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Sunday, December 17. 2006

Call It News

Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD)

Here we are, just a few short weeks before the 110th Congress convenes, and there’s controversy over whether or not the Democrats can retain control of the Senate. Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota isn’t dead, is showing signs of great improvement in his health after brain surgery, and already the news of his demise (and the effect on Congress) is gobbling up — for five days in a row now — the predominant space in the news.

Except for Katie Couric on CBS News, who led her Wednesday evening newscast with a story about … this is funny … Christmas shopping. You go, girl!
 Top stories on MSNBC Friday was Couric’s plummeting ratings. Is it because

Katie Couric: Rock goddess and her famous legs

she’s a woman, or because she has adopted a different style from here persona on NBC’s Today show, or because they cover news like Christmas shopping instead of the health of a U.S. Senator?
 I prefer Rachel Sklar’s view: let Katie be Katie and the ratings will return. All three networks have given men over a year to get in stride with the job of nightly news anchor and the fretting over Couric is out-of-hand. Right now she’s the only nightly news I watch.
 Sklar is the media columnist/blogger on the

Rachel Sklar

Huffington Post. She’s hot. Rachel — can I call you Rachel? — is a regular on Scarborough Country on MSNBC, so I tune in often.

On Wednesday this was a news story. Thursday even, after the senator’s surgery, which went well and has the Democrat recovering, although he’s still in “critical condition.” Since then, we’ve been inundated with news about who will control the Senate — with the caveat that everyone, including the Republicans, are hoping for a speedy recovery for Senator Johnson.

Yes, the news needs to cover the senator’s story, but now that every possible political angle has been dissected and left for the buzzards, how about just giving us a two-sentence update on the senator’s condition?

Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews, of Hardball, confirmed on Imus in the Morning it was his out-of-control diabetes that kept him off the air for so many weeks. I love to hate Matthews, and some days I hate to love him, but he’s really the lynchpin of my news beat.
 My news beat being Hardball, Countdown and Scarborough on MSNBC; CNN throughout the day and Lou Dobbs; Katie Couric on CBS, Meet the Press on NBC, This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC and of course The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Mike Barnicle and Norah O’Donnell

Chris, take care of yourself. A glucose reading of 350 is beyond dangerous. When Mike Barnicle of … who is he writing for now? … takes over your chair, I’m never moved to throw books at the TV, although Norah O’Donnell gets my blood boiling.
 But never Campbell Brown … (sigh) … She married former State Department employee Dan Senor earlier this year, breaking my heart in two, turning my brown eyes blue …
 Senor can be seen on that “fair and balanced” Fox News … he was the spokesperson for L. Paul Bremer when Bremer was the viceroy of Iraq, leading the all-but-forgotten Coalition Provisional Authority.

Campbell Brown

 Bremer, to his credit, began criticizing the president’s policies (and by chain-of-command, Rumsfeld’s) almost immediately after leaving his job as the head of the CPA in 2004, telling reporters for the Washington Post two of the biggest, most consequential mistakes made by Bush-Rumsfeld were: 1) Lack of adequate forces to control the country after the fall of Hussein; and 2) Allowing the looting to go on unabated after the fall of Hussein, which led to an atmosphere of lawlessness that, two years after he made these remarks, has grown exponentially.
 Bremer said of the occupation, during a speech at DePauw University in 2004, “The single most important change — the one thing that would have improved the situation — would have

L. Paul Bremer receiving
the Presidential Medal of Freedom

been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout [the occupation].”
 Everyone’s all but forgotten L. Paul Bremer, even though he had his book published 11 months ago, and it’s no wonder. He started criticizing the president in 2004 when it was still politically expedient and fashionable to be a Bush supporter — like that ratbastard Ken Adelman.

Anyway, Chris Matthews, follow the doctor’s orders. We love to hate you and we love you just the same. Cable news is a little drearier when you’re not there.

 On a lighter note:

Trey Anastasio Busted

Trey Anastasio of Phish was arrested on a DUI charge in Upstate New York Friday. Plenty of good pharmaceuticals were found in his possession, like Percocet and Xanax, but unfortunately for him, he didn’t have prescriptions for any of these substances. According to the police report: “Anastasio’s booking lasted seven hours, and included three bass solos, a cover of the Move’s entire Message To The Country album, and a flying hamburger bus.”
 Actually, someone at The Idolator made that up, but it’s pretty funny.

Today is Sunday, December 17, leaving just eight days (if you count today) to get all your Christmas shopping completed. Or maybe Hanukkah shopping. Whatever your holiday flavor. I’m heading to my favorite shopping locals, none of which are in malls. Then maybe I’ll stop at Hooters for some wings … yeah, that’s why I go to Hooters, for the wings …

Posted by Tim Forkes in NEWS and POLITICS at 00:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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