The Lionel Show: What we learned today

[jgraz]

What information does Lionel think you need to know? Here's a sampling from today's show:

• This country is 231 years old.


• Threads on blogs are called "threads".


• Bin Laden may be in Pakistan...


• ...but no one really knows.


• We should have supported Pervez Musharraf's nuclear ambitions in exchange for him giving us Bin Laden(!)


• The Surge may result in more violence.


• Lionel doesn't know what "Gordian Knot" means.


• Lionel thinks a female guest who laughs uncomfortably during an interview "digs him".


• He also thinks mentioning this makes him seem cheeky and fun rather than creepy.


• Mice are not like us.


• Lionel doesn't care what his guests have to say when he has a lame joke to get out.


• Lionel thinks some of his listeners are too "dense" to understand stem cells.


• The skin cells used in stem cell research are called "fibroblasts." (key info there)


• Normal cells that turn into stem cells are called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. (more key info)


• Lionel has no ability to direct an interview toward the key info.


• Monya Baker thinks Lionel's jokes are lame.


• Monya Baker thinks Lionel is lame.


• Lionel can't pronounce "brobdingnagian", but he apparently likes to say it.


• Bush first said he wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive", then he said "I just don't spend that much time on him".


• Those two statements are inconsistent.


• After 9/11, people were in shock. Then later they were, like, "wow".


• Lionel wants to "hammer" Tony Snow.


• Lionel took a crap during the break.


• World War II would have been different if we had had the internet back then.


• People like new stimuli.


• People have too many stimuli.


• Lionel can't pronounce "stimuli".


• History gets revised a lot.


• Lionel tends to ramble a lot.


• Lionel apparently gets an erection while watching Hardball.


• Rep. Phil Gingrey(R) is kind of a douchebag.


• World War II was a "beautiful" war. (Wha??)


• Lionel has apparently never heard of The Fairness Doctrine.


• Lionel either has no call screener or his screener is retarded.


• In case you forgot, they're called "threads", which may be different from "blogs".


• Iraq is a mess.


• Tony Snow tends to lie.


• Lionel thinks "sticking with the issue" is the same as "critical thinking".


• Lionel's show could do with a bit more "critical thinking"


• Lionel likes to use the word "punctilious", even in places where it's not really appropriate.


• Lionel doesn't know the difference between a blog and a thread (seriously).


• Lionel will hijack the conversation in order to demonstrate that he's heard of thermobaric weapons.


• Groups of people with different names tend to be different from one another -- but not always.


• Lionel finds this interesting.


• "Sue ya" is not funny, even once.

What we didn't learn from today's Lionel show:

• The White House may be missing a few emails

[BrklynLiberal]

1. What a waste of air time..................

[elfin]

2. I HATE that show - what a waste of XM -

Listen to others in the same time slot - NPR in the car -- others on the web at home.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Lionel is completely full of himself. He's a legend in his own mind.

I know a lot of DUers have complained that he's not a "real" liberal. I can tolerate a few differences of opinion, including some I consider bullshit. What I really don't like about Lionel is that he's rude to callers; that he uses a lot of big words (unneccessarily) to impress his listeners, and sometimes he either mispronounces those words or misuses them; and that he seems to think he's SOOOO smart and he's doing us, his benighted listeners, a huge favor by bestowing crumbs of his vast knowledge upon us ignorant peons.

Although I've occasionally heard him say things I actually agree with, he mostly just annoys the hell out of me. His style is basically Rush Limpballs with a squeaky voice.

[jgraz]

13. Yes, he says things that I agree with too

But it's always something that hundreds of more talented and intelligent people have said before. I've never seen him come up with one bit of original analysis. Never.

[Jim Warren]

4. should have stayed where he was

Late night, 10pm-1am, WOR, small syndication 40-50 stations

[Quixote1818]

5. Don't you have better things to do than spend an hour putting that list together?

I don't care for him either so I just change the channel and leave him to the people who like him. Different strokes for different folks.

[jgraz]

7. Probably

but I really wanted to see what an entire show would consist of. Now I know.

[hlthe2b]

12. If you want change, sometimes you need to make the case...

While, for me, just listening for a few weeks and having him defend Bill Donohue was quite enough, for others, documentation of his totally inane sense of the "important" and the subjects covered in his show (and conversely NOT covered) might finally hit the recognition point.

I understand "different strokes for different folks" and all, but at least ole Ed Schultz makes an appearance of representing progressive, or at least centrist/progressive views. Lionel represents only Lionel's arrogant and self-serving viewpoints... My opinion. Apparently many agree, so I offer no apologies.

[jgraz]

14. What you said, plus I'm doing a bunch of clean builds this week

I can sit and watch the compiler spin, or I can use that time to piss off Lionel and Mark Green.

[kma3346]

6. I just don't get it

Why in the hell did they replace Sam Seder with this guy? I just listened to the Seder on Sunday podcast and that show is jam packed with solid, good information; great guests, and HUMOR! They have LOST, not gained listeners with this programming change.

BRING SAMMY BACK TO WEEKDAYS!!!!!!

[rucky]

8. I owe you $6.50

Because you just saved me a $13 XM Radio subscription, and I say we split the difference for your PAINS.

[jgraz]

9. Heh...just send it to DU

And sign the petition

[NYCGirl]

10. I guess you missed the segment where he talked about PNAC and 9/11,

"The New Pearl Harbor."

Mark Green will be thrilled you're listening, though.

[jgraz]

11. I didn't hear him mention PNAC, but I was listening to the 9/11 stuff

Again, lots of rambling, most of it caller-directed. I was going to include something about how he completely muddled James Baker's role in Iraq finance, but it didn't even make enough sense to boil it down to a bullet point.