For some reason, Joe Scarborough’s morning show did a special Sunday morning edition, solely for the purpose of discussing the previous evening’s gala shindig Press Correspondents’ dinner.
Pardon me for asking, but when did a glorified prom become cause for a special edition of a morning news-and-opinion show to be aired during the weekend? Granted, the oil spill was a particular concern to everyone and worthy of special coverage. The Arizona immigration issue was certainly newsworthy as well, not to mention the breaking news story of the failed bomb attempt in Times Square.
Instead, viewers were treated to the sight of Scarborough, Mika Brezinsky, Willie Geist and media whore, Arianna Huffington, gaggled around what appeared to be a faux cafe table against a backdrop of the White House, discussing the gossip surrounding the previous evening’s social soiree.
They all looked much the worse for wear, although they were obviously hoping the effect created was that of two super-sophisticated cosmopolitan couples, meandering back in the early hours from a Monaguesque bacchanal, and pausing in a sidewalk cafe for an espresso and a gossip-fest.
Although it was early morning on the East Coast, the day looked overcast, or early enough for the sun not to have risen sufficiently. Nevertheless, three of the four sported sunglasses. Mika was still wearing the clothes she’d worn to the event and slumped sullenly in her chair, obviously feeling the effects of too much drink and too little sleep. Scarborough wore shades as well, and what appeared to be his evening suit. Geist looked like a rumpled frat boy.
Huffington was also decked out in shades and at pains to keep her face in profile, with no close-up shots. She’d not yet been to bed, and it was obvious the tit-tape applied to her hairline during her daily facial had long since lost its grip and her incipient jowls were beginning to drop, thus, revealing every one of her real 63 (admitted 59) years by the dawn’s early light.
The quartet was there to discuss the wonderland which suddenly erupted the previous evening when the glitzy glamour of Hollywood blended with the political power surge that sizzles in Washington.
“HEV’reybuddy lahfffffs celebrities, dahlinks!” trilled Whoreanna, sounding more ZsaZsa than ZsaZsa, herself (and has anyone seen the pair of them together in one room). “Vashinkton lahffs Hollyvud and Hollvud lahffs Vashinkton.”
That was a prelude to a backdrop of photo opportunities, showing wet-knickered celebrity bimbos posing prettily with staid, patrician politicos – with either person doubtless wondering who the other might be. I caught a glimpse of Jon Bon Jovi in one flick, Michelle Pfeiffer in another.
I thought this was an annual dinner given the White House Press Correspondents. Since when did it become the Oscars away from home? Who are these people, and why are they there? Last year, Sting and Trudie Styler were invited, with eco warrior Trudie cadging the couple’s private jet and ferrying the eight people absolutely necessary to put her skinny frame together for one evening, one of those necessary people being a feng shui expert).
The whole broadcast was a cacophony of name-dropping, which – I suppose – was meant to impress the viewer. I can’t say I slept any sounder in my bed, having been told by Fuckington that all of the political establishment adored her special guest, Scarlett Johanssen, they worshipped at her feet.
Forgive me, but I don’t want people I elect to ponce about of an evening worshipping at the feet of an peroxided latent adolescent who scrubs up well, and I don’t care if her intellectual credentials included spotting Bernie Sanders across the room and sprinting over tables to confront him. That anecdote didn’t cut any ice with me, and it shouldn’t with anyone else.
I don’t give a rat’s ass which nameless Hollywood actor hung out with Willie Geist and increased Geist’s street cred amongst people who normally wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole, and I wanted Mika, daughter of Democrats, to respond to Whoreanna’s pointless bragging of having met Scott Brown and having been told that Brown named his eldest daughter after her, by snapping: “Think about it, you dumb bitch, when the girl was born twenty years ago, you were a fucking Republican so far to the Right you make Sarah fucking Palin look libera! Now shut the fuck up and order me an Alka Seltzer on the rocks. My head is splitting!”
The whole ego-stroking episode is given pride of place on Huffington Post, just under the main story of the oil spill and the President’s visit.
I find it astounding that this pathetic parvenue and blatant social-climber should consider herself a natural spokesperson for the middle classes. Many members of the class she purports to defend probably waited on her table the previous evening.
On a day when the Gulf Coast is being ravaged by an oil spill, when unemployment is rife and rising and when those who are employed are often either underemployed or working three jobs to make ends meet, that this superficial dilettante should waste time telling the little people she thinks she serves about the party lives of the rich, the famous and the powerful.
I don’t know whether this was a jump-the-shark moment for Whoreanna, but it certainly reeked of “let-them-eat-cake” attitude.
There is a lot of heated discussion going on in America now, sparked by the Arizona immigration debate, regarding immigration reform. It seems that everyone is agreed that immigration should continue in some way, but that there are, indeed, two types of immigrants: the “wrong” type of immigrant and the “right” sort.
I think Arianna Huffington falls in the former category.
I would like to know if her papers are in order.
Man! You guys!
– Blondie, “Rip Her to Shreds”
(Heypsst psst, here she comes now.)
Oh, you know her.
Would ya look at that hair!
Yeah, you know her,
Check out those shoes.
She looks like she stepped out of the middle of somebody’s blues.
She looks like the Sunday comics!
She thinks she’s Brenda Starr.
Her nose job is real atomic…
all she needs is an old knife scar!
Ehhh, she’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
She’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
Oh, you know her, “Miss Groupie Supreme”!
Yeah, you know her, “Vera Vogue” on parade.
Red eye shadow!
Green mascara!
Yuck.
She’s too much.
She looks like she don’t know better.
A case of partial extreme.
Dressed in a Robert Hall sweater.
Acting like a soap opera queen…
Ehhh, she’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
She’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
She got the nerve to tell me she’s not “on it”
But her expression is too serene…
Yeah, she looks like she washes with Vomit!
Always looking to create a scene…
Ehhh, she’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
She’s so dull, come on rip her to shreds.
She’s so dull.
Rip her to shreds!
Oh, you know her, “Miss Groupie Supreme”.
Yeah, you know her, “Vera Vogue” on parade.
Yeah, you know her, with the fish eating grin…
She’s so dull.
Yeah, she got the nerve to tell me!
Huh, she’s so… dull…
Yeah, there she goes now.
She making out with King Kong!
She take her boat to Hong Kong.
Well, bye bye sugar!
And not a minute too soon.
The media has turned into the mean seventh grade girl.
Perhaps. But this is my, possibly pompous (but then so be it), attempt to call my compatriots here at POV out on all the catty put downs. Life’s too short.
Agreed, whatsie.
Message received, What’s. Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
Thank you, Cher!
Whatsie — greetings from OH-I-O!
I spent Sunday evening watching Gandhi — the movie. Sorry to say, I’d never seen it prior. Go figure, I actually now understand the hatred between Pakistan and India. Muslims — Hindu — India — what a mess then, as well as now. The older one gets, the more one learns. Heh!
However, as a little kid, I do remember hearing Gandhi’s name. My family was the ultimate example of neo-con (even back then), racist, bigoted, divisive class-consciousness.
I agree with you that life is too short, and I try to remind myself of this everyday. On the other hand, and with all due respect, you’ve been there for 20+ years and not here like the rest of us.
There’s a fine line between frustration, venting, and turning the other cheek. You already know none of us is perfect (we’ll be the first to admit), but you do know we try, simply because of the philosophy of the Planet. Yet once in awhile (and I will speak for myself only), I’d rather make a point by weathering a slap in the face, than turning the other cheek.
I understand, Boomer. And you’re right that I do have the distance of having lived elsewhere for twenty years. I hesitated to write anything, but then, I thought, this is Planet POV, and we should feel free to express our points of view, even when that is to be critical of things others here have written. I just don’t like it when people are reduced to caricatures. First of all, because it is never true. It may make someone feel good to use curse words, call someone a “whore” etc., but what is accomplished by that?
Oh – neener, neener – last Friday April 30 I was pinch hitting for Jeff Sharlet at a banquet in Albuquerque. He was ill, and I accepted his award, the Thomas Jefferson First Amendment award, from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The other award recipient? Ed Asner. So I got to sit with him all evening and listened to him gripe and grumble about the Reeps and the Religious Right. He’s a stitch and a delightful man! I had a MUCH better time with MUCH classier company! And Ms. Huff Pooh was nowhere in sight.
Only real excitement? While I was speaking, a guy outside was arrested while casing the joint. With a gun.
Now you tell me – which event was more fun?
And we did not have unemployed people either waiting on us (we waited on ourselves buffet style) or as chairs. We were TRES cool!
Bite me, Arianna!
Verrry cool, ChoiceLady !
I’m much more envious of your soiree than Ms. Huffsalot’s –
& to have sat right next to Ed Asner (a fine mind, that one), why, I’d have given up my BigMac that day for that 😉
Seriously, nicely done, the speech & all –
Lise- He’s everything you ever hoped he’d be. He’s warm, funny, sharp, and – yes – sexy. Big flirt, made every woman in the room feel attractive, even one who was nearing 90. Grace, humor, dignity, wit, growliness, and sarcasm all rolled into one very principled man. I indeed would give up my Big Mac or even a Double Down to talk with him again. Best night in many a moon. Save for the guy with the gun. But hey…
Excellent commentary on our crazy times Marion but I wish you would not hold back so much. 😉
I recall when the correspondence dinner was actually an offbeat innocent kind of event. Then I guess when the media became just another source of entertainment. Then the entertainment industry naturally took over the correspondence dinner as well. Since then it has become more and more hyped to the point that lil’ Joe, Mika and of course the queen bee herself jumped the shark by doing a show just devoted to the event.
Face it like I always said the only reason Aryanna switched to progressive was to get on the Hollywood “A” list because you know conservatives can’t smooze quite the same with Hollywood types.
Wadda mean conservatives can’t schmooze the same with Hollywood types ???
They have the likes of Victoria Jackson & Chuck Norris – I mean, who’s missing ?
(Snark) & total agreement ! w/ regards to HairyAnna’s uber-coziness with ….whoever –
Pure “B” listers that’s the problem.
You forgot the other Baldwin brother and Craig T Nelson and the crazy guy from Cheers, too!
Ugh, then there’s the Dennis Miller, Dennis Hopper, and Kelsey Grammer types.
John Ratzenberger!
He’s a nutjob up there with Victoria Jackson.
I can’t believe they even gave him his own show on Travel Channel still…
Dennis Hopper ?????
Tell me it ain’t so ….
Yes, but he voted Obama because of Palin.
It’s about money with him.
Indeed, KQ – Marion needs not to be so shy and retiring.
I did not see this “discussion”, but you captured it SO WELL, Marion, I don’t need to. She did recap it on HuffPo, so she must have been very pleased with herself. She’d be alone in that.
*
Personally, I don’t mind a bit of extra coverage for an event that allowed President Obama to showcase his great sense of humor & comedic timing.
(Esp. in light of the fact that most other news lately is so dour) –
But to have it featured by Morning Joe & Mika ??
Whom I find to be (respectively) the most arrogant & obnoxious non-Fox face on television ….& the sorriest, vapid female around, ….together the epitome of dysfunction ??
I avoid the pair like the plague –
Marion : A great read ! Much better to have read your (both scathing & hilarious) take on it, than to have had to suffer through watching it –
I have no problems with the events intended purpose. To put a human face on our leaders. I did not even mind when Bush did them. But Fuck Dick Cheney was like watching an evil troll doing standup.
I got one stomach-churning glimpse of this and exited.
I missed this epic of journalistic achievement but based on the description I have a few suggestions for improving the show for next year.
1. Bring Robin Leach out of retirement and have him moderate the discussion.
2. Have the show catered by the Marie Antoinette Cake Co.
3. Have all hide their hangover faces by wearing masks of Disney cartoon princesses.
4. Tit tape for everyone!
5. Have everyone else play a prank on Mika repeatedly that she has a bit of pate on her cheek and keep her self-consciously wiping her face throughout the show.
6. Use unemployed people as their chairs.
7. At a commercial break, replace Arianna Huffington with a Glad garbage bag filled with horse manure and see if anyone notices.
8. Get Joe so drunk he starts french kissing himself.
9. Have them do the show naked but constantly complimenting each other on the new clothes they’re wearing.
10. Do the show on location in a dumpster.
😆 😆 😆
😆 LOL 😆 LOL 😆 !!!
Gracias escribacat!!!
Ohhhh, man, that’s worth a C&P – a keeper – LOL !!!
Flattery will get you everywhere including on Morning Joe.
Thanks so much, Lise!
Brilliant, AdLib! I especially appreciated #6. 😆
Thanks Kes!
Ha!
However, with #5, I might start off with pate on her cheek, then say there was tooth paste on her other cheek, and then continue the suggestion prank by inquiring about her tasseled pasties. This in turn causes her to look down to check if she actually has any on. It can then segue nicely into a lively conversation about Arianna’s forehead tit tape.
The climax would naturally be Mika’s “look down” while everyone else was silent.
Heh! Wonder if it would be going too far to have Joe mention that Mika is the only one at the table with men’s underwear on?
Only if Arianna chimes in with “Hangdown to the right or left, dahlink?”.
I’m going there.
That, on second thought was quite un-ladylike.
Delete me!
That, I argue, gave me a good chuckle, so it should stay !
😆 great list.
AdLib – I thought they’d done #7 some years ago when she was pretending she was smart enough to run for CA governor.
No one noticed.
The “law and order” Wyatt Earp mentality of the Arizona immigration law is nothing but feel good legislation so the republican controled state legislature can say they are doing something to stop the flow of illegal workers, guns, and drugs. The truth is a little more 5th, 6th, or 7th dimensional. Until the Mexican Federal police and the FBI go after the human smugglers and narco-trafficers nothing much will happen except that a lot of decent law abiding citizens will be harassed by law enforcement in Arizona.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/237196
I didn’t see this, but could it have been worse than the solemn procession of red carpet celebrities?
Probably.
If you didn’t think things in Arizona could get any more whacko, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/03/20100503arpaio-run-for-governor-announcement.html
The silver lining on that one is that he has to resign his sheriff’s job to run! Yes! We can only hope that he does that, gets solidly trounced, and disappears. Finally.
I saw him interviewed on MSNBC or CNN (switching back and forth) saying he’s NOT running and will remain sheriff. Bah.
Sighhhhh. Bummer.
But thanks for the update, c’lady.
Brava, Marion! A tour de force! Perfect description of a cringe-inducing morning-after hash over of an evening event that seems to be getting more attention all the time. And certainly more than it ever deserved.
It’s great that our Prez is so sharp and witty and charming. He is an amazingly capable guy when it comes to stand-up. But I wonder what would happen if we ever elected a brilliant, capable but stodgy Harry Truman sorta guy. Would he go down in flames because he couldn’t crack wise?
The Joe ‘n’ Mika After-Show just demonstrates to struggling, desperate American workers that what they suspect just might be true: Washington is one big Bubble of Disconnect. Media whores, corporate whores and political whores all partying in happy symbiosis, while the nation crumbles. It was nauseating to watch.
On re-reading my own comment, I have to clarify that I do not count the President and his allies among the political whores in DC, even though they do attend events like this one. I hope no one read it that way. There’s a difference between socializing and pandering and I’m sure the Prez knows it!
Marion, I am so glad you gave me this opportunity to let loose my extreme cattiness and contempt for, not only Morning Joke and Co, but in particular Mika B. I didn
Perfect examples of why I don’t have cable, own a 15 yo television, and have screen savers more interesting and informative.
So, no I didn’t see it, but from what everyone has written, it sure sounds like an after-prom party. How old are these people?
How do you watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs? 😆
That’s just it PL — I don’t… 🙂 Keeps the BP meds lower.
I have to completely agree with your take on poor Mika –
Her insecurity / neuroses are so palpable, it makes me cringe.
& the way the men (all of them) involved with the show, incl. Pat Buchanan & Mike Barnicle etc. do their corresponding passive-aggressive treatment on her, makes it all just too uncomfortable to watch.
Mika is so out of place, I can’t imagine the inner tension she has to try to contend with, on a daily basis.
One can use tit-tape along the hairline for incipient jowls? How about inchoate dewlaps?