A sample conversation...

Here's a conversation from about a month ago between a West Coast computer nerd (WC), an East Coast writer (EC), and a Hollywood worker bee (DB). Enjoy!


WC: Did you guys see that Palin had 37.2 million folks viewing her speech versus Obama's 38.3 million last week?I wonder if that's what you call the media bias biting back. You a-holes bring up the issues; we'll listen to what she has to say.

EC: But on the other hand...
PALIN RAISES MONEY -- FOR OBAMA! **Exclusive** Obama scores $8 million since Palin's speech from over 130,000 donors - on pace to hit $10 million by the time John McCain hits stage, campaign says...
I wonder how much of that money came from media and Hollywood.

And McCain is going to take it on the chin tonight. While he speaks Obama will be on O'Reilly and the Skins-Giants will kick off the NFL season, so his audience will be pretty diluted.

And one more thing - did you see on Drudge where Biden said he and Obama would look into prosecuting Bush for crimes? What a shocker - talk about cynical. The Dems already have a fail-safe in case they flounder when/if elected - distract the country by continuing the blame Bush for everything strategy even after he leaves office.

WC: My answer: ALL OF IT.

Yes, Obama's first 4 years will be all about blaming Bush and that will help. And if the economy is still hurting, he'll use this crutch all F-ing day long.

DB: So what if the money comes from Hollywood? If he is who they want to donate to, who cares? Also, Hollywood follows the same rules regulating donations. How much will NASCAR and country music stars donate to the GOP? If Biden said that about Bush, my prediction is Obama rebuts that claim. You have to wonder why the GOP chose this week for the convention given the NFL starts tonight. I agree that his ratings will be diluted, but hey, a great deal of Americans get their news from alternative sources anyway and TiVo will factor in as well. I'm still trying to find a ratings claim of 37 million viewers for Palin. Where did you get that, WC?

DB: You're both delusional about Hollywood. Are there liberals in Hollywood? Yes. Do they outnumber conservatives? Yes. But Hollywood is all about the green and the majority of executives in this town, meaning the ones who control the money, are not bleeding heart liberals. Again, I reference NASCAR and country music, two of the MEDIA'S biggest draws, if not the biggest in their respective businesses.

WC: The 37mil number is on drudgereport.com and marketwatch.com. Linked from drudge: http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/09/palin-ratings-s.html Re Hollywood. It's a comment about the demographic and I agree with it. No doubt Billy Bob and Jo Ellen from BFE Alabama donated to McCain, but I doubt that on a per-capita basis the amounts were that high. The left wing hierarchy, with a big branch down the street from you, is pissed off about Palin and they let their emotions take over the political donations. Also on Drudge: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=6285285d-08d0-4e3f-88a5-655dec731ce7
All the current headlines posted at the top-o-the-page at drudge report:
37,244,000 WATCHED PALIN ... [24,029,000 BIDEN; 38,379,000 OBAMA]...
CBSNEWS/NYT POLL: McCain, Obama Tied...
Obama: Surge Succeeded Beyond 'Wildest Dreams'...
Palin criticizes Obama again in solo appearance...
PALIN RAISES MONEY -- FOR OBAMA! **Exclusive** Obama scores $8 million since Palin's speech from over 130,000 donors - on pace to hit $10 million by the time John McCain hits stage, campaign says... Developing...
McCain Source: 'We could not count our donations fast enough'...
McCain's speech may go head-to-head with NFL season opener...
CHICAGO: 'She has heart of street fighter'...
UK: 'New Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan'...
'Like a moose going after a cabbage'...
Paper: Hair 'about 20 years out of date'...
From thongs to T-shirts, it's Sarah wear...
Conservatives fired up...
Steinem: 'Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary'...
POLITICO: THE MEDIA SHOULD APOLOGIZE?
Obama-backer Annette Bening pillories Palin...

WC: Don't disagree. But Billy Bob and Jo Ellen don't have the press in their pocket. It's the same as 2004. Joe American Six-Pack doesn't want to hear from the Michael Moore's and Annette Benning's of the world. Didn't they learn their lesson in 2004? Geez.

EC: http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/09/palin-ratings-s.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/03/uselections2008.joebiden
Excerpt: Obama sounded a similar note in April, vowing that if elected, he would ask his attorney general to initiate a prompt review of Bush-era actions to distinguish between possible "genuine crimes" and "really bad policies".

It doesn't make any difference to me if all the money came from Hollywood. That's not my point. My point is, I'm sure Hollywood and the elite media got all up in arms about Giuliani's remarks that it's EVERY American that gets to choose our elected officials, despite the fact that the above goes all out to shove their preferences down our throats through ridiculous bully pulpit tactics.

I don't know why you should get so offended by this. Did you see Diddy's video blog? Come on. You yourself talked about Madonna's antics last week. Oliver Stone is gleefully preparing a hatchet job flick on W. before the man even leaves office. You want to defend that? Fine. That's your right too. I'm not hassling you or telling you you're wrong. All I'm saying is what I said last night. For every stupid bulls**t speech I hear some dope that plays pretend for a living make - and who gets to make it via the media accomplice's bully pulpit - I will doggedly go about supporting the opposite line. I am every bit as vehement about this as you are about drilling and immigration. If MSNBC came out tomorrow and endorsed Jesus Christ for president, I swear on my mother's grave I would vote for Satan even if it meant eternity in burning hell for me. I SWEAR TO GOD I WOULD. But I don't have to worry about that, since the media would never be so bourgeois as to believe in a greater entity than themselves, thereby lowering themselves to us everyday Joe Pissants. F**k them. A lot.

And I don't have a double standard. Every time Fox News trots out John Voight, I switch the station. I don't give a f**k what he has to say. He doesn't know more about ANYTHING than I do, except how to act, and he has no more business running his mouth on national TV, trying to sway people thru celebrity propaganda, than I do. He has his right to free speech just as everyone else does, but I have the right to tell all of them to go f**k themselves and not patronize them in any way, shape or form. But then they accuse me of stifling free speech when I do that. F**king hypocrites.

Example: I wanted to go see Springsteen at the Coliseum a few weeks ago. I was ready to buy tickets, but then I realized it was an election year and at some point I'd have to listen to this community college dropout tell me about who I'm supposed to vote for because of some books and magazine articles he's read about in the safe confines of his gated, security-enabled mansion in Beverly Hills. I get to hear this multi-millionaire hear about how bad multi-millionaires are, unless they happen to be him or his buddies. I have to sit there and listen to it. But, if I stood up and yelled, "HEY BRUCE! NO ONE CARES! SHUT UP AND PLAY! I DIDN''T BUY A TICKET TO THE DNC AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! NAME ME ONE THING OBAMA HAS DONE THAT QUALIFIES HIM AS PRESIDENT! WHAT ABOUT ALL HIS SLIMEBALL AFFILIATES LIKE REV. WRIGHT, TONY REZKO AND WILLIAM AYERS?" I'd be shouted down and ejected from the venue most likely. Dissension is right and proper as long as it's directed toward conservatism, but you must never challenge the holy gods of entertainment.

I have had it. I have absolutely had it. Rip into me all you want. I used to be you. I used to argue with people all the time that perceived media bias was just that - perception. That anyone of any political affiliation could open up any form of media anywhere and find a subjective slam against their point of view. If you showed one story to 10 different people, you'd get 10 different responses to 10 different perceptions of bias. But now it's not even covert. MSNBC, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Sun, NBC, CNN, NPR - they don't even try to fake it. Jesus Christ, Dan Rather torpedoed his long career being in such a froth to bring Bush down he didn't even bother to fact check!!!!! It's the age of Yellow Journalism returned from the William Randolph Hearst days - only much, much worse. And all the elitists can do is b***h about Fox News - the pure f***ing nerve! They have EVERY media outlet in their pocket and they complain about one station that attempts a different approach. And yet, Fox is routinely the highest-rated news channel, month to month. Wonder why that is?

I absolutely support all the Hollywood big mouths and all the major newspapers in their fundraising attempts and endorsements of the Looney left. All it does is strengthen my resolve to bring them down, and I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. I was completely apathetic about this election until the media went over the top, and now I'm so pro-McCain I want to volunteer for his campaign - solely and completely so I can give the finger and laugh in the face of every smarmy elitist a**hole who thinks they can shame me into voting the way they think I should vote.

You know how I feel - you're so pissed at this e-mail from me that you're ready to hop on the Obama train to spite me. That's how I feel every time I pass a turned-on television. Again, let me reiterate - they have every right in the world to say whatever they want, and I would never in a million years advocate silencing them in any way, shape or form - Diddy speaking for "artists" is too priceless to shut down. But I have every right to tell them to f**k themselves as well. In the end they're still the multi-millionaires who party for a living, and I'm still a schlemiel working-class stiff who will never be able to retire, and history will remember them more 20 years after they're dead then I'm remembered at all right now - but I will have been part of the group that gave them the finger and let them know that we can't be controlled by their bulls**t. No matter how much money they have, how much screen time they take up, in the election booth they're no better or stronger or beautiful or educated or anything than the rest of us. And it gives me sooooo much pleasure that the more they try to prove us wrong, the harder they fall.

EC: Okay - as soon as I see a NASCAR driver comparing Obama to Stalin or hear Rascal Flatts do an idiotic near-unintelligible piece on the ignorance of Biden as a VP candidate, I'll shut up. Or if a singer from Illinois goes to Europe and tells his audience he's ashamed to be from there because that's where Obama's from, I'll shut up.

And you have a bad habit of confusing the word media. Media is the alleged "news-gathering" group of "journalists." When I am speaking of media, I am not speaking of movies, sitcoms, music, etc. etc. I am speaking specifically of newspapers, news magazines, radio shows that purport to be news shows and not current events talk shows, news programs - not commentary programs, but programs that are specifically on air to REPORT news. Not interpret it, not offer an opinion; REPORT.

And then there's Hollywood. Again, what you say is true, I'm sure. But look at it this way: when we were trying to get re-chartered, it was [another acquaintance of all three] who said the stupid, "When someone grows up calling someone a n****r, they're always going to call someone a n****r." Did you say that? No. Did I say that? No. Did WC say that? No. Did the re-chartering board base their opinions on ALL of us - including those not even in the room - based on what [common aquaintance] said? You bet your a** they did. The loudmouth is the primary reflection of every group. And the Hollywood loudmouths purport to speak for everyone, which is the problem.

Don't believe me? Okay - I DARE you to go out by yourself to a gay bar tonight and hang out for two hours. Bet you every cent I'll ever make in my lifetime that 95% of the people in that bar, and 99% of the people who see you go in and come of that bar will think you're gay even though you're not.

WC: Keeper line:"If MSNBC came out tomorrow and endorsed Jesus Christ for president, I swear on my mother's grave I would vote for Satan even if it meant eternity in burning hell for me. I SWEAR TO GOD I WOULD." LOL. This kind of LOL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPz-j3bfq3E

I love it, EC. Get fired up - I'm with you. Beginning of last week, I'm almost totally apathetic. Then the DNC starts... and then the Clinton love-fest... and then the Obama homily... and then the media starts jacking off...This week, I'm ready to send a couple hundred to McCain. And I HATE his immigration policies. I truly believe that if these left-wing entities would just shut the f**k up and the news organizations would show a modicum of journalistic integrity, their wouldn't be a flight to the other side. Just my $.02.

WC: 2004 all over again.If the Dems lose, maybe they can blame it on anti-gay ballot propositions instead of the real issues. BTW, Obama concedes the surge worked in Iraq. Imagine that. What a f**king burn on him and all the naysayers.

WC: BTW, EC, nicely written. You should send this to the RTD or another media outlet. Very good.

DB: My issue is you lump Hollywood in as a whole, when I'll bet you anything if you and WC were to name the "Hollywood liberal elites" in separate emails, you'd both name the same idiots who always make waves. Seriously. Be honest and don't confer, but both of you send me twenty names.

DB: No. No. No. You both were talking about MONEY. "I'll bet all of it came from Hollywood." We were talking money. Not comments. Not sound bytes. MONEY.

WC: Why do they do it? Was it during the Oscars in 2005 (or maybe another Hollywood event) when some conservative dude with money put up a big "thank you" billboard that everyone could see? It was thanking Michael Moore and that ilk for the election results.I guess we could be thankful for this contingent. Because it fires up Joe 6-Packs like I. But it's such wasteful energy by all parties. I think most folks just want a decent-size slice of the truth since that's what is required of them day-to-day.

DB: Any names?

WC: Joe. Joe Mamma. LOL

WC: DB. LOL

DB: Second paragraph... And the Christian right doesn't? Rush Limbaugh (also part of the media) doesn't? Sean Hannity (also part of the media) doesn't? Pat Robertson? Falwell, before he died. For every Hollywood elitist you can name, I can name one on the opposite side. Third paragraph... I get offended because you repeatedly and unabashedly homogenize Hollywood into this evil left wing monolith when in fact only a handful of these leftists dominate the news media, which by the way, IS NOT HOLLYWOOD. I'm not defending Sean Combs or the like. I'm defending the ones who don't think that way but are victimized by ones like you who repeatedly find them guilty by association. What if Fox News went about the country and started asking non-celebrities their opinion? What makes their opinion any more profound or true? I could literally beat Sheryl Crow for her idiotic comments, but not because she's a celebrity, just that she's dumb. Celebrities, whether you like or dislike, agree or disagree, deserve their soapbox as much as anyone, not because they're celebrities, but because they are citizens. I agree whole heartedly with your paragraph pertaining to Springsteen. However, being that it is his show, I believe he's earned the right to say anything he wants, just as you have the right not to purchase a ticket based on that. I don't believe the majority of what Bono believes in, but I still religiously listen to his/their music and attend their concerts. That's my decision. I totally respect yours. Agreed with the following paragraph about Fox News being the only countermanding view. As I read further, I can see you're halfway up that clock tower...By the way, there is no depth of anger you can mire me in that would sway me to vote for Obama. I ... am not a sheep ... never have been ... never will be. I'm also not a Kool-Aid drinker. As for celebrities partying... Yeah, they party and though I can't defend the millionaires who inherit their money from mommy and daddy, I will defend the millionaires who worked very hard, sacrificed so much, and put it all on the line to achieve a dream that less than one percent make a living at. Sacrifice comes in many forms. I say that because I know you'll hit me with the sacrifice the military makes and I don't deny it. But it takes some balls to go after a career in Hollywood and those who achieve the dream, as far as I'm concerned, have earned the right to party as much as they want.

DB: 2004 all over again how?

DB: By the way, WC...You're about as much of a Joe 6 Pack as [another acquaintance] was the punter for OSU ... until his knee operations that is. You're as white collar as they come. That's not a slam. Not a slam by any means. But come on. Your six pack would be a six pack of something pale ale, if not lighter. And probably with a twist of lime while eating fish tacos at Island's Restaurant. Joe Six Pack is a Pabst man with enough sloppy joe on the buns to clog a whale's heart. WC = Joe 6 Pack? Delusional...? Just slightly.

WC: I'm a white collar WORKER, but everything else is Joe 6 Pack. Marriage, family, religion, debts, local and national concerns, yada, yada, yada.

I will concede the fish tacos thing is mainly west coast, but I'm basically cookie cutter middle-class.

I'm signing off. Good speech by McCain. Incredible service to our country.

DB: I'll tell you the one (besides you two) that really bugs the hell out of me and that is Arianna Huffington. She literally marries into her citizenship, divorces for millions and now runs a character assassination site calling the Muffington Post, I mean, the Huffington Post. It's almost as slanted as the Daily Kos. WC, the silver lining in last night's loss to the Giants is that with every loss they suffer Colt Brennan moves closer to the starting position. Rough night for me. The Skins and Spurrier loses ... and to Vanderbilt of all teams. Yikes.

EC: Dude, I'm not going to continue this. I apologize - I was fired up about something else and the emotion just spilled over into my rant. I understand your feelings and I'm sorry for being so caustic.

By the way, I'm a big fan of intelligent liberalism. I never miss Camille Paglia's column in Slate. She's an excellent writer, objective and well thought out. If more liberals were like her they'd have a decent chance of swaying me on many issues. The ones that speak out of emotion are the ones that kill me and drive me away.

DB: I like it when you and Hillbilly Bubba [WC] get fired up. I swear I saw WC walking down Melrose Avenue today with a shirt on that said, "I'm only here for the beer." He was barefoot and chewing on piece of hay, his fingers stained with motor oil. Well, I'll continue. Along with Muffington, I'll have to throw, actually heave, Michael Moore, which incidentally is all he seemingly has to say at the dinner table. More! More! He's on Harry Queen right now bloviating. I can't wait until that f'er eats that one final potato chip that finally takes his worthless heart over the edge.