To see Randi from last night

[CatWoman]

go to CNN.COM, Click on "most watched video".

Then enter "immigration debate" in the search screen.

This selection will come up: Immigration debate (5:28)

10:01 pm, May 12

Best of TV

I don't know how to post the direct link. Sorry.

[Puglover]

1. Big smootch for you Catwoman

for posting this! I really wanted to see this! Thanks!

[nicknameless]

2. Thanks for posting this.

Recommended

:)

[KharmaTrain]

3. Thank Goodness Larry Was Taking The Night Off

John Roberts did a good job and kept the show moving...and didn't ask the stupid Larry questions.

It's sad to see what became of Larry King...I recently found a tape of one of his shows from the late 70's...he was going after callers who spewed the right wing hocus pocus as "whackos"...now he's one of them.

[itzamirakul]

4. Larry King has joined the right wing because he was courted by them

and made to feel powerful. He also got some hefty raises in pay. That's most likely why he joined them, rather than some change in philosophy. Personally, I can't stand the sucker, that's why I missed last night's show with Randi because I quit watching ANYONE on CNN PERIOD, several months ago. I just cannot stomach the bullshit and garbage they spew.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Excellent Observation

Yep...the right wing threw money and special attention on as many talking heads and media-types they could. Perfect examples are Russert and Tweety...well documented how GE's Jack Welch bought their souls for the good life. I can think of another ex-Democrat who was courted that way as well...in fact it was General Electric that resurrected his failed career...gave him a speech to give and turned his politics and life around...that person was Ronald Raygun.

King suffers from being completely isolated from reality. In the old days he was based in Washington and, while he was popular, he never knew if tonight would be his last show. When he went to CNN he became Ted Turner's favorite...as Ted not only threw the big money at him, but then allowed Larry to move the show to LA interviewing his buddies like Rickles and Robert Schueller and not having to deal with the "regular people" anymore.

[itzamirakul]

8. If I remember correctly, Larry King was really a sort of "nobody" who

happened to have a tv show where he interviewed celebrities. Then, when he was campaigning the first time, Bill Clinton came on his show and that made King an "important personality" and also gave him the "appearance" of having some intelligence (which is proven to be a lie just by watching him talk to his guests).

[KharmaTrain]

10. Larry Was A Radio Legend Before CNN

For 10 years before he was on CNN he hosted an all-night talk show from Washington on Mutual Radio...it was the fore-runner of today's national talk radio shows, but at that time it was both very novel and risky. This was when it was more profitable to play the latest Donnie Osmond or Donna Summer tune than let people talk...King invented a lot of the conventions that are now part of Air America, EIB and every other national talk show/network. His contribution on this front was huge and, as a student of radio at the time, I both admired and studied what he did. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him on several occasions in the early and mid 80s and learned a great deal from the man. That's what makes writing negative things about now so painful.

[itzamirakul]

11. OK...I stand corrected...I don't think I had really ever paid any

attention to him until the forementioned Clinton appearance so it is quite possible that I missed his previous importance.

I do sort of remember him being a liberal...but that only lasted until Barbara Bush started coming on the show (Just kidding!)

[KharmaTrain]

12. Larry Was An Unabashed Liberal in the 70's

I wish I could post some of these tapes I found of King's late 70's shows...where he takes on those with Repugnican and right wing talking points and would call them "whackos".

It's very understandable most people see King from his CNN "work" over the past decade. He helped Clinton the night he brought on Ross Perot on NAFTA and made him look like a fool. That's what made Larry a major name at the time.

Again, it seems that when Larry went "Hollywood" he got fat and lazy. Now he's so out of touch with the topics he was once in command of...that's also something painful to watch.

Peace...

[Awsi Dooger]

15. I listened to Larry King every night in the '70s

WIOD radio in Miami. He had a sports talk show called Sports a la King during the early evening, then hosted an all night talk show. That's what led to the Mutual gig in maybe '78, when he took over for Long John Neville who was getting up there in age.

The Saturday night sports talk show was the greatest. Looneys came out in force. That prompted King to launch something called Whacko Night from the theatre at the University of Miami every few months. All the callers were encouraged to be whacko, and they didn't disappoint. I made a tape recording of a guy desperate to be put on hold. That was my dream, not to be on the air but to be put on hold. I taped it creatively with plenty of pauses so it sounded like it was live. It actually made it on the air and King spent maybe three or four minutes trying to talk to the recording. Finally he put me back on hold since that was what the tape was begging for, and the audience howled. I went back to the phone at that point and Larry King's producer was trying to talk to the recording, "How stoned out of your mind are you?"

That was awesome radio. King played spoof skits with other WIOD personnel like the late Bill Calder. One was called the Man on the Street Interview and another The Secret Phrase Game. It was parody stuff not unlike some of the things Jon Stewart and Steven Coulter do now.

King was every bit the liberal at that point. It wasn't even tame.

He also did color commentary on Dolphin football games for a few years.

In maybe '74, King got in trouble for pocketing money, a huge sum when he was apparently supposed to be a middleman in a gambling transaction. That got him booted off the air and out of Miami until WIOD gave him another chance in maybe '76. I thunk he bummed around racetracks in Shreveport and the like during his exile.

[KharmaTrain]

20. Thank You For The Background

Larry started at WKAT and, as you state, was a Miami radio legend in the 60's and 70's. IRC, the Mutual Radio show began in '77 and I listened nightly via WCFL in Chicago...that's where I first heard him and this was a far different Larry King than we see today. I remember his first TV appearances and he had a terrible habit of constantly licking his lips...he'd do it to the point of distraction and I thought he'd never make it on TV...was I wrong. His CNN show originally was hosted by Sandy Freeman who did the similar powder puff interviews King does today. At the time, King was brought in by Turner to add some "teeth" to the program. Now it's dentures with very little Poli-Grip...LOL.

Larry's gambling troubles almost got him killed from what I recall him saying. He'd gotten caught up with a "bad crowd" when he worked in Miami Beach and started to live beyond his means...that led to both the gambling fiasco and bankruptcy. I give the man a lot of credit for taking that second chance and making the most of it...and to WIOD for giving him that chance...that wouldn't happen today.

[ikojo]

19. I think it was more Ross Perot and his charts

that brought increased notoriety to Larry King as a news maker.

[ikojo]

18. Larry King's current wife is also a Mormon..and he has

a couple of kids by her. I suspect he hears right wing talking points at home as well.

[Arkham House]

5. Somebody referred to his show as "Larry King Dead"--

--and it fits...

[KharmaTrain]

6. That Be Me

I coined that here several years ago...it comes from the joke that most of Larry's guests are either dead, dying or have some tragic disease or other calamity that makes you feel so good you're not as bad off as they are. Cleveland...hello...

[Arkham House]

9. Cool...but it'd apply to him these days, too...

Larry seems to be losin' it...

[FULL_METAL_HAT]

13. Link to that CNN clip + a tip/trick to extract the address to share...

http://edition.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/bestoftv/2006/05/12/larry.king.friday.cnn

BTW a tip for an easy way to get the web address/URL for this kind of pop-up window that lacks the address bar (where you can copy the URL to share) is to simply press control-n .. this opens a new copy of that window that actually does have the address bar! So you then copy the URL and paste it in a message like this one.

BTW the video clip at Crooks and Liars is sweeter considering Randi actually nails the kid about him not joining the military, as she had when she was his age (6 years of service she did!)

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/13.html#a8274

Discussed here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1179375

Bonus tip for Crooks and Liars videos is you can right-click on them and choose "Save Target As..." to save it to your computer for future enjoyment or easily showing other folks.

{B^> FMH

[VolcanoJen]

14. Thank you Cat!!!

Just re-watched it, and my blood's boiling all over again.

Little Lord Fauntleroy is killin' me.

[upi402]

16. Randi was sooooo good! A hero in our midst!

Thanks girl!

[ariesgem]

17. Here's a link to the full video

www.vimeo.com/clip:72367

on edit: I don't know why the link comes out this way when I cut and paste it from my bookmark, but type the www address in your browser, insert a colon after "clip" and type clip number 72367. I don't know why that smiley and target= appears in the link.