Short Bus

OK, does that mean that you will not be replying to any of my posts, so long as I do not reply to any of yours? If you are going to throw that out there, then i will stick to it, and I would expect you to do the same. Is this an official agreement that you and I will not interact?

julia

Keith said he counted at least 31 blasts by Letterman!

Transcript is up!

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The candidate does not speak for the campaign.

julia

...
OLBERMANN: In understanding the relevance of John McCain's non-appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" last night, there's one paramount fact about one of the nights he did make it, February 28th, 2007. That is when and where John McCain announced he was running for president. Our number one story on the COUNTDOWN, in absentia, what McCain said and did not say to Letterman may ultimately prove to have been more important than the time he told him he was announcing his candidacy. Letterman says McCain called him personally after 3:00 p.m. yesterday to explain his own bailout, said he was rushing to the airport to get back to Washington, suspending the campaign. But in the middle of the taping of the show, Letterman was advised, to his great surprise, that McCain had not gone to D.C. but instead to 57th street to tape a different interview with the same network without telling Letterman or anybody at his show.
The worst was yet to come. McCain didn't even go to Washington after the interview with Katie Couric. He was still in New York and campaigning at the Clinton Global Initiative this morning, hours after a McCain spokesperson revealed McCain's story to Letterman was simply a lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we felt this wasn't a night for comedy.
David Letterman is, at all hours, very funny and humorous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Two more points here. First, Letterman is not some comic hack. When the subject was raised during the taping yesterday that maybe McCain's handlers didn't want McCain to seem funny, Letterman's producers pointed out that he has repeatedly conducted in-depth serious interviews with news makers of the days, certainly would have done so last night.
Second, if comedy during a time of national crisis was the issue, then why did Senator McCain appear on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" on Monday, August 29, 2005, the evening of the same day he celebrated his birthday with President Bush with a nice big cake, the same day that the levees were breached in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck.
So even ignoring the conspiracy theory about McCain switching Couric to off-set Governor Palin's disastrous interview with Couric, even ignoring that because of the late cancellation by McCain, Letterman needed a fill-in guest literally in the neighborhood and that turned out to be me, the last person they wanted out there. What they got by not being honest with Letterman was perhaps the sharpest, certainly the most persistent political satire and criticism of the campaign. By my count, 31 separate blasts, some of them here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Maybe you heard the big news, John McCain, Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for president, was supposed to be on the program tonight. Were you aware of that? Yes. But he had to cancel the show because he is suspending his campaign because the economy is exploding.
You know John McCain, he's the running mate of Sarah Palin. You're aware of that.
John McCain calls up and says, I'm not going to be there, kids, because everything is going to hell, and here's the funny part, nobody told his vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And honest to god, right now she's still circling the theater in the white mini-van.
When you call up and you call up at the last minute and you cancel a show, ladies and gentlemen, that's starting to smell. I mean, this-this is not the John McCain I know, by god. But you heard it here first. This doesn't smell right. You know, this just doesn't smell right, because this is not the way a tested hero behaves. Somebody's putting something in his Metamucil.
Let's say there's a time of crisis, and the poor guy-he is a little older. He's about my age. And then Sarah Palin takes over as president. Well, she ought to be ready because she's handled crises like this in the past. Oh, wait a minute, she really hasn't handled a crises like this.
Suspending the campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LETTERMAN: Are we suspending it because there's an economic crisis or because the poll numbers are sliding.
I don't mean to cut into your time-
OLBERMANN: No, please.
LETTERMAN: Your generous visit. When John McCain-and he was nice enough to call me and said he was racing back to Washington. Our people here were told, so serious, he's getting on a plane immediately and racing back to Washington. And now we've just been told-here take a look. Do we have it on the thing? This is going live. There he is right there. Doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?
This just gets uglier and uglier. I'm feeling bad for the man to have participated in this.
Let's see what he has to say. This will be interesting. I wonder if he'll mention me. Hey, John, I got a question. You need a ride to the airport?
OLBERMANN: I think he dissed you.
LETTERMAN: Yes, absolutely.
OLBERMANN: Unless, unless her first question is, senator, why did you cancel on Dave? Now, then-
LETTERMAN: That will be the first question.
OLBERMANN: Or the other possibility is that she has all the money that's required to fix the economy.
LETTERMAN: I don't want to keep beating this thing, but it's just-
OLBERMANN: Yes, you do.
LETTERMAN: It really is starting to smell now, because-he says to me on the phone-I took a phone call from John McCain. A lot of senators don't call me.
OLBERMANN: Yes, I know. It's a thrill.
LETTERMAN: I felt like as part of the national good, I understand. I said, good luck. Thank you for being attendant to the cause. He said, maybe next time I'll come in. I'll bring Sarah Palin. I said, fine, whatever you need to do. That's just fine. He said, yes, we're going to go save the country. It's like we caught him getting a manicure or something.
We're told now that the senator has concluded his interview with Katie Couric and he's now on Rachel Ray's show making veal piccata.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It was like sitting next to Wellington as he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Do not dismiss the importance of David Letterman. His audience is large. It is intelligent. And it is fiercely loyal to him. Lie to Dave and you're lying to them. The website the "Washington Independent" even offered a comparison between Letterman's smell test and Walter Cronkite's famous appraisal of Vietnam in 1968 that led President Johnson to quit his bid for reelection, "perhaps," they wrote, "McCain won't say if I've lost Letterman, I've lost middle America. But one wouldn't be surprised if the Republican candidate began to smell a strong odor seeping into the vents of the Straight Talk Express."
And one post script, the ever entertaining Craig Ferguson of "The Late, Late Show," his show opener immediately following Letterman's hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG FERGUSON, "THE LATE, LATE SHOW": Good evening. I'm afraid I have some bad news. We had a guest who was scheduled to appear on our show tonight, but he had to cancel. Keith Olbermann apparently had something else to do tonight. He was meant to be here and then suddenly at the last minute, got a better offer! Curse you, Olbermann and your availability to David Letterman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: I'm only one man. I can only help CBS one hour at a time. With all that, though, perhaps the only thing John McCain actually managed to suspend last night was his own credibility.
...
'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for **September 25, 2008** - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

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The candidate does not speak for the campaign.

JeffinCO

sorry jules...didnt see this thread when I started mine - doh.

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красные крыла всасывают

"Oh, what a lovely little.."

julia

Oh, no problem!
Great minds think alike?!

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The candidate does not speak for the campaign.

Denie

Do you complain if other show hosts use their shows to promote their political leanings? As you said, it is HIS show.

And, its not just political leanings...it has to do with the fact McCain lied about the reason for not appearing, then did a spot with Couric.

No, Letterman has every right to do as much as he likes. If one doesn't like this, they're welcome to exercise their right to change the channel. Quite simple, really.

Denie

Denial? No, not even close. Pretending something doesn't exist when it does is denial.

I'm not in denial because I don't listen to Rush...
I'm not in denial because I don't watch Hannity...

leftparadise

If McCain didn't think Letterman was important in the race for president why did he announce his candidacy on the show ??? feeble attempt to look cool and younger than his 3 score and many more years ???? always comes back to bite ya.

Short Bus

For the record, I don't watch Letterman and I probably won't, moving forward.

Short Bus