Another wild, wild day here at The Recovering Politician.
A hearty welcome to all of our new readers from the Show Me State who heard about us from the AP’s story on Rod Jetton, and to all of our neighbors from the Great White North who watched the RP on CTV.
If you are one of the many Americans (or Canadians!) who are disappointed in the final budget deal — or furious that it took so long to be reached — be sure to click here to watch this video. And stay until the last five minutes — I guarantee that Rod Jetton’s imitation of Jeff Smith and Jeff Smith’s imitation of Rod Jetton will give you a laugh. Or three.
Thanks to his internationally (!) well-received piece last week in The Huffington Post, “Debt Ceiling for Dummies,” the RP has been on a virtual international tour of radio and TV talk shows.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Aug 1, 2011 at 9:30 AM ET
My latest column for The Huffington Post reflects one of my great frustrations about today’s politics: The absence too often of rational, civil dialogue. I try to explain why so many disaffected Americans — particularly those in the Tea Party — don’t accept many incontrovertible facts at the center of policy debates, and how the rest of us can become more engaged to dilute the influence of extremism and misguided politics.
Here’s an excerpt:
One of the critical lessons from the debt ceiling debacle is not to underestimate the Tea Party’s influence on Washington policymakers.
But perhaps even more alarming was the strikingly willful disdain many Tea Party activists demonstrated towards some of the rationally indisputable facts at the center of the policy debate.
I saw this phenomenon firsthand on the virtual pages of this very website. Last week, frustrated by my failure to find my teenage daughter a simple explanation of the budget crisis online, I decided to pen one myself. My column, Debt Ceiling for Dummies, was an attempt to provide a dispassionate, non-partisan guide to the sometimes archaic, and often complex, subject matter associated with the credit default debate. As a former state Treasurer and CFO, I hoped to share what I’ve learned from a myriad of experiences dealing with concepts like debt limits and credit ratings.
But as is far too typical in today’s blogosphere, my article provoked an avalanche of bitter invective in the comments section of this site, my own blog, and even my personal Facebook page. I was called a “liar,” a “fraud,” even an intimate of the international conspiracy to fool real Americans and rob them of their hard-earned savings.
My more than two decades of politics taught me not to take any of the criticism personally. But it’s hard not to be flustered when a not-so-insignificant segment of the body politic refuses to accept the incontrovertible fact that lifting the debt ceiling honors the debts we’ve already incurred through our prior spending, and does not require higher levels of future spending or borrowing. Or that the inevitable U.S. credit downgrade that would result from a failure to lift the ceiling would inarguably worsen our national debt problems by dramatically increasing the cost of borrowing.
Thanks to his internationally (!) well-received piece in The Huffington Post, “Debt Ceiling for Dummies,” the RP has been on a virtual international tour of radio and TV talk shows.
Today, he appeared on CTV News, Canada’s version of CNN, making Mrs. RP (a native Canuck) very happy. Click here or on the logo below to watch the interview:
Thanks for your support and a hearty welcome to all of our new readers.
We will keep you updated over the weekend on all matters concerning the budget crisis, and unfortunately expect to be railing about it next week as we quickly approach the August 2 default deadline.
The RP wil be interviewed tonight at 7:00 PM EDT on Wall Street Radio about…what else…the debt ceiling crisis and his nationally-discussed piece, Debt Ceiling for Dummies.
To find out what radio affiliate carries the show in your area, click here.
With the recent passing of Sherwood Schwartz, it is fitting to honor his memory by highlighting a Sherwood trademark: Awful TV show; Terrific Theme Song. Combine a catchy three-minute ditty with a truly awful 24 minutes of predictable plots, unfunny comedy and horrendous acting, and you have a magic formula for high ratings and unforgettable childhood memories.
So without further ado, here goes The RP’s Top Five Awful Television Shows with Terrific Theme Songs:
5. (tie) The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale; here’s a story of a lovely lady…We start off with the Sherwood Schwartz Daily Double.
If you are between the ages of 35 and 50 and cannot recite every word of the two theme songs, then you either are suffering from dementia or compulsive lying disorder. These are the seminal melodies of my childhood, two songs that indelibly conjure up all of the joys and anxieties of prepubescence. But while the tunes hold up with time, the shows are simply a tribute to insipid plotting, acting and dialogue. And that’s the way, they became the Brady Bunch, right here on Gilligan’s Isle!
Here’s the magic:
SPECIAL!!! All 5 seasons of Brady Bunch theme songs:
4. The Beverly Hillbillies
A few weeks ago, I discussed a recent controversy when a candidate for statewide office in Kentucky was revealed to have made some unfunny, demeaning jokes about Eastern Kentuckians. That was pretty much the entire theme of this program, episode after episode, year after year. If some coastal elites don’t understand the heartland, it may be because of the pernicious stereotypes fed by this awful program. But the show had a fantastic theme song, a bluegrass ditty played and performed by the legendary Flatt and Scruggs.
Listen to this story about a man named Jed:
3. The Love Boat
OK, I admit it. My pre-high school Saturday night ritual was the double feature of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Pitiful, huh? Still, before I suffered through silly Gopher and ladies’ man Doc and hip cat Isaac, at least I was charmed by Jack Jones’ theme song. Thankfully, Aaron Spelling abandoned his vision to emerge as the next Sherwood Schwartz by dropping the catchy theme song motif by the time he produced Beverly Hills, 90210. Or maybe his daughter Tori insisted on it. Or that geek who’s somehow married to Megan Fox.
Anyway, for some love, exciting and new, climb aboard, we’re expecting you:
Read the rest of… The RP: The Top 5 Awful TV Shows with Terrific Theme Songs
With Mrs. RP a native Canuck (she spent her early years in Montreal and her teens in Mississauga), the RP has a (very) small, but devoted following in The Great White North.
Apparently, it is a little larger than previously thought — CTV, the CNN of Canada, will be interviewing the RP live (via Skype) at 8 PM EDT tonight about the debt ceiling crisis.
For our Canadian readers, tune into CTV tonight at 8. For the rest of the RP Nation, you will have to wait for the video later.
