With all due respect to Mr Fish, I stopped paying attention to Mort Sahl when he started sucking up to the Reagans and other Republicans in the late 80s.  It was so sad because I got the feeling that it was a reaction to the fact that he had no career any more so he had to do something pathetic and outrageous to draw attention to himself.

Fundraising for Al Haig?  Voting for Nixon?

Here’s Sahl in his own pathetic words:To explain why he has hitched his wagon to the Haig candidacy, he offered up his system for backing a candidate:

‘’When you choose someone to vote for there are three categories someone falls into: First there are things he says he will do and you know he can’t do. Then there are the things he can do and you know he won’t do. Then you’ve got to look for a guy as far away from you as possible who will say there are things he will never do. Dick Nixon said the last thing he would ever do is to recognize Red China. That’s why I’m glad I voted for him.’’ ‘(NYT, 3/21/87)

Yeah, now there’s a rebel with integrity.

Mr. Fish:

I found this interview to be astonishingly refreshing and want to thank you for it. In particular I felt the last statement offered by Mr. Saul could be applied to many groups of different political pursuations - even, although I am not happy to admit it, the progressive left of which I consider myself aligned.

It’s been 35 years or so since Mort Sahl went on Dick Cavett’s talk show and exposed himself for the petty, mean-spirited, paranoid schizophrenic, arrogant, pseudo-intellectual he really is by cruelly humiliating a defenseless young woman.  Sahl turned red when drama critic John Simon calmly came to the lady’s defense and turned the tables on him by correctly describing him as a second-rate comic.  Sahl sputtered and raged, as Simon sat and smiled.  When he was booed by the audience, he exploded in fury and all but challenged them to a duel.  Why does anyone still pay any attention to anything he says just because he uses big words?  Did someone say, “ Dennis Miller.”

Jeanine Molloff,

Please back up your assertions about Edward’s health care policies with some facts or links.  Your comments are outrageous, and if true, you would find me making a stink too.  HOWEVER, without any facts to back up your assertions, I find your accusation devoid of meaning and typical of the corporatist attacks used to bludgeon anyone who speaks up for true change.

Maybe I am wrong (Correct me then...WITH FACTS) but I see Edwards as the only candidate truly challenging the status quo.  I am not sure I want to vote for him yet, but talk of haircuts and comments like your previous one really make me want to give him a good look.  Where there is smoke there is usually fire and your concern over Edwards betrays your true allegiance.

Seriously!  You shoot down the only candidate with a serious chance to take down the other candidates that have been foisted upon us by the media(Obama/CLINTON)???

GIVE ME A friggin BREAK!!! Nice try!  They have a name for this in the blogosphere…

Bye,
wtf
GORE ‘08

I suggest that everyone who likes to repeat the mantra that there are no differences between the parties read Robyn Blumner’s column, The difference between the parties is as deep as a coal mine at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.b lumner04sep04,0,1466235.story.

Undoubtedly, the differences are not so great as we would like but they are not inconsequential.

The real comedy of errors lies in the fact that we have so-called serious presidential contenders who wax eternal about nonsense such as ‘faith in government’ or babble about the ‘audacity to hope.’ I have the audacity to hope that this chorus of political morons actually speaks about serious issues.  We have the first female candidate hanging on her hubby’s arm like a moonstruck teenager instead of proposing serious policy that negates the warmongers.  I don’t care about the state of her marriage, or the fact that Obama’s little daughters think daddy is ‘snory and stinky.’ These news commentators find a five year olds commentary more compelling than demanding an end to this illegal Iraq war.  They find a five year olds testimony regarding daddy’s questionable early mornng hygiene routine more worthy of serious merit than restoring the Bill of Rights.  To be fair, Obama’s kids are adorable; but they are too young to be saddled with political critique.  Leave them to recess and cartoons, and hold the politicians accountable to the people.  Then you have Edwards, who would force all of us to do exactly as the MD demands or lose any new universal health coverage.  Undergo that psych exam, take that psychiatric drug whether you need it or not, submit the results to the government or lose your new universal coverage.  No government has a right to coerce individuals to be medical guinea pigs or go through tests they don’t want as a condition of not losing your insurance.  That makes the doctor dictator, even if the treatment is inappropriate.  Whatever happened to respecting our right to choose what we will and will not do to our own bodies?  This isn’t about preventative care; it’s about psychological subservience and forced medication against a person’s wishes.  Disagree with the doctor and lose your insurance.  You don’t force people into preventative care, you give the facts and let them decide for themselves.  Edward’s dictatorial streak is the way some people treat a 2 year old, not an adult.  Again, the comedy rests in the fact that intelligent discussion of real problems is being supplanted by discussion of ‘snory and stinky.’

Jeanine Molloff

Shut up and drink the coolaid.  Its funny how Mike Moore’s SICKO has stood up to rebuttal, and no one can really argue with it, but Brainwashed Americans can’t seem to get it that the Socialist Countries of Northern Europe have a higher standard of living than us by a huge margin.  Better heath care, more leasure time, they live longer, and consider themselves happier, than Americans by a long shot.

Read this topic with your eyes open, instead of interjecting your expectations before you have a chance to understand.

Totalitarianism, as practised by China and the former USSR is a form of Gov’t, as opposed to Democracy.  Socialism is a form or Economics, as opposed to Capitalism.  The very successful Socialist nations of nothern Europe are all Democratic, and have the opportunity to elect for a Capitalist system, anytime they choose...they choose not to.

We don’t have that freedom here.  We have go parties, both Capitalist, and the only socialism is that practised for the benifit of the Corporations that benefit the most from our empirialist excursions into domination of the world...marketplace.  The Fed is the our most powerful institution, and its sole function is to insure that the Capital stays where it is, and profits flow to the centers of Capital.  The gap between rich and poor is larger than ever, and the percentage of citizens that control the majority of the wealth grows ever smaller.

Or, don’t read this or any other source of the TRUTH about our Corporate Aristocracy, drink the coolaid, take the trinkets they give you, and die with your nose to their grindstone.

Mort Sahl, this man knows how to choose the right words. Congratulations!

Why do most of us want to find fault? Ask yourself that please. These are just two off beat guys having a discussion. A cartoonist and a comedian satirist; guys who have made it their businesss to make fun of the shit that goes on, to pop baloons that often enough - are ridiculous if you take a look. You could say they could have been a Dick Cheney or a Hubert Humphrey if they wanted to, wield some real power, but no they could not.  Some of what they say it is even very good. We’re here “to find our way home and to search for justice and romance along the way.” Not bad. Not that far removed from Kurt Vonnegut saying we’re here to fart around. And a darn sight better than we’re here to get ahead, even if we have to step on peoples faces. Ease up folks. They’re just two guys who found a way to get their two cents in. Sometimes they’re right on, sometimes they’re mistaken or just plain wrong. That ever happen to you?

Sahl carries a lot of wisdom.  So what if he blew up on stage 40 years ago.  That was then.  He was right in the 50s and 60s and right now.  Whoever you are talking about Kosovo swallowed the mainstream cover story, which contained particles of truth.  There were no mass Serbian killings or cleansing of Kosovan Albanians until AFTER the U.S. started bombing Serbia.  Also, Milosevic had agreed to terms but Clinton upped the ante just so he could commence the bombing.  Sure Milosevic was a tyrant and murderer, but the The West, lead by the U.S., Britain, and Germany, had its ulterior motives.  The West wanted to neuter Slavic Serbia and assimilate the rest of Yugoslavia, one of the biggest prizes of the former Soviet bloc, and now a major oil/gas pipeline has been/is being built through Kosovo to Albania from the Central Asian energy fields just so the West can bypass Russia as a route to deliver oil and gas to Europe.  The goal is still isolating and weakening Russia, and the West is still the bigger genocidal agent in the world, with the U.S. leading the way even today.  And I love this country, but sometimes I really hate what it is doing, and now is again one of those outrageous times.  Besides, I always preferred Woody Allen’s brand of humor and Lenny Bruce’s insights.  Sahl, however, as I said, has experience and wisdom, and you who are carried along on his shoulders act like pygmies ignorant of who it is that carries you.

Love,
News Nag

What is wrong with communism?  Well, as a theory, it holds some appeal for many people because it means--remember, in theory--that no one is left out, no one is left in poverty simply because they’re sick or weak or maybe not as smart as everyone else.  In reality, it suffers from several problems.  One is that, just as unregulated capitalism allows human greed to run wild, communism encourages both laziness and apathy.  Human nature gets in the way.  And both communism and capitalism and--for that matter--just about every other system that human being have tried either results in the most greedy and ruthless in the population to exploit everyone else or it results in a bare-bones existence.  The systems that don’t produce such exploitation have the problem of not advancing human life by much.  That’s fine if a small band of humans is living in a paradise with plentiful food, good climate, and few natural dangers.  Otherwise, not so good.  Capitalism, regulated by the government to provide a counter-balancing force can offer a pretty good system.  So, these two idiots should tell us just which communist countries have provided unruined lives and undevestated environments for their citizens.  Sheesh.

Tom Semioli on 9/10 at 11:17 am
(Unregistered commenter)

Inherit The Wind: Any DEMOCRAT is NOT better than any REPUBLICAN. And as for Nader, he was America’s last chance at a Democracy. America is now a corporate monarchy, and Americans simply do not have the intellectual capacity to change things. Keep yer head down!

****
Yeah. Right. Sure. 

Ron Paul isn’t going to get elected--he’s just window dressing to “prove” Republicans don’t all think and talk alike and are clones of George W. Bush.  Which they are.

When Bill Clinton left office we weren’t a nation on the brink of bankruptcy and fascism, having trashed virtually all of our Constitutional guarantees of freedom except inertia. 

Which is where we are now, and a small part is due to Ralph Nader, because he HAD a choice and a chance to make a difference, a real difference, and chose his ego over his nation’s freedom.

Anything Nader achieved was offset by that insane bout of ego.  And Sahl is typical of such thinkers.

Inherit The Wind: Any DEMOCRAT is NOT better than any REPUBLICAN. And as for Nader, he was America’s last chance at a Democracy. America is now a corporate monarchy, and Americans simply do not have the intellectual capacity to change things. Keep yer head down!

I used to be SUCH a big fan of Mort Sahl.  Not anymore.  He’s still dishing out the litany of “offenses” that sounds like the ‘60’s. He still doesn’t get it: ANY Democrat is far better than ANY Republican now running.  The Nader “not a dime’s worth of difference” is disproven in two words: “Patriot Act”.

And like two old-time communists, neither Fish nor Sahl have a CLUE about the inherent problem with Communism: It forces every person to approach all the others as slaves and beggers--slaves because you work without reward, beggers because your “need” is the currency by which you receive the results of the slave labor.  Then the deciders of “need” become the REAL powers--and somehow they always “need” the fancy limos and summer homes more than other people need a radio or adequate food.

Sahl spent a HUGE amount of time working with Jim Garrisson on his quixotic quest to prove Clay Shaw was involved in JFK’s murder--and Sahl was one of the first great conspiracy-theorists, ignoring all solid evidence to the contrary.

OTOH, he DID coin the golden line “I used to date actresses and other female impersonators."…

Why does anybody still listen to this pseudo-intellectual, unfunny, loser?  Forty years or so ago, Mort Sahl showed his real self to a national TV audience when he self-destructed in megalomaniacal paranoia on Dick Cavett’s show.  He screamed at the audience for first booing, then laughing AT him, his face purple with rage.  Nevertheless, there are some, as demonstrated by other responses above, who still believe that the tactic of throwing around big words legitimizes his superior, mean-spirited, ad hominem tirades against those whom he chooses to bully.  On the aforementioned Cavett show, he had humiliated an airline stewardess (as they were called then) by implying she was stupid and inconsequential, which brought her to tears.  He seemed to think that was very funny, but the audience didn’t.  He reacted by standing up and proclaiming himself the paragon of political wisdom and derided the audience for not being aware of his greatness.  When his rage failed to quell the audience’s disapproval, he turned to Cavett and asked if he was going to do something about it.  Cavett smiled wanly and said, in effect, that he was actually quite pleased with the audience’s reaction.  It is no coincidence, that his career pretty much tanked after that, as far as any wide appeal is concerned.
Of course, Sahl has not entirely disappeared from the small screen.  He appears regularly on Fox News in a new form called “Dennis Miller.”

All respect to Mort Sahl. I have always loved his work. That said, it should be pointed out that when “Clinton bombed civilians in Kosovo.” It should be rememberd that America charged into Kosovo to stop a fascist dictatorship that was practicing genocide on Muslims.  There was not a lot of pay off to it. No credit from the Muslim nations for liberating their brothers. No oil in the region.  We are not an occuping force there now. The military tried it’s best to limit civilian casualties but it was war. If America had sat back and done nothing
would that have been OK?  The point is that either
scenerio provides fodder for black humor and cutting remarks for political commentators.
The right thinking people in the world should
not allow dictatorships to grow out of control.