BartBlog

Also: Next at MSNBC?

– Tired of the ‘First in the Nation’ Primary Madness?
New Hampshire is a poorly-cut Wonder-bread-white wedge of a state, the narrow part facing north, with most of it’s tiny population (about 1.3 million compared to 2.8 million in the city of Chicago alone) accumulated in the plump southern end. So what gives little NH the right to arrogate to its puny self ‘first in the nation’ primary status? And why does pork-fed Corn King Iowa (population 2.8 million) and their ‘caucuses’ have such inordinate influence on our electoral process? Iowa’s largest city is Des Moines, with a mostly white population of about 173,000. Stacking this up next to large cities on the order of Chicago, Detroit (1 million), Indianapolis (774,000), Columbus, Ohio (654,000), Milwaukee (590,000), St. Louis (590,000), or Minneapolis/St. Paul (500,000), it shows they aren’t even representative of most Midwestern states. (In fact, the combined population of the cities listed is greater than the combined state population of NH and Iowa.) Why not just make, say, the first Tuesday in March National Primary Day and every state votes on that same day? It’s insane to have little Iowa and New Hampshire decide our presidential candidates; even with the ‘moved-up’ schedule this election, any candidate who doesn’t place in the top three in one of the two states will be ignored by the media, effectively ending their campaign.

– The Irony She is As Thick As Gravy, Monsieur! The AP reported Nov. 23, 2007, that United Airlines workers became nauseous and vomited from a free Thanksgiving dinner provided by the airline to those working on the holiday. After years of friction between the union and UAL management, and continual wage and benefit concessions by the union while those at the top enriched themselves, the meal was seen as a conciliatory gesture from the execs, so of course people got sick. The best quote from the article came from Don Wolfel, president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association Local 4: “There were questions about whether the turkey smelled quite right. The popular opinion was that it didn’t.” (Don’t these guys know enough not to eat airline food?) You can hear the CEO now, “You know all that turkey going bad in warehouse 11? Dole it out to the peasants for Thanksgiving dinner.”

– More Rich, Thick Irony You Can’t Make Up: The Bush PR Machine that keeps trying to make us think Junior is book-larnin’ smart currently claims he’s ‘reading’ John Kennedy Toole’s 1980 novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces.” (It wasn’t reported if that was the Classics Illustrated edition or the Dover Color-It-Yourself! version.) Someone should ask him if he prefers it over “My Pet Goat.” (That’s right, the most incurious and ill-informed president we’ve ever had just loves to kick back with a Shakespeare play or Albert Camus’ “The Stranger.” Oh, really, you’re voting for Giuliani?) Side Note to Bush: The headline on an NBC News story Dec. 5th says, “Bush: Iran Has to Explain Nuclear Intentions.” This is not what you’d call intelligent international diplomacy: Iran doesn’t work for you and doesn’t have to explain anything to you, and your ‘tough guy’ act wore thin long ago; you no longer have the military muscle to intimidate them and the world is laughing at you, so step off and shut up.

– Everyone Who is Running for President But Isn’t Ambitious, Raise Your Hand! Hillary Clinton’s campaign has stepped into an enormous Corn Country cowpie by attacking Obama’s ambitions to be president, especially using papers he wrote in grade school as ‘proof’ of his life-long lust for the White House. It’s only a matter of time before someone unearths some similar tripe on Hillary but, more importantly, it makes her look petty and a little mean, even if meant as a joke. She really hasn’t recovered yet from her ‘Driver’s Licenses for Immigrants’ stumble in the debates a few weeks ago and, if she pursues this silly line of attack further, she’s going to continue dropping in the polls.

– Finally, a note under the door says Air America Radio’s Rachel Maddow will be offered the hour following Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, but only with a ‘funny’ co-host, as it appears increasingly unlikely that The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart or Bill Maher and others will step in for the kind of unimpressive money and short-term contract that are on the table. Rumor is the cable channel’s execs are impressed with Maddow, but she’s not perceived as ‘funny’ enough by herself for the uptempo news/comedy format they’re seeking. Paul F. Tompkins and Joel McHale, that guy Keith has on who hosts E!s “The Soup,” have been mentioned as co-hosts, as well as Rachel’s AAR colleague Randi Rhodes, although Randi is seen by some as too partisan and combative. If this goes through, the prime-time weekday line up for MSNBC would then be “Hardball”; “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”; the as-yet-unnamed Rachel Maddow show, and “Live with Dan Abrams.” Expect a press release in January.