Category Archives: TV

Top Republican Plays (?) Dumb

In an interview with CNN, RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer says he doesn’t understand why on earth Cliven Bundy has been tied to the GOP.  He finds this linkage just “ridiculous.”  Really, where could it possibly be coming from?

Is it possible Spicer doesn’t watch his house propaganda organ Fox News?  Or doesn’t keep an eye — and ear — on Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Rick Perry and Dean Heller, to name just a few.  That he doesn’t follow conservative publications and web sites and talk radio?

Sean Outdoes Himself

Yes, Cliven Bundy said some racist things, Sean Hannity admitted tonight, but…Benghazi, but…the IRS, but…Obamacare, but…Katrina, but…Jon Stewart, but…eminent domain, but…the Delta smelt.  If you’re wondering how any of this made sense, it didn’t.  As his incoherent and irrelevant rant became more and more bizarre, I kept waiting for guys with a straitjacket to emerge from the wings, but they never arrived.

Sean, much more defiant than apologetic, played old clips of himself interviewing African Americans.  And I mean old — like nine years ago.  Sean had an African American guest, David Webb, a conservative talk show host.  You could imagine Sean reading Bundy’s quotes this morning, and screaming, “Get me Webb!”

I doubt Hannity’s staff EVER had a worse day.  But it’s tough to feel bad for people who have sold their souls to the devil, and even harder to feel sorry for the devil himself.

More on the Bundy Bizarreness

From “Deadbeat on the Range,” Timothy Egan, NYT:

“Imagine a vendor on the National Mall, selling burgers and dogs, who hasn’t paid his rent in 20 years.  He refuses to recognize his landlord, the National Park Service, as a legitimate entity.  Every court has ruled against him, and fines have piled up.

“Would an armed posse come to his defense, aiming their guns at the park police?  Would the lawbreaker get prime airtime on Fox News, breathless updates in the Drudge Report, a sympathetic ear from Tea Party Republicans?  No, of course not.

“Ranching is hard work.  Drought and market swings make it a tough go in many years.  That’s all the more reason to praise the 18,000 or so ranchers who pay their grazing fees on time and don’t go whining to Fox or summoning a herd of armed thugs when they renege on their contract.  You can understand why the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association wants no part of Bundy.”

To me the story here isn’t Bundy — this country is brimming with crazies — it’s the right-wing embrace of him as a martyr, not a mashugana.  It feels as if Fox has jumped the shark in a way that their customary Benghazi/IRS/Obamacare BS never achieved.

Quote of the Day

“Ronan Farrow Daily debuted Monday on MSNBC, and while the host bravely projected enthusiasm right through to the end, it was clear from the start that something was really wrong. It was like seeing the neighbor’s cute kid pushed into a talent recital for which he was not quite prepared. A lot of people are clapping, but the audience support makes the spectacle onstage even worse.”

Tom McCarthy, The Guardian