Monday, July 14th, 2008...10:08 am
I’ve Been a Bad Blogger
Okay, okay, I’ve been bad about posting lately. It’s not a lack of ideas for posts, it’s mostly just a lack of motivation. That’s right, blogging is just like method acting.
Yesterday morning, I made the mistake of watching Late Edition. Wolf Blitzer irritates the heck out of me. I realize that all of these guys are tremendously full of themselves (and not just the guys: Rachel Maddow veered solidly into “It’s all about me” territory a couple of times subbing for on-my-side-but-still-a-blowhard Keith Olbermann last week), but Blitzer practices so much self love that the man should be blind according to the best Victorian-era doctors.
Take his tribute to Tony Snow. Apparently, the most important thing about Snow was that he appeared on Blitzer’s show a couple of times. The already turgid Blitzer was further fluffed when Jessica Yellin (part of the “Best Political Team on Television (TM)) pointed out that Snow was even close to former host Frank Sesno even though “it is hard to believe that there was a Late Edition before you, Wolf.”
Gosh, he needed that.
The common thing that folks rag on for the show is that “Best Political Team on Television (TM)” tag. I think there is little truth to the story that they must say this nine times in any given hour, I think that Wolf just likes saying it because it further builds his own sense of self importance. The line that irritates me is “Our very popular ‘In Case You Missed It’ segment.” Very popular. Yes, the “In Case You Missed It” segment causes palpatations in teenage girls unseen since the Beatles played Shea Stadium. Managers of the midwestern power grid have to take special precautions when the segment is about to air. I heard that ministers end their sermons early so that their congregants can see the very popular “In Case You Missed It” segment. A couple in Stanislaus, California has named their son “In Case You Missed It” because they want their boy to be the coolest on campus.
Puh-leeze. You got any Nielsens to back that up?
Anyway, not a fan of the guy. If you ever need proof of his ego, you don’t even have to actually watch the show. Just watch the opening credits. I swear that it’s what inspired the opener for The Colbert Report.
One other piece of silliness: they had Carly Fiorina on one of those shows yesterday (it’s all a blur), the host asks her about the Vice-Presidency. Her response, “I don’t deal in hypotheticals.”
Please, could our political establishment come up with a new non-response? For one thing, people in politics “deal” in hypotheticals all the time. For example: “If elected, my opponent will poison thousands of crippled children, send the moon crashing into a major city but worst of all, will raise your taxes a fraction of a percent.” Hypothetical.
I don’t like the phrase. “Deal” in hypotheticals? I mean, how much do those run these days? Have the profit margins been affected by gas prices yet?
Sorry, I’ll end my rant now.
5 Comments
July 14th, 2008 at 11:03 am
But you have to admit, Rachel Maddow looks pretty hot in that plunging neckline suit she’s been wearing.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
When I heard Fiorina saying she didn’t deal in hypotheticals, I thought that this woman was CEO of a huge corporation and surely she must have dealt with hypotheticals all the time: revenue and earnings projections, proposed new products and services, different kinds of marketing, all the kinds of hypotheticals that any business leader must deal with all the time.
I agree that that line is utterly ridiculous, and not just for first-year law students.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Goodness Ted, tell us how you really feel.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Sweet, another person who doesn’t like Wolf Blitzer! And I thought I was the only one.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Excellent rant. What really chaps me about Leslie Blitzer is that he’s every bit the self-important popinjay you say he is, but manages to pull off the “serious sober journalist” shtick just well enough for his colleagues to fall over themselves to pay homage to it. Blecch. At least with Lou Dobbs, you get the sense that he knows he’s being a dick and is enjoying faking his viewers out.
My peeve with the cable news today is the pimping of the latest Murdered Pretty White Woman. I mean, I understand that all TV networks are mandated to provide misogynists and other assorted pervs their requisite dose of jollies but come on, 15 minutes an hour is enough! Go back to propping up McCain and showing everyone the New Yorker cover again.
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