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May 21, 2006

Sunday Mornin Talk Show Snippets

Saw the end of Gonzalez rambling his b.s. on This Week. Was so late and so distracted by cleaning my dishes that I didn't notice who was spewing the company line. The I was intrigued by John Edwards and his vehement attack on the Shrub administration and everything they stand for. He kept burnishing his outsider creds - saying he knows so much more about what's going on with the average working man b/c he no longer lives in DC. Because, you know, a millionaire living outside the beltway obviously has his finger on the pulse of society. He didn't rule out runnin for prez in 08, but apparently his decision depends on his wife's health condition. Wasn't listening close enough to know what that health condition is, but I hope she gets better.

SecState Rice bantered with Tim for a good half hour. She continued the lie perpetuated by this totalitarian administration that their "war" makes it necessary to Spy on Citizens and Deny Freedom in order to make the world safe (for capitalistic greed). She defended the existence of US torture centers, despite the fact that the UN Committee Against Torture recently ruled they should be shuttered forever. Of course, she panders some token words about the desire to close them, but only after this "war" is over and The State has an alternative incarceration system for the detained "terrorists." (I am not convinced terrorists exist in those prisons when the vast majority of detainees are held without any formal charges and only a select few are being prosecuted in a real court of law.)

Enough of the morning chatter, it was time for a break with Ebert & Roeper. They really liked The DaVinci Code, and felt the movie was more realistic than the book. Personally, I was struck by the glaring omission of a key piece of the ending in the celluloid version. But I agree that it worked as a thriller, although at times I was bored by the extended chatter of explanation...They also liked X Men III, which I'm so excited about seeing. And they liked Over The Hedge. They split on Shiloh 3, and both liked The King, a movie that wont be in 98% of the movie theatres in the country, but does star Gael Garcia Bernal, so is worth looking for.

Back to a "serious" show, The Chris Mathews Show on NBC. I seriously don't know why I bother watching this crap. He has absolutely zero respect for progressive opinions and always tips his panel to the right. Adding insult to injury, almost every week features Katty Kay, the most repulsive British export, chatting like she knows shit about being American. In her version of America, it is impossible for a woman to be president. I really wish she was deported. Anyway, the show spent the majority of the hour discussing the Democratic horse race for the 08 presidential nomination. Note that it is still 2006 and there's an important Congressional election coming up this fall. Never mind those nattering particulars, it's apparently more interesting for inside-the-beltway pundits to yap incessantly about a race that is two years away.

Back to more palatable fare: PBS. I should've watched Zakaria's slightly annoying program instead of Matthews, but I went mainstream for that half hour.

John McLaughlin's One on One was actually good, probably b/c he was interviewing a fellow conservative, this time Francis Fukuyama. He also made time to chat via phone with Joe Cirincione of the Center for American Progress. Francis distanced himself from the neocon mainstream, following the pattern he started with his most recent book, America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power, and the Neoconservative Legacy. McLaughlin kept harping about the noble lie, attributed to Socrates in Plato's The Republic. Google Answers has a concise explanation of the original noble lie (which someone paid 5 bucks for). Here's a long interview about the lefty theory that the disciples of Leo Strauss are perpetuating the use of misconception and mass manipulation to further the aims of the Bush administration. Fukuyama vehemently denied that Strauss agreed with noble lying, and said his work was related to political theory, discussing / critiquing dense work and that he never formed a doctrine. Then they chatted about nuclear proliferation with Joe C.

Next came Now, which oddly seemed like it should be re-dubbed "Then," since the majority of the show was about the lead-up to Saturday's mayoral run-off in New Orleans. Not on Now: the fact that Ray Nagin won re-election. Well, apparently the original air date was May 19. But still, it was weird and oddly public tv-ish: because if a network re-ran something, they'd include an update. Turns out more NOLA's want to stick by Ray rather than cede power to the Landrieu dynasty (pa = frmr gov, sis = sr LA senator).

Therein ends my teevee watching till this evening's cotton candy.

Posted by cj at May 21, 2006 6:01 PM

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