GoldbergBlog

Special Comment: The End of the Republican Party

Keith Olbermann returned to Countdown tonight after taking time to spend with his dying father, who passed away a week ago.  His return coincided with last night’s passage of the health care reform bill.  I was not surprised to see him do a Special Comment, but I was surprised at the content of this one.  I thought that after living in a hospital and his close experiences with this system, he would talk about how this bill will transform and where work must still be done.

Instead, he focused on Republicans and made an argument that’s not particularly insightful or deep.  He took seven minutes to note how the Republicans had destroyed their brand, devolved into bigotry, and the passage of the health care bill marked the beginning of their inevitable end.  I disagree with none of this, but it’s obvious to those who followed this prolonged, gut-wrenching political battle.  Former Bush speechwriter David Frum said it best: the Republicans decided to try and make this the Democrats “Waterloo” and instead made it their own.  So why does a party that is now marked by irrelevancy deserve its own special comment?

Watch the video and see if you agree.

Special Comment: “Help.”

This is one of Olbermann’s best.  Give it a look:

Presidents Day

Aaron Sorkin’s tales of politics may be the stuff of fairy tales, but it helps bring out of the cynicism by reminding us what we should want in a leader.  No real President will ever meet an Andrew Shepherd or a Josiah Bartlett, but they should inspire us rather than disappoint us.  President Obama has not been the president we hoped he would be.  He has offered no substantive change in our politics, only in our president.  I shudder to think what a John McCain presidency would look like, but Obama has been a letdown in a big way.  We need to remind him what we voted for.  It’s not enough to just bitch about it.  You have to write a letter, donate to a cause you believe in, educate yourself about the discussion rather than just echo talking points.  We should always hope for Shepherds and Bartletts, but we can already make ourselves better citizens.

Women Respond to Stupid Dodge Super Bowl Ad

Perhaps the most tone-deaf, misogynistic Super Bowl ad of this year (although it’s certainly a crowded field) was Dodge’s ad for the Dodge Charger which is “Man’s Last Stand” against being emasculated.  To which I and hopefully most viewers, both male and female, responded with a resounding “Boo-fucking-hoo.”  Now here’s a fake ad from a woman’s point of view.  It’s only a billion times better.

First, for those who didn’t see it, here’s Dodge’s ad:

Now here’s the response:

The Best Super Bowl Ad (That Wasn’t on TV)

I took away 4 things from this year’s Super Bowl ads:

1.) Doritos has the best creative team followed by Bud Light

2.) Only people deep in the entertainment world really cared about the Leno/Letterman ad and responded to it as if it was the most amazing visual experience since Avatar.

3.) Women are emasculating shrews.

4.) Emasculated men can only be happy if they buy Product X.

Old Spice didn’t pay CBS the $2.6 million to air this 30-second spot and instead chose to debut it online.  It transcends the emasculation problem by being so over the top that it breaks through the stratosphere into “Holy-shit-this-is-amazing.”  Old Spice has made great ads for a while now, but they outdid themselves with this one:

Olbermann Responds to Stewart

And this is why I like Olbermann and why he shouldn’t be compared to folks on Fox News:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Jon Stewart Rips Keith Olbermann Apart

I’m a fan of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comments.  That’s why I always post them.  But starting at the beginning of this year, he started doing “Comments”, and it’s been bad for the show.  It makes him look crotchety and as hyperbolic as his rivals.  He may be more eloquent and intelligent than his right-wing counterparts, but he’s gone too far.  Ironically, when he first started doing Speical Comments, he was encouraged by MSNBC brass to do them every night, but Olbermann protested saying it would dilute the message.  He was right.

So John Stewart has come to the rescue to mock the crap out of Olbermann with a hilarious and brutal segment from last night’s Daily Show.  Stuart, using Olbermann’s rhetorical devices, impersonated the style of the segment, but also encouraged Olbermann that he was better than this inflammatory name-calling he’s fallen into as of late.  Olbermann may be right about all the things he said about Massachusettes Senator-elect Scott Brown, but he’s losing the impact his Special Comments provided.

Sadly, when asked about the sketch, Olbermann blithely responded, “It was a little bit of a ripoff of the Affleck thing, but overall, I’d give it a B-,” showing that he was able to take the joke, but may have missed the point.

Here’s the sketch.  As with most things, Daily Show, I thought it was fucking hilarious:

“Houston, we have an Arby’s.”

Frodo, Don’t Wear the Ring

One of my favorite scenes/songs Flight of the Conchords.

Special Comment: We Cannot Afford This