Posted on 11/29/2003 12:39:14 PM PST by Timesink
/john
LOL!!!
Speaking of Fox, today I had the great good pleasure of meeting David Asman. I went grocery shopping to Fairway (a huge -- by NY standards -- grocery store on the Upper West Side). I noticed a man who looked remarkably like David Asman, and went over and said, "You look so much like David Asman." He immediately admitted to same, and we had a conversation whereby I applauded his Thanksgiving Day coverage and inquired about his son who had served in Iraq. His son is back state side and considering re-enlisting.
I brought up Free Republic, and he was familiar with it.
I ended the conversation by teasing him that I was looking forward to his "Christmas Day" reporting. He was delightfully gracious and probably somewhat surprised that he could run into someone in the Upper West Side of Manhattan who knew all about the stupid remark Charlie Rangel made to him (for those who are unfamiliar: only the poor and downtroden -- with no other choices in today's society -- serve in the military).
(none about Laurie Dhue, though...I'm married.)
That's his family fortune. And it directly ties to the Kennedy 'expirations'.
Rather late, if you ask me.
Is a broadcast position in Cuba finally supposed to be opening up around that time?
While he's working in Cuba he can cover Fidel Castro's noble war against poverty. Fidel is obviously having no problem winning his own personal battle against starvation...
I brought up Free Republic, and he was familiar with it.I sometimes wonder about who might be reading these pages. Fox News personalities... people in the White House... who knows?
Quotes from CBS Anchorman Dan Rather on Election Night 2002:
"Could be game set and match Republicans."
"They're about first and goal from 4 yards out."
"Tight as the pages in a book."
"President Bush is hoping to ace his first midterm."
"Crackling like a hickory fire."
"Two hands worth of white knuckle still hanging ten."
"Reminds you of that old Will Rogers line, it takes a lot of money just to get beaten."
"It's beginning to get exciting as the Democrats' fingernails are starting to sweat "This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O."
"Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder."
"It's cardiac-arrest time in this presidential campaign."
"He swept through the South like a tornado through a trailer park."
"Don't bet the trailer money yet."
"It's too early to say he has the whip hand."
"Now Florida, that race, the heat from it is hot enough to peel house paint."
"It's a ding dong battle back and forth."
"If he doesn't carry Florida Slim will have left town."
"If a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a hand gun."
"They both have champagne on ice, but after the night is over, they might need a pick axe to open them."
"This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."
"It's about as complicated as a wiring diagram to some dynamo."
"Only votes talk — everything else walks."
"This will show you how tight it is — it's spandex tight."
"We're going to go to some of those longnecks from a long time ago."
"He's going to find that people will hang on him like a coat rack."
"This election swings like one of those pendulum things."
"This race is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford."
"What we know is that there will be no decision until some of those races are decided."
"Al Gore has his back to the wall, shirt tails on fire with this race in Florida."
"You talk about a ding-dong, knock-down, get-up race."
"When it comes to a race like this, I'm a long distance runner and an all-day hunter."
"It's the American way: if you don't vote, you don't get to whine."
"Smelling salts for all Democrats please."
"Maybe you can bring some perspective on this, we're plum out."
"When the going gets weird, anchor men punt."
"Tipper is probably telling her husband to hook a U, go back to the house to get a recount."
"It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, Republican or a mug wamp, elected officials play it straight."
"Florida is the whole deal, the real deal, a big deal."
"The presidential race still hotter than a Laredo parking lot."
"These returns are running like a squirrel in a cage."
"It was as hot and squalid as a New York elevator in August."
"Bush has run through Dixie like a big wheel through a cotton field."
"This will have the people in Austin standing up like they got stuck with hat pins."
"...in Austin, between the 10 gallon hats and the Willie Nelson head bands."
"The big burrito out there in California"
"They'll be doing back flips in Nashville."
"It would be Shakespearean for Al Gore to lose because of his home state."
"I think you would likelier see a hippopotamus run through this room than see George Bush appoint Ralph Nader to the Cabinet."
"None of this television mumbo jumbo, let's get in there and count the votes."
"Frankly we don't know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon."
"We've lived by the crystal ball, we're eating so much broken glass. We're in critical condition."
Rather's father may have relished the colorful. But Dan has taken this form to its illogical extremes.
First, there are the animals. In 1988, as Senator Pat Moynihan cruised re-election, Rather said of his opponent, "a lot of people thought that McMillan had as much business in this race as a moose in a phone booth." In a 1998 appearance with David Letterman, Rather said Ken Starr could have found Monica Lewinsky without the Paula Jones case, but "that's like if a frog had side pockets he'd probably wear a handgun. It didn't happen that way." When Jesse Ventura was projected the new governor of Minnesota that fall, people were as surprised as "if Fidel Castro came looping through on a hippopotamus.''
After the 2000 vice presidential debate, Rather noted: "Senator Lieberman used the phrase 'big time.' Cheney shot him back a look as if to say, looked at him like he was a hitchhiker with pets." As Bush began to eke out a lead over Gore, thanks to the Nader vote, Bob Schieffer goofily suggested Nader get a cabinet post, to which Rather reprised the rampaging-hippo metaphor: "I think you are more likely to see a hippopotamus coming running through this room than you are to see Governor Bush appoint Nader to the Cabinet."
Then there's the descriptions for political negativity. His most common phrase is "this race was so nasty it would gag a buzzard." In the 1992 New York Senate race, Rather claimed, "These two men called each other names you normally only hear aboard merchant ships or on late-night cable TV." At the 1996 conventions, Rather claimed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was "expected to hit President Clinton rhetorically with everything short of a tire tube." Weeks later, Al Gore was "widely expected to hit Republicans with everything short of a window weight."
No one can overlook the imagery reserved for really close races. The 1996 New Hampshire Senate race was as "hot and tight as a too small bathing suit on a too long car ride back from the beach." In the 2000 New Hampshire primary, Dan found "Democrat Bill Bradley came close enough to Al Gore to crack his tail lights." The Michigan Republican primary "apparently is tighter than Willie Nelson's headband." On Election Night 2000, Rather suggested, "Bush has had a lead since the very start, but his lead is now shakier than cafeteria Jell-O." Later, he added, "It's Spandex-tight."
That's very close to his descriptions of last-minute balloting tension. In 1992, Rather promised, "It will be so exciting as to make the wax pop out of your ears," and "There's material here that will make their fingernails sweat." In 1996, he asked if Republicans found early Dole returns "scary enough to make you swallow your gum?" He also used another animal metaphor: "Democrats and Republicans are nervous as pigs in a packing plant over these returns." In 2000, he remarked, "This much tension you can't cut with a saw. It requires a blow torch."
Five years ago, Rather told the Los Angeles Times that he wouldn't still be front and center after 2000. To be precise: "you can sooner expect a tall talking broccoli stick to offer to mow your lawn for free." But whenever Dan vacates the anchor chair, you can bet that heir apparent John Roberts isn't going to attempt to play the bumpkin. That's about as likely as Rather riding through the studio on his favorite hippopotamus.
I'm SO glad he'll be with us through the 2004 election. We'll get to, again, hear him explain why his buds got stomped. LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.