Bush The Compassionate... uhm... Liberal

Just watched Bush. So which party does he belong to? He's proposing the biggest federal giveaway in history; FDR and LBJ would be proud. When all else fails throw money. But who is gonna' pay?

I noticed the President’s accent becomes more southern when he appears down there, and tonight he seemed to have developed this peculiar and disconcerting tongue poking out his mouth thing, like a nervous mouse.

Karl Rove orchestrated the entire presentation and all that was missing was the President marching onto the grounds playing the cornet.

ABC News

Let me be the first to tell you. ABC News is going to name 20/20 lead Elizabeth Vargas and correspondent Bob Woodruff co-anchors of World News Tonight as successors to Peter Jennings.

I had that sudden intuitive certainty watching the two of them work the Katrina story together recently.

Woodruff has the long lean look, and a presence similar to Jennings’. He is a former attorney who came to the business somewhat later, and his experience in the field matches the kind Jennings brought to the anchor desk when he returned there after a brief horrendous time when he was too young, too unformed. Woodruff is calm and has a compelling manner. Check out his eyes as well. When I was in television we’d talk about the few people who pour through the camera, and pray we might find and hire them. Woodruff does that. When he’s there he’s really there.

Vargas is well known for her work on 20/20 and as a sub for Jennings, especially when he got so sick, and then after his death. She has a strong background working stories for the newscasts, and in the longer magazine and special report format as well. When she reported from Louisiana during the immediate aftermath of the hurricane I was struck by her strength and ability to carry the coverage. She is a hard-hitting deliverer of copy, and has a sympathetic demeanor when necessary. She also appears extremely confident and at ease with herself.

So there you have it. Breaking news...film at 11.

Everybody Up

What’s with standing ovations?

Genuine, deeply felt and given applause is no longer enough. Now there are Standing O’s before anything happens, no performance necessary. Just walking out justifies one. A standing ovation has become the starting point, the most routine, and frequently if it is not also accompanied by stamping and squealing then you can just feel the disappointment on stage. A gloomy sense of failure descends. You must stand up again at the conclusion, and sometimes during breaks or intermissions, and if you don’t you run the risk of being badly mauled by the rest of the folks there, an outcast drowning in a sea of standing, stomping, screaming sycophants.

I am talking about people like Martha Stewart and Oprah and Dr. Phil. It’s built into their shows. I am thinking about two unknown guitarists (for good reason) I heard the other night in concert. So many others. You’ve been there when it’s occurred. I know you have. The Big O before, during, and after. And in the case of the TV people they will be receiving them every single day, and in reruns forever. After they are dead.

Whatever happened to earning something before you get it? It used to be a performance that caused the audience to rise to their feet in appreciation was rare and unusual indeed. You had to feel the artist had done something great before you stood up, and even then not everyone would. If you were there when a standing ovation was justified you considered yourself to have been extremely fortunate, a witness to a rare and extraordinary event. And you told everyone about it for days, probably years.

But now expectations are virtually nonexistent; standards of quality have never been lower; nearly everything has been cheapened. What was low is considered high, and what was medium is off the charts. The implications are widespread.

Once I asked someone next to me, a person who had jumped up four times to applaud, and who remained on her feet long after the stage was clear, whether she loved the show. ”It was OK. Pretty good,” she said.

So, people come on. Let’s hear it. Hey over there--- you, yes you--- on your feet for the ordinary.