Gordon Brown wondering what the hell Barack Obama is talking about.
There is some immense disconnect between American media and British media. While the American media swoons at the feet of Barack Obama, the British media has been writing about his feet of clay.
Here’s the UK Guardian’s scathing review of one of the President’s British news conferences:
Barack Obama, the World’s Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn’t exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking…
May you soon meet Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. at that big recording studio in the sky.
Looks like there’s another nutcase out there who thought it was a good idea to trade the promise of a social security check for a cave in Somalia.
That’s right. Some lunatic who claims to be American heartily endorses jihad in a video posted this week on a militant Islamic web site often used by al-Qaida and other militant groups. An expert in such things says the video shows what may be the American leader of a band of Somali terrorist with ties to al-Qaida.
As if that weren’t frightening enough, the 30-minute video features an English language soundtrack with rap “music” that can generously be described as amateurish.
Rapping terrorists? Hah! These guys wouldn’t last ten minutes in South Central L.A.
Just weeks after that grand Hollywood delegation visited Iran on a “cultural” exchange, they’ve received bad news from neighboring Saudi Arabia. Movies are now taboo.
As AsiaNews/Agency in Riyadh explained it:
Cinema and theatre are “against Sharia” because they distract people from work and weaken their efforts in achieving progress, said Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh during a conference on leisure, visual arts and literature attended by students at King Saud University. “Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against Sharia. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner),” he decreed.
They continued. And so did the nutcase Mufti:
In his address to students at King Saud University, the grand mufti warned against playing chess because it “causes a man to lose his wealth and waste his time.”
Conversely “photography is one of the necessities of life” because it helps in “lectures, [. . .] religious activities [. . .] while maintaining public security.”
“Only the photography of sculptures and models is prohibited,” he said.
Remuneration for poets who attend festivals and cultural events is permissible if their words are good, faultless, without “abusive words or references.”
Finally, the mufti urged students to stay away from cigarettes and avoid reckless driving, especially at night or early morning.
Hold on. He didn’t mention cable TV, did he? Can they watch cable TV Saudi Arabia? If so, we highly recommend Entourage to the Grand Mufti. We’re pretty he’ll like it.
But he might want to watch it with the blinds pulled down.
It’s not easy to make Keith Olbermann look more absurd than he makes himself look. But Howard Dean managed to do it without even trying. As an added bonus, he also made himself look absurd. Bingo! Two for the price of one.
Dean appeared on Olbermann’s MSNBC show the other night and was horrified – horrified, we tell you – that some people have called President Obama a Fascist. Olbermann nodded gravely and agreed in his most serious, most reporterish tones.
Thanks to some great research and brilliant editing by Olbywatch, this video intercuts those comments with numereous clips from earlier times of Olbermann calling President Bush a – you guessed it – Fascist.
Yesterday Fox Business Channel’s Neil Cavuto treated a Unites States Congressman with all the respect he deserved. None.
First the Fox host lost his composure. Then he lost his voice. Cavuto went crazy when pathetic Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) couldn’t or wouldn’t and certainly didn’t answer a simple, straightforward question about the congressman’s bill to restrict wages for Amerian workers.
“The Constitution never gave you the damn authority of telling anyone what they should make…,” Cavuto raged. “The Constitution never gave you the authority to blithely come in here and arrogantly set pay for people you don’t even know. And, you don’t have the guts to come back at me and tell me what you think adequate pay range is.”
As the Orlando Sentinel reported on the bill, “The U.S. House is expected to vote today on a measure aimed at halting the payout of “unreasonable and excessive” bonuses to employees of financial companies that received federal bailout money.”
“The bill — a brainchild of U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando — would let the Treasury Department and financial regulators set standards to avoid a repeat of the outrage over AIG, the insurance giant that paid $165 million in bonuses to executives after it got more than $180 billion in bailout funds.”
Other questions Grayson probably can’t or won’t answer:
Have you stopped beating your wife? What is the distance from the sun to the moon? What is pi? And finally, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
TheSmokingGun.com reports that annoying ShamWow pitchman Vince Shlomi was arrested on February 7 in Florida after beating up a prostitute who (allegedly) bit his tongue and wouldn’t let go.
As the normally unfunny Keith Olbermann said, “At least he had something with which to clean up the mess.”
Is there anyone on television more distasteful than Bill Maher?
The liberal HBO talk show host has done it again, this time insulting the U.S. military
Here’s what the so-called comedian had to say on his March 27 HBO show:
“Forget about bringing the troops home Iraq – we need to get the troops home from World War II,” Maher said. “Can anybody tell me why in 2009, we still have more than 50,000 troops in Germany and 30,000 in Japan? At some point these people are going to have to learn to rape themselves.”
The insults continued, but let’s get to the response from former Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, author of “House to House.” He’s already won a Silver Star and a Bronze Star and has been recommended for the Medal of Honor.
“While Democrats want to accuse the right in America of being hijacked by the talking points of Rush Limbaugh and talk radio,” Bellavia noted, “it is more than a little odd to me that the greatest minds on the left today are community organizers, washed up former sports commentators and stand up comedians. It’s insensitive and hurtful.”
“The fact is that the German people would be the first to protest our leaving their country,” Bellavia continued. “Areas like Vilseck would have no economy without American business and young foolish soldiers emptying their bank accounts on the German local scene.”
The Fallujah veteran said he wasn’t surprised by Maher remarks and explained many on the left like Maher don’t understand the concept of military service.
“Maher’s comments are nothing surprising to me,” Bellavia said. “Newsflash – the left doesn’t get the military. They don’t understand how a person can see something bigger then themselves. And the vast majority of liberals have zero idea of what we face overseas and moreover, cannot understand any situation that could possibly involve taking the life at war. They never have. And they never will.”
Funny thing is, there’s probably some Taliban with a satellite dish outside his cave in Waziristan keeping track of which western “comedians” will be the first to be eliminated when they take over.
Maher’s only hope is that he’s so completely unfunny that the Taliban never figure out he’s a supposed to be a comedian.
Two years ago, TV talk show queen Oprah Winfrey was said to have “wept” when she learned of a sex scandal at her elite South African girl’s boarding school. Well, break out the Kleenex, because she has another sex scandal on her hands.
Seven, count ‘em seven, students have been suspended for sexually harassing other students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy School for Girls.
One 15-year-old girl was accused of…uh…imposing herself on another girl. Investigators say she also lied about it and coerced other girls to lie about it. Additionally, another group of girls were caught…uh…fondling each other or recruiting others to join them in “lesbian liaisons.”
A spokesperson for the TV talk queen admitted the girls had been given the boot. “It is because they contravened the school’s code of conduct,” she noted. “We regard the incident as confidential.”
Sad as this incident is, we’re sure it will give Winfrey several hours worth of programming. She’ll weep. She’ll apologize. She’ll be outraged. She’ll consult with Dr. Phil. She’ll talk to Dr. Oz. She’ll write a book about it.
And then she’ll give everyone in the audience a car and call it even.
Actress Angie Harmon has had it up to here with Hollywood hypocrites who call her a racist just because she disagrees with Barack Obama.
“Here’s my problem with this,” Harmon said. “I’m just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama, it’s not because I’m a racist. It’s because I don’t like what he’s doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way. But what I find now is that if you say anything against him you’re called a racist. But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he’s doing…”
“If I’m going to disagree with my President,” she concluded, “that doesn’t make me a racist…It has nothing to do with it. It is ridiculous.”
You are oh-so-wrong, Angie. Surely, anyone who disagrees with Obama is a racist. Anyone who says he’s a socialist is a racist. Anyone who thinks he isn’t the greatest president in history is a racist.
And while we’re at it, anyone who doesn’t admire Michelle’s finely-toned arms is a racist, too.
One British wit asked if "Clueless" was one of the 25 DVDs.
The DVDs President Obama gave British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are the gifts that just keep on giving. At least they keep giving us new stories.
First, the Prime Minister was offended that he had been given a gift he could get down at the corner Blockbuster. Then, the was offended that the Obama administration hadn’t bothered to learn that he’s not a film fan.
End of story, right? Wrong.
One night last week, Brown got home from a long day of doing whatever it is the British Prime Minister does, plopped down in his comfiest chair, and popped “Psycho” into his DVD player.
Instead of seeing Janet Leigh in the shower, he saw the words “Wrong Region” on his TV screen.
Turns out the diplomatic and technological geniuses in the Obama administration didn’t know the DVD format in the United States is different than in England. So those 25 DVDs Obama gave Brown were not only insulting, but worthless.
(As an aside, we didn’t know about the format difference, either. But we’ve never held ourselves out as glittering geniuses. Glittering smartasses, perhaps, but not glittering geniuses.)
He’s probably the only guy on television willing to express the outrage we all feel. And express it he did when Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was naïve enough to appear on his show tonight.
Let this video be a warning to any overconfident politician silly enough to venture into BeckLand.
Hot Fox News Babes, the best of all the TV anchor babes, are showing leg in their short skirts and helping raise Fox News ratings. We’ve got Laurie Dhue, Alisyn Camerota, Kiran Chetry, Page Hopkins, and E. D. Hill.
We regularly cover the booming ratings at Fox News.
Well, pardon us for being slow. We had never noticed how short the skirts are on the Fox News women anchors until someone sent us this video. With the hot TV anchor babes in their short skirts and beautiful legs (In the interest of full disclosure, we should also reveal that we used to buy Playboy just for the articles).
The note attached to the video postulated that there may be a direct relationship between the rise in ratings at Fox News and the rise of the Fox women skirts. If true, it’s an interesting programming strategy.
Will Fox News ratings dominance last? Can the skirts of Fox women go any higher? Can the Fox News legs get any better? Well, they certainly appear to have legs. And pay particular attention to Laurie Dhue. We’d sure like a 3D printer copy of her.
More and more Americans are getting their news from satirical sources. This is the best news we’ve ever heard.
Here’s how Rasumussen Reports reports their report:
Nearly one-third of Americans under the age of 40 say satirical news-oriented television programs like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are taking the place of traditional news outlets.
Thirty-two percent (32%) of adults ages 30-39 believe this to be true, while 42% disagree, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Thirty percent (30%) of those ages 18-29 say programs like the two Comedy Central shows that feature news reports with a comic twist are replacing traditional news outlets, but 35% disagree and another 35% are not sure.
The only problem these days is trying to figure out if you’re watching news that’s news, news that’s satire, satire that’s news, or satire that’s satire.
Introducing the latest style from Keith Olbermann's new fashion line. Last week Keith Olbermann complained about a fake Twitter page and suggested that it was part of a nefarious plot by arranged by Fox News.
Oops. Media Bistro reports that the Olbermann Twitter page may have been run by MSNBC for “several months.” (In fact, the cable network admittedly operates a separate Olbermann Twitter site.)
“It turns out the account Olbermann may have been referring to @KeithOlbermann, which currently has 12,099 followers was set up by someone who was friendly enough to later give that account to MSNBC, which has had it for several months. But Olbermann wasn’t made aware of that not-so-minor detail, insiders tell us.”
“What’s bothering you this week,” his psychiatrist said. “Are you still having those bad dreams about Rupert Murdoch?”
Thanks to John Romano over at BigHollywood.com for digging out this old YouTube video of Milton Friedman teaching dumbfounded liberal Phil Donahue a few things about how capitalism and the real world work.
You can help but love the crestfallen look on Donahue’s face.
Dick Tracy villian Pruneface, a dead ringer for Robert Redford? Warren Beatty has supposedly bedded hundreds of women. But the Tribune Company says it won’t be his next conquest.
A unit of the Tribune Co is suing the actor over the rights to Dick Tracy. Court papers say he acquired those rights in 1985, then and starred in and directed the 1990 film based on the comic strip police detective.
Tribune Co says the rights should revert to them because Beatty has “made no productive use” of the rights for more than ten years. Beatty claims he’s working on a Dick Tracy TV special, but the Trib says the TV show is merely a ploy to preserve Beatty’s rights.
If Beatty is actually producing the special, he might want to call Robert Redford. He’d be perfect to play Pruneface.
This is a great commercial. Actually, we don’t know if it’s a real commercial or just something Richter put together to express his opinion of pompous Prius drivers.
But first a story: We have a very good friend who lives in a ritzy neighborhood in Santa Monica, California, not far from Laurie David.
You remember Laurie David. Former wife of Seinfeld producer Larry David. Was touring the country with Sheryl Crow when the singer urged everyone to use just one square of toilet paper. That Laurie David.
We were walking down the street with our friend one day when we came upon another neighbor who was unloading groceries from her SUV. She was pissed.
“Laurie David just pulled up,” the neighbor said, “and yelled at me for driving an SUV instead of a Prius. What a bitch.”
Now that we’ve set the scene, watch the Andy Richter commercial. Be prepared to laugh.
President Obama’s star-studded Hollywood tour didn’t quite go as planned. First, he insulted the Special Olympics on the Tonight Show. Then Simon Cowell turned him down for dinner.
That’s right. The acerbic American Idol judge told Jay Leno he was just too darn busy to get together with the president.
“He wanted to have dinner,” Cowell said, “and our diaries didn’t quite match. He wanted to do eight, I was free at nine. We just didn’t quite connect. But I told him any time I’m in Washington.”
We’d love to hear Cowell review the President’s recent teleprompter performance.
“It was,” he’d probably say “a little karaoke-ish.”
President Obama appeared on “60 Minutes” last night and giggled like an inebriated schoolgirl throughout a discussion of the perilous condition of the world’s economy.
It was so odd, so distracting, so bizarre, that Steve Kroft finally asked what may be the the most unusual question ever asked a sitting President.
“You’re sitting here,” Kroft said, “and you’re, you’re laughing. You’re laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he’s sitting there just making jokes about money.’ How do you deal with — I mean, explain. Are you punch drunk?”
That’s what Kroft asked. But we suspect that what he really wondered was, “How many days were you in office before you realized you were way in over your head?”
We love this guy. You’ll love this guy. If only there were about 300 more just like him in Washington, DC.
Update: We are so impressed with this guy that we’ve made an entire page devoted to him here at IHTM (link in left sidebar): America’s Conservative: Thaddeus McCotter.
The Supreme Court has agreed to review a case involving “Hillary: The Movie.”
“The outcome of this case,” producer David Bossie said, “will dictate how we’re able to make films and educate people about them.”
Bossie’s movie was released while Hillary Clinton was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He wanted to run TV commercials in key states during the primaries and show the movie on cable TV. But federal courts said no and said “Hillary: The Movie” violated campaign finance regulations because it was nothing more than an attack ad.
Bossie’s group, Citizens United, appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the film is a documentary comparable to TV news programs such as “60 Minutes.”
This could wreak havoc on President Obama’s stimulus plan. Sure, there’s plenty of money to bail out the banks, no one can afford nine tickets to the movies these days.
George Washington couldn't tell a lie. He didn't need a de-fib-ulator. According to the media we hate, George Bush was a moron for saying, “Nu-cu-lar” (despite the fact that he captained a nu-cu-lar submarine, Jimmy Carter said it the same way).
We’re still waiting to hear how stupid Barack Obama is for mispronouncing “defibrillator” on the Tonight Show. Guess the story was simply lost in the flood of mainstream reportage of the President’s “Special Olympics” quip.
Oddly enough, we had to go all the way to Tim Blair’s blog (“the second funniest blog on the internet”) in Australia to read the about this slip-up.
Here’s Obama’s Tonight Show appearance again. Start paying attention at about the 1:50 mark. He says it just at the 2:00 mark.
Defibrillator – the definitive treatment for the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. – Wikipedia
Defibulator – the definitive treatment necessary to translate the lies told by any Democrat discussing the bail-out bill. Or bills. Or damn near anything else. – IHateTheMedia.com
Thanks to the folks at MofoPolitics.com for reminding us of that moment in history when Ronald Reagan was thrust upon the national stage.
“It occurs to me having just watched this,” Mofo said, “that Barack Obama isn’t regarded as so charismatic and articulate because he is so charismatic and so articulate, but because he is so charismatic and so articulate in comparison to those politicians he has had the good fortune to run against.”
No fancy production values. No special effects. No overpaid speech writers. Just Ronald Reagan being Ronald Reagan.
Is NBC still using this logo? They were the last time anyone actually watched the network. A couple weeks back, ABCNews.com started a daily web series featuring its correspondents and anchors. They called it “The Fix.”
Last week lawyers from The Washington Post said the newspaper owns the name “The Fix” and slapped a cease and desist order on the network. Turns out Post writer Chris Cillizza uses the title for his Twitter profile and it’s also the name of a blog he’s written for the Post several years.
ABC News gave up without a fight. They caved in like a house in a hurricane. They fought like the French.
According to WebNewser, ABCNews.com is trying now working on new names for its web series.
As MediaBistro asks, “So, what is driving The Washington Post to take this so seriously? And should ABC News give in? After all, ABC News and WaPo often partner on editorial projects most notably the ABC News/Washington Post poll.”
Fact is, the Post probably wouldn’t have bothered with a cease and desist had their title been stolen by NBC. Because no one ever would have seen it if it had been on NBC.
You’ve probably heard the audio version of Bill O’Reilly’s sex tapes – the ones he recorded for the audiobook version of his novel “Those Who Trespass.”
But now we have exclusive video that shows exactly what went on during the recording session. You’ll see things you never thought you’d see. Unimaginable things. Things you’ll hope never to see again.
The Bill O’Reilly sex tapes on video. Another IHateTheMedia.com exclusive.
Two years ago, TV talk show queen Oprah Winfrey was said to have “wept” when she learned of a sex scandal at her elite South African girl’s boarding school. Well, break out the Kleenex, because she has another sex scandal on her hands.
Actress Angie Harmon has had it up to here with Hollywood hypocrites who call her a racist just because she disagrees with Barack Obama.
