"Festival of Wrights": Apparently, this Reverend Jeremiah Wright controversy will never, ever die. Ever. Old man Wright has been "dominating cable news coverage like he's a missing white girl" (which, incidentally, is my new favorite phrase). Jon's ice cream analogy for the media's desperation and craving for more Wright craziness was not only hilarious, but delicious.Barack Obama's attempts to shake the controversy have also proved unsuccessful. He has managed to trigger another one of those phrase trends through the news networks, though, as everyone seems to be very fond of referring to Obama's condemnation of Wright as the candidate "throwing him under the bus." Then, The Daily Show examined our current president's Pope-y BFF, using the angriest graphics and scariest Jason Jones voiceover.
Resident Expert John Hodgman stopped by to talk about the importance of having a spiritual adviser on board in presidential matters, serving as a sort of personal trainer for the soul. It seems like Jon is always extra giggly whenever John Hodgman or John Oliver are on. Not that I blamed him though, because I also lost it with "No, if anything, it's not." And was that "illusionist" remark a little Arrested Development love? I'm just going to pretend it was.
The night's guest was Robert Schlesinger, author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters. This interview was really well-done, allowing Schlesinger to share some interesting stories on past presidents' speechwriters and the changes in the significance and importance of a good speech. What could have turned out to be an excruciatingly boring subject was surprisingly entertaining. Jon also seemed genuinely excited about a book on the show, which probably doesn't happen as often as he'd like. Oh, and I really loved that quote about Warren G. Harding that Schlesinger shared at the end, so here I'm going to post it here, just in case any of you folks want to get it tattooed on the inside of your eyelids as a constant reminder of your limited vocabulary and unexciting syntax.
"He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash."
Jon/Stephen: Stephen blew his $600 economic stimulus money on a hat. At least he looked snazzy. Moment of Zen: Joy Behar, Larry King and Barack Obama. Worst. Threesome. Ever.
TV Squad Ten: Cartoon women who should have Playboy centerfolds
Six Mad Men characters who are in limbo after the finale
Fact or Fiction: Big Bang, Brothers & Sisters and CSI
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-01-2008 @ 11:45AM
Kim said...
The Reverend Wright controversy just reinforces my overall feelings about television broadcast "journalism". The television news industry has turned into the worst ratings whore in the history of television. They will work a story until they literally cannot squeeze another sorry drop out of it. They sensationalize everything and use inflammatory language with the intent to create an emotional reaction by the viewers. They do not even make a pretense of objectivity anymore.
This is a direct result of deregulation. The multi-national corporations have taken over the news media and all they are concerned about is profit. They could care less about journalistic integrity or truth. Forget some supposed "liberal bias" that people used to harp about. Now we have big business bias. If it doesn't boost ratings, it's out of here.
Kudos to TDS for continuing to expose the main stream media for the joke it is!
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5-01-2008 @ 1:11PM
jam said...
Media frenzy is indeed an intriguing subject. I would be very curious to know who clamors for coverage of these controversial figures/remarks. I dont have a tv, so I get almost all my news from my google news page, and the headlines I see certainly dont reflect this level of fascination with Wright. *shrug* I suppose that a curious subject also.
Hooray for catching the AD reference about the "illusionist". That didnt hit me at all. I have been thinking lately (due to rumors/confirmation/whateveryoucallit of an AD movie) that Michael Cera would be an awesome guest to stir up some excitement, or really any of the cast members, or, even better I think, Mitch.
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5-01-2008 @ 3:08PM
Patrick said...
I couldn't agree more Kim!
Today is the 5th anniversary of President Bush's now infamous 'Mission Accomplished' air craft carrier landing. And how do I know this? I heard about it at least 3 times already today on the news.
Talk about needing to (what do you Obama supporters call it) 'Turn the page'?
Quite frankly I think Obama's pastor of 20 years has nothing to do with his judgement... how could he know the man that married him was a racist?
And another thing... Flag pins... give me a break... I don't care if Obama is un-American... he gives a great speech and all the 'cool kids' arte voting for him!
Bite me mainstream media!
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5-01-2008 @ 6:57PM
Bash said...
Yeah just like everybody knows whether the guy who married you was a child molester. You just HAVE to know, don't you?
Watch yesterday's Colbert Report. You'll know what I mean.
And you got it totally wrong.
The cool kids are voting for the guy who thinks another 100 years of occupying Iraq is a grand idea. And who has no health care plan.
5-01-2008 @ 3:23PM
No1Dad said...
"dominating cable news coverage like he's a missing white girl"
Actually, the missing white girl has to be attractive, or else they won't care about her either. :P
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5-01-2008 @ 10:15PM
Karen said...
Hey, give credit where credit is due. The author of that fabulous quote was the great, great H.L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore. He's probably better known as the author of the quote, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
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5-01-2008 @ 10:43PM
nickmagoo said...
sorry to burst the arrested development bubble, but doug henning (the geeky space magic man next to jimmy carter in the pic) used to say (and be roundly parodied) that he was an illuuuuusionist in a creepy soft hippy voice...methinks AD took that from him.
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