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oselleUp until now I've been posting videos of "jes' plain folks" humiliating themselves in public. Last night, supposed healthcare "expert" Betsey McCaughey, the person basically responsible for fabricating the whole "death panel" lie, humiliated herself on The Daily Show. Because of time constraints, the show was only able to air a portion of the interview, but you can watch all three parts of it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/21/betsy-mccaugheys-ideas-ca_n_264970.html
You know how you can tell this woman is lying? The obvious answer is because she has no facts to back up her claims. But there's something else, like a gambler's "tells" -- this weird shtick she's doing. The cheesy flattery of Stewart, the hair-flipping, the smug "See what I mean!" nods and shrugs and all that death's-head grinning and addressing the audience directly (so much that near the end Stewart asks her, "Who are you talking to?") What I see here is a lot of what I also see in Sarah Palin -- a woman who's used to influencing people by being pretty and charming in that awful sort of smarmy, phony, used-car salesman sort of way. There's no honesty going on here. It's all lies and spin and the grimacing bleached-blonde theatrics of a whore.
I think Stewart does a great job but I wish he'd hammered her like he did Jim Cramer. I think in that case, Stewart had a lot more documented evidence against Cramer, but I also think Stewart's going easier on her because she's a woman and because she's pretty. I adore Jon Stewart but I think in his mind he's still this nebbishy kid from Jersey and he has a tendency to get a little bashful when he's interviewing a pretty woman, as if some part of him can't really believe that someone like her is even talking to him. I don't care when the woman is just some actress but in this case? He could have gone after her a lot harder and you can see moments where he literally seems to be biting his tongue and I wish he hadn't.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/21/betsy-mccaugheys-ideas-ca_n_264970.html
You know how you can tell this woman is lying? The obvious answer is because she has no facts to back up her claims. But there's something else, like a gambler's "tells" -- this weird shtick she's doing. The cheesy flattery of Stewart, the hair-flipping, the smug "See what I mean!" nods and shrugs and all that death's-head grinning and addressing the audience directly (so much that near the end Stewart asks her, "Who are you talking to?") What I see here is a lot of what I also see in Sarah Palin -- a woman who's used to influencing people by being pretty and charming in that awful sort of smarmy, phony, used-car salesman sort of way. There's no honesty going on here. It's all lies and spin and the grimacing bleached-blonde theatrics of a whore.
I think Stewart does a great job but I wish he'd hammered her like he did Jim Cramer. I think in that case, Stewart had a lot more documented evidence against Cramer, but I also think Stewart's going easier on her because she's a woman and because she's pretty. I adore Jon Stewart but I think in his mind he's still this nebbishy kid from Jersey and he has a tendency to get a little bashful when he's interviewing a pretty woman, as if some part of him can't really believe that someone like her is even talking to him. I don't care when the woman is just some actress but in this case? He could have gone after her a lot harder and you can see moments where he literally seems to be biting his tongue and I wish he hadn't.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 06:34 am (UTC)Why exactly is this so difficult to grasp?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 06:51 am (UTC)On a purely superficial level, all that bashfulness is just a way of saying "Oh I'm so sorry I'm not good-looking enough to match your beauty, and I know you can't waste your time talking with somebody ugly. Here, let me make up for my ugliness by treating you like a goddess. Maybe then you'll stick around for a few moments before moving on to a handsomer man more worthy of you?"
The irony is that Stewart himself is a VERY handsome man. Women are the ones who should be the bashful ones around a god such as he.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 04:08 pm (UTC)Um, no. He let her make a point and then refused to let her filibuster for ten more minutes to run out her time and let it all get lost in her anecdotes. (Though he did still let her go on too long at times.)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-22 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 04:13 am (UTC)I saw her on the show and could not force myself to watch the rest of the interview online. All you said and more.