FOX "News" Sunday Jumps the Shark

Despite the "liberal media" allegations, the Sunday political talk shows on network television are decidedly right-wing biased. Over and over again--no matter which party has more power in Washington, D.C.--studies have shown that guests and commentators are weighted heavily to the right. I don't really know why this is, if Republicans are just more apt to want to go on, or if Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain actually live in the green room.

So, when you start with the fact that the shows are canted to the right, you can only imagine what comes out of the likes of FOX "News" Sunday. This week, the main topic was the surprise nuclear weapons and sanctions reduction deal with Iran. Of course, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) thinks it's a bad thing, and unleashes quite a number of conservative talking points unrelated to the deal, to depict President Obama as weak, indecisive, etc. The counterpoint was fairly soft with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Who?) providing support for the president, but without swatting down Corkers corkers.

That was par for the course, something that you might see on Meet the Press, had it been on this morning. But then, the vaguely creepy Chris Wallace brought out former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Ostensibly, she was there to talk about current political controversies, though her depth of knowledge on the subject is. . .what exactly? She has no credibility on much of anything outside of her half-term as governor of a small, remote state. And she doesn't disappoint, with her shallow, fragmented, "pageant" answers to each question. She has nothing of value to say, and it is clear every time she opens her pretty (for nearly 50) mouth, and spews her patented word salad.



But the real reason Sister Sarah was there was to respond to the MSNBC/Martin Bashir "controversy." Bashir (who I suspect was looking for the viral video he ended up getting), had been outraged about Palin's earlier comparison of the budget to slavery of all things, and had given a particularly nasty lesson in slavery to his audience. He then (after a series of insults toward Palin, all of which were absolutely true), he insinuated that the punishment given to slaves in the story, maybe ought to be visited upon Mrs. Palin. Well, Right Wing World went wobbly on its axis!

Since the story had to do with urination and defecation, the implications were quite vivid, so I get it, sort of, why Palin (who made the original, offensive comments) might be PO'd. But who is she that she needs to be tippy-toed around anyway? So, Bashir was apparently called on the carpet, and ended up giving the most thorough, detailed, over-the-top with effusive apology I've ever seen. Way more than Palin deserved. And so, Palin was gussied up and put before the F"N"S cameras nine days later.

If Wallace had just had her on for that purpose alone (even so belatedly), I could forgive the appearance. But he asked her about the important issues of the day, and given her complete lace of gravitas, I find the notion idiotic that she'd be asked her opinion on much of anything. But that wasn't all! No, no! In the completely pointless, regular feature "Power Player of the Week," Wallace had a puff piece on Mitt and Ann Romney, having a folksy family breakfast! Just like back in the campaign, when they did the same thing.  The Romneys aren't even liked in Right Wing World, so I can't see how they're any more relevant than Palin.

In all, it was the most pathetic Sunday show I've seen in years. And in this bunch (Hello, David Gregory!), that's really saying something.

Mitt Romney and Plane Windows

When is a gaffe serious, and when is it silly? When is it a trifle, and when does it reveal something about the candidate? If Mitt Romney really wonders why you can't open the windows on an airplane he's either an idiot, or he doesn't think very deeply about things. Which is troubling for a presidential candidate. The other option, is that he was trying to be funny. But, joking around would be a very strange thing to do, when your wife has just suffered a harrowing emergency landing.

So which is it? Here's my go-to gal, Rachel Maddow to posit her theories. Don't worry, it's only two and a half minutes long. . .

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SNL Ann Romney Expands on her "Stop It!" Comment

Very funny stuff from this weekend's Saturday Night Live.

Ann Romney: This is Hard

Willard and Ann Romney have taken a lot of jabs for being seemingly elitist and out-of-touch. Other than Mitt's odd inability to act like a normal person, we've got his wife, who is prone to phrasings like, "you people," and "it's our turn" that kind of thing. She's a very pretty version of Lovey Howell without the charm, or at least that's the side of her we're seeing. Romney himself was caught on tape saying that they use Ann sparingly, so that we don't get tired of her.

Ann didn't help her husband's nor her own case in this clip (starts about 40 seconds in), defending Mitt and his campaign on the radio.



"Stop it. This is Hard. . ."  The clip sounds like she's talking to America as though we're the help. But thanks to my addiction to The Stephanie Miller Show, where they played, "Stop it." over and over on Friday morning, it makes me laugh. And it makes me think of this clip from Will & Grace, .

Republican National Convention, Day 1 (ish)

I got a late start to blogging, due to the attention I was paying to MSNBC's Republican National Convention coverage, and to my 600+ Twitter feed. Word of advice if you're nursing a four-day-old sinus headache: doing this sort of activity is inadvisable. Ouch. . .

So, here is my take on the first full day of the RNC (the original day 1 having been postponed due to Hurricane Isaac). I caught Rick Santorum, who gives a great speech, even if I disagree with 100% of its content. He managed to kick the gays, but in an awkward comment. Somehow, straight people aren't getting married because of gay marriage? Or something. Anyway, Rick's speech was scarcely different from ones he gave during his campaign, with a pasted-on "vote for Mitt" in a few places.

Scott Walker, who is a rock star in the GOP these days (and don't get me started on vexing GOP heroes like Sarah Palin and "Joe the Plumber," or we'll be here all night), but his speech was meh. A bit droney, nothing too surprising. I didn't get to see a couple of other speakers, because the MSNBC team was talking, but I really don't think I missed much, based on my Twitter feed's reactions.
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And then came Ann. During her speech, I found her awkward, if endearingly so. I think her attempts to humanize Willard alternatively fell flat, or just came across as woefully unconvincing. I didn't buy her hard-scrabble story of their basement apartment, or that either of them is--particularly--just like us. Anyone (and hopefully everyone) feels for Mrs. Romney, and her health struggles. I'm sure it was even hard on Mitt (assuming that at least in private, he has ordinary human emotions). But I find it impossible to forget that the Romneys never had to worry about their finances during their difficult time. A significant portion of any health emergency is the financial element, and the Romneys were lucky enough to be spared the stress that comes with that. "Obamacare" may not be perfect, but it's a first good step to ensure that we regular people have some of that fear alleviated.

Despite my being underwhelmed (as was most of my Twitter feed), the media has quickly seized upon Ann as the star of the night. I'll let her have that, she was okay. Though I take issue with her comment that she and Mitt have a "real marriage." As opposed to? And then Willard was practically wheeled out, surprising no one, and looking more wooden than usual.

The over-arching theme of Mrs. Romney's speech was "love," and when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie lumbered out, he quickly stomped on that, declaring it was not love but respect that was called for. Now, let me say straight up that I don't "get" Christie. I'm concerned when I see him that he's going to have a heart attack as I watch. I'm not beyond a fat joke but that's not an attempt to be funny, he looks startlingly unhealthy. And when he gets wound up, it just doesn't look safe to me. [Story continues below]

You can include Christie in the right-wing hero camp with those I mentioned above. He's abrasive, rude, arrogant and just basically dick-ish. His speech--like some of the others--seemed to be removed from the Mitt Romney campaign, with a Mitt endorsement lazily grafted on. Christie's speech came off like a 2016 audition, with no particular enthusiasm for the party's actual candidate.

All-in-all, even with my headache, it wasn't as painful as it could have been. Yes, most of the speakers used talking points based on falsehoods (welfare, "you didn't build that"), but an average day of FOX "News" contains more Obama-bashing, and a sense of coordinated partisanship than this night of television did. It certainly wasn't a pep rally atmosphere, like Obama's 2008 convention. . .or even McCain's.

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Ann Romney Speech At 2012 Republican Convention: Mitt 'Is The Man America Needs'

Ann Romney, 63, was making her national debut at the Republican National Convention late Tuesday in a speech designed to introduce the country to the man she knows better than anyone. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post 

Ann Romney in Power to You People (Rocky Mountain Mike)

I actually had a blog post all written, pictures, pull quotes, the works. My blogger software ate it. So, I got peeved and went off to do other things. That's why the blog is light at the moment! So, here is the first of two Rocky Mountain Mike song parodies! This one is about Mrs. Romney's unfortunate tendency to refer to we plebeians as "you people."