Tag Archives: Media
I Was Barack Obama
I’m not sure when I first heard Barack Obama speak. I was an over the road trucker back then hauling steel from anywhere to somewhere so it was probably on my satellite radio. I think he was a call in celebrity, as more popular politicians tend to be referred to these days, on that crazy NPR (National Public Radio) “game” show about the news – usually broadcast out of Chicago
It was then that I said to myself here’s a well spoken obviously smart guy who could be President of the United States. As a U.S. Senator he kept popping up here and there from time to time on both television and radio, and the more he came on my radar screen, the more I liked him. I appreciated his style and his politics. As now, I was then an undecided independent voter.
I was a Ron Paul supporter, then swung over to Hillary, then McCain was my man. It was the lack of Obama’s experience that greatly bothered me and if Clinton wasn’t chosen as Obama’s V.P. pick, then back over to McCain I went. But McCain’s selection of Sara Palin and that Couric interview with the magazine cluelessness drove me right back into the arms of the Democrats. Nothing about Obama and his birth certificate or the Rev.Wright relationship phased me in the least. I decided to vote for Obama only days before I went into the booth.
Let me be very honest. Part of the reason I wanted Obama to win was because he was Black. I wanted either a qualified female, Latino or someone of color to represent our country. I had long ago given up hope for a Jewish President, being satisfied that at least there was representation on the Supreme Court. I so bought into the Obama’s victory flag of hope and change, I so identified with the enthusiasm and passion of Obama, I was Barack Obama. His cause was my cause. His youth was mine. He was my guy – the one that truly understood what I wanted from government. If there was anyone among the field of candidates for President, based on all the times I listened to him even before he ran, he, I felt, was the clearly the right person to make it right in Washington.
Prior to his taking office, I was completely appauled wih the mess he was going to inherit from Bush. It almost seemed fixed to me – arranged for the Black man in some back office somewhere in Washington D.C., West Virginia or Wyoming. Sort of a Dick Cheney welcome so let’s see how you do you, you uppidty… But, I wanted Obama to succeed even more after that. To show them what he could do – what we could do. He didn’t have to be an experienced business executive to assemble a team of the best and brightest who would repair the economic mess and get us back on track. He was my super hero and he would have the right answers and take the appropriate action.
Failure to “us” was just not an option. He would gather up the Republican opposition with his slick, calm, legal and reassuring cool magic and move the Boehner’s and McConnell’s into taking action. They would work together, compromise for the good of the country, and create, debate and pass long overdue social and economic reforms. Affordable “Cadillac” health care for all – just like Congress had – would be a reality, immigration reform would make sense and benefit all concerned – our borders would be protected and our troops would come marching home from both wars while GITMO would be history.
I would be so proud of my President – so proud to be an American. However, as his time in office moved forward, more and more links fell clearly off the chain. It wasn’t just the opposition, there was a communications problem. The thrill over passing health reform legislation became confusion and anger. I was so carried away by the concept and symbolism of what we were trying to reform, I didn’t read the words or watch the process close enough. We thought we had what we had wanted, but we learned we didn’t.
The President said little or nothing. Even worse, the press failed to ask questions. At the same time it was if some large looming hand took a scissor and cut the value of my home and 401K in half. 99 weeks of unemployment benefits from my job that was eliminated due to corporate “uncertainty” was cut to 56 then to 26 weeks. I lost and could not afford to replace the health insurance I had. My wife, a teacher, was paid 1/2 that of a union teacher. Those teachers would lose their jobs as the cities that employed them went bankrupt.
Despite all the lies, distortions, empty chairs from the primarily White faces and religious zealots I heard in Tampa last week, I listened very carefully to what candidate Romney had to say. Sure it might have sounded too good to be true. Yes I’ve heard it all before. The difference is that I’ve never been so personally desperate for now for what he’s saying. I buy into that term “American Exceptionalism”.
Perhaps Romney – or his speech writers – hit just the right nerve, correctly tapping into what’s been bothering me for the past 3 1/2 years. Yet here was a Republican Conservative who through his parties mouthpieces – the Limbaugh’s, Rove’s, Bolling’s and others, preaching that we must all be good self-reliant Americans and successful job creators that should take care of ourselves and turn our backs on the needy, hungry and uninsured – telling me he’s going to take care of my family. That it was OK to have voted for Obama, but it just didn’t work out and now, again, it’s time to trust a new change agent named Mitt Romney and his side-kick Paul Ryan.
I am too old and seasoned not to be highly skeptical. One things for sure, I’m no longer Barack Obama. But deep down, I don’t think I can ever been Mitt Romney. I with a very open mind wait to hear what the Democracts have to say for themselves in Charlotte. It better be good.
Fox’s Red Eye Review (One Of) The Worst Show (S) On Television
Friends and neighbors, I like Greg Gutfeld . I’m not quite sure why, but I do. I’m also convinced that if someone threw the right amount of money at him, he would instantly transform himself into whatever you desired – a Democrat, a country singer or magazine editor. He is, most definitely, a fair-weather Conservative.
He is one of those men that other men ask themselves, how in the hell did this guy find his way out of a dorm room? If there is anyone on cable television that would fit perfectly in the role of court jester back in merry ole England, this guy is it. Fast forward to modern day and apparently he seems to be Roger Ailes joker.
On FOX very late night, he “hosts” a “show” called "Red Eye". He appears as Joe Franklin’s evil little nephew. Look it up. He claims to be married, but to many straight men, he blips on their gay-dar. I don’t care about his sexual preference, but his on air costume includes cheap boys department tweed jackets, baby blue lace up sneakers and beige Haband leisure trousers. Sadly, his father never taught him how to put properly put on a tie. Every on air “appearance” looks like his aunt has forced him to dress for Sunday school.
So, it’s late at night and you’re up for whatever reason and you’re trying to find something – anything – to look at on 350 channels of broadcast garbage. There is nothing to order on QVC or HSN and the few free movie channels are repeating crap. You despise moronic truckers driving on ice or crack head crab Alaskan fisherman pushing the limits of OSHA rules. Any real news can still only be found on "The New York Times" online. Rachel Maddow is asleep and CNN or MSNBC are swirling the drain of irrelevancy with updates about Syria and malaria in Haiti. FOX, not the entertainment side, the news “division”, is always good for a laugh, and so you come upon Red Eye.
I have to repeat myself, I like Gutfeld. He has a high enough quirky factor and, unlike Eric Bolling, who wears women’s underwear and is an angry, somewhat (speaking of irrelevant) pathetic human being, makes me smile when he talks. He is honestly quite clever in a sort of SNL – Vanity Fair way, which is where he probably belongs. But, who would be on call to give Ailes a cheap laugh (BJ?) all at the same time. Roger modeling himself after J. Edgar and Greg thinking, anytime during sex, of Bill Clinton?
I have watched Red Eye – no – I have fast forwarded – through Red Eye three times. It was always painful. Red Eye is the noodling of entertainment news analysis. Did I say it was painful? Oh yeah. Gutfeld stands up on the side of a discarded TGI Friday’s bar table presiding over typically about four or five other fellow jesters – on what else – bar stools. Soon after the opening few words of Gutfeld as Veruca Salt, all reality of what should be FOX News disappears, along with any entertainment value, unless, of course, if you are high. Drunk won’t cut it, you need to smoke or snort something to cope with what comes next.
A dude named Andy Levy, with a far better spray on tan than Gutfeld, does the “Pregame Report.” This “segment” is pathetic. This is sheer wannabe Comedy Channel quasi political shtick – broadcasting burlesque. Red Eye then “focuses” in on the panel. Tonight was Dan Bova, the very strange looking editor of Maxim Magazine, Tony Cumia from the Howard Stern satellite radio farm team, Bill Shultz who appears to be on some sort of family release from Bellevue and the on-call book end skirt, Kayleigh McEnany.
Somewhere between Washington, DC and New York, FOX News has a warehouse of human pods, all numbered. #38 is McEnany, #16 is Andrea Tantaros, #24 is Kimberly Guilfoyle – you get the idea. When FOX producers need a leggy female, most of whom have been screwed by some Democrat somehow – which is why they’re Conservatives - to serve as a bookend on one of the many FOX News shows 24/7, they press the number of the next pod in line and that female is dispatched by limo to the set.
The other night I watched, #24 Kim Giulfoyle was the Red Eye table end skirt. Kim, all dolled up as usual as a Vegas call girl, with those huge fake eyelashes, support hose, a law degree and ridiculously high heels on, was either falling asleep or saying to herself, when can I get off this Titanic – this horrible political un-comedy farce. #38, McEnany is a cute girl, but otherwise useless as an entertainer or talking head. I feel sorry for these women, but as Roger wants, you must do, even if it’s sit there at 3am when you’d rather been home in your jammies with your cat.
Perhaps this is experimental television, some NYU live internet class. At some point in his early life, Gutfeld must have made a pact with the Devil. He was given the path to success if and only if he chose one of three directions The first was to go Christian. He declined. Second was to go country – part of that “if I was a redneck” comedy tour. He would get a mini-mansion in Branson and his CD sold at Wal-Mart. He said no. The third and last option was to be a right wing Conservative clown. He “ain’t” no libertarian. You will be a Republican clown and do a show called Red Neck, sorry, Red Eye. He accepted. Listen, the show is terrible, just don’t waste your time or your DVR with it. Gutfeld himself is talented, and he’s getting a nice payday from this gig and appearing on The Five, but better things are in his future. Hopefully soon, for everyone’s sake.
 The Worst Show (S) On Television){kind=link}
Magazines…
Way too expensive, overpriced, ridiculous is just some of what I say when I pick up a magazine. I hardly see anyone standing around the magazine stand in supermarkets anymore or at the checkout, the racks filled with gossip rags with yesterday’s irrelevant news. There is guy named Mike Holmes that has a popular home remodeling cable show in Canada – it is broadcast here in the States as well. His magazine costs $14.99. That’s way more than the typical paperback. Now I just love Holmes, but would never pay that for his or any other magazine.
From what I see, the average cost of a magazine is about $7.99. My price comfort level is about $3.99. Then you have Holmes and others, like a few gun magazines I picked up, that are at the high end approaching $15. I just can’t financially justify that or half that for a magazine. I see a magazine called The Gentlewoman, printed in Holland that sells for $10.95 US. Adele is smoking a cigarette on the cover. I didn’t buy this magazine, but “borrowed” it from my automobile mechanic. It’s very good, but I never would have bought it. The price of a gallon of gas right now is $3.92! Besides, much of the “content” is available on line for free.
Have you heard of a magazine called the “Tatler”? It’s British. That’ll set you back $8.99 for “dreamy prints, heavenly styling and lots of sunshine”. One of the articles is “How The Rich Buy Life – Heaven Can Wait”. It’s kind of a Town and Country (T&C) magazine for the folks flying first class or sitting around the Beverly Hills Hotel. T&C went from a monthly to bi-monthly, which was extremely unfair because I relied on their horoscopes for years to make many important life and career decisions. How can I now do that bi-monthly? It’s just not right. Oh well. I never actually bought T&C either, just waited until I saw it hidden in the upper row of the magazine stand at my local Publix. I went right to the back page to see the advise for the sign of Taurus and put it right back.
