Barbara Walters’ Ultimate Claim To Fame?
May 5th, 2008
Barbara Walters has always seemed to be one of those people who is famous because she has a desperate need to be famous. Walters is close to eighty years old, and in one last sad effort to reclaim the spotlight for herself, she has pulled out what she must think is her ace card. With Oprah’s help Walters has gone public about an affair she had thirty years ago with Edward Brooke, when he was a senator from Massachusetts. Who cares?
Geraldo is another one who bugs me. Everything these people do is so obviously really about their insecure little selves, and not what they claim to be informing us about in their roles as pseudo-journalists. Why do they keep showing up, year after year?
Now that I’m on a roll, I met Ed Brooke once, when I was a reporter and he was running for re-election in 1978, only to lose to Paul Tsongas. I wasn’t particularly wowed by him. Brooke came across as having a solid politician’s false front. I also met John Kerry at the same time, when he was an assistant DA investigating claims Ed Brooke had made about his divorce. I forget the details. Hey, maybe Kerry was looking into rumors about the Walters affair! But my point is that Kerry was aloof, just as he’s been described all these years.
Somebody who I interviewed, who impressed me very much indeed, was Ted Kennedy. He would have been about 45 at the time. Kennedy sat me down, a nobody kid radio reporter, and for nearly half an hour he talked my ear off, about every issue that concerned him and every bill he was working on. He had every fact and argument and viewpoint about everything right at his fingertips. When it was time to go he got going, but when I had his attention I really had his undivided attention, and I can’t recall any other politician taking the time and making the effort to do that for me.
Filed under: All Posts, Politics, Religion & Money
6 Comments Add your own
1. jeanie beanie | May 6th, 2008 at 6:25 am
What the … YOU interviewed TEDDY, as Mom used to call him? AFTER Chappaquidick? I’m floored! Now my lousy five-second handshake with Bill Clinton just got flushed down the toilet. Yes, I agree! Say what you want about their personal lives; the Kennedy boyz WERE good politiciians, especially Bobby and Teddy, the latter still IS!
Barbara is losing her credibility, thanks in part to ABC putting livelier, stronger, younger personalities on “The View.” Rosie O’Donnell (can’t stand her, and it’s not because she’s gay, she’s just so bitter!), Whoopi Goldberg, etc.
Don’t even let me get started on that sham Gerakdo, that philandering piece of work. I will however, be glad to talk about Anderson Cooper. Yes, I know the rumors (sigh, you know, all the goods one are … ), but he really seems sincere and cares about his subject matter. He’s probably in Myanmar even as I type this.
2. Cactus Lizzie | May 6th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Okay, before I make my comment about Ted Kennedy, I should probably explain where I am coming from. I am an FDR New Deal Democrat. And a great admirer of President Roosevelt’s wife Eleanor, too. I have heard it said, and I agree: Ted Kennedy has done more in serving the Democratic agenda in this country, by staying a Massachusetts Senator all these decades, than he could have if he had become President for 4 or 8 years.
Yes I am aware that there are wealthy (and maybe some not so wealthy) Republicans in this country who STILL hate FDR’s politics, which favored improving the lot of the common man in this country, instead of placing the highest priority on preserving the prosperity of the rich. William F. Buckley, as I understand it, was no fan of “New Deal” politics. Which only makes sense, since conservatives basically want to conserve the status quo, placing their own interests first.
Ted Kennedy didn’t swallow that whole “trickle down” theory of top - down economic prosperity, which is why I’ve always liked him.
3. DOuG pRATt | May 6th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I believe I did that interview with Teddy while you and I were still an afternoon radio team, Lizzie. Why didn’t I save more air checks??
4. Cactus Lizzie | May 8th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Yeah, that sure wouldda been nice…to have that addition from so long ago, to put a little bit of it on the blog now.
Hey!!! WAAAAAIT A MINUTE!!! You said, “Why didn’t I save MORE air checks”!!! That must mean you still have SOME! Awwright, Doug, cough it up! Put some ‘a’ the ole Doug Pratt afternoon drive time jock, and/or newscaster, on the blog for us all to hear! We - want - Pratt! We - want - PRAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
5. DOuG pRATt | May 9th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I have a *few* airchecks from the old days, Lizzie, but they’re on reel tape, and I don’t have a reel-to-reel deck. I keep meaning to buy one cheap on eBay, but so far haven’t gotten around to it. I know somebody who owns one, but I haven’t talked to him in a few years.
6. Cactus Lizzie | May 9th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
AH! A “Round Tuit.” Yes. Somebody gave me one of them once. It was in the form of a coin, with “Round Tuit” stamped on it. Now, since that is the case, WHY do I just keep on saying I haven’t gotten a round tuit? Yet I keep saying it and saying it!!! Odd, isn’t it??? ; )
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