I had occasion to observe two old guys carry on like…well…two cheated-on wives gossiping over a backyard fence. Olbermann, on his program this evening, talked of how one had better not lie to Dave Letterman! LOOK OUT any of you commentators who’ve contemplated lying to Dave Letterman!

I’d not watched Dave in a decade at least, but went ahead last night out of curiosity after Olbermann made mention. I tuned in for possible wit, only to wind up listening to whining. Turned out the sum of two old, seriously egotistical guys really does amount to less than zero. Letterman made mention of not wanting to beat a dead horse, or words to that effect, which caused me to wonder why, then, he persisted in doing just that, by that time with Olbermann alongside lending assistance as necessary.

Who knew? That politicians lie? Not Dave, and apparently not Keith either. For proof, Dave put on tape of McCain talking to Katie as though John were A john caught with a hooker at a cheap motel. Letterman came over like the John’s—until video evidence—unknowing wife, while Olbermann came over as BFF.

If McCain is guilty of theater, which he certainly always has been, his theater was never so bad as that perpetrated last night by Dave and Keith together again. Such nonsense is referred to as “pop culture” by “critics” who regard “pop culture” as AUTHENTIC reflection of political democracy. Any who thinks otherwise is regarded as “elitist.” Give me Hilton Kramer in that case. If choice is between ersatz Popular Front that was bad enough the first time and culture worth anyone’s attention.

There was much congratulation on the part of both “mans”—of selves and of one another for having “got” (caught cheating) out-of-it McCain.

There was talk on Dave’s part of how McCain was a war hero, etc., complete with nodding and reassurance on the part of sidekick, Paul Shaffer.

“Why Katie and not me, myself and I,” Dave seemed to be thinking to himself?

For whatever reason, McCain blew off Dave Letterman. Johnny Carson woulda made a single cutting joke and moved on to what’s-her-name with the sizable boobs or to some half-baked but still half-way comical skit bit. Not that Carson had a lot of use for politicos anyway. Smartly enough. (Olbermann this evening: “Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; it was like sitting next to Wellington as he defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.” Really, Keith? That from Keith after his comment regarding how he’d counted 31 blasts by Letterman. As I was saying about Carson…a joke or two before moving on to…etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Letterman was anything but entertaining last night, when he came over only as cranky after having been jilted, while at the same time hedging with talk of McCain as war hero. (A fact irrelevant to McCain the candidate) As it turned out, it was Shaffer who, in answer to Letterman’s finally somewhat-comical question as to whether McCain would ever appear again on the big show, replied with (words to effect), “Probably not after ‘drubbing.’”

These TV people have reduced politics to occasions for self-effacing self-aggrandizement, neither funny nor helpful. Principle interest, no matter the program—brought to you over airwaves, or via cable or satellite—appears to be host’s need to mingle with members of ruling elite. They’re like paparazzi, except—by their own estimation—more high-brow. Truth is that they are—as a matter of their own, very much mistaken estimation of themselves—more insidiously worse than paparazzi, who aren’t given to self-effacing self-aggrandizement, since they also aren’t given to claiming to being in the biz for any reason other than potential pay-off.
Really funny is that McCain called Letterman and not Letterman McCain. Whoops. Never do that again, John, lest ye suffer the Wrath of Dave and Keith—both icons/final arbiters, indeed would-be deciders.

Doesn’t he do any homework?  Fellow hostages have said in dozens of venues that EVERYONE in the Hanoi Hilton was offered “early release” if they’d make videos of confessions that they bombed schools and hospitals, etc.  McCain was one of hundreds who turned down early release.  This is a well-known fact, not some tinfoil-hat story.  Come on, Dave, do your homework!!

Guess this will teach you, David Letterman. Next time you’ll have soapbox on the set.  MCCain would have come if you had only promised him a soapbox so he could have politicize the bailout debate.