It’s what I call “the glass floor”: certain individuals, once the powers that be have invested in them to a certain degree, are not allowed to fail. No matter how many times they screw up, they’re always given another chance. Not surprisingly, in the U.S. they’re usually white males.
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I gave him a lifetime pass years ago for his work in 2/3rds of the Mad Max films, Gallipoli and Lethal Weapon. I have to stand by it.
The guy is still a decent enough director when it comes to gory stuff. Hacksaw Ridge was a terrible movie about a pacifist war hero but a great depiction of the terror of the battle of Okinawa. (On par with HBO’s harrowing miniseries, The Pacific).
I’d better cancel having the family lawyers over, then.
Seriously, what did you expect? His position is basically that of a lawyer. He reports what his client wants him to say. And if the court laughs at his client as a result, too bad.
Isn’t it a little early for the “Springtime for Hitler” bit. I mean we’re only 8 months into a bigoted and racist regime with a potential for mass deportations / incarcerations, loss of basic rights, and with leanings towards major corruption and despotism. Enablers of this regime are not to be tolerated. Next, we’ll be laughing along with Kelly Anne (Alt-fact) Conway? Screw that.
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Are you talking about Spicer or Colbert?
Spicer has a professional responsibility to not mislead the public. To use your lawyer analogy, “I had no choice, my client wanted me to lie and/or break the law” is not a valid excuse.
Colbert’s primary professional responsibility is to entertain the masses, but in the past he’s done so in such a way that largely called on those in power to account for their actions. It would be a shame to see that version of Colbert make way for just another TV clown.
As for your question “what did I expect?” the answer is “I did not expect the people who organized the Emmys to treat Sean Spicer like a wacky entertainer or play off his many egregious lies as nothing more serious than a topic for a punchline.”
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this quote:
Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole repeatedly referred to those arrested as “criminals” during a news conference overnight Sunday.
“These criminals that we’ve arrested should be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “We’re in control. This is our city and we’re going to protect it.”
so much for a government for the people by the people.
the normalization of spicer, follows in the normalization of 45 himself with all the daca pandering by the dems. they are sitting down with the man who created the problem in the first place and working with him on “border security” – even while he’s tweeting misogynistic fantasy videos of injuring clinton.
no wonder so many people are disillusioned about the state of this country.
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I agree that the point is not Spicer himself, but in making Trump look bad. His attempt to ruin a former toady has backfired, and only made Donnie look even weaker. He can’t even prevent Sean Spicer from having a laugh at his expense.
It was all about showing comtempt for Donnie, denying him the acceptance from the celebrities he so desperately wants to be loved by and belong to.
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Ah - I see you still entertain some idealism about lawyers. And journalists.
Of course clients do not ask lawyers to lie. They tell them what the facts are as they see them and the lawyers report on those facts.
Thus if the client says “I could not have committed the burglary because at the time thousands of people saw me swimming the River Hudson”, the lawyer will adduce this in defense and it’s up to the prosecution to say “where’s your evidence for that?”
Whereas if the client says “Well of course I did the burglary but I want you to try a wacky defense of saying I was swimming the Hudson at the time” - the lawyer then can’t handle the case.
In dealing with really stupid criminals the lawyer may have to say “Now, pay attention, I really don’t want to hear you say you did it. You are innocent until found guilty, wink wink nudge nudge.”
Spicer was told the facts as Trump saw them; he reported on them.
You may feel a Press Secretary should have better ethics than a lawyer, and perhaps I do too, but I will say that Colbert is over 50, he’s lived through the last few decades, and based on what the likes of Fox have done to journalism (never in any case the most honest of professions) he might well think differently.
My own feeling is that if you want to find an ethical journalist, you won’t have much success if you look at any MSM other than perhaps the Suddeutscher Zeitung and the Financial Times. So perhaps treating Spicer as a clown is the proper response to him and his former master.
Ride, si sapis. Or, if you prefer Byron to Martial, “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, 'T is that I may not weep”
The lawyer analogy doesn’t hold up. A lawyer can stand by while his client rells bald faced lies, even indirectly encourage his own client or witnesses to lie, but a lawyer cannot knowingly give false testimony on behalf of his client.
Spicer didn’t just refuse to call out Trump’s lies, he actively lied on behalf of his boss. And he didn’t try to couch those lies with qualifying statements like “I’ve been asked to tell you…” or “the President believes…” either.
Furthermore every citizen accused of a crime is entitled to legal counsel so representing a scumbag in court does not in itself make you a scumbag. Presidents don’t have a legal right to a press secretary who will repeat any lie the President asks them to.
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I, for one, am definitely interested in what Colbert might have to say tonight (assuming it’s not another damn rerun).
Me? Not so much anymore.
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As Lucas-sins go, that’s a minor one.
I mean, what happened to the Ewoks’ celebration music?
Frankly Colbert’s constant Trump ridicule is gettig a bit worn-out.
The routine is starting to remind me of Jay Leno’s unending OJ Trial humor.
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I would like to think that maybe the idea Colbert and his writers had here was to illustrate that the trained monkey will be happy to dance for anybody that yanks his chain and throws him some peanuts?
Let’s pay him to be on stage as a punchline to a joke, why not.
Anyway they envisioned it - it backfired. And as a joke it would actually have been a lot funnier if nobody in the studio audience had laughed.
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Some good criticism here.
My favorite criticism of all this was made in advance - sadly, his prognostication was optimistic in thinking this would become relevant in years instead of merely months.
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There’s still time for Nuremberg.
If you take that as a precedent, from which countries will the judges be drawn?
If the victors - who will they be? Russia and China?
If you want reasonably clean hands - I think that just about leaves Costa Rica and perhaps Malta and Slovenia.
You haven’t answered my last line though.
Hopefully, America.
