Jon is hosting Sandra Bullock, George Clooney's new squeeze. She'll be pushing their current movie, Gravity.
Stephen has the execrable Chris Matthews. He'll be pushing his new book Tip and the Gipper (no I won't link to it, why would you want it?).
Tweety is the epitome of the Villager Bootlicker. He worships power and has no allegiance, loyalty, or integrity. He lies constantly, fortunately he's also shallow and stupid. He'll pass off Pat Cadell and Dick Morris as "Democrats" and Republican pollster and messaging specialist Frank Luntz as "Independent". He loves him some senile old Ronnie the traitor and thinks caving to Republicans is good government. If you like him now because he appears to be on Obama's side or think he's a "Liberal" or even a "Democrat" all I can say is your standards are lower than a snake's belly.
Speaking of thrills, he was anxious enough to toady to W back in the day-
“Mission Accomplished” - Media Reaction
On the May 1, 2003, edition of Hardball, Chris Matthews was joined by right-wing pundit Ann Coulter and "Democrat" Pat Caddell.
MATTHEWS: Ann Coulter, you're the first to speak tonight on the buzz. The president's performance tonight, redolent of the best of Reagan -- what do you think?
COULTER: It's stunning. It's amazing. I think it's huge. I mean, he's landing on a boat at 150 miles per hour. It's tremendous. It's hard to imagine any Democrat being able to do that. And it doesn't matter if Democrats try to ridicule it. It's stunning, and it speaks for itself.
MATTHEWS: Pat Caddell, the president's performance tonight on television, his arrival on ship?...
CADDELL: He looks like a fighter pilot.
MATTHEWS: He looks for real. What is it about the commander in chief role, the hat that he does wear, that makes him -- I mean, he seems like -- he didn't fight in a war, but he looks like he does.
Later that day, on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Matthews said:
MATTHEWS: We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like [former President Bill] Clinton or even like [former Democratic presidential candidates Michael] Dukakis or [Walter] Mondale, all those guys, [George] McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits. We don't want an indoor prime minister type, or the Danes or the Dutch or the Italians, or a [Russian Federation President Vladimir] Putin. Can you imagine Putin getting elected here? We want a guy as president.
On the May 7, 2003, edition of Hardball, Matthews asked former Nixon administration official G. Gordon Liddy what he thought of the response to Bush's landing on the Abraham Lincoln. Looking at the footage, Liddy commented that Bush's flight suit made "the best of his manly characteristic."
So I'm reading some of the reactions I've gotten and I always try to answer questions either straight or with snark (it's up to you, dear reader, to tell the difference), and I was asked whether I was paid for my efforts.
My answer was with the love and respect of my peers but let's face it- I am peerless.
My activist brother thinks I'm intimidating though he's no slouch himself and I suppose occasionally that can put people off because they think it's some kind of competition. Folks, I don't do this for the mojo, I get quite enough in the course of my normal activity.
Indeed I would suggest, if you are looking to volunteer, that you too get used to toiling in obscurity far, far away from the Rec List.
For all that this little franchise is not doing so bad given its modest goals of being a place where people can come together and watch our boys in action and comment on the hilarity (or non-hilarity) of the show. It's been a long time since we had to worry about hating on a hundred, but activity is down all over and we do a darn sight better than your median diary in terms of comments.
My point being that you shouldn't feel any performance anxiety. I'd have turned in another of my exercises in minimalism but Tweety raises my blood pressure.
Likewise you're not constrained on the up side. Make each one a masterpiece of research and exposition if you want. The thing is that if we each pitch in according to our unique talent, it won't get too burdensome for anyone and we can all have a good time.