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.

[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.