Wednesday, April 11, 2007
American politics: The top ten radio and television events
Tom Maguire opens a must-participate discussion of the top ten radio and television moments in the history of American politics. It is, in my opinion, thin on Nixon. One would think that the defensive speech he gave when he released the transcripts of the Oval Office tapes would be high on any list. I was only 12, but I remember his face and the big stack of embossed binders piled up on the credenza behind him. And what about his resignation, which I saw from a barber's chair in Tupper Lake, New York? And for that matter, Gerald Ford's pardon of him?
Maguire's other runner-ups are well-chosen, and in this I absolutely agree:
Jimmy Carter's so-called "national malaise" speech is an all-time comedy classic.
In the category of semiotics and other non-verbal communication, fealty to history requires us to mention the cult favorites from that troubled time: cardigan sweaters, beige limousines, and the abolition of "Hail to the Chief."
7 Comments:
By 
Cassandra, at
Wed Apr 11, 08:12:00 PM:
Is that a new blogging term? "Must participate"????
By 
, at
Wed Apr 11, 08:13:00 PM:
I like, and warmly recall President Reagan paraphrasing "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr:
"'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of God"
But this stands out more vividly:
"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
By , at
Wed Apr 11, 08:33:00 PM:
Thanks for the plug.
Mega-dittoes to "tear down this wall". I should have put it on the list out of sentiment, but there was a stretch in my life (just out of college) when I didn't have a television, so I missed that moment.
Well. More seriously, I wondered whether that speech only loomed large in retrospect, and whether it got a lot of notice at the time. But I don't recall seeing it, and I love Reagan. Oh, well - I will happily take my lumps for that omission.
On Nixon - from Checkers to the Kennedy debates right through to his resignation, he has been all over televison history.
Tom Maguire
By , at
Wed Apr 11, 09:35:00 PM:
How about Bobby Kennedy announcing at a televised campaign rally that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot in Memphis. (and then he's shot later that year). Always a nice piece of Americana. Or Ike's condemnation of the "military/industrial complex" speech. I wonder what he'd make of Dick Cheney? Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite broadcasting from Chicago 1968 Democratic Convention while the cops go buck wild on the hippies outside? Or how about Mr. Welch confronting a hero of many people on this blog, Sen. Joe McCarthy, on national television; Edward R.Murrow, a hero of mine, doing the same. I wonder what Murrow would make of Imus and fellow racist scumbags Glen Beck, Boortz and favorite dope fiend, Rush Limbaugh? Accordinly, I'd say this Imus thing ought to be on the list when it was announced that MSNBC would no longer simulcast his show. Fox News ays it's because of "civil rights groups" and those who hounded those poor, poor boys down at Duke.I heard it was: GM, Amex (run by a black man), Proctor & Gamble, etc. Politically it means there's a point reached where white folks with sense are turning against these blowhards and that bodes ill for the Rabid Right in coming elections.
Ed Muskie crying after Nixon's plumbers spread that crap about his wife; likely took out Nixon's only credible opponent in '72. Reagen shellacking Bush, Sr, in a debate before the NH primary ("I paid for this microphone!"). LBJ's 1964 press conference, using the murder of 3 pinko commie carpetbagging liberal fag so-called "freedom riders" (sorry, wanted to use language folks usually commenting on this blog would understand) to get the Civil Rights Act passed. The list goes on...
By , at
Thu Apr 12, 12:39:00 AM:
THE HINDINBURGH CRASH,PEARL HARBOR,THE JFK ASSASINATION,RONALD REAGAN. MY GORBECHEV TEAR DOWN THIS WALL
By Cardinalpark, at
Thu Apr 12, 02:27:00 PM:
For more tragicomedy, let's not forget Reagan being shot on TV, combined with Alexander Haig's "I'm in charge."
By , at
Fri Apr 13, 12:52:00 AM:
THE GIANTS WIN THE PENENT.YESTERDAY SUNDAY DECEMBER 7TH 1941 A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
