Meanwhile, on the ChurlCam

David Weigel | January 4, 2007

The swearing in of the new Congress isn't the most exciting news event, but I notice that CNN and MSNBC are covering it live, starting with the House Chaplain's prayer, while Fox News is informing me that an "Ivy League Prof [is the] Leading Suspect in Wife's Death." Fascinating.

UPDATE: I checked back at 12:25 or so, and they had two talking heads debating Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan, which is sort of like covering the swearing in. After this, host Bill Hemmer has returned to stories about missing sailors, stranded cattle in New Mexico, and the resignation of White House Counsel Harriet Miers.

Fox covered the Ford funeral, which was (if possible) more predictable and uneventful than the swearing in, from beginning to end and with cameras at every stage of the ceremony: California-DC-Grand Rapids. There's really no reason for the network to avoid covering the GOP's terrible day, especially when it features stuff like Robert Byrd saying "So help me Gaaaaahd!" as he points his bony hand toward the rafters.

UPDATE II: This is fascinating stuff; I occasionally forget that our congresspeople are twelve years old. Instead of merely saying "Pelosi" or "Boehner" in the vote for speaker, the occasional rep is trying to "zing" the name with something like "I proudly cast my vote for the first woman to serve as speaker, the honorable Nancy Pelosi!" Many are unable to avoid shouting "woo!" or "yeah!" as, from the viewing section, Tony Bennett and Richard Gere look on. Republican Michelle Bachmann voted Boehner in some funny way that didn't get picked up by the mics, but visibly caused her side to chuckle.

However, some cattle are lost in New Mexico.

Comments

:-|1.4.07 @ 12:07PM|#

How many times today will Nancy Pelosi invoke "the children"?
I predict about 37.

VM|1.4.07 @ 12:07PM|#

Awesome!

on 780 WBBM's 6am news they started with pope Palpatine... errrr. Benedict doing something. (covering deep routes obviously wasn't one of them)

Somehow all three are related :)

VM|1.4.07 @ 12:09PM|#

(sorry for double - nice catch on the [is the], David!)

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 12:28PM|#

Yea, and moments later FOX was back on this non-story.

Perhaps you don't watch that channel enough?

|1.4.07 @ 12:30PM|#

Guy, not sure, but could you maybe blog about it for us?

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 12:33PM|#

mediageek,

NP! And now FOX is reporting Harriet Meyers is resigning as White House Counsel.

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 12:40PM|#

Then back to the house and empty inagurial speeches, now back to the Negroponte resignation.

|1.4.07 @ 12:40PM|#

"Harriet Meyers is resigning as White House Counsel"

While Hugh Hewitt is scoring his inner thigh with a brand new razor blade. Bought special.

Look at those rows of red! So precise, so clean.

|1.4.07 @ 12:46PM|#

I'm on the edge of my seat here! Did she take the oath?

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 12:48PM|#

Waiting for the crawl to say FOX welcomes our new competitor from Reason, Mr. David Weigel and his network of what should really be covered, when it should be covered and in the proper order of when it should be covered :)

Lunch is over, time to go back to defending America.

:-|1.4.07 @ 12:58PM|#

Any mentioning of "the children" yet?
Did you know that Nancy Pelosi is both a mother and a grandmother?
Really, she is!

Warren|1.4.07 @ 1:04PM|#

As a former Grand Rapidian, I'd like to express a little reverence for the late president. The cultural traditions of West Michigan are dominated by Dutch Christian Reformed. It even has a town called Holland (complete with a windmill and tulip festival). So Grand Rapids is a bit conservative for some folks, but I liked it, a nice middle-sized city.

The people of Grand Rapids have an honest respect and affection for favorite son.

The Wine Commonsewer|1.4.07 @ 1:06PM|#

You know, this isn't 1958 and it isn't particularly earth shattering that women are doing things like being sworn in as Speaker.

Further, I could get a lot more excited about it if it was a woman who wasn't committed to exercising her power to shove the state down my throat. Somebody like, say, Wendy McElroy, or Katherine MW, Shikkha Dalmia, or Virginia Postrel. There you go, let's get Shikkha on the ticket. First Indian-American female to be sworn in.

Spare me, please, Pelosi is a drone and will make my life less free than it now is.

And BTW, just how excited did anyone get when Uncle Ben's Condoleeza Rice became the first BLACK WOMAN Secy State?

|1.4.07 @ 1:13PM|#

"The swearing in of the new Congress isn't the most exciting news event, but I notice that CNN and MSNBC are covering it live,"

I suppose this means that there weren't any white women who went missing lately.

The Wine Commonsewer|1.4.07 @ 1:17PM|#

And BTW, just how excited did anyone get when Uncle DUBYA'S Condoleeza Rice became the first BLACK WOMAN Secy State?

Wait, did I already say that? Damn wine. Wait. Too early for wine. Must be the Columbian. Coffee, THAT IS.

|1.4.07 @ 1:37PM|#

Lots of people got excited when Colin Powell became the first black Sec of State.

Lots of people got excited when Madeleine Albright became the first female Sec of State.

Slightly fewer got excited when Dr. Rice went from NSA to SoS, but still, quite a few.

|1.4.07 @ 1:38PM|#

Did Trent Lott swear on the frozen head of Strom Thurman?

|1.4.07 @ 1:39PM|#

"And BTW, just how excited did anyone get when Uncle Ben's Condoleeza Rice became the first BLACK WOMAN Secy State?"

More importantly, she's probably the first modern Secy State who doesn't bother to read footnotes in national security-related documents.

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 1:44PM|#

Hold it down guys! I am trying to keep up with the updates on the Who, How, If, Now, Ever network thread.

|1.4.07 @ 1:48PM|#

Are they blonde cattle?

TCR|1.4.07 @ 2:07PM|#

However, some cattle are lost in New Mexico.

Weigel, do you try to sound like a condescending prick or does it just come naturally?

Seriously, I have family in Kansas and this is exactly the reason people in that part of the country are so disdainful of people from N.Y., L.A., etc. Probably also why they are so often vote Republican because at least that party makes noises about appreciating their values and way of life.

When people like you drive by cows (if you ever get out of D.C. that is) you probably think "Hey look, cows! Aww isn't that special!" What you don't think about is that those cows are somebody's livelihood. If those stranded cows die out there in the snow, guess what: those cows can't go to market and maybe that family can't eat this month. I've got news for you man: there is a lot more to this country than what goes on in D.C.

But what do you care? You sit in front of a computer all day writing snarky bullshit for a living. You've probably never done an honest days work in your whole damned life, probably don't even know the meaning of the word.

|1.4.07 @ 2:11PM|#

Since when has Fox News ever cared about people's livelihoods?

Oh, right, these are "real Americans."

TCR|1.4.07 @ 2:19PM|#

Since when has Fox News ever cared about people's livelihoods?

Oh, right, these are "real Americans."

Joe, I don't know if they care or not. Probably not. But they do know that the people who watch Fox New probably do care and that's why they're running it. I guess you don't know that that's how TV works - they run the stuff that appeals to their audience.

BTW, I saw the cow story on CNN and Headline News too.

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 2:21PM|#

TCR,

One would think that the fol in DC would appreciate cows even more than they do just by the way they behave. Thus my term 'cowple' for the way they wander around the streets and halls of the general beltway area.

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 2:25PM|#

Sub-title suggestion: "Counter to the tradition of other cable news channels, FOX runs stories that hurd views to their channel, rather than the fare to be had at MSNBC and CNN."

|1.4.07 @ 2:27PM|#

What? No more bullet-riddled Hummer limos?

|1.4.07 @ 2:47PM|#

she's probably the first modern Secy State who doesn't bother to read footnotes in national security-related documents

Do you really believe that, jon?

VM|1.4.07 @ 3:22PM|#

yeah, but joe: are the cattle hot?

|1.4.07 @ 3:22PM|#

RC,

I believe that as much as I believe anything that comes out of her mouth, which is to say, not at all.

dhex|1.4.07 @ 3:57PM|#

"When people like you drive by cows (if you ever get out of D.C. that is) you probably think "Hey look, cows! Aww isn't that special!""

no, i think "jesus, they've got big fucking heads."

they also look kinda sad up close, like they know they're cattle in every sense of the term.

then i make a joke about middle america, spill my latte down the front of my fair trade slacks and finish up the organic tofu i'd bought at whole foods. only my wife drives the hybrid though.

VM|1.4.07 @ 4:01PM|#

Dhex: how about thinking, "mmmmm. Shoes. Belts. Burgers."

that better be a soy milk latte, there!

|1.4.07 @ 4:17PM|#

"You've probably never done an honest days work in your whole damned life, probably don't even know the meaning of the word."

Since his employer voluntarily pays him, I'd say he knows just as much about honest work as any rancher or farmer. No one's begging these guys to farm or ranch; they choose to. And that's fine with me, in as much as they aren't getting fat subsidies, but they aren't out there doing it as some courtesy. If ranching's a bitch, let someone else do it. They're not doing me any favors.

|1.4.07 @ 4:34PM|#

"Get off your high horse" said TCR, the man on an enormous Clydesdale.

|1.4.07 @ 4:58PM|#

I think it's a subtle social criticism. New congress == lost cows.

|1.4.07 @ 5:10PM|#

Weigel, do you try to sound like a condescending prick or does it just come naturally?

Missing cattle, no matter how awful to the owner, is not national news.

|1.4.07 @ 5:14PM|#

Stop TCR. You'll make me cry.

Oh wait a sec. Bush removed my tear ducts for National Security Reasons.

Carry On Then!

hehe

|1.4.07 @ 7:44PM|#

they had two talking heads debating Nancy Pelosi and Cindy Sheehan...

How long does it take your ears to stop ringing after one of those?

Guy Montag|1.4.07 @ 7:49PM|#

I swear, you 'guys' need to be over at "The Plank" with you condiscending nonsense.

dhex|1.4.07 @ 10:07PM|#

i blogged about condescension once!

VM: what other kind of latte is there? lord only knows where this "milk" stuff comes from.

The Wine Commonsewer|1.5.07 @ 12:24AM|#

no, i think "jesus, they've got big fucking heads."

That's the funniest thing I've heard in weeks. I can barely type this because I'm LOL and it keeps making my arms jiggle.

pelosiforpresident|1.5.07 @ 6:33AM|#

Hey, TCR, really sorry about all the farmers in the heartland going to bed hungry, but your post is the most udder bullshit I've ever herd.

VM|1.5.07 @ 10:25AM|#

"lord only knows where this "milk" stuff comes from."

dunno - [bad 80s humor] TCR's mom? [/bad 80s humor]

Guy Montag|1.5.07 @ 1:37PM|#

Great stoner news! There is supposed to be a ban on lobbyists soon, so the cotton lobby will not be able to keep pot illegal!