Althouse: "I'm feeling like an ugly date. I feel used. I feel cheap."

September 26, 2008

"I'm feeling like an ugly date. I feel used. I feel cheap."

McCain rubbed Dave the wrong way.

51 comments:

Anonymous said...: Is he going to get over it or just continue to whine like a real cheap date?; 9/26/08, 8:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Letterman? Eh, who cares? He's the NYT of late night entertainment. Occasionally funny, usually dull.; 9/26/08, 8:14 AM
froggyprager said...: I thought the most interesting thing that Dave said in all the whining was that in his conversation with John McCain that McCain said something like, we will get Sarah Palin on the show, people want to see her more than me anyway. At least we all got to see Paris Hilton.; 9/26/08, 8:18 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: Cheap date? Letterman is a cheap shot artist.; 9/26/08, 8:19 AM
slarrow said...: Well, the truth hurts sometimes. I'm glad to see that Letterman is starting to come to terms with reality, though.

(Can you tell I'm not a fan?); 9/26/08, 8:23 AM
Bob said...: Dave's just milking it, now. McCain should send him a message: get over it, ya pussy.; 9/26/08, 8:26 AM
ricpic said...: If you hold stock in CBS* Letterman is important. Otherwise? Eh...

* Is CBS a stand-alone corporation or is it a division of a bigger conglomerate? I don't know.; 9/26/08, 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: ricpic, CBS is part of Viacom; 9/26/08, 8:37 AM
MadisonMan said...: The ribbing of non-appearing guests is a time-honored interview show tradition. (See: Rosie O'Donnell and her Tommy).; 9/26/08, 8:39 AM
Anonymous said...: er...apparently not anymore...sorry, I am a bit behind on that news...; 9/26/08, 8:39 AM
knox said...: I hate Letterman ever since he was mean to Richard Simmons.; 9/26/08, 8:43 AM
Larry J said...: I've never understood why Letterman is supposedly popular. He isn't funny. His latest whinning is absurd. Maybe someone should tell Dave that in the grand scheme of things, he and his silly little show just aren't that important. Get over yourself, whinner.; 9/26/08, 8:46 AM
Amexpat said...: Could there be a cruel symmetry here? McCain started his campaign on Letterman and his not showing up could be the beginning of the end.; 9/26/08, 8:55 AM
bleeper said...: You are ugly and cheap, Dave. And you should marry your baby momma. And go away, you aren't funny.; 9/26/08, 8:58 AM
Roman said...: Letterman would have to go up several steps to be put in the category with cheap dates!; 9/26/08, 9:04 AM
vet66 said...: Letterman was trying to set McCain up for a gotcha. Lots of levity and jokes but McCain decided the situation was too serious for levity at this juncture.

The media would have been all over McCain/Palin for not taking the situation seriously and not being Presidential in a time crisis.

Letterman and Olberman better get used to not having their way. Better yet, the sooner they get a real job the better off the rest of us will be. Come to think of it, I can think of very few jobs in the entertainment industry that would qualify as a real job that produces something the rest of us can't live without.

Go fish!; 9/26/08, 9:07 AM
Bob said...: McCain has dated Dave a few times and finds her a whiny sow. He's got a hot new chich so Dave is so yesterday. Dave just needs to accept he IS ugly & old.; 9/26/08, 9:07 AM
P_J said...: Is there a right way to rub Letterman?

And if so, do we really want to know about it?; 9/26/08, 9:08 AM
TWM said...: Letterman stopped being funny around 1989. He was young and hip and now he is just old and busted.

Leno is slightly better but not by much.

Johnny Carson where are you when we need you?; 9/26/08, 9:19 AM
PogoПОССУМ said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/26/08, 9:26 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Why Is David Letterman so important?; 9/26/08, 9:26 AM
PogoПОССУМ said...: The Letter Man is always so ha ha with the Human of Stupid Trickings, like as the jumping on wall with Velcro suit. Still it makes me to laugh.

But here he shows his good Party credentials, attacking those who do not comply with the Party. Who does McKane think he is? Now is the time for merriment as the capitalism is dying just as Marx foretold. So all should be the singings and dancings. If not, they are capitalist wreckers to be eliminated.

All of your TV belong to us.; 9/26/08, 9:27 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Dave won't "get over it" because Dave is a standard ego-driven proggie hack, like 95% of TV elitists, and he wants Obama to win.

McCain's cancellation was an opportunity to let Dave's vindictive inner Olberdouche shine.; 9/26/08, 9:30 AM
Revenant said...: Jesus, Dave, man up already. You're a multigazillionaire for pity's sake. Pay someone to care about your problems.; 9/26/08, 9:41 AM
Amexpat said...: Dave won't "get over it"
Of course he will. He's a showman and the show here is to create tension and controversy and then have a ratings bonanza when it's resolved. He ripped into Bill Clinton for years and then it was a big deal when he had him on the show. Same with Hillary. He also created mock controversies with Oprah and Dr. Phil.; 9/26/08, 9:43 AM
former law student said...: His latest whinning is absurd.

Dave's just reacting to being run over by McCain's BS Bus. McCain told him Wednesday he had to rush to DC to help solve the crisis. What really happened?

John McCain arrived on Capitol Hill early Thursday afternoon -- Time Magazine.; 9/26/08, 9:43 AM
chickelit said...: Like Ace said: How can you boycott something you don't watch?; 9/26/08, 9:45 AM
Anonymous said...: fls, you are much more sensible than this.; 9/26/08, 9:45 AM
Eric said...: Cut Dave some slack people--it was pretty dishonorable of McCain to think he could get away with claiming a national emergency as his reason for not taping an interview and then go tape another interview. Naive too if he thought Dave wouldn't call him on it.

What probably happened was the McCain campaign saw Couric interview Palin in the morning, and they felt they needed to bump as much of it as they could from the evening news, so they got Couric to do an emergency interview with McCain and he couldn't come up with a good enough reason for cancelling.; 9/26/08, 10:00 AM
MadisonMan said...: I will say that when McCain was on the show in the past, Dave is very respectful and a good interviewer.

Letterman and Leno should moderate a debate.; 9/26/08, 10:01 AM
Sofa King said...: And now we find out that Letterman inappropriately used off-air feed footage from Couric's show to mock McCain. And people wonder why the campaign doesn't trust the media? When you can't even sit down for an interview withot expecting dirty tricks?; 9/26/08, 10:05 AM
Anonymous said...: MadisonMan said...
I will say that when McCain was on the show in the past, Dave is very respectful and a good interviewer.

[...]

10:01 AM

This is true, and it makes this behavior even more bizarre and uncharacteristic.; 9/26/08, 10:06 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: You are an ugly date. You were used. But you're hardly cheap. In fact, you're so overpaid for your one-time funniness, it's not even, er, funny.

Letterman was mean to Richard Simmons? Ha ha ha ha. See? Now, that's funny! Did he hit him? I so want to hit that guy. His hair and his jumping around bugs me. That, and his shorts. I keep waiting for someone to smash his face in, by way of pulling the plug.; 9/26/08, 10:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Где Пого?; 9/26/08, 10:12 AM
PogoПОССУМ said...: "When you can't even sit down for an interview withot expecting dirty tricks?"

Glorious agitprop direktor Mikal Moore, he of the Peoples Republic of Michigan, made perfect this stylings of to mock and surprise when to interview the enemy.

ПРАВДА; Pravda means truth. but some truth is more equal than others.

Have You Enrolled as a Volunteer in the Party like mR. Letter Man?
Who are you with, them or us?; 9/26/08, 10:16 AM
Anonymous said...: PogoПОССУМ said...

Glorious agitprop direktor Mikal Moore, he of the Peoples Republic of Michigan, made perfect this stylings of to mock and surprise when to interview the enemy.

[...]

10:16 AM

Михаил Мур; 9/26/08, 10:24 AM
Mitch H. said...: It's weird, I'm a pretty committed McCain partisan, and I was irate at Letterman & his selfish bitching. But then I look at the list of people dumping on Letterman, and all the mean just drains right out of me.

Letterman's the fool who was looking forward to tweaking his favorite courtier in front of the king, and then the courtier had to run off & do something important - what do fools care about wars or trials or whatever the hell it was that courtiers do when they're not amusing the king? The fool's yelling at the footmen in earshot of the king about what a turd that courtier is for this and that and the other thing. And all this time the barbarians are at the gate, and so is the courtier, and who knows what the hell's going on out there outside of the audience chamber?

It's just squalid and ironic in a horrible, doomed way. It kind of reminds me of the end of that long version of Hamlet with Robin Williams as a courtier, and you keep expecting him to do something funny, but he just ends up dying horribly for no good reason.; 9/26/08, 10:24 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Ha ha, Pogo gives me the glee.; 9/26/08, 10:26 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: As I understand it, fools didn't just amuse the king. As fools, they were the only ones positioned to speak harsh realities to the king and get away with it, because they were fools. The fools were the ones who delivered the harsh insights and counter perspectives floating through the court.

This analogy is inapt. Letterman isn't comparable to a court fool. Although presumably a comedian, he's more likened to a network king, at least in his own universe.; 9/26/08, 10:35 AM
Anonymous said...: He finally has a reason to hate McCain. Now that he was stood up he can unload on the war hero!; 9/26/08, 10:44 AM
former law student said...: And now we find out that Letterman inappropriately used off-air feed footage from Couric's show to mock McCain.

Inappropriate how? Because McCain was caught red-handed?

Letterman's the fool who was looking forward to tweaking his favorite courtier in front of the king,

You have this backwards. Letterman is McCain's favorite host.

From CNN.com:
McCain announces '08 bid on Letterman
POSTED: 7:23 a.m. EST, March 1, 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Setting aside any doubt, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona announced Wednesday he would seek the presidential nomination.

McCain, who had a presidential exploratory committee, made the declaration on the "Late Show with David Letterman," taped earlier Wednesday.

Had McCain not blown Dave off, that would have been his ninth appearance on Letterman.

and then the courtier had to run off & do something important

Something important:

1. McCain had to be interviewed by Katie Couric.

2. McCain had to spend the night in NYC, because

3. McCain had to give the keynote speech at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative.

John McCain arrived on Capitol Hill early Thursday afternoon -- Time Magazine.; 9/26/08, 10:47 AM
Sofa King said...: Inappropriate how? Because McCain was caught red-handed?

No, silly, his appearance on the broadcast would have had the same effect. It's inappropriate because that feed is not intended for broadcast on CBS, interviewees are given assurance that it will not be broadcast on CBS, and Letterman broadcast it on CBS anyways.; 9/26/08, 11:26 AM
knox said...: There's mean, and there's mean...

I think Letterman is, how to say it? Not a nice person.

I may want to puke when I watch Jon Stewart, but ultimately, I think he's a nice guy. I mean, obviously I'm just guessing here, I don't know him--but he seems to be a decent person.

Letterman just strikes me as a nasty, nasty person.; 9/26/08, 1:04 PM
Trooper York said...: My wife managed a bar where they had the Letterman show Christmas party. Without exception everbody said what a great guy David was and how he was a great boss. That was before they had any cocktails.
At the end of the night everybody admitted that he was just a fucking miserable dick.

He didn't show up by the way. Too busy to make the once a year holiday party.

Paul was way cool though.; 9/26/08, 1:13 PM
Trooper York said...: The bar was in Time Square and they always had a lot of parties for the casts of Broadway shows and stuff.

You could always tell who was cool and who was a dick.

Jimmy Smits, way cool. Threw his card down on the bar and said the first hour was on him.

Nathan Lane a great guy. He had time for everyone and was a prince. Matthew Broderick just stood at the bar drinking vodka and getting smashed. He seemed very sad.

The biggest dick and an absolute moron and the worst person ever to set foot in the joint: Richard Dreyfus.; 9/26/08, 1:35 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Jimmy Smits is the type of guy that you can see into his character by looking at him, which your story confirmed about my suspicions that he's the real deal.

Likewise Letterman, but with considerably different insight as a result. I have never been able to deal with his "I'm being funny now!" phoniness. What a toolbag.

As for the "rushing to DC to get something done" thing, McCain could've handled that better (if indeed that's what he told Letterman, and given what Letterman did with it it's an open question whether he's fairly representing McCain's phone call). I mean, the dude was sked'd to be in NY for the Global Initiative speech the next morning anyway, so I don't see why he would've given such a flimsy excuse regardless of whether he opted to spend the evening appearing on a "real news" show rather than has-been comedy. It seems pretty dumb, and not a little confusing on the facts either.; 9/26/08, 2:25 PM
knox said...: Paul was way cool though.

He seems it. And kudos to him for putting up with Dave.

The biggest dick and an absolute moron and the worst person ever to set foot in the joint: Richard Dreyfus.

chuh. Totally not surprised.

I will admit that I am always surprised by stories that Johnny Carson was not the nicest guy in private life.; 9/26/08, 3:39 PM
KCFleming said...: "Johnny Carson was not the nicest guy in private life."

Being nice all the time can really turn you into an asshole.; 9/26/08, 3:58 PM
KCFleming said...: Letterman avoided the 'being nice all the time' problem and went straight on to asshole.; 9/26/08, 3:59 PM
Anonymous said...: knox said...I think Letterman is, how to say it? Not a nice person.
Letterman just strikes me as a nasty, nasty person.

No. Letterman is basically a pretty good guy.

But he's a socially awkward loner. He's just got goofy guy-tries-to-blend-in-with-other people syndrome.

He can't help himself. He needs resistance. Push back.; 9/26/08, 4:26 PM
ricpic said...: I don't understand Matthew Broderick's appeal. The guy's a zero. I don't get it.; 9/28/08, 3:14 PM