Aug 29, 2008 | 2:38 PM
Category:
Political
Eye-raq?
Eye-ran?
Nu-kyu-lur?
Governor Palin, even die hard republicans cringe when President Bush goes word
hunting. Do you really want to sound as if you've been along on the same
elocution expedition?
"A ship is safe in harbor but that's not why it was
built"?
That's what you say to the child on the school yard who's afraid to go play
with others for fear of being bullied. It’s not the kind of analogy you employ
in your first speech to convince Americans you're the best choice to be one
heartbeat away from the Oval Office-- one beat of a 72 year old heart. If
this sounds condescending it's because critics will say John McCain is being
just that in choosing Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate. If it’s
not condescending then patronizing. Take your pick; neither bodes well for the Arizona
senator.
There are precious few
explanations for McCain's choice. He's either chumming for
disenfranchised Hillary Clinton supporters (that much is obvious), or he
believes his experience and stature to be so superior to Barack Obama's that he
can afford to draw a wild card VP candidate just to shake things up. If McCain
wanted a female running mate, what about Kay Bailey Hutchison? Susan Colliins? Olympia
Snow? And, of course, the name that has been floated for the past two months,
Condoleezza Rice. As tempting as that choice would have been, Rice was also
widely considered an impossible addition. After all, the Bush White House is nothing
if not abysmal in foreign affairs and despite her remarkable intelligence, that
is Rice's department.
Did the McCain vetting team run the debate scenario? You know, the
debate with Joe Biden? Sarah Palin calls herself a soccer mom. Okay, you don't
even have to be a Joe Biden fan to stipulate that the senior Senator is the
political equivalent of David Beckham and on his worst day could effortlessly
kick the fledgling Alaska
governor around a debate stage, scoring at will. You could hear the
champagne corks popping in Biden's office today. If anything, Biden will
have to be careful to not be overpowering, which could be construed as
demeaning. But that's another issue.
John McCain's strength has been experience, sound decision making and strong,
independent leadership. A presidential candidate's most important decision, the
one that most tells of his thought process, is his choice for a running mate.
I, for one, am perplexed over this decision and I believe both the polls and
the vote November 4th will reflect that swing voters have also been left
scratching their heads.
Jun 10, 2008 | 9:27 PM
Category:
Traffic
Just walked out of our studio where we do the Real Time
Traffic report for myfoxla.com and I have to start by giving today’s Darwin
Award to one particular driver.
Will the Prius owner who RAN OUT OF GAS please take a bow!
Yeah, I get frustrated with Suburban owners who can’t park their 4-wheel pachyderm
or the guy who spends $100,000 on a Porsche and burns out the clutch learning
how to look cool… BUT… running out of gas in the I’m greener than you are, Left
Coast Limo?? C’mon,
even Larry David wouldn’t go for a laugh by doing that. Ok, maybe he would but
HE GETS PAID MILLIONS to look that hapless!
Anyway, I could air more of my freeway pet peeves but I thought
I’d throw out a challenge instead. I read some of the LA Times piece recently
on traffic tie-ups. Maybe you saw the diagram of how traffic waves ebb and flow. Simply put, most of the bumper to bumper line
up that reduces us to candidates for anger
management class is caused by drivers accelerating to fill a space between
cars. “Finally, I can move!!” The obvious suggestion by traffic engineers is,
don’t do that—it only creates a longer line of
cars slamming on the brakes.
For the past few days, I’ve been consciously trying to keep
more space between my car and the one in front of me and, guess what, the Ph.D’s
are right. Sure, there are over-caffeinated drivers who zoom into the extra
space but you know, it doesn’t really slow you up that much. The worse the
traffic, the more important it is to increase your space. I’ve found it saves
on my brake pads, my nerves, my gas mileage and my right hip flexor that’s been
driving me crazy lately. But that’s another blog.
I dare you. Calm down, space out (not mentally), and do the
rest of us a favor by being part of the solution! Did I mention better gas mileage?
JM
May 25, 2008 | 10:36 PM
Category:
News
Saturday night on our 10pm newscast I reported on Dick Martin's death. I do that a lot-- report on people dying. But this one was different for me.
First of all, for those of you who weren't around between 1968 and 1973, Dick Martin was the jolly half of Rowen and Martin-- the team who created Laugh-In. I have very fond memories, sitting with my parents in front of our family TV set watching Laugh-In. I could spend take up a lot of space here writing about how Laugh-In broke ground that shows like SNL and MadTV later built upon but, in the case of Martin's passing, that isn't my point.
Reporting on Dick Martin's death was more thought provoking for me because I met Mr. Martin a year or so ago; not professionally-- I didn't interview him. I sat with him inside the cramped wine store I frequent. I would say, "..where I shop" but it's it's much more than a store, really. More like a Cabernet-tinted version of Cheers, minus the bar stools.
Dick Martin came in, tagging along with Tom Rowan. Tom is Dan Rowan's son; a marvelously friendly guy who, you could tell, picked up the friendship with Martin right where his dad left off when he died in 1987. I was in awe. I was sitting with Dick Martin! I felt like a 10 year old again, reliving memories of Beautiful downtown Burbank, Sock it to me and Hear come da judge! Mr. Martin spent an hour, filling me full of stories of starting out as a bartender in Pasadena and Hollywood.. of meeting Rowan and beginning their stand-up routine in the Valley, if memory serves (serves Me, not him. His memory was sharp as a tack!).
Dick Martin was known as being the same affable fellow off camera that he was on. And that geniality followed him into his 80's. He made millions laugh and that is a talent that should never be underestimated or undervalued. I am thrilled I got to chat with Dick Martin and for that reason I am a bit sadder that we have lost one more entertainer from the Greatest Generation.
