Harvey Korman has died. I’ll try to post some video links later.
I grew up watching the Carol Burnett Show and cracking up as Korman would try to hold back his laughter at Tim Conway’s improvisations. Then of course I discovered Mel Brooks, and even more Korman genius. He was always one of my favorite comics, and it’s sad to know that he’s gone. It wasn’t that long ago that he was still touring.
Here are a few sketches. Some might seem outdated today (partly from being copied so much), but you have to remember that at the time they were really creative. And in any case, Korman’s comic timing and delivery were always perfect.
Jowls
Pledge of Allegiance
The famous dentist sketch
With Cher and Carol Burnett
I biked to work today, and I took the same route the Manchester Transit Authority bus takes from my neighborhood to the office, which is about four miles. I rode past my neighborhood stop about a minute before the bus was due, and two blocks later it passed me.
I typically takes me less than 10 minutes to drive to work. By the official schedule, it takes the bus 15 minutes to get from my neighborhood stop to my work stop. I figured it would be long gone by the time I got to work, but there it was at the stop as I pedaled past. The bus stop is two city blocks away from the office, so I got to work a few minutes before I would have arrived had I taken the bus. And the bus didn’t make at least one stop along the way (it passed an empty stop right after it passed me).
My commuting options are car, bus, or bike, and the slowest of the three is the bus.
Oh, and one person got off at my work stop. One.
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan has to hope that he can retire on the proceeds from his new book because he’s not getting a job with anyone anywhere ever again.
Loyalty is a quality valued by all employers. McLellan has not only burned the bridge back to employment with any Republican, but in showing that he keeps notes and tells secrets, he’s burned the bridges in front of him, too.
OK, he might get a job with some small non-profit outfit that doesn’t have secrets. Or with some rogue PR firm that wants to put a known name on its shingle. But he probably won’t play in the big leagues again.
Bush had to have regretted Ari Fleischer’s departure from day one, but now more than ever.
Rep. George Winchell, R-Atkinson, and a retired Salem police officer, apologizes for the fear-mongering that was done on the House bill to reform the state retirement system. (It’s the very last item.)
Dr. Tom Coburn prescribes a cure for the GOP.
The top baby names in New Hampshire in 2007.
Massachusetts subsidizes TV ads big companies like Boston Beer Co. were going to make anyway.
Douglas Feith on how Bush sold the Iraq war.
UNH researchers find that kids whose parents are involved in their education do better in school. We paid for this study?
Bill McGurn on trustee elections at Dartmouth. (Yes, I realize this is another WSJ piece, but what are you going to do?)
At Manchester’s Memorial Day parade yesterday, the sun was shining, the children were playing, the crowd was cheering, and the Democrats were outcampaigning the Republicans.
My kids and I spent most of the afternoon downtown playing and then watching the parade. For a good three hours, I kept seeing people walk by with Jeanne Shaheen stickers on their shirts, handbags, hats, etc. I saw not a single John Sununu sticker. I also spotted a few Carol Shea-Porter stickers, and even saw Rep. Shea-Porter marching in the parade. I didn’t spot a single Jeb Bradley or John Stephen sticker. I don’t even know if they have stickers yet.
This might mean absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t expect Bradley or Stephen to be working the parade crowd anyway, as it probably wouldn’t be the best return on their investment of time and resources at this point in the campaign. But Sununu? I think I’d have had a couple of people there. If he did, I didn’t see them.
A good number of the people with the Shaheen stickers are unlikely voters. Some of them could barely speak English. Some might have been homeless. But they helped get her name out, and that doesn’t hurt.
Comment from Joann in Manchester: So, you assume they don`t speak English because they are not Anglo? And they are probably homeless too! That`s a very disrespectful comment to make in a newspaper. But that doesn`t surprise me with you guys.
ME: No, I observed that they spoke little English. They were Africans speaking almost entirely in another language. That was an observation, not an assumption. The homeless comment was about a few people wearing Shaheen stickers who were filthy, wearing torn clothes and who appeared to be wandering back and forth. They where Caucasian. And for the record, in Manchester’s city parks I’ve run into more Caucasians (Eastern Europeans) who don’t speak English than I have Hispanics or Africans who don’t speak the language.
Comment from Jim in Madbury: “At Manchester’s Memorial Day parade yesterday, …the Democrats were out campaigning the Republicans.”
Is that what Memorial Day observance has become? Who can “Out campaign” the other? It’s shameless.
The Democratic National Committee issued a press release today turning Memorial Day into a political issue. And it was unintentionally funny.
“This weekend we honor the brave men and women who have defended our country and those who have lost their lives on the battlefield. They deserve the very best in return, which is why the Democratic Congress passed the bi-partisan 21st Century GI bill to help them pay for college when they come home.”
I just love how the “Democratic Congress” passed the “bi-partisan” bill. But the best screw up is the assertion that “those who have lost their lives on the battlefield” will now be able to “pay for college when they come home.”
The DNC needs a better editor of its press releases.
More importantly, it needs to refrain from using Memorial Day to score partisan political points.
It’s over for Hillary. How do we know? Bill is talking her up as Obama’s VP.
But Obama would be a fool to choose her, and Sen. Ted Kennedy explains why:
“I don’t think it’s possible. I would hope that [Obama] would also give consideration to somebody that has — is in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people. And I think if we had real leadership — as we do with Barack Obama — in the No. 2 spot as well, it’d be enormously helpful.”
This is a real indictment of Hillary Clinton — saying she isn’t a real leader and doesn’t appeal to the nobler aspirations of the American people. It also nails why she would be a drag on an Obama ticket. She ruins his message. His whole campaign is built upon the idea that he is the candidate of hope and change, of bringing a new spirit of sincerity, honesty and integrity to Washington. Clinton is the polar opposite. She represents shrewdness, calculation and dishonesty. Putting her on the ticket would cancel out his central campaign theme. You cannot run as the new political messiah with Machiavelli Jr. on your ticket.
Jennifer Horn is friends with Jackie Mason, which is cool. It’s also cool that Mason agreed to do a TV ad for her. The ad itself? Not cool.
There’s a reason that endorsers are not allowed in front of a camera without a script. Mason’s improvised message shows why. As heartfelt and sincere as his support for Horn is, the rambling explanation — politicians are crooks, and she’s not, so vote for her — tells you nothing about Horn except what you already knew — she’s friends with Jackie Mason.
Compounding the mistake, Mason does the ad from his Broadway dressing room, explaining at the start that “I’m talking to you from my dressing room because I’m about to go onstage for my Broadway show. But I felt this was so important and urgent to me that I took out a moment just to let you know what I think of Jennifer Horn.”
But not so important and urgent to take the two hours necessary to go to an actual studio and make a better ad with a real script.
Terrible, terrible, terrible ad.
Jeanne Shaheen’s new ad, “First,” is much better. It’s actually a good ad (not great), but it starts out quite misleading. The ad flips through a series of portraits of former NH governors, all men, of course, and the narrator says, “This is what New Hampshire governors used to look like. Then came Jeanne Shaheen, the first woman elected governor in our history.”
If you didn’t know better, you’d think Jeanne Shaheen was the first woman to serve as governor of New Hampshire. The campaign conveniently left Gov. Vesta Roy out of the montage of previous NH governors. I know, Roy was never elected, and served as full governor for only a week (acting governor for a month). Shaheen was “the first woman elected governor” of New Hampshire, and deserves her place in history for that. But still, I thought the ad misleading. It easily could have acknowledged Roy while taking nothing away from Shaheen’s accomplishment, or better yet, not used that silly opening with the pictures of former governors and start with a shot of Shaheen being sworn in.
Jeb Bradley’s ad, “Change,” is also weak. Bradley’s head is cocked oddly to one side, and he immediately highlights his own defeat in 2006. Why call attention to the fact that Carol Shea-Porter beat you?
I think Bradley really believes that he was caught up in a landslide of historic proportions that actually had nothing to do with his own behavior in Congress. He is mistaken. By bringing up the fact that Carol Shea-Porter beat him two years ago, he is reminding voters why they voted against him in the first place. He was right to go over Shea-Porter’s left-wing record in Congress, but he should have done it without reminding voters that they had serious problems with him, too.
Now, after watching those three ads, you need something amazing to get that stale political taste out of your mouth. I know just the thing. . .
If I were running for Congress, I would hire the choreographer of this famous video and make the GREATEST POLITICAL AD EVER. I might not win, but I probably would. And even if I didn’t, I’d still have the GREATEST POLITICAL AD EVER!
Ready? OK Go!
So, I’m wondering, who loses his job first: Joe Girardi or John Boehner?
The New York Yankees under Girardi are 20-24. House Republicans under Boehner this year are 0-3 in special elections. As bad as the Yankees look, the GOP looks worse. A-Rod returns to the lineup tonight. Who do the Republicans have on the bench? No one.
Hank Steinbrenner said he’s confident that the Yanks will turn it around because his lineup hasn’t forgotten how to hit. Republicans, on the other hand, have forgotten how to hit, throw, catch and run. They don’t even know why they’re playing.
I hope to be back to more regular blogging this week. To start, here are some items of interest:
Steve Duprey is profiled by The Wall Street Journal.
The state constitution does not allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries. Well, duh.
In Massachusetts mayors races last year, less well-funded challengers prevailed about one-third of the time. Make your own conclusions about campaign finance reform.
John McCain’s new ad, as imagined by Saturday Night Live.
Also, McCain on Weekend Update with Bedford’s Seth Meyers. That makes two NH guys getting big play with McCain in the past few days.
The cost of federal entitlement spending reaches half a million dollars per household.
This would be easier if we had more charter schools.
The Manchester Artists’ Association has an open house tomorrow night (Thursday) from 5-8 p.m. at the MAA Gallery at 1528 Elm Street in Manchester. FYI.
It’s too late to donate physical goods to the Pearl Street fire victims. The Salvation Army’s warehouse for the victims was donated for only one month and closes this Friday. No more donations are being accepted. But you can still give cash. The Salvation Army just paid one victim’s rent today, and the need is ongoing.
If you want to help, you can send a check (make sure it’s marked for the Pearl Street fire victims or for the disaster relief fund) to:
The Salvation Army
121 Cedar Street
Manchester, NH 03101
