… peddling cynicism by tearing down anything positive and hopeful.” — Deval Patrick, 6/4/06
This isn’t regarding anything positive or hopeful, but could it be any clearer that Jon Keller has gotten into his own stash?
I Hope We Never…
….learn that there were political considerations behind today’s awkward, invasive press conference by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife to discuss her recurring breast cancer. Because as someone who’s lost a beloved friend to that awful disease, the notion that some slick pol-on-the-make might exploit it for political gain is way off ths scale of acceptability.
Unbelievable. I really don’t know what to say.
… except he could have said this.
ryepower12 says
I officially don’t care about anything he has to say from here on out, at least until he apologizes for being such a vile, pugnacious teevee-pundit talking head. Best politican mind in New England my arse.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
ryepower12 says
Because, when most people disagree in comments, they do so openly. Do you wish to defend the guy who says through innuendo that Edwads held a press conference in order to gain positive press that his wife has incurable cancer?
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My Mass State College Liberal Arts Education appears to be working just fine, because it says your position is going to be very difficult to defend. Good luck with that.
ed-prisby says
EB3 is Jon Keller!!!
raj says
Why is Keller even on the air?
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Point one. Broadcast media outlets have to fill something 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With something. During some time period between 5PM and 7PM, they have traditionally filled it with something that is laughingly referred to as “news” programs. Since they don’t want to spend much money actually gathering news, they go the cheaper route–lifestyle, political opinion, usw (and so forth)–to fill the time. Keller is one of the people who fill part of the time on WBZ. That’s it.
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Actually, much of what is reported during the 5-7PM time slot is repeated every half hour, so it really isn’t much of a burden on the broadcasters.
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Point two. The customers of advertising based broadcasting are not the viewers. The customers are the advertisers. To the broadcasters, the only purpose of programs like “the news” is to entice viewers to watch the advertising. Apparently WBZ believes that Keller’s commentaries will entice viewers to stay long enough to watch the advertisements. Interludes between the pill ads. That is all. Keller and others in the “news” business are like the carny barkers of old. And the more acerbic he is (I had thought about writing a comment that called him “an acerbic (nit)wit) the more controversial he becomes and the more people who may tune in.
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Point three. It’s probable that Keller has, over his broadcasting lifetime, developed a pretty good Rolodex of state politicians and their hangers-on. That is immensely valuable to any political reporter.
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Point four. These people do not necessarily make a lot of money. A highly regarded local news reader (who shall remain anonymous) goes to the same gym I go to, as does his wife. A couple of years ago, she was worried over the fact that she was being laid off from her job, and I asked her whether they actually needed her additional income. I was obviously presuming that her husband’s income would more than suffice, as I told her. She quickly let me know that, despite what we hear about salaries in contracts for network news readers, local news readers really don’t make particularly much money. And I doubt that a mere contributer like Keller does, either.
eaboclipper says
I believe Keller did cash in pretty well for the move from the old WB 56 to WBZ. I seem to remember a bidding war. Now pretty well may mean $150K or so, which in Boston is pretty much upper middle class given the housing prices.
raj says
…I wouldn’t bet on it. (I don’t know where Keller lives.) But, given the ever shrinking media market, it would appear that Keller won’t have many options once his contract with WBZ is up.
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From the look of the advertising on broadcast news, Keller is there to push pills, primarily to old people. You can usually determine the expected audience of a program by the mix of products being advertised. News (including 60 Minutes and similar shows): old people. Daily Show and Colbert: young people. Pills vs. BMWs and alcohol. Drugs vs. vroom-vroom and drugs. Fairly obvious. We haven’t tuned into Howie Carr’s show on WRKO in a while, but I’d almost be willing to bet that the mix of advertisers reflects the fact that the median age of his listeners indicates that they are not exactly spring chickens–as has been indicated in various media reports.
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We’ve pretty much stopped watching anything other than NECN over broadcast TV. Pay attention to the advertising mix, and you’ll easily figure out the demographic of the expected audience.
kai says
and decided to get out before Channel 7 threw him out. Its too bad that happened – I really liked the 10:00 news on 56.
eaboclipper says
centralmaguy says
That was the question I asked when the announcement hit the media about First Lady Diane Patrick’s illness, and this morning when the announcement came about Elizabeth Edwards’s health. I don’t need to know. To be blunt, it’s none of my, nor anyone else’s, business.
kai says
Ann Romney has MS. Cindy McCain had a stroke. Diane Patrick has depression. A serious medical condition, even a spouse’s, is something that is going to require some time and attention. Coming out and announcing it, saying thats its treatable and that she should be fine, is the responsible thing to do. If it came out later in the campaign, or shortly after he was elected, that she was very sick or dying, its something the American people would have wanted to know. Think of what happened to Jed Bartlet.
centralmaguy says
Jed Bartlet was the President, making it an issue. I’m not so convinced that the public really needs to know about the medical history of their spouses.
kai says
was that he didn’t declare it before he ran. He denied the public a chance to consider that aspect before he ran. Granted its not entirely the same with a spouse, but its the same idea.
eaboclipper says
Just Kidding.
kai says
Just kidding.
laurel says
He should just dump her quietly, like Gingrich did to his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer.
centralmaguy says
And I hope that you’re just joking. My point is that I believe that the public eye is far too prying when it comes to the personal lives of non-candidates and non-officeholders. What entitles us to know about that? I’m glad that John is standing by Elizabeth Edwards, and Deval by his wife. That’s what good spouses should do.
anthony says
….but when happens when the story breaks and the candidate is accused of keeping the story under wraps for some political reason or other. Like it or not this is the sort of information that the public takes an interest in and the Edwards should have the right to decide when to talk about it.
raj says
If you don’t want to know, don’t follow news stories about the issue.
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It really is as simple as that, isn’t it?
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And, please, get off your high horse by contending that it’s none of anyone else’s business. The Edwardses decided to announce it. Their privacy wasn’t injured since they decided to announce it. Maybe they did so because they feared that some of the Edwardses’ activities might have seemed odd to some news people when it was obvious that she was going in for cancer treatments, and the Edwardses may have deemed it desirable to announce what they did to allay any rumors early on.
johnk says
Keller needs to apologize for those remarks or be fired. What actual value does he bring to WBZ-TV?
michaelbate says
What kind of actual value? .. I assume the same kind that the likes of Howie Carr, Bryan McGrory, Andrea Estes, and Howard Stern bring to their respective employers.
johnk says
raj says
…is employed by Entercom (the owner of WRKO) or whether he is “employed” (so to speak) by his syndicator, and the syndicator is buying time on WRKO and space on WRKO’s web site.
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When a program such as Carr’s is syndicated, it’s difficult to determine what the employment relationship is. Of course, his syndicator may be Entercom, which adds another layer of complication (without knowing the actual contractual relationships), but from prior years it appears that his syndicator has some relationship with the Disney company.
noternie says
“Hi Fred”
johnk says
Not the point I was making but WTF, he brings millions to WBZ, really?
joeltpatterson says
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Because right now your link to townhall.com is to Dean Barnett, who is not so rude.
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I read Parker at the Chicago Tribune a few hours ago, and now the Trib link takes me to something different. I guess their web editor woke up, and realized how tasteless it was to personally insult a man who just had to tell the country his wife has cancer again.
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Here’s Parker’s shallow column.
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davemb says
of a sensible, compassionate response from a right-winger, to contrast with Keller’s idiocy. At least that’s what I think David means.
davemb says
Sorry
eaboclipper says
I’ve met Dean at a function before. He is a great and standup guy.
center-aisle says
If I learned that the love of my life was dying with incurable cancer my heart would be broken beyond repair and I would say “Screw this!
I want to spend every minute I can have with her that is left and announce that I was leaving the “race”.
This guy knows that she is going to be dead in 3 to 5 years max and he’s going to drag her through this crap that he’s an incredible long shot in to start with??? What a selfish bastard…Sorry Mr. Edwards sucks ..end of story.
anthony says
…one live with and then die of cancer? I have. The last thing some people who are sick want is for their loved ones to change their lives around them which is a contant reminder of the illness. Moreover, there are people with the exact same condition as Mrs. Edwards who have lived for over a decade.
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I don’t think Mr. Edwards is a selfish bastard, but I can think of someone who is a judgemental bastard.
afertig says
anthony says
…completely called for. Rather state me opinion than worry about what my “score” is going to be.
afertig says
But it’s more productive to say what you just said and leave the name calling out of it. It’s exactly what you’re fighting against. I guess it’s my (faint) hope that we can get some civility back into BMG. That’s all.
anthony says
Sorry. Needed to be said. Trust me, I was being civil.
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charley-on-the-mta says
before calling out a troll, to let the community do what it’s supposed to do. Probably better than responding in kind.
raj says
…but I have to tell you that I believe that you are exactly correct. And I would have said that regardless of whether or not you knew of anyone who lived with and died of cancer. I have known several. Fortunately, most are still alive.
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I don’t believe that Mr. Edwards is a selfish bastard. As far as I could tell, it was Mrs. Edwards’s decision. And she decided that he should continue. Why he got into politics in the first place (he could have made a fortune as an attorney) is quite clear: their elder son was killed, and he wanted to make a contribution to the body politic. It was in memorium to their dead son. And Mrs. Edwards probably wanted Mr. Edwards to continue in that endeavor.
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Quite frankly, it is the nay-sayers who should be ashamed of themselves.
eaboclipper says
I fully believe that as of yesterday John Edwards had every intention to get out of the race. However I believe that Mrs. Edwards probably pleaded with him through the night to not give up his quest. Once the press conference was scheduled he had to go through with it.
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But that is one theory.
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And I still wouldn’t vote for him.