O Beautiful For Spacious Skies

For amber waves of grain.

You probably remember how the rest of the song goes. If not, just catch one of Mitt Romney's speeches. Stephen had a clip of Romney's victory speech from last night, the part where Mitt recites the words to the song. (If it would have been Herman Cain, it would have been sung, but I digress.) Of course at first Stephen had the wrong clips of a different night, many different nights and speeches, of Mitt Romney reciting the words from "America, the Beautiful." I now think that Stephen was using humor to highlight the fact that Mitt seems to keep using those familiar and patriotic verses over and over again. It's almost like he has a plan to make that song his own.

I figured why not get a few facts about these spacious skies and amber waves to share with my readers. So, I Googled "O beautiful for spacious skies." Well, of course, near the top of the results, is an entry by trusty old Wikipedia for the song, "America, the Beautiful." Then I did a double take, for right after it, in the Google results, was a link to a YouTube video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the song. What's up with that? You do know that Romney is a Mormon, right? And then I looked at Google images. Not surprisingly, there were lots of images of spacious skies, lots of images of amber waves of grain, lots of images of patriotic things (flags, fireworks, soldiers, eagles), and then there it was. A photo of Mitt Romney! So then I went to a website to see the lyrics and there was an ad for Mitt Romney.

It's obvious Mitt is trying very hard to have people salivate whenever they hear that song. And to have them think of Mitt Romney. Other candidates will be associated with other things. Stephen even mentioned Rick Santorum. And who can hear Michele Bachmann's name without seeing a pair of false eyelashes? For Herman Cain, it was 9-9-9. For so many candidates, there is one thing that will always be identified with them. Mitt Romney must be trying very hard to choose what people think about when they think of him. Will it work? Come back in 11 months and ask me then.

Perhaps more interesting on the show, in fact, the best part of the show was Stephen at the FLICKTRONIC-TRON 5600. Man, Stephen has got flicking down to an art. CNN needs to practice their flicking or people will stop going to CNN for news and only get their news from The Colbert Report.

Later in the show, Stephen checked in with all his good friends at WOI-DT abc 5 News to find out what's happening in Des Moines, Iowa. The excitement was more than I could bear.

The guest tonight was John Heilemann, National Affairs Editor of New York Magazine. Thankfully, they did discuss the recent Iowa Caucus and all the candidates. Although Romney won by an 8-vote landslide, Santorum, in a three-way with two other men, was such a close second that you could almost call it a tie. Now many of them head up to New Hampshire and then on to South Carolina. The excitement keeps building. It will be a fun ride heading to November.

I Was a Drum Major

First off, let me say that I sincerely hope Cinnabon accepts Stephen's apology.

That being said, Stephen discussed the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington D.C.

Stephen mentioned that he was in Washington D.C. for the March on Washington back in August of 1963. Some might wonder how that is possible since he wasn't even born until about 8 1/2 months after the March. Well, his mother was there, and so by the mathematical principle of association, so was he.

I have not seen the Memorial yet, but hope to see it next time I am in Washington D.C. But sadly there is controversy. One of the quotes is actually not what Dr. King said. The quote that is chiseled there says, "I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness."

Many people would agree with that. He is remembered for exactly those things. But what he actually said was this, "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

It seems like not a day goes by that some prominent politician, actor, or business leader is demanding that some news source issue a correction about an incorrect quote. People who make speeches spend a lot of time working on the speech to get every word just the way they want it so that it says exactly what they mean.

So, while it may not seem like it's worth making a fuss over, you would surely think that if all that time and money was going to be spent making the Memorial, that it would be done correctly. What I get out of the original quotation is that he knew he had played an important part in the history of this nation, but he hoped people would remember the work that was done and not focus on the man. What the quote on the Memorial seems to suggest is that he was boasting. That's my take on it.

The quote should be corrected on the Memorial. Restore Truthiness.

Moving On.

TV Good. As you may remember, the Colbert Super PAC ran an ad in Iowa suggesting that voters in Ames write in Rick Parry's name. That's Parry with an "A". Well many people did write in Parry's name, but the Iowa GOP will not release the results to say whether or not all the names were spelled Parry. Stephen's good friends over at WOI tried to find out, but the short and long answer was the same - NO. The Iowa GOP would not release the results. So, again, Truthiness loses.

Stephen's guest tonight was Robin Wright. They talked about the political situation in the Middle East. She said that the people there had made such a difference in a short time for making dramatic changes in the politics and governments. After some more discussion, she said that debt could actually be our biggest enemy. Stephen suggested invading VISA.

Her book is Rock the Casbah - Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World. As Stephen would say, "Go buy it."

Make 'Em Laugh

It was the rerun tonight from Stephen's last show before he went on vacation. That's the show that he had the WOI-DT news team to help him with Parry with an A-Gate.

It's also the episode where Stephen showed footage of Anderson Cooper. Apparently Anderson Cooper can't keep his cool on the air while reporting about Gerard Depardieu. I don't know which is funnier - a TV news person laughing at a story or a comedian laughing at his own joke. Regardless of which one is funnier for the audience, it does seem that once a person gets to laughing in a situation where they should not laugh, it becomes almost impossible to stop laughing and get serious again.

It reminds me of that episode on the old sit com Mary Tyler Moore Show about "Chuckles Bites the Dust." If you would like to watch part of it, head on over to YouTube to Watch part of that show. You can also see Betty White in her younger days.

I'm also reminded that sometimes Stephen seems to be unable to control his laughter, so perhaps he had better be a little bit careful about mocking Anderson Cooper.

Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

Tonight's rerun was from August 11. So, we got to see the "Vote for Rick Parry" ad again! And we learned again about the shenanigans of WOI-DT.

Also, Stephen talked about Sarah Palin and her Bus Tour, or should I say, Family Vacation. That got me to thinking. What if Sarah had invited Stephen to tour along on the bus while he is on vacation? Think of the fun they could have! Discussing Politics. Talking about their favorite moments in American History. Singing American Folk Songs like Yankee Doodle.

Stephen could give her pointers about running for President. After all, he did run last time, or at least he gave it his best effort. And then as sort of a thank-you for all the advice, Palin could ask Stephen to be her running mate.

Well, if that does happen, remember, you heard it here first!

PARRY-with-an-A-GATE!

Stephen is still waiting to hear from Emmy-Awaiting ABC5 WOI-DT News Weather Sports in Des Moines, Iowa, about the results of the Multi-Hundred dollars ad campaign from the Colbert Super PAC. The PAC made a commercial and urged Iowa voters to write in Parry with an A. Now we all want to know: How many people spelled it with an A? We may have did it, but we don't know.

However, the Iowa GOP still refuses to release the results for public scrutiny. Stephen had proof positive on the show of at least one voter that wrote in Parry with an A.

Tonight he checked in with the all the stars at WOI:

Amanda Krenz
Rachel Pierce
John Walters
Brad Edwards
Katie Eastman

They are working on the story and following all leads. And they will continue to hunt down this story until Stephen gets his answers. More on this as it develops.

In other stories, the Barnstormers have named a new coach.

Stephen reported on the apparent laughing gas overdose of Anderson Cooper. And there must be a lot of that going around because Stephen had uncontrollable fits of laughter caused by merely seeing a photo of Steve Doocy. Maybe it's because Doocy was born in Iowa. I don't know.

Anyway, Stephen's guest was Kevin Mitnick who served 5 years in prison because of his computer crimes, you know - hacking. He started hacking in high

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Hi folks, Kevin Mitnick here. Please go out and buy my book "Ghost in the Wires - My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker." You can buy it at Barnes & Noble, and other fine bookstores. Thanks a lot!
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school and just kept doing it. He even has written a book about it, "Ghost in the Wires - My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker." He continues to hack now, but it's on the up and up. He is a consultant and helps companies find their vulnerabilities so that they can fix it.

Vote for Rick Parry

That's Parry with an "A" for America and "A" for Iowa.

Of course, you can't vote in Iowa's straw poll if you aren't an Iowan or should that be Iowegian? But if you know someone who lives in Iowa, tell them to vote for Rick Parry. You can see Stephen's ads over at Colbert Nation. But where you won't see them is on WOI-DT, ABC5. They "decided" not to air the ads and this was their explanation. "Our general manager has reviewed both of the spots that your group wants to run tonight and tomorrow and we are gong to decline to air them. The are confusing to voters as we get closer to the straw poll on Saturday and the debate on Thursday. Please let me know if you have more questions."

Well.

WOI has upset the wrong people!

Stephen needs to stand up to this kind of treatment! He should go to the Iowa State Fair, purchase a kissing booth, and for $10.00, people can kiss his Emmy! He would rake in so much money for his ColbertPAC. (Once you visit Colbert Pac website, you won't want to leave!) And you know what? They need someone of Stephen's intelligence at the Iowa State Fair. Iowans think Kansas is in Iowa. It's true! Just look at the Iowa State Fair website and you will see for yourself.

On a happier note, Sarah Palin has rolled into Iowa with her bus tour because she wanted to go to the Iowa State Fair. Imagine her surprise when she realizes that all kinds of Republicans are there already. Most likely there will be some sort of get-together so that they can all socialize over drinks while talking issues. It's nice when we get a Happy Coincidence. Just think, if she had gone a week earlier or a week later, she would not have been in Iowa when all the GOP presidential hopefuls are there.

Gloria Steinem was Stephen's guest tonight. Sarah Palin most likely watched tonight's show because she is so grateful that people like Gloria Steinem paved the way for her to be taken seriously when she ran for office. Gloria Steinem has a premiere on HBO Monday night.