| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| 2005-11-04 |
| RENO, Nevada (AP) -- The mayor of Las Vegas has suggested that people who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television. Yeah, that'll certainly give us the moral high-ground in dealing with Iran and Saudi Arabia. Nitwit! "In the old days in France, they had beheadings of people who commit heinous crimes," Mayor Oscar Goodman said Wednesday on the TV show "Nevada Newsmakers." Goodman said the city has a beautiful highway landscaping project and "these punks come along and deface it." Try to remember that taggers basically regard a blank expanse of wall or fence the same way that a dog views a freshly mowed lawn. "I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb," the mayor said. "That may be the right thing to do." Goodman also suggested whippings should be brought back for children who get into trouble. Another panelist on the show, state university system regent Howard Rosenberg, said cutting off the thumbs of taggers won't solve the problem and Goodman should "use his head for something other than a hat rack." Actually, it would be pretty hard to hold a can of spray paint without any thumbs. So, he's wrong on that count. The "hat rack" quip makes up for it though, |
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| Home Front |
| Bitching about Bush |
| 2001-09-15 |
Petty press habits persist, despite the national crisis. Even on the national day of mourning, some journalists continued their sniping at President Bush, judging him primarily by the style rather than the content of his message. "Bush has yet to find a note of eloquence in his own voice. He is, in fact, distrustful of it, and went for Texas plain talk, rhetoric as flat as the prairie and as blunt as a Clint Eastwood soliloquy," wrote Newsweek's Howard Fineman, later noting, "he did not look larger than life at his Oval Office desk, or even particularly comfortable there, and he cited Psalms without the kind of emotional resonance voter-viewers have come to expect from an Empathizer in Chief." The Los Angeles Times' Howard Rosenberg called Mr. Bush stiff and boyish, writing that "Bush has lacked size in front of the camera when he should have been commanding and filling the screen with a formidable presence even his body language is troubling." Mr. Rosenberg suggested the president should instead function as a "national anchorman." Heaven forbid. The last thing we need at this moment is slick ooze on camera. We need terse, straightforward messages from our leader, and Mr. Bush has delivered them. America, apparently, is listening. Mr. Bush's public approval rating skyrocketed into the high 90s yesterday. The critics persist, though, predicting that the approval surge is temporary and that Mr. Bush will fade in the long haul. This is mighty impatient analysis. At this juncture, the president's primary duty is toward the business of the White House rather than the image of the office, and the needs of the press. Mr. Bush has maintained a laudable presence, offering an average five statements a day, plus heartfelt messages at the Washington National Cathedral and the New York attack site yesterday. Some critics claimed New York Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had a more "presidential" presence. Reassurance had come from them, "but not from Bush," stated a Newsday editorial, which asked "Where's W?" |
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| Home Front |
| Bush-bashers mending their way - for now |
| 2001-09-18 |
Many habitual Bush-bashers are mending their ways this week. Journalists and news organizations once eager to pounce upon President Bush now step to the patriotic beat, unfurling banners of approval and applause. Seven days after the attack, print and broadcast outlets are awash in red, white and blue and are showing a healthy preoccupation with the public good. Celebrity journalists wear flag pins on camera, headlines reinforce national unity, news weeklies offer a more manageable dose of endless information. In the past few days, outraged viewers railed against ABC's Peter Jennings after he said the president was "hiding behind the CIA" and questioned the legality of Mr. Bush's decision to muster troops, implying the president had not been properly elected. ABC correspondent Ann Compton also infuriated viewers when she said "you can run, but you can't hide" after Air Force One was diverted last Tuesday for security reasons. Yesterday, readers' letters in the Los Angeles Times called for the resignation or an apology from TV critic Howard Rosenberg, who took potshots at Mr. Bush in a Sept. 14 column, calling him stiff and boyish, suggesting the president should function as a "national anchorman." Last week, Newsweek's Howard Fineman wrote that Mr. Bush "has yet to find a note of eloquence in his own voice." Mr. Fineman changed his tune, noting the president had become the man voters hoped for, and that "Bush passed his first tests, but like the medieval knight, he's only begun his quest -- and ours -- for security and a new architecture to preserve it." Newsweek's cover yesterday proclaimed "God bless America." Scripps Howard op-ed writer Dan Thomasson, who also initially criticized the president, came clean all together, writing: "I was wrong. Not only has this young president gotten his legs under him, he has convinced even his harshest critics that he has the stuff to lead the nation." |
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