1 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:16,600 Speaker 1: Is Trump dying or something? I mean the Obama's at 2 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: the DNC and the Washington Post unexpectedly fully imploding, and 3 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: Trump confirming he is ready to bribe RFK in order 4 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: to get him to drop out endorse him. And did 5 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: you hear Trump yesterday? Did you hear him talk? He's 6 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: in Howell, Michigan, where it might as well be Alabama 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: in the year eighteen fifty five, where they marched chanting, 8 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 1: we love Hitler, we love Trump a month ago, and 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: he came out at the County Sheriff's office and behind 10 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: him with the cops as the props, and in front 11 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: of him the local fascists all named jan an irv 12 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: irv with an E. And if he had had ten 13 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: times the energy and ten times the focus he actually had, 14 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: you would have said, what's wrong with Trump? Is he 15 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: dying or something? 16 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 2: Very very much appreciate it. 17 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 3: Nice place, by the way, the incredible people outside. You said, 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 3: the crash, and we really feel good about to say, 19 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 3: and the area we're doing very well here. It's just 20 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 3: got a pall that was very good. Lot e withod 21 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 3: falls in the last couple of days. Thank you to 22 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 3: the Livingston County Shoff's department for walking us in such 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 3: a beautiful way. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: To get a roll of stamps and mail it. In 25 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: pal quarter century ago, my ex brother in law went 26 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: sudden on set by polar no previous diagnosis, then the 27 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: full thing all at once. He decided he was a 28 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: freeway cop in La. He was actually a minister. He 29 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: started pulling other drivers over. And this was when freeway 30 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: shootings were the rage in LA. And he spent twice 31 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: his annual South in travel bookings for Christmas. And they 32 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: hospitalized him and medicated him, and he was already in 33 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: there three days, and he still had not slept, He 34 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: still hadn't fully left the high end of the spectrum. 35 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: And he phoned me and pretended he was not in 36 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: the hospital, and he pretended he had not gone sleepless 37 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,920 Speaker 1: for seventy two hours, and he pretended everything was just fine. 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: And he sounded like he had been gargling with battery acid. 39 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: And he sounded better in that phone call than Trump 40 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: sounded yesterday. In Ku Klux Klan City, Michigan. 41 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 2: You know, interestingly like New York. When I left for Washington, 42 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 2: New York was we had a very bad mayor, Deblasio 43 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 2: but he wasn't there that long, and he couldn't ruin 44 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 2: what took place. But we had a city that was 45 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 2: so wonderful and so thriving, and just in a few 46 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 2: short years that change. New York State is doing terribly. 47 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 2: I heard the governor last night speaking so viciously and 48 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 2: violently about me, But she doesn't speak about what they've 49 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 2: done to destroy the state. The law enforcement has been decimated. 50 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 2: The judges. What's gone on with the judges in New York. 51 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 2: Nobody can There's no justice have They just have it 52 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 2: out for the police. Nobody knows why. I don't understand why. 53 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 2: From the common sense, I like to say the Republican 54 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 2: Party is now the party of common sense. Conservative, Yeah, 55 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 2: I guess conservative, It doesn't matter. It's the party of 56 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 2: common sense. We want to have borders, we want to 57 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 2: have strong police protection. We want a military they can 58 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 2: protect us. 59 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: We want great look done. If you need a nap, 60 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: just curl up on the floor. It's better than this 61 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: sleepwalking stuff. Holy cow. By the way, Trump spokes bubblehead 62 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: Caroline Levitt explained that this new Trump, that one inaudible 63 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: Jay Trump, he is presenting a message of optimism to 64 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: contrast what the Democrats are doing at their convention. Look, 65 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: we can argue policy all you want, mis Levitt, but 66 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: one thing the Democrats are doing at their convention is 67 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: remaining audible and intelligible to people who are standing more 68 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 1: than five feet away. Have you ever heard Trump like this? 69 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: My god? I mean, I don't think he's dying dying. 70 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,679 Speaker 1: I think there are intermediate stages between having every single 71 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: thing in your presidential campaign turn against you in a 72 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 1: matter of thirteen days two weeks and actually dying. But look, 73 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: if this mumbling stuff continues at this rate, they're going 74 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: to have to start putting live captions over him. Shaking 75 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: off his somnambulance for a second. Trump did respond to 76 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: the overture from the RFK Junior camp about dropping out 77 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: if Trump would give him a role in his cabinet. 78 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: I didn't know he was thinking about getting out, Trump said, 79 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: But if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I'd 80 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: be open to it. I would accuse Trump of lying 81 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: about this. Every poll for a month has been unmistakably 82 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: clear Kennedy's support has been cut by half, and that 83 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: half went to Kamala Harris. And what's left is almost 84 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: entirely coming at Trump's expense, and there had been talk 85 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: about this last week, but maybe Trump didn't know Kennedy 86 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: was thinking about it, because getting back to my original question, 87 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: is Trump dying or something? Of course, it's not Kennedy 88 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: who's thinking about doing any of this. He's too busy 89 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: knifing bear cubs on the parkways around fun City here 90 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: or something. It's this idiot Nicole Shanahan, whom he named 91 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: his quote running mate unquote because she was willing to 92 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: basically finance ninety percent of their nut job campaign, and 93 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: because every single conspiracy theory he does not believe in, 94 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: she does. And even Shanahan has figured this out, telling 95 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: a podcast called Impact Theory that there's a choice between 96 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: continuing which case, quote, we run the risk of a 97 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: Kamala Harris and Wall's presidency as we draw votes for Trump, 98 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: we draw somehow more votes from Trump, or we walk 99 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. Translation, 100 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: bribe us and we will go away and endorse you. 101 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,040 Speaker 1: Based on Shanahan's comments, again, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is 102 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: somewhere insisting that I don't know dangerous Wi Fi signals 103 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: caused putin to go into Ukraine or something. What they 104 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: apparently want for dropping out is Secretary of Health and 105 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: Human Services, for him Kennedy, or for somebody they approve. 106 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: Verifying as that thought is, I can answer only Secretary 107 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: of Education Betsy Debos. Whatever deal Shanahan brokers with Trump, 108 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: and she says she has been in contact with that 109 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: campaign and it's going well, she better do it damned fast. 110 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: A friend of Kennedy's has reportedly delivered boxes to election 111 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: officials in Arizona, boxes containing one hundred and ten thousand 112 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: ballot signatures. Only they had been gathered by a super 113 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: pack supporting Kennedy, and such coordination between the actual Kennedy 114 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: campaign and a super pack supporting Kennedy is wildly illegal. 115 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: On the other hand, at this point, what other option 116 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: does Kennedy have? The New York Times reports that the 117 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: campaign itself gathered nine thousand signatures in Arizona. The number 118 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: to get on the ballot in Arizona is forty two thousand. 119 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: So they better act quickly with Trump, or they might 120 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: have nothing to withdraw from and thus nothing to negotiate with. 121 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: On the other hand, I hope somebody from the Kennedy 122 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: campaign has also reached out directly to JV Vance because 123 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: you know, is is Trump dying or something? Now to 124 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: the self defenestration of the Washington Post and the New 125 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 1: York Times and Politico and CNN and all the other 126 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: news organizations that have disconnected their political coverage from reality 127 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: and insulated their decision makers from the fact that they 128 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: are burning themselves to the ground. And we'll skip for 129 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: a moment. The idea that suddenly where the leaked campaign 130 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: memos came from matters when eight years ago, when they 131 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: were Clinton campaign memos, it didn't matter. Oh, we can't 132 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: touch it. It's from Iran. The Times really did this yesterday, 133 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: really did this. I thought I was reading the onion. 134 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: They did it with no sense of irony, no of 135 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: meta self reflection that would make you go, all right, 136 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: I'll stick around for another day or two before I 137 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: canceled my subscription for the third time this year. They 138 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: actually printed this, you ready. Kamala Harris's tan suit was 139 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: a surprising choice. Our fashion critic rights, Holy effing Christ, 140 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: and they did it just as Maureen Daoud did it 141 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: on Sunday. The Dems are delighted, but a coup is 142 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: still a coup. That headline came exactly twenty nine days 143 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: after Maureen Dawd wrote Lord Almighty Joe, let it go. 144 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: And there's no meta there either. There's no second paragraph 145 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: in which Dowd writes a paragraph owning up to her 146 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: own mental faculties and their decline, and her own fitness 147 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,719 Speaker 1: for office or her own age. The Post really did 148 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: it yesterday and very late Monday, as well, fact checking 149 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: Biden's speech and other elements of the Democratic National Convention 150 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: first night. Only it wasn't about getting the facts right. 151 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: It was as if there were somebody from the Trump 152 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 1: campaigns standing over fact checker Glen Kessler's shoulder saying, if 153 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: you get this long and they've in, if you put 154 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: you in jail, well verse, if you make sure you 155 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: never get a dinner reservation in this town. Again, more 156 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: on the thing with fact checking and the Post in moment, 157 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:33,080 Speaker 1: But first Politico did it again too, with their newsletters that, 158 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: at the present rate of deterioration will be by September 159 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 1: first or so forty percent news and sixty percent lists 160 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: of birthdays, who showed up to what book party, new 161 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:49,280 Speaker 1: kids sightings of Tammy Haddad and other realizations of what 162 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: used to be the self policing joke of all political 163 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,599 Speaker 1: reporters that the White House Correspondence Dinner was the Oscars 164 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: for ugly people. That joke. Only now these same reporters 165 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,199 Speaker 1: who used to make that joke, they think the Oscars 166 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: is the White House Correspondence Dinner for unimportant people. I 167 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: was thinking that the Times, the Post, CNN, Politico, Axios, 168 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 1: and lots of others have become utterly self referential and 169 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: designed only to be read by the Times, Posts, CNN, Politico, 170 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: and Axios when Meredith Schiner published a piece yesterday in 171 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: the New Republic that makes this point beautifully. If I may, 172 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: the headline, beware the pundit brained version of the Democratic Convention. Yep, 173 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,320 Speaker 1: the subheadline. As everyday Americans tune in to watch Kamala 174 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: Harris receive her party's nomination, they should trust what they 175 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: see with their own eyes, especially as DC's chattering class 176 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: tries to gaslight them. I have to read some of 177 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: what she wrote. It was as if she mined mind 178 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: my own mind for this information and then wrote it 179 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 1: better than I could quote. As this class of political 180 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: elites descends on Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention. 181 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: The average consumer of news needs to know they are 182 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: not really coming here to workshop policy, interpret or execute 183 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: progressive politics, or even discuss electoral strategy. They're coming to 184 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 1: attend corporate sponsored happy hours, eat free meals together at 185 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 1: the CNN Grill, and maybe, if they're really lucky, snag 186 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: a selfie with John Legend. And now more than ever, 187 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:46,080 Speaker 1: we should ask who all of this, this punditry, this hobnobbing, 188 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: this naval gazing, is really four to continue, Because if 189 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 1: this summer has revealed anything, it's that, just like the 190 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: scott Walkers of your we are watching the national meetia 191 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: short circuit before our very eyes. They are insular, they 192 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: are unprepared, and after years of watching Morning Joe and 193 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: searching for their birthdays in the Politico playbook, I feel 194 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: so seen. After years of watching Morning Joe and searching 195 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,079 Speaker 1: for their birthdays in the Politico Playbook, they do not 196 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: see their role as speaking to us, but rather speaking 197 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: to themselves. While this may seem ancillary to the main 198 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: plotline of our national politics, the mainstream media own golding 199 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: themselves out of civic relevance is a net negative for 200 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: anyone who believes in the outcome of better, more representative, 201 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: good government. Of course, she continues, the Beltway media are conservative. 202 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 1: This is not a novel argument by any means. It's 203 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: an industry run by increasingly reac actionary plutocrats who reliably 204 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: summon their charges to lead a highly effective but how 205 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: will you pay for it? Pincer movement against anything resembling 206 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: liberal policy. Meanwhile, there is seemingly no sin grievous enough 207 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: to earn a Republican the same sort of nullifying skepticism. 208 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: The Trumpists who aided and abetted the former president's attempt 209 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: to overturn a lawful election remain in the good graces 210 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: of America's cable news bookers. Oh my god, I love this. 211 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: Can we make it into a series? Still, we need 212 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,479 Speaker 1: to acknowledge that the media are conservative in the most traditional, 213 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: unideological sense of the word. They are clinging to a 214 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: status quo, their status quo that has not matched our reality. 215 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: Since Barack Obama was elected president in two thousand and 216 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: eight and the Tea Party emerged as the energized manifestation 217 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: of Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighties fevered their rules, their conventional wisdom, 218 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 1: their savvy takes, become more stale, more detached from normal life, 219 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: and more cartoonish with every passing day. End quote begin applause. 220 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: Tempting as it is, I have not read Miss Shiner's 221 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: piece in The New Republic allowed in its entirety. I 222 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: encourage you to do so, and to do so on 223 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: their website, and I don't know, buy something from their advertisers. 224 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: I will note I have been hitting this one point 225 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: for at least ten years now that the political cognizantee 226 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: have not covered Trump nor any of the consequences of 227 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: his raping and pillaging of America because they still haven't 228 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: figured out which reportorial template fits all of this or 229 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: which news cubby hole they can stuff the whole thing into. 230 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: Chuck Todd, Chris Solissa, Maggie Haberman, and Ryan Lizza don't 231 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: actually exist. They are just mediocre people doing bad impressions 232 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: of David Brinkley, Tom Wicker, Tim Russert, Woodward and Bernstein. 233 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: They read what was written or said before, and they think, only, 234 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: how can I now write that again? It had not 235 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: happened by the time Miss Shiner wrote her masterpiece. But 236 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: speaking of Woodward, The Washington Post actually had to be 237 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: pressured into fact checking it's timid, terrified fact checking of 238 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,920 Speaker 1: the first nine of the convention. The Post still will 239 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: not fix its assertion claiming Trump wanted Americans to inject 240 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: bleach to fight COVID was quote exaggerated. It still says 241 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: because Trump later contradicted himself that he didn't really mean 242 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: it when he said that women who had abortions had 243 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: to be punished in some way when he said it 244 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,879 Speaker 1: on videotape. The Post will not correct its inaccurate criticism 245 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: of Joe Biden for saying Trump answered the Charlottesville white 246 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: supremacist attack by saying, there are very fine people on 247 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 1: both sides. But the Post insisted that there was no 248 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,199 Speaker 1: evidence that Trump ever sent love letters to dictators, with 249 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: mister Kessler writing, we do not know what Trump wrote 250 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: to Kim Jong un. Folks at Media Matters went appropriately not. 251 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: Of course, we know what Trump wrote to Kim Jong un. 252 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: Trump showed those letters to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. 253 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: The Washington Post fact check now has its own fact 254 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: check about the Washington Post quote. Parts of the letters 255 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: were revealed in a twenty twenty book by Washington Post 256 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: Associate editor Bob Woodward after Trump permitted him to read 257 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,200 Speaker 1: the letters into his tape recorder at the White House. 258 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: This article has been corrected. The problem is that's it 259 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: for the corrections. The Times, Post, Politico at al are 260 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:11,199 Speaker 1: still reporting as Miss Shiner noted for each other. I 261 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: was flashed back to a day thirty five years ago 262 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: when I was the sports director of the CBS television 263 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: station in Los Angeles and our network got the baseball contract. 264 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: This is when people still wanted to watch baseball on television. 265 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,879 Speaker 1: I was nominated to be the host of the pregame 266 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: show for the new CBS Game of the Week, a 267 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: role I would later fill at NBC and Fox and Turner. 268 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: The same job at four networks would have been pretty good, 269 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: you have to admit that. But the guy making the 270 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,920 Speaker 1: call on this at CBS in nineteen eighty nine was 271 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: some dult named Rick Losovita las Avita. There's a coincidence, 272 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: and he and Brent Musburger interviewed me one Sunday morning 273 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: because Brent was supposed to be the CBS baseball play 274 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: by play man, but he did not know CBS was 275 00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: about to fire him. The week before the season began. Anyway, 276 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: los Avita, who if I remember correctly, had been a 277 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 1: second baseman at Harvard, rather listlessly asked me whose point 278 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: of view CBS Baseball should take the batter important but myopic, 279 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: ultimately an irrelevancy, the pitcher, the truly uninvolved non athlete, 280 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: or perhaps the second basement at the center of all 281 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: the action, captain of the defense lynchpin in any play. 282 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: And I said, I think we should take the point 283 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:40,199 Speaker 1: of view of the fan. Lsavita looked at me in 284 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: the eyes for the only time he would do so 285 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: during the interview, and he said, with genuine surprise, the 286 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 1: point of view of the fan? What's that? And why 287 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: on earth does that matter? Bluntly? Right now, our political 288 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: media is this CBS sports guy Rick Glarsovita. A couple 289 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,159 Speaker 1: poll notes the UVA Center for Politics. This is the 290 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,719 Speaker 1: Larry Sabato operation has, for the first time this cycle, 291 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:41,439 Speaker 1: moved a state from Lean's Republican to toss up. The 292 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: state is North Carolina. This is in line with polling 293 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,359 Speaker 1: that suggests she has closed the gap on Trump and 294 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: continues to improve there. Virginia Roanoke College polling a little 295 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 1: old closed last Friday. Harris forty seven, Trump forty four 296 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: in Virginia, swing state's focal data polling for I'm a 297 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: four News, also a little old. It closed last Friday. 298 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,439 Speaker 1: Trump by two in Arizona and four in Georgia. They 299 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: are tied in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Harris by four 300 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin, Harris by six in Michigan, Harris by eight 301 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,959 Speaker 1: in Nevada. The electoral college map based on the Siena 302 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: polls Harris three hundred and thirteen, Trump two hundred and 303 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: twenty five ipsos, ABC unfavorables. Get a load of this. 304 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: Harris favorable opinion forty seven percent, unfavorable opinion forty seven percent, 305 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: less than most others, but still positive. But this is remarkable. 306 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: Trump favorable opinion thirty six percent, unfavorable sixty percent. That's 307 00:21:52,640 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: negative twenty four. No wonder he's m mean. I'm not 308 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: saying he's dying. I'm just saying, is he dying? It 309 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: looks sounds like he's anyway. Also of interest here the 310 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: right wing responds to all of this. It's almost unbelievable, 311 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: But they have gone back to blaming it all on 312 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: the mastermind behind the scenes pulling the strings. A foreigner 313 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: manipulating America and laying plans to continue to manipulate America 314 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: for the next quarter of a century. And that foreigner's 315 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: name is Barack Obama. Bertherism reborn. That's next. This is countdown. 316 00:22:45,280 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: This is countdown, with Keith Oberner still ahead of us 317 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,360 Speaker 1: on this editionive Countdown. I walked past the bar yesterday 318 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: on a beautiful day in New York. It was forty 319 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,679 Speaker 1: three years ago, like last month, when a bunch of 320 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: us wasted an entire day trying to find the owner 321 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: of the New York Yankees in hopes that for some 322 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 1: reason he would give us some vital information. We never 323 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: found him. After I gave up, I went home, I 324 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: got a pizza. I walked past this bar down the 325 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: street from my house, and who steps out the side 326 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: door but the owner of the New York Yankees. And 327 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 1: that's not even the most amazing parts ahead in things 328 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,120 Speaker 1: I promised not to tell first, there are still more 329 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,400 Speaker 1: new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup of the miscrants, 330 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute two days 331 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 1: those persons persons in the world, world worse Eraser had 332 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: himself Jesse Waters of Fox News. This is what he 333 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: said yesterday. There's a weird vibe going on. I can't 334 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,840 Speaker 1: figure it out. He could have stopped there and could 335 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 1: have summarized his entire career, but he went on, there's 336 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: a weird vibe going on. I can't figure it out. 337 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: Barack Obama is still the godfather of this machine. He 338 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: gave us Joe Biden as VP, he gave us Hillary 339 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 1: as Secretary of State. Then he coued Joe, put all 340 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: his boys with Kamala's team, and he had his wingman, 341 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: holder Vett Waltz. I don't know who Waltz is. I 342 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 1: presume he means Governor Walls, the vice presidential nominee. They've 343 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: given up trying to mispronounce Kamala Harris's name, and now 344 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 1: they've moved on to mispronouncing Walls's name. Now the guy's 345 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: a young sixty three. He's going to be doing this 346 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,399 Speaker 1: the next twenty five years. He's definitely going to interfere 347 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,600 Speaker 1: with this election. By that, Waters means Obama plans to 348 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: vote interfere. This is why we will be ending Johnny 349 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: to Hawaii to get the truth about the birth certificate. 350 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: This time we will dig deep and find out what 351 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: really happened. Yeah, okay, Number one Fox just re embraced 352 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: birtherism if you missed it. Number two Waters just confessed 353 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: the greatest fear at Fox. The ongoing obsession now in 354 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: its what seventeenth year? This idiot Waters speaking of seventeen years. 355 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: He's only seventeen years younger than is Barack Obama. They 356 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 1: really think that they will be living in a world 357 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: manipulated by Barack Obama until the year two thousand and 358 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: forty nine, to which I say, good, have a great time. Moron. 359 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: Number three, This Johnny that Eraser had Jesse ascending to Hawaii. 360 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,959 Speaker 1: Johnny is a houseplant. Then again, so is Jesse Waters. 361 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: The runner up worser Amy Kramer, Georgia Republican Committee woman, 362 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: former TEA partier and January sixth speaker. You know this 363 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: not too bright, possibly brain damaged right wing troll Jack Posobic, 364 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: who's been thrown off everything. He went to the Democratic 365 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,239 Speaker 1: National Convention and decided to interview protesters in hopes of 366 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: getting them to I don't know, I say that they 367 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: were being paid by mautseetungue or I don't know, say 368 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: that they have the real birth certificate for Barack Obama, 369 00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:41,399 Speaker 1: who knows. They just assume that what they would do, 370 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,399 Speaker 1: how they would try to cheat, break the law, do 371 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: immoral things. They just assumed the Democrats and the Liberals 372 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: have done that, because the Democrats and the Liberals have 373 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: succeeded it and they've failed, so they must just be 374 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 1: doing more of it. That's the way they think when 375 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: they think this. Pasobic, of course, promptly got a hold 376 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: of two women who turned out to be Democrats who 377 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: showed up there deliberately to f with Jack Posobic, to 378 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: mess with his interviews. This didn't fool a lot of people. 379 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: There is evidence that Jack Pisobic has realized now that 380 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: the two women that he interviewed first at the Democratic 381 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: National Committee protests were in fact people there looking for him. 382 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: Pasobic disguised himself by wearing a facial covering, and everybody 383 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 1: went and said, oh, he looks even dumber wearing facial 384 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: clothing in any event. Amy Kramer, Georgia Republican Committee woman 385 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: who wore some sort of leopard print mink to the 386 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: January sixth insurrection and spoke nonsense and Gibberish played a 387 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,880 Speaker 1: clip of Jack Pisobic interviewing these two women who were 388 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,320 Speaker 1: effing with him, and she didn't realize it, and she wrote, 389 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,719 Speaker 1: a woman admits she's going to have an abortion on 390 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 1: stage at the DNC. Everyone thought Laura Lumer was crazy 391 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: when she said it was going to happen. Lara was right. 392 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,400 Speaker 1: This is sick. In no world is this okay? This 393 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: woman needs counseling and mental treatment. Number one. Laura Lumer 394 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 1: now claims that when she said that there was going 395 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,719 Speaker 1: to be a live abortion on stage of the Democratic 396 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: National Committee, that she was being satirical. Republicans, by definition, 397 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: can't be satirical because they would have to have an 398 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 1: advanced sense of humor. And the only thing that Republicans 399 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: laugh at usually is pointing at somebody who's injured themselves, 400 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: or perhaps the video from the Simpsons man hit in 401 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: groin by football. But this woman, Kramer, part of the 402 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: January sixth Trump event, thought this was legit, that the 403 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: woman was going to have an on stage abortion. The 404 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 1: woman added, and her name was Anarchy princess with the 405 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: handles satire. I'm also having a visectomy on stage. I 406 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: forgot to mention that this did not deter Amy Kramer 407 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,240 Speaker 1: in the slightest Who is satire ap who was interviewed 408 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: by Jack Pisobic and said she was going to have 409 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: an on stage abortion and then added and a vasectomy 410 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: satire ap Anarchy princess is no other person than the 411 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: woman who keeps appearing at all of the Peter Navarro events, 412 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: at his sentencing, at his hearings, the guy the woman 413 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: who's interrupting him and holding up placards and saying you're 414 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: going to jail, And this boneheaded insurrectionist Republican still cannot 415 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 1: process that this was a stunt designed to embarrass Posobic 416 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,560 Speaker 1: and anybody who would take something this stupid seriously, people 417 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 1: like Amy Kramer, Republican Committee woman from Georgia fifth a 418 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,960 Speaker 1: thick in nowhere out the fifth. Okay, this was a 419 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: tea party organizer. I told you about the Tea Party 420 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: when they started, we had to stop them. Then this 421 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: is what they've morphed into once again, more proof of 422 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: my theory that our attempts to preserve democracy do not 423 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: succeed as much as do their efforts, and the stupidity 424 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: of those who want to destroy democracy. They inadvertently protected. 425 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: Still none of these are our winner. Our winner. Stephen L. Miller, 426 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: formerly of The National Review Online, formerly of Fox News. 427 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: He's been fired from a lot of places. Apparently he 428 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: does a podcast now. Nothing against podcasts, but I looked 429 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,719 Speaker 1: at the name here, and apparently nobody listens to it. 430 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: You will have seen from Monday night at the DNZ 431 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: that Mallory McMorrow, the Michigan State Senator, not only got 432 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,280 Speaker 1: up and gave an excellent address, she brought props. She 433 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: brought a giant, like five times normal size book about 434 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: Project twenty twenty five and held it up so everybody 435 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: could see it and could identify what everybody from Project 436 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five is insisting. Is there intimate connection with 437 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: the Trump plans for his next presidency. God help us 438 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: if there is anything resembling one. But the prop was 439 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: a giant, as I say, book that reads twenty twenty 440 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 1: five mandate for leadership. Stephen L. Miller writes, When it's 441 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: Friday class, and this is over a picture of Malory McMorrow. 442 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: When it's Friday class, and you think the substitute teacher 443 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: might be cool and she turns out to be a 444 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: massive And then there's a four letter word that begins 445 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: with C. He actually did this, Stephen L. Miller calling 446 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:56,520 Speaker 1: somebody else that Stephen L. Miller. She turns out to 447 00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: be a massive seaword. Hey, Stephen, do you have a mirror, because, 448 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: in a remarkable coincidence, you too are a massive conker 449 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 1: in today's competition for worst person in the world. Now 450 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: from the files of things I promised not to tell, 451 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: and I recently went past the building, my second professional home, 452 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: and I was flooded with my memories of a place 453 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: called the RKO Radio Network. This is nineteen eighty and 454 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: I'm nearing my twenty second birthday, and I'm working real 455 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: hard at one radio network run by the United pres 456 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: International Wire Service, in my second year and making around 457 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: well nearly twenty thousand dollars a year. And in September, 458 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: a drunken manager had tried to get me fired, tried 459 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: to fire me himself for being young. And I'll by 460 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: damned if I can remember getting consecutive days off there. 461 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: This was UPI in a nutshell for my first few 462 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: weeks there. I thought whoever had decorated the newsroom had 463 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: found the floor tiles with the ugliest design pattern in history. 464 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: And then finally I saw a colleague grind his lit 465 00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: cigarette into that floor, and only then did I realize 466 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: that was what the ugly design pattern was. Hundreds of 467 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: ground out cigarettes, years and years of ground out cigarettes 468 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: in the tiles. Anyway, the main advantage to working at 469 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: UPI was that everybody in what was then a flourishing 470 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,160 Speaker 1: radio business knew UPI, and thus they knew you, and 471 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: they knew you were underpaid. The top all news radio 472 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: station in the country, WCBS in New York, had already 473 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: asked if I might be a candidate for a coming 474 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: opening in their sports department the spring. I'd actually interviewed 475 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: with two vice presidents at this thing. The yachtsman Ted Turner, 476 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 1: who owned the Atlanta Braves, was going to try to 477 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:11,719 Speaker 1: start something he called cable news Network, but they were 478 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 1: not initially interested in me, and after meeting with them, 479 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 1: I was certain they would never get it launched, let 480 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: alone get an audience for it. I was working there 481 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: literally fourteen months later. I'd also been flown to Boston, 482 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: like they spent fifty five dollars on me by a 483 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: radio station that really wanted me to do a morning 484 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: sports shift for them, and they were offering forty thousand 485 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: dollars a year, twice my salary, and I was ready 486 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:39,800 Speaker 1: to do it. And I was sitting in the office 487 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,759 Speaker 1: in Boston trying to figure out where I could live 488 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 1: and how late I could sleep and still get there 489 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: in the morning. And then the news director said, now, 490 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: except if there's a big story, you can do the 491 00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: after noon sports cast from home over the phone, which 492 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 1: is when I realized I was supposed to do the 493 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: morning and the afternoon. I was essentially on the clock 494 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 1: from five am to six x pm. And the forty 495 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: thousand dollars would have had to go to my sister 496 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: because the schedule would have killed me within three months. 497 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,880 Speaker 1: And then there was this RKO radio network. UPI was 498 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,320 Speaker 1: in the unique position of having RKO as a client, 499 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: so RKO heard and used our stuff all the time. 500 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: And also they had from their beginning used our UPI 501 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: feed as a kind of twenty four to seven constantly 502 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:33,440 Speaker 1: flowing turned on Spigot audition service. From the time I 503 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: got to UPI in July nineteen seventy nine, it seemed 504 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,439 Speaker 1: like one radiopaerson from UPI per month was hired away 505 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,719 Speaker 1: by RKO. Sometime in the early autumn of nineteen eighty, 506 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:46,800 Speaker 1: I was covering a New York Rangers game at Madison 507 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 1: Square Garden, and the guy next to me, smoking a 508 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:52,440 Speaker 1: cigar inside the garden, right in front of all the fans, 509 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 1: turned out to be the sports director of this RKO network. 510 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,760 Speaker 1: In fact, he was the entirety of the RKO sports department. 511 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: But we're doubling in size. I'm going to start doing 512 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,279 Speaker 1: weekend sports casts, and I get to hire a new 513 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,480 Speaker 1: person to do the weekends. It's a union shop, so 514 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,399 Speaker 1: it's fifty one dollars a sports cast. After there's ten 515 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: a weekend, so you get twenty two for eighty dollars 516 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: to reports for reports from the field, and you'd be 517 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,880 Speaker 1: my backup. Twenty two bucks from the field and a 518 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: guarantee of five to ten weekend and you got to 519 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,240 Speaker 1: come in one day a week to book the stringers 520 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: of the weekend games. That'd be free, but the guarantee 521 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,000 Speaker 1: is twenty six thousand dollars plus those twenty two dollars 522 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: every time you have file a report from the field. 523 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: You interested, well, I did some quick math. This was 524 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 1: about forty percent more money for about forty percent less work, 525 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: and there were no five am to six pm schedules. 526 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 1: When the sports director called me back a few weeks 527 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: later to offer me the gig, I did not hesitate. 528 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 1: His name, by the way, was Charlie Steiner. Charlie would 529 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: later be a colleague of mine at Sports Center, and 530 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: then he did the Yankees games, and now he does 531 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: the Dodgers games, and he's been a friend for forty 532 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: two years. The network itself was also space age, shiny 533 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:13,080 Speaker 1: and new, and it had carpets, whereas UPI had the 534 00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:17,200 Speaker 1: stubbed out cigarettes decorps. RKO was literally the first radio 535 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,719 Speaker 1: network in this country to deliver all of its programs 536 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 1: to its stations via satellite. No more scratchy, hyper expensive 537 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:29,000 Speaker 1: phone lines. RKO came through crystal clear, and that was 538 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,279 Speaker 1: our pitch to the stations. All the newscasts, all the 539 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: sports casts, all the features ended with the same tagline 540 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: bya satellite, this is the RKO Radio Network. And then 541 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: a spot for Hubba Bubba gum. For my first few 542 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: weeks there. Part of the job also included doing two 543 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:53,640 Speaker 1: sportscasts today for RKO's local station WOIR. The first time 544 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: I went up in the elevator to their studio. It 545 00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:58,240 Speaker 1: dawned on me that it was the exact same studio 546 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,319 Speaker 1: where seven years before I had been invited by the 547 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,640 Speaker 1: great comedians Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding along with my 548 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: dad to sit and watch in amazed appreciation as Bob 549 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: and Ray did their show on WR. So basically, as 550 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: of December nineteen eighty, I had accomplished all of my 551 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: childhood goals. The only problem with the place was the location. 552 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,320 Speaker 1: RKO was on the southeast corner of Times Square, probably 553 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,440 Speaker 1: the low watermark in the history of Times Square. It 554 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: was in fourteen forty Broadway at the corner of fortieth Street. 555 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: There was a back door at forty first Street and 556 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 1: sixth Avenue, right across from Bryant Park. On those occasions 557 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: when I filled in for Charlie Steiner on the weekdays 558 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: for his morning show, which they would tape overnight, I 559 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 1: would often be at the studios until two or three AM, 560 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: and my walk home was a little sketchy. In point 561 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: of fact, I would not walk home. I would run, 562 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: I mean run run from that back door at forty 563 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,719 Speaker 1: first and sixth I'd pass Bryant Park on my right 564 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 1: as fast as I could passed all the drug dealers 565 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,279 Speaker 1: and other folks, then dart on the north side of 566 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,439 Speaker 1: forty second between sixth and fifth, and once you got 567 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:15,560 Speaker 1: to that corner of fifth and forty second, you were 568 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: back in civilization, with good street lights and other people 569 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: on the streets, no matter how late the hour, or 570 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:26,000 Speaker 1: as we called them in New York then witnesses. Occasionally 571 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: I might have to walk in Times Square itself, usually 572 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:34,400 Speaker 1: when it was daylight. What surrounded me there was about 573 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,880 Speaker 1: as far from today's Disneyland East Times Square as you 574 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 1: could imagine. In fact, you could not imagine. There were 575 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 1: porn theaters everywhere. And it wasn't just porn theaters. They 576 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: were spaced part and in between them. Other businesses existed, 577 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: porn peep shows, porn sex shops, and porn video rental stores. 578 00:39:57,880 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 1: I remember always making sure I was walking on the 579 00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,120 Speaker 1: ho outside edge of the street, nearest the gutter, on 580 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: the premise that in the event somebody tried to mug me, 581 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 1: I stood a much better chance by running right out 582 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:11,440 Speaker 1: into automobile traffic. Besides which, I used to worry that 583 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,560 Speaker 1: if I walked too close to the porn theaters and 584 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:16,040 Speaker 1: the shows, and the shops and the video stores. One day, 585 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:22,560 Speaker 1: I might just get stuck to the sidewalk. Time Square 586 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 1: was so different in nineteen eighty and nineteen eighty one 587 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,720 Speaker 1: that I really can't imagine that the annual income made 588 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:34,360 Speaker 1: there from anything but porn and the RKO radio network 589 00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: was more than twenty dollars a year. In total. There 590 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: was nothing else, I mean nothing. On weekends, walking over 591 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: from my home on the East Side, I would decide 592 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,440 Speaker 1: which fast food place I'd be getting lunch from, somewhere 593 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,280 Speaker 1: on Fifth Avenue or Lex. I'd go to the nearest payphone. 594 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,799 Speaker 1: I'd call the RKO newsroom desk, and I would offer 595 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 1: to bring in food for everybody, for the simple reason 596 00:40:56,080 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: that in Time Square forty years ago, there were no 597 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 1: restaurants open on weekends. I'll say that again, in Times 598 00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: Square forty years ago, on the weekends, all the restaurants 599 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:18,200 Speaker 1: that existed there were closed during the day. And forget 600 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,840 Speaker 1: public transportation to Times Square. I would finish my brisk, 601 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: twenty five minute walk to work one night in that 602 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,560 Speaker 1: frigid winter of nineteen eighty eighty one and see my 603 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 1: colleagues looking unusually pasty and drawn. You didn't take the 604 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:35,120 Speaker 1: subway in, did you, asked one of the editors, Tom Ryan. 605 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:37,399 Speaker 1: I looked at him like it was crazy. Well good. 606 00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:40,720 Speaker 1: Some guy got stabbed by the stairs closest to our building. 607 00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,160 Speaker 1: I asked if he was okay. No, he's not okay. 608 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: He's dead. But they got the guys who did it. 609 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:52,399 Speaker 1: They arrested fifty one people. One guy got stabbed to death, 610 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: fifty one people were arrested. I asked if they had 611 00:41:55,120 --> 00:42:00,720 Speaker 1: been restaging a reenactment of the assassination of Julius Caesar. Still, 612 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,520 Speaker 1: the equipment was brand new and easy to use, and 613 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:06,120 Speaker 1: the staff was all young. We all had fun, and 614 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: we had parties, and everybody lived in the city, and 615 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:10,319 Speaker 1: for the most part, it was a pleasure to work there, 616 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,800 Speaker 1: and it was way more lucrative even than Charlie Steiner 617 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 1: had suggested. Those twenty two dollars voice reports from the field, 618 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:22,240 Speaker 1: they piled up fast. The baseball players went on strike 619 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,240 Speaker 1: that June nineteen eighty one, and every time I covered 620 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,120 Speaker 1: a bargaining session I could be certain of at least 621 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,719 Speaker 1: another forty four dollars. And if that doesn't sound like much, 622 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,439 Speaker 1: the rent on my very nice studio apartment never got 623 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 1: higher than four hundred and ninety eight dollars a month. 624 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,880 Speaker 1: RKO's location also provided me with some wacky logistical problems. 625 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:44,920 Speaker 1: I filled in for Charlie on most holidays, plus I 626 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,600 Speaker 1: did the same thing at a local radio station WNW. 627 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: This made the actual Christmas into my metaphorical Christmas. If 628 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: I had to fill in for both of these operations 629 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,480 Speaker 1: on the same day. My schedule went like this, get 630 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:04,840 Speaker 1: into RKO in Times Square at maybe two am, tape 631 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:08,560 Speaker 1: Charlie's morning show by four am, then walk cross town 632 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: very quickly to WNEW over on Third Avenue and do 633 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,960 Speaker 1: those sportscasts live between five thirty and nine, and then 634 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:17,640 Speaker 1: go home and maybe take a nap, but not a 635 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:19,640 Speaker 1: long one because I would have to be back at 636 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: RKO by one pm to do Charlie's afternoon show, rinse 637 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,759 Speaker 1: repeat a lot of work. On the other hand, just 638 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: one week of those days paid the rent for two months. 639 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: On a wet New Year's Eve nineteen eighty one, I 640 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: treated myself to a cab to go to RKO, which 641 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,120 Speaker 1: put me in the bizarre position of getting into a 642 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:43,359 Speaker 1: cab on the East Side at one thirty am New 643 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,640 Speaker 1: year's morning and saying take me to Times Square and 644 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:49,000 Speaker 1: the driver saying, you missed it, buddy, it's been nineteen 645 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,200 Speaker 1: eighty two for an hour and a half. Nothing like 646 00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: being the only person going into Times Square while one 647 00:43:56,200 --> 00:44:02,880 Speaker 1: million people are leaving it drunk. Most of the sportscasts 648 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 1: I did at Arkao or pretty textbook, But there did 649 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 1: come the day that I walked in to fill in 650 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,200 Speaker 1: for Charlie who was at Wimbledon. So this is the 651 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,319 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen eighty one, and the newswires were full 652 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:17,080 Speaker 1: of this story of some unnamed American radio reporter getting 653 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,520 Speaker 1: into a brawl with a London tabloid writer at a 654 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 1: Wimbledon press conference, and it slowly evolved that the reporter 655 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 1: was Charlie, my boss, and we were going to have 656 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,640 Speaker 1: to figure out a way to cover this. At first, 657 00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: Charlie wanted to do it in the third person and 658 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,279 Speaker 1: say the reporter did this, and the reporter said that, 659 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:39,719 Speaker 1: And I said, you know, I really don't think we're 660 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:42,760 Speaker 1: going to get away with that, given how much wire 661 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:45,400 Speaker 1: copy I'm seeing here, Charlie, this is probably going to 662 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:46,719 Speaker 1: be on the front page of the New York Times 663 00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,200 Speaker 1: in the morning. Sure, enough, it was above the fold. 664 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,600 Speaker 1: We're still unbeknownst to Charlie his fight took place in 665 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:57,000 Speaker 1: a corner of the Wimbledon press room, right under the 666 00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: camera that fed out a shot of that room twenty 667 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 1: four to seven to every television network in the world. 668 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:08,759 Speaker 1: Sure enough. The last item on ABC's six thirty newscast 669 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:12,960 Speaker 1: that night with Peter Jennings was a feature on Charlie 670 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:15,719 Speaker 1: Steiner fighting with the British over how they broke up 671 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,759 Speaker 1: the John McEnroe post match press conference, and he was 672 00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:21,160 Speaker 1: pissed off because that meant he wouldn't get any soundbites 673 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:25,440 Speaker 1: from McEnroe. I managed to run home from RKO and 674 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,040 Speaker 1: record the report by Dick Schapp, and when Charlie got 675 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:31,719 Speaker 1: back from London, I loaned it to him. This was 676 00:45:31,760 --> 00:45:36,560 Speaker 1: in July nineteen eighty one. Charlie still hasn't given me 677 00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,640 Speaker 1: the tape back. Every time I see him, he swears 678 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:41,719 Speaker 1: he's still looking for it. It's in a box somewhere. 679 00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:44,400 Speaker 1: But I'm beginning to think he may not be telling 680 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:48,240 Speaker 1: me the whole truth about what happened to my video cassette. 681 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:53,560 Speaker 1: But my favorite RKO story is about Charlie's sudden and 682 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,239 Speaker 1: inexplicable obsession with the story. During that nineteen eighty one 683 00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:59,640 Speaker 1: baseball strike I mentioned in the middle of this thing 684 00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:03,160 Speaker 1: which stopped the season for fifty days and was really 685 00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,799 Speaker 1: really the beginning of the end of that time when 686 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:09,920 Speaker 1: baseball truly mattered in this country. When every day in 687 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,200 Speaker 1: that strike somebody on all the TV newscast set and 688 00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:17,120 Speaker 1: the baseball strike is in its twenty third day, a 689 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:20,600 Speaker 1: story broke that George Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees, 690 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:22,799 Speaker 1: was going to meet with Baseball Commissioner Buye. Qune and 691 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:24,759 Speaker 1: a couple of other owners who realized that the work 692 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 1: stoppage was financial madness. As George told me years later, 693 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:33,320 Speaker 1: he was losing about a million dollars in revenue every 694 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:37,360 Speaker 1: day so that the Milwaukee Brewers could save five thousand 695 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 1: dollars in salaries every year. Well, my boss, Charlie Steiner, 696 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,239 Speaker 1: decided he was going to scoop the world about this 697 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,520 Speaker 1: secret Steinbrenner Kune meeting. So he told me to come 698 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,480 Speaker 1: into the office on one of my off days and 699 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:54,360 Speaker 1: work the phones. Work the phone. Sun. Two of us, 700 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: me and the newly hired producer, my friend John Martin, 701 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: were supposed to call everybody we knew and find out 702 00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,960 Speaker 1: for Charlie when these guys were meeting and where and 703 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,800 Speaker 1: who would be there, and to not go home until 704 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:12,239 Speaker 1: we had nailed it down. Well, it was madness. I 705 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:15,560 Speaker 1: didn't know anybody in baseball, let alone anybody who knew 706 00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:17,759 Speaker 1: where the owner of the Yankees was going to meet 707 00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:21,399 Speaker 1: in secret with the Commissioner of Baseball, let alone who 708 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:25,040 Speaker 1: knew all that and would tell me. But I tried 709 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:28,320 Speaker 1: everybody I could think of, and had already suggested to 710 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,360 Speaker 1: John Martin that I was just going to start dialing 711 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,200 Speaker 1: ten digits at random and asking whoever answered if they 712 00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:37,200 Speaker 1: knew when. After about eight hours of this, well past 713 00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:39,480 Speaker 1: my dinner time, I was on the phone with some 714 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,600 Speaker 1: executive of some West Coast team when he said hold 715 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:45,040 Speaker 1: on a minute. I got another call, and a moment 716 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,440 Speaker 1: later from the adjoining room in my office, I heard 717 00:47:47,520 --> 00:47:51,200 Speaker 1: John Martin say, mister Smith, Hi, this is John Martin 718 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:56,160 Speaker 1: from the RKO Radio network, and yes, RKO Radio Network, Yes, 719 00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,759 Speaker 1: I'll hold sir. Mister Smith picked up my call again 720 00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,320 Speaker 1: and I said, is this really two of you calling 721 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:04,400 Speaker 1: me about this crap at the same time from the 722 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 1: same network? And I said yes, and I apologized, and 723 00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,840 Speaker 1: I told him I was going home. If Charlie doesn't 724 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:15,480 Speaker 1: like it, I told John he can fire me, so 725 00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:19,600 Speaker 1: follow me on this because I had missed dinner. When 726 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:21,640 Speaker 1: I got back to my street on the east side, 727 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,560 Speaker 1: I was famished. I don't know nine o'clock, ten o'clock. 728 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:28,040 Speaker 1: The last two blocks of my walk home was always identical. 729 00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,359 Speaker 1: I'd come up Third Avenue and then hang a right 730 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:33,479 Speaker 1: at the southeast corner of Third Avenue and fifty fifth Street. 731 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:35,080 Speaker 1: I lived at the other end of fifty fifth Street 732 00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:38,120 Speaker 1: and your second Avenue. But now I was going to 733 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:41,280 Speaker 1: go pick up some pizza in a very nice place 734 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:45,160 Speaker 1: on the northwest corner of this same block. I got 735 00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:48,680 Speaker 1: the slices. The lights changed. Now I was crossing towards 736 00:48:48,719 --> 00:48:51,920 Speaker 1: the northeast corner of fifty fifth and Third, which itself 737 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,800 Speaker 1: was the home of a famous New York bar, PJ. Clarks. 738 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,400 Speaker 1: Ordinarily I would never have been on that side of 739 00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:01,040 Speaker 1: the street at that hour, but there I was. And 740 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:04,080 Speaker 1: as I slipped past the ancient front door, I saw 741 00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:07,120 Speaker 1: the side exit open in a burst of bright yellow light, 742 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:12,040 Speaker 1: like in an Edward Hopper painting shoot out onto a 743 00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:15,320 Speaker 1: limo waiting on fifty fifth Street. Then, as I walked, 744 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:19,440 Speaker 1: carrying my box of pizza and wearing my RKO Radio 745 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:24,160 Speaker 1: Network black jacket, who emerges from that light of that 746 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:29,360 Speaker 1: side door at PJ. Clark's, But George Steinbrenner in a tux. 747 00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:31,960 Speaker 4: I gasped. 748 00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:35,719 Speaker 1: I tried to summon the courage to approach Steinbrenner as 749 00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:38,560 Speaker 1: he walked towards his limo and ask him about his 750 00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:41,520 Speaker 1: planned meeting with Commissioner Kun And just before I admitted 751 00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,200 Speaker 1: to myself that No, at the age of twenty two, 752 00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,680 Speaker 1: I did not have such courage. I saw Steinbrenner stop 753 00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:50,560 Speaker 1: at the limo, and I heard him yell back towards 754 00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:52,719 Speaker 1: the light shining through the still open side door to 755 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:57,840 Speaker 1: Clark's Eddie, Eddie. And with that Edward Bennett Williams, the 756 00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:01,640 Speaker 1: owner of the Baltimore Orioles, leaned out, also in a tux, 757 00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:07,840 Speaker 1: and said, with evident exasperation, what now. George Steinbrenner shouted, 758 00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:10,080 Speaker 1: what time are you and I and Chiles meeting with 759 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:15,360 Speaker 1: Bowie tomorrow? Ah. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe 760 00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:19,239 Speaker 1: my luck. Williams had not seen me Steinbrenner had not 761 00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: seen me. Williams sighed again for the tenth time. George 762 00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:29,120 Speaker 1: nine nine thirty in the morning, George nine thirty Booie's condo. 763 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,239 Speaker 1: I now plastered myself against the wall of Clark's. I 764 00:50:33,239 --> 00:50:35,440 Speaker 1: hope they had not seen me at all, without so 765 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:37,520 Speaker 1: much as asking the question. I had learned at the 766 00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:40,480 Speaker 1: Orioles owner and Chiles, Eddie Chiles, the owner of the 767 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:43,920 Speaker 1: Texas Rangers. They would be accompanying Steinbrenner to the meeting, 768 00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:46,480 Speaker 1: and it would begin at nine thirty at the condominium 769 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:48,600 Speaker 1: of Commissioner Buie Kun. And I was wondering if I 770 00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:52,680 Speaker 1: could try to fake Steinbrenner's voice and shout, Eddie, where's 771 00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:56,920 Speaker 1: Booie's condo again? When suddenly I heard Steinbrenner say, Eddie, 772 00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:02,480 Speaker 1: where's Booie's condo again? By now, Edward Bennett Williams had 773 00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:06,160 Speaker 1: re lit a cigar he was holding. George write it 774 00:51:06,200 --> 00:51:14,600 Speaker 1: down this time five seventy five Park five seven five. 775 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:19,759 Speaker 1: I could barely breathe. Good God, they had handed me 776 00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,880 Speaker 1: everything but the cross street. Eddie, Eddie, what's the cross street? 777 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:28,040 Speaker 1: Williams now swore, Oh, for f's sake, George sixty third 778 00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:31,080 Speaker 1: sixty third in Park, five seventy five Park at nine 779 00:51:31,120 --> 00:51:35,960 Speaker 1: thirty in the morning. Okay, Steinbrenner got into the limo. 780 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 1: It squealed off, the door closed. I wrote what I 781 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,000 Speaker 1: had heard on the top of the pizza box and 782 00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:42,839 Speaker 1: took off at a dead run to my apartment at 783 00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:45,040 Speaker 1: the corner of fifty fifth and Second, pausing only to 784 00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:47,120 Speaker 1: take a quick bite of pizza. I called John Martin 785 00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:51,080 Speaker 1: back at the RCAO Radio Network. I got it, John said, 786 00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:54,520 Speaker 1: you got what I got everything about the meeting. John said, 787 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:57,879 Speaker 1: I'll get the Boss soon. All three of us were 788 00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:00,560 Speaker 1: on the phone. Charlie did not bel leave I had 789 00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:04,560 Speaker 1: gotten him any information, so I laid it on thick. 790 00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:10,239 Speaker 1: You're writing this down, Boss, nine thirty tomorrow morning. It's 791 00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:14,120 Speaker 1: at Bowie Kune's condo at five seventy five Park. That's 792 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:18,120 Speaker 1: the corner of sixty third, of course. Then there was 793 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:21,480 Speaker 1: silence at Charlie's end of the phone. Oh and uh, 794 00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,040 Speaker 1: Edward Bennett Williams of the Orioles and Eddie Child's of 795 00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:27,040 Speaker 1: the Rangers. They'll be there too. I don't know, Charlie 796 00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:31,520 Speaker 1: if it's just them or there are others, but those 797 00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:35,160 Speaker 1: four will certainly be there. Booi's condo five seventy five 798 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:40,880 Speaker 1: Cross Street is sixty third. Charlie started to make a kind. 799 00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:44,400 Speaker 4: Of butt butt noise. But but, but how did you 800 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:46,879 Speaker 4: find out? How on the hell did you actually find out? 801 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:51,200 Speaker 4: Why do you think it's true? I had been waiting 802 00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,080 Speaker 4: for this for several moments, and my answer had been 803 00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:58,920 Speaker 4: rehearsed in my mind at least as far back as 804 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:02,040 Speaker 4: my elevator ride up to my apartment. With the most 805 00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:06,400 Speaker 4: nonchalant I had ever mustered in my life, I answered 806 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:13,960 Speaker 4: Charlie Steiner, Well, Charlie, I I ran into Steinbrenner at Clark's. 807 00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:30,200 Speaker 4: I told George Steinbrenner that story once, and he laughed, 808 00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:33,239 Speaker 4: like hell, I've done all the damage I can do here. 809 00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:36,120 Speaker 4: Thank you for listening. Please share this pod with somebody 810 00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:40,000 Speaker 4: who doesn't. If you can find somebody who doesn't, something happened. 811 00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,800 Speaker 4: I guess it's all the good news. More people listening 812 00:53:42,840 --> 00:53:45,280 Speaker 4: than ever before, up about twenty five percent. 813 00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:49,200 Speaker 1: Thank you. Brian Ray and John Phillip Chanelle, the musical 814 00:53:49,200 --> 00:53:53,680 Speaker 1: directors have Countdown, arranged, produced, and performed most of our music. 815 00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:57,520 Speaker 1: Mister Chanelle on orchestration and keyboards, mister ray On guitars, 816 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:00,720 Speaker 1: bass and drums. That it was produced by Tea Brothers. 817 00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:03,759 Speaker 1: Our satirical and fifthy musical comments are by the best 818 00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:07,279 Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The sports music is 819 00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,359 Speaker 1: the Olberman theme from ESPN two. It was written by 820 00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:14,240 Speaker 1: Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other music arranged 821 00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,440 Speaker 1: and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. My announcer 822 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:20,120 Speaker 1: today was my friend Dennis Leary, and everything else was 823 00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:23,600 Speaker 1: pretty much my fault. So that's countdown for this the 824 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:27,560 Speaker 1: seventy seventh day until the twenty twenty four presidential election 825 00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:31,680 Speaker 1: and the three hundred and twenty second day since convicted 826 00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:35,960 Speaker 1: felon dementia j Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 827 00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:40,040 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Use the September eighteenth 828 00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:43,799 Speaker 1: sentencing hearing if it happens, use the mental health system. 829 00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:48,759 Speaker 1: You have this now, President Biden, use presidential immunity as 830 00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:52,880 Speaker 1: assigned by the Supreme Court. Use it all to stop 831 00:54:53,000 --> 00:54:58,839 Speaker 1: him from doing it again while we still can. And 832 00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:05,120 Speaker 1: anti Semitic, anti immigration, gun nut Republicans please stop shooting 833 00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:09,160 Speaker 1: at Trump. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins is 834 00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:12,200 Speaker 1: the news requires till the next one. I'm Keith Oldman. 835 00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,959 Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck.