What happened to Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs)

[warrior1]

I really liked this guy. Funny, smart. The show went off the air and then he appeared with Mitt Romney.

He got a lot of flack, then nothing.

CNN has a new story on him about getting flack for appearing in a Walmart commercial. I did a little searching and found he's been on Glenn Beck hate radio.


I really thought he was one of the good guys. Sorry I was so wrong.

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2013/10/mike-rowe-defends-glenn-beck-appearance-likens-it-to-real-time-with-bill-maher-appearance.html

[John1956PA]

1. An autographed picture, work gloves, etc., of his can bring over $50 on eBay.

I watched his "Dirty Jobs" show once or twice. Also, I remember seeing him in the paper towel commercials. I am neutral in my feelings toward him and his TV persona.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. I liked him, too.

Not ashamed to admit I had a bit of a heterosexual man crush on him. He seemed to have a cool earnestness about him.

Then he buddied up with Mr. Batshit Crazy.

Whatever. Hopefully it won't taint my professional opinion of him (I'm usually able to separate a celebrity's political beliefs from his/her body of work) but who knows.

[Aristus]

3. What a shame. I thought he was one of the good guys, too.

At least, getting a first-hand look at how many Americans earn their living might have dissuaded him from associating with Mr. "47% of Americans are takers."

He also used to host a show for the History Channel. He did well, except he always pronounced the word 'submarine' as 'summerine'. That irritated me. Small annoyance, though.

Sorry it turns out he's a right-wing dipstick...

[a kennedy]

4. He's off my admire list.....ugh, glenn beck.

You are known by the the company you keep.

[Lost_Count]

5. The way he describes it...

... is that he'll promote his pro work message anywhere he can.

[woodsprite]

10. He was singing the praises of Bill Maher last I heard.

He said he'd work with anyone that would work with him to get his jobs message out - conservative or liberal. Also said he caught flack from his liberal friends for having any association with conservatives (Bill O, Mitt...) just like he caught flack from his conservative friends from being on Maher's show.

[Lost_Count]

11. Correct...

He doesn't describe himself as pro-labor or pro-management but, as you and others have said, pro work and manufacturing in America.

He goes where the support is...

[Kingofalldems]

15. If he stood with Romney he is anti-Labor

Surely you must know that.

[Lost_Count]

16. Obama's campaign didn't accept the invite to put out the same message...

... or so he says.

Take that for what it's worth.

[Kingofalldems]

17. I think it's BS.

If he stood with Romney he is anti-union. GOP is openly trying to destroy labor unions with the purpose of driving down wages.

[Chan790]

29. If my recollection is correct...

that's because he reached out to both candidates and Romney took him up on his offer to meet and discuss manufacturing jobs in the US.

It wasn't an endorsement.

[Lost_Count]

26. Days later...

... But here is a response.

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/746743822002430

[Kingofalldems]

30. So his response to Walmart workers: Get another job.

Isn't that special.

[flightplan]

6. He narrates shows now

Bering Sea Gold, Deadliest Catch, Gold Fever, Airplane Repo.
Haven't seen much of him, just his voice.
Never would have guessed he was a right winger.

[warrior1]

7. how does he not know

that the republican ARE the problem with getting good paying union jobs with pensions?

WTF? Appearing with Glenn and Mitt, two of the most polarizing people during the last election.

Damn, he is a disappointment.

[karadax]

8. He describes himself as "pro-American-manufacturing"

He says he did the Walmart ad because a commitment to buy 1/4 of a trillion dollars in goods made in the USA means more jobs that pay better.

I don't like that Mike associates with Beck but I agree with him doing whatever it takes to put it on the radar that Americans need good paying jobs.

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. He has his agenda, and he'll promote it wherever the opportunity arises.

For every Glenn Beck, he's just as happy to appear with an Ed Schultz (which he has). So far as him appearing with Romney, my understanding is that he made the same offer to both the Romney and Obama campaigns -- the Romney campaign accepted, the Obama campaign didn't.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

12. I thought he was too...

[Blue Diadem]

13. He's done several interviews, here are 8 video clips from CNN

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/02/19/mike-rowe-sell-out.cnn.html

[RandiFan1290]

14. He was smooching Glenn's butt again this morning.

I've never been a fan. I've always thought he was a jerk.

[Xithras]

18. Rowe is a good guy. He's marketing his current project on any show that will give him time.

The Romney thing was largely the same issue. He actually offered his services to Obama long before he offered them to Romney, but the Obama administration ignored him while the Romney campaign gave him a platform.

Rowe himself is very apolitical and takes great pains to avoid taking sides on political topics. I heard a radio interview with him (local station, not Beck) where he basically said that he CAN'T take sides, because if he does he'll just get written off by the "other half of the country".

Rowe's big thing is his MikeRoweWorks pro-trades project and getting that project promoted to schools and communities. In the interview I heard, he said that he became pro-trade in high school when his high school guidance counselor told him that he HAD to go to college or he'd get "stuck working a lousy job as a plumber or in a factory somewhere". He was offended by the statement, because he believes that there's NOTHING WRONG with being a plumber, or working in a factory. He wants to change the American perception that these are somehow "lesser" jobs for "dumb people", and give them the respect they deserve. He also wants to change the way careers are marketed to high schoolers, to put less emphasis on college and more on "finding a path they are happy with, even if that path leads to a trade school to become a plumber or welder".

His emphasis is on restoring respect to blue collar work, and blue collar workers have long been the backbone of the Democratic party. I'd prefer that he NOT hawk his program on Beck, but I'm not going to hold that fact against him.

We may not know what Rowe's actual political positions are, but the fact that he puts so much focus on blue collar workers and lives in one of the worlds most liberal cities (S.F.) might offer a clue or two.

[X_Digger]

21. Yeah, there are several posters upthread who just don't get it.

Must be nice to have such a black and white view of the world.

[bullwinkle428]

23. Please read my post #22 regarding "Mike Rowe Works".

[Jesus Malverde]

19. Surprising ..he used to live in SF..nt

[liberal N proud]

20. He did a whole series of Ford commercials

[bullwinkle428]

22. Mike Rowe exposed himself as a total hypocrite to me about a year ago.

I was in a store and noticed a display of watches from the "Mike Rowe Works" line. I knew he had been an activist of sorts, speaking out in an effort to try and bring more manufacturing back to America. Picked up one of the boxes to find out a little more about the watches themselves, and there it was - "MADE IN CHINA".

[Xithras]

24. The watches are a fundraiser.

They raise funds to help the program.

The reality is that there are no large scale American watchmakers anymore, and the American watch industry has been dead for decades. Rowe doesn't own any companies and can't employ watchmakers directly, so he has to farm that work out to somebody. Because the only watchmakers in America are small-scale high end boutique manufacturers targeting the 1%, there isn't anyone in the U.S. who can make them for him.

Decades of piss poor American leadership led to that watch being made in China.

[angel823]

25. ^^^^^this^^^^^^^

"Decades of piss poor American leadership led to that watch being made in China."

Angel in Texas

[RantinRavin]

27. Actually

It is decades of people wanting to buy the cheapest thing possible that has led to that watch being made in China.

[melm00se]

28. Sometimes if you want to promote

your cause you have to dance with the devil.

As long you as you stay true to your cause (in this case pro American worker and American manufacturing), only the worst kind of ideologue will condemn you for that.