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Times Watch for 02/13/03
Dennis Miller Takes on a Whining Phil Donahue
Miller so flustered Donahue that he went on a rant about how people like Miller are trying to “marginalize” liberals. Becoming a parody of himself, Donahue whined about how “you’re making us to be some sort of wimpy kind of people who, woo, woo, we don’t get it. We don’t see evil. We think everything is a nice fairy tale. That is an attempt to marginalize us.”
Donahue also claimed to be a conservative Republican: “We do not think one man should have the Army, Navy, and Marines to send the war all by himself and without the advice and consent of Congress as the Constitution calls us, upon us to do. That makes me conservative. I’m for the Constitution. I would make a good Republican.”
When Donahue charged that dropping “incendiary devices on a crowded city at night where old people and children are sleeping” will give “Osama a poster for recruiting more angry young Islamic militants,” an incredulous Miller fired back: “Oh, you believe he needs that, Phil? Do you really believe that he needs that?”
Miller's best two humorous zingers of the night:
-- On the New York Times: “If only Saddam Hussein would open an all-male country club somewhere in Iraq, so the Times could get behind this invasion.”
-- On Osama bin Laden: “I think that he made a fatal error when he said that he didn’t approve of drinking wine or adultery. Because now the French and Clinton are on board.”
Now, from the portion of the February 12 show quoted above, a full transcript of one of the most illuminating exchanges between Miller and Donahue, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth, starting after Miller suggested liberals don't see the reality of the world:
Donahue:
“Well, first of all, your comment suggests that liberals never see evil. Now,
that’s, what that does is marginalize liberals. I mean, did you ever talk to a
liberal?”
Miller: “Yes, most of my great friends in the world
are liberals.”
Donahue: “But liberals, you’re making us to be some
sort of wimpy kind of people who, woo, woo, we don’t get it. We don’t see
evil. We think everything is a nice fairy tale. That is an attempt to
marginalize us. Our voice is strong, it is growing, we are very proud to live in
a country that doesn’t squelch it and tries to say shoosh, although everywhere
we feel, we feel that kind of pressure. We’re proud Americans. We believe in
the Constitution. We believe in the War Powers Act. We believe Congress should
get into this. We do not think one man should have the Army, Navy, and Marines
to send the war all by himself and without the advice and consent of Congress as
the Constitution calls us, upon us to do. That makes me conservative. I’m for
the Constitution. I would make a good Republican. I don’t know why so many
Republicans dismiss this feature as sort of in the way. And by the way, we’re
not so frightened that we have to preempt, preemptively, you know, you got a
rock there, boom!. Oops, sorry, thought you had a gun. Let us just calm down a
minute.”
Miller: “Oh, if it was only a rock, Phil, for God’s
sakes. The sword of Damocles is now an ICBM of Damocles, for God’s sakes.”
Donahue: “So because these bombs and these
instruments of war are now so powerful-“
Miller: “Yes.”
Donahue: “We can’t wait for a conference. We’ve
got to kill them right now.”
Miller: “Listen, we get around, what’s our-“
Donahue: “Do you really think it’s gonna make us
safer-“
Miller: “Yes.”
Donahue: “-to drop incendiary devices on a crowded
city at night where old people and children are sleeping? They’re gonna say,
'Oh, boy, didn’t know you were that strong! Okay, no more terrorism.’ You
are, we are giving Osama a poster for recruiting more angry young Islamic
militants.”
Miller: “Oh, you believe he needs that, Phil? Do you
really believe that he needs that?”
Donahue: “Do you really believe that killing innocent
people is going to, is going to make us safer?”
Miller: “Do you think that’s our intention, to go
over and seek out the innocent people?”
Donahue: “I do not think it’s our intention. I do
not think we are going to kill innocent people with malice. But we know it’s
going to happen, and it doesn’t have to.”
Links to Miller's earlier comments mocking liberals and standing up for President Bush's policies to combat terrorism:
-- On MSNBC's
Hardball with Chris Matthews a couple of weeks ago, trying to appeal to those in
favor of abortion, he suggested “to not think of this as a war, but just think
that we’ve chosen to abort Hussein.” Miller explained that liberal
opposition to school vouchers turned him to the right and he delivered fresh
cracks at Bill Clinton and John Edwards. See:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030204.asp#4
-- On the
Tonight Show in late January Miller delivered some zingers against opponents of
taking on Saddam Hussein militarily. He made fun of Sean Penn, the French, the
ACLU and the French again. See:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030130.asp#8
-- Last
November on the Tonight Show Miller praised Bush’s anti-terrorism efforts,
favored attacking Iraq and juxtaposed the “wocka-wocka porno guitar of the
Clinton administration” with how Bush “makes me proud to be an American
again. He’s just a decent guy.” See:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20021108.asp#7
-- In a June,
2002 Tonight Show appearance Miller mocked liberal orthodoxy: “If you put the
Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison outside of Kabul it would be their Epcot.”
And: “I say we create a new airline, called the ACLA, the American Civil
Liberties Airline where you don’t check anybody, you don’t ask any
questions, and let those morons fly on that one.” See:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020620.asp#4
-- And in
November of 2001, noting how reporters say “it's the public's need to know
about our ground forces being in there,” on the Tonight Show Dennis Miller led
the audience in a reprimanding journalists: “We don’t want to know!”
Miller also called for oil drilling in Alaska and praised President Bush for
ending “the '70s porno guitar of the Clinton administration.” See:
http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20011107.asp#7
For Miller's Internet Movie Database page with a rundown of his acting credits: http://us.imdb.com/Name?Miller,+Dennis+(I)
Tonight's guest for the hour on Donahue: Atlanta-based conservative radio talk show host Neal Boortz. I see a strategy here: Donahue is bringing on conservative guests so that people will actually watch his show.
E-mail Times Watch Director, Clay Waters, with Times Watch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org