A Warning to the Left

The Left is so busy making jokes, it has no idea about the tsunami that is about to wipe them out. They're not worried. They're barely aware. "Look, Michelle Bachmann is eating a corn dog! Rick Perry is a Nazi! *giggle*"

This time next year the movement to defeat Obama will reach evangelical proportions. Progressives have no sway, no ideas except "It's All Bush's Fault". Surely enough of the historic Independent, Young and Black Voter Bases will stay home this time. It will not matter if the GOP candidate says something stupid every day for a year or if they have no economic plan or if they get reamed by gotcha journalists or if they constantly get Elvis and Thomas Jefferson mixed up. People are too face-to-face with the reality of... reality. We're in a Depression.

Too many people are ready to do anything, accept anything other than the way things are now. The Fear and Jesus that the GOP is selling is exactly what will get them elected. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lost in some self-delusional Late-Night-Monologue American Apathy.

Right now I see the Left giggling over the oh-so-crazy antics of the GOP candidate until late Election Night when those one or two or three states that made all the difference in 2008 will flip to the other side and about 1:30am, and only then will those still awake at the balloon drop party will realize it's all over.

This is precisely the state of mind that bewilders me: The 'Progressive', "we're so full of our phony moral and intellectual superiority, but at least the other side is even more full of crap than we are..."

This Elizabeth Kubler Ross method of slow acceptance of the decline in quality of life that we twist around in our heads as amusing social insight.

The Rachel-Maddow-boy-isn't-it-funny-that-these-dumb-rightwingers-are-always-kicking-our-political-ass way of thinking. Somewhere Jon Stewart is already trying to pre-write an Election Night Obama Defeat into some self-serving all-night comedy special.

It is this way of thinking that puts people to sleep giggling over Bill Maher's don't-worry-be-happy political uselessness - and wake up the next day to find that the vampires got in and the virgins were handed over to them without as much as a loud fart - and who knows how long it will it take to look back and realize we all have no one to blame but -- wait for it -- ourselves.

How long do they intend to fool ourselves with this belief that the "crazy right-wing opposition" can be just shooed away by making fun of them? They started their re-emergence the day after Obama was nominated and, whether you know it or not or whether Seth Meyers says so or not, they own it all now.

The people who don't think the GOP will win are the same people who get screamingly hostile when you ask them how things are really better now, or how they will be better, or why Obama should win, or why he should want to win, or any real way they can actually change and help him make this a better country instead of treating him like an overworked, undertipped waiter who gives unsatisfactory service.

Leno is Back!

It looks like the television is smarter than the executive staff at NBC. If you can't read the error message, it says, "Program has no content."

NBC: The Biggest Loser

Maybe you've heard about this, but NBC is ready to throw in the towel on the Jay Leno experiment. They're going to move Leno back to 10:35 with O'Brien following him. I guess Fallon will be taken out back and shot?

No such luck.

As I predicted, the ratings plunge for the NBC affiliates [specifically local news] was causing a revolt, which in turn caused NBC to flinch. The higher-ups held discussions with both Leno and O'Brien Thursday about the future of NBC's late-night schedule. I suspect it was a lot like going to see the principal. While Leno would see his time slimmed down to a paltry half-hour, O'Brien would still host an hourlong program, which would push Late Night host Jimmy Fallon to 1:05/12:05 Central start time. This also leaves up in the air the future of Last Call with Carson Daly, which starts at 1:35/12:35 C following Fallon. But, seriously, what the hell is that? Why not kill off Leno, and save face with O'Brien?



And unless NBC has some major surprises that they've had on the shelf to support five full time slots with something for the 9/10 PM evening holes what the hell are they going to fill after the Winter Olympics? Oh, wait, they can always fill it with new forms of Law and Order Property Department or Law and Order Meter Maid. I'm sure you'll see a lot of the fastest, cheapest crap ever put on Network television. Expect Candid Camera/YouTube, SNL's Best Clip Show Moments, America's Pets Have Talent, and Prime Time Maury Povich! I had a couple other ones, but I think I'll save those...

Amazingly, in trying to explain this fiasco a football analogy would work. The owners tried a crazy strategy, and it didn't work. Time to change the scheme and the coaches. However, by the time the damage is done, it's going to be like spooking a dugout in a baseball team and not football - and that's the last thing you want, a baseball analogy. It'll take at least a full season for NBC to get back into any stride. And on top of it, you'll have some very pissed off people in the Leno and O'Brien camps who will be startled by the massive rattling [unless there's serious money in making this settle down] of their cages. Total massive failure.