June 12th show continued

Joy gets really worked up about the Dan rather comments about Katie Couric:

***
Joy: Dan Rather has said something to MSNBC that I thought was a little tacky about Katie.  You know every day they are after Katie because her numbers are down and so they are relentless against her- She's working hard
EH: Yes they are
BW: She's working hard. I like Katie very much and I think it's just mean of them to keep going after her. To add on top of that, Dan Rather, who used to work for CBS, he said to MSNBC "I want to make it clear that I have nothing against Katie Couric at all. She's a very nice person, however it was clear at the time, and I think it has become clearer that the mistake was to try" now listen to this "to try to dumb it down and tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience."  This totally insults young people and stupid people and tarts.
EH: Right
JB: I mean that's so wrong of him
EH: It is. I thought let me see where you could have possibly went- so I went and broke down what he said word for word and under tart it came "to tart something up" it started in 1938 I found out at dictionary.com tart was used as the word prostitute in some cases in 1887 sometimes said to be the shortening of sweetheart but ...(she goes on with her dictionary definitions of tart)
BW: In other words, it isn't a good thing
EH: Not at all
Syler: She was trying to bring eyeballs to the TV set, as was CBS and younger people but that is a day part that is resistant to change and so she has unfairly been the target of some criticism

***
First-  the dumbing down part is right on, in this situation.  Katie Couric is not the best example of a high intellect newscaster.  Maybe her morning routine was interesting to some, but really- she is mediocre, at best.  I have never understood people who thought she was talented- never seen it in her...

Next- "Tart it Up" and Katie Couric do not belong together in a plan to attract viewers. At the risk of offending someone, Couric is no tart- she has been pegged the girl next door but to say she could tart anything up... If CBS wanted to tart up the evening news, there are countless women much better looking (although not necessarily less intelligent) and more talented.

If CBS wanted to attract a younger audience, CBS needed to put an intelligent person in the spot.  Many young people are engaging in politics and current affairs and they want substance. Looks are neat but they can't articulate a policy, or ask a hard question.

I am not sure why Elisabeth had to look anything up in the dictionary but I don't want to go there as a part of a discussion about dumbing things down...

Finally- any television show, news or otherwise, is made or broken by ratings and then ultimately advertising.  Couric is playing with the big boys now and if she can't cut it she needs to get out.  She should not whine about it.  Her job was to bring in ratings.  She's not getting the job done.  People aren't watching her. The truth is in the numbers, no matter how likable she is or isn't.

Couric is a bust in the evening. 

I would suggest she go back to daytime but am afraid they might try to put her on the View...

Comments On June 12th show:

Rene Syler guest hosted. Syler wrote the book Good Enough Mother.  She says good enough is the new perfect. 

First topic: The Sopranos

BW noted that people are upset because no one got whacked.  She reports that the show's creator/ writer, David Chase, tried to escape to Paris (we just can't get away from Paris) to find some peace after the fan furor over the non-finale finale.  Supposedly Chase said there will be no movie.  We'll see...

On to the really important topics of the day: Paris

BW noted that some people were touched by the phone call between Paris and BW. 

Elisabeth commented that she felt that people's criticism of Paris for now reading the Bible was an attack on Christianity.  I disagree with her and think Syler tried to make the point that people are critical about her drive thru approach to turning her life around.  Unfortunately, Barbara interrupted her to try  to explain why people should be patient with Paris.

***
Syler: I am not sure that that is why they are jumping on her. This is a woman who has made her mark partying and otherwise.
BW: We know that Rene but what she is saying is "I'm going to try to change. I'm going to try to be different." Somehow when bad things happen to you that is when you pick up the more spiritual books, including the Bible. I mean what we have to see is does she come out and lead a somewhat different life.
Joy: But there is a certain disingenuousness to the fact that it was like overnight. Like Ted Haggard, that other one
BW: SHe didn't say overnight.
EH: It's been seven days (lots of audience laughter) A lot happened in the Bible in seven days
***

Good point by EH.

***
BW: This has not been seven days.  Why am I sounding like a publicist. She's done seven days in jail but what happened to her- the whole indictment- its been weeks. What she is saying is "this has been very difficult in all different kinds of ways and it has made me more spiritual."
Joy: She says she's smarter, also which I - and she said she feels like she's in a cage- DUH! You're in a cage- you're in jail.
***

Exactly...

***
Syler: When I saw that my first response was you know- how many people fell like when they are in prison that they feel like they are in a cage? I understand that but would her treatment would have been any different if her name had been Paris Jackson?
BW: Maybe it would have been less time, maybe it would have been more time.  We don't know.
Joy: Paris Jackson? What do you mean Paris Jackson?
Syler (trying to be very clear with Joy, who at times amazes me): Here are the lines. Here are the lines
Joy: I am trying to figure out where are you going with Paris Jackson
Syler: If she had been a woman of color
Joy (The light going on): Oh, you mean like Jesse Jackson

***
There are moments when one really must wonder...

Comments on June 11 show:

On to politics:

There are reports that Hillary is not a jock, she is a speed walker.  BW questioned why she needs to be athletic- she's a woman. Is it a man's thing to be athletic?

Joy wonders why she needs to be athletic at all as FDR was in a wheelchair and "He didn't even do speedrolling." 

I have news for them,  her athletic abilities are the least of her problems...



Then they discuss LeBron James, a professional basketball player and his girlfriend.  She is about to give birth to their second child and he has been clear that he will not be present  for the birth if it would require him to miss an upcoming championship game. His girlfriend understands, but apparently others do not.

***
BW with a three pointer: It used to be for years that the father showed up- the father wasn't in the birth room- the father was there with a cigar. My question is- its the second child- shouldn't he marry her?

***

Great point!!! LeBron- are you listening?

Comments on June 11, cont

Joy is trying to turn the Paris situation into a reflection of people's frustration with Bush.  It is quite a stretch but she tries:

***
Joy: Partly I think people want a distraction from all of the horrible things going on in the world- terrorism, etc, etc... but I also think that after the last election when we voted against Bush and his administration and his war and everything else, people did not get what they wanted. They wanted him to stop, they wanted
EH with a sarcastic comment: His war- only his
BW- tries to go to break
Joy: Just let me finish this one sentence- SO I feel like I am even more powerless than I was before that election so why not watch Paris Hilton
BW: I don't think it has anything to do with it.  I think every magazine, everything is about the Lindsay Lohans, the Paris Hiltons, 
Joy: Which comes first the audience or the people who are running it?
BW:  I'm not sure that it's a reaction to the war. It's my theory.  We want, you know, to forget about it but I am  not sure the two things 

They all start talking over each other and then they go to break.

***
Barbara is right- people fixate on Hollywood and other stars.  Where was the Bush war when the country sat mesmerized by the OJ trial? Or when Diana married Prince Charles and became the peoples princess? Or when her death and funeral eclipsed the death of Mother Teresa? The examples of the public's obsession with stars could go on and on.

George Bush can not be blamed for this one.

Comments on June 11 show cont

Barbara very solemnly discusses Paris’ comments- she reads over her notes from their conversation:

***

She has a spiritual advisor who told her “my spirit or soul did not like the way I was being seen and that is why I was sent to jail. God has released me”

Joy with a well deserved smack down: The judge hasn’t

****

Paris is in jail because she broke the law and then thumbed her nose at the police and the judge.

Joy’s comment was perfectly timed…

Barbara was a little miffed:

***

BW: I don’t think the judge is in charge of her spirit or her soul, okay. She said she is reading newspapers- the LA Times and the Wall Street Journal- and books like The Secret, The Power of Now, and The Bible.

***

I really want to know what sections of the paper she is reading. I just can’t picture her reading the world news or business sections. Maybe…

It sounds like she read more over the weekend than she may have done in years. She should be careful- she might get a headache.

As Barbara went on, she reported Paris is accepting of serving her time but did want to note that usually people serve only 10% of their time and she has served 30%.

Maybe she should practice her math skills while in jail. A 45 day sentence would mean 10% is 4.5 days. 30% would be about 14 days.

She went to jail Sunday night (which was pretty close to Monday morning)- in California, this means she gets credit for all of Sunday. Then she was in jail Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That let her sneak out of jail in the middle of the night Thursday am. So after being in jail for a couple of hours more than 3- 24 hour periods, they gave her credit for 5 days. Then she sat in her miserable mansion for the next 28 hours and went back to Court Friday morning. She then went to a correctional facility for people with mental health issues over the weekend. By Sunday she had served 9 days. 9 may be more than 10% but it is nowhere near 30%

By the way- is it really possible she has earned time off for good behavior?

And she promised her mom she will never drink and drive again- thank goodness she can afford a chauffeur!

COmments on show from Monday, June 11, 2007 

Kim Coles guest hosted

More Paris- 14 days until release- how does she get time for good behavior with her histrionics?

BW spoke with Kathy Hilton- they are friendly- and Paris then called BW.

BW’s summary: She sounded tired but totally aware of what she was saying; she called because BW was a friend of the family and had interviewed her in the past.

When asked how she was doing Paris replied: “I’m hanging in there but feel as I am a different person.” She has dropped her appeal because she doesn’t want to cause any more problems.

BW asked her about what happened in round one in the jail. Paris responded: She was not wailing, sobbing or screaming but she was not eating or sleeping. She was severely depressed and felt as though she was in a cage- it was a horrible experience.

Imagine that- being in prison, feeling like you are in a cage…

Hilton told BW: “I am not the same person I was- I know I can make a difference. I have the power to do that. I want to do different things when I get out of here.”

Then she shocked Barbara with the following: "I used to act dumb. That act is no longer cute. It is not who I am nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I am 26 years old and it is a different time. I have become much more spiritual. God has given me this new chance.”

First, I am happy the dumb thing was just an act.  I hope she does begin to demonstrate some ability to act her age.

The women rightly poke a little fun at Hilton finding God in two days-I hope she did find God, but the proof will be seen over years, not days.  Hilton's best hope is to do some real introspection and begin to live a life, day by day, that reflects the values she says she has come to appreciate over the weekend...

And now for something even more ridiculous: BW asked her what she wants to do with her life after she gets out. She had obviously put a lot of thought into this one. She might in the field of Breast cancer in memory of her grandmother or MS in memory of her other grandmother. And she said she might get toy companies to build a Paris Hilton Play House for children, where sick children might come and that toy companies could donate toys. She thought that given her name and her power, she can use it for very different things

See, here is where Paris doesn’t get it. PARIS should build the house for sick kids- not just lend her name to the project. PARIS should donate the toys to the play house. PARIS should spend some time with the sick kids, learning things like humility…

The show on Friday, June 8th was another dud!

Remember, Fridays are prerecorded on Wednesday, which is why we got Griffin again, but really!  BW has got to see that the show is doing a bit of floundering. 

The women have reverted to talking a lot about sex related topics- first they discussed a reporter who had sex with his wife every night for one hundred days- not interesting.  Then they moved onto Albert Einstein and the contract he made with his cheating wife... Next, we learned that Joy's dad was a gambler but that her mom wished he would have cheated.  She would have preferred to have the money he lost. (I wonder how she would have felt if he really had cheated...)

They kept hyping the big segment of the day, which turned out to be an embarrassment.

The big guest segment of the day was with a couple who don't deserve any attention: They began dating.  He was married.  She dumped him. He threw lye on her and then went to jail for over a decade.  When he got out of jail, she married him. No matter how hard they tried, they could not turn the interview into something interesting: the couple was just pathetic. 

Here's hoping they find a way to bring in more interesting guests and discuss more interesting and relevant hot topics.  The show has such potential to impact it's viewers but they have to make it happen.

I'll be watching and hoping...

 

June 7, 2007

Guest Host Lorraine Bracco

Paris has been released- the audience gasps. She has been released for medical reasons and has been reassigned to her home. She will be on house arrest for the rest of her sentence, which reverts back to the 45 day sentence.

This situation is so comical it now borders on tragic.

First, the sheriff announces her sentence was reduced from 45 days to approximately 23 days. (The poor prisoners get too crowded so people get let go early…

Then they announce that Paris will be kept in a more private area. She could have paid for the celebrity jail but decided against it. She really wanted to do her time, spend time thinking and being a role model…

Next, she checks in on the fast track, in the middle of the night, with a really nice private escort via a tunnel.

She was reportedly crying continuously while at the jail. Poor girl: no down comforters or feather beds, no bling-covered cell phones, no personal chef to cook her meals…

Now, she has been released on in-home monitoring. She gets credit for serving time on Sunday (she checked in late at night) and she gets credit for today (even though she left the prison under the cover of darkness) So while she was at the jail for 3 days, it has turned into 5 days. She will serve out the remainder of her sentence laying by the pool of her mansion, filming a new reality TV show called The Pathetic Life. I made that part up…

The women chatted it up:

***

BW: She has been released for medical reasons. They don’t say she was released; she was reassigned to her home
EH: That’s terrible. I would like to be assigned to her home.
Joy: She can travel within 4000 feet which is like her bedroom.
BW: She has to wear an ankle bracelet
Joy: And she has to wear an ankle bracelet. She is my new idol though. I’ll tell you this girl can get out of more things than David Copperfield. I’ve never seen anything like it. I revere her now for having pulled this off.

***

Joy is right, she has played her cards perfectly. The judge had been clear- no house arrest. Now, here she is, probably the first person ever to be sad to be in jail…

What a joke.  She had fired her publicist and then rehired the guy.  If he advised her to try to get out of jail early she should fire him.  What a PR disaster.

June 6 (cont)

They continued their discussion about Politicians and Religion but turned to Bush:

***

EH: The Constitution has God all over it
SS: It has God all the way in it. And I want to know when I am looking at the candidates that I am going to vote for that his faith is going to play a part in making his decisions. That’s integrity to me
BW: I don’t know how to say this but when we have a President who feels that he has made certain decisions because God has given him the word, I -that can be very dangerous. I don’t necessarily need to know that my President believes in God.
Joy: I still don’t get it
SS: I do- it’s so important to me
EH: Let’s take it to another extreme- what if the candidate that is probably going to win- all the polls are favoring them- what if they believed in a religion that made themselves God, okay? And they believed that
Joy: You mean George Bush?
EH: I am just saying- faith matters- Not like George Bush
Joy: That’s him- He believes he’s God
EH: Here’s the key to the door I just opened for you
Joy: He doesn’t listen to anybody. He does whatever he pleases. He walks on water. He’s
EH: I don’t think so. He has a cabinet of advisors. He does not believe that he is God at all. I just think someone’s faith defines
Joy: Then he’s talking to God.
EH: We want to know everything about these
Joy: And God is talking back to him- that’s what’s really scary
BW: I’m not sure taking it away from God is

***
There was a very funny interruption of the dialogue by a bolt of lightening from the heavens striking Joy and lighting her up.

Joy laughed, which was refreshing. Had it been Rosie, we would have been subjected to complaining that they had never struck anyone else with lightening...

Bush is clearly a man of faith who has been very vocal about his use of prayer in his quest to make decisions. To my recollection, he has not said that God is talking to him. He does not think he walks on water. I do think that he makes decisions that he thinks to be morally correct, even when those decisions will be unpopular.

This is what has led him to the immigration disaster. Bush really believes that his approach to immigration reform is right, morally. He feels for these illegal aliens and is pained at the thought of sending them back to their countries. The problem: his solution is a short sighted fix to a problem that won't go away without serious reform to immigration policy, which will not happen under the current bill.

His faith has led him down an emotional path. He should be thinking about what is best for these people and their homelands in the long run. But his first priority as President should be to protect and defend the United States of America. His faith has led him to stray from his responsibility as President. His faith has also led him to support a policy that will virtually ensure the continued exacerbation of the problem for decades to come and may very well lead to problems the United States may not be able to resolve.

His failure on this issue to cling to his duties as President because of his faith may lend credence to Joy's argument except that in general supporters of this bill are not the conservative Christians Joy fears. The supporters of this bill seem to be secular Christians and Democrats.

Bush is a Christian but he is, unfortunately, not always a strict constructionist who believes in the Constitution.

June 6th continued

They continued on with their discussion about religion:

***
BW: ½ the country rejects evolution.
Joy: We don’t believe in evolution
(They all talk over each other)
BW: 62% say they would not vote for an atheist. He or she could be the greatest President in the world but if he or she does not believe in God
EH: Don’t put aside the fact that all of the candidates are marketing geniuses as well. If 91% of the country believed in Witchcraft, they’d all be sitting there with a broomstick, okay
Joy: Cynical, but true.
EH: They know what it takes to get elected. Whether you want to realize it or not, faith does matter, obviously, to the voters. Mitt Romney, who has really been forward about- and probably under a huge microscope right now about his faith, his Mormonism, he has actually said that he loves the fact that there is a separation of Church and State and that it works really well for this country. So many people are condemning him or really putting him under the microscope
Joy: So then why do we have to be so God oriented in order to be President?
EH: Don’t you think it tells about the person?
SS: I absolutely think it tells a lot about the person
BW: No, No. I don’t think that it tells whether you’re a good President or a bad President, whether you can make judgments, whether you can go to war, whether you can raise taxes
Joy: It has nothing to do with it really
BW: whether or not you believe in God, or which God
EH: But it tells you about the person- we want to know about what they eat, what’s on their iTunes list
Joy: I want a President who believes in the Constitution rather than God

***
First to Elisabeth's point about the 91% of people who believe in God: If 91% of people in the U.S. believed in witchcraft, it would be pretty likely that the people running for office would actually believe in witchcraft. I think most of the people running for office are legitimately Christian.  That does not mean that any one of them in particular is devout.  People are human and the degree to which people practices their faith varies greatly. 

I do not condone people's use of religion to downplay their immoral behavior.  (Carrying a Bible to church at times when appearing more Christian may deflect criticism, for example.) The use of religion as a tool to gain public support is wrong. We are human and we falter.  Each of us should recognize our failings and strive to change our behavior to reflect our religious beliefs. 

Religions and their respective churches have provided a moral compass for centuries but increasingly churches seem to turn to their congregations, or to society in general, to determine what church teaching should be at any given point in time. This has undermined religion. Secularization of the country's churches has resulted in a tolerance of behavior that has been considered immoral for centuries.  Many churches have allowed secularism to influence their positions on issues facing society.

Romney's practice of his faith seems to be unquestionable.  While I may not agree with his choice of religion, I respect his embrace of his religion and see his efforts to live a life that reflects his belief as important. (And as an aside about his supposed "flip flop" on abortion he has flipped but not flopped.  Romney seems to very clearly articulate the catalyst for his conversion on this issue.  When faced with the issue of cloning he came to see how wrong his position was and changed it, publicly. Had he changed from being pro-life to pro-choice all the liberals would welcome him with open arms and claim that he had finally accepted the truth.) 

Joy's statement that she wants a President who believes in the Constitution was a ray of hope!

That pretty much eliminates the democratic panel for her.  People who believe in the Constitution do not interpret it broadly.  People who believe in the Constitution look to the text and to the original meaning of the words so carefully chosen by our Founding fathers.

People who believe in the Constitution understand that if times have changed, the PEOPLE of the United States should work to alter the Constitution through the process so carefully explained in the document. If the people can not gather enough support to alter the Constitution, the Constitution remains unchanged.

I hope Joy maintains her quest to find the most devout believer in the Constitution.  I am confident that when she finds that candidate, he will also be a believer in God.

June 6, 2007

Sherri Shepherd guest hosted- thank goodness no Kathy Griffin…

The first segment is, ironically, indicative of why the second segment was so important.

They opened with news from LA- Paris reportedly did not get a cavity search. Shepherd is very annoyed- she went to jail and she had to get the search. (She had ignored parking tickets, had failed to register her car.) She did offer a little more information about her body search than most of us were interested in hearing…

They went on: pictures of a drunken Lindsey Lohan playing with knives have surfaced; BW notes that in an interview she did with Angelina Jolie, Jolie told her she used knives during sex; Prince Harry is increasingly believed to be the love child of Diana’s relationship with James Hewitt…

On to the Republican debate and the issue of religion:

Lightening struck at the Republican debate- Giuliani was asked about the Bishops’ comparing him to Pontius Pilate because of his position on abortion. As Giuliani tried to answer his microphone shorted out briefly. Giuliani handled the situation with appropriate humor.

This led into a very lengthy discussion about the role of religion in the lives of elected officials kicked off by Joy's enlightened understanding about the history of religion in American politics:

***

Joy: I am old enough to remember Kennedy. Kennedy was Catholic and so is Giuliani. And it was not really his issue in those days was “I am not going to listen to the Catholic Church to tell me how to run the country.” Now religion has become the centerpiece of these elections. People don’t- you have to believe in God if you are going to run. 91% or something of the American people believe in God and want their people to believe in God. And you can’t say anything against religion

***

I am unsure what political races she has followed over the past several decades but the truth is 180 degrees from her statement.

Historically, there would have been an assumption that politicians lived a Judeo-Christian life and if they themselves didn't practice a religion,  people would not have worried that such politicians would subvert the American culture to push an anti-religion agenda.

Slowly, a movement began to cleanse politics of religion under the false notion's asserted by the Separation of Church and State crowd.  Our Constitution acknowledges the right of individuals to practice whatever religion they choose. Our Government can not ESTABLISH a national religion. Historically, our government officials endorsed religion: Taking oaths on the Bible and Under God We Trust on our currency are a couple of obvious examples.

Secular Progressives have so demonized religion over the past couple of decades that religious people have begun to stand and fight. 

The removal of religion from public life and the mocking and ridicule Christians face at the hands of these secularists has not led to an improved society. Marriage is under attack, more and more children are born onto single parent homes, often with no actively involved father and the destruction of lives due to drug use is dramatically higher now than a generation ago.  Children of today face more challenges than most of us could imagine.

So Joy, it is about time religion makes its return to public life.  Our country is at a crossroad and the direction we take is not irrelevant. 

Faith has always mattered.  Whether you want to believe it or not, Faith will always matter.

June 5, continued: 

The women continued down the path of no return, bringing in issues of race that simply have no place in this discussion:

***

EH: I would love a women President -just not this one. She doesn’t represent in terms of her voting someone that I would want
KG: But when people say I want a woman, maybe Condi Rice- That’s not a pro-woman woman let me tell you something- Condi Rice is not a woman’s woman
EH: Why?
KG: Because she follows everything white men say- She does whatever the white men tell her
EH: What is wrong with the white man? What’s wrong with a white man, a black man?

***

Griffin’s comments belittled Rice’s ability to speak her mind or have an impact on the “white men” with whom she works. She showed an incredible lack of knowledge about Rice and her background. Condi Rice is respected around the globe for her diplomacy and her ability to articulate her opinions about the issues facing the United States and other countries around the world.

I sincerely doubt the working for a bunch a "white men" has had an impact on Rice's articulation of her opinions.

The real issue here is Griffin's inability to believe that a woman could be conservative because Griffin says whatever liberal white men and women tell her is right.  Liberal elitists convince women like Griffin, who act based on emotional rhetoric, that conservatives are mean and selfish.

Condi Rice is not a liberal woman's woman because Condi Rice represents the power every individual has to build a life of achievement.  Condi Rice makes liberals mad because she shows them the truth, Republicans look beyond color to competence- how could they. Condi Rice is not the product of affirmative action in the White House- she proves her merit every time she speaks about an issue.  She is a woman that all women she look at with pride and should tell their daughters they too can become as accomplished as Rice not through government assistance but through hard work and perseverance.

If Griffin thinks that Elisabeth should vote for HRod because she is smart, why shouldn’t Griffin support Rice? I promise you, Rice is smarter.

***
KG: Let me tell you something- any African American woman who is a Republican doesn’t understand that she is not a part of their agenda- Wake-up
EH: Are you kidding me?
KG: And She’s smart. She is smart. She is very smart. I’m not saying she’s not smart.
EH: Hang on! Do you know what is going on here? I think there is a reverse racism and reverse sexism going on right now and it is against the white man. Apparently the white man is going down because everybody against
KG: Oh poor white man (laughing)
Joy laughing: I feel bad for them- they just run the world
EH: I am not saying feel bad for them but I am saying be fair about it. Because if women were to then take power someone said you know those white women or black women have too much power, people would think about it
BW: I like you a lot but what you just said is so bigoted.
KG: WHY?
BW: Because it is. You know- she shouldn’t be a Republican because she’s Black and she’s not a good example for women because she’s black
KG: No No I didn’t say she shouldn’t – I don’t think that that is who the Republicans that care for their agenda
BW: Because her boss is a white man
EH: What agenda? They’re anti- Black now?
KG: I don’t think the Republican agenda – it does not look out for women and minorities- I’m sorry- that’s what I think
EH: Why?
KG: I think they are out for their own. White people. Rich people. Big Money. White men
EH: Show me an example
KG: Look at the way they are gunning for Hillary
BW: Why can’t she (Rice) be an example?
KG: She is a great example of a great woman who has a great job. Do I think she should be President? No. She represents George Bush. Yes. Remember, she is in his pocket and I’ll say that about any white man who is in his cabinet, too.

***

If Kathy Griffin thinks Democrats support people of color and women in general, her thinking is backwards.

Republicans send a clear message: Regardless of gender or race, any person who stays in school and learns to read and to succeed academically, who can show up on time to work, and who can complete assignments and speak in a grammatically correct way will succeed in school and in life.

The legacy of democrats on this issue is a never-ending discussion about why people of color can 't be independent and can't succeed. For example, even if the consequence was unintended, Democrats built a welfare class in the sixties, seventies and eighties.  It took years, but Republicans did force Bill Clinton to pass a welfare reform bill to help women living in poverty begin to break out of the welfare cycle. 

Condi Rice is an amazing woman. Any person who could call Rice a mentor or a friend is very fortunate. 

Neither Rice not the President's cabinet members are in Bush's pocket.  They generally agree with his actions because they are also conservative. As Bush has broken from traditionally conservative principles, these people are put in an awkward position of needing to publicly take positions that reflect the expectations of their boss.  This is true of employees around the world.  To think these people don't speak their mind behind closed doors is, I think, naive.

Griffin does not understand conservative principles- which support policies that help all people be successful.  Republicans generally believe that all people should contribute what they can.  People shouldn't take forcibly from others when they could make different choices and turn their personal situations around. Republicans believe private sector businesses and non-profit organizations are better able to help people who struggle than are government bureaucracies. 

If Griffin is being considered to replace O'Donnell, I hope they are thinking long and hard about their choice.

Can't they find a smart women to take the post...

June 5 (cont)

After EH said Hillary's support of Bill was "exceptional" I would have loved to ask her in what way...

KG then begins the most ridiculous exchange PR (Post-Rosie):

***

KG: I am so tired of women eating their own. Don’t we get it? United we stand, divided we fall
JB: Exactly. Come on
EH: I get it. I am all about girl power but I wouldn’t want to elect a woman President just because she’s a woman, okay
KG: You don’t have to- She’s really smart
EH: I understand that she is smart- I think we have smart candidates on both sides of party lines but I don’t think- I think what‘s killing the fact that she could be President is the fact that people are really focusing on the fact that she is a woman and so now we’re losing sight of- lets look at her voting history, let’s look at what she’s done in the past
KG: That’s what the Republicans want to say- I’m all for a woman not just this one. And they’re gonna say it in four years later and four years later
JB: They want Margaret Thatcher, a woman with a p*n*s (Townhall blocks the actual term used, but you should be able to figure it out)

***
Joy- be clear on this point: We have seen what a President is capable of when that appendage is seen as one of his most valuable assets and that is the last thing Republicans are looking for...

If only there was a woman running for President with the intelligence, perspective and backbone of Margaret Thatcher we could all rest easy.  As that is not currently the case, we should all hope that the person elected President has a reasoned intellect to rival that of Thatcher.

And a simple note on Griffin's whine about why Elisabeth should support Clinton- "She's really smart" and why that is helpful but not determinative. Despite the Democrats incessant commentary on Bush intelligence, no one becomes a Governor or a Senator or a Representative or President if they are not "smart". 

There are many, many smart people in this world.  Very few of these people have the total package necessary to be President.  Being President is about being smart and logical, smart and confident, smart and bold, smart and honest, smart and respectable, smart and moral... 

Joy and Griffin may not believe that Bush has been all of these things, but that doesn't mean they should lower the bar for the next President... 

June 5, 2007 (continued)

They go on with the discussion of how talented Hillary is, how experienced etc and then throws out people are going after HRod-

***

Joy: … because she stood by her man-and the family values crowd loves that, loves it-Why are women now turning on a woman who stood by her man? Why couldn’t he move out?

***

Many of us wanted him to move out, remember?

Joy should be careful when speaking about the family values crowd: The FVC doesn’t think men should sleep around on their wives and their children. The FVC doesn’t think marriage is about advancing political careers.

There are many people who believe this marriage to have been a political alliance form the get- go. Many believe that her tolerance of his philandering was the price she agreed to pay to ride along on his coat tails.

The President of the United States must be willing to put this country above all else. The President of this country and his family must be willing to sacrifice their own good for the country. No one is forced to be President- this is a choice that is made, hopefully out of altruism and not political opportunism.

This is the crux of the issue with Hillary Clinton.

I didn’t want to know about her husband’s oval office philandering. I was saddened my children had to learn about it. If he, and she, knew his brand of wanderlust to be insatiable, they should not have pursued the office.

There are plenty of people out there who would have taken the job.

HRod then stood before the American people and lied to cover up her husband’s infidelity. This infidelity occurred in the OVAL OFFICE- MY oval office. She cost the taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars because she could not put the country first. She put her husband’s career ahead of the truth, not to protect America, but to protect him.

If she really didn’t know her husband was lying, when every sane person in the world was shaking his or her head at the debacle, can she be trusted to read the poker faces of Putin and Ahmadinejad and Chavez…

Men, Women and their spouses should honestly determine whether or not they can control their personal behavior before pursuing the Presidency (or any elected office) and then if they have concerns about their self-control they should leave the job to someone else.

While I do not claim to speak for the family values crowd Joy belittles with her comment, I can speak as a woman who believes that Hillary Clinton is an embarrassment to women and to this country. We all deserve better.

June 5, 2007

Sorry for the belated posts- last day of school yesterday, first day of vacation today...

The show was too good to ignore, as Kathy Griffin guest hosted, again, and further demonstrated why she should not be the permanent replacement for Rosie.

Hillary Clinton got through the dark times with her faith. She is more religious than people think.

Really…

Barbara asked why there are two books coming out about Hillary- both nasty.

***

KG: This is good old fashioned, garden variety sexism. That is what it is. This is the first real formidable female candidate we’ve had.

***

The only reason Hillary Clinton is even in this game is because her last name is Clinton.

Women like Griffin, who want to pretend that Clinton’s gender provides reason enough to support her, are naive. People should not back HRod because she is female, they should back her because of HER contributions and HER leadership.

I would love to hear Griffin or Joy list HRod’s achievements. That segment would go absolutely nowhere

Finally, are both books equally vitriolic? While I don’t plan to read either because both books simply retell what has been in the news for a decade, Dick Morris makes a very good point. The book Her Way, by Jeff Gerth and Con Van Natta is reportedly more controversial and delves more into Hillary’s politics- or at least her interest in polls about politics. Carl Bernstein’s book A Woman in Charge isn’t a nasty tell all. Morris’ suggestion that the publisher, who also put out Bill Clinton’s memoirs, may be trying to negate some of the impact of the Gerth /Van Natta book should not be dismissed without some thought. (Click here for Morris Commentary)