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Socks, who would have turned 20 in the spring, was a stray when he was adopted for Chelsea Clinton while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. The family brought Socks with them to the White House in 1993.You will be missed, kitty.
It’s been a while, but I am finally following up on my previous promise to post some thoughts about Hillary Clinton’s appearance on the O’Reilly nonFactor last week. I am going to dispense with a link, but a Youtube search for “Clinton O’Reilly” brings up the clips blessedly sans commercials. Look for parts 1-4
I did catch the first night of the interview, but I did not have enough beer to slog through the second night. I’m listening to the second night as I type this.
First off, I have to say that Hillary did as well as can be expected from anyone going up against this pushy loudmouth. I am not supporting her candidacy for the nomination, but I do not necessarily disagree with every point she makes. Other than a passing praise of Ronald Reagan, I think Hillary turned in a solid performance even as I was trying to figure out how to kick my own backside for increasing BillO’s ratings.
I also have to grudgingly concede that BillO and Hillary generally stuck to the issues. It was not a whole discussion about Obama and Rev. Wright. We heard about Iraq, taxes, immigration, and the economy.
On the other hand, I have a few problems with the interview itself. Here they are:
One: BillO was his usual charming self. Watch any episode of his show and observe how anyone even a little left of center gets talked over and interrupted. BillO seems more interested in lecturing his guests than in engaging in a serious debate. If the role of the media is to report the news, then it stands to reason that the interviewee should be doing the majority of the talking. He’s hardly the only television reporter to use this strategy, but his style particularly raises my hackles. The most egregious example was toward the end of this clip where the two are discussing immigration:
Props to Hillary for not allowing BillO talk over her too much. It was clear that the Senator’s goal of appearing on Fox “News” was to get her message to a certain audience. She was not there to be spoken down to; she is running for president.
Two: The people over at Fox did not seem all that apologetic about their obvious ploy for ratings. After Senator Obama made history headlines by appearing on Fox, Clinton made the similar headlines for her Factor appearance. This is called “earned media” and it means free publicity.
What did Fox do with all of that “good will” bestowed from all corners? Exploited it, of course. At the very beginning of the first night, BillO mentioned that he spoke with Clinton for about an hour. Even with leaving some portions of the interview on the cutting room floor (as happens in the media), an average viewer might expect to see the hour-long exclusive take up nearly the full hour of the Factor. Not so much.
The four Youtube clips average about seven minutes each, or 28 minutes total. Even with commercials, I am certain BillO could have somehow squeezed 28 minutes of substance into his hour-long Factor. He might have even had time to give us some of his Talking Points that pass for nuggets of wisdom. Instead, BillO went ahead and made the interview a two-part special. In addition to artificially boosting the ratings, BillO was able to show analysis from Dennis Miller. I had just eaten, so I did not check out that part of the broadcast.
Three: BillO, please STFU about the tax rates on your ridiculously high tax bracket. Seriously, they spent a good chunk of time discussing how much more a Clinton administration would raise taxes on the rich. So much for that whole populist thing.
And four: This critique is for the lefty blogoshere. Quit whining about giving legitimacy to Fox because Democrats appear on the channel. For one thing, Fox established its legitimacy a long time ago (for better or worse). The more we scream about it, the more the other media outlets obsess over Fox. For another thing, the Republicans are not avoiding the allegedly liberal MSNBC en mass. Reaching across party lines means sometimes sucking it up and going on Fox “News” channel.
By the way, according to the pundits this race is apparently over. Unsurprisingly, this will come down to the superdelegates and I had a few thoughts on that back in February.
Chris
h/t to American Girl to pointing out that Canada offers Fox “News” Channel as a premium channel. Hard to believe those folks actually have to pay extra for to get Right Wing Noise Machine propaganda.
Roger Waters did his best for the good guys at last weekend’s Coachella Music Festival. Waters spray-painted the legendary inflatable pig with the slogans “fear builds walls” and “don’t be led to the slaughter.” On the underside was an explicit endorsement of Senator Obama.
On point one, Waters is right. Fear builds walls. Consider this:
Exhibit A: The Berlin Wall (fear of capitalism freedom)
Exhibit B: Israel’s Wall (fear of freedom fighters terrorism err…a whole population of people who have a legitimate grievance against the only democracy in the
Exhibit C: America’s Southern wall (fear of fear of losing jobs brown people)
Exhibit D: Pink Floyd’s The Wall (fear of the Rest of the World)
On point two, we have already been led to the slaughter...twice. Let’s not make it thrice.
Back to the show in
Personally, I loved Waters’ reaction. As he watched his inflatable animal drift away, he simply said “That’s my pig.”
At least they found the pig and a couple of lucky homeowners will be getting an unexpected economic boon. The remnants of the pig landed on two people’s property. They will split the $10,000 reward for the return of the pig. It turns out finding Roger Waters’ pig is better than the Bush economic stimulus package.
Why can’t I ever find Roger Waters’ pig?
Chris
P.S. The next post will be about the train wreck that passed for a legitimate interview in the No Spin Zone this evening. In case you missed it, BillO interviewed Senator Clinton this morning and showed clips of the interview on his show. In a desperate attempt to boost his ratings, BillO decided to only show 15 minutes (plus commercials) of his interview with Hillary Clinton this evening. The rest of the interview will presumably air tomorrow. The rest of the show was dedicated to analysis of the interview from the likes of Dennis Miller. Ugh. Stay tuned, if you can stomach it.
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Hi, I'm calling on behalf of Senator Hillary Clinton. Sorry to wake you at 3 a.m., but that's exactly the point we're trying to make …
Hello, I'm calling on behalf of Senator John McCain. Please don't hang up. Oh, God, please, don't hang up! He'll scream at us again. He gets that look, you can't talk to—OHMYGOD, HE'S COMING …
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Hi, I'm calling for President George W. Bush. According to our records, you are one of the 15 percent of the American public who believes this country is moving in the right direction. Because of that, we've been authorized to give you this one-time chance to buy $10 Rolexes from our special online value store …
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Hi, I'm calling from the American Polling Institute. Would you approve of an intra-presidential race marriage between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?
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Hello there, I'm calling from the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C. This call, like all your phone calls, is being monitored, not just for quality control but to learn what you're up to …
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Hello, I'm calling on behalf of Senator Hillary Clinton, the most experienced candidate running for president. As you know, Hillary has overcome terrible tragedies and … (sniff) … sorry … forgive me … I just get emotional whenever I think of what he did to her …
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Hello? Hello? I'm calling from Septuagenarians for John McCain, and we're hoping that you'll support our … hello? Hello? I think I did something wrong again. Hello? I touched something, and the screen changed. Hello?
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Hello! I'm calling for Senator Barack Hussein Obama who—praise be to Allah!—shall bring the sword of justice to the infidels as our next president.
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Hello, this is Dick Cheney. I'm talking to you from a secure bunker deep within the earth. Through a blend of science and the dark, mystical arts, I have transferred my brain into pure energy, and I am speaking to you now, mentally, though it may seem like it's coming through the phone…
Okay, I thought it was funny. Others disagree...
First, Senator Clinton (the one running for president) has some past ties to Walmart. That’s not going to play well with the traditional union base in the party. On the other hand, if she manages to come up with a legitimate national health insurance program, Walmart might actually hire a few full-time employees (not having to pay for health benefits and all).
Second, I understand that there are a lot of people who pay the rent on a Walmart paycheck and a lot of others who survive because they can actually afford to buy the stuff at Walmart. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich offers an interesting perspective on working at the bottom rung of the corporate structure. She worked at a Minnesota Walmart and could have had a better experience.
Third, have you ever taken a really close look at the stuff on sale there? I challenge you to find a non-food product that was made in the United States. Here’s the high price of low cost conundrum: A widget made here by unionized workers making $15 an hour retails at Walmart for $5. The person who made that widget would have to work 20 minutes to buy it retail. The same widget made in China retails for $3 at Walmart. Meanwhile, the now former union worker is forced to take a job at – you guessed it – Walmart for minimum wage. At the federal minimum wage of $5.85, that same person now has to work more than half and hour to buy the same widget. That equation does not even take into account potential disparities in quality between the domestic and foreign widgets or income taxes.
Finally, I still have to shop there. Once our local Walmart added the grocery store, the family-owned grocery went out of business for good.
Chris
The Clinton campaign staff was mortified and apologetic. ``I'm so sorry -- I LOVE you guys!'' said the traveling press coordinator, Jamie Smith, who is normally exceptionally efficient at dealing with the logistical needs of the traveling press corps. Apparently, the locker room was the only room available at the Burger Activity Center -- and the campaign had no idea it doubled as a boy's bathroom, she said.I thought the urinals would have been a dead give-away.
