Has there ever been a brand that was more effectively destroyed than the Sunday Morning shows? In the 90’s and early 2000’s, I would wake up every morning and watch them. Even in college, it did not matter how hungover I was, I would not miss Meet the Press. But now, I honestly do not even know who is hosting what other than that execrable Chuck Todd (who was so wonderful running numbers in 2007-2008 and then just became a complete stooge when it came to actual politics). They’re just a non-entity. They shape no agenda, they make no news, it’s just a bunch of liars on able to spew nonsense without even being corrected or remotely challenged. What’s the point? Also, I dearly miss Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood.
On a related note, say what you will about Chris Matthews, but to his credit he has fucked off into non-existence. No comeback attempts or any bullshit like Marky Mark or the other undesirables. He’s just a non-entity and off living his best life. Good for him. And good riddance.
Soonergrunt
And Matthews’ apology on the way out the door was straight up.
He could be irritating as shit, but he pretty much just said hey, I was wrong. I hurt people with my behavior and I’m sorry and it’s time for me to go. As far as I know, he’s got a book out about his life, but he’s not trying to get back in the game.
But Jane Pauley is doing a wonderful job with CBS Sunday Morning.
Cathie from Canada
Actually Matthews is now shilling a new book – he was on a couple of MSNBC shows a week ago or so.
But I do agree with your point – the American Sunday shows have “both-sided” so much that there’s nothing to say anymore.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Chuck Todd, distinguishing himself the way the First Amendment meant journalists to do:
dfh
Over time, we have begun to question “both sides” news coverage because, well, we have eyes. So it’s no wonder the Sunday shows have lost their luster. Persistent jackassery reaps its own rewards.
Di
The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC is quite good, with a focus on LGBTQ+ and POCs.
Gravenstone
Actually Matthews appears to have joined Washington Monthly. Whether as part of an image rehab effort, or just to keep his “voice” in political commentary circles, I don’t know. But he’s not gone, never to be heard from again. Alas…
Raoul Paste
Charles Kuralt’s Sunday Morning show was such a respite.
It made America a better place
namekarB
Ahhh yes. Back in the day I would get up on Sunday morning, have a cuppa and a few tokes on the bong and watch all the animal shows like Wild Kingdom and Nature on PBS
Lofgren
I liked some of Marky Mark’s movies. He’s usually good as the meathead action hero who’s in way over his head, like The Other Guys or The Big Hit. I know he’s a crazy right wing Christian but has he actually managed to get himself properly cancelled?
Ryan
You remember all the news David Gregory made when he brought an empty expanded clip (or magazine, whatevs) to a DC studio? Good times.
brendancalling
I stopped polluting my mind with that shit years ago.
Almost Retired
Worse yet, Chuckles had the odious and always wrong Republican “strategist” Brad Todd on today. As per usual, Brad so very helpfully informed us that if the Democrats do (fill in the blank), it’s a recipe for the Republicans to take back the House and Senate. Brad Todd almost makes me wistful for Hugh Hewitt.
Cameron
I wonder if Matthews will get into PA politics like his brother. He could do well. I’ll confess I have a soft spot for him – he gave us a free fundraising video for Philabundance when I worked there.
Jacel
I loved Capehart’s audacity of calling his weekly program The Sunday Show”. Underscoring that he and his team are providing more worthwhile content and guests than the “official” Sunday Shows.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Raoul Paste:
I remember him more for his “On The Road” series.
Baud
I’m normifying myself. Haven’t watched the Sunday morning shows in years. Not even watching MSNBC much anymore.
mrmoshpotato
@Almost Retired:
Holy hell. I’m glad I don’t know who Brad Todd is, and I’m going to keep it that way.
Old Man Shadow
Roodles had an extremely undeserved reputation as America’s Mayor that he blew up pretty fast by not fading away gracefully.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Old Man Shadow: I think the guy who said “Noun, Verb, 9-11”, had something to do with it. What happened to that guy?
dr. bloor
@Raoul Paste:
One wonders what Kuralt would make of the MAGAts in Backasswards, Iowa, were he still On the Road today.
TomatoQueen
Most of the year I save Jane for later as the footy starts early, and then there’s this nice long gap for it, occupied otherwise by what Cal Trillin calls The Sunday Gasbags. I’ve missed those clowns consistently since high school.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Yeah, me either, I quit drinking.
Old Man Shadow
@?BillinGlendaleCA: He just kept flapping his gums and revealing himself to be the giant shit pile he always was on the inside.
Cmorenc
One substantial part of the contemporary talking heads sunday program dynamic is that the GOP has fully adopted bannons “flood the zone with so much bullshit disinformation” and as a result that many people give up on there being any such thing as truth and facts obtainable from conventional media sources, and they get a powerful assist from the “both-sider” school of journalism that is equally crdulous and skeptical of both sides
Ivan X
I just miss the McLaughlin Report. I feel like that show had no pretense about what it was trying to be, and I was entertained. I might not be now.
I think in general I have much less sense of humor than I used to about political reporting of all sorts, because I no longer have a feeling that all of us Americans can agree that we’re all in this together, even if we don’t see eye to eye. I don’t think there’s a lot of middle ground. Either you think Trump is a traitor, or you don’t. Either you think McConnell is hostile to democratic norms, or you don’t. Either you think America would be better off if run by white people and support any means necessary to achieve that, or you don’t.
And I don’t think anyone now believes that news orgs are trying to be objective, for the greater good of journalism and society, rather than cater to an audience’s perspective for profit motives. So there are no common set of facts on which to rest our heads while acknowledging our differing perspectives on them. We don’t even agree on what the facts are.
Admittedly, one of two political parties just straight up lying, always, and “discussing issues” in bad faith, always, makes it very hard to “objectively” report the news without appearing obscenely one-sided. A truthful headline, every day, would be “Republican Lies Again,” but it is then hard to deflect accusations of partisan media. It’s a real problem that I personally don’t know how to solve.
swiftfox
Never could watch them, even when they had cache. Watched the Today Show until their Deborah Norville/Jane Pauley kerfuffle. Funny what happens when a network becomes a public-owned entity. As Roger Rosenblatt said in his last PBS essay, when it’s all about money, that’s when it all turns to shit.
Shalimar
@Lofgren: “Marky Mark” makes it confusing, but I think Cole means notorious dick Mark Halperin.
dww44
@Soonergrunt:
I endorse your opinion about Jane Pauley. She’s straightforward. Also, great to see you here, Soonergrunt.
mrmoshpotato
Re: Upchuck Toddler
dww44
@Di:
Capehart is consistently good, open-minded, and fair. Also not full of himself. I’ve long believed he’s at the top of the best on MSNBC and other outlets.
CaseyL
Though I was never much for the Sunday talk shows, I at least watched the news every day. Stopped doing that as well years ago.
It’s like memories of pre-Reagan government fading away, memories of news pre-Roone Arledge has also faded. When news was a public service thing networks had to do in order to keep their licenses, rather than profit-generating infotainment
sab
For some unknown reason today I did turn on MTP with Chuck Todd, and there was Rob Portman! Republican when Democrats are the majority in Congress. Not running for reelection so will be gone next year. Plus, he has never once surprised anyone by his vote. in In other words, the most uninteresting lame duck in Congress. Of course he blathered on about the deficit but we need bridges. So the only infrastructure that is important is bridges over the Ohio River into Kentucky where Mitch McConnell lives.
An extremely interesting 15 minutes of my life. I was left wondering why I don’t tune in more.
//
mrmoshpotato
@Ivan X:
It’s hard to believe we’re all in this together when nearly 63 million “adults” voted for a racist, fascistic, orange traitor who showed the world he was a sack of shit on day 1 of his campaign.
ETA – forgot “lying out his ass”
raven
I like Willie Geist on Sunday. He’s an Illini fan and his old man is a Nam vet.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@sab: So he’s going to vote for an infrastructure bill with increases in corporate taxes to fund it, right?
oldster
“Has there ever been a brand that was more effectively destroyed than” the Roman Catholic Church?
Baud
@sab:
Yeah, that’s a good example for John’s post.
Mike in NC
Don’t know if it was a Sunday show, but I’m old enough to remember The McLaughlin Group, where several pundits — like the evil Bob Novak — would shout each other hoarse. That was way back before the current incarnation of the GQP.
germy
Has Chris Matthews learned anything?
I saw him a few weeks ago on The View, and right off the bat the hosts addressed the controversy surrounding his departure from his show.
He bristled at their questions and said “I was guilty of being what used to be called polite.”
So basically, his only crime was being complementary to ladies.
Sister Golden Bear
Yesterday my brother and I finally scattered our mother’s ashes at the campground in Mammoth Lakes where we used to go camping every summer as kids.
It’s good that we were finally able to fulfill her last wishes But — three years — later it’s stirring up unexpected feelings. (Our relationship was…. complicated… and there were things that were never, and will never be resolved .)
Didn’t want to face weekend traffic coming back today, so I’ve got the hotel for another night. But big part of me wants to get out of here after I do brunch with my brother. Almost tempted to eat the hotel cost for night and head to Lake Tahoe, but it looks like that’s pretty mobbed, and not exactly relaxing.
Doug R
I don’t think the “news” has changed as much as we have.
Watching John Oliver’s show on HBO, especially the episode on Asian Americans, the old news segments about Asians are really cringey but that was the “norm” back then.
Sunday shows need to reflect the diversity of America, at least MSNBC has made a few steps in that direction.
germy
@Sister Golden Bear:
Life is always so complicated.
I was just channel surfing, and caught the last few moments of a PBS special on Ella Fitzgerald.
Her son talks about the day of her funeral. He stopped into a grocery store to pick up some items for family. He’s pushing his cart, and suddenly he hears an Ella Fitzgerald song overhead, floating down over the shoppers.
HumboldtBlue
John, this joint needs more sports. We have the Euros, Copa America, Olympic qualifying, a great NBA playoffs, NHL and baseball.
m.j.
I can remember Sunday mornings getting back from a gig after a long drive and watching The Bozo Show.
Strung out like that, it was surreal entertainment.
Another Scott
@sab: Democrats make it so hard on the Sunday show producers. If only they would tell them how they could be contacted, but no…
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Cheers,
Scott.
Raven
@HumboldtBlue: That ship sailed, Dawg.
sab
@Sister Golden Bear: I am thinking of you. Parting with mothers is hard and takes years. I am sure three years to her now is insignificant or actually irrelevant.
Graham
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The level of discourse is so low, and has been since the 70s, that gin should be served to each viewer.
debbie
Sunday shows are infomercials, nothing more.
@Ivan X:
You’ll love this then.
hueyplong
@dr. bloor: The Joy of Kuralt was that his show was an asshole-free zone. He could not hit the road now.
As for Todd, Soledad O’Brien’s take ought to be the last word
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: The Fish haven’t begun to slap the Cubs yet – still 0-0.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
Soledad, Eric Boehlert, Driftglass and Bluegal, and the Bob Cesca regulars are my go-to. The others, with few exceptions, are shit.
Ivan X
@debbie: Ha, that was awesome, thanks!
Yutsano
OT but: oops. TFG might have just screwed up here. Wonder how the QAnon nuts are going to spin this.
MomSense
@Raven:
I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’m sorry the sports have slipped. I used to love football, was a regular fantasy football player, and watched all the games. The CTE revelations changed it for me, but I realize how tough it has been for people who love the game.
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear:
*hug*
All my love to you sweet spirit. I hope the extra night will give you some solace.
MisterForkbeard
@Yutsano: I check in on Qanon boards every once in a while. They’re saying this is all part of the “five dimensional chess that Trump is known for” – it’s to confuse the normies, basically.
Alternately, it means that Bill O’Reilly will be part of his administration.
laura
@Sister Golden Bear: We are never old enough to be motherless children. I’m sorry that your sibling relationship is strained and I hope that you hit the road to more peaceful and joyful surroundings.
I don’t see any need for the sunday shows since news has been moved to the entertainment division and because there is a total freeze out of voices on the left. Bring on a Marcy Wheeler, an Imani Gandy or a Driftglass and I’d reconsider. I have zero time for opining by the current line up of intellectual deadbeats peddling horsehit knowing they’ll never get called on it or challenged by a host or panel.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Agreed.
Yutsano
@MisterForkbeard: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Sigmund was himself a nutcase. But he really did have some intelligent insights sometimes.
raven
@MomSense: It’s hard for me to believe people didn’t know it’s an incredibly dangerous game but, be that as it may, no one is changing their mind and it’s not that important to me to be able to discuss games as they played here.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike in NC: Mike Royko once wrote a great pastiche of the McLaughlin group, with the conceit that Bill Clinton had encountered a dog while jogging, and either kicked the dog which then bit him, or he kicked the dog in reaction to being bitten. Something like:
Fred Barnes: The most shocking act of animal cruelty ever witnessed. Evidence of a truly depraved mind
Morton Kondracke: He kicked the dog, but didn’t mean to
Eleanor Clift: The vicious brute got what it deserved
Jack Germond: Who the hell cares?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: LOL.
MomSense
@Sister Golden Bear:
Big hugs, SGB.
JoyceH
But on the subject of the media, can I just point out that CNN at least is not taking it from the Republicans anymore? You expect a ‘liberal bias’ from MSNBC but CNN likes to think of itself as entirely unbiased and straight down the middle.
I noticed the other day that these bills that are passing in state legislatures are being routinely described as ‘voter suppression bills’. You might say ‘so what? – that’s what they are’, and that’s true, but the GOP would insist that’s NOT what they are. They always call them something like ‘voter integrity’ bills or something like that. I think there might have been a time when CNN might have said ‘bills that some are calling voter suppression bills’, but now they come right out and call them that.
The GOP attacks on the 2020 results – CNN no longer calls that ‘disputed election results’, they use the term ‘the Big Lie.’ Again, you can say that’s what it is, but they’re no longer accepting Republican framing. And these terms ‘voter suppression bills’ and ‘the Big Lie’ – that’s not a member of a panel using those terms, that’s the anchor. All the anchors.
Tonight they’re having a special report. Title is “Assault on Democracy: The Roots Of Trump’s Insurrection”. Again – says exactly what it is and exactly who is responsible, without a smidgeon of GOP framing.
So while we complain about the media, can we admit that sometimes they’re on the side of Truth?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yutsano: Why can’t TFG do paid rallies AND resume the Presidency?
trollhattan
A public service announcement:
Attention, New York politicians and wannabe politicians. If your name is Weiner, please consider another line of work. If you choose, say, accounting nobody will care about your private life.
Thank you
Citizen_X
@JoyceH: Might be partly in response to TFG. He hit at CNN more than any other news outlet, and never missed a chance to call them “fake news.” They might have figured, “screw it, let’s let these jerks have it.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: Heh.
Weather cool down up there?
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
True. Think of the crowd reaction if he stops suddenly, mid-rant, “Hey everybody, I’m president again. I’m your president!”
Reminds me of the Carlin live album where during his routine he stops and says, “Hey, we won the Grammy” presumably after somebody walks on stage and hands him a note.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan:
/blinks/
another Weiner pulls a boner in NY politics?
Is this Anthony’s younger brother?
Jeffro
Same here. 60 Minutes also not a must-watch anymore either. Sports only (ok plus the occasional movie). I’m getting younger as I age. =)
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yes, thank bog! Under a hundred predicted today and 80s by Tuesday.
Jeffro
@Yutsano: I knew if I took a minute to scroll through the thread, someone else would already have this tidbit posted.
The (pathetic) former guy and BillO, spewing hate for an hour or two. Who WOULDN’T pay $100/seat to hear that???
I do love that the QNuts are all, “…but, but…he’s supposed to be back in office by then…(sob)…okay, well hopefully by the end of the year, then…”
These people and TPFG really do deserve each other, that’s for sure.
James E Powell
@germy:
Was he ever not an asshole? I didn’t have a TV from 1988 to 2004, so the first time I saw Chris Matthews he was soaping up that transparent fraud George W Bush & spouting about “manliness” and the old days.
Elizabelle
The Sunday shows are there to portray a status quo that is false. And they are so wired for Republicans that it’s ridiculously obvious.
Also, I suspect the nightly news shows have also lost their luster. I can name the anchors on the 3 major broadcast networks, but can most people? (And I think one of them is Noron. Oh my.)
I would love if the networks put together Sunday morning public affairs shows from their libraries of broadcasts. Show “Harvest of Shame” again. Remind people about FDR and WW2 and Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy. Show how the networks were treating Martin Luther King, Jr. at the time. (“Are you a communist?”) Show the space program. Show WHY we have social security and medicare and medicaid. Not talking heads, except maybe as an introduction; show the actual footage from the time, and then maybe a summation at the end.
CNN seems to be doing very well with similar fare on Sunday nights (so I hear).
Show us how we got where we are, and how we have changed. Why it is important for all American citizens 18 and older to vote. Why democracy is important, and its limitations.
You could do so much to educate the public, including those not born when all this stuff happened. If you wanted to. And therein lies the problem.
Elizabelle
@JoyceH: Thanks for the head’s up on CNN tonight. I’ll see if I can catch it online.
Yeah, since the rightwing is sniffing about CNN being fake news, you know they have hit a nerve. Good for CNN.
We really need to take the crack pipe (rightwing media) away from these rightwing anger junkies. We cannot outeducate this shit. We need to remove it. Dial it back. Canada, I am told, does not allow shit like Fox News Channel. We should not either. Do something about cable standards as well as broadcast.
raven
Well I took my last oxy 12 hours ago and I’m feeling a little lousy, guess I can hit another.
UncleEbeneezer
@Sister Golden Bear: If you ever get a hankering to do more E Sierra camping, I have a spreadsheet I can share with all the major campgrounds and best sites (based on shade and solitude).
We are tentatively planning a trip to Mammoth in October for fall foliage.
Elizabelle
@raven: But no headaches, right?
Hope you are feeling spiffier, soon. And fishing not long after that.
raven
@Elizabelle: Nope and that is key! I’ve walked several times outside between showers so that is good.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@UncleEbeneezer: A group of us are planning a trip to Little Lakes Valley for Milky Way shots next month.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
As good liberals, aren’t we supposed to be okay with this?
Elizabelle
@raven: Yea. All good.
NotMax
Ayds.
Suzanne
@trollhattan: That would make me more likely to vote for him. He didn’t lie or finagle or blame anyone else. He said it’s him and he’s kinky and doesn’t feel bad about it. That’s great.
Shalimar
@germy: Cole doesn’t remember Matthews’ departure the way I do. What I remember is they were going to fire him, so Matthews agreed to retire, did a huffy apology at the beginning of that night’s show, and then walked off the set, leaving the bewildered numbers guy (who had not been informed about what was happening) to anchor the rest of the show. It was the opposite of classy and dignified.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: As Adlai Stevenson(a LA native) would say:
Yes sir, but I need a majority.
germy
@Suzanne:
It’s interesting the depths “oppo researchers” sink to, though.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
You might enjoy it as an (hi, Steve!) historical byway.
32 vintage selfies you probably have never seen
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne:
Yeah, I don’t see what’s so bad about this. It’s not analogous to what Anthony Weiner was doing.
boatboy_srq
@Ivan X:
This is an artifact of Fox, Newsmax, OAN, and all the wingnut fringe loonies hitting the Internet and benefiting from the presumption that everything on the Internet is true/legitimate/valid. Three decades of one entire segment of the journalistic field insisting that they are the arbiters of truth and everyone else is some godless pinko Commie librul produces this exact condition, where there are two or three camps, each with their own reality, each convinced the others are wrong for reasons only they accept. Turd Blossom’s “reality-based community” comment was only a symptom of the growing divide. The contemporary race to the rabid Conservatist edge – with every “pundit” insisting on some Conservatist orthodoxy more extreme than the rest – produces more incendiary content for the Reichwingnuts to consume than can ever be broadcast on Sunday; and the libprog side of the argument was either shut out of the Sunday talk show conversation ages ago or gave up on them as Bothsiderist charades. There is no center left for the Sunday newsmagazine genre to speak to.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Cool.
Not selfies, but beautifully evocative photos of Russia. ETA: I mean, USSR.
https://mashaivashintsova.com/
Kay
Not to be a contrarian, and I don’t know about “the Sunday shows” but I dropped cable news years ago because it was awful but my husband always kept the cable service because he watches sports and I dropped in and watched during the period where Trump was contesting the election and I think it has gotten better.
It’s more diverse, it’s younger, and they go more in depth into the stories. I think “the stories” themselves are more diverse because there are new people- broader.
I went between MSNBC and CNN for a about a month there and it was pretty good. Again, I’m comparing to 2000 to 2015 when it was AWFUL.
James E Powell
@Shalimar:
That’s how I recall it, but since I can’t stand him, my recollection may not be trustworthy.
Brachiator
@laura:
Hell, I would just settle for a few more voices of reason, but I know what you mean. I don’t watch the Sunday shows or the nightly broadcast news. As you note, these have been shaped up to be glossy, empty entertainment.
Citizen Alan
@Brachiator:
I’m more interested in how the video was leaked. Because if it was a female Dem whose sex tape was released, we would all (rightfully) be screaming about the evils of revenge porn.
Joe Falco
Meet the Press’s opening music is better than it has any right to. Everything else is dross.
germy
@zhena gogolia:
Here’s an old (2009) wordpress of patriotic cats from the old Soviet Union.
(It’s funnier if you don’t understand the original captions.)
https://rolcats.wordpress.com/
“English translations of Eastern Bloc LOLCats”
Joe Falco
@Shalimar:
What should have happened to Matthews when he tried that BS: https://youtu.be/7KYS6xeoBnc
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Sorry, I can’t get past the saccharine original captions!
janesays
@Gravenstone: Aside from the 17 people who actually read Washington Monthly, he’s effectively gone.
Baud
@Kay:
If I get back to watching cable more regularly, I’m thinking of giving CNN a try. From what I’ve heard, they were in some respects better than MSNBC in 2020.
Suzanne
@zhena gogolia: I was reading the story, waiting for when it would get really Weiner-ful and involve sending out dick pics non-consentually or with the dude’s kid in the background….. and it just happened to be that dude is kinky and maybe not as discreet as is optimal, but there’s nothing scandalous IMO.
germy
@zhena gogolia:
I don’t understand the originals, so I appreciate the English “translations”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Interesting, they also had a link to Kodak’s Instamatic Cameras, saw my first camera there the X-15.
janesays
@CaseyL: Nobody under the age of 50 has any real meaningful memory of pre-Reagan government. I was born during the Ford Administration, but Reagan is the first president I actually remember.
Steeplejack
@debbie:
“Eleanor Clift! Wrong!” I figured someone would post that. ?
Kay
@Baud:
I think you’ll see the improvement. It was really surprising to me. I watched a segment on infrastructure and it was genuinely informative. Compared to the “health care debate” in 2009 which was just awful it’s flat out better quality.
I think it’s because it’s younger and more diverse. I did not really think about what “representation” means for racial and ethnic minorities as a practical matter. It was like…abstract to me. “Oh, that would be good, we should do that” but I profoundly missed what the point was- the point is the focus changes. Really. That really happens. It changes things, and in a good way!
trnc
Perfect. Chuck’s rationale for interviewing any person known to hurl bullshit about, say, the election, is that Chuck may need access to that person one day (especially if their bullshit is what gets them elected), so it makes perfect sense to immediately book someone to whom he will actually need zero access soon – as long as he’s a republican.
ian
@Brachiator:
Well, I dont think we should have a problem with bdsm, nor do I think we should reject candidates who have a last name of Weiner.
That being said… If you have filmed yourself in a sex act, give it at least another generation before you decide to run for office.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
They’re much funnier!
JMG
The purpose of the Sunday shows has nothing to do with their audiences. They are a way in which three of the largest companies in the country, Comcast, Disney and CBS Viacom, can offer bribes to politicians by donating services (free air time) instead of cash. THAT’S why the questioners are such milquetoasts. The pols aren’t there to be challenged, they’re there to sound off. If Portman, as noted earlier in this thread a boring lame duck, was on the air, rest assured it’s because the program’s owner wants something from him.
Brachiator
@ian:
Weiner is 26, probably had no real chance at winning the office he was running for, and has been pretty chill about the video. We may already be seeing a new generation who are neither hypocritical nor unduly ashamed about revelations of consensual activities and who don’t see this stuff as impediments to running for public office.
Good for them.
Antonius
In answer to your branding question… The Catholic Church?
Renie
@HumboldtBlue: ok I know everyone hates the Yankees but they had their third triple play this season to end and win today’s game ?
Baud
@Renie: That’s amazing.
Baud
@Kay: Thanks, Kay. There really is no going back to old, white guy hegemony, no matter how hard the GOP tries.
prostratedragon
@Renie: So I’ve missed hearing about one. When I saw that Chapman had walked the first 2 on about 10 pitches I thought, surely he’s not expecting another around-the-horn. Checked back, and that’s just what happened. Is this a new way of fucking with people?;<]
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
It’s weird how closely this delusion resembles “end of world” predictions and prophesies about the return of Christ, or space aliens.
germy
An old invention that allowed fans to follow the game:
Ruckus
That bad? I mean I’m not doubting you at all, it’s just, damn…..
This is in answer to Almost Retired @12
Starfish
@Brachiator: Some people have said that he put the video out himself to get more name recognition. There was something about the NY Post learning about the video from his campaign manager. He has personally been talking about it so much that I am cynically believing that they did this on their own to get more attention in the race.
Another Scott
@Brachiator:
Yup.
It says a lot more about the leaker and who it was leaked to than it does about him.
(Brewer is the Manhattan Borough President; I don’t know (and don’t really care) how she’s involved (if she is).)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Starfish: Stranger things have happened.
Hmm…
[eta:] Puts my #124 in a new light… Hmm…
Cheers,
Scott.
dnfree
@HumboldtBlue: and tennis! Wimbledon coming up!
apocalipstick
@hueyplong: Well, except for Kuralt himself, who turns out to have been a tool to both his wife and his long-time companion.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Brachiator:
This is so disgusting; so perverted. It’s beyond the bounds of decency.
The only questions I have: can someone give me the name of the dominatrix and her rates (asking for a friend).
J R in WV
@hueyplong:
Actually, Charles Kuralt had two wives, one on the east coast, and one in Montana, who inherited their home out west upon his death. So not as straight shooter as he looked.
Was hard for me to believe, but a salesman like Mr Kuralt could sell anything. He was on the road a whole lot, which made that dual relationship possible.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
We aren’t all in this together.
We haven’t been since Ike. Conservatives since well before WWII have been trying to create a country in their own image, not one in the image of all of us. They don’t understand democracy in any way, shape or form. They don’t believe in democracy in any way, shape or form. They believe in money. And who should keep all of it. And racism. And that is the sum total of their thought on the subject of government. They sell hate for the power to have their idea of government. Actually they sell hate for whatever they can get for it. And as is obvious currently they are only in the business of politics, to make more money and to cause massive pain and suffering to anyone that doesn’t support them and lesser amounts of same to those who do. They liked slavery because it was cheaper labor and also because of who was on the receiving end. They formed a new country and they fought a civil war to retain slavery. They are not in for a democracy, they never really have been, it takes away things that they think are the only ways to have a country. SFB was the perfect candidate for them, racist as fuck, dumb and malleable enough to sell their goals, which he did, right out in the open, mainly because he is a believer. And they think you can’t say the quiet parts out loud. Dumb fucks.
Wyatt Salamanca
@mrmoshpotato:
‘We’re not about truth, we’re about access.’
This applies to the hosts of all the Sunday shows and not just Chuck Todd
@J R in WV:
Regardless of how Charles Kuralt lived his life, he was a supremely gifted storyteller and that’s what matters to me.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
Happy birthday (yesterday, I think)?
prostratedragon
NBA playoffs have been entertaining and should be more so from here out, as the remaining teams have good defenses and mid-range games –not just popping 3s at the earliest opportunity. A lot of names new to me emerging.
david
If you’re talking about the ‘good old days’ of Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson and some random schmuck on one side of the table with George Will on the other side… eh, no, thanks. Sunday morning shows have always been invite-them-in-and-tickle-their-taints DC cocktail circuit garbage.
J R in WV
deleted
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@david: I don’t think the Sunday shows, or that class in general, ever really recovered their credibility after Clenisgate, immediately followed by the shut-up-and-salute-he’s-our-Commander-in-Chief ethos that more or less immediately followed.
ETA: or maybe I should say they shouldn’t have.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Agreed.
schrodingers_cat
I completely gave up on them after Obama became President. The DC press showed their racist ass and I had had enough
The last time I watched Sunday shows religiously was during W’s Iraq misadventure.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They’ve had problems for decades, and they’re disingenuous about criticism. (At least as I remember it.)
When the Democrats are in power – “We have the GQP on because it’s important for the public to hear contrary viewpoints. The Democrats have the whole federal government to get their message out.”
When the GQP is in power – “We have the GQP on because the public voted for them and it’s important for the public to hear from them directly while we hold them to account [by having them on 15:1 compared to the Democrats]. [whisper] Plus, the Democrats are boring and our rating tank when they’re on. [/whisper]
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t think I ever watched them on a regular basis, I used to watch Crossfire until the Jon Steward/Fucker Carlson episode.
MazeDancer
Johnathan Capehart does a great job on his 10:00 Sunday Show on MSNBC. He’s calm, it’s newsy, he has excellent guests. It’s a pleasure to watch.
cope
@Ivan X: It’s still on, brought back from the dead. Check your PBS listings. And yes, if you’re like me, you won’t find it entertaining.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@trollhattan: pls don’t kink shame
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan:
@Suzanne:
I think I’m with Suzanne on this one.
Mike in NC
So this Trump/Bill O’Reilly thing is for real? A pair of elderly sexual predators. They should call it the “P**** Grabbing Geezer Tour”.
SiubhanDuinne
@Joe Falco:
John Williams always comes through — Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, 1996 Olympics, NBC News.…
ETA: …E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Superman.…
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
Do you have it backwards? This looks like a better description to me.
“P**** Geezer Grabbing Tour.”
Kay
@Steeplejack:
Yes, that’s amazing that you remembered. It’s Juneteenth so I didn’t want to steal from that on the First Official One. My son took me out on the Auglaize River in his new (used) boat. Other than a long boring sequence where the “kill switch” he installed wasn’t working and I had to watch “the flywheel” to tell him if it was moving (no idea- I said ‘yes’) it was great and felt like playing hooky.
JoyceH
But speaking of killing the brand, let’s hear it for the Catholic Church. They’ve had years of bad publicity involving revelations about decades of gross abuse that high ranking members either participated in or actively covered up. And they’re handed an unexpected PR benefit – for the first time in sixty years, they have a Catholic president, and a highly popular and actively practicing Catholic at that. And how do they handle this unexpected PR gem? Why, they immediately begin a public dialog about whether this popular Catholic president ought to be denied communion. C’mon, man!
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks! You prompted me to hunt down one of my favorite tweets from earlier this year: BBC News intro music. Genius.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne:
Of course, he’s a Bruin.
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: In NYC, that’s as likely to win you votes as lose them.
Mallard Filmore
@trollhattan:
Snatching babies at the southern border and then trafficking the kids would be much more socially acceptable.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
Then happy birthday indeed! ??????
My confession.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: I was going to reply to Kay that your friends call you Stasi.
Brachiator
@Starfish:
Who knows? Maybe he foolishly believed that any publicity is good publicity. But I don’t believe that the secret BDSM crowd is a reliable voting demographic. They are often too tied up to go to the polls.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ivan X:
I didn’t realize that McLaughlin had been a priest.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: I know you have even kept track of music and cook book recommendations.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s a grab bag of stuff, really, not just Balloon Juice demographics. Computers have gotten so powerful compared to my (distant) salad days that it is trivially easy to have a (*checking*) 705-page Word file containing links, citations, quotations and Post-It notes. Everything’s in one place, it’s easily searchable, and I can annotate things however I want.
I’ve got many of your music links and also other recommendations. Thank you, Aries-Taurus cusp girl!
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: Thanks. Sometimes I wonder whether I am boring people to death by sharing music in languages few can understand on the blog.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Never despair. According to WaterGirl in the “About Us” thread, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lurkers for everyone who actually comments here. You have to think that, statistically, there are people who like what you post but don’t explicitly say so.
Procopius
@janesays: This is a great point. I don’t think anyone born after 1980 has any understanding of how devastating a nuclear war would be. Some of the neocons seem to think they could “win.” They act as if they believe the photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the descriptions of how deadly radiation and fallout are, the effects of nuclear winter, are all lies told to control the sheeple.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: Not despairing, actually flattered that you have saved all this stuff and that you like it!
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Speaking rhetorically.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: I know ?
Richard Guhl
Destroyed its own brand?
Try the GOP itself on for size. It was born as the American progressive party of its day. They were the whole free the slaves, Reconstruction party. Heck, Thaddeus Stevens even proposed reparations back in the 1860s. Now look what they’ve become.
But, I must admit, the Church probably wins this dubious race. We started out declaring that “in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male and female,” and now there are huge swaths saying, “offer void in present universe.”
sab
@schrodingers_cat: Your music links have never bored me, but I never comment on them. Just a happy lurker
Recipes intrigue me but I can’t use them because spouse has midwestern American tastes (bland, with meat.)
grubert
@Steeplejack: or lurkers who read every few days and know that comments on a dead thread are almost pointless
grubert
By the way, epic Cole post. Totally agree, and glad someone said it