George Carlin, American Radical

The Nation ^ | 23 June 2008 | John Nichols

[Publius]

The last vote that George Carlin said he cast in a presidential race was for George McGovern in 1972.

When Richard Nixon, who Carlin described as a member of a sub-species of humanity, overwhelmingly defeated McGovern, the comedian gave up on the political process.

[Publius]

A remarkable man with a remarkable insight into American politics and society. I was not in agreement with him all that much, but at least he made me think.

[ElPatriota]

I never liked the man. Actually, I could not stand him! His aim seemed to be to lower the culture in his vulgarity.

RIP

Sorry.

[romanesq]

He was really just an angry old man at the end. His last HBO special was unwatchable. It was about an old guy being angry instead of funny.

Hope he is doing better at the “commoneweal” as calls it. Others call it the dole.

[GSWarrior]

government is supposed to be here to redress the inequities of the marketplace,"

Not sure if I agree with this.

[RetiredArmy]

I am with you. I could never stand the guy. I love good comedy, but he passed that and went directly to vulgar beyond words. He was like many of the comedians now days, they think every other word has to be the F word. I cannot stand that. Sometimes, maybe the word makes the joke, but not 100% of the time. I simply did not like him or his material. So, George, good bye, so long, this was your last gig.

[ffusco]

Any idea how many of his collected potatoes he gave to those who had none?

[who_would_fardels_bear]

If there's a really solid safety net (welfare system) then the world gets overpopulated with slackers.

If there is little or no safetly net then the world gets overpopulated with materialist jerkwads.

The person who solves this problem deserves a Nobel Prize.

[Publius]

The US Government started “redressing the inequities of the marketplace” when it passed the first tariffs into law in the 1820’s. So it’s not like we just started yesterday.

[Dragonspirit]

Carlin was a filthy moron who used his life’s energy damaging and decaying society. There was nothing remarkable or insightful about him.

There are those who create, and those that destroy, and he was a destroyer.

My respects are reserved for God and those that strive to be virtuous.

[Publius]

If there is little or no safetly net then the world gets overpopulated with materialist jerkwads.

Interesting observation. In the popular children's literature of the era before the New Deal, the Horatio Alger books all had heroes who obsessed over every penny on their inevitable way to success. You may have something there.

[Charlespg]

"Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians," he explained in a routine that challenged all the premises of today's half-a-loaf reformers. "Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens.

This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public.

I have to say theres some bitter truth to that

[x]

Carlin did not want Americans to get involved with the system.

He wanted citizens to get angry enough to remake the system.

I don't know. He was certainly angry about things, but I don't think he signed on to any program or ideology.

When you have your own soap box, you don't have to be a joiner or a follower or a card-carrying anything.

You can just be a public curmudgeon or gadfly, rather than a supporter of this or that movement.

[normy]

I saw that. He looked dead already. His lines about education and teaching self esteem along with the child worship lines were good.

He is like Dennis Miller was but Carlin never really woke up to reality all the way.

[stylin19a]

This wasn’t a tribute to Carlin. This article used Carlin to backhand the Republicans.

[toddlintown]

Well, I’ll say this. He nailed the process of choosing political candidates in this country.

[metesky]

HAs he been dead long enough now to start kicking him or do we have to wait another couple of weeks?

[normy]

No he was an asshole and probably would love to be kicked.

[bert]

He is good for kicking now. Always has been.....

[PennsylvaniaMom]

9/11 woke up Dennis Miller (he still has young children and a wife)...Carlin was widowed long ago...his only daughter grown...and well, sadly he morphed into cranky old man w/a microphone status. Miller had enough on his personal plate to ‘see the big picture.’

[normy]

These actors and comedians and politicians who don't actually work but make huge sums of moneyt could vow to live on 50 or 75,000 a year and donate the rest. It's not as if they spend 60 hours a week in a coal mine. Bunch of hypocrites

[Waco]

poor thing, lived too long.

[normy]

guess that’s the difference.

[Publius]

Every article in The Nation is intended to take a shot at Republicans. You learn to expect it and filter that stuff out after a while.

[norraad]

Nailed the poli~pickin'~process, yes, but to be fair, there's an old Appalachion mountain joke "..why should I vote, the people who control things ain't on them ballots!"

[Sgt Joe Friday 714]

Carlin’s reliance on reading from index cards in his act always turned me off. If you can’t remember jokes you have been doing since the 1960s, your brain is shot beyond repair.

[vietvet67]

“The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ‘cause that’s what it does.”

Well he’s right about that.

Olbermann played an old clip of Carlin on his show saying that Countdown was the only show that told it like it is.

True colors were shown with that remark..

[Viking2002]

I admit, I saw him in concert in 1990, and he was hysterical. Having said that, he was definitely a 60's radical throwback, but he'd occasionally call a spade a spade and surprise a lot of people. Some ideas - on both sides of the coin - just beg to be called out. Was he vulgar? Yes. But, the first time I heard the 'Filthy Words' bit live, it was 20 years ago, in the cassette deck of my car. I don't know how I kept from wrapping it around a tree, I laughed so hard. He was a mad genius. But aren't so many of them? LOL

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I was speaking sardonically.

[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

George Carlin was one of the most liberal and disgusting people in comedy. He was never even funny. He also talked about his drug use which probably led to his heart problems. I will not miss or mourn this radical idiots death.

http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic

[whd23]

"Give Joey some of your potatoes...." And I'm more inclined to want to share and even out...."

I think he was more inclined to tell other people to share rather than do the sharing himself.

He had some funny bits and some insightful bits, but it was a lot of the same for the past few decades. Not much wheat for all the chaff, really.

[nobama08]

LOL - he was a genius.

[norraad]

..yes, despite all the poo poo comments, he was brave enough to speak up about what most of us won't, even though we know it's so, I guess we're afraid we get as despondent & angry as he was if we admit same.

[autumnraine]

I don’t know, he was the voice on Thomas the Train. My daughter was watching that this evening and I was reminded of him when I heard his voice.

I guess he wasn’t all vulgar. Of course I wouldn’t take her to one of his shows.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Oh yes he was to funny! Ever hear his ‘stuff’ routine? Or baseball vs. football? He!!, he even made the spelling of his name funny...

[P-Marlowe]

I never liked the man. Actually, I could not stand him! His aim seemed to be to lower the culture in his vulgarity.

Very well put. He was a vulgar man who made himself rich by ridiculing all that was good in America.

RIH.

[toddlintown]

“I was speaking sardonically.”

And I was just using a keyboard. Funny, that.

[metesky]

The guy was funny when Hector was a pup. I can remember seeing him do all six or eight different Boston accents plus running through all the other local dialects throughout New England. He had an ear for it and it was really funny, especially if you knew NE's regions before TV newscasters flattened America's dialects.

Other than that, he was a plain vanilla, boiler-plate lefty all his life, and his so-called "anger" was more the grating whine of a political loser.

[Morgan in Denver]

I could not agree with you more. I did not always agree with Carlin but I never dismissed his rants and opinions.

I just wish more Democrats and people on the left did the same thing, and questioned what it is they are asking for.

[ShasheMac]

Or maybe He’ll just be crucified.

[toddlintown]

Who got the last 8-ball out of his pocket before they took his sorry ass away?

[dragnet2]

"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying – lobbying to get what they want.

This for the most part is the truth.

The corporations and business owners, own D.C. and those in it. Their wealth compared to the wealthiest celebrities, make these celebs appear destitute and poor.

[csvset]

Pryor was much funnier than Carlin.

[vietvet67]

I don’t fault Carlin for his views but they did turn noticeably left as he aged without recognition of the consequences.

Before that he always entertained me by his ability to cut through the BS and offer the simplistic view which in most cases was correct and somehow shocking for many.

He made many realize that everything doesn’t have to be complex and for that I simply say Rest in Peace..

[NurdlyPeon]

I'm glad to finally find a thread that agrees with me; George Carlin was nothing. Less than nothing. Maybe he was funny 20 years ago in front of a bunch of drunk college students, but that was a long time ago. He was crude. He was boring. He was the opposite of funny. No wit. No insight. No nuthin’ (except crudity and sarcasm). The man sucked the oxygen out of a room. Goodbye, Carlin. I for one will not miss you. Not even a little bit.

[Zero Sum]

Any idea how many of his collected potatoes he gave to those who had none?

Good question. I'd imagine that he piled up quite a few potatoes for himself during his Hollywood career. There was nothing stopping him from giving some of his potatoes to poor little Joey, and it would have been comendable if he had chosen to do so.

Not to mention, this whole scenario makes the typical leftist assumption that economics is a zero-sum game. But that's another matter altogether.