The Phil Donahue Show: Johnny Carson (1970)

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Ederik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

Johnny Carson is not the best interviewer of all-time, but he was a very good interviewer. A bright guy who did his homework. Johnny is not the best standup comedian of all-time, but he’s certainly on the short list of greatest standup comedians who have ever performed. But what Johnny is, is the best comedy talk/variety show host of all-time because of his ability to do so many things and play so many roles. That generally started off with a very good standup performance of his own, followed by an interview that he would do.

I think what made the The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson work and there is really only Tonight Show at least as far as I’m concern, but what made that show work was that it didn’t try to be anything other than what it was. Johnny would interview everybody and only interview those people as himself. Not interview a politician as if he was Walter Cronkite. Not interview a great athlete as if he was Curt Gowdy. Or interview a great entertainer as if he was Barbara Walters. He was comedian first and foremost and played the other roles on the show as himself doing the best job he can.

The Johnny Carson Show was real and it was about Carson and what made Carson work. The standup part for him and perhaps the comedy skits were natural for him. But the interviews and preparation were work because that wasn’t his background, but he was intelligent and knew enough about the other issues he dealt with like interviewing public officials and politicians and interested in those things as well that he could interview people well and have intelligent conversations with them.

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American Experience: Richard Nixon (1962) Press Conference

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Rik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

Since graduating from college in I believe 1935, Richard Nixon had been a winner his entire professional career up until 1960 when he lost that presidential election to John Kennedy. So he was going through a very difficult stage in his life that lasted from losing that election until probably as late as 1966 when he had a lost of success in 1966 campaigning for Congressional Republicans. Even though by 1963 he went back into the private sector as a New York lawyer and public speaker. But politics is what made him very happy.

Because of all these things and the mounting frustration that had built up of not only being out of public office for the first time since 1946 when he left the Vice Presidency in early 1961 and losing his second major election in 1962 in just two-years, Nixon just sort of went off and took his frustrations out on the press and let them have it. Calling this press conference his last, which of course it wasn’t. I just don’t think he put a lot of thought into what he was going to say here and went off instead.

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William Shanley: The Made-For-TV Election Starring Martin Sheen (1980)

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

Comparing the presidential election of 1980 to the presidential election of 2012 is like comparing today’s culture and lifestyles of that of the 1950s. Or NFL football from the 1970s to the NFL of today, two completely different eras. And even though TV and especially TV news is no longer as dominant medium as it was back in the late 1970s and 1980, it is still crucial today and politicians still need to do well on it to be successful. Especially is they hope to be President of the United States.

TV and videos we can see off the internet either off of YouTube or even videos we upload ourselves from our own laptops are the closest thing that we have to seeing someone in person. You can see what someone looks like and how they are feeling and doing simply by how they present themselves on TV. And even though the internet and even social networks are a huge factor in how we get our news, TV is still critical in how we are presented as people.

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Gerald R. Ford Library: Nelson Rockefeller Swearing in Ceremony as Vice President of the United States (1974)

Posted on August 28, 2014 by kireschneider


Source:The New Democrat 

I’m not sure we’ve ever had a more qualified nominee for Vice President of the United States. And you might be thinking, “that is not saying much”, (and perhaps with stronger language) but the fact is we’ve had very qualified Vice President’s including the current one in Joe Biden. But Vice President Biden’s predecessor Dick Cheney whatever you think of him was a very qualified Vice President. And in a lot of cases served especially during the crisis of 9/11, served President Bush and the country very well. George H.W. Bush was a very qualified Vice President for President Reagan and you can go down the line.

Nelson Rockefeller was a very successful businessman running a couple of companies. Including Rockefeller Center in New York and the International Basic Economy Corporation. He was Assistant Secretary of State for American Affairs. Governor of New York for fourteen years from 1959-73. And all of these things happening before becoming Vice President of the United States. So with a resume like this and that he and President Gerald Ford were fairly similar when it came to social and foreign policy, you would’ve think that President Ford would’ve used Vice President Rockefeller as his Chief Counsel and perhaps even Chief Operating Officer. But apparently that didn’t happen.

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Merv Griffin Show: Jane Fonda & Roger Vadim Interview (1967)

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Derik Schneider
Jane Fonda & Roger Vadim Interview (Merv Griffin Show 1967)

Source:Merv Griffin Show– Roger Vadim and Merv Griffin, in 1967.

Source:The New Democrat

“Jane Fonda and her husband, French director Roger Vadim, are interviewed by Merv Griffin in January of 1967 while promoting their film “The Game is Over (La Curee)”. They talk about their farm in France, Jane’s cooking, and Vadim’s experiences filming iconic women.

Merv Griffin had over 5000 guests appear on his show from 1963-1986. Footage from the Merv Griffin Show is available for licensing to all forms of media through Reelin’ In The Years Productions:Realin The Years.”

From the Merv Griffin Show

I would be lying if I said I had any idea who the hell Roger Vadim is other then what I got out of this video. And I only like to lie when I’m in trouble. You know being questioned by police, on the stand being cross-examined. And if you are wondering how I get away with that. I cross my fingers when I’m put under oath and say: “I do”.

But Jane Fonda is very well-known and for good reasons. A beautiful baby-face adorable actress with a very quick wit and sense of humor. As well as intelligence that allows for her to play all sorts of characters that her career indicates that she has.

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Hail to the Redskins For Life: Daniel Snyder: ‘Redskins Organization Has Started the Process of Designing a New Stadium’

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Ederik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

This is something that should’ve been done twenty years ago. But back then Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke was dealing with Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly and her administration in Washington. And even though Mr. Cooke had offered to build the stadium himself and pay for the whole thing, which is something he and the Redskins can afford to do because of the value of the franchise, he couldn’t get an agreement with the Kelly Administration in Washington to build the stadium there. There was also a factor with RFK Stadium because Washington was still looking for a new MLB franchise.

Times are much different now and not only is the City of Washington run much better and no longer dealing with runaway crime, or runaway deficits, or runaway debt, or runaway poverty. The education system is getting better and the city is no longer losing people, but actually adding people and has become one of the safest big cities to live in America. As well as having one of the best economies. And has Mayors and a government as well as City Council that knows how to govern and to make deals.

The point is because of all of these factors not only does Washington want the Redskins back in the city. But the Redskins also want to back in the city they represent and Washington is still the best location for them in the Washington metro area. Because it is a great big beautiful city where a stadium there would be easy to for everyone to get to and where fans will no longer have to worry about getting stuck in Maryland traffic because they could either drive downtown, or take the train.

For just the simple reason that Washington now has MLB again and has it downtown at Nationals Parks with the Nationals, RFK Stadium not in its current form, but either though renovation and expanding it with two or three additional decks and perhaps a retractable roof dome for a Super Bowl and other indoor events. Or simply tearing the stadium down and replacing it with a hundred-thousand seat stadium, that spot becomes a perfect location for the Washington Redskins in Washington where the Redskins now and always have belong.

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Investigating Power: Mike Wallace: A Friendship With Richard Nixon

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Rik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

What I get from this interview of Mike Wallace is that he liked Richard Nixon because he was impressed by the man’s intelligence and knowledge. That they could talk about a wide range of issues and that he would learn things from Nixon that he didn’t know before. That Nixon was intelligently interesting and was someone you want to talk to and to get to know. This is not even a six minute video, but if that is what Mike Wallace likes about you, you should take that and be happy. Because Wallace I believe is the best news interviewer of all-time because of his own intelligence about a wide range of issues and his preparation and ability to interview anybody about anything.

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The LBJ Library: President Lyndon Johnson & Governor Nelson Rockefeller (1/07/1966)

Posted on August 27, 2014 by kireschneider

 

Source:The New Democrat 

Governor Nelson Rockefeller Republican from New York, trying to get President Lyndon Johnson to give him some public assistance from the Federal level to deal with some small business issues and problems that were going on in New York City. Perhaps having to deal with riots or other social unrest the city was going through in the mid and late 1960s. Which was a rough time for New York during this period with high crime and high poverty and other issues dealing with social unrest in a city of roughly eight-million people that was crucial to the whole State of New York.

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Phil Donahue Show: Video: Jane Fonda Anti-War Speech and Interview on the Vietnam War

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Derik Schneider


This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

Jane Fonda at her highest peak as an anti-war New-Left political activist. Calling members of the American military criminals, murderers, including the President of the United States Richard Nixon and perhaps President Nixon’s predecessor Lyndon Johnson as well. The wing of the American Left the New Left people who are called McGovernites for their support of U.S. Senator George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign took over the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And gave the Democratic Party a real bad name for over twenty-years.

New Left Political Activist

New Left Political Activist

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David Von Pein: Video: NBC’s Meet The Press: U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, October, 1960

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Rik Schneider


This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

Vice President Richard Nixon trying to make the point that America was still stronger than Communist Russia at this point across the board. This was one of the biggest issues of the 1960 presidential campaign between Vice President Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy. Was America moving forward and advancing and at its strongest point possible to take on Russia if it needed to. The Vice President seem to believe that America was, but that we could always to better. Senator Kennedy constantly making the point that America stagnated especially economically with the recession of the late 1950s and early 1960s and that we needed to get moving again.

Vice President Richard Nixon

Vice President Richard Nixon

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