Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

PBS Star Ken Burns Bashes Palin: 'Supremely Unqualified...American Idol' Pick
Newsbusters ^ | 9/23/08 | Tim Graham

Posted on 09/23/2008 12:32:52 PM PDT by pissant

From Reuters and the Hollywood Reporter comes news that PBS filmmaker Ken Burns used a New York panel discussion preceding the news and documentary Emmy Awards as a forum to denounce the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, as proof the selection process devolved "into a high school popularity contest and an American Idol competition" and insisted "in the whole history of the republic there has been no one with as thin a credential" as Palin.

The reporter on this story, Paul J. Gough, treated Burns as an eminence and not as a partisan liberal who endorsed Obama in December 2007. He also completely ignored that Burns made a sappy tribute film to Sen. Ted Kennedy for last month’s Democratic convention in Denver, and then went on MSNBC to tout him as an "amazing, amazing man." At the same event, CBS’s Bob Schieffer insisted the media coverage of Palin was fair, and that "It seems to me that some would suggest we should just accept on faith that Sarah Palin is qualified."

Gough reported that Burns declared at Fordham University:

"He (McCain) selected someone who is so supremely unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and he has turned the selection process into a high school popularity contest and an 'American Idol' competition," Burns said. He said that McCain made a "cynical" pick in what he said was the most important decision of his presidential candidacy.

Burns, whose body of work has focused on American history, said that "in the whole history of the republic there has been no one with as thin as a credential" as Palin. He said it was, for McCain, a "Hail Mary pass" that will be decided in November.

Burns, who became famous due to a ponderously long documentary series on the Civil War, surely knows Abraham Lincoln had four terms in the Illinois House and one term in the U.S. House of Representatives – not unlike the experience of Sen. Barack Obama.

Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune reported the Burns endorsement of Obama on December 18, 2007. Experience was hardly his emphasis:

Burns said he liked Obama right off the bat and felt he could stamp out society's "creeping cynicism" with his "unironic posture."

"I have been attracted from the beginning to his authenticity," he said. With the country facing difficult times, he said, the nation needs "someone able to dream and suggest a future without being tied to the past."

He also said he appreciated Obama's stand against the war when other candidates supported it.

"I think this is a human being who knew in advance how unnecessary and foolish this war was," Burns said, adding that Obama knows how to distinguish between "fraudulent wars," and "those that really need to be fought."

Gough reported that Schieffer didn't take a stand like Burns did, but he did defend the national media's coverage of Palin after she was named McCain's running mate.

"Sarah Palin is a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency. The presidency is the most powerful office in the world," Schieffer said. "It seems to me that some would suggest we should just accept on faith that Sarah Palin is qualified."

Bob Schieffer is 71, so this assertion of frailty might sound a little strong. Conservatives weren't arguing that Palin's experience should be accepted "on faith," but that the Eastern elite media shouldn't rush to endorse instant Democrat judgment. Gough said Schieffer paid tribute to Palin and her remarkable and compelling life story but insisted that the media didn't mistreat her.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: 2008electionbias; catfight; dairyproducts; kenburns; mccainpalin; palin; palinattacks; palinping; pds; pjs; stfu
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 last
To: pissant

Hello. My name is Kenny.
I am a very, VERY serious documentarian.




81 posted on 09/23/2008 2:31:32 PM PDT by macamadamia (Life is a continuation of war by other means.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
[ This moronic faux historian pantywaist probably thinks Obama is the most supremely qualified candidate since George Washington. ]

Actually Sara Palin is MORE qualified than George Washington to be President..
And Burns is a flaming sissy..

82 posted on 09/23/2008 2:34:49 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Finny
Wow. Very interesting post. Thanks. I enjoy jazz. I deliberately missed Burns' History of Jazz just as I did his recent offering about WWII, even though I'm quite a WWII buff.

I truly enjoyed Burns' Civil War, but the Baseball one sent me to the showers. When trying to enjoy videos of old time baseball players one, I think, can only tolerate only so much gratuitous bludgeoning about historical race issues that have been corrected (nay overcompensated for IMO) already.

83 posted on 09/23/2008 3:24:56 PM PDT by steelyourfaith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: pissant; All

Ken should stick to documentaries over past events and stay out of current ones. I like his civil war series. I have heard anecdotal stuff that it got him kicked out of the Sons of the Confederacy though.

He is kind of like Oprah. Once he endorsed Obama, he lost his credibility to objectively rate the opposition. Because Palin is more likeable (and a better rock star) than Obama is no reason to diss her. If you read between the lines, that is his real beef.


84 posted on 09/23/2008 3:29:01 PM PDT by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nascarnation
it is amazing that Kennedy has avoided prosecution all these years and keeps getting re-elected

Its not amazing if you are a Senator in a state of MORONS!

85 posted on 09/23/2008 3:36:48 PM PDT by Bommer (Who was Obama's diction coach? Bevis or Butthead? Uhhhhhh.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
He does seem to go overboard.
86 posted on 09/23/2008 3:50:25 PM PDT by rabidralph (She shoots, she scores!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant

And Obamy’s 185 days as a senator qualify him? Ken, I do believe you have jumped the shark.


87 posted on 09/23/2008 4:58:14 PM PDT by vpintheak (Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Prov. 25:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak
Ken, I do believe you have jumped the shark.

He was a One Hit Wonder. The Civil War was phenomenal. Everything he's done since sucks. His series on WWII was beyond boring. It was WWII for crying out loud - you have to work REALLY HARD to make WWII boring!

88 posted on 09/23/2008 5:05:16 PM PDT by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise
One needs only to consider the mortgage scandal, the credit crisis, the nutty energy policy and the continuing spending deficits to ask the logical question. If Sarah Palin's opponents have this kind of experience, then why do we need them at ALL?

Excellent point.

89 posted on 09/23/2008 5:10:27 PM PDT by retrokitten (President and CEO of the Agent Frowny Fan Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Who is Ken Star?

JoMa


90 posted on 09/23/2008 6:57:33 PM PDT by joma89
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

How sad... And to think I used to LIKE some of Burns’ films (especially like the Baseball one). I guess I’ll pass on them from now on. Oh, how I wish some of these people who are so full of themselves would just SHUT UP! It’s the same thing with movie actors, and musicians... Say it in your work (through a song, or in choosing a movie or TV show to work on, or a film to do), or don’t say it at all! Then again if they want to be idiots and alienate some of their fans, well then by all means tell them to keep yakking. It’s not like the majority of Americans will still respect them afterwards!


91 posted on 09/23/2008 11:04:05 PM PDT by LibertyRocks ( http://LibertyRocks.wordpress.com ~ Pro-Palin & NObama Gear : http://cafepress.com/NO_ObamaBiden08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Heh. Another PBS parasite who probably thinks that the TOP of his party’s ticket, Barack Hussein Obama, is perfectly qualified to be President. It never ceases to amazes me how PBS attracts pantloads like Burns the way a fresh turd attracts flies.


92 posted on 09/23/2008 11:08:22 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-92 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson