[Speed Gibson,
Sunday November 28, 2004 at 1:42pm]
Turkey Time 2004
The turkey is out of the oven, and Patrick Reusse's 27th Annual Golden Turkey is in today's paper. "If you can't imitate them, don't copy them," said Yogi Berra, but I'm going to try anyway. My committee of one considered the following.
Long-suffering Jay Larson at the Patriot came to mind, since he never seems able to please Hugh Hewitt. He couldn't land a back stage pass with Clay Aiken for Hugh's niece.
Laura Ingraham's staff weren't able to please her either this year, with so many missed cues and over-punctuation with noises and quips.
Hosts like Michael Savage add nothing except emotion borne of self-absorbtion. But is regularly cited as an example of what's wrong with talk radio in particular or conservatives in general. But maybe he's peaked; Hugh Hewitt has just retaken his live third hour on KRLA from Savage.
Hosts at the opposite end of the emotional dial like newcomer Bill Bennett sadly also add very little, despite their great knowledge. It's polite, but since he covers nothing you won't read or hear elsewhere, it's also dull. But he does fill the void from 6:30 am to 7:07 am when Bob Davis is essentially sidelined for silly news, the Rush update, sports, traffic, weather, network news, local headlines, and a big load of commercials, the mainstays of morning drive.
He fancies himself a talk show host, but Al Franken has come up short once again on Air America. Like Garrison Keilor, he's well-known, had some success, but has never hit the big time. Gosh darn it, he's smart enough, and yet he's even second fiddle to Bill O'Reilly.
Martin Olav Sabo has never hit the big time in Congress, but he's not exactly trying. He's got the safest seat in the House, does virtually nothing of note, yet barely needs to even campaign. Even a black woman, the late Dororthy LeGrand, fell far short a few years ago.
Mark Dayton at least made some national headlines this year, closing his Senate office in the face of a terror threat no one else saw.
Closer to home, we have Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson. Once again, his word proved unreliable. He bottled up much of the Legislative agenda, though he found time to lynch Cheri Pierson Yecki, no doubt on orders received from Education Minnesota.
In fact, despite the Minnesota House elections, the whole DFL party had a bad year in terms of deceit, scandal, and law-breaking.
Speaking of deceit, we have Golden Gopher Football. Glen Mason, Sid Hartman, Dave Mona, and a couple of jocks on KFAN all nodded soberly that this team could go to the Rose Bowl. There was no sure loss on the schedule. The result? 6-5, including a couple of blow-out losses.
This wouldn't be a blog post without mentioning Nick Coleman, who knows stuff, stuff he cannot defend. Where is Jim Boyd, the "gatekeeper" when we need him?
But let's get to the finals.
Second runner up: Target, for expunging the Salvation Army. I think many, like Hugh Hewitt, have overreacted, but that doesn't excuse Target, who has yet to serve up a coherent answer or basis for this change.
First runner up: Governor Tim Pawlenty. After a great 2003, he has gone soft, with Canadian drug imports and a weak defense of Commissioner Yecki. Then he tries to extort money from the Indian Casinos (a tax increase), and promises to sign a statewide smoking ban. And now, he wants to call a special session for the bonding bill the Democrats killed, that we didn't need anyway. But I'm hoping he'll shape up in 2005, and he has to given the DFL gains in the House.
But my choice for my first Golden Turkey Award is Joe Soucheray. He has become a clock-puncher like Martin Sabo. His show is now just banter instead of dialogue. He's a success I grant you, but he could be more successful if he'd return to his old work ethic, i.e., actually doing show prep. Instead, he coasts, like yesterday when he spent three hours wondering how to get a stain off his anodized aluminum wheels. Put a fork in him. He's done.
Long-suffering Jay Larson at the Patriot came to mind, since he never seems able to please Hugh Hewitt. He couldn't land a back stage pass with Clay Aiken for Hugh's niece.
Laura Ingraham's staff weren't able to please her either this year, with so many missed cues and over-punctuation with noises and quips.
Hosts like Michael Savage add nothing except emotion borne of self-absorbtion. But is regularly cited as an example of what's wrong with talk radio in particular or conservatives in general. But maybe he's peaked; Hugh Hewitt has just retaken his live third hour on KRLA from Savage.
Hosts at the opposite end of the emotional dial like newcomer Bill Bennett sadly also add very little, despite their great knowledge. It's polite, but since he covers nothing you won't read or hear elsewhere, it's also dull. But he does fill the void from 6:30 am to 7:07 am when Bob Davis is essentially sidelined for silly news, the Rush update, sports, traffic, weather, network news, local headlines, and a big load of commercials, the mainstays of morning drive.
He fancies himself a talk show host, but Al Franken has come up short once again on Air America. Like Garrison Keilor, he's well-known, had some success, but has never hit the big time. Gosh darn it, he's smart enough, and yet he's even second fiddle to Bill O'Reilly.
Martin Olav Sabo has never hit the big time in Congress, but he's not exactly trying. He's got the safest seat in the House, does virtually nothing of note, yet barely needs to even campaign. Even a black woman, the late Dororthy LeGrand, fell far short a few years ago.
Mark Dayton at least made some national headlines this year, closing his Senate office in the face of a terror threat no one else saw.
Closer to home, we have Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson. Once again, his word proved unreliable. He bottled up much of the Legislative agenda, though he found time to lynch Cheri Pierson Yecki, no doubt on orders received from Education Minnesota.
In fact, despite the Minnesota House elections, the whole DFL party had a bad year in terms of deceit, scandal, and law-breaking.
Speaking of deceit, we have Golden Gopher Football. Glen Mason, Sid Hartman, Dave Mona, and a couple of jocks on KFAN all nodded soberly that this team could go to the Rose Bowl. There was no sure loss on the schedule. The result? 6-5, including a couple of blow-out losses.
This wouldn't be a blog post without mentioning Nick Coleman, who knows stuff, stuff he cannot defend. Where is Jim Boyd, the "gatekeeper" when we need him?
But let's get to the finals.
Second runner up: Target, for expunging the Salvation Army. I think many, like Hugh Hewitt, have overreacted, but that doesn't excuse Target, who has yet to serve up a coherent answer or basis for this change.
First runner up: Governor Tim Pawlenty. After a great 2003, he has gone soft, with Canadian drug imports and a weak defense of Commissioner Yecki. Then he tries to extort money from the Indian Casinos (a tax increase), and promises to sign a statewide smoking ban. And now, he wants to call a special session for the bonding bill the Democrats killed, that we didn't need anyway. But I'm hoping he'll shape up in 2005, and he has to given the DFL gains in the House.
But my choice for my first Golden Turkey Award is Joe Soucheray. He has become a clock-puncher like Martin Sabo. His show is now just banter instead of dialogue. He's a success I grant you, but he could be more successful if he'd return to his old work ethic, i.e., actually doing show prep. Instead, he coasts, like yesterday when he spent three hours wondering how to get a stain off his anodized aluminum wheels. Put a fork in him. He's done.