Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
That was the question which perplexed my friend Donald Douglas this morning:
I feel like I'm back in the pre-blogosphere media universe. Al Hunt on #ThisWeek ??? Oh, where have you been??? #News #Media #Dinosaurs
To which I provided the answer:
RT @AmPowerBlog Al Hunt on #ThisWeek ??? [] Most really IMPORTANT people in DC are at the beach
When he was the Wall Street Journal's D.C. bureau chief, Al Hunt was one of the most important media people in Washington. This was especially true because Hunt's wife Judy Woodruff was a top anchor on CNN, back in the day when CNN was really important. But then Fox News appeared on the scene. Woodruff got the ax at CNN in 2005, shortly after Hunt left the WSJ for Bloomberg, and so the Hunt-Woodruff duo aren't quite the dominant D.C. power couple they used to be.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
This was why Al Hunt was on "This Week" on the third Sunday in August, when everybody who is important in D.C. is at the beach.
Of course, I'm not at the beach, either. Hey, Poulos, are you at the beach?
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Al Hunt? I seem to remember him.
Back in the Pleistocene.
And what is this "CNN" of which you speak?
May '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Real balance on that panel there, Christiane.
*****
I remember, years ago, there was a rally for abortion in Washington on a Saturday. Woodruff, then CNNs bigfoot anchorperson, sacrificed her day off to "cover" the thing all the day long.
Jun '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
"What we have is a crisis of confidence here, and I think it’s a crisis that ignores the fact that most of the fundamentals are sound, with the exception of the fiscal situation a few years out, because of that reckless tax cut for the wealthy."
– Al Hunt on the July 20, 2002 Capital Gang on CNN. (MRC.org)
So, that was the only dark cloud Al Hunt could see on the economic horizon in 2002--the Bush tax cuts. What a dope.
Jul '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
We sure were getting the straight dope back then, weren't we? It was all MSNBC dressed up as middle of the road. People were dumber then.
The black hole that swallowed Judy Woodruff is called PBS. She alternates with an anchor who wrote a hagiography of Obama. No daylight between that pair. Al's beautiful white hair is what put him on the air. A bald man with his opinions would have gone nowhere.
May '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Dear Lord, why is Al Hunt anywhere? (this is not a call for the assination of Al Hunt, which would be pointless as a broken pencil). This whole gang is such a 60's throwback. Based on the ratings, America's reserve of nostalgia has been depleted.
May '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
And certainly not a call for an assignation with Al Hunt.
Aug '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Which was, really, the essence of my argument against the John McCain nomination in 2008: "Hello, he's bald! Look at Mitt Romney's glorious head of hair! Ted Danson's weave never looked that good!"
Don't get me wrong: I'm OK with bald people being Republicans. Just not as presidential nominees.
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
What is this 'beach' of which you speak? I -- perhaps the word is 'I' -- have been fully uploaded into the Ricochet mainframe. Here there are only glittering shores of silicon, Stacy, lapped by the virtual waves of an endless digital bath. In the distance, Gelernter's seastead is visible, shimmering like a mirage. Suderman has just installed the Surfboard Foot app into his 'brain.' He has paddled out so far past the breakers that his endless jabbering about the singularity is now almost inaudible.
Aug '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Speaking of Sunday morning shows, my brush-with-greatness moment was when Rachel Maddow denounced me on "Meet the Press" but -- alas! -- didn't actually say my name.
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
This is hilarious. And it's true: August is the month where they trot out the D-list.
It reminds me of a story -- I won't say the guy's name, but he's a regular D-lister on these shows. But he's also immensely rich. So on August weekends, he hires a satellite truck to park outside his mansion at the beach, just to be "ready" in case someone more important, some first choice, falls through. His uplink is ready to go, is what he tells the frantic producers of these shows. Say the word.
And thanks, etoiledunord, for the archival takedown. I really wish there was a database you could search for every idiotic cliche these guys have ever blathered.
Jul '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Rob Long: This is hilarious. And it's true: August is the month where they trot out the D-list.
It reminds me of a story -- I won't say the guy's name, but he's a regular D-lister on these shows. But he's also immensely rich. So on August weekends, he hires a satellite truck to park outside his mansion at the beach, just to be "ready" in case someone more important, some first choice, falls through. His uplink is ready to go, is what he tells the frantic producers of these shows. Say the word.
And thanks, etoiledunord, for the archival takedown. I really wish there was a database you could search for every idiotic cliche these guys have ever blathered. · Aug 22 at 11:48am
I am going to hound you from stem to stern of the Nieuw Amsterdam until you tell me this guy's name.
You might dodge me on the Lido Deck or evade me on the Promenade, but I shall not be denied.
Jul '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Rob: He's too . . . powerful . . . . for you to name? We realize you work in Hollywood and everything, but could you slip the name to another Ricochet editor? Create a fictional identity? Al Gore has a mansion near the water now, but not on the beach, and anyhow it couldn't be him because people want to ask about the release of the Second Chakra and Al's real sensitive right now.
We must know. Give.
Jun '10
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
I was at a neighbor's pool this afternoon. Does that count?
P.S.
I did get a call from a Christiane, but it was just too glorious of a day.
Re: Why Is Al Hunt on 'This Week'?
Hmmmmm. Well, the problem is, if I name him then he'll be able to figure out who's house I was staying at when I saw his giant truck rumble up on Friday night.
How about this: I'll name him exactly one year from today, in an email to Ricochet members.
So, be sure to keep your subscriptions current!