Thursday, March 19, 2009

Watching Tonight

Obama's appearance on The Tonight Show went well enough...but those things always do. If Dick Cheney went on, he'd probably do okay. The President is probably already regretting his "Special Olympics" quip not because it was insulting to the disabled but because it gives his detractors something to scream about and try to build one of those bogus equivalence arguments. You know, all presidents make mistakes. Bush got us into an unnecessary war and ran it badly, costing countless lives and dollars. Obama may have offended some handicapped people. It's all the same.

I used to wish politicians wouldn't go on shows like that. I felt they needed to face real questions and not be allowed to come across like nice, funny guys in a safe venue. But lately, they don't face real questions on Meet the Press or other shows of that sort. So maybe it doesn't matter much anymore...

• Posted at 11:36 PM · LINK

Watching MSNBC

Rachel Maddow did a terrific segment on her show this evening noting the sixth anniversary of the Iraq War and all the attempts by its instigators to rewrite history. You know, that whole thing about "weapons of mass destruction" was a minor error that anyone could have made...and of course, no one suggested there was any link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks...

I'll embed the segment if and when it becomes available. On the other hand, Ms. Maddow made a big deal about the 87 Republican Congressfolks who voted against today's move to tax the AIG bonuses at 90%, interpreting that as the G.O.P. siding with the greedy fat cats. I don't think that's quite fair. For one thing, half of the Republican reps voted for the bill...and some of those who voted against it may have simply felt it was the wrong, probably unconstitutional way to go about nullifying those bonuses.

Okay, I'm gonna go watch Obama on the Leno show...

• Posted at 8:34 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Fred Kaplan says that if we halt production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, it will not (as threatened) cost 95,000 jobs. Hope he's right.

• Posted at 5:55 PM · LINK

In Passing...

Noting the loss of two fine comedy writers...

Mort Lachman, who logged 28 years in the service of Mr. Robert Hope, and who also wrote for Red Skelton, All in the Family and many other venues, died Tuesday, only days before what would have been his 91st birthday. I only met Mort briefly once, early in my career, but he was a pretty potent source of inspiration in the business. Among other notable achievements, he was a writer of one-line jokes who turned into a writer of situation comedies and screenplays. Not everyone who tried to make that transitition managed it but Mort did. Here's an obit that will tell you more about the man.

And Frank Ferrante informs me of the (apparently) unpublicized loss of Robert Fisher last September. Fisher was a prolific writer of radio shows, TV programs, plays and screenplays, often in collaboration with his partner, Arthur Marx. Together, they wrote the hit Broadway play, The Impossible Years, and two shows about Arthur's family — Groucho: A Life in Revue (in which Mr. Ferrante starred) and the book for the musical, Minnie's Boys. Their other credits parallel Mort Lachman's, working on All in the Family and writing movies for Bob Hope. I met Mr. Fisher when he and Arthur were story editors, as they were for a long time, on the TV series, Alice. Nice, funny man. I don't know why his death has gone unnoted.

• Posted at 10:29 AM · LINK

Sergio and Mark Destroy Another Comic Book Company...

Legal expert Jeff Wexler says that DC Comics, Inc. no longer exists.

• Posted at 3:09 AM · LINK

Go Read It!

A brief interview with Jerry Robinson about the great exhibit up at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

• Posted at 2:18 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I don't think I've embedded this particular clip of George Carl before but even if I have, so what? He's worth seeing again and again and even again. The late Mr. Carl was a brilliant clown who spent his life playing showrooms in France and Nevada, perfecting an act that could properly be described as "Twenty minutes of getting tangled in the microphone cord." When I go to Vegas now, I miss a lot of things that aren't there anymore but I think most of all, I miss not being able to go see George Carl. Here he is in one of his appearances on The Tonight Show. You can hear Mr. Carson howling with laughter in the background...

• Posted at 1:44 AM · LINK