What's your opinion of John McLaughlin?

The McLaughlin Group | 2-1-04 | me

[cat lover too]

Are there anyone else here who think John McLaughlin should hang it up? For the past year or so, he seemed really confused with current events and topics on his show The McLaughlin Group.

On his show today, he actually quoted Jac Chirac (the chief weasel in the axis of weasels) as his source of someone who didn't believe that Saddam had any WMDs. With all due respect to the question of our intelligence gathering, the trustworthiness of Chirac is just not something anyone should rely on, being the duplicitous anti-American weasel that he is (my apology to weasels).

What's the origin of McLaughlin's hatred of Bush's foreign policy?

[muawiyah]

McLaughlin tends to follow the Pope when it comes to "foreign policy" initiatives that ALSO involve the Holy Land.

The only reason you notice it these days is the Middle East is a major news maker.

Otherwise I don't think there's much difference between McLaughlin and Bush I, Bush II, or even Prescott Bush (particularly regarding relations with Deutschland in 1939, 1940 and most of 1941!)

[NeoCaveman]

What's the origin of McLaughlin's hatred of Bush's foreign policy?

He is an Arabist and therefor unwatchable.

[GATOR NAVY]

What's your opinion of John McLaughlin?

I liked him when he was with The Mahavishnu Orchestra...

[woodyinscc]

I used to watch him all the time, I have not bothered in the last two yrs. His swing to the dark side was too much for me.

[proxy_user]

"One of the most versatile and influential guitarists of our time, John McLaughlin is known as an extraordinary solo artist, as the leader of both the group breaking Mahavishnu Orchestra and the revolutionary indo-jazz group Shakti and as the composer of some of the most stunning classical Jazz-fusion pieces ever written.

Yes, quite good really. The stuff he did with Shakti is extraordinary.

[34512a]

The problem is that when he retires so will the show. Has anyone else noticed the decline of political shows over the past year? There were a flurry of new ones that got crappy time slots and/or fizzled out (Buchanan & Press, Alan Keyes, etc). And then an established show like Crossfire got moved to a 4:30 time slot. Who gets off work in time to watch that?

[buccaneer81]

McLaughlin tends to follow the Pope when it comes to "foreign policy"

He's a former seminarian, if not a priest as I recall.

[cat lover too]

Well, thanks a lot!
I'm talking about the other, much more annoying John McLaughlin.

[Mr. Mojo]

And the answer is.........

Senile .....Arabist .......Perpetually angry .......

[jackbill]

And then an established show like Crossfire got moved to a 4:30 time slot. Who gets off work in time to watch that?

Nobody, not even the unemployed watch Crossfire. Watching the likes of Begala and Carvile is comparable to piercing your eyes with needles.

[cat lover too]

I suppose you are right, the show will retire with him. But I have to say it is getting awful. I used to like the show by the way. I used to like Crossfire too, but ever since they started catering to the "rock the vote" crowd, I haven't watched it for a long time.

I do like Brit Hume's show on FNC. He is very insightful and witty, in a off-handed sort of way.

[cat lover too]

I agree that he is getting senile, and always angry.

Why is he an Arabist? What's the philosophy behind that?

[34512a]

Is Pat Buchanan on any other shows? It would be too bad to lose his prescence on TV entirely.

[Mr. Mojo]

It has a few meanings, but in JM's case it means "always taking the side of the Arabs in their conflict with Israel." Always. And it's a result not of admiration for the former, but of disdain for the latter.

[martin_fierro]

lol

[muawiyah]

He was a priest. They released him from his vows (or whatever it is that Catholics do to create "ex priests"). Next thing you know he married an "ex nun".

The Arabist claim you see on the thread is "hollow". The second Yasser Arafat or one of his gumbahs does something to upset the Pope, you will see McLaughlin move in a different direction.

Part of this arises out of the issue of Catholics praying for the souls of dead Jews at the site of a German deathcamp in Poland. John didn't like Jews suggesting that Catholic prayers weren't heard by God. Neither did Buchanan. I think even Eleanor spoke up on that issue.

None of it conforms to my belief system so it didn't worry me a bit ~ on the other hand, it drove McLaughlin even further into the Catholic "camp" (a sarcastic comment if I ever made one!).

[cat lover too]

Pat Buchanan is also a commentator for MSNBC on all sorts of their shows, but you'll have to catch him when he happens to be on.

He sure has a sharp tongue. One of his sharpest comments I've heard is regarding the Clinton's presence at the Wellstone funerally, "I haven't seen Bill Clinton that happy at a funeral since Ron Brown's funeral".

[Maria S]

I don't bother watching anymore. Pat Buchanan started following Eleanor Clift's line of gab too much to suit me. And I cannot STAND that broad!

[Dilbert56]

From Ken Pollack - CIA analyst and Clinton NSC member:

Somewhat remarkably, given how adamantly Germany would oppose the war, the German Federal Intelligence Service held the bleakest view of all, arguing that Iraq might be able to build a nuclear weapon within three years. Israel, Russia, Britain, China, and even France held positions similar to that of the United States; France's President Jacques Chirac told Time magazine last February, "There is a problem—the probable possession of weapons of mass destruction by an uncontrollable country, Iraq. The international community is right ... in having decided Iraq should be disarmed." In sum, no one doubted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.