Harvey Hitchens

In the old Jimmy Stewart movie, Harvey, Stewart’s character, Elwood P. Dowd, makes a pivotal statement about choices in life. To paraphrase Dowd, if a person has to choose between being “oh so pleasant” in life, or being “oh so smart,” he would recommend being pleasant.

I’m thinking of this as I watch Larry King tonight, in which Christopher Hitchens is pitted against a bunch of bonehead Republicans. Hitchens is making cogent points about Obama vs. McCain, and he is clearly the only intelligent voice on the show.

But this is the same man who recently wrote an atheistic book (haven’t read it, but he’s probably spot-on).

My point is, Hitchens is an intellectual who is leagues above his “competition” when it comes to logic and reasoning, and yet … he is the only panelist on Larry King who never gets to smile.

I believe he is right, but miserable.

Elwood P. Dowd would understand.

Fox’s “Red Eye”

One of the more nauseating shows on cable these days is Fox’s “Red Eye,” hosted by some picked-on-in-high-school schmuck named Greg Gutless, or something like that.

“Red Eye” makes sure that every episode features some conservative, Stepford-Wife-like conservative bimbo, whose job it is to look good, paste on that fake homecomng queen smile, and laugh as the adolescent boys make penis and vagina jokes.

Apparently, the other guests are required to sign contracts stipulating that they laugh like retarded orangutans at every comment that is made, no matter how inane. The result is a nightmare: five or six idiots laughing non-stop, idiotically, at every comment Greg Gutless and his cohorts spew.

This is about as low as television gets.

Paul Newman

Kind of funny, and kind of sad. I almost — almost — feel sorry for O’Reilly in particular and the right in general.

Billy Boy, after this commercial break, is about to pay homage to, in his words, an “American hero,” Paul Newman.

O’Reilly, who regularly pillories American movie stars as “pinheads” for their liberal views, is apparently unaware of, or giving a pass to, Newman’s status as an unabashed liberal.

But, what choice does O’Reilly have? Other than redneck country stars, he has very few conservative celebrities to honor. That should (but won’t) tell him something about Americans’ taste in culture.

Change

Random thoughts as this country (possibly) slips, slides away ….

1) I worry a bit for Obama. If any political figure is ripe for assassination, it’s this dude. He’s black. And despite what all of the pundits would have us think, there are plenty of nutjobs out there who would not be able to deal with a black president.

2) McCain’s comment last night about “that one” was not the least bit racist. This is a case of the politically correct overreacting.

3) I know people (men) who want to vote for McCain-Palin because they think Palin is “hot.” Cool. Why don’t we elect Jenny McCarthy president?

4) Most Republicans operate primarily out of one emotion: fear. Fear of losing their priviliged place in society; fear of a black president and, soon, a minority-majority in this country; fear of fair competition.

5) America’s celebrities, time after time, prove themselves to be boneheads. But at least politically, they are generally right (liberal). And this drives conservatives nuts. O’Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. rely heavily on pop music and movies on their shows … and yet these songs and clips come overwhelmingly from liberal artists. Must drive the conservatives nuts. All they have are the Sarah Palin/redneck country stars.

6) Could be just me, but doesn’t it look more and more like I was right on my “class warfare” position? Or should we (the middle class) continue to just bend over and take it up the ass?