Weekend Show *Preview* for 10/21 - 10/22/06 (not the live thread)

Network and Cable News Networks | 10/21/06 | Network and Cable News

[Phsstpok]

Preview and analysis for Weekend Talk Shows, 10-21-06 and 10-22-06

Just over two weeks left and the wheels appear to be coming off of the DBM/Dhimmicrat juggernaut.  Ford has imploded and probably provided the image of the election with his dismal stunt "confronting" Corker.  You can just see his world crumble as he stands there, and he knows it.  Lieberman is kicking MoveON butt in Connecticut and beginning to hint that he'll caucus with the Republicans if the Dhimmicrats don't give him his seniority.  Burns, who everyone counted out, is within striking distance in Montana and Steele is neck and neck in Maryland.  And then we have analysis of the polls (example 1, 2) that are starting to show up in the blogs and be discussed by the talking heads pointing out the absurd distortions of party affiliation.  The major polls are using "fudge factors" (in Zogby's case it's secret sauce) that have a 5 to 13 percent advantage for Dhimmicrats in their samples, while historically it's not been higher than 4 for either party in decades and is typically 2 or less on election day.

They're cooking the books and they know they're going to get caught.  I have a feeling a lot of them are beginning have some sympathy for how Ken Lay and his partners felt as it began to fall apart on them.

So how do I read the shows this week?  Very mixed.  Some last minute efforts to patch up the "narrative" they want to try to make us follow, countered with some carefully phrased hedging about how things can change.  There has also been a marked increase in stories in the DBM about GOP dirty tricks, doctored voting machines, hints of racism or unfair advantages (getting GOP voters to actually vote is an unfair advantage, dontcha know?).  They're preparing themselves for failure, not victory and it's a frightening prospect for them.

NBC Meet The Press may have the most emblematic show this week, what with the "great black Democrat hope," Barack Obama, in for a combined interview and anointing.  he is a rock star in the media's eyes and the more they hype him the more impact he can have when stumping for their candidates.  And he is being talked up as a serious contender for the Presidential nomination in '08 (or is he being positioned as Hillary's VP and token symbol magnificent gesture?).  I don't think that lil Timmah actually believes that Obama's a serious candidate for President after not even one full term in the Senate, but he's a perfect symbol to focus future hope on if things do fall apart for the Dhimmicrats on November 7.  And then their panel is made up of reliable voices of doom for the Republicans.  They have to beat that drum harder for the last two weeks!  It looks like a very confused show.

CBS Face The Nation has got attack dog Chucky Schumer and what they think is lap dog Libby Dole.  I know Schieffer has a handful of quotes about how poorly she has done running the Senatorial campaign and she's not an infighter, at least not in public.  CBS, true to their ideological roots, is going all out to patch up the holes in the Dhimmicrat campaign momentum and they construct their show for that purpose.  No back sliding or hedging for them.  I expect this to get nasty and personal fairly quickly, even if it is subtle.  Schieffer is very good at subtle.  The inclusion of a pollster who is predicting doom across the board for the Republicans displays the agenda nicely.  Amy Walter also has the advantage of not being a household name and not being one of the more recognizable pundits will be able to go out on a limb further than some of the others who are starting to hear footsteps.  Watch for her boss, Charlie Cook, to do a much more convoluted and "nuanced" dance on MTP.

Fox News Sunday continues to give the Senate undue deference, in my estimation, and they've assembled a panel of "experts" on foreign policy, all things military and the true state of the American electorate (whom they see two to 4 days per month).  The only thing that these guys truly have in common is that they all think they're not only the smartest person in the room, but they're the smartest people on the planet and way smarter than that rube in the White House.  All he has to do is listen to them!  Never mind that he did listen to them, all of them, in the run up to Iraq, and they all said the same thing.  And these four all went further than Bush in their rhetoric and dire warnings about Saddam's WMDs and they'd been doing it for years before Bush got to town.  All of them, even beagle face Levin.  But Chris Wallace will genuflect and elicit their wisdom about how wrong the President is and how they have a plan (each of them a different one) that will solve all of the problems everywhere.  And Sir Richard Branson is going to single handedly solve the Global Warming crisis, his good buddy Bill Clinton asked him to.  How many times do you expect Clinton's Global Initiative will be mentioned as an olive branch to his heinous?  I'm betting quite a few, not just today but for some time to come.  Daddy Wallace probably lectured Chris about "burning his bridges" once or twice since the interview.  The standard panel offers ample opportunity for smack downs what with only three shows before the election.  I expect Mara and Juan to be relentlessly "on message" from the faxes they no doubt got from the DNC.  It will be interesting to watch Kristol and Hume to see what line they take, based on the assumption that they know the White House talking points and might have some inside information on the polls Rove has.  If Brit begins to caution Mara and Juan on their positions or if Kristol begins to get that know it all smirk I'll know I'm reading the tea leaves pretty well.

ABC This Week offers up the most grotesque set up I think I've ever seen with selected and edited portions of Georgie Steponallofus' interview with President Bush, followed by a "rebuttal" by John F'n Kerry.  And you know Kerry's been given ample time to (have his speech writers) study the President's comments (and focus group test his responses).  He's been trying out some of his lines on the road this week, with several "zingers" I'm sure he's anxious to whip out.  Bush made a "gigantic blunder" in Iraq.  The Iraq war is manufacturing more terrorists.  North Korea built a bomb and we can't do anything about it because we've "lost leverage" and "credibility."  Never mind that he, his party and the DBM have been screaming at everyone about how they must not support Bush no matter what.  Or that the terrorists set off a bomb and then wait to see if the Dhimmicrats will slavishly march out to the waiting microphones to condemn Bush and not them.  Nope, that would make too much sense to view things that way.  It's all Bush's fault™.  And to top things off they trot out the "classic roundtable" of Bush haters to tout the impending doom of the Republicans, which is also all Bush's fault™.  I actually expect Will to defend Senate and House Republicans (at least the RINOs and elite, like himself).  If I'm right he'll try to set up any victory as being due to the RINOs bucking Bush and any failure as a referendum on Bush.

CNN Late Edition has their usual "cast of thousands" ranging from retiring Bill Frist to rising media star Andrea Koppel.  Like all of the shows this week they seem fixated on the Senate and appear to be looking to that body as the seat of wisdom in Washington.  Along with Frist they have Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator Jack Reed.  Hutchison has made statements this week that put her in the position of agreeing more with Reed than Bush, which will let Wolf try to corner Frist into some sort of admission about how bad things are in Iraq.  All of these shows are fishing for sound bites, but Wolf is one of the best in the pregame setup, IMHO.  In one of the weirdest twists we have both Zbigniew Brzezinski and Alexander Haig being trotted out as "experts" on how things should be handled around the world.  Funny, in dealing with the Middle East and things like North Korea I don't remember either of them being all that successful.  Both are cold warriors with believable credentials for discussions on super power relations, but Afghanistan or North Korea?  I don't think so.  But they'll both say that it's all Bush's fault™, so they'll earn their appearance fees.  The media types selected to deliver their collective wisdom, having never actually done anything but talk in their lives, are Ornstein, Allen and a second generation Koppel.  Koppel will probably be relatively neutral, as she's still the new kid and hasn't established herself yet.  She also doesn't strike me as one of the really strident hype ambitious types, but is more about building up a rep for solid work.  Orenstein is the bomb thrower in this crowd, with a new book detailing how the legislative branch of government is broken (and the Republicans broke it).  Mike Allen is the wild card, with an article that questioned the conventional wisdom about a Dhimmicrat sweep that came out right at the height of the feeding frenzy over la cage aux Foley.  Of course it was written before the Foley scandal broke and got drowned out by that scrum, but it's still out therr and, if he trots out some of the thinking put forward their he might just provide CNN with the cover to say that they were "fair and balanced."  Oh, c'mon.  You know they want to!

The Saturday shows offer up some interesting meat this week, starting with Mort and Fred apparently starting to hedge their bets and even daring to raise the Reid land deal.  Two primary possibilities related to Reid suggest themselves to me.  They're either confident that he won't be in a position to hurt them, whether because he's going down or because he'll lose power after November 7, or they're going to debunk and dismiss the charges as mere political dirty tricks by desperate Republicans.  I lean towards the latter but hold hope for the former.  Tim Russert matches the "let's all think about '08" of having Barack Obama on MTP by having John Edwards wife Elizabeth, on his CNBC show.  She's written a "profiles in courage" type of tome dealing with tragedy through the help of both friends and strangers.  It may be that it's a form of "it takes a village to survive cancer," but her shot at Hillary in a separate venue this week adds an odd dissonance to that notion.  I don't know when this show gets done, but if it was after that shot about Hillary not being happy due to her life choices I wouldn't put bets on lil Timmah asking about it.  Fox News Watch finally addresses the obvious slant in reporting on the election this year.  If they are true to form it will be a combination of "it's not real, we didn't do it and the bias is really in favor of the right wing."  That last will be from Neal.    And then the Journal Editorial Report gives us Mark Steyn.  Have I said I really like the Journal Editorial Report? 

So, a mixed bag this weekend with some attempts to shore up the most recent "master strategy that is guaranteed to win back Congress for the rightful masters of the little people™" and a bit of butt covering in case the plan doesn't work.  I actually think that the big story to come out of this election will be the fall out from the Dhimmicrats not winning either chamber, or even losing some ground.  The devastating impact on both the Dhimmicrats and DBM if that should happen will, I think, prove final and fatal for both institutions as we know them.  Someone mainstream is going to twig to that in the next two weeks and be able to make it a convincing argument.  That person will break out as the new "pundit extraordinaire."  Unfortunately, if I'm right that the DBM will be discredited as well as the Dhimmicrats, there may be nowhere for that new king of all punditry to go pontificate because we may see all of the screaming head shows replaced by reruns of Gilligan's Island and the syndicated version of Deal or No Deal.

Sorry to be so late posting this time.  I'm getting set to travel on business both this week and again the week after.  I should be able to put up next weeks thread, perhaps even sooner than today's, but the first Friday in November is probably right out.  I may not even get anything up before the Saturday shows are history.  But I'll try.

This will be cross posted to my blog at Wizards.townhall.com. This post exists primarily as a heads up for who is on the weekend talks shows, what they've been invited on to push (based on their recent pronouncements) and the spin (meme) the DBM is likely trying to push based on that information. All of this is prep work for the weekly Sunday Morning Talk Show thread posted by Alas Babylon!. That thread provides a live commentary and analysis of the Sunday talking head shows, with rare insight and exceptional fact checking. we are the Jedi Council of FreeRepublic, at least in regards to these DBM gabfests. You wanna know what was said and what it meant, as well as where they messed up? Read that thread!

Here's a link to Mark Kilmer's excellent preview of the Sunday shows over at RedState.COM.  He beat me again this week.

I'll also post a link to this Sunday's live thread here when it is up.

have at it.

 

[thepresidentsbestfriend]

The Beltway boys have reached a new low.They went with last weeks polls from Ras......You would think the # 1 cable network could manage to do a live show.

Fred Barnes is a great guy but kind of naive.My top man Brit Hume has even fallen for the phony polls.If you repeat the phony polls enough,they become reality.

It seems the MSM still has the upper hand ?

What about Fox News watch? You have to look hard for the conservative.About a year ago they asked the question,what paper is the most reliable overall? Cal Thomas said,the NY Times get it right sooner or later.He was not joking.Remember the book he put out a few years ago that attacked the Christian coalition?

Jim Pinkerton is the closest thing to a Conservative.Jim answered my email.

[Txsleuth]

No...I don't have an extra $500...and I certainly understand why you would like to have it scheduled then.

Also, after the elections until the NEW Congress in January, it SHOULD be relatively slow...unless our axis of evil decides to act up more than they already are.

BTW...as I type this, I am watching the replay of Hillary's debate last night...it is very hard to concentrate when listening to her "spin"....LOL

[Miss Marple]

I will post the answers in a few minutes.

[Miss Marple]

Laura Ingraham and Cal Thomas being doom and gloomers are no surprise. They have been in that position since Hurricane Katrina and Harriet Miers.

As far as I am concerned, we should bring out the hook and get replacements.

[Bahbah]

It seems the MSM still has the upper hand ?

They are still way too influential. I think that the internet and bloggers and sites like this (which is unique at this point) that present such a danger to their influence will come under increasing attack. I think it will be a heck of a battle and I hope we have the stomach for it.

Cal Thomas said that about the NYT! Good grief.

[Txsleuth]

Even Pinkerton is a wishy washy person most of the time, IMHO>

I would put Cal and Jim in the same catagory as Robert Novak, Pat Buchanan and George Will...

ALL of them are labeled at conservative, but none of them are..at least what I think of as conservative.

[Miss Marple]

Chelsea Clinton's cat was given to Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie.

Colin Powell owns a Volvo, which he spends his off-time tinkering with.

The rock star Bono toured with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

Secretary O'Neill was the CEO of Alcoa.

Eleanor Mondale. daughter of Fritz Mondale, visited Clinton privately while Hillary was out of town. (As an aside, finding this out sent Monica Lewinsky into a tizzy.)

Lynn Cheney was a homecoming queen at her high school in Wyoming.

Elizabeth Dole was in the Junior Miss contest. So was Diane Sawyer.

[Miss Marple]

My post above should have been directed to you as well. Sorry!

[Txsleuth]

Thank you...that was a fun quiz, even if I did only know one answer.

I sure can see why Lynn Cheney would be Homecoming Queen...she is a beautiful woman.

I would love to have been bugging Monica's phone when she calls up BILL to blast him about Eleanor!! LOL

[Phsstpok]

Also, after the elections until the NEW Congress in January, it SHOULD be relatively slow...unless our axis of evil decides to act up more than they already are.

Now this is a rarity.  I think I've bumped into something that you have missed.  My view is that November 7 is day one of a 60 to 90 day disaster for our republic.  Think 2000 and 2004, but times 10.  The Dhimmicrats have thousands of lawyers in SWAT teams ready to deploy to districts where they think they can overturn their losses in the courts, whether through guile or willing Dhimmicrat judges.  They are telling us we won't know "who really won" till well into January, if not later."  And if you are in need of a lawyer for anything in the near future you are toast from now till March of 2007.  Count on it.  they are all tied up.

I'm afraid I'm going to be put into a position of hearing the minor bits and pieces from the DBM as I recuperate while missing the real story here on FR because I'm not really able to work on the computer, at least not for any great length of time.  that truly scares me.  Maybe even more than any other impact of my expected surgery.

Worse than that is the fear that I really have been providing something valuable to folks here (and elsewhere?) on the preview thread.  I now feel a responsibility to "my audience" and it scares me that I might let you all down, even for a few weeks.  That is incredibly egotistical of me (and I'm really not fishing for compliments with this) but it adds to my concerns.  My secret hope is that I can find someone to cover for me on this for a week or two surrounding the surgery.  I haven't been brave enough, or sure enough of what was happening, to raise that question.  I'm not specifically doing that now, but if anyone out there would be willing to volunteer, not necessarily to do the "I'm a pundit" pontificating that I have had the hubris to start doing, but to post the list of who is on and find some articles on who they are and what they've said, I would be incredibly grateful for that support.

After all, that's the best part of being in a community of like minded people.

[Miss Marple]

The reason I know about Monica being upset was that it was in the transcripts from the Special Prosecutor. LOL!

[Morgan in Denver]

If you remember, Monica was stopped by the White House guards and not allowed to enter. If I remember right, she even called people in the White House trying to get in and was really upset over not being able to enter.

[Seattle Conservative]

LOL! I'm with you Miss Marple, though you had me beat by a couple

[Miss Marple]

I think I am going to start posting a quiz every Sunday.

It seems to me that it would be fun, plus encouraging newbies to learn a little bit about recent history.

[Phsstpok]

I think I am going to start posting a quiz every Sunday.

She tasks me!

 

Now, the question is does this need to be a seperate thread or part of an existing one.  I volunteer to host it as part of the preview thread, at least as a "starter" exercise.  I've got my ping list and there are a fair number of people who drop by here who aren't on that list.  Better yet, for that purpose, would be getting hosted on ABs Sunday thread, in the fashion of Anita's weekly Nuggets post there.  I would imagine it would outgrow either thread quickly.   Check with AB about hosting it there.

I for one like this idea.  And I clearly think you are the best one to come up with this (though I trust you'll accept suggested questions from others?).  Of course, however, there must be prizes.  We have to come up with prizes.  What might be appropriate?

[Txsleuth]

Boy....I missed a lot....I was so busy trying to get my two kids through junior high, high school, and flight school (one of them), that I was just only paying cursory attention to the whole Clinton Administration.

[Txsleuth]

That sounds like a GREAT idea....I enjoyed the one you had tonight...and I didn't cheat to look up the one answer! LOL

Maybe you could fix it so if people answer, they could do it by freepmail so that the answer won't be given away...or something like that...

[Bernard]

It is appropriate that Barack Obama comes from Chicago. He is rapidly becoming the Democrat equivalent of Kerry Wood and Mark Pryor - future Hall of Famers as long as it's the off-season.

Wasn't Bill Clinton the great potential President? All that smarts, and all...

[Seattle Conservative]

Great idea!

[malia]

Juan Williams book: Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It.

-- the last part of the title made me think of a question Larry King asked Jesse Jackson....

"--Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America-"

King asked Jackson if he felt responsible for the upcoming blacks in politics today and mentioned Barack Obama ...
JJ answered .... yes he had spread some seeds out there and was proud ...

I changed channels at that point.