Blagojevich — Fact Or Fiction

I have to say, he's a pretty slick talker. Watch the clip to the end where Joy Behar tried to pull a fast one on the fast talker. He didn't bite, though. She also grabs ahold of his hair to see if it's a wig.



In some ways, I do think he's getting a bum rap. Take the Oprah thing. I bet anyone in a room in Chicago would have thrown her name out. Chripes, everyone kept talking about her being Obama's VP. So what's the big deal that her name got mentioned. It wasn't offered to her, yet that's how the media is teasing all of their stories.

Rod may be a crook. A crafty crook, even. But he makes some good points.

Rosie Vs. Barbara, Round 2

I found this over at Rosie's website. It's just so juicy I couldn't sit on it to post it as my Saturday levity post.

The clip from The View that Rosie is watching (Round 1) is from today, November 20. Notice that Rosie includes a photo of her and Barbara all smiles from a week before.

Sherri Shepherd Choked Up; I Did Too

From yesterday on The View:



A raw moment that shows what the Obama victory means to African-Americans. I can empathize but I can never feel their pain. The iron shackles of slavery were cast aside long ago, but their power has lingered. I hope the U.S. has taken a giant leap forward.

SNL Does The View

Rosie O'Donnell On Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Yesterday, in the Ask Ro section of Rosie O'Donnell's blog, she responded to a question about Elisabeth Hasselbeck — her former co-host on The View — thusly:

"she thinks she is marilyn
from the munsters"

I thought that was just perfect! She's the "pretty, normal" one surrounded by people who are clueless about their, how shall we say, "imperfections."

Today, someone responded that the real Marilyn is a friend of the family. Not sure if that is true or not, or which Marilyn they were talking about (must be Beverly Owen since Pat Priest is married and living in Idaho), but interesting nonetheless.

Programming Note

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to be on The View Monday morning and View cohost Joy Behar will be on with Larry King Live Monday evening. An LKL teaser says Behar will be dishing on the Muttley interview 10 days ago.

True Courage On The View

First, if you haven't heard about the latest dust up on ABC's gabfest The View, watch this clip:

Here's the story from People Magazine:

The View co-host Sherri Shepherd is not "flippant" about abortion, she said Wednesday while addressing some controversial comments she gave to a magazine on the subject recently.

Shepherd, 41, told the Christian magazine Precious Times that she had undergone "more abortions than I can count" during her twenties. But the article, Shepherd said, did not tell the whole story.

"The full quote was I suffer from a lot of shame and guilt, and I didn't know how to forgive myself," said Shepherd, clarifying her comments in the current cover story.

In the publication, geared toward churchgoing black women, she credited her conversion to Christianity with saving her from a lifestyle of "sleeping with a lot of guys."

"This is something I went through," she explained during the opening segment of the talk show. "I like to inspire women who go through a lot of shame and guilt [because] I too went through it."

Shepherd's quotes in the magazine sparked a hubbub on the Internet this week, but she says, "I just wanted people to know I wasn't being flippant about abortions."

After appearing as a guest host, the former Less Than Perfect actress was hired as a regular by The View's co-creator Barbara Walters last September.

My jaw dropped as I was watching this.

Some data on abortions: There are OVER 1,000,000 (yes, MILLION) abortions performed in the U.S. every year (46 million worldwide). In the U.S., an estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion. 48% of abortions are performed on women over 25 years old.

Why do I say "True Courage" in my headline? Now that you're aware of some statistics, how many women do you know, in public or private, that have admitted to having one (or more) abortions? I happen to know several in my personal life but this is the first public person I know that has put her entire life on the line. The fact that Sherri fessed up, probably fearing her job was/is on the line, took some major cojones.

To be clear, I'm celebrating her level of honesty and self revelation, not her abortion choices.

I'm glad that I'm a gay man and don't have to confront this issue for myself. That being said, I think that if it were me, if I had to have one abortion I wouldn't have another. If I can make it to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion, I can get there to get birth control pills. I realize that thinking is all based on my individual upbringing and environment but I think it's a reasonable standard to expect of others.

When it comes right down to it, I'm Pro Choice. I don't think that life begins at conception but I don't think it begins at birth either. I'm against abortion as birth control. Does Planned Parenthood offer birth control to patients that receive an abortion to prevent further procedures? I don't know.

What do I think of parental notification laws? Ask me when I have a teenage child; so I'll never really know.

That's all I got on this sensitive subject.

[I don't know if this post is going to generate a lot of comments or if everyone will hold back. If you do leave a comment, please be respectful to me, my readers, and other commenters. Thanks in advance.]

Saturday Sh!ts & Giggles: Cantone Does Archuleta On The View

The View: Holy Guacamole!

If you don't watch The View, you're missing some serious action. Resentments sowed on Monday's show came to the fore today. Things were so heated between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck that the director went split screen and held from going to a commercial.

Today's fracas began when Joy started in with a laundry list of reasons why President Bush needs to be impeached. She had watched Al Gore on Larry King Live last night and was seething. He apparently said what President Carter said earlier in the week — that Bush is the worst president in U.S. history. Of course, Elisabeth jumped to his defense, and then Mount Rosie erupted, trying to get Elisabeth to acknowledge that she didn't think U.S. troops were terrorists (this was the spill over from Monday's show). Elisabeth still didn't answer.

Update 1: Clip added 5/23 @ 11:11 EDT. Thanks to Big Daddy for the tip on the clip.

• I give Joy credit for attempting to be the one to take on the President and Elisabeth. Rosie is always skewered for this and I was glad that Joy stepped it up. Unfortunately things went awry.

• Rosie only has three weeks left on the show.

• Guest star Alicia Silverstone came out to be interviewed after the argument. It is standard for guests to hug and/or kiss all the co-hosts. She came out and breezed right by Elisabeth, who you could tell was clearly miffed by the snub, and hugged Rosie and Joy.

Update 2: Clip added 5/23 @ 11:47 EDT.
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Say It Ain't So, Ro

In a surprise announcement, Rosie O'Donnell said she won't be returning to The View next season as co-host. The decision was supposed to come in May after a family meeting but negotiations with ABC Daytime broke down. It seems they wanted her to commit for a longer period of time than she was willing. She'll be on the show until June when her current contract expires and wants to return as a guest host and to participate in one-hour specials on topics important to her such as depression and autism.

To keep up with her, visit Rosie's Blog where she talks about her family, politics, and Broadway. I've added the link to my blog roll sidebar.

Why, you might ask, is Rosie important? First of all, she provides the world with an up-close view of an out homosexual leading a somewhat normal life. By discussing her partner, children, and their lives, she has humanized the gay experience.

Next, like her or not, she raises important topics for discussion. Today's news cycle is covered with talk of a military email that asks why flags are lowered to half-staff for the victims at Virginia Tech but not for fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reason is because the military code of conduct says they are not to be flown as such. But Rosie started this conversation immediately afer the VT shootings. Her points are relevant!

Now that Rosie won't be in the limelight, what will Entertainment Tonight, The Factor with Bill O'Reilly, and Donald Trump do for content to boost their ratings?
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Dump Truck On Scarborough Country

Are you going to be Scarborough unFair?

Most of you know I sleep with the television on. A habit from when I was a kid where I need the noise to fall asleep. Of course, once I'm asleep, the stimulation does nothing for my rest since my subconscious essentially watches TV all night. Last night I was awakened by Joe Scarborough and an interview with Donald Trump about Rosie O'Donnell. [Notice my last post on AI was made in the middle of the night after this got me riled up.]

Joe Scarborough has been bashing Rosie O'Donnell all this week for her promotion of the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was masterminded by the Bush administration. See her blog. He's also been taking Barbara Walters to task for allowing Rosie to have The View as a forum. Saying Barbara is ruining her illustrious career, I think it is a back door way for him to get Rosie to shut up.

Of course, he knows Rosie is a ratings winner — they tease the story in all the previews and save the segment until last — so isn't he kinda a ratings whore? He may not like her but he'll ride her coattails to get higher ratings. Yes, Joe, some of us are smart enough to get it.

In this world, we know that birds of a feather flock together. So loser Donald Trump found a likeminded person with a media outlet. In an interview, the Dump Truck rehashed his tired insults of Rosie and Barbara and then threw Joy Behar into the mix. He must not have liked it when the whole panel on The View imitated his comb over. Wonder why he didn't criticize Elisabeth Hasselbeck who also participated. Hmmmmmm, because she espouses Republican viewpoints and she's a Bushie? Is this all political? It's a sorry state of affairs for President Bush when the only people left on his side are EH and the Dump Truck. Ugh.
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Rosie Is Burying The Dump Truck

A couple of weeks ago, NBC fired Donald Trump (nicknamed the Dump Truck by Rosie's son Blake) from his time slot. Desperate to reverse the ongoing ratings decline of The Apprentice, NBC slid the Los Angeles version back an hour to Sunday at 10. NBC's announcement came less than a week after the show set a new all-time ratings low with its fifth episode broadcast.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, The View is up 600,000 viewers since Rosie O'Donnell joined the gabfest. While people may not agree with her opinions (something for a future post), they are tuning in to see what all the fuss is about. I'm an avid fan of The View and things certainly are interesting. You can find out more about Rosie's world view by visiting her blog.

News reports have it that The Donald started a become-a-millionaire presentation in Toronto with a 10 minute tirade against Rosie. What a loser. If I were them, I'd demand a refund.
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