted -as you can see, Chuck’s crew had a better record than Jesus’s (Jude betrayed, and Peter denies, and Thomas doubted, etc) But you can see Colson does not mention loyalty to America- but to Nixon, who he equates with God and Country.

The Full Monty: I Reply to Tailgunner Bernard Goldberg

Bernard Goldberg’s new book “100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is #37) lists me as #15. Here’s the

Third to Last

JJ informs us:

Hey Ted. You might have already gotten an email(s) ’bout this, but the word you were looking for is “antepenultimate.” Keep up the good work.

Your faithful sesquipedalian reader–

Awesome, and thanks for sending that in.

Why?

Joshua asks, reasonably enough:

I read the transcript of Hannity and Colmes that was referred to on your blog. I don’t understand why you go on those Fox News shows, Ted. To me, it is similar to trying to have a scientific argument with creationists; it simply legitimizes them and gives them a forum to spout their lies. Sean Hannity and his ilk are masters of spin, logical fallacy and lies. It doesn’t matter that you’re smarter than them; they’re masters of their medium.
And Colmes; what a sniveling worm. Is he afraid Sean is going to hit him or something?

Re: Colmes – I feel sorry for him, having to work next to that psychotic mook Hannity every day. Hannity never turns it off. He’s REALLY like that, even off the air–trash-talking, insulting, downright rude. Unsurprisingly, staff turnover for H&C is high; you hardly ever see the same person working there twice. Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand, is decent when the cameras are off. It’s not like all right-wingers are like Hannity, thank God.

So why bother? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself. Mainly because, now that I’ve lost my outlet as a talk radio host, it’s the only way to convey my ideas in the broadcast medium. I also think it’s important for thinking Americans to show the neofascists that they’re fast on their feet and aren’t afraid of them. On the other hand, as Joshua says, it’s their show and they control it.

Few viewers are aware, for instance, that “The O’Reilly Factor” is taped a few hours in advance. Liberal zingers tend to get “lost” during the editing process. Fox’s guest chairs are lower, smaller and less comfortable than the host–and you don’t get a table to lean on (something that media trainers will tell you is a must for a TV appearance). “Hannity” is live but the guest’s mike is turned on while Sean runs off his mouth about nothing of importance.

There are other sins: Hannity’s show likes to book you to discuss a topic only to have the subject change to an unrelated ad hominem attack once you’re there.

Unsurprisingly a lot of first-rate liberal personalities, resentful of sandbagging tactics, have stopped appearing on Fox. I don’t blame them. But until Air America or Clear Channel calls to offer me the kind of access to America’s eyes and ears offered by those shows, I’m not quite ready to follow suit.