Michael Jackson thrived when Ronald Reagan was president. Six months into the Obama administration, he was dead! What are we to conclude?
Thank God Rush Limbaugh is here to answer the question:
Michael Jackson's biggest successes, and as it turns out his final successes, real successes took place in the eighties. That was Billie Jean, Thriller and all this. I mean he was as weird as he could be but he was profoundly, because of his weirdness, an individual. He wasn't a group member. He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan; he languished under Clinton-Bush; and died under Obama. Let's hope the parallel does not continue.
Really! Where exactly was President Obama on the afternoon of June 25 -- can he account for his whereabouts for the entire day?
As for the Reagan's administration's role in MJ's musical burst of creativity during the 1980s, there was none. But it is worth noting that Reagan's steep cut in marginal tax rate for the upper bracket meant that Jackson kept a lot more of that surging income -- which he then squandered on a bad real estate investment while racking up millions of dollars in credit card debt before he died from lousy healthcare. So maybe in a perverse way, Limbaugh is right: Michael Jackson was a parable for the Age of Reagan.
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Pretty funny that earlier today, LGF and Attytood ran clips of the same Michael Scheuer clip on Beck. What isn't so funny is that Scheuer was defended by our beloved ARTs, while even LGF commenters roundly trashed the guy. Just so everyone knows, here's the kind of garbage that our beloved ARts were defending: --snip-- Two years ago, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, Scheuer explained that Israel is engaged in what is “probably the most successful covert-action program in the history of man,” the object of which is to control not just policy but political debate in the United States. When pressed to identify some of these “covert” activities, Scheuer came up with only one example: the establishment of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. More recently, as we learn from today’s New York Sun, Scheuer addressed the taxpayer-funded Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia, where he explained that “U.S. citizen Israel-firsters . . . dominate the American governing elite” where they act to ensure that those like himself “who question the nature and benefit of current U.S.- Israel ties are slandered as pro-Nazi, anti-Semites.” --snip-- Nice. Not only is the guy a lunatic, he's an anti-semitic lunatic.— Talking point sleuth- The right. Blind, bamboozled, and devoid of any brains.— Some Boca Dude
- Obviously, Will, Limbaugh was only "joking." Kind of like when Michelle Bachman was "joking" that Dems are responsible for swine flu, as she proved by wrongly stating that Carter was in office during the last swine flu outbreak. Right. Far-right wacko Republicans aren't really crazy, they're just "joking."— Talking point sleuth
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- "Are the late night hosts still not telling any Obama jokes?" Absolutely. There was actually a good article on this very topic recently by Greg Braxton in the LA Times, after Bill Maher of all people was booed by his own audience for an Obama joke: "Maher joked that Republicans were feeling particularly superstitious: “They say the country is having bad luck because there’s a black cat in the White House.” The studio audience erupted in loud groans and boos...it's Obama's African American heritage more than any other single factor that has perhaps frozen comics' pens and keyboards. Political humorists, most of whom are white, have never dealt with a black president and aren't sure how their material will be received. Is an Obama joke truly aimed at the office and its policies, or is it merely a smokescreen for racial prejudice? "You don't want to appear racist," said Buddy Winston, a former writer for the "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." "You can't do the stereotypical thing. Someone who's a Texan or an elite is much easier to attack." Black comedians encounter similar difficulties in crafting humor at the new president's expense, said David Alan Grier, star of Comedy Central's short-lived "Chocolate News." "Some people in the black community see any sort of criticism of Obama as a betrayal," said Grier. But my thing is, it's not a betrayal. It's just jokes. That's what comedy is." Much of the humor in the last few weeks on "The Tonight Show" has taken a safe comic route by centering on the first family's new dog and Obama's mother-in-law, who lives in the White House. Meanwhile David Letterman, who regularly bashed Bush, has repeatedly praised the new president ("You gotta like this guy, by God, this guy is out there, doing stuff. He's always got stuff going on"). Writers and producers for "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Tonight Show," "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" declined comment for this story."— Vandy
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- "Mommy, mommy, it's just soooooo unfaaaaiirr. Those mean men and women in the media treat that bad man Obama more nicely than they treat us. It's just soooo unfaaaaiiiirr mommy, it's just soooooo unfaaaaiirrr." -- 24. 7. 365.— Talking point sleuth
- You know, I've never, ever heard any criticism at all, or any jokes at Obama's expense, on Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Medved, Savage, Bennett, O'Reilly, Miller, Ingraham, the failed teacher, etc. No wonder all those ignorant Americans - that don't have the keen intellect of the non-elitist, patriotic Vandy and sloboat - are so brainwashed into thinking Obama is doing a good job.— Talking point sleuth
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Will's Reagan book has reached the lofty level of #45,000 + on the Amazon best seller list, so Will has to work in a MJ angle to try to prop up embarrassing sles numbers. Will, did Reagan run over your dog? Flush your goldfish? My God man, whatever this obsession with Reagan is, please get some help. Is this some kind of latent man crush?— georgel- Comment removed.
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About Will Bunch
Will's new book: Learn about it here and purchase it here.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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