Hardball's "Subliminable" Messages:

[PCIntern]

Since Tweety's on medical hiatus, let's just take a moment to review the bidding, as it were...

First of all, since Jon Stewart decimated "Crossfire" and directly or indirectly facilitated its cancellation, Hardball is the survivor, of the "I fart in your general direction" and "sneering is, in fact, an argument" school of prime-time interviews of political hacks. Of course, we shall exclude the interview styles of such responsible individuals who substitute for Tweety as David Shuster and Mike Barnicle whilst Tweety is on diabetic leave, since they are 'old school' and refuse to demean or denigrate their guests.

The show begins with a montage of what would be referred to as half-tone moving stills of great national edifices with intermittent faces of the founding fathers,renowned presidents, an occasional pretzel-dent, and then Tweety's bust himself, looking as though he were posing for Mount Rushmore. The interpolation of Tweety in this mix is funnier in its own right than anything seen or heard on The Daily Show. please allow me to say that if I placed a 16x20 black and white photograph, shot through cheesecloth of me in my dental waiting room, everyone would either bust out laughing or ask for their x-rays to be sent to his or her new dentist. Such is vanity in the realm of what passes for punditry on the Tube.

We then graduate to the rhetorical questions asked by the moderator. Now there is a choice of phraseology. On the one hand, Tweety could ask, "By what mechanisms may we hold the entire Republican establishment responsible for this atrocious situation in which we find ourselves, since they controlled all three branches of government and the Supreme Court? Is voting them out the best and only way, or is impeachment in the offing? Stay tuned to this edition of Hardball." Rather, we hear something on the order of, "Will Democrats with their new-found slim majorities, be able to overcome their hatred of their Speaker and the internal divisions long enough to be able to finally propose a plan which will solve all of the problems of America within the next seventy-two hours, for if they do not, then we can and should expect a Republican return to power two years from now along with a wonderful President such as the war hero and Senator, John McCain? Tonight we will be interviewing (fill in the name of three RW petulant, foaming, lunatics) and (for 'balance'), (fill in name of obscure Democrat whose microphone is sufficiently turned down so that Tweety may talk right over his or her words, and of course, ask/smirk about Hillary).

Now is the time to take bets on how many times spittle will fly out of Tweety's mouth...the recent record is twenty-three, achieved on Election night, 2006 during the surge of Senator-elect Jim Webb's poll numbers. Fill in your guess here: __________


At the end, following the mauling of the Democrats, the uttered 'YEAH's while the Republicans speak, and the inexplicable illogic of self-referencing himself as a Philly-boy when his politics and style are anything but, there is the sanctimonious comment which, as a coda, reads almost like a confessional, containing a few 'heartfelt' platitudes such as 'peace on earth' and 'moral high ground' and other cliched phrases.


Tweety was able during the last 6 years to have it both ways. On the one hand, a transcript of his questions and comments might lead some to believe that he was at the very least, skeptical about the war, if not downright cynical. On the other hand, Tweety had on as guests daily, multiple apologists for the administration and not only sucked up to them via phraseology and body language, but his outright admiration for the 'manliness' of the CEO of this entire catastrophe was literally remarkable...and somewhat nauseating. Yes, I am aware of his 'thoughtful' columns in newspapers, yes I know that he references history including the Vietnam War on occasion, but that's not and hasn't been, enough. I know that there have been pretty savage anti-Tweety threads which surfaced following the announcement of his 'complications'. These threads are really beneath contempt for their adolescent nastiness...although I will admit a smile or two...but we need to keep our eye on the ball and not over-sympathize with those who are antithetical to our principles as Americans (as well as DUers), but, for example, just becuase someone breaks down and cries at a podium, you don't forgive and forget all that has transpired in the past. You keep the incident in context and use it to understand that which has gone before, since that may be in even clearer focus after the fact.

I for one, wish Tweety well in his recovery, and look forward to seeing him back on TV and bashing him even more, since I don't expect his tactics will change in the least.

[Old and In the Way]

1. Tweety's foreplay with DeLay told me all I need to know about where

his bias is.

[PCIntern]

2. yeah, that was pretty egregious...

his whole technique is noxious...

[Jacobin]

3. The main thrust of his 'show' pre-invasion was

cheerleading the neo-cons and making fun of anyone who opposed the invasion as 'peaceniks', cowards, or Quakers. His utterance at watching the fake pulldown of Saddam's statue (close in shot of Chalabi's horde) was: "We are all neocons, now!"

Is is despicable, beneath contempt, a neo-con shill, with just enough 'critical statements' about the extreme RW uttered under his breath, to give himself running room to claim he was 'balanced' when things turn south, as they have done in a very big way

[PCIntern]

4. Well put...

I would also add that he is a phony and pretender thru and thru. His random claims that he's just a neighborhood boy from Philly compounded with his 'history' for working for Tip O'Neill in the House apparrently are meant to insulate him from charges that he's anything but a populist.

Interestingly, like Douglas Feith, he is NEVER mentioned as a local in the Philly press.