Johnny on the Spot: 9 PM, via satellite… 11PM, live and in the flesh
Right wing relaxed fit Beltway pundit, John Podhoretz made a comedians-turned-pundits bank shot by appearing on Dennis Miller’s eponymous CNBC show and Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. He managed to trade quips with both men without breaking a sweat or changing his flattering grey suit with matching blue shirt and yellow tie (in honor of the troops?).
What he didn’t manage to do, however, was come up with enough material for both shows. While promoting his new book Bush Country (the title of which is a deliciously naughty mnemonic tautology), he dusted off a few choice chestnuts. Very few.
From, Dennis Miller, 9PM EST, Feb. 24, 2004:
Dennis Miller: Gimme three or four the most crazy liberal ideas about our President.
John Podhoretz: Well, I think I got eight of them in the book. One of them, of course, is that he’s an idiot—which I think that anyone who believes by now is an idiot because he keeps de-pantsing people who underestimate him… The other is that he’s a puppet of his dad, uh, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, the neo-conservatives—no one can decide who he’s a puppet of because he’s not a puppet, he’s his own man… Liberals think that he’s a religious fanatic… [They] say he’s a cowboy… These are some of ways he’s mischaracterized, misrepresented.
From, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 11PM EST, Feb. 24, 2004:
John Podhoretz: I do believe that a lot of people who criticize the President do criticize him in a reckless and irresponsible and unfair fashion. As you mentioned, I go through the book, eight, what I call ‘Crazy Liberal Ideas About Bush.’ One that’s he’s a moron, one that he’s a puppet, one that he’s a religious fanatic, one that he’s like Hitler, and so on…
Repeat it one more time, and Beetlejuice will appear!
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4 replies on “Talking Pod’s Memo”
John Podhoretz is proof positive that great intellect is not inheritable.
Me too.
I’m with Jim on this, frankly. The guy’s pushing his book on both shows, so obviously he’s going to hype what he sees as the “hot” tidbits of that book on both shows. What’s next, the shocking revelation that Charlize Theron told the same movie set anecdote on Leno AND Letterman?
Did he prance so exuberantly that he almost slipped on Miller’s show, too? Yes, we get it: a gay person can be for Bush. That almost supports the “it’s genetic, not a lifestyle choice” reasoning, except that he makes such very poor political and fashion choices. Therefore I figure he’s like a paid spokesmodel. Which I guess is probably true of most pundit types. I had to ffwd through most of the TDS interview, though; even Ann Coulter was more engaging than this guy.