Rosanne, Trump etc.

The Difference between Fun and Nasty

There is a lot being made about Rosanne's comments, her show and naturally, the current President. I have never had any respect for this person (the actress but OK the President as well) - simply crass with no class. She is not funny to me. Perhaps she is to many others. Fine. They probably voted Trump.

A lot is also said about how her show was such a novel one - soap box podium for the Right. Really? No-one seems to be mentioning the immensely popular and very controversial show "All in the Family" with Archie Bunker and the subsequent "Archie Bunker's Place." The shows made some of the stuff on Rosanne seem mild by comparison. Archie specialized in all kinds of racial, gay and homophobic, male chauvinist remarks just for starters that simply made everyone laugh.

It was actually based upon a British sitcom called "'Till Death Us Do Part" both created by Johnny Speight. In this case the Archie character was Alf Garnett. The difference in all cases was the humour. They made even the victims smile and when the actors were interviewed in person, it was obvious they were only role playing on the shows.

Rosanne is not. What you see is what you get and I for one, don't like it. Her mockery of the anthem and the spitting said it all.

Right back at you lady. You belong in a Walmart video.


The Brewster

Netanyahu Pitch Déjà Vu

Did We Not See This Movie Before?

In watching Prime Minister Netanyahu unveil his shelves of files and diagrams of warheads it all looked familiar. 

The last time however, it was the USA doing the talking and wielding the pointer. The subject was the same - nuclear weapons. Remember the images of trucks and buildings supposedly carrying and hiding weapons of mass destruction? The entire world watched. It was supposed to be justification for invading Iraq.

Now you have a Middle Eastern country trying the same technique to convince the United States to invade - the Middle East!

How ironic is that?

The Brewster

Press Corps Dinner Bombs

Trump Gets It Right This Time 

I was looking forward to the annual Press Corps dinner / roast last night. The one featuring Obama with Trump in the audience was great. That is to say Obama was great - Trump not so much.  What a letdown this year. Trump stayed away again. In hindsight I don't blame him. It sucked big time and that is not fake news.

Things started OK but the current president of the group, nice as she seems, was not a great speaker. She appeared to lose her place a lot. The remarks and awards were sincere enough but the agenda, if there was one, was completely disorganized throughout. There should have been a professional MC to keep things flowing and on track.

Unfortunately I was watching CNN at the time and they oversold the guest speaker, Michelle Wolf. The CNN anchors also suffered from poor dinner scheduling. I lost count of how many times they said that Michelle would be coming on in "Just a few minutes!" I was beginning to think she had cancelled.

As it turned out perhaps she should have. This guest was horrible. Any stand-up speaker who relies heavily on the "F" bomb and other vulgarities in a vain attempt at humour is a failure from the outset - in my opinion. That was matched only by her far too personal attacks on various attendees.

It is very difficult in any of these "roast" situations to strike a balance between poking fun and hitting well below the belt. It takes class to accomplish this. Wolf had none.

Shame on the Press Corps. Their members deserved a lot better. The worst thing - you played right into DT's hands.

The Brewster