CLINTON BOMBS ON CBS '60 Minutes' may veto Clinton-Dole face-offs (no buzz, no nothing)

USA TODAY ^ | 5/6/03 | PETER JOHNSON

[Liz]

After seven of 10 planned outings, the weekly square-offs on CBS' 60 Minutes between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole have generated virtually no buzz since they premiered in March and have done nothing to boost the newsmagazine's sagging ratings.

Which is why, as executives prepare to announce CBS' fall schedule next week, insiders are betting that Clinton-Dole won't be back in September when 60 Minutes returns for its 36th season.

[Liz]

Wouldn't you love to see Clinton's flop-sweat?

[battlegearboat]

Clinton is the bomb!

[fightinJAG]

viewer interest in the war with Iraq was so overwhelming that the segment got lost

But 20+ million people managed to break away from war coverage to watch American Idol, for example.

The segment didn't get "lost." Clinton bombed. No one wants to watch him. No one wants to hear his voice. Everyone wishes he would go away and shut up.

And these people think they can field a whole network of liberal blather and it will be a commercial success?

[Liz]

While 60 Minutes got a boost on March 9, the premiere of the (Dole-Clinton) segment, ratings have been flat since.

60 Minutes Clinton worshippers don't want to admit their (barf) "hero" bombed. 60 Minutes is one of TV's most highly-rated programs. It has been on CBS for some 35 years. To have the ratings tank means people were deliberately avoiding the show to turnout the Clinton segment.

[Liz]

My prediction when the segment premiered to high numbers:
" This will go the way of the late but not lamented Worldwide Xtreme Football League. The first Xtreme game hit a ratings high, then collapsed under its own weight, became a joke, and was consigned to the scrap heap of history. "

Bye, bye Clinton. Guess this means he won't be getting that talk show he's been angling for either.

[Liz]

He sure is. He's the MOAB.

[Miss Marple]

Ah, schedenfreude!

I have always maintained that Clinton is NOT a good speaker, despite the media's attempt to portray him that way. If one recalls his many, many speeches, they were long on words but short on content. No stirring phrases, no overarching themes, simply policy-wonk laundry lists and pedestrian cliches, sprinkled with outright lies.

His vocal tone in speech-giving was curiously reminiscent of some southern preachers...not the fired-up Jimmy Swaggart type, but the third-string preachers of small country churches of my childhood (the type Clinton was probably taken to)...repetitive sing-song recitation with no emphasis on any particular portion.

I often think that watching his speeches was more like hypnosis. I seriously couldn't remember much of what he had said after a State of the Union speech. The speech would be followed by the TV big shots telling us what a wonderful speech it was, and what a great speaker he is. I never got it.

Before he became a viable candidate, I distinctly remember his being booed at the Democrat convention in 1988 for being longwinded and boring. His appearance was so bad he had to appear on Johnny Carson's show the next night to try to redeem his reputation. At that point the media wasn't covering for him.

His speaking style never changed. The only difference was media backing. He is boring, and without a follow-up crew praising him, people can see him on 60 Minutes for what he really is.

/rant....Ha!

[Ed_in_NJ]

sprinkled with outright lies

You are too kind - really!

[Tom Bombadil]

Viewer interest in Bill Clinton is minimal. My interest in Bill Clinton is sub-minimal.

[Miss Marple]

Well, I haven't had enough coffee yet to really get going.

Honestly, Ed, the constant insistence that the guy is a speechifying genius has nearly driven me mad over the last few years! I am not be an expert, but I would bet cash money that very few people could make it through one of those SOU speeches with complete alertness! Clinton is not only not a good speaker, he is a POOR speaker!

I have also heard him praised as a great wit, a genius, a master diplomat, etc., all of which are obvious lies.

But NOTHING makes me crankier than hearing him praised as a great speaker, which he is patently NOT!

[dennisw]

Who in his right mind cares what these two has beens have to say? Who in his right mind will read Hillary's self serving biography?

[metesky]

His vocal tone in speech-giving was curiously reminiscent of some southern preachers...not the fired-up Jimmy Swaggart type, but the third-string preachers of small country churches of my childhood (the type Clinton was probably taken to)...repetitive sing-song recitation with no emphasis on any particular portion.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.

cant²

PRONUNCIATION:	knt
NOUN:	1. Monotonous talk filled with platitudes. 2. Hypocritically pious language. 3. The special vocabulary peculiar to the members of an underworld group; argot. 4. Cant See Shelta. 5. Whining speech, such as that used by beggars. 6. The special terminology understood among the members of a profession, discipline, or class but obscure to the general population; jargon. See synonyms at dialect.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: cant·ed, cant·ing, cants 1. To speak tediously or sententiously; moralize. 2. To speak in argot or jargon. 3. To speak in a whining, pleading tone.
ETYMOLOGY:	Anglo-Norman cant, song, singing, from canter, to sing, from Latin cantre. See kan- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	canting·ly —ADVERB canting·ness —NOUN

[Miss Marple]

Excellent! Spot-on definition!

[Liz]

I have also heard (Clinton) praised as a great wit, a genius, a master diplomat, etc., all of which are obvious lies.

He seems to have a sinister, almost diabolical, ability to make people believe he is
all of these things even with his numerous liabilities (not the least of which is his wife).

[Ed_in_NJ]

I got tired of his "all lies, all the time" several years ago - change the channel every time he shows up.

Also do this with several other 'rat liars (Lanny The Whiner Davis, Al The Fraud Sharpton, etc.).

It's good to see that so many others have FINALLY had enough of i42.

[mlmr]

Fits in a lot of different ways!!

[gulfcoast6]

The 8 years the Clintons were in the WH it was no more than one big movie scene.

[TheCrusader]

Between Clinton's libido and Dole's Viagra, the show should have made a better stand. ;o)

[Liz]

Hitlery's "book of mythology," Living History, should have been titled Dustbin of History b/c that's where it's being consigned.

[Jumpmaster]

"Wouldn't you love to see Clinton's flop-sweat?"

I would love to see the Clintons on some playing cards.