Bill Maher

A regular reader of Skip’s articles, Bill Hallbert, commented that the use of the term ‘Lame Stream Media’ is too polite… that ‘Pravda West’ would be more appropriate. A good point, Bill… one that, along with some events the last couple of days, has inspired me to write this article while sitting in for Skip.

It was my misfortune to catch Bill Maher in conversation with Letterman last night. Naturally, it descended to the depths of old, worn-out attacks on anything right-of-center in a feeble attempt at humor. Donald Trump’s hair, Sarah Palin’s mind, George W. Bush’s presidency and the Tea Party were all precursors to the stage-prompted bouts of applause and laughter.

Letterman was in his element… he could let his guest gush with spiel that reflected his own views and not even have to think about asking any questions… probably a good thing, given the question put to Cote de Pablo (Ziva David) later in the show… “Is there a real NCIS?” Yes, Dave, there’s a real FBI too. And a real US government… or what’s left of it!

After mocking The Donald and Sarah Palin’s brief tenure in a state where “no one lives” (I’m sure that endeared them to the folks in Alaska!), blaming Bush (what’s new?) for the debt crisis (while conveniently omitting the fact that Obama is racking up more debt than all of his 43 predecessors combined), they turned their attention to the Tea Party.

It may have been my imagination, but I got the feeling that a large portion of the audience were not so keen to commit to the prompts for applause and laughter… to the point where discernible groans and grunts of disapproval could be heard. Maher said that he would refrain from using the word ‘Teabagger’ if the Tea Party stopped calling it ‘Obamacare’. Why, Bill? Wasn’t it Obama that pushed so hard to get it passed, to the detriment of all else? You wouldn’t be distancing yourself from it, knowing that it, along with the federal debt, will finish both Obama and the Democrats in 2012? If you were really smart, you’d put the blame for the health care disaster at the feet of Bush, just as you did with federal debt… call it ‘Bushcare’!

One thing that Maher said resonated with me, amongst all the stereotypical trash that he regurgitated. It was something about the Tea Party actually doing something, and the fact that we spend our time on internet forums complaining about deficit levels. Could that partly be because the alphabet networks are vehicles for the likes of Maher and Letterman? “Corporate America’s useful idiots”? I think I’d rather be a useful idiot than a useless know-it-all.

Tomorrow, I’ll be looking at some other aspects of the left’s control of the media.

(Due to IT problems, Editor Dee is in for Skip today)

Twice this week I've warned the Democratic Party about the dangers of overplaying the Sarah Palin attack strategy. I even invoked a sports metaphor, the very same (and rather lame) metaphor I invoked on the eve of Democratic Party wins during the election in 2006. I warned them of the "offsides trap," a defensive play in soccer (or European football). Not that anyone is listening, but I at least try to sound the alarm.

I find it interesting that tonight on the "The Factor" with Bill O'Reilly, Dick Morris used a metaphor of similar import drawn from military history: he warned Democrats that Sarah Palin could end up being the Democratic Party's Battle of Kursk; that battle was a trap for Germany, a devastating trap used to great success by the Soviet Union in World War 2. I like Morris' metaphor only to a point, as it is hard for me to even remotely hint at sympathy towards the repugnant Hitler and his evil designs (or Stalin's, for that matter).

Such warnings, of course, are aimed at Democrats and all those in the media who support the Democratic Party. They are intended to draw a line in the sand (or the pitch); such warnings say that to cross that line could be perilous. A quick survey of the media largely confirms my suspicion that Democrats have already crossed that line with a series of dopey metaphors (in bold):

• The ever-imitable New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd opined Sunday that Sarah Palin is essentially a real-life "chic flick." In all fairness to Ms. Dowd, who is to literature what phone sex is to oratory, a direct quote should be offered: Sarah Palin's story is a "hokey chick flick [that] came out on the trail, a Cinderella story so preposterous it’s hard to believe it’s not premiering on Lifetime." (My wife sums up perfectly what is wrong with Ms. Dowd: Ms. Dowd's words are born solely of envy.)
• Bill Maher referred to Sarah Palin as John McCain's stewardess. (That's some pretty heady humor there, Bill. Great writing.)
• Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn believes "that a woman with five children, including one with special needs, and a daughter who is a 17-year-old child who is pregnant and about to have a baby, probably has got to rethink her priorities. It seems to me that there is a tipping point, and I think that she's crossed the tipping point." (Ms. Quinn might want to quietly meditate on that tipping point idea for a while.)
• Democratic strategist and linguist/philosopher George Lakoff said of the Sarah Palin story, "It's conceivable a 17-year-old girl just screwed the GOP." (Of course, it should behoove any decent linguist to properly ask himself what he means by "conceivable" and "screwed." Nice metaphors, Mr. Lakoff. I can see why you are a Democratic strategist.)

What is just thrilling good fun is to see whether Gov. Palin can sufficiently tap into her own poetic muse to find the apt metaphor that perfectly fits the expectations of the American psyche, at least a majority share of it, and yet also gives Mr. Lakoff fits of apoplexy (figuratively speaking, of course). Tonight, right now in fact, is her time to be particularly inspired. That is if she's not too tired from breast-feeding. (Sorry. See how easy it is to be a buffoon?)

(Addendum: It seems quite clear that Gov. Palin found her muse and her metaphor.)

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