The tragic day the marketers ran short on celebrity
Once upon a time, fame was a rare commodity, like gold or diamonds or a 1964 1/2 dark-red Mustang convertible in factory condition. Many people sought fame, of course, but since it was scarce, few people could get their hands on it. Fame was generally acquired only by the lucky, the talented or the hard working, with the emphasis on the lucky. And often it came only to those blessed with all three.
And that was OK. The situation seemed more or less in balance.
Then, sometime in the past decade or so, the economics of fame changed. The explosion of media outlets on cable and the Internet meant that there was a lot more air time to fill, more cable channels to program, more niche markets to satisfy, more eyeballs to glaze over and more tabloids to sell.
Suddenly, Madison Avenue and Hollywood faced a desperate, almost crippling shortage of famous people. They needed thousands, tens of thousands of famous people, and they needed them fast. They scavenged the past, bringing back the has-beens and the almost-weres, but all the Danny Bonaduces in the world weren’t enough to satisfy market demand.
So, in the greatest burst of American industrial capacity since the days of World War II, they fired up the famous factories and started to churn out celebrities. Boy did they come fast.
OK, the quality slipped a bit. No, it slipped a lot. The workmanship was shoddy and the final product less than impressive. If you made a sex tape, you were famous material. If you were willing to starve yourself on a desert island in front of a national TV audience, you could be famous. If you were willing to stuff 60 hotdogs down your gut in 10 minutes, famous. For the first time in history, merely wanting to be famous was enough to make it so.
Luck, talent and hard work didn’t matter. What mattered most of all — the absolute key to acquiring fame as fast and cheaply as possible — was the willingness to humiliate yourself. That was the new raw material from which fame could be forged most easily, which is kind of strange, if you stop to think about it. Fame, the ultimate ego stroke, could now be purchased at the cost of your self-respect.
But then, perhaps it was really that way all along? I suspect maybe so.
Anyway, every era, like every prom, needs its king and queen. I would like to place into nomination, as King and Queen of 2009, the symbol of modern America, the epitome of her secret wants and needs, the following adorable famous couple:
Jon and Kate Gosselin, the Liz Taylor and Richard Burton of the modern media age.
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181 comments Add your comment
Bud Wiser
August 28th, 2009
8:12 am
Oh no Jay, you said it best yourself, the absolute penultimate couple you so accurately described: “Luck, talent and hard work didn’t matter. What mattered most of all — the absolute key to acquiring fame as fast and cheaply as possible — was the willingness to humiliate yourself. That was the new raw material from which fame could be forged most easily,…”
Barak and Michelle fit that description to the T.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 28th, 2009
8:15 am
I stopped at 1964 1/2 mustang….my dream car. aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
It would have to have a gas pedal shaped like a foot.
Now I’ll go back and keep reading.
Normal
August 28th, 2009
8:15 am
Bud, you are a hoot! Bless your heart…
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
8:17 am
Jay, you should be ashamed to denigrate this talented, deserving couple and our enlightened culture.
GOP is gone
August 28th, 2009
8:18 am
I can truthfully say I have never subjected myself to this utter nonsense called J&K+8.
Why would anyone want to watch 2 adults scream at 8 kids and themselves for an hour of their precious time?
I have been waiting patiently for the demise of “real” stupid TV for too long now. I must be in the minority though since they keep coming up with even more stupid ideas for an even dumber collection of viewers. Just someone please bring back a funny smart comedy like Seinfeld, or a classic like Andy Griffith, or a decent drama.
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
8:19 am
Bud Wiser
August 28th, 2009
8:12 am
If only we were all as accomplished and dignified as the Obamas. What an inspiration they must be to the kids in the ghettos.
ByteMe
August 28th, 2009
8:21 am
TiVo is your friend. You can ignore anything you don’t want to see. NCIS and House return shortly!
Mrs. Godzilla
August 28th, 2009
8:21 am
Thank heaven for The History Channel, The Learning Channel, HGTV, Food Channel…..they allow you do use your expensive teevee machine without
sliding into the filth that is Jon & Kate & Dance Your Ass Off & Who wants to date my mother & other unreal reality crap.
Normal
August 28th, 2009
8:21 am
Mrs G, a quict story for ya. Back in ‘64, when the Mustang came out, I was just starting me Senior year in High School. I was watching the Ed Sullivan Show with my Mom and Dad. My dad had just asked me what I wanted for graduation, and at that moment the Mustang commercial came on, so I laughed and said, “That”. I already had a cherry little ‘53 ford, so I didn’t think much of it. Came home the next day, and there she was, Tarnished Gold, black seats, hurst shifter, 289 HYPO, and Tiger paws…I have loved them ever sence.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
8:25 am
I would like to nominate Doggone/GA and Finnius McCoolAid as the 2009 Drama King and Queen.
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
8:33 am
How could something come to light yesterday and already be infamous?
/That comment/question was really only meant to get that hideous couple off my screen and somebody will have to tell me if Jay B wrote anything worth reading after the point that scrolling down brought the picture into view.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
8:36 am
“Barak”
Who’s that?
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
8:36 am
I have been waiting patiently for the demise of “real” stupid TV for too long now. I must be in the minority though since they keep coming up with even more stupid ideas for an even dumber collection of viewers. Just someone please bring back a funny smart comedy like Seinfeld, or a classic like Andy Griffith, or a decent drama.
Here here!
GOP is laying in wait,
I’m with you on this. Frankly I’m surprised there isn’t a “reality” battle of the “reality” judging panels yet.
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
8:43 am
I’m working on a piece about the infamous “black agenda” memo that came to light yesterday
Jay, all you hafta do is make sure to call some prominent black person a “racist.” That always gives the conservatives a stiffy.
As for Warhol’s famous prediction coming true, there’s no arguing with your summary, although it bears repeating-the-obvious that when you have a race to the bottom like this, good, scripted drama and comedy become ever-more prohibitively expensive to air, relatively speaking.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
8:44 am
Personally, I don’t see the point. Fame is not a crown. Who cares why someone is famous? If they can get advertisers and viewers, more power to them. It’s not my kind of show, but if others enjoy it…why not?
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
8:45 am
RW –
“Here here!”
I second that emotion with a hear! hear!
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
8:46 am
I’m surprised there isn’t a “reality” battle of the “reality” judging panels yet.
heh. Hot meta-on-meta action!
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
8:46 am
Wouldn’t it be something if the election of Barak Obozo, a direct result of the debauched and empty headed dumbing down of the American culture, would be the Waterloo for the TV freaks and Hollyweed pagans?
Could the days of American idiocy be numbered?
Are citizens realizing that they need to be informed, lest the lose their whole entire country?
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
8:47 am
I second that emotion with a hear! hear!
You’re sooooooooo nitpicky.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 28th, 2009
8:47 am
Well, I owned a 1968 Mustang. Bought it new down there at Friendly Ford (and Hey, We’re in Decatur.) That was the way the dealership sort of said DeKalb County had lower taxes than Fulton County. Anyhow, this was all before I outright went crazy for big pickup trucks. Does that count?
I don’t watch these reality shows because it would make me miss Fox News. Which is the only channel that tells the Truth and is Fair and Balanced. But from what I read, this Jon and Kate would fit right into any trailer park in the U.S. of A. It’s sort of nice the networks show reglar people in a redneck setting.
Anyhow, I got to go. I’m stocking up for all you drunks out there. When the traveling music comes today, you know your favorite beer truck driver will have plenty of cold ones ready for you. Tho from what I read on here yesterday, some of you wouldn’t know a good American beer if it was shot up your rear end. Have a good day everybody.
md
August 28th, 2009
8:49 am
Today’s programs have contributed to tomorrows problems. Kids now having sex in ELEMENTARY school.
Kids continue to have kids which are parented by crap TV.
Oh Joy.
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
8:49 am
How about a reality show about hard working professionals who struggle to avoid being drawn into petty, beyond-played-out political arguments and get their real work done?
Call it Survivor: Time-Suck
erm…. later, all.
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
8:51 am
USinUK,
I guess the here here is my self centeredness showing itself. Or deafness maybe, come here so I can hear ye! Left you a last 9/11 tribute comment downstairs.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
8:53 am
The only reality show I’ve ever watched is TopChef. I am fairly certain I would rather watch a Japanese game show in Japanese than J&K+8.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 28th, 2009
8:54 am
md
Today’s programs have contributed to tomorrows problems. Kids now bringing weapons and behaving violently in ELEMENTARY school.
Kids continue to have kids which are parented by crap TV.
Oh Joy.
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
8:55 am
TopChef is a reality show??? I thought it was an excuse to watch Padma dripping food all over herself.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
8:56 am
I actually preferred the woman on TopChef Masters. I wish they would replace Padma.
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
8:57 am
I’ve seen these people in the news lately, but I have no idea why they are famous.
I think most of these people just start saying their famous and the paparazzi believe them and start putting their picture all over the place and bingo – you’re famous, but you really didn’t do anything.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
8:59 am
“I think most of these people just start saying their famous and the paparazzi believe them”
And I think it’s the other way around, and the viewers believe them.
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
8:59 am
RW –
“I guess the here here is my self centeredness showing itself. Or deafness maybe, come here so I can hear ye! Left you a last 9/11 tribute comment downstairs.”
I saw and will go back and read later tonight. here we are, so many years later, and I still get all teary reading 9/11 tributes — so, I try not to read it at work.
one of the best commemorations I’ve ever experienced was the first anniversary – WNPR in Washington (classical station) did a full day of requests and read people’s letters about what they chose and why, as well as their thoughts/prayers for the families left behind. Everything from Vaughan Williams Symphony for Strings to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue — it just seemed so fitting to let music express the pain and sadness that was beyond words.
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
9:00 am
Gale,
Did you know Padma was once married to Salman Rushdie? Some things are just strange beyond imagination.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
9:00 am
I think you may be right, Doggone/GA.
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
9:02 am
GOP is gone
August 28th, 2009
8:18 am
I’VE NEVER WATCHED IT EITHER.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
9:03 am
Interesting note, RW. A foodie and a writer; I guess I can see that.
dehlia
August 28th, 2009
9:04 am
i watched two previous season episodes of J&K+8. what i saw was a wife emasculating a husband and father. figured it was a show for libs. never wasted my time again.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
9:05 am
“I’VE NEVER WATCHED IT EITHER.”
I’ve tried watching it a few times, just not my thing. But I do like “Ice Road Truckers” – so what’s the issue? I think even J&K are better than those contrived “reality” shows. Though, if I wanted to be a dog groomer and had a chance to win $50K and a $100K mobile grooming truck then maybe I *would* try out for “Dog Groomer of the Year” (another show *I* don’t watch)
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
9:05 am
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
8:36 am
You did it again! It slipped right by me.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
9:07 am
Well Jay, I was with you up until “as King and Queen of 2009, the symbol of modern America” – the Gosselins. The symbol of modern America? Maybe as the symbol of America’s sick fascinations. Possibly as the symbol of what modern America does not want to be. But the symbol of what modern America is? I hope not. Any more than Sarah Palin is the symbol of modern Republicans or Nancy Pelosi is the symbol of modern Democrats.
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:07 am
Doggone/GA,
Astute observation – yes. So…..why are these people famous?
MadMadWorld
August 28th, 2009
9:08 am
I just can’t believe that any of you that spend ALL DAY EVERY DAY posting this waste of words could call anything a waste of time. out
Gale
August 28th, 2009
9:08 am
delia, funny that the libs here apparently don’t watch it either. Crap TV knows no political boundries.
Joey
August 28th, 2009
9:09 am
Jay;
Be sure to read Cynthia’s latest post before you wrap your article.
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:10 am
I watched a show I’d never seen before the other day and really enjoyed it: The Dog Whisperer. That guy is amazing if it’s real.
I saw him train a viscious man eating (j/k but it looked like it could eat someone) chichuaua (?sp) that scared the dickens out of a pack of pit bulls into a cuddly little pile of dog goo.
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
9:11 am
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
8:45 am
Good morning! Missed yuo earlier.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
8:46 am
Yeah, they’re reaLLY SHOWING A LOT OF INTELLIGENCE AT THE THMs. CAN YOU SAY PARANOID? Even Gringrey said he was afraid it was just the first step in a complete government takeover of health care.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
9:11 am
Bosch
Think he could work with some of our bloggers?
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
9:12 am
Redneck Convert (R–and proud of it)
August 28th, 2009
8:47 am
Be careful on the wet slippery roads….everybody.
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
9:13 am
Doggone and Gale –
the mister and I watched Ice Road Truckers a couple of times – but, really, it was the same footage time and again … got kinda boring.
I like the shows like Project Runway and X Factor/Britain’s Got Schadenfreude – at least you have to have some kind of talent and DO something rather than just have the cameras on you, fabricating drama.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
9:15 am
The thing that amazes me about the large viewership of some reality shows is that the shows “celebrate’ humiliation and failure, not acheivement and success. They are the Twinkies of TV.
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
9:16 am
They need a song.
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
9:19 am
Bosch –
you’ve only JUST found The Dog Whisperer??? we LOVE that show!
TnG –
morning, yourself!! did I miss much in the rest of the beer convo yesterday?? (he should have saved that for today)
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
9:19 am
A 34 year old foodie and a 62 year old writer when they got married and the weird part is no gold digger angle. Didn’t last long though.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
9:21 am
Futures up 60 points…YEA!!
In other news…
Documents: Marijuana found in search of Jackson’s bedroom
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/28/jackson.home.search/index.html
ALso of note…skin bleaching products found amongst the other junk. I didnt know Mike was bleaching…hmmm!
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
9:21 am
“Astute observation – yes. So…..why are these people famous?”
Because fame is nothing more than the curiosity of enough people about you and/or what you do. Fame is a byproduct of some activities…but when it’s a goal in and of itself, that’s maybe not so good.
I have no problem with J&K being famous. They’ve got 8 kids to raise and get through college, if advertisers are willing the pay the bills for their show…more power to them. I don’t watch, but I’m not very child oriented, but why should I care if others find them interesting?
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:24 am
Paul,
Good point. Jay should give Cesar a call.
USinUK,
Yes, I’ve only just now found it – isn’t it on Animal Planet? We had to stay in a hotel for a few days during tree incident and we had limited channels – I discovered couple of shows I hadn’t noticed before. I love that dog he has named “Daddy” – that pit bull.
Normal
August 28th, 2009
9:25 am
I like HGTV’S Design Stars reality show. Trying for their own design show…Good stuff…
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
9:27 am
Ya…Dog Whisperer is entertaining…
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:27 am
Doggone/GA,
I’m not purposefully trying to be obtuse right now, but I seriously don’t know what these people — I’ve caught on that they are in a reality show – but don’t know their angle.
TnGelding
August 28th, 2009
9:27 am
USinUK
August 28th, 2009
9:19 am
Yeah, we’ve got some serious beer drinkers among us.
Hef
August 28th, 2009
9:27 am
All of America is now a reality show only scripted,from the WH down. I agree with Ms G, thank God for the Ken Burns Doc’s, History , ESPN,Golf,& Speed Channel’s.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
9:32 am
“The Dog Whisperer. That guy is amazing if it’s real. ”
Yes, he’s for real. I like that show too. It’s one of the few for which I can call myself a real fan. Been watching it for 5 years now. And I’ve used some of his techniques on my dogs, and they are better for it.
jconservative
August 28th, 2009
9:32 am
Like Obama says, turn off the TV & the video game. Get a book & read.
Try this book – “Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life” by Alison Weir. Wonderful biography of one of the great women of the western world.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
9:33 am
“Yes, I’ve only just now found it – isn’t it on Animal Planet?”
National Geographic
Paul
August 28th, 2009
9:35 am
Gale 9:15
Rather like schools that put headlines in the marquee of “district football champions” or “first in cheerleading competition” or “won a basketball game” but never mention graduation rates or kids graduating from a votech program or going on to higher education.
Bosch 9:27
What’d you do – get your own word of the day calendar?
Dave R.
August 28th, 2009
9:35 am
I see that the “Culture of Corruption” continues unabated in Democrat-controlled Washington, D.C. today:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/27/richardson-investigation-killed-washington/
Normal
August 28th, 2009
9:36 am
Hef
August 28th, 2009
9:27 am
Don’t forget the Military Channel, the Western Channel, History International. I’ll watch Fox only during football season. On my Comcast “on Demand”, there are good shows like Warehouse 13, Monk, Eureka, Burn Notice, and In plain sight. that are commercial free that makes ‘em worth watching.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
9:42 am
I watch Animal Planet, History Channel, NGC,TLC etc. I never watch any of the big three broadcast channels and haven’t for 25 years now…ever since my favorite show was canceled.
Pat
August 28th, 2009
9:46 am
Thanks for the laughs this morning. Don’t know who was funnier – good ‘ole Bud Wiser, who could find something in an oped about traffic lights to use to slam the Obamas, or poor Paul, appalled at your selection of Kate & Jon Gosselin as poster-children for our dumbed-down nation. Paul buddy, calm down – it’s called irony, dude – look it up.
I actually suggested to the folks at Fox that there should, indeed, be a show that judges celebrity judges called, “So you think you can judge – or better yet, “So you think you can do what you judge.” Listening to Paula Abdul bleating her way through a song live would be excruciating, but like a bad traffic accident, you wouldn’t be able to stop looking.
The creators of MTVs disgusting “Real World” should be publicly flogged for creating the nightmarish laboratory-experiment-run-amock called reality TV. But hey, wait … wouldn’t that
make a great reality show? Each week, there’d be a new panel …
No, must … stop … the… madness…
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
9:50 am
The sentiment that today’s TV, movies and music have turned darling little Two-ton Johnny and Susie the Wide Track Pontiac into lascivious, drug fiends is an outdated and failed argument.
This vacuous trash is enormously popular with adults and children NOT because the media moguls foist in on the unwilling and more discerning but exactly because our generally brain dead populace of all ages clamors for it.
Remember when that teenager killed himself and the kids parents, supported by a legion of puritan loons, wanted Ozzy Osborne’s ass in the clink for it?
Wake up! If one is suicidal they are not going to need Black Sabbath records to consummate their desires..
And if one is a patron of the mindless they don’t need most of what is on television of the movies. They can go to the malls. Or test each other about absolutely nothing until the cows come home.
Jesse Helms and Tipper Gore tried their damnedest to foment this argument and summarily failed.
And Frank Zappa rests in peace…
Hef
August 28th, 2009
9:51 am
Jcon@9:32, no Obama said turn off your TV’s & video games and read MY book.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
9:51 am
Pat
Thanks for the reality check.
And American Idol viewership will go down if Paula doesn’t return. Nothing better than to hear her first comment of the night, check the grin and eye focus and guess “what’s she drinking in her Coke cup tonight?”
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
9:52 am
Redact the above to read text not test (which ironically is something that the sleep through class crowd I’m talking about abhor!)
Mrs. Godzilla
August 28th, 2009
9:54 am
My Mr. G may be the occasional curmudgeon, but he’s no old goat!
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:55 am
And, I’ve never seen American Idol – nor have any of my children.
Paul,
Sometimes I just pull those words right out of my arse.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
9:55 am
AmVet
So much for the argument of “that guy who shot those people?!?? Did you see the books police found in his home?!?? Did you hear what those rightwing neocon talking heads said that made him do it?!??!!”
Darn, I’m pretty happy I’ve not seen some of the shows people are discussing.
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
9:56 am
Paul,
“So much for the argument of “that guy who shot those people?!??”
Which guy – there’ve been alot lately.
“Did you see the books police found in his home?!??
No, which ones?
Did you hear what those rightwing neocon talking heads said that made him do it?!??!!”
NO…….WHAT? WHAT?
Don’t leave me hanging dude!
Dandy Don
August 28th, 2009
9:59 am
The celebrity junkyard fills up faster than ever, too. Ryan Starr, anyone?
Hef
August 28th, 2009
9:59 am
Doggone-which fav was cancelled?
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
10:00 am
And American Idol viewership will go down if Paula doesn’t return.
Paul,
She’s already gone.
/Yes, I’m married to a “reality” addict….
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
10:02 am
On the lighter side.
WASHINGTON — President Richard Nixon considered Ted Kennedy such a threat that he tried to catch Kennedy cheating on his wife, even ordering aides to recruit Secret Service agents to spill secrets on the senator’s behavior.
“Do you have anybody in the Secret Service that you can get to?” Nixon asked his aide John Ehrlichman in a stark series of Oval Office conversations about Kennedy before the 1972 election. “Yeah, yeah,” Ehrlichman replied.
“Plant one,” Nixon said. “Plant two guys on him. This could be very useful.”
Nixon made clear that the Secret Service protection afforded Kennedy before the 1972 election would be rescinded after. Then, said the president, “If he gets shot, it’s too damn bad.” His aides disdainfully referred to Kennedy supporters as “super swinger jet set types.”
Sage
August 28th, 2009
10:02 am
Hey Bud wiser You do realize the penultimate means next to last. Right?
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:04 am
“Doggone-which fav was cancelled?”
I used to work 4pm to midnight, and the show came on at 1AM…an award winning news show called “Overnight” It was a ground-breaking show, and when it was canceled people actually PICKETED the NBC (I think it was NBC) headquarters in NYC.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:07 am
Latest report on Glenn Beck: 46 advertisers have now dropped his show.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
10:08 am
Bosch
You should write for one of those shows!
RW-(the original)
I’d hoped it was just a contract negotiating ploy. Oh, well….
Sage 10:02
Around here, what something means is not important. It’s what people think it means that’s important.
Careful, or they’ll start calling you a semanticist.
Later -
Bosch
August 28th, 2009
10:09 am
Taxpayer,
I saw the HBO documentary about Ted Kennedy on CNN the other night – it had excerpt from Nixon’s tapes ordering Ehrilichman (?sp) to have the Secret Service agents get dirt on him. What a scary paranoid man that Nixon was.
Kamchak
August 28th, 2009
10:10 am
…good scripted drama and comedy become ever-more prohibitively expensive to air, relatively speaking.
Operative word being relatively. Ever since the acrimonious writer’s strike in 1988, producers have sought to circumvent those creative individuals that make TeeVee interesting. Eliminate writers and we get game shows, talent shows and edited-for-drama “reality.”
Paul
August 28th, 2009
10:10 am
Doggone/GA
How many new ones has he added? I’d guess some of the dropped ones found the rates too expensive.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:11 am
“What a scary paranoid man that Nixon was.”
One of the finest things I ever heard was that Johnny Carson said “no more Nixon jokes” because he was “a sick man”
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
10:11 am
It was back in 1971 and President Nixon was concerned that he would once again have to face a Kennedy in the next year’s election — in this case a Kennedy with a proposal to extend health care to all Americans. Feeling the need to offer an alternative, Nixon asked Congress to require for the first time that all companies provide a health plan for their employees, with federal subsidies for low-income workers. Nixon was particularly intrigued by a new idea called health maintenance organizations, which held the promise of providing high-quality care at lower prices by relying on salaried physicians to manage and coordinate patient care.
Naw! Tell me it ain’t so.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:13 am
“How many new ones has he added?”
Who cares?
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
10:13 am
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:07 am
Latest report on Glenn Beck: 46 advertisers have now dropped his show.
Impossible! I mean, given the time constraints and all.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
10:15 am
Taxpayer
I heard Sen Hatch relate that episode – Sen Kennedy rejected it. According to Hatch, it was a profoundly disappointing experience for Kennedy, who felt he’d missed a good opportunity by not compromising. Hatch said it did shape Kennedy’s later interactions to find common ground, that something is better than nothing.
Good advice for those he left behind.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
10:16 am
The whole entire AJC “Living” section and the front page of their website is nothing more than a clearinghouse for the latest in smut and indecency, like a print edition of the TV, and each and every day upon receiving my Urinal, I crumple it up and dispose of it in the trash receptacle, where it belongs.
I have absolutely no idea who the couple is.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:17 am
“Impossible! I mean, given the time constraints and all”
Yeah! Let’s see…if each advertiser gets a 30 second spot, that’s 23 minutes out of each hour of the show. Maybe we should encourage MORE sponsers so we can get 60 minutes of advertising…GOTTA be more interesting.
GOP is gone
August 28th, 2009
10:17 am
RW
Now you have me thinking of an elephant crouched down trying to hide behind a small rock and jump out when the time is right.
I think it all started with Jerry Springer and the likes. Like someone said above, some people just have to stare at accident scenes, which sadly a lot of the general public have become, one literally HUGE accident scene.
jc,
One of the best movies ever made, “A Lion in Winter” about Eleanor and Henry. I’m sure you have seen it too. Just down right eloquent acting and script without the benefit of todays overly graphic and overly done movies.
Normal
August 28th, 2009
10:18 am
Taxpayer, I voted for Nixon for his first term on the promise that he would get us out of ‘Nam. Didn’t vote for him the second time around, but I will give the Devil his due. He was a pretty good International President. He was just a lousy domistic President.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
10:19 am
Doggone/GA
Who cares? Try changing your perspective. If 46 have dropped and 50 have added, it’s a gain?
Remember the argument those supporting health care reform use when those opposed said “ah-hah! 60,000 people canceled AARP last month over health care!” They said, ‘yeah, well a few hundred thousand signed up!”
Consistency in arguments -
Later -
mike
August 28th, 2009
10:20 am
Doggone –
“Yeah! Let’s see…if each advertiser gets a 30 second spot, that’s 23 minutes out of each hour of the show. Maybe we should encourage MORE sponsers so we can get 60 minutes of advertising…GOTTA be more interesting.”
Yes, folks who put on TV programming should do so for free. I mean you work for free, right?
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
10:21 am
I’d hoped it was just a contract negotiating ploy. Oh, well….
Paul,
I sense a bizarre interest in Paula and I’m trying hard not to retch, but she’s going to land on So You Think You Can Dance if you need a PA fix.
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
10:21 am
Good point Paul.
That sociopathic scumbag who murdered those “liberals” didn’t need Hannity or O’Reilly’s books to draw the “conclusions” he did, they just “confirmed” what he desperately wanted to believe.
That his political cousins do not want to deal with it/him is the most interesting part of the equation to me. Ostriches by nature, by choice and by political persuasion.
And I still whole heartedly contend that there are more Jim Adkissons to come.
I DO believe that the current president in spite of his numerous glaring “short comings” is at least NOT an ill-read, mental lightweight like his predecessor.
The one that is sanctified by the under-educated and intentionally ignorant.
And can someone PLEASE explain this almost mystical new outrage? Where the hell was that for the past decade??? When it’s obviously required presence would have possibly made a DRAMATIC difference in how the imperious, tortured and torturing Bush White House conspicuously sucker punched half an electorate into neo-con hell?
Fops with zero cred…
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:22 am
“Consistency in arguments”
But I never made that argument. I’ve never actually seen Beck’s show (or Olbermann’s or Stewart’s for that matter). Those kinds of shows bore me beyond silly. I just think it’s interesting how the advertiser’s have dropped it.
Gale
August 28th, 2009
10:22 am
I love “Lion in Winter”. Hepburn was terrific in that role, as she was in many.
GOP is gone
August 28th, 2009
10:23 am
Paul,
Don’t you think the seniors canceling their memberships with AARP and protesting healthcare reform are doing so because they LOVE their government provided Medicare and are not willing to give it up at all?
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
10:23 am
There are indeed some sick people out there. Especially the ones ranting on with their never-ending bouts of hyperbolated paranoia. Like this one. What a Claxton ™
mike
August 28th, 2009
10:24 am
AmVet –
“And can someone PLEASE explain this almost mystical new outrage? ”
Well isn’t it obvious? Mindless partisans make excuses for “our side”, as you just did. They also utterly demonize “their side”, as you also just did.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
10:24 am
Our moral neural circuitry, that scaffolding inside our brain, has been short-circuited by the self-centered, self-besotted ways we have come to acquire in full force. The pleasure associated with satisfying our newfound solipsistic cravings is trumping our moral code and “telling” us that our views and our needs — to show we’re right, to exhibit dominance, to get what we want and now — are more important than anyone else’s. It’s the new dopamine fix and the addiction is to self and self alone.-AmSpec
Like “free” health care, for instance.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:28 am
“Yes, folks who put on TV programming should do so for free. I mean you work for free, right?”
How in the WORLD did you get THAT from what I said about 60 minuts of advertising?
mike
August 28th, 2009
10:30 am
Doggone/GA
“How in the WORLD did you get THAT from what I said about 60 minuts of advertising?”
From your whining about the volume of ads on TV that pay the bills.
Don’t like the ads? Don’t consume the content. Unless of course you want to pass Universal TV Programming after we pass Universal Lawn Care.
RW-(the original)
August 28th, 2009
10:31 am
If nothing else, it puts to rest the notion that Kennedy’s remorse balances out the undeniable cowardice of his actions at Chappaquiddick. Even allowing for the best possible spin on his actions that day, what kind of person jokes about an incident that left a young woman dead in the back of his own car? Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) got high marks from some for joking about his arrest for indecency and acknowledging his public humiliation, but the only thing that died in the X-rated theater was Reubens’ television show.
For the closed minds, the audio without affecting your tender sensibilities by clicking through HA
md
August 28th, 2009
10:33 am
“Don’t you think the seniors canceling their memberships with AARP and protesting healthcare reform are doing so because they LOVE their government provided Medicare and are not willing to give it up at all?”
Or could it possibly be they don’t want to waste a lifetime of forced payments if Medicare fails.
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
10:35 am
“Mindless partisans make excuses for “our side”, as you just did.”
???
mike, have you had your coffee yet?
Where EXACTLY did I just make an excuse for “our”/ANY side?
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
10:36 am
Doggone,
Shame on you! Talking down about the need for all those commericals on TV.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:36 am
“From your whining about the volume of ads on TV that pay the bills”
Man, I don’t know what drugs you are on…but you need some new ones. I haven’t said a WORD about the volume of ads on TV. All I did was post the little tidbit of information that the Glenn Beck show has LOST 46 advertisers and then I suggested that maybe what his show really needs is MORE advertisers, so they take up the whole hour.
How you managed to translate that into “whining” about the volume of ads on TV is WAY beyond MY ability to compute. WAY, WAY beyond.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
10:40 am
“Shame on you! Talking down about the need for all those commericals on TV”
I know, it’s just terrible of me. I actually enjoy a good commercial. My current favorite is the Intel commercial featuring Ajay Bhat. That man looks someone it would be fun to know!
Normal
August 28th, 2009
10:43 am
md
August 28th, 2009
10:33 am
md, I must be dense, but I don’t understand. Are you saying that if Obamacare passes, Medicare will end? Or if you mean Medicare will fail on its own, I don’t think so. It would be politcal suicide to not continue funding Medicare.
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
10:50 am
Suck and grin for the talking heads and endless Viagara commercials, faithful.
By the early 1970s, we were well on our way to the total immersion experience of the television age, in which most children watched 30 to 40 hours of TV a week. They read less and their vocabulary decreased.
These media moguls are doing all this on our property – the public airwaves – and paying us no rent for exclusive use of our property. Yet they are deciding who says what and who doesn’t say what 24 hours a day. The public airwaves are the property of the American people. The FCC is our hapless, industry-indentured real estate agent that gives away the spectrum.
In 1996, Congress quietly handed over to existing broadcasters the rights to broadcast digital television on the public airwaves-a conveyance worth $70 billion-in exchange for. nothing.
Although the public owns the airwaves, the broadcasters have never paid for the right to use them. The FCC has recently begun to recognize the large monetary value of the licenses and typically auctions licenses. The 1996 Telecommunications Act, however, prohibited such an auction for distribution of digital television licenses, and mandated that they be given to existing broadcasters.
How to explain this giveaway, especially when other industries, such as the data transmission companies, were eager to bid for the right to use the spectrum? Look no further than the National Association of Broadcasters. The NAB are huge political donors & have close ties to key political figures.
Not surprisingly, the nightly news was silent on this giant giveaway. It represents a failure of our working democracy
http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Ralph_Nader_Technology.htm
Hef
August 28th, 2009
10:53 am
Doggone-I also hear Beck’s rating’s are jumpin through the roof. Why are the people behind the advertisers leavin so scared? If what he is reporting is untrue just get one of the many other networks that love Obama to contradict.
Angry Black Man
August 28th, 2009
10:53 am
Nothing much to say here. But I do have an invitation to make.
Since you think you know how I think and vote, why don’t you come hang with me for a day Turd Ferguson or Lefty Lemonade or who ever you are today. I saw your earlier comment and you don’t know Jack $hit about how I vote.
mike
August 28th, 2009
10:54 am
AmVet –
“Where EXACTLY did I just make an excuse for “our”/ANY side”
Do you even read what you write, let alone remeber it?
“I DO believe that the current president in spite of his numerous glaring “short comings” is at least NOT an ill-read, mental lightweight like his predecessor.”
So, you state that Obama has many shortcomings, yet you excuse that because he isn’t Bush.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
10:54 am
But Obama has reached his new low more quickly than most of his predecessors did, Gallup said. The percentage of people voicing disapproval for Obama’s job performance stands at a near-high of 43%. President Ford slipped below 50% in his third month; President Clinton hit the mark in his fourth month. Ford’s rating was partly spurred by his unpopular decision to pardon former President Nixon in 1974.
heh
mike
August 28th, 2009
10:56 am
Doggone –
Duly noted. I wasn’t aware of the context. My mistake and my apologies.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
August 28th, 2009
11:02 am
WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income — including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale — on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.
Time for a Cabinet nomination!
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:05 am
“Why are the people behind the advertisers leavin so scared?”
I would guess that they don’t want their brand names associated with what he “reports.” What other reason would there be? It’s all free market in action. And what good does it do them to gain 100,000 new customers if they lose 500,000 because of him?
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
11:06 am
“I DO believe that the current president in spite of his numerous glaring “short comings” is at least NOT an ill-read, mental lightweight like his predecessor. So, you state that Obama has many shortcomings, yet you excuse that because he isn’t Bush.”
And THAT puerile, inane assertion is the totality of your “argument” that I am making an excuse for “our”side?
I voted AGAINST Obama. I’ve only conveyed this to you numerous times.
I have excoriated him repeatedly. I have indicted him on an entire host of issues.
mike, you are so completely invested in this “I am the only non-partisan in blogdom” nonsense that you are more often than not utterly irrational. And oblivious to the realities right in front of your face.
Ask around. I dare say many more than not would agree with me.
But why you constantly beg me, among others, to expose this sophomoric habit is yet another mystery.
PLEASE, do yourself a favor and get one or all of these.
http://www.amazon.com/Logic-Language-Philosophy-Nonfiction-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=11053
david wayne osedach
August 28th, 2009
11:08 am
You’re absolutely right about the Gosselin’s who should go back to living in the trailer they came from. But what about the guy that goes on a celebrity show to get a wife to kill? That’s sick.
Angry Black Man
August 28th, 2009
11:09 am
Jay
I’ll be at work this evening, but I look foward to what you have to say about the mayor memo. I can already sense what will be said in this forum. Some are probably already pressing their sheets.
Hef
August 28th, 2009
11:13 am
Doggone-Or is it intimidation by a group/groups on advertisers that don’t like what he is reporting? Off Topic,Does anyone know much about the group NUD?
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:18 am
“Or is it intimidation by a group/groups on advertisers that don’t like what he is reporting?”
What’s the difference? If customers express their unhappiness with what a company supports on TV, then it behooves that company to pay attention, don’t you think?
Dave R.
August 28th, 2009
11:20 am
You know, the mere fact that Nixon couldn’t catch Teddy Kennedy cheating on his wife is a perfect example of why government is incapable of doing anything really right. When Joan finally passes away from a life of alcohol and drug abuse, she and Mary Jo are gonna have a bitch-slapping session to end all with the good Senator stuck between them for all eternity.
Wonder when Jay will be posting a column showing the new Rasmussen poll numbers showing Hope & Change down to 50% overall approval, with a full 40% strongly disagreeing with his performance in office.
Oh, and the poll that shows 58% who say the Democrats shouldn’t push this current version of health care through without GOP support or changes.
I probably shouldn’t be holding my breath waiting, should I?
Dave R.
August 28th, 2009
11:23 am
No, Doggone, it doesn’t. In case you missed, oh, the past 40 years or so, boycotts don’t work.
I’ll repeat again so that even you can understand. For every sponsor that drops out, there are more waiting in the wings that will be eager to put their advertising dollars into that show to fill a void.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:25 am
“No, Doggone, it doesn’t. In case you missed, oh, the past 40 years or so, boycotts don’t work”
Ummm, then why speculate that advertisers are leaving Beck’s show because of “intimidation by a group/groups”? Make up your mind, it either works or it doesn’t…you can’t possibly be trying to have it both ways…can you?
Hef
August 28th, 2009
11:30 am
Doggone-I understand what your sayin,but I don’t agree it’s customers that are determining.Its advocacy groups that claim to speak for consumers, and the weak kneed companies that fold.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:35 am
“and the weak kneed companies that fold.”
Or maybe they just happen to agree.
Hef
August 28th, 2009
11:41 am
Doggone-maybe or just want the gnats to go away. Either way it’s been effective. Right or Wrong companies are afraid of possible bad or perceived bad pub.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
11:48 am
RW-(the original) 10:21
I found Paul entertaining. If she was blitzed there was no telling what she’d say next.
AmVet 10:21
[[And can someone PLEASE explain this almost mystical new outrage? Where the hell was that for the past decade??? ]]
I’m just glad it’s there, as is the newfound concern over deficits. It’s a beginning. Let’s hope it continues as the reins of power shift.
Doggone/GA
[[“Consistency in arguments”
But I never made that argument]]
I know. I was the one who made it. Seems if people minimize AARP cancellations because there was a net increase in new memberships, Beck shouldn’t be faulted for losing advertisers if he picked up more or had more net advertising revenue.
GOP is gone 10:23
I think members misunderstood AARP’s specific position on reform. I think many seniors’ concern (and I think Democrats are going to lose seniors if they keep including seniors in their description of fascist Astroturf dummies) is that Democratic plans to take at least half a billion dollars out of Medicare will negatively impact their care.
Doggone/GA 11:05
[[I would guess that they don’t want their brand names associated with what he “reports.” What other reason would there be?]]
One could be that as he becomes more popular he increases his ad rates, therefore becoming too expensive for some sponsors.
Heard Rush Limbaugh interviewed on NPR (you read that correctly). When questioned about his show, he responded, “Look, my job is to attract the highest number of listeners I can so I can attract the most sponsors I can and charge them as much as I can.”
Mike
[[“Or is it intimidation by a group/groups on advertisers that don’t like what he is reporting?”]]
I’d say that would be more like the people who boycott Whole Foods because they don’t like the head guy’s views on health care. Or the intimidation by those who ask the board to remove him because they disagree with his views.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
11:50 am
RW-(the original)
Make that “I found Paula entertaining.” I trust you knew that but sometimes we have to state the obvious -
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:52 am
“Beck shouldn’t be faulted for losing advertisers if he picked up more or had more net advertising revenue”
But I haven’t made that argument either. I could care less about Beck or his show. I just find the fact that so many advertisers have bailed an interesting tidbit of information. Nothing more, nothing less. I can’t even comment on whether they are justified or not…not having seen his show, I wouldn’t know.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
11:53 am
“One could be that as he becomes more popular he increases his ad rates, therefore becoming too expensive for some sponsors”
It will be interesting to see if that increase holds. I have to wonder how much of that increase is from gawkers who want to see what the fuss is all about. Whether he can retain those gawkers remains to be seen.
GOP is Gone
August 28th, 2009
11:55 am
You know I just can not get behind the notion that people over 62 years old are the only Americans that have the “right” to healthcare. If Medicare is so loved, then they must be doing at least an all right job of it, and the rest of America might like it too.
Government Control, Baby!!
August 28th, 2009
11:57 am
Taxpayer
They claim that the lawyer web site : Lawyers.com or something like that had dropped his TV show. I am listening to his radio show right now. They are advertising on his radio show.
He is one of many prime shows on FOX that has a waiting list of advertisers. Many, like Chevy Trucks just joined on, and I’m pretty sure that considering he had a bigger audience this week than two of the prime time Network news show, FOX has probably tripled the cost of running the spots. The old advertisers were under contracts, but all the new ones are establishing new contracts with much higher rates. Poor Glen and FOX. In all probability, they just at least doubled the income from Beck’s show.
Poor democrats. Everything they do is blowing up in their faces.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator :-) You Whine :-(
August 28th, 2009
12:00 pm
I’m just sort of curious but why did you go back and delete every single one of my comments save for the very first one?
Government Control, Baby!!
August 28th, 2009
12:05 pm
To anyone talking about Beck’s ratings:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/08/27/big-beck-goes-over-3-million-viewers-beats-oreilly-in-demo-cable-news-ratings-for-wednesday-august-26-2009/25541
5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Glenn Beck– 3,040,000 viewers (888,000) (1,385,000)
Situation Room—688,000 viewers (141,000) (271,000)
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—536,000 viewers (139,000) (217,000)
Fast Money—215,000 viewers (55,000) (80,000)
Prime News–267,000 viewers (97,000) (109,000)
He could lose 2/3 of his viewers and still be the number one show.
FrankLeeDarling
August 28th, 2009
12:16 pm
GOP is gone , I agree with your 11:55 100%,not only that but I have to pay for medicaid AND my insurance as well.I would like the over 62 crowd to tell me why I should care about their healthcare if they don’t care about mine.
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
12:16 pm
They claim that the lawyer web site : Lawyers.com or something like that had dropped his TV show. I am listening to his radio show right now. They are advertising on his radio show.
Well! The Nerve of those lawyers. If you cannot trust lawyers to keep their word, who can you trust. I’m, well, just, aghast.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:17 pm
These were no doubt Obobo voters…Ahhh AHAHHAAHAHAA!
Stimulus Check Promise Lures Fugitives
Police Arrest Fugitives Picking Up ‘Checks’
http://www.justnews.com/news/20588578/detail.html
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
12:18 pm
“Obobo”
Who’s that?
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
Situation room with Wolf Blitzer…LMAO…what a silly crock.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
Doggone/GA
[[Beck shouldn’t be faulted for losing advertisers if he picked up more or had more net advertising revenue”
But I haven’t made that argument either.}}
I know. I asked the question after you posted about his losing sponsors. Seems if he lost some, gained others, he’s doing okay. It’s one of those examples where the first bit of information is only part of the story.
As far as the gawkers, I lasted about ten minutes on the tv show. Caught an interview on the radio with Brad Thor. That’s about it. O’Reilly has him on quite a bit, it seems. Calls him a pinhead and tells him he’s waaaay off. Doubt if that made MediaMatters -
Normal
August 28th, 2009
12:21 pm
Y’all, I’m over 62 and I don’t use medicare. I’m glad it’s there in case I lose my current plan. But mostly I wish it were availble to all citizens, then everyone would have at least some coverage.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:22 pm
Frankie,
You should care about their healthcare as they cared about school taxes, vehicles taxes etc. Im sure you have taken advantage of the Welfare and Food Stamp programs they provided also. Even though you are about worthless you might attempt to repay a little.
PS…Did you mom ever find out who your father is and if so which prison is he stayin?
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
12:23 pm
Actually GCB @ 12.05, I should thank you for that link since it lead me to this Variety piece that explains a lot about TV demographics in general:
The networks still preach adults 18-49, but the Big Three are all expected to post median ages above 50 this fall — with Fox not too far behind.
According to a recent study by former Magna Global EVP Steve Sternberg, the broadcast networks as a whole have once again grown older than ever. The five broadcast nets’ average live median age this year — in other words, not counting DVR usage — was 51.
That’s a whopping 8-year uptick from 10 years ago, when the nets’ median age was 43. In comparison, the median age of TV households has grown much less from 1998-1999 to 2008-2009, to 38 from 36.
The oldest-skewing cabler remains Fox News, with a median age of over 65, followed by CNBC, GSN, Hallmark and Golf Channel. Noggin (6) is youngest, then Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
Not knocking the 65-to-dead demographic–I hope to be in there one day myself–but let’s do keep this in perspective. The TeeVee with real-time programming, watched by a passive audience at a time of the networks’ choosing, as we know it, is on its way out.
And most of this arguing about “who’s number one” is nothing even remotely akin to the days when you had truly mass media news.
Lastly, looks like a NBC nightly newscast still draws nearly triple the viewership of what Glennda manages with all this controversy driving rubberneckers to his show.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
12:23 pm
“Doubt if that made MediaMatters ”
Actually, it might have. I go to that site occasionally and that bit about “pinhead” sounds familiar.
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
12:23 pm
I don’t watch FoxyNews personally but I do pick up bits and pieces when someone over there makes the news. To that end, I seem to recall OH! Really, insisting that folks start boycotting businesses back in the day.
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
12:26 pm
But mostly I wish it were availble to all citizens, then everyone would have at least some coverage.
Funny, when Dr. Howard Dean says the very same thing (as he has for years) that’s somehow crazy left-wing talk.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
12:26 pm
“I seem to recall OH! Really, insisting that folks start boycotting businesses back in the day”
Oh yeah…he and his legions of viewers were going to wreck the French economy if I remember correctly. Don’t think they quite managed it, though.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:27 pm
Its nice to see someone like Glen Beck tell the truth about Obama and his socialistic ways. Beck should be commended for his systematic exposing of Obama and continue his pursuit of dismantling this basturdized form of govt he is attempting to install!!
Keep up the good work Mr Beck!!
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
12:23 pm
What about us fifty-sumthins? It’s as though we don’t even matter.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
Satan may not approve, however, Teddy might want to borrow some of Michaels face bleach.
Jay
August 28th, 2009
12:29 pm
Reporter, you probably won’t believe me, but I have no idea. I just now jumped onto the comments, having been struggling with another piece, and upon seeing your note I salvaged the posts you mentioned.
I’m at home at the moment; when I get into the office I will inquire further.
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
12:30 pm
What about us fifty-sumthins? It’s as though we don’t even matter.
When you hit 55, you become 3/5 of a viewer.
Matilda
August 28th, 2009
12:30 pm
It would be hard for me to conceivably give less of a *bleep!* about Glenn Beck’s revenues. All it is to me is a gauge. If the gentleman listens to that whack-head, then he is way too bat-squirt nutso for me.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:31 pm
Taxpayer 12:23
By ‘businesses’ do you mean “France”?
Doggone/GA
Have you any idea of the circumstance that surrounded the call (not just by him) for the boycott of France? I mean the reasons – not the silly little examples of freedom fries and the side issues.
Does the term “dead aircrew members” and “starving Iraqi children” ring any bells?
Hef
August 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
SFD-Class
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
“But mostly I wish it were availble to all citizens, then everyone would have at least some coverage.”
Medicare, like Social Security, is one of those systems where you have to earn the right to participate.
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
12:35 pm
Its nice to see someone like Glen Beck tell the truth about Obama and his socialistic ways
Do you folks just cycle through the word of the day like FoxyNews does with its advertisers. I mean, one day it’s socialistic, the next it’s naziistic, then it is communistic followed by terroristic. Why can’t we all just be more Woodstockistic — love thy neighbor and thy neighbor’s wife (or mule if you’re so inclined) or husband or… well… it is Friday.
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
12:38 pm
“Have you any idea of the circumstance that surrounded the call (not just by him) for the boycott of France?”
Nope, and I don’t care. I just found it amusing that he thought he had enough influence to bring them down. I have no doubt he never even caused a blip in their economy.
FrankLeeDarling
August 28th, 2009
12:39 pm
For the record I do not mind paying medicaid ,I just don’t see why we all can’t have health coverage
and turd,no I have never received any assistance from the government I work,and my father is a deceased decorated vet who fought for worthless crap like you
stands for decibels
August 28th, 2009
12:40 pm
Troll chow upstairs, folks.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:44 pm
Interesting bit from Time:
“In what may mark the final flicker of Kennedy influence in American Catholicism, reports circulated last spring that Obama was considering JFK’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, as the possible next U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. That was not to be. Indeed in the wake of Uncle Ted’s death came word Thursday that Obama’s final choice had arrived in Rome to take up the diplomatic post at the Holy See. His name is Miguel Diaz, a little-known Cuban-born professor of theology firmly on the record as pro-life.”
How on earth did the Democratic Senate confirm a pro-lifer without raising any kind of a stink?
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
12:48 pm
OH NO JOE! Tell me it ain’t so!
There really is a vast, nefarious, non-human, left wing conspiracy to silence the White Welcher???
What is the explanation???
Karma?
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:49 pm
Doggone/GA
[[“Have you any idea of the circumstance that surrounded the call (not just by him) for the boycott of France?”
Nope, and I don’t care. I}}
There are some families of dead servicemen who I'm sure would be touched by your concern -
Frank
[[For the record I do not mind paying medicaid ,I just don’t see why we all can’t have health coverage]]
Some few groups are exempt. Not many, but some. Once they hit the right age, people who qualify can have Medicare health coverage.
Interesting that Social Security and Medicaid do follow the European model in that most everyone pays. Those opposed to a public option are in error when they state it’s European socialism – it isn’t, as only a few percent of Americans’ll foot the bill -
AmVet
August 28th, 2009
12:52 pm
“…my father is a deceased decorated vet who fought for worthless crap like you.”
And I salute him.
As one of the “greatest generation”, we owe, without measure, Americans like him. And I thank him for giving me everything I have, including my very life…
Taxpayer
August 28th, 2009
12:53 pm
Nope, and I don’t care. I just found it amusing that he thought he had enough influence to bring them down. I have no doubt he never even caused a blip in their economy.
Well! I laid off brie for a week!
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:55 pm
Doggone/GA
The French Gov’t Tourism Office estimated the boycott cost them half a billion in just tourism dollars the first year. Didn’t count all the other effects such as goods. I know, to many on the Left half a billion is chump change, but the point was made.
And now Chirac is gone and a new party’s in power and they really like Obama but don’t think much of him and don’t really care what he wants the French to do so we’re back to the same results as Bush had.
Life goes on.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:56 pm
Doggone/GA
August 28th, 2009
12:38 pm
Doggone only wants to acheive Drama Queen status.
Paul
August 28th, 2009
12:57 pm
Taxpayer
[[Well! I laid off brie for a week!]]
I didn’t. Bought a lot of French wine, too. Good stuff.
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:57 pm
FrankLeeDarling
August 28th, 2009
12:39 pm
LOL…I dont believe a word of it…
Turd Ferguson
August 28th, 2009
12:58 pm
I even stopped purchasing OUI magazine.
GOP is Gone
August 28th, 2009
1:01 pm
Mr and Mrs Ferguson really aptly named their off spring. A kernal off the old man maybe?
FrankLeeDarling
August 28th, 2009
1:35 pm
dosen’t make it any less true turd
FrankLeeDarling
August 28th, 2009
1:36 pm
thanks,Amvet
radiowxman
August 28th, 2009
3:31 pm
Reality TV is popular because of a perfect storm:
1. Network TV is not the cash cow it once was.
2. Ad rates are lower, and it’s easier for advertisers to use different platforms to get their word out.
3. When income falls, production budgets shrink.
4. Reality TV is cheap, cheap, cheap to produce. Talent is basically free and the support staff is relatively nil. For example, “Family Guy” taks about 500 people to make.
5. Reality TV gets ratings. Therefore they get a nice ROI.