Advantage: Jon Stewart

Looks like Crossfire might be facing cancellation. Still breathing, alas: Hannity and Colmes, where the formula seems to be "just like Crossfire, but with dumber hosts."

Comments

[Brad Reed]

Tucker and Begala just aren't shrill and partisan enough. Their replacements should be Democratic Underground posters and columnists for Renew America.

Shit, I'd actually tune that in...

[Brian]

Yeah, put Kaye Grogan on the tube and I'm there.

[Gary Gunnels]

Good riddance. 🙂

[Sulla]

They should try some sort of cage match style debate with new reps for each side every week. Coulter v. Moore in week one.

[Pavel]

"Advantage"? More like game, set, match.

I actually thought Carlson was kinda fun to watch. Just not on his own show.

[Coarsetad]

Coulter v. Moore

...well, they would more repulsive to look at, than Hannity and Colmes.

[Gary Gunnels]

Coulter might be afraid Moore would eat her. Of course she's so bony he'd likely get a femur stuck in his throat and choke.

Was that equally insulting to both of these turds? 🙂

[Douglas Fletcher]

What's going on with Gary, is this the new smiling Gunnels?:)

Another variation on the multiple personality theme?:)

[Ultimate Fitness Program]

Coarsetad gets paid by the comma.

Both Crossfire and Hannity and Colmes suck. Give me vintage The McLaughlin Group anyday.

[Gary Gunnels]

Douglas Fletcher,

Thoreau says I need to be less gruff. 🙂

[Dan]

Give me vintage The McLaughlin Group anyday.

The McLaughlin Group was great, especially because it was obvious that nobody involved in it took it very seriously. The fact that McLaughlin himself had a cameo on SNL to "host" the parody of his own show says that much.

[Dogzilla]

Both those shows are not only unwatchably predictable, but they contain no interesting political insights EVER. Seriously, there is more serious political commentary in South Park or The Onion, and they're funny to boot.

[Gary Gunnels]

Dan Rather's going. Bill Moyers left broadcasting (he didn't take Now with him unfortunately). Any other similarly lovely news in the works that I don't know of?

[Douglas Fletcher]

Larry King gets older one day at a time?

[R C Dean]

Personally, I find Sean Hannity to be the stupidest man in broadcasting. Its like he has a very short tape loop of Republican talking points in his head, and somebody pushed the fast-forward button.

The fact that his schtick has made him a multi-millionaire makes me very sad.

[Jim Ray]

Hannity is indeed stupid, but Colmes is a dolt, too.

I miss William F. Buckley.
JMR

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Check out this link for Frank Zappa on Crossfire. Best episode ever..

http://www.ifilm.com/viralvideo?ifilmid=2652382

[wellfellow]

I like the new Gary, thanks, Thoreau!

Jim, yeah, I want Buckley back, too.

[AJS]

Agree with the Frank Zappa "Best Epsiode Ever". Frank ran rings around those blowhards! Who was that pratt sitting next to him (not Novak, the other one with the hairpiece)? The death of Zappa was a loss in the fight for free speech.

[Gary Johnston]

The rumor is Carlson is actually getting a better job - hosting his own show on MSNBC while continuing to host his PBS show. I really, truly don't understand what catapaulted Carlson into the talk show elite like this. Possibly the same loopy media logic that keeps food on Joe Scarborough's table.

[Mark Borok]

I liked the original Crossfire with Buchanan and Kinsley. Maybe it's just nostalgia on my part, or the fact that I was more easily impressed at the time.

[Gimme Back My Dog]

The Onion had a great headline once "Colmes loses debate with four year old nephew"

[Warren]

Thank you Mr. Nice Guy, that was great!

[Jesse Walker]

Actually, the best Crossfire ever has to be one of these:

* The one where Christopher Hitchens and Ed Meese kept swearing at each other and threatening to storm off the set. I've never seen the hosts more nervous.

* The one after Jerry Garcia died, when someone asked David Horowitz what the man's death meant. "It means the '60s are over," said Horowitz.

"If the '60s are over, then you're out of a job," commented Kinsley. "You've been living off the '60s for years."

To his credit, Horowitz laughed.

[Jesse Walker]

By the way, Mark, the original show didn't have Kinsley on the left. It had a dotty old fellow named Tom Braden.

I agree that the Kinsley/Buchanan combo was the best of the show's lineups, in part because neither was afraid to deviate from the Team Red and Team Blue party lines. There was one episode, on Social Security, where they basically switched sides.

The best of all these programs, of course, was The Sinatra Group.

[fyodor]

I wonder how many times the '60s died? Can they still be killed?

[joe]

Crossfire deliberately set up two evenly-matched opponents on a level playing field, and told them to have at it.

Hannity and Colmes is like a stages wrestling match. Oh my God, Hannity has a chair! C'mon, ref!

[David Rollins]

I've heard it said that Tucker considers himself a libertarian (I even heard him say this on NPR once). I haven't read any of his stuff, though I have caught the PBS show once or twice. Anyone here care to comment as to whether he's a libertarian?

[crimethink]

I don't know about this new Gunnels. His newfound love for smileys does little to ameliorate his vicious and insult-ridden commentary. If anything, the incongruity of calling someone jackass, dolt, bozo, etc, followed by a smiley, makes him even more intolerable.

[drf]

does this mean that gary has finally exercised the demon of the french marine?

grin.
confession: i thought that GG was thoreau was gil martin was gaius.

that ledaig sure gives perspective on things...

[crimethink]

Of course, I've come to suspect that we've been barking up the wrong tree all along in regard to the JB=GG issue. We (or at least I) assumed that Jean Bart was a persona created by Gary Gunnels; in light of recent discoveries, it seems more likely now that Gary Gunnels is a persona created by Jean Bart.

I will expound on this topic if there is sufficient interest.

[ed]

It's just a tv show. Entertainment.
Has anyone--ever--taken it seriously?

[crimethink]

My reasoning:

1. GG/JB is intimately familiar with France, and with JB's experiences in Desert Storm. However, he never goes into detail about GG's early life in Alabama, and seems familiar with the South, and Southern culture, only in the broadest terms.

2. His comment about his wife is totally incongruent with GG's strident homosexuality. Seriously, this is the guy who made a cyber-pass at Brian Doherty in his early days as GG. True, he could be bisexual, but why has he never mentioned this before?

3. Thoreau's original evidence, which was a comment on another blog bearing JB's name and GG's email. This comment was posted before GG had ever showed up on H&R. It seems more likely that the email GG uses was actually an alternate email used by JB.

4. From the "I learned it on Star Trek" department, as Spock said, it is far easier for a civilized man to act like a barbarian than for a barbarian to act civilized. On occasion, JB would get heated in an argument, but he was normally polite. GG, on the other hand...

[Franklin Harris]

By the way, Mark, the original show didn't have Kinsley on the left. It had a dotty old fellow named Tom Braden.

Who wrote a book called "Eight Is Enough," which became a TV show ... and the rest is history.

[Anon]

Seriously, its alright to cancel a poorly performing show without using Comedy Central for cover . What's next, blaming Dave Chappelle for the crash and burn of Trading Spaces (or Wife Swap, or Trading Spouses, or whatever)?

But I do look forward to some "roll-up-your-sleeves storytelling," which I assume is a counter to the "pull-down-your-pants" form of spirited debate Klein insinuates Carlson was trying to peddle.

Anon

[thoreau]

Personally, I find Sean Hannity to be the stupidest man in broadcasting.

I think Colmes could give him a run for his money. In fact, I think that's why Colmes was put there: To make Hannity look intelligent.

As to the question "who is Jean Bart?", I offer only this memorable post:

Who is Jean Bart?
Long have the rumors flown of the man who's founded a Francophile utopia, where, powered only by their self-reliance and some subsidies from the French government, they live in a secluded valley, producing wine, cheese, Citroens, and body odor.

"I weel stop ze motor of ze world - for lunch!"

Comment by: CTD at September 10, 2004 07:38 AM

[Todd Fletcher]

Somehow Gunnels manages to make even his smileys sneer a bit 🙂

[Dragon Fly]

Carlson gives bowties a bad name.

[Matanooska]

David Rollins - Carlson's on the small government side of the right, and on Bill Maher's HBO show last fall, he mentioned that people shouldn't be prosecuted for using drugs in their own homes...you make the call.

[Gary Gunnels]

fyodor,

No, Christian and social conservatives can't re-instate Jim Crow, so the 1960s will never, ever be dead. 🙂

[koinkidink or wot???]

GG

http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2004/12/her_only_dance.shtml

JB

http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2004/03/the_myth_of_the.shtml

Look for: "...Little Round Top, ......the 20th Maine" in both.

[Gary Gunnels]

crimethink,

But you are a dolt, jackass, bozo, etc. I can't help the existance of these particular facts. 🙂

However, he never goes into detail about GG's early life in Alabama, and seems familiar with the South, and Southern culture, only in the broadest terms.

I was born in Singing River Hospital (its in Mississippi for those who are interested). Is that enough of my "early life?" 🙂

Todd Fletcher,

Yeah, I try to be nice and I get disquisitions on who I may or may not be. Its truly bizarre. 🙂

David Rollins,

I've watched his show quite a bit and he's never struck me as someone with libertarian sensibilities.

[Gary Gunnels]

koinkidink or wot???,

The 20th Maine's martial heroics are well known to anyone with a modicum of knowledge of military history.

[Gary Gunnels]

The best TV talkshow is of course "The Phone-In" sketch that Monty Python did. 🙂

[koinkidink or wot???]

"The 20th Maine's martial heroics are well known to anyone with a modicum of knowledge of military history."

RRRIIIGGGHHHTTT!!!!!

YYEEAAAH

UH HUH

WOTEVAH

[Gary Gunnels]

koinkidink or wot???,

Their efforts on Little Round Top are part of one of the famous engagements in the Civil War. 🙂

[thoreau]

I never knew about Little Round Top or the 20th Maine, but I'm willing to believe that a lot of people do. And no doubt many of those people have gone to Little Round Top and imagined themselves to be in the 20th Maine.

And is it so hard to believe that out of those many people, two of them with similar personalities might both post on this forum?

[thoreau]

Here's part of something I said:

I recall that a year or so ago, a certain poster (who doesn't seem to be with us anymore) got desperate and claimed that the benefits issues associated with gay marriage could send society over the brink:

< snip >

Comment by: thoreau at December 9, 2004 04:04 PM

Here's what Gary said:

thoreau,

That was "Andrew" I believe.

Do you like Elvis Costello?

Comment by: Gary Gunnels at December 9, 2004 04:17 PM

A little later in the discussion I said:

Gary, I don't recall you in many of the old threads where Andrew and I debated gay marriage. Were you just lurking back then?

Here's a classic thread:

http://reason.com/hitandrun/2004/03/the_x_president.shtml

I have yet to hear a refutation of my argument in that thread.

Comment by: thoreau at December 9, 2004 04:33 PM

Here's what Gary said:

thoreau,

Were you just lurking back then?

Yeah, I was lurking.

Comment by: Gary Gunnels at December 9, 2004 04:37 PM

Just sharing.

[bar harbor bob]

And is it so hard to believe that out of those many people, two of them with similar personalities might both post on this forum?

Ayuh.

[thoreau]

bar harbor bob-

Look, just because they have the same argument style...

And just because they're both francophiles...

And just because they both fantasized about the same thing while running on that hill...

And just because he said that they share an office after replying to a message sent to the other guy...

And just because one of them used the other guy's email address at least once...

And just because Gary is well-acquainted with threads that Jean Bart posted in...

That doesn't mean they're the same person!

[Gary Gunnels]

thoreau,

You really do make me laugh. 🙂

[thoreau]

Well, Gary, I just said that all of the similarities are a coincidence. Isn't that what you maintain?

[Stevo Darkly]

Thoreau: Many witty things posted at H&R make me laugh, but your reposting of the "Who is Jean Bart? ... 'I weel stop ze motor of ze world - for lunch!'" made me laugh out loud at work.

GG: Monty Python's "Phone-In" sketch -- classic!

" 'Has he been 'round again?' Professor Rodgers?"

"Well, as we've previously established that Vic isn't here, clearly he can't be 'round again again. It's a simple matter of non-presence..."

"It could be rushed through in about three months ..."

Something like that; from memory.

[Gary Gunnels]

Stevo Darkly,

Yeah, Python is some funny shit.

thoreau,

It honestly doesn't matter what I write on the matter. Tim was right in that was more complicated than you will ever know, and since whatever I write won't clear up the issue, I just choose to leave you folks to your fantasies. 🙂

[thoreau]

Tim was right in that was more complicated than you will ever know

How complicated can it be? Either you are or you aren't the same person who posted to this forum with the screen name "Jean Bart." When you say that you aren't, well, one can either believe you or not. When you say that it's complicated, that seems like a cop-out.

The only thing I can think of is that you and another person shared a computer at some point, but we on this forum reached our conclusions without comparing IP addresses. We've compared styles and statements. Either it's the same person posting those messages or it isn't.

[thoreau]

And FWIW, I couldn't care less whom you shared a computer with. I don't want to know. Either you composed and posted those messages under a different name or you didn't.

[Gary Gunnels]

thoreau,

Its not a cop-out and you are just being illogically reductionust. Plus, again its more fun for me to let you guys prattle on with your various theories and probably more fun for you guys as well.

[Gary Gunnels]

thoreau,

And let's note, its you people who bring this identity issue up, not I.

[thoreau]

Maybe if you played nicer nobody would care about your identity.

[Pro Libertate]

Ahem. So how long will it be before "celebrities" in major blog comment sections start getting their own talk shows?

I'm not as omnipresent as others here, but I seem to recall thinking that Jason Bourne=Gary Gunnels. If so, there's a curious recurrence in the initials J and B. Hmmm.

Gary Gunnels, the appropriate response to all of this nonsense is, of course, "I am Spartacus", so we can preserve your fundamentals rights.

Thus, I am Spartacus.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Thanks for the underwater combat friends that was interesting.

[Pro Libertate]

Or even your merely fundamental rights. Danged "s" button deceiving my fingers again.

[Gary Gunnels]

thoreau,

I don't see a need to play nice with wannabe tyrants and liars.

Anyway, I'll make a deal with you. If we meet at the Lido someday and, afterwards, we eat at the Procope, I'll tell you everything. 🙂

[Jim Treacher]

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Hannity & Colmes pitch meeting: "Ever wonder what would happen if Gollum and Fred Flinstone were a bickering gay couple? Find out for a whole goddamn hour every night!"

[thoreau]

"Ever wonder what would happen if Gollum and Fred Flinstone were a bickering gay couple? Find out for a whole goddamn hour every night!"

That made me spray over my keyboard, something that rarely happens!

[Jesse Walker]

Bravo, Jim.