Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Wallowing...

I really enjoyed Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, which is a PBS special that retells the tale of the scandal that brought down Richard Milhous Nixon. It ran tonight on KCET in Los Angeles and airs on various PBS stations over the next few days. It was a bit rushed in the latter parts of the story and I think they left out my all-time favorite Watergate figure, Rabbi Baruch Korff. But it was still very well done and I think I'm going to order the DVD that was offered at the end.

Via newsreel footage, clips of Nixon's infamous tapes and interviews with most of the participants who are still alive, they laid out the story quite well. One cannot help but compare and contrast some elements of the whole mess to scandals (and their handling) by later Chief Execs. If you can catch it, do.

I also caught a little of an episode of American Masters that followed, profiling Gore Vidal. Saved it on the TiVo for when I have more time but it looked pretty interesting, as well.

• Posted at 11:10 PM · LINK

Coming Soon...

Would you like to see a live Monty Python stage show? Yeah, me too. But would you like to see it if it didn't feature any members of Monty Python? I don't know how I feel about this.

• Posted at 9:52 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Garry Wills sort of reviews Hillary Clinton's autobiography but really uses it as an excuse to talk about her in a larger context. Those who want to believe she is either blemish-free or demon-possessed will not like the portrait he paints of her. But it may be the most accurate of the many that have been written.

• Posted at 5:39 PM · LINK

And More...

And from Jon Belmont himself comes an e-mail...

i'd been joking in speeches and on that air that bob hope planned to get back at me by outliving me. like mark twain and — until sunday night — ole bob, i'm glad that reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated.

So am I. We've never met but I instinctively feel sorry for a newsman who is handed an erroneous report and reads it in the line of work. People forget that it was someone else on the chain-of-command who actually made the mistake. In this case, it apparently started with a speech on the floor of the House by then-Congressman Bob Stump. And it wasn't even his fault. According to this article...

The Republican had been asked by then-Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, to make the announcement on the House floor. Staff members had alerted Armey to the news on June 5, 1998, after seeing Hope's obituary posted on the Web site of the Associated Press. The story had been posted by mistake, however. It was advance material not intended for publication until the comedian's death.

The latest confusion seems to stem from the fact that Bob Hope outlived Bob Stump, who passed away about a month ago. The person who reminded me of the incident apparently mixed up just who it was who had announced Hope's demise only to be outlived by him.

Anyway, Mr. Belmont, thanks for the note and my apologies for the error. Your colleague at WTMJ radio, Rob Hart, also wrote to tell me of his shock at your death and said he hoped it wouldn't interfere with your lunch date tomorrow. He said the tape gets frequent play in your newsroom, so apparently Bob Hope was able to provoke laughter merely by not dying.

• Posted at 3:43 PM · LINK

Correction!

Several folks are informing me this morning that, contrary to the item I posted, newsman Jon Belmont is not dead. He's the one who reported that Bob Hope was dead when he wasn't, but he's now the morning newsperson at WTMJ radio in Milwaukee. Sorry for passing on misinformation but in this case, it almost seems appropriate.

• Posted at 10:49 AM · LINK

People Are Getting Smarter

Ben Varkentine was a wise, perceptive critic when he reviewed my first collection of columns. Now with its sequel, he's gotten even wiser and more perceptive.

• Posted at 10:43 AM · LINK