So, it’s hard to judge this downgrade, because it’s like getting a report card from a drunk teacher.

I mean – If these agencies were so smart, why didn’t they do it sooner?

As Dana Vachon tweeted to me, Where were these “credit agencies” during the housing bubble?

My guess is, hot tubbing.

Can’t blame them. Hot tubbing is fun.

Which means the downgrade was not a logical reaction, but a scolding meant to make everyone feel bad.

Now, irrelevant ninnies like John Kerry are blaming the Tea Party.

But how can you blame them- when they got nothing they wanted?

The debt ceiling debate culminated in the highest debt ceiling bump ever. The spending cuts were like a fat guy forgoing the sprinkles on his half gallon of Chunky Monkey – and calling it a diet.

But I can see why the Tea Party is getting hammered on this.

No one represents them – for they are them.

(more…)

Walk into almost any coffee house or eating establishment around the country where the radio plays continuously and, odds are, it won’t be long until you hear a Jon Bon Jovi song. And when you hear that song, odds are even better that it’ll carry the message of a romanticized view of young love or that of the hard life faced by blue-collar employees, overlooked and under-appreciated by society.

Farm Tax Breaks for N.J. Celebrities: MyFoxNY.com

In some songs, like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Bon Jovi manages to bring both messages to bear at once: he speaks both of love and of the struggles of the everyday American:

Tommy used to work on the docks
Union’s been on strike, he’s down on his luck
It’s tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love, mmm, for love

I don’t think I go to far in saying Bon Jovi’s lyrics about the struggles real Americans face are ingrained in generation upon generation of “Tommy’s” and “Gina’s” in this country.  So ingrained, in fact, that some may confuse the message of the songs with the messenger, and assume Bon Jovi really is a bulwark for the common man.

Of course he’s not. Instead, he’s just another liberal who talks the talk, but fails to walk the walk. (more…)

When Bruce Springsteen recently traded his lyricist pen for an op-ed pen, which he used to criticize New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie, a collective yawn arose throughout the land. After all, it’s long been evident that Springsteen writes and sings about the struggles of the common man, but in real life, and in politics, he’s completely out of touch.

It seems Springsteen is upset with Christie’s ongoing battle against government expenditures, particularly public entitlements. And as liberals and hard left ideologues like Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon have done against Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, so Springsteen is now doing against Christie in New Jersey.

Wrote Springsteen: “[Christie’s] cuts are eating away at the lower edges of the middle class, not just those already classified as in poverty, and are likely to continue to get worse over the next few years.” (If you’re like me, when you read Springsteen’s words all you see is “blah, blah, blah, and blah.”)

Honestly folks, I’m beginning to get embarrassed for him in the way I’ve come to be embarrassed for Larry Hagman’s family and Al Gore apologists. (more…)

Recent news about Levi Johnston’s possible reality show, “Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office,” proved once more that Sarah Palin scares the Left to death. How so?

For starters, Johnston is the former almost son-in-law of Palin. It was he who fathered a child with Palin’s daughter out of wedlock and provided the mainstream media with the opportunity to attach the “bad parent” moniker to the then-Republican Vice Presidential candidate during the 2008 election cycle.

Furthermore, Johnston added fodder to the media’s coverage by promising to marry Palin’s daughter, only to call it off (after learning that one of his former girlfriends had become pregnant) and then posing naked in Playgirl. After all this, he threw gasoline on the media fire by badmouthing Sarah Palin and announcing that he himself desires to be Mayor of Wasilla, AK.

With headlines like those, it’s just hard to look at a proposed reality show centering on Johnston as anything other than an attack on Palin. Were this not so, then tell me why we haven’t seen a reality show on Al Gore’s son (busted for drugs) or John Kerry’s daughter (DUI), or even Congressman Barney Frank? (more…)

On July 1, 2010, I wrote a post for Big Hollywood that demonstrated how Sheryl Crow was both reaching out to Country Music fans and insulting them at the same time.  She was reaching out to them through her work with Kid Rock, her cameo appearance at the Country Music Awards, and the home she purchased in Nashville. She was insulting them by railing against “giant cars” (like the 4×4 pickups and Hummers country artists love to drive), and calling Tea Partiers “ignorant” and “angry.”

Suffice it to say, Crow couldn’t have insulted Country Music fans more without calling them by name.  She apparently doesn’t know (or doesn’t care to know) that Country Music fans put the heart in heartland America: that they are loyal to those whom they see as being loyal to American ideals but couldn’t care less about those who go against them.

These things not withstanding, as Crow undertakes the American leg of her latest tour, her backstage rider for venue owners reads more like the musings of a speech writer for Al Gore than a would-be country artist. For instance, the rider contains an “environmental portion” which clearly states that Crow wishes to “minimize the overall environmental impact of the tour.” And while there’s nothing wrong with this on the surface, the problems arise when her to-do list for achieving this lowered environmental impact is fleshed out. (more…)

Following the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrats in the Massachusetts state legislature rushed to change a procedural rule thus allowing Democratic Governor Deval Patrick to replace Kennedy with an interim and Democratic Senator. During the 2004 Presidential election this same august body had taken that power away from Republican Governor Mitt Romney fearing he would appoint a Republican should their junior senator, John Kerry, become President. The maneuver displays the arrogance of the left. So significant is their agenda that changing the rules in the middle of game is justified. Arrogance also leads them to dismiss disgruntled Americans as racists and dimwitted “tea baggers.” It is arrogance of the strongest sort that leads them to believe their policy solutions divinely inspired such that they say openly that Americans will take the medicine of the new left and learn to like it.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters humbled Democrats by reversing the decision of their state legislators and electing Republican Scott Brown to a U.S. Senate seat that has been held by democrats for all but 6 years since 1926. Tuesdays vote provided definitive proof that “God don’t like ugly. And he ain’t too fond of cute.”

As Republicans anticipate the mid-term elections and what appears like an opportunity to shift the balance of power in the Congress, it is wisdom the GOP would be wise to remember. The special election in Massachusetts was not solely a referendum on the healthcare boondoggle the new left is attempting to force down Americas [clearly unwilling] throat; it was also a clear refutation of the President’s economic policy as well as a refutation on the free spending ways of the previous administration. It would be arrogance of the Democratic sort for Republicans to imagine that Tuesday’s repudiation of democratic over-reaching was an endorsement of Republican congressional governance of the sort America witnessed during the first decade of the 21st century. (more…)

In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks described a 1975 Bruce Springsteen concert as the start of his “other education,” not the intellectual one from schooling but the “emotional education” from the popular culture. 

Brooks is a superstar pundit.  A featured journalist at The Weekly Standard, in 2000 Brooks was author of “Bobos in Paradise,” a smart look at “bourgeois bohemians,” the educated, “counterculture” crowd that had become America’s new blue state power elite.  Brooks went on to occupy the house conservative Op Ed position at the liberal mainstay New York Times and the equivalent chair on PBS NewsHour’s version of crossfire, with ever-apologetic Brooks pitted against the always garrulous lefty Mark Shields.  These two roles established Brooks as the left’s favorite conservative, a position he solidified as one of the Obamacons, prominent conservatives who supported Obama, believing him to be a moderate centrist, or in Brooks’ case, even a closet Burkean conservative. 

Last week Brooks went with his 15-year-old daughter to see a Springsteen concert in Baltimore and witnessed her joyous astonishment.  Her arrival at utter abandon echoed the exhilaration, the emotional learning, Springsteen had long ago imparted to Brooks, the depiction of a world of “teenage couples out on a desperate lark, workers struggling as the mills close down, and drifters on the wrong side of the law,” tales told with a jolt for “10,000 people in a state of utter abandon.”   

Brooks fondly describes the artistry and stories of Springsteen’s universe, “a distinct map of reality” seen on an epic and anthemic scale, in which “losers” always retain dignity and their choices have immense moral consequences, with emotions like stoicism, seen through veils of exaltation and nostalgia.  (more…)

You know, liberals should be celebrating. Their man, The Won, is in the White House. They have control of both the House and the Senate, and legislation such as cap and trade and nationalized health care may well become reality – European socialism without having to leave the comfort of home. The Brave New World is on the way. Rejoice in mediocrity for all!

So why are they so grumpy? I suppose it’s because the idea that anyone might stray from the reservation is anathema to them, and this little thing in our Constitution called the First Amendment kind of gets in the way of collective happiness and singing Kumbaya around the campfire.

John “Cougar” Mellencamp is the latest to notice that not everyone is part of the collective, and he’s mighty peeved, making this observation about free speech in general and bloggers in particular: (more…)

Hollywood has, for the last thirty years or so, made military members the butts of jokes – they’re either crazy Vietnam vets (Rambo) or corrupt institutionalists (The Hulk).  But most of all, they’re victims (see Platoon).  They’re victims of uncaring governments, of obtuse generals, of racist politicians.

Such portrayal couldn’t be further from the truth.  Since the end of the draft, America’s military men and women have courageously volunteered to defend our country; they have put themselves in harm’s way for a higher purpose than themselves.  They aren’t selfish or stupid – or dupes, as John Kerry suggested (“You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”).  They are heroes.  As Orwell put it, “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”  And today’s soldiers have trained themselves to be rough and ready; they haven’t been coerced or forced.  If the highest sacrifice is the sacrifice by choice, these men and women make the highest sacrifice every day. (more…)

I’m tired of ignoring the elephant in the room, so I’ll just come out and say it. Christians are corny, out of touch, lonely creepers who generally end up becoming murderers or rapists…. At least that’s what Hollywood’s taught me.

Not to mention they’re all a bunch of minority-bashing fear mongers. Why does anyone continue to allow this hateful, extremist group to exist? Am I the only one who feels that they could stand to learn a lot from the peaceful, Muslim folk?

If I hadn’t been raised in such a logical household, the entertainment industry would have elicited only one reaction from me in regards to “Christians”; “Good God, these people are crazy.”

It all started with the flick “Carrie.” Who can forget Sissy Spacek’s loopy, evangelical mom citing Bible verses amidst insane spiritual tirades until she was finally skewered with every kitchen utensil in the cabinet…all to a disturbing orgasmic moaning session. The scene was used to drive the point home: Christians are dangerous and nuts, but they’re great to make fun of. (more…)

Elizabeth Edwards has hit the chat show circuit to hawk her new memoir “Resilience.”  Her interview with Oprah airs Thursday.  Elizabeth has some important lessons to teach the young women of today.  The most important of these lessons is to be nothing like her, though I’m pretty sure that’s not the message she is trying to send.

Typically, when someone whines about his or her circumstances, I take a common sense approach and start by blaming the victim.  The fact is that bad things tend to happen to people who make bad, or at least dumb, decisions.  No money?  You’re probably not working hard enough.  Dead end job?  You probably didn’t get an education.  Creepy husband who cheats with a trampy party girl and humiliates you in front of the entire nation?  You probably chose to marry and stick with a creepy husband who would cheat with a trampy party girl and humiliate you in front of the entire nation. (more…)

President Barack Obama paid a surprise visit to the troops recently in Baghdad. For that I applaud him. The troops were buoyed up by a visit by their Commander and Chief. And that is a good thing. He also praised them for their service and commitment. Also a good thing. Then he went on to say that they had done a remarkable job in giving Iraq a great gift; the chance to govern themselves in a Democratic fashion. A free people now able to seek their own path thanks to the efforts of the U.S MILITARY!

Uh, come again? (more…)

Most 12-step programs start out by requiring that people understand that they’re powerless over their addiction and that only by turning their lives over to a Power greater than themselves can they be restored to sanity.  Far be it for me to suggest that I am that Power, but clearly someone has to step in and try to rescue these poor liberal souls.  Even the most harebrained among them deserves that much.

First, though, they have to acknowledge that Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Dick Durbin, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and Charles Schumer, are not moderates, but, rather, leftists with a Socialist agenda.  Furthermore, they must recognize that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, CNN, the three major networks, the news magazines and the New Yorker, are not objective in their reporting of political events, and neither are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher, in their commentary.  If these entities and individuals are not on the payroll of the DNC, they certainly should be.  They certainly put in longer hours than Howard Dean. (more…)

Just in case you’ve never read my bio, I am a stand-up comedian and have been slinging jokes for over thirty years. I have had my ups and downs, worked the road for years, gigged in dumps and Vegas palaces, done TV and had a few shots at the big time. I have hurt my career by my personal behavior and I blame no one but myself for that.

I reinvented myself as a performer almost as many time as Dylan and I’m still standing. To quote my good friend, radio host Marc Germain, “I’m better than most and not as good as some.” (more…)