Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Joe Lieberman has rejected two job offers from the Bush administration (Homeland Security secretary and U.N. ambassador), according to CNN. To tell you the truth, I think he really sees himself as a Democrat and sincerely believes in at least some of the Democratic agenda (see the examples I listed yesterday). Maybe he really doesn't want to be the useful idiot the Bushies want him to be in their quest to grab one more Senate seat for the GOP.

And Zell Miller's going to make appearances on Fox News. Oddly, I bet we don't see much of him. My guess is that Miller is a straightforward guy who says nice things (about, say, his grandkids) in a nice voice and nasty things in a nasty voice. That's not the secret to success in this TV format. Fox's stars, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, are far phonier, and thus far more effective as TV attack dogs -- sure, they can spew hate and viciousness, but they serve up a lot of their vitriol in the low registers (O'Reilly in particular delivers many of his nastiest barbs in his softest, most mellifluous tones). In other words, much of the time they're "cool" rather than "hot," to use McLuhan's terms, even when they're on the attack. If Miller can do what they do, he'll be a star; otherwise, he'll never be more than a substitute host, like Ollie North (who's not "cool" at all).

No comments: