William Katt. Cast your votes now.
Posted on 06/06/2005 11:13:29 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
In summarizing the lives of the 25 finalists in the Discovery Channel's "Greatest American" contest, NBC's Matt Lauer on Sunday night labeled Bill Clinton as "brilliant" before trumpeting: "Under Clinton the economy boomed -- deficits turned into surplus -- and more than 22 million jobs were created. Along with the character flaws and the subpoenas came peace and prosperity." The brief segment did not feature any explicit criticisms of Clinton's presidency, but when it came to George W. Bush, whom Lauer described as "our tough-talking, language-mangling Commander-in-Chief who most Americans just want to hang our with," Discovery put on musician "Moby," who declared over flag-draped coffins: "From my perspective, you cannot call yourself a Christian, talk about the sanctity of life, and then support the death penalty, and support a war."
To launch its series of Sunday night shows in which the public can vote to select the "greatest American," Discovery on Sunday night aired a three-hour program (8-11pm EDT) hosted by Lauer. For the first two hours, Lauer ran through those ranked from #100 down to #26 as nominated by AOL members over the past few weeks. Amongst those in the bottom 75, some ridiculous nominations, including Phil McGraw, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Tom Cruise. Micheal Moore made it too, a couple of spots ahead of Rush Limbaugh who came in at #59. Lauer asserted: "His ultra-conservative show has transformed talk radio into a powerful political force."
Discovery devoted the third and final hour to the top 25, for whom the public can now vote -- via phone, text messaging or AOL's Web site -- in the "Greatest American" short-run series on Discovery over the next few weeks (two-hours this Sunday, an hour each on the next two Sunday nights.)
In addition to Bush and Clinton, the final 25, as presented by Lauer in alphabetical order:
Muhammad Ali Lance Armstrong Neil Armstrong Walt Disney Thomas Edison Albert Einstein Henry Ford Benjamin Franlkin Bill Gates Bill Graham Bob Hope Thomas Jefferson John Kennedy Martin Luther King Abraham Lincoln Rosa Parks Elvis Presley Ronald Reagan Eleanor Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt George Washington Oprah Winfrey Wright Brothers
Discovery's format interwove narration from Lauer with clips or pictures of the subject and with comments from a variety of public figures. In the top 25, each person got about 90 seconds.
For George W. Bush, his segment began with a clip of him at Ground Zero in 2001: "And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
Lauer: "He's our tough-talking-"
Bush: "And you're working hard to put food on your family."
Lauer: "-language-mangling Commander-in-Chief who most Americans just want to hang out with."
Tom Brokaw: "People look at George Bush and however else they may feel about him, they think, 'you know, that's probably a guy I'd like to have a beer with.'"
Ann Curry on Today, December 2001: "The U.S. Supreme Court effectively handed George W. Bush the presidency last night."
Lauer: "After conquering dangling chads in 2000, George Bush took over the family business. And like father like son tied his political fortunes to Iraq."
Senator John McCain: "If the people of Iraq are able to achieve a free and democratic society, history will show that those young Americans died in the service of a noble cause."
Moby, musician, over shot of flag-draped coffins: "From my perspective, you cannot call yourself a Christian, talk about the sanctity of life, and then support the death penalty, and support a war."
Bush: "Even though we haven't found the stockpiles of weapons, we thought were there, I still would have made the same decision."
Rudy Giuliani: "Sometimes events force greatness or the lack of it, and in his particular case, it showed greatness. And I think that is gonna give President Bush a very important place in our history."
On Clinton, Lauer began with: "Brilliant."
Clinton before Congress: "Let this Congress be the Congress that finally balances the budget."
Lauer: "Skilled and surprisingly self-destructive."
Clinton: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."
Howie Mandel, comedian: "It's not sex!"
Wendy Williams, syndicated radio personality: "It was sex, Bill."
Clinton: "It depends upon what the meaning of the word is."
Lauer: "Despite the scandals and investigations, Bill Clinton was an incredibly popular President who connected with the American people."
Clinton: "The best is yet to come. The best days of America."
Howie Mandel: "Phenomenal politician, phenomenal speaker."
Clinton: "Thank you and God bless you all."
Tiki Barber, New York Giants: "He could talk on any level to anyone and make them feel comfortable."
Lauer: "Under Clinton the economy boomed -- deficits turned into surplus -- and more than 22 million jobs were created. Along with the character flaws and the subpoenas came peace and prosperity."
Jesse Jackson: "He was a good President and the facts speak for themselves."
Unidentified woman: "I do think that he's one of the smartest Americans. The things he wanted to do for our country were positive."
Brokaw: "My guess is that he'll be judged as an exceptionally skilled politician with some grave personal flaws."
For the Web site for the show, where you can cast your vote or watch the brief biographies of each nominee:
greatestamericantv.channel.aol.com
My mistake was I pushed in the wrong section of that box.
The bugs are now out, so if anyone is inclined to vote learn from my mistakes.
this kind of programming just degrades American History and the great characters and stories contained within.
The idea that two current Presidents are in the Top 25 just reinforce the idea this this is short-attention span programming.
Nathan Hale? nope.
Patrick Heny? hah..
John Jay? who?...
sad.
Well...the public education system is teaching "agenda driven" history...so, yeah, I think the lefty whack jobs or using this as a measurement to see if their goal of dumbing down the masses is working.
It's a bench mark alright.
Not only do we in this country need to bring the MSM to justice but the public education system as well. It's a two pronged attack by the lefties to ensure they have a generation guillible enough to believe their tin foil hat conspiracies and spew their tripe.
Clinton just waved his magic wand and created all these jobs. No mention of Republican led Welfare reform or all the dot-com jobs. I could have been President and the economy would have boomed during this time. The biggest technological advance of all time happens. Everyone is buying a computer, getting Internet access, buying software, etc. What did Bill Clinton do to create this? Raise taxes on the rich?
And looking beyond the top 25, we come accross the name of Barack Obama as one of the top 100.
What, exactly, has he done?
He's been a Senator for all of 5 months and he's one of the top 100 Americans of all time?
Of all the Senators that have served during the last 200+ years and they come up with Barack Obama...this should be an insult even to Democrats.
You have to hand it to leftists, they repeat things often enough and they become fact...such as the "22 million jobs created" nonsense.
If 22 million jobs were created, the unemployment rate would have dropped to below zero. Do the math; during the Clinton years, there were about 150 million eleigible workers. At 6% unemployment, that would leave 9 million out of work, if 22 million jobs were created, the unemployment rate would have been something like -13%.
Oh yeah, the economy boomed. Just as soon as he managed to loose the House for Democrats for the first time in 40 years and it became clear that his health care reform and tax and spend plans were toast.
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
The Gipper just got all three of my votes.
Peace?
My god domestic terrorist attacks began under Clinton!
MATT LAUER IS A LIAR!!!
Imbecile's do less damage to this Republic than the likes of Lauer and his ilk. You are correct. This show is a total waste of time. You must want to waste your time to spend one second looking at this leftist garbage.
Bush, Clinton - in this case it doesn't matter in my opinion.
If George Washington isn't voted number one on this thing than it is a crime. Without him we wouldn't even be having a discussion about who the greatest American was since there would be no America.
Did anyone mention The Discovery Channel was owned by the New York Times? Probably not.
Oh come on...he really is so stupid he peddalled the lie of "he turned deficits into surpluses"? What a moron.
I won't waste any cyberspace refuting that with facts. We all know it's blatantly not true.
Hillary is one of the most "effective sentors" (no need to list legislation)
Hillary is "brilliant" (no evidence required)
You are quite cynical. Would you at least agree that she has, at times, worn a crusty black pantsuit?
She wears a crusty black pantsuit like no other.
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