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The Democrats who want to be president took the stage this week in their first debate. The media gave Hillary glowing reviews. I'll tell you what really happened.
Back in Washington, the Democrats were busy passing their white flag all-surrender bill on Iraq. Are you an American troop currently serving in the war on terror? Too bad for you!
Also, Rudy Giuliani speaks the truth about Democrats and another 9/11, and all heck breaks loose!
Plus, I'll talk to Jonathan Tisch, author of Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough.
This morning, Rosie O'Donnell announced that she was leaving her hosting gig on ABC's The View. I don't know what's more distressing: that we still have two months of her irresponsible and hate-filled rants to endure or the fact that all of the cable television networks called this announcement "Breaking News."
"Breaking News" used to be reserved for presidential press conferences, natural disasters, and movie stars' deaths. The announcement that a talk show host won't be returning to her program next season really ranks up there in importance, doesn't it?!
I must say that I have mixed feelings about Rosie's departure. There is no doubt that she was wildly damaging to this country's efforts to fight a war against a ruthless enemy----an enemy that probably hung on her every word, just so they could mine what she said for their own propaganda and get a hearty chuckle. She was also intellectually dishonest, taking the president's comments and policies way out of context in order to bash him, or she was simply wrong about her facts. She never let the truth get in the way of what she wanted to say.
On top of it all, Rosie was a classic bully. She never let anyone with an opposing viewpoint speak for very long, because she wanted to shut them down before their arguments gained traction. She bulldozed everyone in her path, including her fellow co-hosts, none of whom dared to stand up to her.
But as offensive and dangerous as she was, she also served a purpose: she showed how vacuous and ridiculous the left in this country really is, how vapid its arguments, how ill-informed its viewpoints, how reckless its policies, how short-sighted and low-class its spokespeople. Rosie's daily irresponsibility exposed all of that. And although her departure doesn't mean the left won't still have its wackos out there, many of them will be just a little less obvious. (Senator Harry Reid excluded.)
Rosie may once again get her own daily talk show, where she can control everything without having to deal with co-hosts who may not toe her radical line. But for now, we bid her adieu from ABC, which indulged her insipid recklessness for far too long. The enemy has lost a great ally from network television today, and although they still have plenty of others helping their cause, for now at least, Rosie O'Donnell exits Stage Left.
There's so much to talk about this weekend. I'll start with the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and their families.
Also this weekend, former CBS News insider Bernard Goldberg will stop by to tell us about his new book, Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve
One week after the Imus firing, we'll talk about who decides what you can and cannot see and hear on the airwaves. NBC took plenty of heat for the decision to air the Virginia Tech killer's tapes, a rapper goes on 60 Minutes this Sunday, and PBS pulls the plug on a documentary on Islam, but Don Imus gets kicked off the air?
I'll be joined by Frank Gaffney
And as always, I'll be taking your calls! I hope you'll listen this weekend on the radio!
Many of you have been emailing me with comments and sharing your outrage over Don Imus' firing. Here are a couple of places on the web for Imus fans:
The first is a new website keeping track of the Imus controversy. The site will be posting past audio from Imus' show, to point out some of the hypocrisy of the former guests who are now piling on him. There's a box on the site to sign up to receive e-mail updates. The address is IMUSTRUTH.COM.
Also, a California radio station is refusing to take Imus off the air. They've been airing reruns of his program every morning, mixed in with live calls from listeners wanting to weigh in. KCAA-AM also offers a podcast of the program, updated every day. To go to their website, CLICK HERE.
Well, it's been about 36 hours since the first gunshots rang out in the halls of Virginia Tech. When the gunman, Cho Sueng-Hui, turned the gun on himself and brought an end to the violence, 32 people lay dead.
As the human toll continues to horrify, the mind reels: what could have provoked violence on this scale? What pushed this man over the edge? Did the university do enough and do it fast enough to try to stop the violence? Was anyone responsible for missing "warning signs" in his behavior?
As the investigation unfolds, it's only natural to focus on the shooter and what his motivations may have been. But we should also be paying close attention to the victims: people whose only crime was getting ready for class or attending it or teaching it.
Among the victims' stories, one man's tale stands out. Professor Liviu Librescu was teaching his solid mechanics class when he began to hear gunshots from the classroom next door. He reacted instinctively and immediately, running to the door and barring it with his body to prevent the gunman from entering. As Librescu held it shut with every ounce of force he had, Cho shot through the door, defiant and murderous. Many of Librescu's students jumped out of the window, using the time their professor had so courageously bought them to save their lives. Ultimately, one of the bullets hit and killed their brave, selfless protector.
This man was a Holocaust survivor. He had seen mass slaughter up close over 60 years ago. And here was again, all of these years later, witnessing a different kind of carnage. He sacrificed himself so that others might live. If that's not a hero, I don't know what is. As a wise man once said, character leads to choices. Professor Librescu had an abundance of character, so much so that many, many Virginia Tech students are alive today---because of his choice.
In these days following the firing of Don Imus from radio and television, I have been appalled to see many of his former regular guests trash him in the press. The trashing is, of course, done somewhat diplomatically: "My Life as a Hypocrite," trumpeted the pull-quote in Frank Rich's column about Imus in Sunday's (4-15-07) New York Times. Other former guests --- many of whom were happy to call him a friend before --- are now seeking to disassociate themselves from him by saying that they only appeared on his show to sell a book, tout a column, or feed their own egos. But they never ---never! --- chuckled at, smiled at, found amusing, or otherwise condoned the other material he featured on his show. All along, they say, they thought he was a crass, piggish, immature, racially-insensitive sexist. They say, "We knew it all along, and we still appeared. We sold out, and we're sorry."
Do you know what this is? It's preemptive apologizing to deflect any residual stigma from flicking up onto them. It's the journalists' version of celebrity rehab.
It's also something else. It's the kind of self-serving opportunism that they say drove them to do his show in the first place. And it's incredibly disingenuous.
I've got news for these newspeople: The Imus controversy is NOT ABOUT YOU! Their arrogance in believing that it IS about them is astounding, although not surprising. Because he's in trouble now, many of these sanctimonious people ---- who profited mightily thanks to him--- are now throwing him under the bus. I won't be one of them.
What he said was offensive. But the man has apologized sincerely and profusely and lost his jobs. These people are trying to fend off some mythical "guilt by association" by playing Simon Peter --- "Not I!" Well. Like Simon Peter's actions, the actions of these former "friends" of Imus speak volumes about their character.
I appeared many times on Imus's show and anchored The Best of Imus on MSNBC. The man has been very good to me --- and to many, many others --- over the years. It's a shame so many others have found it necessary to kick him while he's down as a way to try to elevate themselves.
Schmucks!-- what a great way to sum up the events of this past week. This weekend I'll be talking to Jackie Mason, one of the true kings of comedy, and his partner in crime, federal prosecutor and celebrity attorney Raoul Felder, about their new book that goes after America's lowlifes, scumbags, and everything else that really gets on their nerves. To buy "Schumcks!" CLICK HERE
I'll also talk to Jonathan Tisch about his new book "Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough." Jonathan has spent years in the hotel business, and shares his experiences in customer service. His book explains how to keep customers happy, and to keep them coming back. To buy "Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough," CLICK HERE
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