Friday, February 25, 2005

On the Sunday Chat & Chews

For all you Cokie Roberts' fans . . . Oh, that's right, she doesn't have any here. If you find yourself in need of a good laugh, Sunday morning on This Week (ABC) Cokie will appear on the panel. Will she do her usual clutch-the-pearls 'journalism' or will she try to highlight her lighter side by stealing jokes from Maureen Dowd? One never knows what to expect from Cokie. (Donna Brazille will also be on the panel. Along with fashion plate George Will. Watch if you must. If it helps you decide, Ahnuld will be on.)

What's over at NBC's Meet the Press? They'll have the real Maureen Dowd. Along with Rick Santorum, Joe Biden, neighborhood crank William Safire and global crank Thomas Friedman.

I won't be watching either. The shows descend to theatrics and posturing and are too damaging to my mood. But an e-mail asked if I had any idea of who was on. If you go the show's web sites, you can sign up for web alerts. [No links provided -- search it if you must -- because we try to link to worthy things.] If Katrina vanden Heuvel were on either, or Amy Goodman, Dahr Jamail or anyone who would make a strong case and speak from informed view we'd highlight the shows. But the shows are a joke to me and they reduce the people to an aside. (This was not always the case with Meet the Press which was once home -- pre-Tim Russert -- to some actual discussions.)

You can check Liberal Oasis on Monday for a summary of the Sunday chat and chews. You can also be sure that if anything noteworthy occurs, Bob Somerby will highlight iton The Daily Howler. But I know many members enjoy Maureen Dowd and that many members loathe Cokie Roberts. So that's the heads up. (And we'll provide it anytime someone requests it.)