Tip and Gip

Day Two of the Government Shutdown and some folks (friends) are saying it's not that big of a deal. In fact, they are calling it a slimdown. Who could argue with slimming down? Well, about 9 million Women, Infants and Children who will soon run out of supplemental food. I thought about going over to the website for WIC, and wouldn't you know it? I fell for it again. The government is shut down and so the website for WIC is not there. So I couldn't get the information I was looking for. Something should be done about this shutdown.

And something is. President Obama has called for Congressional Leaders to come, sit down and talk this over. Republicans are doing their part by not blinking. Friend of the show, Michele Bachmann, is vowing to take No Doz. This should be a comfort to those hungry women, infants and children.

Killing people is bad, okay? Writing books about killing people can get you lots of money. And if God talks to you while you are sleeping and tells you to write these books, then you are Bill O'Reilly. Well, actually, it's the Holy Spirit that told Bill O'Reilly to write books about killing people.

Just as Stephen was explaining all this voices in your head in the middle of the night, God stopped by the studio, cast his golden glow upon Stephen, and let him know that Joan of Arc is a drama queen. We also found out that God talks to Stephen before he talks to Bill. In fact, God first told Stephen to write that book about Jesus and then Stephen whispered to Bill in the middle of the night that he should write it. Wow, and to think that I almost skipped watching tonight in order to made cookies.

Chris Matthews, champion talker and host of Hardball, was the guest last night on the show. He has one of the most distinctive laughs that I can think of. Hah! He has a new book on the shelves now, "Tip and The Gipper, When Politics Worked." The book is about Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the House, and Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. They were from opposite political parties, yet they could sit down in the evening and be friends.

Stephen was critical of the idea or ideal by Chris Matthews that politics should work. Think back, as Chris did, that our country was founded on the idea of talking, agreeing, compromising, coming to a decision and then moving forward. Heck of an idea, by the way. The two men argued more or should I say discussed more about politics and Reagan. They also came up with another book idea, well actually it was Chris Matthews who coined the title. Stephen did not discount the possibility of the make-believe future book being a best seller, but I wonder if other people will weigh in on this potential book. (Before they do, remember what you all say about Free Speech...)

I thought Chris Matthews did a fine job of explaining his thoughts and opinions. Just in case Stephen didn't get it, he asked Stephen at the end of the interview, "Am I clear?"

Now for something completely different. I really thought Stephen's tie last night was nice. It was subtle, it was stylish, it went quite well with his choice of a shirt. I also liked his tie from the night before. So Monday and Tuesday he wore nice ties. Only problem is, I think it was the same tie. Who does that? Who wears the same tie two nights in a row? Was it just my imagination? I don't think so. What happened? Did Stephen stay at the studio all night long on Monday preparing for Tuesday's show? That is one explanation, but there are so many more possibilities.

Stephen, if you're reading this, please give me a call and let me know what's up with that. Thanks.

What Would Reagan Do

The animal world is full of spies. There are many documented cases of creatures of all kinds spying on one country or another. I find it somewhat hard to believe, but if Stephen reported it, then it must be true.

That of course leads right into the situation with Syria. Barack Obama is getting all kinds of negative press about his decision to do something about Syria or his decision to do nothing about Syria or his decision to do anything in between nothing and something. You know who would have done something? Ronald Reagan, that's who.

Conservatives like Stephen know what Reagan would have done. He would have stood up to Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Never mind that he did nothing to Saddam Hussein when Saddam gassed his own troops and his own people. That was the old Reagan. The new Super Reagan is the man everyone means now. He is truly SuperReagan! Stephen had a historic photo of Reagan bringing about the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. It was inspiring.

Stephen put on a little show, not exactly a puppet show but a show with action figures. He ended it by saying in the best impersonation of Ronald Reagan, "Mr Skeletor, tear down your face."

In Tip/Wag tonight, Stephen applauded Iowa's decision to grant gun permits to the blind. And he applauded bigger pants. I would love to know the story behind this, but it has something to do with the pants hanging in his closet this morning. He loves the fit. It's like losing weight without having to even try.

Billie Jean King, a Living Legend, was Stephen's guest tonight. Incredible! One Living Legend interviewing another Living Legend. For those who are too young to remember, she played tennis and played it pretty darn good. Go look here at just the first three paragraphs!

But what most people remember about her is the Battle of the Sexes. Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs played tennis. Billie Jean King won. She was an inspiration for lots of people.

Even if you don't remember that or are just too young, you are in luck. Tomorrow on PBS, you can watch American Masters Billie Jean King. It's coming up on 40 years since that famous tennis match-up and coming up on the 70th birthday of Billie Jean King.

It's on your local PBS station on September 10 at 8:00 p.m. but check your local listings so that you don't tune in too late if you are in a different time zone!

Proper Etiquette for High Tea

I can't remember when I have heard someone say "No" more often than last night when Hugo Vickers again tried to school Stephen Colbert in the proper etiquette for high tea and for meeting The Queen. I could tell you about the "Do not hug her," and the "gauche faux pas". I could explain what Stephen means when he says, "I'm just not buying it," or who Stephen employed as a stand-in for The Queen. And I could tell you about Stephen's grand entrance after he is properly kitted out.

But as they say, one picture is worth a thousand words and, video is probably worth a million words. Go watch Stephen from last night, and the previous night at Colbert Nation. Stephen tries his darndest to be British, but it's not as easy as it looks. You have to see it to believe it.

And I need to get something off my chest. My mom called last night. She said it is rude to accuse someone else of being rude. And so I apologize for the "less than kind" things I said about Stephen in my previous post "My Fair Colbert." He tries to do things right, but sometimes it's difficult for him. We should all applaud his willingness to try new things.

Moving on.

Interesting guest tonight. Jeff Greenfield was there to talk about his new book. "Then Everything Changed." What if one little event in history had happened differently or if it had never happened at all? Who knows what the effect would have been? There's many instances of people who were sick and did not go to work when something horrible happened. Or someone budges in front of you in line and buys the losing lottery ticket and the next one, the one you get, ends up being the winning ticket. If that person had waited for his turn in line, he would have gotten the winning ticket instead of you.

So, his book is about lives and politics of JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford and Reagan. It sounds like a really different take on history, examining it based on what almost happened. Go buy it, then read it.

Will the Real Ronald Reagan Please Stand Up !

Not much time to write tonight. I didn't catch the beginning of the show. I only saw Stephen talking about Rick Santorum briefly and then Stephen did the interview. Tonight Stephen's interview was with Eugene Jarecki. Mr. Jarecki has a documentary about Ronald Reagan, the real Ronald Reagan, which is being shown on HBO. What we hear about so often today is a myth. For example, Ronald Reagan raised taxes 6 out of the 8 years he was in office and yet you keep hearing people say that Reagan is the poster boy for cutting taxes. Not so! I did a little googling on the internet machine about this topic. Most people who are knowledgeable about Reagan know he would not have been in or of the Tea Party. Go read about it if interested.

Now, if only I had HBO, I could watch the documentary myself and report to you what it was about. Alas, one can only hope that Stephen will watch it for us and do a report on a later show.