Brokering Peace in the Northeast

Obama's "Beer Summit" pales in comparison to what ales MSNBC and FOX.

Unlike Obama's very public pimping of what he billed as a "teachable moment" on an alabaster wrought iron table and chairs in the White House Rose Beer Garden, FOX boss Rupert Murdoch and GE's Jeff Immelt held their summit under the table.

How hard is it to strap muzzles on MSNBC head trip Keith Olbermann and  FOX headliner Bill O'Reilly?   Model it after the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty normalizing relations between the two countries. 

Personal attacks are not acceptable in ANY forum.  Period.  Why the Olbermann-instigated on-air war had to get to Murdoch's and Immelt's level is beyond me.  Suits at both cable networks should've been willing and capable of pulling the plug on both egos.

Who leaked this to the LA Times and why?

LA Times:  The on-screen and behind-the-scenes feuding between cable news rivals MSNBC, owned by General Electric Co., and News Corp.'s Fox News has become so ugly that the chief executives of their respective parent companies recently held a hush-hush meeting to try to broker a peace treaty.

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch and General Electric chief Jeffrey Immelt met up at -- appropriately enough -- the Microsoft CEO summit in Redmond, Wash., to figure out how to defuse tensions between the two channels, Company Town has learned. The primary focus of the chit-chat was the back-and-forth sniping between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly. The two often exchange insults, Olbermann by name, O'Reilly by insinuation.

If Immelt and Murdoch took their message of peace and love back to their respective news channels, it doesn't seem to have taken. Olbermann, who generally is the aggressor, has been attacking Fox News and O'Reilly on a regular basis. O'Reilly still takes occasional shots at MSNBC, NBC and General Electric.

Are news executives spineless pussies terrorized by egomaniacal - and in one case, clearly pathological - on-air talent earning multimillion dollar salaries?

Grow some balls guys and drag the combatants out of the sandbox for the "greater good" of both cable networks and the drama-weary viewers.

Rudy to Obama: Teach This!

Rudy Guiliani to Obama: "Shut up!" Had he not been on TV w/Sean Hannity, I'm confident Brooklyn-born Rudy woulda said "Shut the fuck up!"

Conan: Doomed to Tomb?

Why it's way too early to write Conan's epitaph.

Obama FCC Czar: No Fairness Doctrine

B&C interview with Obama FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski:   Q: Diversity of voices and opinion was part of the president's overarching communications policy position. Can you draw a distinction between the Fairness Doctrine, which you oppose, and promoting diversity of voices?

A:  That's a good question. I would ask those who think they are related to explain to me how they are. The Fairness Doctrine ultimately has the huge risk of getting the government involved in censoring speech on the basis of political views and opinion. And that is not acceptable to me. Chilling speech was the core reason that the Fairness Doctrine was repealed. The commission, as long as I am here, won't have any interest in reinstating it and doing anything to censor speech based on political views and opinions.

The interest in diversity goes back to the beginnings of the Communications Act. It goes back to core principles underlying the First Amendment. We benefit as a society when we have a vibrant marketplace of ideas representing different points of view. And that is a proposition that I don't think has been disputed.

Picnic Table Beer Summit

Vinney, Chickaboomer's head joke writer, notes Bill Clinton's Thursday Beer Summit got zero press.

Chris Matthews on Officer Crowley: "We've got another Susan Boyle here."

The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove: CNN couldn’t resist offering up “The Audacity of Hops” and “The Coalition of the Swilling.” MSNBC weakly supplied “Ale to the Chief."

Me: Later Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" absconded with CNN's "Audacity of Hops" in an on-screen graphic.

Lloyd: CNN, it has to be said, owned this story—but not always in a good way. In its pre-game coverage, Wolf Blitzer presided earnestly in front of a multi-screen display showing live shots of various locations on the White House grounds—including a bunch of photographers doing nothing in the “Briefing Room,” an inert structure labeled “Fence,” and an otherwise unidentifiable wall labeled “West Wing. “ The reductio ad absurdum of CNN’s coverage was Tom Foreman’s pointlessly detailed demonstration, complete with high-tech video pullouts, of how White House officials changed the venue of the beerfest from the picnic table by the playground equipment on the South Lawn to the smaller table in the Rose Garden.

Lloyd: "I’m pretty unimpressed, Wendell,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier complained to White House correspondent Wendell Goler.

“I’m pretty unimpressed, too,” Goler said. Compared to its two rivals, Fox’s coverage was succinct and predictably sour. “Patronizing, condescending, insufferable,” Fox talking head Charles Krauthammer said of Obama. “Otherwise, I’m sure he’s a nice guy.” Bill Kristol snickered about Biden’s surprise appearance: “I give President Obama a huge amount of credit for caring about Vice President Biden.”

Me: Lloyd (email GROVEL), the sourness had nothing to do with politics. FOX simply saw the event for what it was.

But MSNBC was impressed with Sgt. Crowley's post-brew press conference.

Lloyd: The never-restrained Chris Matthews—who devoted much of his 5 p.m. Hardball show on MSNBC to the impending meeting—did a live opening segment for the usual 7 p.m. repeat, replete with assessments of body language and facial expressions, and found it impossible not to compare the meeting to Bill Clinton’s historic White House ceremony between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Matthews broke in for Sgt. Crowley’s televised news conference at AFL-CIO headquarters, which was also carried live on Fox and CNN. The shock of the night: This supposedly media-innocent cop was thoughtful, relaxed, and even humorous before the cameras as he announced that he and the professor were planning to meet again.

Afterward on CNN, Lou Dobbs marveled: “He sounded at points like a politician.”

On Hardball, Politico columnist Roger Simon agreed: “He was like a head of state. He was very glib.” NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker chimed in: “A star is born.”

But it was Matthews who came up with a metaphor befitting the strange excess of the night: “We’ve got another Susan Boyle here.”

Dana Milbank Wash Post "It Wasn't One For The Guinness Book": The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza solicited suggestions for a name. The results: "Yes, Three Cans." "Ménage à Stella Artois." "Beerastroika." "A Thousand Points of Bud Light." And "The Audacity of Hops."

Milbank - a talking head on Olbermann's MSNBC show until he crossed Olbermann - failed to get on CNN, so now he and Cillizza stroke their egos on "Mouthpiece Theater."

Suds Dud

OSLO, NORWAY (AP) -- President Barack Obama has been nominated for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after Lou Dobbs proved Obama is the reincarnation of King Solomon and has a birth certificate to prove it.

Some fool on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan show just opined that Joe Biden was there because they "needed another white guy."

Apparently Joe was receiving his weekly Botox injection and missed the toast.

Maybe it was the same MSNBC talking head fool marveling that Sgt. Joe Crowley was so glib, poised and articulate after his post-brew presser that there's talk of a political future.

Idiots.

Prof. Gates put out a statement "An Accident of of Time and Place." Call him the Accidental White House Tourist. Obama loftily proclaimed the moment "a positive lesson."

Obama's promoting alcoholism.

The media are poring over the two-minute "Beer Summit" jiggly silent video frame by frame much like historians analyzing the Zapruder film.

Related: NYP Wash Post Poll: Obama mishandled Gates NYT: "They came, they met, they drank, they didn't apologize." TIME: The Beer Heard Around The World

Houston, We Have A Problem

MSNBC and CNN space cadets put up countdown clocks to Obama's "beer summit." 

Now who is behaving "stupidly?"  T Minus fucking fatuous. 

h/t TVNewser screengrabs.

Obama's Shot and A Beer

I thought the media-created "Beer Summit" was a) at Obama's picnic table, and b) as Obama downplayed  just "three folks having a drink at the end of the day."

Where did Joe Biden come from and what about those matching black pants and white shirts?  Obama and Biden look like waiters, although in the raw video I did see a gray suit-clad WH waiter scurry with a frosted beer mug on a tray. 

Foetogs were stationed so far away they had to use telephoto lenses to get the shot of the four in the Rose Garden.

The staged shot reminds me of TV sitcom family dinners with Donna Reed/Bill Cosby/Archie Bunker - name your show - crowded around the kitchen table with no backs to the camera.

A Obama-crafted lofty Hallmark "teachable moment" my ass brought to you by the crafty Professor Obama.

Earlier today Obama thrilled to the moment.  "I'm fascinated about the fascination with this evening."

Conan: This Dud's For You

Letterman lopes past Conan for the third week in a row. First time since July 1995.

Baier Essentials

Simple. They watch Glenn at 5p and then head to the White House for beers with Obama at 6...

Source:  TVByTheNumbers

CNBC: Kneale and Pray

That ratings improve. Dennis Kneale's assault on bloggers didn't translate into ratings. Down 28% from last July.

Obama: Tonight, 'Lo 'Bro

This is how Obama hopes it'll go down. Party like it's 1979!



h/t Vinney, Chickaboomer's head joke writer

Henry Gates: " Be polite... You wouldn't have gotten your ass kicked..."

To Harvard Professor Henry "Skip" Gates: Watch this before you cork off to some hard ass Capitol Hill Police officer or Secret Service Agent on your way for some brewski with Obama at the WH tonight:



Or DC cop. This was years ago. I made a left turn on a red light. DC police officer pulls me over. I'd just had a manicure and my nails were still wet. I gingerly attempt to pull out my driver's license. It slips between the seat and the door. I ask the cop to get it because my nails were wet. He refused. I ruined my manicure. Had I went batshit I'd probably still be in the slammer...

No Clear Channel for Sarah Palin

Permit me to offer my opinion on the real reason giant radio syndicator Clear Channel turned up its nose at a Sarah Palin talk show: Politics.

Inside Radio reported Tuesday that Palin's people are fishing for radio gigs. The speculation is Clear Channel which owns Premiere Radio Networks (syndicators of Rush, Glenn Beck, Dr. Laura and others) doesn't think Palin can hack a three-hour show.

I don't think that's it. CC wants to steer clear of pissing off the White House and the new Democratic FCC chairman and FCC commissioners. Not to mention California Congressman and Fairness Doctine advocate Henry Waxman - now powerful chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee overseeing the Telecommunications Subcommittee.

And I'd make book a Premiere-syndicated Sarah Palin radio talk show would cause a tsunami of troubles for CC. Mark, Randall, and CC founder Lowry Mays are shrewd businessmen and political pragmatists.

Prediction: No Radio Palin. Anywhere syndicated.

Don Ho Imus: "Lou Dobbs is a grassy knoll nut."

And that's what Imus says about his FRIEND Lou. The crusty radio host came up with the line and not FOX's Chris Wallace as reported by Media Matters.  Imus said it; Wallace agreed; Huff Po got it right.

Campbell's Ratings Not Mmm' Mmm' Good

Tuesday July 28, 2009 Nielsens:
P2+ Total Day

FNC – 1,290,000 viewers
CNN – 627,000 viewers
MSNBC –355,000 viewers
CNBC – 154,000 viewers
HLN – 259,000 viewers

Poor Campbell Brown.  All of 2009 in fourth place ratings soup with letters spelling "YOU SUCK."

Let's cut through the bull, shall we?  CNN realizes Brown has done nothing with that doomed time slot.  Time for CNN's musical chairs.

Who's next? 

Joy Behar's HLN show kicks off in September.  Is CNN grooming Joy for prime time?

How about CNN chucking it all and going Celebrity News Network?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Inside Cable News

Conan Plugs The Dyke

Conan O'Brien: "The host of the very popular Rachel Maddow Show..."

"Popular" among whom? Rachel's ratings are dropping like a muff diver on a mission.

Rachel appeared on Conan's ratings-challenged NBC "Tonight" show Wednesday night and admitted she had her Obama jeans on that the prez told her he liked. You can actually see the outline of Rachel's balls in her tighter than Obama's Mom jeans.

Anderson Cooper's Forked Tongue

Anderson Cooper: "I kissed ten guys but only four with tongue in cheek." 

Frozen Pleas

"Let He With $00.00 In His Freezer Cast The First Stone" Dana Milbank Wash Post: As defense attorney for the congressman who stashed the bribe money in his freezer, Robert Trout had an unenviable task. So in his closing arguments Wednesday, Trout adopted a different client: He acted as if all of Washington were on trial.

"We all occupy the gray area -- it's just part of human nature," Trout explained, as if former congressman William Jefferson's proposal to bribe the vice president of Nigeria were an everyday occurrence.

"We're going to make mistakes . . . we may do reckless things," the lawyer continued, as if having $90,000 of the FBI's money in Pillsbury pie crusts in the Louisiana Democrat's house was tantamount to exceeding the speed limit.

To illustrate this curious analogy, Trout displayed a graphic for jurors. On one side of a yellow line, in bold red letters, was the word "CRIME." On the other side of the yellow line were the words "recklessness," "negligence" and "mistakes" -- and a headless man in jacket and tie raising his hands in a shrug.

"The point here is what members of Congress are expected to do in their jobs," Trout told the jurors. "If seeking political help was a crime, you could lock up half of metropolitan Washington, D.C."

It was a bit of a stretch to suggest that Jefferson -- caught on tape demanding financial payouts and caught on film taking $100,000 from an FBI informant -- was just doing what other lawmakers do. But it may test just how cynical Americans are about their government. If jurors assume the whole lot of politicians are bought and paid for, then it may indeed seem unfair that prosecutors are singling out this one.

It's a slim reed on which to base a defense, but it's about all Jefferson has. He was offered a plea deal of six years in prison, according to the law enforcement news Web site Ticklethewire.com, but he rejected that out of hand. Now he's facing up to 235 years for the various counts prosecutors have thrown at him.

Trout was perfectly happy to admit many times that his client had done "something stupid." He even acknowledged that Jefferson was guilty of "what amounts to ethics violations and the appearance of impropriety." But he said that doesn't mean the congressman did anything illegal -- and that Jefferson had paid a heavy enough price by losing his seat and becoming "the object of a national joke about money in the freezer."

In fact, Trout held up Jefferson as a better man than many of his former colleagues on Capitol Hill. Jefferson "never offered or promised any earmark," he said, reminding jurors of former senator Ted Stevens's "Bridge to Nowhere." Neither, he said, did Jefferson propose any legislation to aid his business interests. "That's how Jack Abramoff got himself into trouble -- they're not doing that," he said.

No, the money laundering alleged against Jefferson was "a completely legitimate business transaction," and the payouts to him were "a recognition of his success in raising capital." Papers showing his requests for financial stakes for family members? "These are business agendas -- that's what this was all about. It was business."

At the end, he returned to the all-Washington-is-a-cesspool theme.

Related:  Dana Milbank "Clarence Darrow Meets Clarence Birdseye" June 17, 2009

Glenn Beck: Justify or Vilify?

The New York Daily News poll on whether FOX News blowhard Glenn Beck's a racist? So far 48 percent think he's calling it like he sees it. 41 percent racist. 11 percent believe he's just being a pundit.

On his radio show Wednesday Beck defended branding Obama a racist.

Why do I think Beck is correct?  Obama pays lip service to whites.  He manipulates and uses them when it is convenient.  How could the anti-white invective of Reverend Jeremiah Wright not rub off on Obama after 20 years in Wright's Chicago church?  I empathize with black anger and resentment toward whites' subhuman treatment and I understand how these attitudes evolved.

The good racist reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are masters at exploiting white guilt and blackmail to pressure and pry money out of offending corporations. Both have advanced degrees in milking and bilking the system.  Both men affect righteousness and ignore hypocrisy when it suits their missions.

During the presidential campaign Obama invoked his white mother and grandmother to white audiences.  Politics as usual (Hillary put on a fake Southern accent before black audiences) - but more. Just this week Obama - polls plummeting -  brought up his white mother in a health care appearance before a skeptical AARP.

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan kicks off his 9a show this a.m. talking "Race 3.0"  with Jesse Jackson  "A person of color is more likely to have his limb amputated... the issue of race profiling is so painful."

Executive summary: "systemic flaws."

Maybe Obama's beer diplomacy will work.  What's required is that whites and blacks universally wipe the slate clean.  Forgive and let go of the anger, resentment, fear-driven hatred, name-calling, stereotyping.  For that matter extend this to the entire warring planet.  Muslims, Jews,  Shi'ites, Sunnis, Chechens, Russians - you get the drift.

How much has REALLY changed for urban blacks since the seminal "Tally's Corner" study (which I read as a sociology minor) on streetcorner existence was published in 1967?

Pack the planet into H.G. Wells's Time Machine to an idyllic peaceful world that's evolved far beyond base behavior. 

I often wish for an Earth existence AFTER the planet's warring savages of all stripes disappear from the planet like dinosaurs...

Idol Gossip

NYDN Gatecrasher snipes: Dan Abrams apparently wants to turn the tables on those who gossiped about his brief fling with Renee Zellweger: The NBC legal correspondent launched his own gossip Web site, Gossip Cop, yesterday. The first item on the site, which seems sort of like TMZ meets The Huffington Post: A brilliant exposé on Angelina Jolie not moving to Washington. How’s that for investigative journalism?

Dan Abrams: Whores With No Shame

Is former MSNBC show host and NBC legal analyst Dan Abrams on drugs? He's got that undereye heroin look. And behavior as he attacks another talking head for diverting him from his fix. Or maybe it's crack cocaine. Telltale sign: Dan's irritable.

Dan was on MSNBC Wednesday a.m. pimping yet another website he's launched -two in the last month - Mediaite and now Gossip Cop.

Inside Cable News: "Has anyone bothered to ask NBC why it allowed Dan to go on the air to pitch the Gossip Cop site when it launched but not Mediaite? What’s the difference in pitching one but not the other? Apparently NBC thought there was but I have no idea why. Is it because NBC had the exclusive but when Mediaite launched the print press had the scoop first the day the site launched?"

Dear ICN: Dan's got his hooks into NBC through Abrams Research which culls his new website Mediaite - an incubator for Abrams Research reports for paying clients? Conflict of interest if a business relationship is exposed? Dan promised to reveal the names of Abrams Research clients, but like the British government promising UFO transparency, it hasn't happened.

And why didn't Dan trumpet Gossip Cop's top debut story in his MSNBC TV appearance Wednesday a.m.? That photo of Madonna's stringy arms is a FAKE?

Christiane Amanpour's Psychogenic Fugue

CNN's Christiane Amanpour's makeover for her September CNN show debut extends to her memory.  Here she is on Craig Ferguson bloviating how she doesn't wear politics on her "sleeve" - Armani - and waxing unconvincingly about her objective journalism role model, the late Walter Cronkite, after Ferguson inexplicably compared her work to Uncle Walter's brand of broadcasting:



h/t NewsBusters

Glenn Livid

MSNBC "Morning Joe" host and former Repub Congressman Joe Scarborough reax to FOX's Glenn Beck branding Obama "a racist."

Joe's Twitter:  "Conservatives attacked the Dixie Chicks for saying much less about President Bush than what Beck said about President Obama."

FOX's programming SVP Bill Shine claims Glenn is just like all cable news commentators expressing opinion.

FOX & Friends host Brian Kilmeade challenged Beck by arguing (with the clueless reverse of "Some of my best friends are black") that Obama's staff is mostly white and ticked off a few names.

David Shuster: Bald Ego

MSNBC's David Shuster emails Huff Po's Danny Shea denying the NYP Page Six item that he went batshit when, while filling in for Keith Olbermann, the camera dudes shot his head from the back exposing his balding pate.

Let me tell you where I think this came from whether it is true or false.  I didn't have time to dick around with the leak before.  The vacationing Olbermann Himself.  Olbermann hates Shuster and I suspect wasn't happy about Shuster warming his seat on "Countdown."

Vindictive Olbermann's engaged in bizarre behavior before - from leaks, to weirdo on-air paranoid fantasies about someone taking him out on an outside set (during the Dem prez convention in Denver).

Related:  MSNBC's Hair Flub for Men

Separated At Birth: FOX's Mika Straka and Eddie Munster

Mike Straka.  Producer of FOX's "Strategy Room" on FOXnews.com. VP FOX Digital. Martial arts.  "Fight Club" host. Hungarian.  Monster ego.  39.

Eddie Munster.  Werewolf/vampire.  Transylvanian. Directs Spot the Dragon. Dodges Igor the Bat. Superpowers. Monster.  739.

Mike Straka first caught my attention in a February 2009 NYT piece on FOX's "Strategy Room."  Straka: “As long as we don’t make it look like TV, I’ll be happy.”

Straka appears to be using his position to make his part of the FOX website look like his own personal fiefdom promoting martial arts sites where he's an active participant (ranking committee)  pimping his FOX News chops in his bio.  Like a non sequitur.  Site disconnect. WTF?  Why is he all over FOX's website? 

His on-air stuff is dull and egoiastic.  Straka's so full of himself his FOX bio stands alone in design from the other talent.  It took my computer 25 seconds to load up Straka's self-serving banner, photo, links.

How Straka broke through the dickhead glass ceiling at FOX is beyond me.  Who hired him in 1996?  Who promoted him?  Who's protecting him?  His benefactor.

Straka used his position at FOX to pimp his sole book (on Amazon.com with boffo reviews probably planted by Straka) in a 2006 lame ass column on FOX's website.

Is he double-dipping? Collecting a presumed six-figure paycheck at FOX - and grateful martial arts organizations' under-the-table payments for the Straka-placed links driving FOX's website traffic?

Straka oozes over the hot FOX babes, fantasizing  footsie under the anchor desk with one of his targets.  His on-air performances are so bad CNN's Campbell Brown's Q ratings go off the charts.  His on-air performances are so bad that Eddie Munster looks positively lively sleeping in his coffin.

I hope FOX doesn't put this stiff on the air.  CNN and MSNBC already have resident idiots in Rick Sanchez and Dylan Ratigan.  FOX shouldn't be persuaded to grant a trial membership to "The Light Club." 

Erin Andrews Investigation A Bust?

The NYP reports the ESPN Erin Andrews nude hotel video investigation strangely isn't, lending creedence to speculation that the booby babe was in on it.

Lou Dobbs: Still Birth

CNN's Lou Dobbs losing it Tuesday on his radio show dubbing FOX's Geraldo Rivera "severly intellectually challenged." MSNBC's Rachel Maddow the "teabagging queen" for claiming Lou's a "birther" which he now denies now that his boss Jon Klein is forced to answer questions over CNN's sanctioning Lou's birther rumor rants. 

A puzzled Rachel on her show Tuesday night found it "deeply confusing" to be called a "teabagging queen."  Especially since she and her long time live-in girlfriend have no balls.

CNN: Reporting Rumors as Fact "A Dead Issue."

Maybe it was the three-hour time difference between LA and the East Coast. It wasn't long after CNN czar Krazy Jon Klein uttered those words to the salivating TV critics about rumor and conspiracy buff Lou Dobbs and his Obama foreigner fixation that Dobbs went on the air with the same one-note samba with a couple of Klein-mandated corrections.

CNN's ratings only thrive on death so the way I interpret Klein's remark is that CNN's going full tilt boogie on birthers.

Lisa de Moraes Wash Post TV critic: "Summer TV Press Tour 2009 kicked off Tuesday with CNN showing up to plug a new Christiane Amanpour documentary, a Soledad O'Brien series and John King's "State of the Union."

Sadly, TV critics mostly wanted to talk about Lou Dobbs, host of the news network's "I'm Lou Dobbs and You're Not," and his ongoing gasbagging about President Obama not coughing up his birth certificate.

Dobbs thinks that Obama should produce it to put to rest rantings and rumors that he's not actually a natural-born U.S. citizen and therefore not eligible to be president. Not producing the birth certificate looks pretty fishy, Dobbs has insinuated.

"There are two strands to this story," CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein began to explain patiently to the critics. "There are the facts and then there is the flap. What Lou, and everybody else at CNN, has done is very clearly report and run down the facts."

There is no doubt, Klein acknowledged, that Obama was born in Hawaii. "And Lou Dobbs has reported that over and over again."

Separate from that, Klein said, is the issue of people who believe it anyway. Dobbs, Klein explained, is merely "exploring those flaps."

"But it's a dead issue," he added.

Why give so much airtime to a dead issue? Glad you asked. TV critics did, too. More accurately, one asked: Why is so much airtime being devoted to "giving voice to this sort of idiocy on your network?"

Klein argued that CNN had spent a lot more time on health care, Afghanistan and Iraq, "but the spirit of your question is, why we devote any time," Klein said. (These news-network chiefs can be pretty patronizing.)

CNN viewers expect it to "do the reporting, present the facts and present a range of points of views" and then "viewers want to make up their own minds," Klein explained.

Which explains their upcoming documentary: "The World: Flat. We Report -- You Decide." Okay, we made that one up.

Anyway, seeing that this was not playing well with the critics, King jumped in and likened the birth-certificate kerfuffle to the people who still thought Obama was Muslim, even after CNN itself did a report debunking that story.

Obama's campaign, King said, had to spend time, energy and "hard-earned money" educating people to the fact that Obama was not Muslim right up until the election.

"If we ignore conversations happening out there, just because we've already said it's not true -- we often don't get to decide what's relevant," King said.

"People sometimes make that decision."

Related: TIME mag's James Poniewozik "CNN's Klein on Dobbs and Birthers"

Peace de Resistance

The last major figure to sit at Obama's picnic table? Hillary. What does that tell you?

Obama's minimizing the targets and controversies by forcing them to slide in at close contact in a Mickey Mouse environment surrounded by an expensive swing set and slide.

The media-branded Picnic Table Summit, my bony ass, and if I were sitting there seemingly forever for the cheesy photo op, it would be.

Like the Camp David Accords of yore that went nowhere and ended up with PLO terrorist Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin absurdly sharing the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, and Jimmy Carter in 2002,  the Picnic Table Summit is merely all show and no go. 

Cue Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam and a Greek birthname before Cat) and "Peace Train."



That was 1976. Twenty years later Cat/Yusuf performs the same tune at the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo.

CNN's Death Bump. FOX Soars. Olbermann Tanks.

Death pushes CNN back to second place in the cable news race.   Unless some other high value celebrity target kicks off, it's a temporary bump.  Don't believe me?  Look at how the Michael Jackson-bereft syndicated entertainment shows' numbers plummeted.

The Wise Media Men predicted that an Obama White House would mean the death knell for FOX but the opposite has happened with in-the-Obama-tank MSNBC's numbers dropping like Blue Dog Democrats. But is CNN's July "fluke" Jackson or Obama?

FOX has enjoyed a 70% prime time increase from last July.  What can you say about  FOX's numbers other than FOX ranks third to TNT and USA Network, leaving the other chumps in the dust.  FOX owns nine of the ten top cable shows.  To wit:  Monday July 27th Nielsen numbers.

As for MSNBC psychoblowhard Keith Olbermann, "the ratings trend is not his friend." 

Neither is the Rorschach test which, contrary to reports Olbermann's on vacation  obsessing on baseball in Cooperstown, the MSNBC "Countdown" host is in a rubber room surreptitiously studying Wikipedia's Rorshach inkblot cheat sheet.

What do YOU see?

The Cable Guy

Bill Carter NYT: The deal maker is gone. Now it’s the cable guy’s turn.

Ben Silverman, who called himself a “rock-star television executive” and tried to turn aroundNBC’s struggling prime-time schedule with reality shows and advertising-driven programs like “The Celebrity Apprentice” and “Knight Rider,” announced on Monday that he would leave as co-chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment to start a new venture with the media and Internet mogul Barry Diller.

At the same time, NBC said that it would promote Jeff Gaspin [left], a longtime executive who oversees NBC’s lineup of cable channels, like USA, Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC; its syndication business; and the Spanish-language network Telemundo, to chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment. Mr. Gaspin will run the entertainment operation of the NBC network, including its prime-time schedule.

By awarding Mr. Gaspin supervision of the flagship broadcast channel as well as the cable channels, NBC Universal is acknowledging a shift that viewers and advertisers already recognize: that the distinction between broadcast and cable is evaporating.

“The distinction is definitely waning,” said David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Company. “It makes NBC seem more like a cable network company.”

Making Amends

The arresting Henry Gates reax to Web of Deception Joseph Culligan's outing of Gates's home-based non-profit that has awarded phony "research grants" to his bride to be, and a female employee.  Gates is minimizing it as an "accounting error" requiring a routine amendment to his tax forms.

Joe:  "He [Gates] gave a total of $27,000 out in grants and $6,000 was to fiancee and $10,000 to his secretary. They will now have to pay income tax on the money because it is now compensation and not a research grant. They will have to pay Social Security tax, Federal and state income, etc."

Contrary to what the Boston Globe reported, Joe got the Gates smoking gun first.

Sarah Palin: Baked Alaska?

A new FOX News poll indicates only six percent think Sarah should be president.   CNN's Wolf Blitzer had comedian Bill Maher on Monday's "Situation Room" and Maher bluntly bellowed "I'd never put anything past this stupid country."

h/t Mediaite screengrab

Lou Dobbs Birther Defects

Should CNN fire tinny Ted Baxter Lou Dobbs for on-air obsessing over the Obama not an American rumors? FOX's Bill O'Reilly gets in a few shots at Lou and CNN in his "bogus" birthers bit: "He's just using this to stir the pot and get viewers... It's an absurd story... All he's doing is bloviating... Lou Dobbs's ratings aren't very good... CNN's never going to fire him..."

Vagina Monologue

Former Madison Avenue adman now MSNBC ditz Donny Deutch "The reason we have a fascination with Sarah Palin - men and women: This is the first woman in power that has sexual appeal and people don't know what to do with it. That's why people are fascinated with her. Everything else is secondary. OK, beat me off up."

Bud Wiser

WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs taps FOX's Wendell Goler for Thursday's beer run.

The media are brewing trite "Beer Diplomacy" as Obama holds peace talks at 6p Thursday with warring parties Henry Gates and the arresting Sgt. Crowley.   For whatever ales... Obama's drinking Bud. Crowley Blue Moon.  Gates prefers Beck's or Red Stripe. 

MSNBC's Willie Is Up

I can't take credit for that line.  It's Jim Bohannon's "Your Willie Is Up."  Not only is Willie up, but over on the Big Network's Weather Channel, Al Roker is up Oh Dark Early with a 6a show.

NYT's TV critic Alessandra Stanley:  The sun never sets on the NBC empire, and the test pattern never rises.

Me:  NBC's moving toward pulling a 24-hour train.

Alessandra:  Mr. Geist brings a touch of “Daily Show” irreverence to the pomposity of cable news, which is one reason he does so well as a foil to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on “Morning Joe”; his rapport with younger viewers is what led MSNBC to give him his own platform. Mr. Geist joked that “Way Too Early” is “brewed by Sanka,” a poke at “Morning Joe,” which recently took some heat from Jon Stewart and others for openly plugging the coffee of its sponsor, Starbucks.

But the atomization of cable news shows, which are themselves small-bore spinoffs of network news programs, can at times seem alarmingly forced. And MSNBC, which recently introduced a “Morning Joe” chaser, “Morning Meeting” with Dylan Ratigan, is particularly ruthless about stretching its talent pool. There are fewer and fewer hours of straight news, and more and more one-rant programs like “The Ed Show,” a soapbox for the opinions of Ed Schultz, a popular radio host, or niche-seeking missiles like “Dr. Nancy,” a health show hosted by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the chief medical editor of NBC News.

Niches have their place, of course. “Morning Joe,” which developed a cult following during the 2008 presidential election, remains a lifeline for viewers who want a “Today” show stripped of cooking lessons, bridal showers, makeovers, dieting tips and the occasional wrenching interview with the grieving parents of a missing child.

“Wake Up With Al” offers a “Today” show stripped of everything but Mr. Roker.

MSNBC Eats Its Young

Alessandra Stanley "The TV Watch" NYT:  "It’s a narrowing gyre: as soon as regular contributors or co-hosts begin to develop marketable personas, they get their own show. And sometimes, as is the case with Rachel Maddow, who was fun to watch at first but lately has run out of steam, too much is worse than too little."

"MSNBC brings news and spirited political opinion to viewers who don’t rely on the Internet for their information and entertainment, but it also eats its young."

Rachel has been unable to plug the hole in her ratings dike.

Unilateral Disarmament

Arms control.

Bang a Bong: NBC's Golden Boy Silverman Gone

No shocker. Ben Silverman segues from Jeff Zucker to Barry Diller. The NBC program co-head dope head's co-head Marc Graboff stays but reports to new NBCUNI entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin.  Wash Post's Lisa de Moraes

I would've fired him for his obnoxious laugh. 

NBC press release quoting Zucker:  "Ben Silverman has many exciting things he wants to accomplish and we applaud him as he sets off on his new endeavors."

NYP Peter Lauria "Silver into Gold":  Only Ben Silverman could parlay a two-year hitless streak as NBC's chief programmer into a new gig that gives him total control and $100 million in development money.

That's the amount of cash that Barry Diller's IAC plans to use to seed Silverman's unnamed new venture, according to two sources with knowledge of the funding plans. And more money may be on the way as Silverman -- one of the entertainment industry's slickest talkers -- tries to persuade Wall Street banks and private-equity firms, many of which offered to back Silverman before he teamed up with IAC, to invest in the new company.

Silverman's former employer, NBC Universal, is already considering an investment in the new enterprise, and sources said Diller is likely to call on deep-pocketed friends like former Viacom CEO Tom Freston or former Yahoo! boss Terry Semel to invest as well.

Taken together, Silverman... could have as much as $200 million in funding when he officially leaves NBC in a few weeks.

Related: Variety "Gaspin's NBC Universal Rise"

MSNBC's Hair Flub for Men

Page Six:  David Shuster is a little sensitive about his thinning hair. Although daytime cameramen at MSNBC have been instructed never to shoot the anchor from behind, the prime-time crew never got the memo. "David went crazy when he filled in for Keith Olbermann last week and was shot from behind, exposing his bald spot," said a source close to production. "He went crazy and is so upset about it, he's thinking about getting a rug." MSNBC had no comment.

Shuster banned his wedding photog from snapping any pictures from behind as he stood under the chuppa.

Filling in for Olbermann tonight:  Howard Dean. 

CNN: Fade To Black

Not even Barack Obama or Henry Gates could save "Black In America 2."   [Above, hostess Soledad O'Brien and actress Cicely Tyson.}  If Cicely or the other star interviewee Tyler Perry had dropped dead, CNN would've gone into DEFCON 1 death mode and nuked rival cable networks.

Willie Geist: Good To The Last Drop?

It's Way Too Early to review Willie Geist's new 5:30a MSNBC show. But review they did hours after Willie debuted Monday a.m.

Someone named Rick Ellis: The show ended way too quickly, and my hunch is that once Geist is more comfortable in the role, the show will expand to an hour. There are still a few rough spots, but nothing that won't go away after a few shows. The person most confused by the new show seemed to be “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, who seemed to be unsure just how to start “Joe” without Geist’s help.

Hey, Rick, Mika doesn't need any push out the starting gate.

Mediaite's Steve Krakauer: "It was a good start, but will it have it get the chance to have it’s own identity? It’s way too early to tell right now."

Okay. I'll haul my ass in front of the Tee Vee Friday at 5:30 a.m. and tear Willie a new one.

h/t Mediaite screengrab

The "Vamp's" Ire

How "vamp" Shep Smith carved his niche at FOX News.

Eat Drink Man Woman

Janitors found a discarded script Sunday monring with FOX's Ainsley Earhardt's handwriting on the back. "Mrs. Uri Man" and "Ainsley Man" Sharpied in romantic flourishes.



Uri: Single. 34. Lotsa bucks. Boca Raton. Appeared on the TV show "Millionaire Matchmaker."

MSNBC: Send In The Clowns

MSNBC's "Morning Joe" wag Willie Geist's "Way Too Early" kicked off Monday a.m. at 5:30.  Naturally I wasn't up.  It was waaaaay too early. 

Willie's new half-hour show is a lead-in to Joe Scarborough's three-hour media and political romp.  MSNBC czar Phil Griffin's vision of WTE's target viewer:  "An aggressive businessperson who is on the treadmill, who wants a download of information.”

Who the fuck's on a treadmill at 5:30 a?

Griffin denies he's grooming Willie to take over, say, the 10p prime time slot.  The engaging and entertaining Willie probably won't like the headline of Brian Stelter's NYT piece:  Clown of "Morning Joe" Gets His Own Show

Willie may be a clown but, unlike some of his colleagues, he's not an evil clown.  He comes from journalistic genes.  Chicago Dad Bill Geist was a columnist at the New York Times for seven years before joining CBS News in the late 1980s. (Stelter's piece mentioned dad's CBS but not NYT employment.) 

MSNBC is famous for its stable of political and media John Wayne Gacys luring  unsuspecting victims into their TV lairs under the guise of broadcast journalism: 

The Way It Isn't

Wash Post's Howard Kurtz's succinct quote from a media sage on the mindset of today's cable TV news hosts: "Their job is to puncture anyone who in the previous 24 hours told us, with any kind of authority, that this is the way it was. And we happily accept their performance of ironic, sarcastic anti-sincerity because we want to."

"Nightline" Flexes Muscles

ABC's "Nightline" started out in 1979 as "America Held Hostage" anchored by Ted Koppel.  Thirty years later amid sporadic rumors of its demise, "Nightline's" experiencing a resurgence post-Koppel now that the late night TV landscape changed with Jay Leno's departure.  Bill Carter NYT

CNN: Death Becomes Them

Comedian D.L. Hughley's shtick  is faring much better on NYC radio than on CNN where his short-lived "news" show "D.L. Hughley Breaks The News"  was universally panned. David Hinckley NYDN

CNN's experiment with a niche that might resonate with the liberal Obama crowd failed big time.  That was before CNN found that like sex, celebrity death equals boffo ratings.

Obama MILF?

Comedian Greg Morton is back with a delicious new Obama lyric sung to the tune of Neil Diamond's "Forever In Blue Jeans."



h/t Hot Air

Geraldo Large

FOX's Geraldo Rivera is obsessed with ESPN sportsbabe Erin Andrews and that naked video and how it came to be.  Geraldo July 25th:  "She's holed up in her house until September... I think she's going to huge.  I never heard of her before."   

Rivera beats himself off under the desk for eight minutes:

You're So Lame

Walter Cronkite's kids are glad he exited the planet before Carly Simon's sister could get permanent hooks into their beloved Dad.

Phantom Limbs

What IS IT with the New York Times and photos of Obama's White House women?  Yet another prominent photo of an Obama aide with legs the size of Hillary's Redwoods. 

A month of Sundays ago: 

Rockin' Robin

Pulitizer Prize-winning Wash Post columnist Robin Givhan wastes 17 paragraphs on Obama's ugly ass jeans (which I happened to like).  If anyone is behaving "stupidly" it's African-American Robin.

"The public's recent fascination with the unfortunate dungarees..."

It was and still is the MEDIA's "recent fascination."

Keep the Change

Wash Post's Dan Balz:  "He Promised Change,  But Is This Too Much, Too Soon?"

Arrested Development

Maureen Dowd NYT defends the now-infamous Harvard prof Henry Gates:  "Being obnoxious isn’t a crime."

Maybe not.  But rude 'tude can get you arrested...

Where Are the Best and the Brightest in TV News?

NYT columnist Frank Rich:  "... the past week’s debate about whether there could ever again be a father-figure anchor with Cronkite’s everyman looks and sonorous delivery is an escapist parlor game. What matters is content, not style. The real question is this: How many of those with similarly exalted perches in the news media today — and those perches, however diminished, still do exist in the multichannel digital age — will speak truth to power when the country is on the line? This journalistic responsibility cannot be outsourced to Comedy Central and Jon Stewart...."

Some journalists... fawn over the worst and the stupidest. As e-mail released by Mark Sanford’s office revealed, David Gregory of NBC News tried to get an interview with the sleazy governor by reassuring him that “‘Meet the Press’ allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to.”

Watching many of the empty Cronkite tributes in his own medium over the past week, you had to wonder if his industry was sticking to mawkish clichés just to avoid unflattering comparisons. If he was the most trusted man in America, it wasn’t because he was a nice guy with an authoritative voice and a lived-in face. It wasn’t because he “loved a good story” or that he removed his glasses when a president died. It was because at a time of epic corruption in the most powerful precincts in Washington, Cronkite was... not in the tank.

Rick Sanchez: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

UPDATE:   Fox Spox: “Everyone knows that Rick is an industry joke, he shows that he’s a hack every day. And he doesn’thave to worry about working at FOX because we only hire talent whohave the ability to generate ratings.”

CNN should, at the very least, monitor resident idiot Rick "Tase Me Bro" Sanchez's Twitter.  The guy has a real knack 

Sanchez is blabbing that Hispanics working at FOX News have "sold out."

Inside Cable News has more of Rick's suicidal tweets.  Rick's brain was rattled one too many time as a college football player...

InvestiGates

Update:  And he's not paying rent!  Professor Henry "Skip" Gates lives in a tax-exempt house owned by Harvard University.   Web of Deception's Joseph Culligan also finds Gates operates a non-profit out of that house which gave 10 grand to Gates's assistant Joanne Kendall listed as Gates's email contact at The Center For The Study of Hate and Extremism.

Club Gitmo Contretemps

Obama: Invite the warring parties to the White House for a beer. Shuts 'em up every time.

FishbowlDC broke the story of a Navy commander who is suing a Miami Herald reporterbabe for sexual harassment.

Carol Rosenberg is the accused. Commander Jeffrey Gordon (right) is the accusee. Gordon claims Rosenberg (left) also harassed reporters, including my former WTOP Radio Washington, DC colleague Jamie McIntyre (below) - former CNN Pentagon correspondent.

Wash Post Howard Kurtz spoke with Jamie McIntyre: "I didn't think there was any sort of sexual abuse, unless you're telling me a naval officer, a sailor, isn't used to hearing anatomical references in anger. It sounds like an overreaction on everybody's part." He said Rosenberg "was always professional in her demeanor when I was around her."

The Washington Post slyly runs the above photo of Gordon that makes Gordon look like a serial killer at worst. Wife beater at best.

Read the complaint

"Obama Shifts Blame"

NYT headline July 25th: "Obama Shifts Tone on Gates After Mulling Scale of Debate"

Ten Commandments Of TV "Gets"

#1 If a TV network is flying you to NYC to appear on your morning show, thou shalt not make a deal with a rival network under the table.

Network morning show bookers are more brutal than Blackwater. ABC's "Good Morning America" flew the "gets" to New York and put them up in a hotel. GMA canceled the "gets" after bookers found out NBC's "Today" show not only flew the gets, but the gets' entourage.

You ask, who were the high value targets:

Obama: "Race is still a troubling aspect of our society."

CBS's Bill Plante snarks: "Are you the new press secretary?"

Obama: "Uh, you know, if you gotta do a job, do it yourself."

Obama Himself shows up at Friday's WH press briefing to spin the Henry Gates police trashing. Executive Summary: both parties fucked up and I racheted it up. Obama presented himself for his self-styled "teachable moment" after he called the arresting officer Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley.

Obama served up his usual ploy to disarm the press vultures - inviting Crowley and Professor Gates for "a beer" at the White House.

Red Pill, Blue Pill, Bitter Pill

What does it mean when the Most Trusted News Anchor In America ahead of Katie, Brian, and Charles according to a new TIME mag poll decrees Obama is a stupid shit?

6:24 in: "Fuck!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't save him. I couldn't save him!... It's fair to say Obama handled that question stupidly."

"Yes, he went too far," an agitated Stewart says to the media. "But YOU wrote the headline!"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
White House M.D.
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Jon Stewart edict: "'Roll A Dildo In Glitter' is a copyrighted tradmarked phrase of Brian Williams NBC News."

Jiggle-Free Zone

FOX biz babe Liz Claman has harnessed her legendary boobs as she trains on the treadmill for the NYC Triathlon.

Spanx?

Kneale and Prey

Spot the differences between this CNBC home page and this and win a free Tarot card reading from a naked Erin Burnett.

Brought to you by the Cheetos-consuming bloggers skewered by CNBC's Dennis Kneale.

G. Gordon Liddy Entrapped

How did MSNBC's Chris Matthews acquire a copy of Barack Obama's legal birth certificate and ram it down G. Gordon Liddy's throat during a rather uncomfortable 11 minutes last night on "Hardball?" Liddy was set up big time with Matthews producing smoking gun docs like Perry Mason

If Matthews were a rat, a younger Liddy would've bit off his head:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Rush: Obama Has Chip On His Shoulder

Cops to Obama: Apologize

WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claims Obama never would've uttered a word had he known the media would become so obsessed.

Ann Curry: Lien On Me

"Today" show's Pollyanna/Maleficient Ann Curry owes more than $100,000 in tax liens.  The Valium-voiced cream puff had her share of legal woes over renovation of her NYC pad. Read the lawsuit her neighbors brought here.   Web of Deception's Joe Culligan unearthed the legal grist.

Stars and Snipes

Do you see a problem with this? Huffington Post and Media Matters do.

Video Of The Week: "Stick Around"

Arnold brandishing a serious knife to make a point to his Twitter followers.  Never mind the controversy over the knife.  Check out The Terminator's on-board SWAT Team - that huge killer watch.

Walter Cronkite: Sail On

Howard Kurtz Wash Post:  "You get to know someone pretty well in a war," Rooney said. "I just feel so terrible about Walter's death that I can hardly say anything. He was such a good friend. Please excuse me -- I can't." Rooney left the lectern, hobbling through a side door to his right.

The afternoon began under slate-gray skies as a dozen cameras recorded the arrival of CBS royalty -- Les Moonves, Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer, Don Hewitt, Morley Safer, Steve Kroft, Harry Smith. They gathered in the front pew, while Dan Rather -- who is suing the network over his departure from Cronkite's old chair -- sat somberly eight rows back. Colleagues and contemporaries from the other networks -- Charlie Gibson, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw -- came to pay their respects to Cronkite, who died Friday at 92.

[Photo above, Tom and Meredith Brokaw] Sandy Socolow, Cronkite's onetime producer, gave the crowd a lighter look at the journalistic war horse, dispelling any notions of legendary perfection. In fact, he said, Cronkite once inexplicably blanked on saying his own name -- he got as far as "this is" -- and had to be rescued by the control room, which cut away.

Is it me or did Diane Sawyer forget to take out her vampire teeth?

Related:  NYDN  Interestingly enough, only one NYC TV station covered Walter's funeral - NY1. 

Gates of Hell

“Every single member of the Police Department is insulted when the leader of the free world said you acted stupidly.’’  Cambridge Police officers' association sargeant.

More from the  Boston Globe  Readers' comments here.
 
Related:  "BAM IN A RACIAL UPROAR COPS ACROSS NATION LASH OUT AT 'STUPID' LABEL" NYP  Wash Post:  "Officer Tells His Side Of The Story"  NYDN:  "Obama Doesn't Regret "Acted Stupidly' Remark"  NYT:  "Case Recalls Tightrope Blacks Walk With Police"
 
"These remarks could change how the news media sees the president’s views on race. Up to now, he has been consistently and wrongly portrayed as a stern black exceptionalist who takes Negroes to task for not meeting his standard."
 

Boston Globe columnist:  "I don’t believe for one second that Alan Dershowitz, in the same situation, would have ended up with a mug shot. First, his neighbor probably wouldn’t have called the police, even if she didn’t recognize him. Second, Crowley probably would have gone away."

[photo Oprah and Skip Gates]



 

Around The Horn

"I want to make it up to him with some free lap dances."  Ball-playing stripper to Greg Gutfeld after the "Red Eye" host injured himself by running into her hot bod during a FOX News Channel baseball game.

FOX News Channel v Rick's Cabaret? 

Obama By The Numbers

Obama's health care "Be-In" attracted 24.7 viewers down 4 mil from his third prime time press conference.  Nielsen

Is Obama overexposed?  CNN's Carol Costello rips off and parrots Peter Baker's New York Times piece on the same subject and in the process mispronounces comedian Bill Maher's last name as "Mare." 

"Mare":  "What he needs in his personality is a little George Bush... He needs to stop worrying about being loved and bring out that insufferable swagger that says suck on it, America!"

Obama's Entitlement Program

I hestitate to weigh in on the man Obama knows so intimately as "Skip" Gates.

At Wednesday night's presser Chicago Tribune's WH scribe Lynn Sweet was called on to give Obama an opportunity to weigh in on the arrest of the prominent black Harvard professor who had broken into his own locked house after an extended overseas trip.

So the officer acted "stupidly," according to Obama.

Professor Henry Gates Jr. got himself arrested by mouthing off to the cop. Black, white, yellow, green would've been cuffed and hauled in. Read the police report. "This is what happens to blacks in America," Gates bellowed the the gathering crowd.

No. They get elected president of the United States. Check your ego, buddy.

MSNBC's David "Chelsea Pimped Out" Shuster weighed in on Twitter: "Arrested by police in your own home..conservatives should be as angry as gates and obama. What's keeping them quiet? Is it about race?

No, it's about being an asshole to a cop just doing his job...  Three cops who showed up on the aforementioned call.  White, black, and Hispanic. 

Brian Williams: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

NBC's Brian Williams is into Day Whatever of his Walter Cronkite obsession.  Here on his blog he runs a NYT correction on a Times piece on Uncle Walter's planetary exit.

And then he has the balls for this:  With the "glass houses" rule fully in effect -- we will proceed with our broadcast in hopes that we get it all right. If not, we'll run a correction!

Ahem.  How many corrections have YOU seen on NBC?   Does Managing Editor Brian's rule apply for other NBC news properties?

Bad Day At Black Rock

So sez Dan Rather after the fired CBS News anchor got his fraud claim reinstated  in his $70 mil wrongful termination case - and his hot hands on thousands of smoking gun docs.

Good Day At Black Rock

David Letterman's broken a 1998 record beating the "Tonight" show in consecutive weeks.

Last Dance

There were two dance competitions on prime time network TV last night:  Obama's press conference and FOX TV's "So You Think You Can Dance?"

Only one won the time slot.  Hazard a guess?  They shoot horses, don't they?

Related:  TVByTheNumbers

Stud Lite

Former MSNBC GM, legal analyst, and guy about town Dan Abrams's Mediaite busts his cherry on a new column - SEX WATCH - by "star intern" named Zeke Warner.

Zeke: "We here at Mediaite understand one universal truth about all media strategies — sex sells. Every so often (read: every day) we notice how some of our friends across the Internet use sexy headlines and photos to drive traffic. And what better way to celebrate these recession-busting decisions than in a regular feature? Welcome to SEX WATCH!

Who would know better than Zeke's boss- the Man Himself Dan Abrams? Dan raised his stud quotient and media buzz by boinking Sports Illustrated model Elle Macpherson, Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger, and some other hot celebrity babes. He's living his media principles.

So here's Zeke: A MEDIAITE ONE-ACT:

Dramatis Personae: Bro #1 (played by Bleacher Report);Bro #2 (played by Mediaite).

Bro #1: “As men we don’t ask for a lot. We want our beers to be cold, our seats to be comfortable, our wings to be hot, and our sports brought to us by beautiful women.”

Bro #2: WTF, Bro?! Bad timing for a sexy reporter slideshow.

Bro #1: “Number 1 Erin Andrews … Who else could we put here? We don’t know how good she looks in a bikini, but Erin Andrews is as sexy as it gets for most men.”

Bro #2: Didn’t you see that video of her naked in her hotel room? People are pissed about that.
Bro #1: [high-five]

Curtain.

Compelling drama, eh? About as stimulating as watching CNN's Campbell Brown "doing journalism"...

Hellfire and Damnation

FOX News was first breaking the story that Osama bin Laden's son exited the planet in a rather unnatural manner but common for humans of his ilk: 

FNC - 10:13pm last night
CNN - 11:32pm last night
MSNBC - 6:06am today

SEAN HANNITY: And this is a "FOX News Alert." Now, we are following a  developing story tonight. U.S. official believe that one of Usama bin  Laden's sons has been killed by a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan. Now, Saad bin Laden is said to -- believed to have been in his 20s and was  loosely affiliated with al Qaeda after moving to Pakistan in the last year.  Officials say it is tough to be completely certain without a DNA test on the body, but they are saying that it's roughly about 80 percent certain  that the younger bin Laden was, in fact, killed in a Hellfire missile strike sometime this year. So please stay tuned to the FOX News Channel tonight. We'll have more details on this late-breaking story.

And while I'm at it, someone tell CNN's Campbell Brown that CNN missed the boat "doing journalism" last night as FOX beat the lagging cable network by six hours on the Texas Southern U shooting.

FNC - 12:29am (last night)
CNN - 6:08am (this morning)
MSNBC - ?????

A misguided Brown apparently believes journalism is the world's second-oldest profession. "Doing journalism" as in she'd like to be doing, say for sake of argument, Jon Klein. 

KingsZings

CNN apparently isn't happy with the Ryan Seacrest minutiae Larry King's putting on his Twitter.  TMZ sez Mrs. King claims CNN has told Larry to knock it off. 

CNN has bigger fish to fry, like digging out of fourth place.

Here's a recent sample from Larry's KingsThings Twitter:

Ryan Seacrest & I battled it out over the check. We knocked over the table in the process! I won, but Ryan paid for my parking.

6:04 PM Jul 21st from web

Having lunch with @RyanSeacrest. The bill hasn't come yet...

4:44 PM Jul 21st from web

@RyanSeacrest wrote @kingsthings‬‪ is my lunch date today...I'm going to spike his iced tea!! If Ryan is buying, I'll take two!

3:33 PM Jul 21st from web in reply to RyanSeacrest

Of all the muffins, corn is my favorite.

1:13 PM Jul 21st from web

I love black licorice, but you can have red licorice.

7:06 PM Jul 20th from web

Obama: Easy To Be Hard

Obama's "Be-In" before NBC's Chuck Todd,  ABC's Jake Tapper, CBS's Chip Reid - their pre-programmed questions asked and answered - let the Tribe by shedding their suits while screaming "The Stars Are Aligned!!!"

Which star-aligned reporters Obama deigned to recognize?

FOX's Major Garrett was spotted contemplating biting into that red pill.  Hesitation marks, that's all...

The President made his exit as Tribal Chieftain Robert Gibbs mouthed sotto voce "President of The United States of Love, President of The United States of Love..."

All The Nudes That's Fit To Print

The New York Post's rival New York Daily News gleefully reports that Post reporters are banned from appearing on ESPN after running those naked stills (one below) of ESPN sportsbabe Erin Andrews.

The Post retaliates by charging ESPN triggered the firestorm.

I still think something doesn't ring true about this supposedly surreptitious video...

For Whom The Bell Tolls

CNN has dumped all regular programming to go wall-to-wall with the death of - the Taco Bell Chihuahua.  Gidget, 15, had a stroke after Paris Hilton locked her in a closet.  The aging star was shipped off to Barack Obama's secret Soylent Green factory churning out doggie biscuits.

Gidget's acting credits include one of movies in the "Legally Blonde" Reese Witherspoon franchise.

Let Me Say This About That

Wash Post TV critic Tom Shales on Obama's "Be-In": "When a politician says "Let me be clear," what follows is often anything but. It's a tradition in obfuscation that probably got a big boost from Richard Nixon's "Let me make this perfectly clear," one of that president's signature phrases. But when Barack Obama uses it, as he did Wednesday during his fourth prime-time presidential news conference, the odds seem a little better than usual that clarity really is a possibility.

For the most part, clarity reigned at the news conference, televised live on many broadcast and cable channels from the East Room of the White House. Obama was using the occasion to put forth more propaganda for his administration's version of health-care reform.

The hour-long telecast offered "a kind of combo platter," said Katie Couric of CBS News, since it began with a nine-minute mini-speech by the president and was then followed by 10 questions from journalists, nearly all of them obediently hewing to the topic of the night as Obama had decreed it.

When the Moon is in the Seventh House...

"And Jupiter aligns with Mars. Then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars!"

The above occurred February 14th of this year.  So Obama's right.  "The stars are aligned" for health care reform.

"Hair's" 1967 wish list has come true!  The President had a prime time "Be-In" where reporters shed their clothes in the last scene, lamenting their "Flesh Failures" that Obama's new health care won't pay for.

Be prepared for Tribal Rule.

After last night's "Be-In," Obama's taken the show on the road to a more skeptical audience.

Solebad O'Brien

Brian Lowry Variety:  This week brings CNN’s “Black in America 2,” a four-hour effort from correspondent Soledad O’Brien, whose reporting is earnest but painfully shallow. Take her fawning interview with producer-director Tyler Perry, which only sparingly glances across the fact that African-Americans are hardly in lockstep about whether his brand of filmmaking represents progress.

In her self-congratulatory opening, O’Brien notes that CNN uniquely possesses the resources to undertake such ambitious, in-depth reporting. CNN certainly has the tools, but like everyone else, it’s too easily distracted by the soft and tawdry to consistently use them.

Eric Deggans (African-American TV critic) St. Petersburg (FL) Times: "I'm hoping that the stories circulated to critics wasn't the best stuff..."

Fox's Martha MacCullum: "No Wire Hangers!!"

I'm disappointed in the latest ersatz star to bellow "Don't you know who I am?"  FOX News afternoon anchoress Martha MacCallum displays all the subtlety of Alec Balwin in this tirade involving a hapless parking garage attendant who didn't have her Beemer at the ready when she beckoned:

Cityfile NY:  Martha MacCallum may look like just another cutesy blonde anchor on Fox News. But it seems she has a darker side, too. A tipster tells us MacCallum threw quite the tantrum yesterday at a parking garage around the corner from the studios of Fox News when she turned up with her daughter in tow and her BMW wasn't waiting for her with the keys in the ignition. The outrage!

Infuriated that someone of her importance wasn't being treated with the the respect normally given to a B-list cable news anchors, our tipster heard her shout at the attendant, "Do you know who I am? Do you have any clue? I'm on Fox News!"

MacCallum dressed down the garage employee for a several more minutes as her teenage daughter—who looked a bit nonplussed about the meltdown—stood by. Eventually, she gave up on her war on inconsiderate parking attendants, jumped into the BMW SUV, and screeched off—leaving the garage personnel looking a bit confused.

What does this unfortunate outburst tell me?  That Miss MacCallum is insecure, shallow, and fear-driven.  What a horrible role model for her daughter who witnessed this inappropriate behavior from "Mommie Dearest."

For shame. 

Michelle's Good Hair Day

Michelle Obama's been M.I.A. all week.  Here I thought she had a killer hangover from quaffing too many martinis.  It's only a new coif.
Do we like?  Or do we care?

Not a Nancy Reagan helmet but much more First Ladylike...

Snarky TMZ runs a photo of Laura Bush's similar hairstyle along Michelle's new do under "Bush League" noting Mrs. Bush is "62."

Obama's Breach Birth?

CNN's resident idiot Rick Sanchez reads Barack Obama's birth certificate on the air:



"Once star host" Lou Dobbs:



These non-believers in Obama's U.S. citizenship are calling themselves "Birthers." Abort the Birthers. This is stupid and even stupider that CNN, MSNBC et al are eating up precious air time with this speculative drivel.

Slow News Day, Eh, Brian?

NBC's Brian Williams continues his fixation with Walter Cronkite, wondering if Walter would've liked blogging.

No, but I heard he liked fucking.

Ratingzzzzzz

Cable news ratings for Monday, July 20, 2009

MSNBC's Fox Trot

Lemme see.  NBC bigfooted Obama into changing the time of tonight's prime time press conference from 9p to 8p to accommodate the hit show (and advertisers) "America's Got Talent" with an appearance by British singing sensation Susan Boyle.

So this a.m. MSNBC's "Morning Joe" jumped on FOX TV for sticking with the hit TV show "So You Think You Can Dance?" instead of the presidential pimp.

Uh, Fox's cable channels are running the press conference. 

Today Mika Brzezinski takes the cake.

For Obama It's Showtime

Obama hits the prime time air at 8p tonight to sell his health care reform.  He could be in for more gray hair.

"A defining moment."  NYT:  "The public, and lawmakers, are growing skittish over Mr. Obama’s next big plan, to remake the American health care system. How he handles the issue over the next several weeks could shape the rest of his presidency, shedding light on his political strength, his relationship with both parties in Congress and the extent to which he is willing to bend in fighting for his agenda. With some fellow Democrats balking over his insistence that both the House and the Senate pass health legislation before the August recess, Mr. Obama has a tough decision to make: Does he take a hard line, demanding that lawmakers stick to his timetable — and risk losing the support of Republicans and moderate Democrats? Or does he signal flexibility, allowing lawmakers to take their time — and give opponents the chance to marshal their case against the bill?

SC Repub Senator Jim DeMint pissed off Obama by crowing defeat could be Obama's "Waterloo moment."   Obama retorted "This isn't about me."  But it IS.

It's all about Obama and his so far successful White House terror operation ramming through in warp speed the Democrat Congress's obscene spending packages.

Obama reminds me of that old song, "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets. 

Whoopi Goldberg Howling At The Moon

"Whoopi Goldberg is dumber than a box of moon rocks."  Vinney, Chickaboomer's head joke writer. 

ABC's "The View" moroness believes the 1969 moon landed was faked: 



Rush Limbaugh: "If you've ever had any doubts that the women on The View (snorts) are literally kooks..."

Busted? The Naked Truth?

I knew there was something weird about this story. Something just didn't ring true. I was right. ESPN sportsbabe Erin Andrews may have had a hand in her nude video, or knows who did.

TMZ: The peeping Tom who drilled holes in the walls of at least two hotels to sneak shots of a naked Erin Andrews may have been part of her production.

ESPN has released the following obtuse yet telling statement: "In conjunction with Erin's attorneys and appropriate authorities, we are exploring all possibilities." ... Six videos clips show the ESPN reporter walking around naked in two different hotel rooms and there is evidence the culprit was familiar with Erin's travel schedule as well as her accommodations.

Related: "Angry Erin Andrews Won't Rest Until Peep Perv Is Jailed" NYP Wash Post: "You Know You Want To Watch: Erin Andrews Would Rather You Not"

Deadspin:  "CBS Discusses Serious Violation of Erin Andrews's Privacy While Airing Video In Which Her Privacy Is Violated"

Morning Joe Ties One On

The impeccably dressed author Daniel Silva shows up on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with the male equivalent of Tiffany blue boxes - Brooks Brothers.  Everyone gets one - including Mika.  Only Mika and Joe don the neckwear - Joe not missing a beat whipping it into a Windsor knot.  Tieless Mike Barnicle appeared unamused at Silva's jab.

Silva is making the book tour rounds pimping his 12th spy novel "The Defector."   Silva appeared on Glenn Beck's FOX News show Tuesday in his Hickey-Freeman suit.

What you probably don't know about Silva is that he was the executive producer of CNN's Washington-based talk shows before he found his true calling in 1997 as a best-selling author.  Silva is married to former "Today" show national correspondent Jamie Gangel (my former editor at WTOP Radio Washington 30 years ago).

Silva drolly suggested that Willie Geist's sick newborn excuse for his absence this a.m. concealed the real reason:  Geist's about to be indicted for videotaping a naked ESPN sportsbabe Erin Andrews in her hotel room.

All His Marbles

Page Six sightings: Anderson Cooper at the Santa Maria Della Victoire Church in Rome with a muscled, older gentleman, checking out the Bernini sculptures.

[Above, Neptune and Triton.  Manly Neptune, left]

Brian Williams: "This [NBC] Is Big Boy TV."

And these are "big boy" hands: NBC's Brian Williams can't keep his paws off Jon Stewart in last night's nearly seven minute mano y mano.

Stewart: "How do you seduce a subject to come on your program?"
Williams: "You're watching it right now."

6:43 of seduction, some of which is Brian's smart ass spin of "Meet The Press's" David Gregory's attempted seduction of adulterous SC Governor Mark Sanford:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Brian Williams
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Exit Strategy

Don't be surprised to see this on CNN.  "Home Burials Offer An Intimate Alternative"  NYT

Who Do You Trust?

"There are only two reasons to have television: war and pornography. [In CNN's case, dead superstars] So I guess if it's war, I'd look at him. And I guess if I had to look at any newscaster in a porno film, I'd pick him." If had to look at any newscaster in a porno film, I'd pick him."  -- Gay film director John Waters answering an innocent Wash Post query on who you trust now that Walter's gone.

"Michelle Obama. Rosie the Riveter for our times in a designer gown. You just want to be her best friend forever." -- Vicki Mabrey, correspondent, ABC News's "Nightline."

Weather Channel's New Boss

Back in March the dickhead former head of CNBC - Bill Bolster - thought he was in like Flynn to get the top gig at the Weather Channel.  Bolster had demanded an NBC plane fly him to work from Florida to Atlanta.  Bolster erroneously believed he could ride in on his CNBC success.

Au contrere. NBC tells Bolster to get lost and finds a consensus candidate in Michael J. Kelly.  Bill Carter NYT

Wash Post Up S**t Creek

Correction of the day:  "A July 20 KidsPost photo caption incorrectly said that Ally Carswell and Jessica Benton were in a rowboat and holding oars. They were in a canoe and holding paddles."

NBC Bigfoots Obama

With their eyes on the bottom line, TV networks are getting tired of pre-empting precious prime time for Obama's   pimp press conferences.

The prez demanded the 9p hour Wednesday night to pimp health care insurance overhaul that encroached on NBC's popular "America's Got Talent" with British sensation Susan Boyle this week.

NBC and Susan Boyle won. The White House moved Obama's informercial to 8p.

Wash Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes has the back story.

Behind The Green Door

The heat is on for the perv who got into ESPN sportsbabe's hotel room, shot video of her naked, and put it on the Internet (it's not there anymore). 

It's speculated the weirdo got into Andrews's hotel room in Omaha last month where she was covering the College World Series.

Waiting To Exhale

As a lad Brian Williams confesses he envisioned a Mecca-like "pilgrimage" to Walter Cronkite's studio, and later lived the dream in his idol's presence, following Walter around and sucking in The Great One's exhaled air.  h/t NewsBusters

Now you know why Brian sounds so nasal. Williams also told Larry King Friday: "He hated the encroachment of entertainment on journalism values."

Presumably Walter wasn't aware of Brian's multiple SNL and Jon Stewart appearances.

CNN: Buried Cable

If  low numbers on your channel changer were an indication of success, CNN's getting closer to falling off the dial into TV etherland. 

CNN's own parent company is booting the cable channel from #10 to #78 on Time Warner cable in NYC. 

To add insult to injury, a FOX channel - FX - is the new #10

Larry the Cable Guy makes an appearance on Wolf Blitzer (right) to alert CNN's audience about the August change.

Maybe It Was A Hologram...

CNN:  "Could moon landings have been faked?"  Filmed in a studio? Yeah.  Just like cable news promos.

Rubber Soul

Howard Kurtz live Q&A: "Is there any soul searching at the nets in an era where America's most trusted journalist is Jon Stewart?"

Howard Kurtz: "Yeah - everyone's trying to be funnier. Why do you think Brian Williams hosted Saturday Night Live? Being a little facetious but you get my point."

And the NBC Nightly News anchor is on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" tonight (Monday) for like the umpteenth time...

Real Men Play Ping Pong

“For the record, I will sacrifice my body.” Cody Willlard - the Fabio of FOX Business Network - revealing how far he'll go to win at  ping-pong.

Here's Willard with a smooth rubber on his blade...

David Gregory Caught On Air Assaulting His Hair

If "Meet The Press's" David Gregory was as aggressive with his guests as he is brushing his hair, MTP would have hair-raising ratings:

Dan Abrams: Crazy Like A Fox?

Is CBS News one of ex-MSNBC's Dan Abrams's new Abrams Research clients? 

Or is he using his research incubator website Mediaite to pitch CBS in Steve Krakauer's (and Steve is really cranking out the hits since Mediaite's recent debut) "The Current State of CBS News.  Don't Blame Katie." "When all else fails, find a new measuring stick. Look, when CNN began talking about Fusion data, they did so because the Nielsen metric that combined television viewership and Web readership made them look better. And sure, it got panned by its competitors. And yes, it could be all talk and Nielsen Fusion may never catch on. But is it so crazy?"

No, especially when Abrams is using Mediaite to measure news talents' worth by throwing Twitter and other radical ingredients into the stew, and refining the results to current and potential clients of Abrams Research:  "Abrams Research is a media strategy firm that connects business leaders with a global community of media professionals. Our proprietary data networks and global contacts allow us to target strategically selected media insiders to offer insights, data and personnel never before available to businesses for image enhancement, branding, investigative reporting and the execution of the best media plan."

Skirting The Issue

If I'm reading this right, Wash Post media maven and CNN "Reliable Sources" front man Howard Kurtz would like to cancel TV coverage of political confirmation hearings because they are boring and not rating-grabbers.

Or would Howard cancel the seemingly ubiquitous Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson media and public obsessions for looking up Sonia's skirt? 

I'm more into looking up the wide pant legs of Obama's media-reviled (why, I like them) "Mom" jeans he wore when throwing out the first All Stars game pitch.

And why CNN seemed to believe his non-tight jeans were an issue worthy of precious air. 

It's like damned if you do and damned if you don't. Recall the media tittering over George Bush's "package."

Why Bri?

UPDATE:  A CB emailer sends me this and the original sin video.

FOX & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade apologizes for something that happened nearly two weeks ago. Watch here.

Since I have the attention span of a gnat, I have no idea why.  No, he didn't walk off the set in a snit again.

MSNBC: That's All, Folks!

Why is MSNBC still thumping Walter Cronkite's death?  The vacuous Dylan Ratigan and equally vacuous Contessa Brewer are emulating CNN's Corpse News Network with a set-up piece and panel ostensibly discussing Walter's brand of journalism and today's "journalism."

Dylan:  "Maybe it's me, maye it's my hair cut, but we don't get a lot of viewers for a panel discussion on health care... because it doesn't necessarily rate... and Michael Jackson does, and I get hours and hours of Michael Jackson."

Some Panelist:  "It's unbelievable how the Washington Post is doing a great job, the New York Times is doing a great job."

Dylan:  "The American people do not trust the information being delivered to them."

Some Panelist:  "It's your  [readers/viewers] fault, not journalism's fault. When have we had more excellent journalists working at one time?" 

Deep.  Really deep.

The Way They Were

"He was very passionate."   Carly Simon's 68-year-old sister Joanna breaks her silence on now-departed squeeze Walter Cronkite.

He died happy, like Nelson Rockefeller...

Smoking Gun: Obama as Joe Isuzu

Obama lies when he claims he quit smoking.  Ron Kessler's new book out next month about the Secret Service reports he's still hooked.

What else is the prez lying about?

Maybe that's why Obama's approval rating has dropped below 50 percent for the first time and his health care overhaul numbers have plummeted.  (Wash Post-ABC News poll)

Joe Isuzu:  "He's lying."  A disingenuous Obama vows the obscene cost won't add to the deficit. His health lieutenant Kathleen Sebelius on "Meet The Press" Sunday danced around where the dough will come from, sounding more like Tina Fey's send-up of Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live."

Obama's across-the-board sliding poll numbers reminds me of the 1977 tune "Slip Slidin' Away" by Paul Simon:  "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away."

Funny or Hypocritical?

Brian Stelter NYT on how Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" culls news soundbites: Dan Abrams, a former general manager of MSNBC and founder of mediaite.com, a Web site that covers the media, said he believes the way “The Daily Show” uses video has influenced more serious-minded news outlets. “Instead of looking at the minutia of the story, as those of us who cover stories often do, they often look at the big picture and say: ‘Wait a second. Does this make any sense? Isn’t this funny or hypocritical?’ ” he said. “I think it’s been an important check on the media.” As media criticism, video clips can make a powerful case. In a widely shared segment in February, Mr. Stewart took Bill O’Reilly of Fox News to task for criticizing paparazzi on his show and saying that “the right to privacy is a basic constitutional tenet,” while at the same time sending acamera crews to ambush critics who wouldn’t appear on his program. “They have no trouble reconciling their defense of celebrities’ right to privacy with their intimidation of everyone else,” Mr. Stewart told his viewers, looking astonished.

The NYT, with a "content-sharing agreement" with NBC/MSNBC/CNBC, conveniently overlooks Jon Stewart's biggest ratings bang with video:  CNBC's "Mad Money's" Jim Cramer.  After Cramer's ill-advised attempted rebuttal on Stewart's show, CNBC's ratings dropped. 

Why did Stelter interview Abrams Research and its Mediaite incubator founder ex-MSNBCer Dan Abrams?

Closet Case

Pulitzer Prize-winning Wash Post fashion czarina Robin Givhan: Sotomayor's clothes evoked authority in the manner of a 1980s lady power broker... She embraced that period in fashion when femininity had no place in the executive suite.... On the first day, she wore a cobalt blue jacket that cinched asymmetrically with the help of four big black buttons. She paired it with a black shell, a black skirt and sheer black pantyhose. The color of her jacket was simple and bold. It was not a complicated shade of blue -- the kind of color that people struggle to describe because it can look different depending on the light -- nor was it subtle. Instead, it was akin to the cheerful hue made famous by Barbara Bush back in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Lawyer Megyn Kelly co-anchoring FOX's coverage with Bret Baier wore the same suit. Related: "Legal Suits"

FOX's Supreme Court correspondent Shannon Bream eerily had a corresponding Sotomayor red jacket on the second day of the Senate confirmation hearings.

Call me old-fashioned but I found the '80s costumes donned by Sotomayor, Kelly, Bream and dismissed by Miss Givhan refreshingly professional given the penchant for tight sleeveless low-cut sheaths favored by some TV news babes.

Yellow Book

Wash Post:  "Best-Tellers List.  After learning a few weeks ago that Dick Cheney had signed a contract to write a memoir about his long career in government and industry, we challenged readers to propose a first paragraph for the former veep's book. Culling the several hundred entries was, needless to say, a torturous process. Today we present some of our favorite renditions."

Renditions, eh? Cute.

Caption This

"My plastic surgeon slipped and Botoxed my armpit."

"It's this big."














h/t NewsBusters

Walter Cronkite: From Here To Eternity

TV network news moved from 15 minutes to a half hour with anchor Walter Cronkite in September 1963.  Note the first commercial for Paxton menthol cigarettes where the smoking couple languishes in the surf just a grope short of the Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster sexually charged Righteous Brothers' "Ebb Tide" prone kiss in 1953's "From Here To Eternity." Watch here.

The second commercial where a Dr. Feelgood Ted Mack hawks Geritol for "tired blood."  As we came to understand later, Geritol was about 99 44/100ths alcohol. 

Bernard Kalb covering Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and his wife's tour of Saigon where Bernie opines :"Everyone seems to be having a good time."  Not for long. 



h/t NewsBusters

"For God's sakes knock out that dickety, dickety, dickety! What the hell is a broad doing in the newsroom? This ain't the Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Carson at his finest: "Starting tomorrow this anchor post will be filled by Dan Rather, whom I'm sure will do a bang up job for a man who is nothing but a big mass of hair and teeth."

Riled Miles

Fired CNN space maven Miles O'Brien on CNN's commitment to space launches: "They'd shrink the shuttle coverage down to two minutes. I was basically there in case it blew up."

CNN:  Corpse News Network.  Even back then.   Miles appeared on FOX Business Network talking space.  FOX should hire the knowledgeable Miles.  h/t TVNewser

MSNBC: Rope-a-Hope?