The wages of "cable news" stardom: At the risk of seeming negative, we're going to comment on last Thursday night's Rachel Maddow Show.
The program started, as it sometimes does, with the program's host, Rachel Maddow, talking down to her viewers. Soon, she offered a brief report which deserves memorializing.
This brief report concerned Donald J. Trump's strange, slurred speech patterns during a public statement the previous day. Trump's odd performance had created concerns that he might have experienced some sort of health problem, such as perhaps a stroke.
Almost surely, that wasn't the case. But on the subject of weird speech patterns, just consider the way Maddow spoke during this brief report.
She started off by saying this. To watch the full tape, click here:
MADDOW (12/7/17): So all that stuff has just happened tonight. A lot of unexpected there's a lot of weird news.Yes, you're reading that right. According to Maddow, she hadn't discuss this event the night before because she "felt oogy about it." In case you were hoping you'd heard her wrong, she quickly said that she was going to discuss the topic that night, "despite my ooginess."
And on the subject of weird news, this is something that I did not talk about last night because I felt a little oogy about it. And honestly I still hesitate to bring it up now, but I'm going to because it has an important news consequence today. Despite my ooginess I'm just going to go there.
(Maddow pronounced "oogy" to rhyme with "boogie.")
At this point, we offer some advice. When someone talks to you that way on TV, you are being conned. You're being played by a corporate clown—in this case, by someone who 1) spends a lot of time discussing herself and 2) spends a lot of time making you think she's a little more special and unique than you and your circle are.
The previous night, Maddow had felt "oogy" about discussing the topic! As the corporate clown continued, she showcased her greatest talent—her skill at getting us to listen her as she talks about herself:
MADDOW (continuing directly): All right. Yesterday at the White House, when the president announced this very controversial decision that the U.S. will eventually move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, that announcement rattled nerves around the world because of its potentially explosive consequences in the Middle East and elsewhere. But at a more pedestrian level, the president's announcement yesterday also rattled some nerves at home because of the way he was speaking at the end of his announcement.At this point, the cable star played the videotape of Trump's strange speaking performance.
And I, I do not like making a bigger deal out of these things than ought to be made of them. I do not take any pleasure in showing you this, I do not find that this to be hilarious, as I know many people do. I also say this in full cognizance of the fact that I am a person who talks weird and flaps my hands around a lot, and I make weird faces sometimes. like I don't generally think people should be made fun of, or scrutinized especially, because they're funny-looking or talk weird or have a strange look on their face when they're saying something. That said:
When the president was making his announcement about Jerusalem, depending on how you look at it, he appeared to maybe have his teeth come loose? Or to have just started slurring his words, or maybe he bit his tongue hard or something. Something strange happened at the end of his speech.
Again, to watch the full tape, click here. Don't fail to notice the transparent phoniness of the way the cable star delivers her own strange speech.
All in all, we'd guess that Donald J. Trump experienced some sort of dental problem last Wednesday, causing his strange, slurred speech. But what accounts for Maddow's strange speech pattern the following night, in which she gonged us with the word "oogy," then made us listen as she discussed herself, establishing these key points:
Key points established by Maddow:These were all key points. Also, Maddow was willing to ignore her ooginess in order to discuss Donald J. Trump's strange speech.
1) Rachel Maddow doesn't like making a bigger deal out of these things than ought to be made of them.
2) She didn't find Trump's slurring to be hilarious, as she knew many people did.
3) Rachel Maddow understands that she's a person who talks weird and flaps her hands around a lot.
4) She also knows that she makes weird faces sometimes.
5) Rachel Maddow doesn't generally think people should be made fun of, or scrutinized especially, because they're funny-looking or talk weird or have a strange look on their face when they're saying something.
We offer two assessments:
Most likely, Donald J. Trump engaged in strange slurred speech last Wednesday because he had a sudden dental problem.
Almost surely, Rachel Maddow engaged in her own weird speech the following night because she's a substantial egomaniac, not unlike Donald J. Trump.
Maddow has a hundred hooks to make you think that she's more special than you. This is part of what Janet Malcolm recently described as "her performance of the Rachel figure."
Beyond that, Maddow loves to talk about herself. Playing old videotape of herself is even better.
Maddow loves to speak this way! As we near the start of Mister Trump's Inevitable War, we gullible liberals have spent eight years encouraging her to do it.
ad hominem
ReplyDeleteOh, Mao, what now!
ReplyDeleteVladimir Vladimirovich's military chief is unhappy about Mr Trump's exercises with Japan and South Korea.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/north-korea-joint-military-drills-us-japan-south-korea-russia-latest-a8104656.html
"As we near the start of Mister Trump's Inevitable War"
ReplyDeleteBob, dear. Doncha know: the Inevitable War had been miraculously avoided when the old psycho-witch lost the election last year.
You don't have to believe me -- listen to Susan Sarandon: "If she'd won, we'd be at war."
Oh, but of course: you're only interested in Maddow and other establishment clowns... Tsk. So sad...
Yes, you are.
Delete"Most likely, Donald J. Trump engaged in strange slurred speech last Wednesday because he had a sudden dental problem."
ReplyDeleteMost likely, you have no idea what was going on, Bob. Nor do we. Are you not buying the "dry mouth" explanation from the WH? You're implying that they are liars?
What if there is something more serious going on? Is Trump impaired in some way? Suffering some unacknowledged ailment? Maddow mentions it, because it's news, both the weird behavior and the bs coming from the WH.
And how would you, Bob, know this: "she's a substantial egomaniac, not unlike Donald J. Trump." Takes one to know one?
I'm so sorry that you feel condescended to, Bob. You would never stoop to condescension, would you? I feel the egregiousness of her using the term "oogy". She should have said "Yay!Yay!Yay!Yay!" or "people, can we talk." And you would never make fun of anyone...
And I've never heard Somerby discuss himself, like a self-centered egomaniac would do. Although, there was this one time, when we learned of a certain blogger's exciting relationship with a teenager, and that whole milieu of bars and comedy clubs...
Why don't you mosey on over to Fox & Friends, Bob? And do a week and a half long expose (27 posts worth) about the outrageousness of that pile of dookey. Then, if your brain isn't a complete gelatinous mass, toddle on back to Maddow, and see if she doesn't occasionally do some decent work; that is, if you can even be an honest broker at this point.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bob uses "Yay! Yay! Yay!" he's describing the speaker (not himself) championing something idiotic. When he uses "Can we talk?" he's describing something that cannot be discussed because of guild rules (a typical example being that one, so-called "journalist", will not challenge the inept work of another by name)
ReplyDeleteWhen Maddow uses "oogy" she furthers the perception of liberal incompetence.
Bob's point is that she likes it that way (and so do her handlers).
But you probably knew that.
Condemning words like "oogy" isn't exactly a topic for the ages. How exactly does that word embody or further the perception of "liberal incompetence"? It's just a colorful term implying a certain reluctance. Now, do terms like "Crooked Hillary", etc, further any kind of perception when the conservative media uses them?
DeleteYou didn't address how Somerby knows someone else is an "egomaniac."...
Or why he shifts away from press criticism to liberal bashing when it suits him, exhorting them to emulate MLK; except MLK never called his followers stupid or pathetic.
And Bob only uses "YayYayYayYayYay" to invent an idiotic claim that no one actually makes, along the lines of "We can't beat them at the polls, so we pray pray pray pray pray that we can get them locked up! Oh please please please please please please please! Please let us helpless liberals get The Others arrested!"
Said no liberal ever.
None of it matters now anyhow. It's all anthropology. Resistance over. Time for us all to go beddie-bye.
sleep well, and please don't feel oogy.
Delete"We can't beat them at the polls, so we pray pray pray pray pray that we can get them locked up! Oh please please please please please please please! Please let us helpless liberals get The Others arrested!"
DeleteWhy lock ‘em up when we can defenestrate our own, like Franken, before a full investigation is completed?
It’s all part and parcel of liberal incompetence. Don’t get mad at Bob for pointing out similar levels of incompetence displayed by Maddow.
Let’s not even talk about CNN.
LINK
No need, at least here. It’s exactly the result of the stampede Bob has griped about for a long time.
Leroy
Lets.
DeleteCNN and the Washington Post admitted to their mistakes.
That's something you'll never see Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Bob Somerby,Julian Assange, or Glenn Greenwald ever do.
"How to tell you're being played!"
ReplyDeleteI'm not being played. The first mention by a Conservative about the "deficit" or "debt" will be met with a response of "Fine. Let's triple the corporate tax rate, if you are so concerned".