God Bless America 3
I thought you should see you should see one of Keith Olbermann's rants on MSNBC. They always made me happy when I was in America. We can't have such things here, of course, we just get the mosquito whine of incomprehension and pointless panel debates that Newsnight has become. A little pungent, literate, unchallenged opinion on television would brighten all our lives.
# posted by Bryan Appleyard : 7:57 AM
10 Comments:
At October 21, 2008 8:40 AM,
ian russell said…
Ian Hislop - he tends to be up for this kind of thing. you should write to the BBC.
At October 21, 2008 9:01 AM,
elberry said…
How about Richard Madeley?
At October 21, 2008 9:11 AM,
passer by said…
Enjoy it while you can.
the first thing the new democratic congress will do is try and stop it, they want nice and easy BBC "balanced" reporting and journalism. (mark my words)
And then they will go to the next level, which is where we are in Europe, banning and trying to control blogs, and pressurising news organisations not to report certain issues in case they cause offense, and the brand new trick of the enlightened EU, deporting people from one country where "no crime was committed" to the next country "where it is an offence"
With the tools or "balance", the "public good" and "civility" they will dress the coming dark ages with nice words and good intentions.
This is the real danger we face, we can repair broken economies with time and effort, broken freedoms tend to stay broken, politicians have empires to build and maintain.
At October 21, 2008 11:24 AM,
Steve said…
Gosh, Bryan, your normal good sense seems to have left the building. I can't see how you can enjoy such over-the-top, self-indulgent guff that Olbermann delivers. Honestly, even allowing for a dislike of the Republicans, I can't see how you can endorse ranting, whether it be from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh or MSNBC.
At October 21, 2008 12:01 PM,
Brit said…
If you don't like ranting, Stevee, blogs are probably not your thing.
Back in the early 90s Channel 4 used to have a strand called "J'Accuse" which was essentially a forum for ranting. It was often terrific.
I can think of a few commenters here who would be ideally suited to the format.
At October 21, 2008 12:05 PM,
passer by said…
Steve, Freedom like truth is a very messy and loud business, people get hurt and some like silly, so what? sit back and enjoy.
If you dont like it, turn it off, turn over or set up your own YouTube channel, and I can assure you I will be ranting too as western civilisation goes down to the "fairness doctrine" iceberg.
At October 21, 2008 1:35 PM,
Frank Wilson said…
Many of us regard the failed sports commentator as a moron who has brought political discourse to a level lower than had previously been imaginable.
At October 21, 2008 1:45 PM,
Paddy said…
Hear, hear Frank. I hadn't imagined a lower level of discourse either, until I saw Sean Hannity on Fox News. And as for Bill Reilly...Dante may well have placed him with the political commentariat's equivalent of Brutus, Cassius and Judas.
At October 21, 2008 4:17 PM,
Vernon Howell said…
Keith Olbermann is merely the shadow cast by Bill O'Reilly, a nothing, a parasitic organism on the arse of a more popular and far richer man, an absurd response to a question that anyone with any sense would leave unanswered.
At October 22, 2008 7:09 PM,
Simiain said…
There are plenty of unchallenged, literate and pungent partisans rebounding off each other in the UK, they just happen to be in the papers.
And Sky's experience with Richard Littlejohn would tend to suggest they dont translate well to the screen.
Would love it if Peter Hitchens had his own show though.
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