This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.
However, Limbaugh, Kobylt and Chiampou have been garnering huge ratings for decades because there is a significant enough audience for their type of programming. On the other hand, broadcasters such as Larry Elder, John Phillips, Doug McInytre and Dennis Miller may also fall on the right side of the aisle, but present a more measured approach leaning more towards wry witticisms and irony than the man cave like observations of Rush/John and Ken. Both types of formats appeal and all of these radio hosts have been extremely successful.
With the Republican Party pulling ads and El Tinklenberg coming on strong (including a spike in fundraising), it would seem as though there is severe fallout from Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann's recent appearance on Hardball. Although she never apologizes and probably hopes most people in her district missed her "anti-American" remarks, Bachmann nevertheless felt it necessary to release this video.
It will be a toss-up, however, as to whether Bachmann or VP nominee, Sarah Palin, will get this year's "Spiro Agnew Award." You remember Spiro, right? The hard-hitting, alliteration-loving and media-hating verbal hitman (and Vice President that resigned in disgrace) for Richard Nixon. Perhaps we compromise and give Bachmann the "Joe McCarthy Award" and Palin gets the one named after the former Maryland governor.
I apologize for lying to you. I promise I won't deceive you except in matters of this sort. - Spiro Agnew
Some comedic analysis on Palin and Bachmann by Bill Maher.
Some additional thoughts on patriotism and the presidency in today's Times.
Sarah Palin, in extolling the virtues of small towns, has mused about how they are "pro-America," presumably as distinct from the anti-American parts of the nation. Even more baldly, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota told MSNBC that she was "very concerned" that Barack Obama "may have anti-American views." Although Bachmann declined interviewer Chris Matthews' invitation to name other members of Congress who were anti-American, she ventured the opinion that the American people would welcome an expose on those members who fit the bill. She later tried to extricate herself from her own mudslinging, but her previous comments were neither forced nor misconstrued.
Setting aside the amusing spectacle of a member of Congress calling on the media to expose members of Congress (careful what you wish for, congresswoman), it is worth considering the implications of this alleged anti-Americanism. We begin with what we hope is obvious to all: There is a difference between disagreeing about how to improve this country and asserting that one side of the debate is pro-America and the other is anti-America. ...
The veer into who is pro- and who is anti-America, however, is another matter altogether. Does Obama's passing friendship with William Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground, constitute an act of bad judgment? Perhaps. Is it evidence of anti-Americanism? That's where a critique becomes a smear. Similarly, Bachmann glibly tossed around her malevolence, lighting upon House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid (D-Nev.), who, in her estimation, are liberal, leftist or anti-American -- or some combination thereof.
Source: Editorial. "Patriotism and the presidency," Los Angeles Times, 10/26/08. (emphasis added)
With YouTube video showing Maxine Water's duplicity in what lead to the current banking crisis precipitated by the fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, voters in Los Angeles can send a message to the Macy's shopping grand dame of Los Angeles politics, finally ejecting her from Congress (long overdue) and elect Ted Hayes to Congress. Check out this video of Waters being challenged on Real Time with Bill Maher (hardly a Republican show) about her alleged lies about contributions she received from the two mortgage banks.
Here's yet another story illustrating the politically correct goofiness that has changed the meaning of youth sports in America. It used to be that sports were to teach kids teamwork, responsibility and being their best. May the best team win. However in recent years because of concerns about children's "self esteem" these sports programs have worked to make everyone a winner such as giving a trophy even to losing teams and anything else to deman the efforts of the best performers. The latest is a story about a prodigy nine year pitcher from a Connecticut Little League team, who has been disqualified from playing, because he is "too good." Unbelievable.
You may wish to read my essay "The Audacity of Non-Conformity" over at my personal blog, Absolute Random Nonsense. I detail my experience of being on the opposite side of the Presidential question of most folks I know as a young idealistic Democrat in 1984 and as a middle aged pragmatic Republican a quarter century later.
While a few of us have tried to win his money, seen him with Charles Osgood on Sunday mornings and/or wrote speeches with him in the Nixon White House, he remains a pop cultural icon for his turn as as the "Anyone? Anyone?" monotone Economics professor in the John Hughes touchstone, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
He is now an advocate for the creationist-intelligent design movement and has a provocative documentary out called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It opened nationwide yesterday but I had a chance to see a screening of a few weeks ago here in LA. Regardless of where you stand in the debate and on freedom on inquiry, it is interesting to say the least--especially his exploration into Darwinism and how it served the philosophical underpinnings of Nazism.
FYI. Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist featured prominently in the film and author of The God Delusion, had an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday and was recently on Real Time. Btw, Bill Maher's pro-agnostic documentary Religulous arrives this summer.
There are several negative reviews of Expelled but here is a positive one by L. Brent Bozell.
