One of the pitfalls of conservative media is “me too!”-ism, the idea that taking a successful mainstream concept and blatantly injecting conservative proselytizing into it is a winning strategy.  Thankfully, the new cable channel RightNetwork strives to create original content that doesn’t fall into a predictable formula, easily apparent from their new series “Whaddya Know, Joe?” starring Joe Wurzelbacher, the man who single-handedly derailed Obama’s centrist, middle-class-tax-cut image in the 2008 Presidential campaign (note to leftist hair-splitters: yes, his first name is “Samuel”).  Joe’s aim is simple:  find people, hear their stories and opinions, get a better idea about the state of our nation.

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“Whaddya Know” describes itself as “part 60 Minutes, part Oprah, and 100% like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” but there is a crucial difference between Joe and the hosts of those other shows.  Whereas Oprah and others fought tooth-and-nail to get where they want to be and thus try to make their shows all about themselves, Joe is an accidental celebrity.  He’s quietly taken on the role of a household name without adorning any of the ego that normally comes along with it, and that completely flavors the tone of the show.

Instead of taking place in a bright TV studio with a trained-seal audience, the set for the talk show-esque portion of the show looks like it was built inside a barn; the tone is folksy, intimate, humble.  Instead of hogging the spotlight in every conversation and interview, Joe is completely content to give guests his full attention and let them speak at length.  It’s a refreshing respite from the all-but-scripted, pandering-for-applause fake style of conventional talk shows.

However, those worried about Joe not having the chops or charisma to carry an entire show, rest your troubled hearts; he’s got plenty of backup.  Like Ed to his Johnny, like Andy to his Conan, like Garth to his Wayne, co-host Rodney Lee Conover is a quirky, energetic counter to Joe’s laid-back, dry humor. Their interplay with each other and guests such as Nick Searcy from the show Justified finds all parties comfortable and casual yet lively.

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This week’s Washington Times column:

There is an extensive body of writing from both sides of the political aisle that has analyzed the extraordinary depths of hatred leveled at former President George W. Bush.

His birth into a wealthy and politically connected family is where a lot of the animus starts. His rejection of his Connecticut roots and adoption of a rugged Texan persona naturally riled his birth-constituency. His disjointed speaking style also alienated many others – especially those who covered him in the Northeastern media. Naturally, some of his initiatives were controversial. His allies say he didn’t do enough.

But all presidents make mistakes, pursue unpopular ideas, possess off-putting personality traits and don’t do enough to appeal to their core supporters. Something far more insidious was at work in the hatred of our most recent former president.

Now that Mr. Bush is quietly going about his retirement, this strain of rage – the GWB43 virus – has spread like wildfire, finding unsuspecting targets, each granting us greater perspective into what not long ago seemed like a mysterious phenomenon isolated only on our 43rd president.

The first person to catch the virus was Sarah Palin, whose family also was infected, including, unforgivably, her children.

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When I learned of a new NBC-TV series called “The Wanted,” about an elite investigative team tracking down terrorists-at-large, I naturally assumed the terrorists in question would be Homeland Security priorities: white Christian conservatives building abortion clinic bombs in church basements, anti-government Tea Partiers, and disgruntled military veterans, whose volatile mix of post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia of big government could cause them to snap at any moment and take out the nearest Obama-appointed czar (after all, there are more czars than there are Secret Service agents to protect them).

Imagine my astonishment when I discovered that “the wanted” of the show’s first two recent episodes (you can see them here; four more have been produced but are not presently scheduled) were Islamic terrorists.  This is an encouraging new development, considering that Western governments and media have increasingly made taboo any reference to a connection between Islam and acts of terror (of course, the Islamists themselves never got that memo, because they insist on quoting Islamic theology to justify their murder and mayhem). And the left-leaning entertainment industry has virtually ceased pitting heroes against the real-world threat of jihadis, falling back instead on more fashionable stock bogeymen like corporate executives, Marvel Comics supervillains, and, well, corporate executives.  (more…)

WaPo: This is merely “play[ing] into a view of Bush popular among his detractors…”

This required a few passes to be sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks. You keep telling yourself to stop being amazed by hypocrisy and bias, but again and again someone like Philip Kennicott, a staff writer for the Washington Post, comes up with nonsense like this:

And didn’t we see George W. Bush depicted as the Joker not so long ago?

Yes, in an image by Drew Friedman published online by Vanity Fair on July 29, 2008. That drawing at least played into a view of Bush popular among his detractors, that the former president was unpredictable and fast on the draw when it came to geopolitics. But the danger many of Obama’s detractors detect is more of calculating, long-standing deception, that he is quietly and secretly marshaling a socialist agenda, a view that would be better served by imagery that recalled “The Manchurian Candidate.”

A few paragraphs later the R-word is finally (and predictably) let loose and the anonymity of the artist(s) becomes an issue: (more…)

Is it me, or do the Code Pinkers reeeeeally need to get laid?

I don’t mean to judge them too harshly, but that’s what we’d say about a dude that flipped out in public like those two whack jobs at the White House Correspondence Dinner who harassed Donald Rumsfeld and his wife as they entered the building – as invited guests. I don’t know who these women are – and if they’ve lost family in Iraq or anywhere else, God Bless’em, but…damn. They’re the type of crazy that makes you realize the word crazy is overused.

Cindy Sheehan reportedly saw it and said, “That’s some crazy-ass women right there.” Roseanne Barr was heard to reply, “No sh*t Sheehan.”

Crazy women are more off-putting than crazy men. That’s why “Obsessed” was such a hit, men are scared of crazy women. Like the Rumsfeld-Code Pink video, it featured two women, one crazy from the get go. The other one was rational, but by the end, said, “I’ma show you crazy!!” (more…)

So within days of the death of the great Jack Kemp, the living embodiment of Montgomery Burns, Arlen Specter, found a way to blame his death on Republican policies. He claimed that “if we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer…Jack Kemp would be alive today.”

To which, I can only add as a side note to the Democratic Party: “Enjoy, he`s all yours.”

Which leads me to my next point: As a fan of Kemp, I`m always on the lookout for someone like him. On tv, I keep seeing Joe the Plumber, a pretty average guy who seems decent – except, you know, he doesn’t want the gays near his kids. Speaking of kids, there`s that Jonathan Krohn tyke on talk shows – reciting the conservative party line better than most dithering white haired weenies crawling the halls of the Capitol. He’s smart, but he weirds me out. Maybe because at 13 he’s already taller than me – or maybe because he just comes off as a novelty act, like a hairless cat reciting the alphabet (which is kinda cool). (more…)