It is rare on national television to have a guest refuse to speak and then just sit there, but that was the scene on Larry King Live with Carrie Prejean. It is always exciting to see legal technicalities and interpretations become the subject du jour for celebrity talk shows.
Just as a legal note, on this occasion, King may be right, but it is possible for the parties to mutually agree to bar any press discussion. A confidential settlement normally bars discussion of the terms of the settlement and not the motivation of the settlement. What Prejean is describing is an agreement for a gag rule. However, the pageant has released information, here. It would be strange for an organization to require “radio silence” and, if a gag rule was part of the settlement, it would be interesting to see which side insisted upon it.
Putting this aside, it is a matter of debate whether silencing an interview between Larry King and Carrie Prejean was a significant loss to the public discourse. Indeed, for those minutes of silence with Prejean and King staring at each other in silence, there may have been a net improvement of the overall journalistic content of the show. For that brief moment, a degree of sanity returned to celebrity cable programming. It was fleeting, however.
Ms. Prejean, I think I speak for all Americans when I say PLEASE JUST GO AWAY. You’ve have far more than your alloted 15 minutes of fame, and, really, no one cares what you have to say about anything. Oh, and… you’re the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen.
She tried to take control of his show. This woman is really arrogant and annoying. Unhooking the microphone is a really childish thing to do.
Personally, I think she has gotten the shaft for a simple comment of opinion. And anyway Larry King is a numb nut. Why does he even have a show? Does anyone watch it? For that matter does anyone watch CNN very much?
Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for November 11, 2009
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,433,000 viewers
CNN – 560,000 viewers
MSNBC –426,000 viewers
CNBC – 235,000 viewers
HLN –313,000 viewers
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,735,000 viewers
CNN – 632,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,063,000 viewers
CNBC – 348,000 viewers
HLN –581,000 viewers
HLN almost beats CNN in prime time.
flipkid:
Carrie’s 15 minute clock is about at 14:30 I suppose. Past that, if her ex-boyfriend has any more of those video offerings as he claims. Then it’s sudden death overtime. Why do hypocrites get all the air time?
Mespo:
they dont, only if they look good and can suck a watermelon through a keyhole.
you should know that.
I wonder if Carrie Prejean will be the 8th Wonder of Larry King? I think it racks up to that in the King Marriage Department. Although it will technically be his 8th different woman it would be his 9th marriage as he repeated one.
I wonder if he kissed her between strikes and she kissed him between balls. But it sounds like its either the top or bottom of the 9th.
Soupy Sales.
Parjean is obviously from the Palin school of journalism where only she gets to decide the questions and any attempts to actually penetrate or probe their micro-thin veil of relevance to the world is “inappropriate”. I’ll suggest her 15 minutes of milking the spotlight for every second and every nickle possible was up about a month ago. Next!
@ Byron:
What kind of thinking is that? Is the quality of a broadcast measured by the number of viewers? What about PBS? Based on the numbers you just gave there, should FNC then be watched by everyone in America? That’s called gregarious mindset. Maybe Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck are your heroes as lots of people watch them, but I like CNN and I watch Larry King Live…
“Personally, I think she has gotten the shaft for a simple comment of opinion.”
Really, Byron? You don’t think this backlash is based on the fact that she purports to be a devout Christian, yet had someone else pay for a boob job so she would fare better in a beauty contest? And THEN we find out that Ms. Devout Picked-On-Beacuse-I’m-A-Conservative-With-Family-Values Christian made several mastubatory videos for her boyfriend (not husband… boyfriend)? And even then she thinks we’re so stupid that we’ll believe her when she says they’re NOT “sex videos” because no one is “having sex” on them??
And back to her original controversial comment: there is no such thing as “opposite marriage.” No matter what your views on gay rights are, if you are so stupid that you have to make up your own word to describe something, your opinion is worthless.
You are, however, correct that Larry “Methuselah” King is a numb nut. And ALL media outlets that give Ms. Prejean even 10 seconds of air time are guilty of participation in the lowering of the Amrican IQ.
CNN is still on?
Takoma:
Actually I have watched Beck twice and only because a person I like was on as a guest. I think Bill O’Reilly is a pompous ass and way too full of himself.
PBS has a couple of good shows but should be put out of their misery. I really don’t want my tax money going to a government TV station. I just cant wait until extreme right wing evangelicals takes over this country and puts PBS to good use – promoting pro-life, anti-gay, anti-welfare, anti-immigration, pro-religious views. What a breath of “fresh” air that will be.
And you wont have an intellectual argument to refute that type of programing.
I saw the interview and could not believe what a total brat Prejean was. Larry King handled her testy behavior with aplomb and grace. Of course he spun it to say he didn’t know about the pre-interview agreement. He’s Larry King for Pete’s sake. And, the most ridiculous statement of the year: “You’re being in appropriate, Larry.” She came off so condescending. After 20 years as a PIO, it was one of the most indulgent moments in an interview I’ve ever seen. I’m so ready for her to go away. Forever.
“i’m about to leave your show.” hahahahahahahaha!!!! please leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flipkid:
Now I would have watched that video! I don’t really care if she is or is not a hypocrite, she is entitled to her opinion and she made no comments about gay marriage being made illegal. It was her personal choice, she appeared to have no grand designs to discriminate against gays.
I say leave her alone and she will go away through apathy.
You guys on the left always pick a fight with someone the right wants to love and protect. You end up doing more harm than good. Because of your hatred of Sarah Palin there is a very good chance she will end up being president in 2012 or 2016.
As a conservative I am not at all happy with that possible outcome, because she is not really a true free market conservative. She is probably more like Bush I or Bush II and as Jesse Jackson said “stay out the bush”. This “Bush” is not my cup of tea.
“Because of your hatred of Sarah Palin there is a very good chance she will end up being president in 2012 or 2016.”
Haha! Hahahahahahaha!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Whew! *wipes tears from eyes* Now THAT was funny.
Flipkid:
I am willing to put $100 bucks on it. We can both send to a neutral 3rd party to hold.
the left thought 2010 was going to be a cake walk too, it likes it will be for republicans.
Granted a lot can happen between now and 2012, but please lay off Palin. I want her as president even less than you do, albeit for different reasons.
“it looks like”
Byron @ 8:36am :
“Personally, I think she has gotten the shaft for a simple comment of opinion.”
You might like/need a *primer* on her fifteen minutes. (Maybe try TMZ, thedirty, or palingates.) Here is a link to palingates’ November 12, 2009 post titled “Sex, Lies and Videotape – Sarah Palin’s new friend Carrie Prejean exposed as pathological liar and hypocrite” it gives a pretty good *synopsis* of this trashy story.
http://palingates.blogspot.com/2009/11/sex-lies-and-videotape-sarah-palins-new.html
Man,
What I’d do for a few minutes in the limelight. It sure wouldn’t be sit there and call people inappropriate.
She was much more open about the sex tape in an interview with Christianity Today
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/novemberweb-only/145-22.0.html
Byron–
You said: “Personally, I think she has gotten the shaft for a simple comment of opinion.”
***************
Sure, she took the heat for her comment about “opposite” and other kinds of marriage. The “shaft” you speak off turned into a shaft of bright glowing “right wing” light that she basked in.
While she may have been castigated for her viewpoint by some proponents of gay marriage, certain conservative groups couldn’t wait to hold her up as some kind of martyr and “family values” heroine.
I say: Who cares what Carrie, a beauty pageant contestant, thinks anyhow?
cej:
they are tastefully done works of art! What is the problem here? It is not like she had sex with someone in a subordinate position to her.
She appears to like heterosexual sex, she is just personally opposed to gay sex for herself.
It is just sex so what? Are we really so puritanical that an attractive woman is villified because of her sexuality? Quite frankly I dont see the problem. It appears that she is being raked through the coals because of a personal opposition to gay marriage. Had she said that gay marriage was great and that she was all for it none of this would have happened.
So now in America we cannot have an opinion that is in opposition to liberal orthodoxy?
“I just cant wait until extreme right wing evangelicals takes over this country and puts PBS to good use – promoting pro-life, anti-gay, anti-welfare, anti-immigration, pro-religious views.”
Byron,
I know you’re trying to be ironic but that’s just what happened in the Nixon, Reagan and Bush years. You don’t remember Bill Buckley had a prominent PBS show? It balances out, but it is necessary to have an alternative to the crap on the air. HBO thus far has been the only good programmer of note and who knows how long that will continue.
As for Ms.Prejean, she is a hypocrite utilizing supposedly family values to promote herself, but too dumb to realize that her skimpy clothing and self-centered sexuality run counter to her professed beliefs. She was fired from the pageant not because of her answer on gay marriage, or because of the nude photos that turned up. She was fired because of her habit of missing speaking commitments. This past week alone she has missed two. My guess is she is closer to Anna Nicole Smith, than to Ann Coulter.
Elaine M:
that is their stupidity without first finding out what she was truly all about.
My problem is that free thought, speech and opinion is becoming less and less so.
Quite frankly the only reason I even know who she is, is because of all the hoopla created by that judge that asked her the question in the first place.
Quite frankly he should have asked her about apple pie and motherhood or her thoughts on greenhouse gases. This is a beauty contest, long legs, big hooters and pretty faces carry the day. Who even cares about issues in that venue? And frankly I don’t even watch, it is a monument to banality on the order of the Simpsons.
Mike S:
I agree on the Anna Nicole Smith comparison. Prejean is a twit as far as I am concerned.
Carrie was talking to god.
Great find JT!
Byron–
You said: “My problem is that free thought, speech and opinion is becoming less and less so.”
************
I guess I don’t see it that way. Prejean has been expressing her thoughts and opinions all over the airwaves–and in her new book, “Still Standing.” No one has muzzled her. She never would have gotten all this media attention and a book deal if she hadn’t been responsible for creating a cause celebre.
I would say that people from both the far right and the far left are often too eager and too quick to pounce on anyone who expresses opinions different from theirs. That we’re kept informed about all these trivial stories ad nauseam when our country is involved in two wars and is near economic collapse is probably a result of the twenty-four-hour news cycle and the anything-controversial-makes-for-good-ratings mindset.
Elaine cuts right to the chase. Stories like this should be marginalized for political reasons but because they are trivial. Who the Hell cares what a beauty pageant contestant thinks? Honestly? See, they have “brain pageants” and they are called “schools”. If we were interested in her brain, we would not be asking her to wear a bathing suit but rather to solve differential equations. That being said, once in the public eye one should take care of what they say and how they say it. Everyone has a right to free speech which incidentally includes the right to make an ass out of one’s self. Prejean has no one to bitch at for her position other than Prejean. And again, she was competing for what? Who is hottest to the group of lecherous old judges? Why were they even asking her questions? The thin veneer of civility that a beauty pageant is not a meat show? A sex show sans the messy parts? Unless she’s a MENSA member, really and even then, who cares?
Filed under “Trivial Distraction” or “Bread & Circuses”.
She has some mental psychosis, the passive aggressive attitude is a symptom of a deeper set psychosis.. That is a disturbing interview when LK asked about her motivations, she finds herself a victim of her own judgments.. She is a text book case, sit back and watch her implode..
My work has several TVs up (sound off) tuned to various stations, one of which is CNN. They did a hard hitting report on “secret societies” the one in question… the Freemasons. Which is about as secret as the Elks Club.
When you do reports on the Freemasons, you no longer get to call yourself a News station.
Byron,
I am opposed to “gay marriage” as it is now ‘interpreted’. Perhaps my stance is a remnant of the Southern Baptist “beliefs” I had for 20 years—that I later shed 40-some-odd-years ago—and in conjunction with my conservative Republican views, in general.
Ms. Prejean had every right to state her opinion at the pageant and I think that Mr. P.H. is a putrid, pathetic individual who has the very same free speech rights to which Prejean is entitled. However, Ms. Prejean’s abjectly hypocritical behavior since then is fair game and open season for all, as long as libel laws remain unbroken.
You and I have both labored in the oil patches and therein we heard and saw it all. Although, I never observed any direct abuse, gays were disallowed as part of a crew and they “need not apply.” Any man that was not ‘man enough’ ended up in the rig ‘doghouse’ confinement and we all heard the stories of effeminate or unfit men taking a forced bath in an oil/wastewater pit with a swabbin’ brush as ‘its’ back scrubber.
Life can be tough and unattractive at times when 2 or more humans are involved and 1 does not ‘fit in’ with the others’ views or perceptions. I learned a lot about life in sports, the military, the oil fields, law enforcement, et cetera, all of those experiences molded me, and I would not have wanted any change whatsoever.
Byron @ 10:14:
“You guys on the left always pick a fight with someone the right wants to love and protect.”
Ms Prejean was a voluntary *beauty* contestant WINNER-Miss CA who became a *beauty* contestant LOSER-Miss USA (actually runner-up) she then chose the VICTIM status when she claimed “I only lost because I oppose opposite marriage!” Was she really a victim?
Byron @ 11:41: “…she is just personally, opposed to gay sex for herself.”
I’m pretty sure you did not read the *primer* linked to above; so could you please -um -er explain that statement?
CEJ:
I read it or at least part of it. Are you saying she is also a lesbian?
No; I just thought your turn of phrase given the *subject* of her video was funny!
Gyges,
I had a similar experience last night. When I got home, my roommate was watching a show about how 2012 was going to be the end of the world which was being sponsored, no shock, by the latest Emmerich disaster porn “2012″. To say the “science” in this special was “science” is insulting to language and the fundaments of logic and perception. I’ve lived thorough both interesting celestial alignments and solar maximums. The net total effects I’ve noticed is that the alignments keep the astronomers busy. The sunspots? They cause the radio astronomy guys fits because they have to take things like the VLA offline and the NASA/Space Command guys fits because it inevitability kills a satellite or two. To your average guy or gal? It was a Tuesday. My roommate usually watches science shows with actual science in them. I asked him why was he watching E!.
I was informed it was the Discovery Channel.
As I worked later in my office, I couldn’t help but wonder how many people were watching that crap and taking it seriously because it was on “The Discovery Channel”.
I think my weekend is going to be a study in avoiding televisions.
When CNN does a story on PNAC, then I might start taking them seriously.
FFLEO:
“Any man that was not ‘man enough’ ended up in the rig ‘doghouse’ confinement and we all heard the stories of effeminate or unfit men taking a forced bath in an oil/wastewater pit with a swabbin’ brush as ‘its’ back scrubber.”
we called it doppin a “d . . . k” and by 1980 I think it was phased out. I had always heard that it was used as an initiation for the “worms”.
CEJ:
thank you.
Buddha,
But… Football
Byron,
Your welcome; but did the “left” really “pick a fight” with Ms. Prejean, was she a victim of anyone (excluding herself)!
CEJ:
I agree, she milked this for all it was worth.
I have an idea, can you guys publicly denounce me and tell everyone that the left is afraid of me and hates me?
I can then run for political office and write a book. I will share all of whatever largess I receive from Regnary Publishing and Jack Abramoff.
All of you would also be welcome in my congressional house office. We will let “K” Street pay for the drinks and food.
Okay; but do we get to live in the Family’s C street house too!
Byron–
This one’s for you:
Jack Be Nimble
(A Rove-ian rhyme in which Karl Rove hastily waxes poetic to Jack Abramoff when he sees reporters approaching the White House)
Jack be nimble…
Jack be slick.
Jack, slip out of the White House…QUICK!
I spy nosy news reporters.
You can’t be caught in Dubya’s quarters.
Sorry, pal, you just can’t stay.
Just think of what the press would say!
(We’ll invite you back another day
For caviar and a prime filet.)
Head for K Street right away!
Get back to work on pay to play—
That’s your genius, that’s your shtick.
Jack, slip out of the White House…QUICK!
Elaine,
Your poems are wonderful! Thank-you for sharing them here!
PS: Have you done one on Carrie Prejean?
Elaine M:
that was great.
CEJ:
only if it is paid for by the RNC.
Okay, but only if I get to keep the clothes!
Oh! Please don’t forget the shoes, must have shoes!
CEJ–
I don’t think I’ll write one about Carrie Prejean. She’s very young–and has made some mistakes. Haven’t we all? Sure, she’s been basking in a lot of the attention she’s been receiving. I think she may regret this whole episode in her life one day–at least certain aspects of it.
I prefer to write about folks like Dick Cheney, Sean Hannity, John Yoo, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and company. They’ve been around for a while in politics and/or the media. They know exactly what they’re doing and truly deserve to be skewered.
At best, she serves as an occasional, humorous, distraction from normal, daily, responsibilities. Bizarrely, what is a mere humorous distraction for most is for her, serious life business. Society needs clowns … she fills the bill.
Prejean just demonstrated the fact that she has joined Sarah Palin as the main intellectual heavyweights of the conservative movement.
Well when is she going to do a reality show with Ron Jeremy and Clarence Thomas as the Judge, of course Flip Wilson as the commentator.
Elaine,
Agree about the mistakes part – no doubt!
That you use your talent only on what inspires you – of course!
Disagree about laying off someone over the age of majority who voluntarily seeks the limelight and has becomes a public figure.
Particularly Ms. Prejean, who claims to be a practicing Christian, claims to be setting an example, and able to give advice to young people aspiring to lead a Christian lifestyle. She wants to tell others what to do (do as I say, not as I do) but more dangerously she wants to promote laws restricting and prohibiting what others may do. A hypocrite ripe for skewering in my opinion; that she may be acting while under the influence of others is just a pity but no protection.
CEJ–
I agree with what you said in your last comment. I guess I feel there are objects more deserving of my poetic vitriol.
Maybe I choose to lay off someone like Carrie Prejean because I’m the mother of a young woman myself–or maybe because I remember how, in certain ways, I was quite immature myself when I was Carrie’s age. I should add that my daughter, while extremely attractive, has never been a contestant in a beauty pageant. Heaven forbid! I might have done something drastic to myself had she informed me of such.
Oh she’s just a lovely young woman. She’s especially nice to ‘interns’: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/blogs/yeas-and-nays/Prejean-threatened-walkout-before-she-stepped-on-set-of-_Larry-King-Live_-8526704.html
Maybe Prejean should get the shaft.
Here is an excerpt from a Q & A with Carrie Prejean at Christianity Today
Q: “You wrote that you don’t regret getting breast implants. Have you ever wondered whether it might be incompatible with your Christian faith?”
A: “No, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting breast implants as a Christian. I think it’s a personal decision. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn’t get breast implants.”
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/novemberweb-only/145-22.0.html?start=1
***************
I think Carrie’s right. I just found something interesting when rereading the Book of Genesis this evening:
After six days of creation, God didn’t just rest on his laurels on the seventh day. He looked at the wonders of the heavens and the earth and felt something was missing. He said: “Let there be beauty pageants and breast implants and not-too-bright blondes wearing bikinis exhibiting their nubile female forms in public and competing for cash prizes and the opportunity to appear on Larry King Live.
And the he created Texas…..and then rested as all was good.
AY–
Correction: He created Texas, let it secede–and then rested as all was good.
Elaine M,
I do stand corrected. So, what is the punishment that you mete out today?
AY–
You are ordered not say the word “Meep” for a week. Case closed.
Heroes of the faux Conservative/Republican radicals.
Joe McCarthy-US Senator known as communist hunter. Used lies and fueled self with two quarts of liquor daily. Unable to understand why people hated him “After all it’s only politics.”
George Murphy-US Senator and former “danceman” in “B” Movies.
Followed his handlers orders.
S.I.Hayakawa-US Senator became famous for cracking down on college students. Was know to snore loudly at his desk when the Senate was in session.
Ronald Reagan-US President and mediocre movie actor with failed career until he married wealthy Daughter of a John Birch Society founder. Kept in funds by defense contractor GE
via a western anthology show masquerading myth as history. Learned to give one good speech in decrying Government, which he delivered around the country paid for by leading recipient of government largesse. As President presided over the largest tax increase on the middle class in history and raised the defense budget to new highs.
George H.W. Bush-US President, started two wars, ignored attack warnings, presided over failing economy. Thought of as perhaps worst President in US history.
Rush Limbaugh-Radio Personality, drug addict, alleged user of Dominican Republic Prostitutes, thrice married defender of family and American values. Racist and spewer of hatred.
Glenn Beck-College dropout, failed DJ, who discovered Joe McCarthy’s formula for success.
Ann Coulter-Putative writer and provocateur known for hyperbole, lies and bigotry.Looks like a Nazi’s Dominatrix Dream girl.
Sarah Palin-Mayor of crystal meth capital of Alaska, wife of an Alaskan separatist, needed four different colleges to get BA, quit as Governor of State halfway through first term to make money, as VP candidate displayed breathtaking ignorance of all issues and stubborn refusal not to study them, failed miserably in softball interviews by Network news, breathtakingly uninformed yet aspires to Presidency.
Michelle Bachman-US Congressperson who has taken ignorance and bigotry to previously unassailed levels.
Carrie Prejean-Lost job as Ms. California for failing to make scheduled appearances, blames it on inane gay marriage statement, espouser of strong Christian Values ye has made up to 15 sex tapes sent to boyfriend she met once, has a propensity for appearing in skimpy clothing, as blindingly ignorant as her teeth are white. Soon to be a FOX News anchor or run for political office.
There is a pattern to all this that does not bode well for this country.
Mike–
Well Done!
My favorite: “Ann Coulter-Putative writer and provocateur known for hyperbole, lies and bigotry. Looks like a Nazi’s Dominatrix Dream girl.”
Now there’s an image for you! Too funny!!! I can vividly picture a whip-wielding Annie dressed in a black leather bustier, garter belt, hip-high boots, and a Nazi helmet with a little Hitler moustache pasted above her upper lip saying: “Sieg heil, Honey!”
***************
Here’s a little verse about Ann. I’ll admit that it’s not my best effort.
If Only Somebody Would: A Terse Verse about Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter?
Somebody bolt ‘er
mouth shut…
or stitch it up with catgut…
or gag her with a soiled sock.
I can’t bear to hear her squawk!
BTW, Don’t you think she sounds like she’s got a bug up her nose when she talks?
Mike S:
all I can say is that there are liars, womanizers, cheats and assorted bad actors on both sides of the political aisle. I think it better to agree that politicians have human failings and that the left or right has no moral high ground on personal behavior.
But I must take exception to Reagan tax policies. The marginal rate went down and the total revenue to government increased. This happens everywhere it is tried. That is one thing I don’t understand about the left, if you lower taxes, revenues increase. You can have both social welfare programs and a vibrant economy if you would just lower the tax rates across the board.
And that is what happened in the Reagan era, lower taxes lead to a more vibrant economy.
The individual rate went down the aggregate rate increased.
Byron,
You left out an important fact about Reaganomics: Government spending and deficits rose significantly during his administration!
Byron–
Here are some excerpts from The Great Taxer, a NY Times article written by Paul Krugman (June 8, 2004):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/opinion/08KRUG.html
We’re also sure to hear that Mr. Reagan presided over an unmatched economic boom. Again, not true: the economy grew slightly faster under President Clinton, and, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the after-tax income of a typical family, adjusted for inflation, rose more than twice as much from 1992 to 2000 as it did from 1980 to 1988.
But Ronald Reagan does hold a special place in the annals of tax policy, and not just as the patron saint of tax cuts. To his credit, he was more pragmatic and responsible than that; he followed his huge 1981 tax cut with two large tax increases. In fact, no peacetime president has raised taxes so much on so many people. This is not a criticism: the tale of those increases tells you a lot about what was right with President Reagan’s leadership, and what’s wrong with the leadership of George W. Bush.
************
The first Reagan tax increase came in 1982. By then it was clear that the budget projections used to justify the 1981 tax cut were wildly optimistic. In response, Mr. Reagan agreed to a sharp rollback of corporate tax cuts, and a smaller rollback of individual income tax cuts. Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of G.D.P., the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton’s 1993 tax increase.
************
Mr. Reagan’s second tax increase was also motivated by a sense of responsibility — or at least that’s the way it seemed at the time. I’m referring to the Social Security Reform Act of 1983, which followed the recommendations of a commission led by Alan Greenspan. Its key provision was an increase in the payroll tax that pays for Social Security and Medicare hospital insurance.
For many middle- and low-income families, this tax increase more than undid any gains from Mr. Reagan’s income tax cuts. In 1980, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, middle-income families with children paid 8.2 percent of their income in income taxes, and 9.5 percent in payroll taxes. By 1988 the income tax share was down to 6.6 percent — but the payroll tax share was up to 11.8 percent, and the combined burden was up, not down.
***************
I did not and do not approve of President Reagan’s economic policies, which saddled the nation with trillions of dollars in debt. And as others will surely point out, some of the foreign policy shenanigans that took place on his watch, notably the Iran-contra scandal, foreshadowed the current debacle in Iraq (which, not coincidentally, involves some of the same actors).
************
My opinion: Reaganomics and the “trickle down theory” didn’t work out too well for many Americans.
CEJ/Elaine:
isn’t the congress responsible for laying taxes and spending? Reagan lost his republican house in 1982. 269 (D) to 166 (R) in the house and 54 (R) to 46 (D) in the senate.
In my opinion Krugman is a partisan hack as far as economics goes. Greenspan gave up his capitalist roots a good many years ago. You should read some of the stuff he wrote in the 1960′s. Laissez Faire Alan all the way.
He did our economy no service by leaving interest rates low for so many years.
Clinton had the good fortune of being president when the Internet was commercialized.
I don’t know how I feel about Iran/Contra. We probably should not have done it, but Daniel Ortega wasn’t exactly George Washington and all of that was a response to the possibility of Soviet expansion in our hemisphere. The Cuban Missile Crisis was less than 30 years old at the time and the Soviet Union was still in existence and apparently still strong.
There are 2 ways or more to look at everything.
Byron–
I would consider Alan Greenspan a partisan hack. He expressed no concern about the federal budget deficit until after Dubya was safely re-elected in 2004. Then Alan disappeared before the sh*t hit the fan. I suppose one could call him prescient.
I guess a person can spin a story anyway he/she chooses.
BTW, I’m not a big fan Of Bill Clinton.
I do believe that the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 led to many of the financial abuses that caused the near collapse of our economy.
Elaine M.,
I too agree that the financial disaster would not have happened but for repeal of the glass act. If my memory serves me correctly it was a demand by the GOP as they controlled both Houses and he got something in return. So much for checks and balances being in place.
I wonder what it was like when the President and Vice President ran on separate ballots. That had to be a trip from hell based upon the rhetoric I have read.
Elaine:
Alan Greenspan should be arrested for what he did. I think Bush had him keep interest rates low so they could finance the War.
The whole thing was very messed up. I aint ever again votin for a commpassionate conservative, that is why I dont like Palin. I think she has a lot of Bush in her.
At least she did not sacrifice her ethical belief for political correctness. As for myself, I think it’s silly that society does not approve of same sex unions (or whatever the politically correct term might happen to be this week).
Byron–
Greenspan is an ideologue–a disciple of Ayn Rand. I’m not sure clueless Dubya had to pressure him to do anything.
As for Palin: I think she’s an insult to women with just half a brain. I do believe she and George W. have certain things in common–one of them being a lack of intellectual curiosity.
George W. SAID he was a compassionate conservative–but his actions surely didn’t prove that he was.