Saturday, April 04, 2009

Such a Treat

(click for some "careful" Cokie)
Scott Simon: "Cokie, thanks so much for being with us."
Cokie Roberts: "Oh, Scott, what a treat to be with you."
So it began, and if you could bear the gooey ooze of this NPR soft-core jornography, you have a strong stomach indeed. What is Simon thanking her for? She comes on and gets a four and a half minute commercial for the release of a revised version of a book she has written - some sacrifice. And as for the treat? We do get treated all right.

The treat starts with some love for Sarah Palin:
Simon: "...you write about the 2008 election in this book and you believe that both Senator Clinton and Governor Palin had to endure some nonsense and worse. You even use the word sexism and abuse."

Roberts: " I think, absolutely, I think that the words used about them - words like shrill, were not words that you would ever hear applied to a man. You certainly have NEVER! EVER! EVER! EVER! ever had a male politician asked who's going to be taking care of the children when he runs for office including the current President of the United States..."
I'm not about to claim that there was no sexism in regard to Palin (or to Clinton) - obviously there was. But for Roberts to treat the Clinton candidacy as equivalent to the Palin candidacy is both stupid and absurd. Whatever one thinks of Clinton, she brought knowledge, national political experience, and a record of advocating for women's and children's rights to her campaign. Palin on the other hand brought us Joe-plumberism: stupidity, arrogance, reaction, bigotry, and spin.

Secondly, you have to love how Roberts tries to have it both ways. She opened the interview with this unsubstantiated claim:
"...and women cooperate more - this is a broad statement obviously - but they cooperate more across party lines."
And then after she yells and rants about the question of who will take care of the children, she follows with this winner:
"...women are caretakers. We take care of our children, our friends and our spouses...one of our great talents..."
The contradiction wasn't even subtle, and Scott Simon's reaction? Does he ask for some concrete examples? No, instead he moves on to another NPR favorite - Michele Rhee, the privateering school superintendent of the Washington DC public schools. And of course Roberts is just so enamored of Rhee: "...but she discovered, she working with another teacher, could really make a difference in those kids lives."

All that was missing was some love for Condi Rice and Jeane Kirkpatrick. But the love fest between Scott and Cokie wasn't over yet. The interview ends as it began:

Simon: "Cokie thanks so much."
Roberts: "Thank you Scott, it's such a treat to be with you."

***Note regarding graphic: During the interview Cokie noted that "women have to be careful about a lot of things still as we saw in the last political campaign. One of the things I've learned is that you have to be careful when you speak and when you don't speak on say Sunday television programs." Oh how funny Cokie is.

11 comments:

bg!pnk!fzzy!bnny! said...

Blecch. Were I still tuning in, I would've tuned out. Oh, what a conundrum!

b!p! said...

PS: that opener and closer does inspire the following monikers -
Coke Robot & Scott Sim-1

(bzzt! that does not compute... that does not compute...)

Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...

I heard that and i almost hurled.

I stayed with it for 15 seconds, til it became evidenc\t that this was just to ba another of flyffy scotty's sycophantic prostate massages (well, you know what i mean), and i switched it over to the rancheria station...

geoff said...

Cokie always puts me in mind of southern plantation lady who's been so kind as to allow a negro to approach her porch so she can sew the seeds of a false rumor that she hopes will amuse her by having that negro kilt by a mob of angry, murderous white men avenging the honor of a white woman. Try the short story "Dry September."

geoff said...

Faulkner, of course.

Mytwords said...

Ah yes, plantation time calls up the good ol' days of Cokie's daddy, the Honorable Hale Boggs, US Rep. from the great state of Louisiana. His name can be found at the bottom of this quaint little blast from the past.

geoff said...

Oh no - ¿Hale Boggs? This is too much information...from Brown act debunking to the Warren Commission to disappearing on a small aircraft on a junket to Juneau, this is a cartoonish Dixiecrat on a par with Haley Barbour, not to be confused with the woman who played Perry Mason's secretary: Hale Barbara, or S-S-P-R-R-O-O-I-I-N-G-G-G! (sound of brain stem gasket burst)

Anonymous said...

"You certainly have NEVER! EVER! EVER! EVER! ever had a male politician asked who's going to be taking care of the children when he runs for office including the current President of the United States..."

I had to read that twice!

At first, I read that as "who's going to be taking care of the children, including the current President of the United States".

George Bush was a child, all right: a spoiled brat.

But give them a break.

NPR announcers have to stroke each others egos because no one else is going to do it.

You won't see these people getting any prizes or praise from a legitimate journalist, that's for sure.

WarOnWarOff said...

Funny, I seem to recall that Paul Krugman was called "shrill" so much during chimpy's last days that we began jokingly calling him "the Shrill One" on blogs.

Juan "Toss" Ensalada said...

WoWo,

Don't confuse Cokie with the facts...

-JET

Anonymous said...

The arrogance of some people is at least justified (eg, if they happen to have a Nobel prize in physics).

The arrogance of NPR announcers on the other hand...

Not so much.

Cokie is an oreo cookie without the creme.