RObert McNamara was CEO of Ford Motors, and was largely responsible for the Edsel. You would THINK after a debacle like that, this bonehead would be unemployable. But no! JFK looked at McNamara and thought THAT’s the man to run our national defense. Then, as Secretary of Defense, McNamara devised our policy in Viet Nam. You KNOW how well that turned out. After that fiasco, yopu’d THINK this dimwit would be unemployable. But no! The World Banks decided, “We want a man like that in charge of world finance!”
Robert Conrad had one fairly successful TV show: “The WIld Wild West.” After that, every year, one network or another would give him a new series that lasted 2 weeks, and was cancelled. (Remember “The Duke” or “A Man Called Sloan”? Didn’t think so.) No matter how badly his shows flopped, he was never out of work, because another network would sign him up for another flop.
FInally, there’s fat, stupid, talentless Michael Moore. He did a show on NBC- it sucked, nobody watched it, and it was cancelled. Was he unemployed long? Nope, Fox stepped in and said “We need a guy like Moore,” and gave him a chance to do the same show. It sucked (again), nobody watched it (again) and it was cancelled. Was he unemployed long? No… he had cable companies lined up to give him a new show! He still sucks (again), nobody’s watching (again)…
My question is… Does Robert McNamara have naked pictures of all the world’s politicians and business leaders? Do Michael Moore and Robert Conrad have Mafia ties? How do people with NO ability or talent, and a record of disastrous failures, keep getting hired again and again?
(Hmm… that reminds me, what about John McNamara, Gene Mauch, Pete Carroll and Rene Lachemann?)
First off, TV Nation kicked ass–I know lots of people who loved it, and I personally own both tapes of episodes that were released.
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The show failed because it pissed off Republicans and CEOs who didn’t want to see all the shady things their leaders ware doing on TV. Sure, you piss off a lot of people with a lot of power, your show’s going to get cancelled. He got The Awful Truth because cable companies can get away with more stuff. I’ve only seen it once (not having cable, myself), and it was pretty good, although not up to the standards of TV Nation.
You lump Michael Moore in with these guys, and I’ll smack you upside the head. He only happened to create and ddirect * the best selling documentary of all time. * You know, * Roger & Me * ? Now THAT sounds like failure…
Come get some.
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As far as I can tell, this is a myth. McNamara only became CEO of Ford Motors about the time the Edsel was being introduced, three years after it had been approved and developed. McNamara’s main role was actually to kill it off, shortly after he became Ford Motor Company president in 1959.
In 1984, Collectible Automobile had an extensive review of the Edsel. (What a lot of people don’t know today is that the Edsel wasn’t a just single model of car from Ford, it was a whole new car division. At its intoduction, there were four main Edsel lines–Corsair, Citation, Ranger and Pacer.)
According to this source, the basic chronology was as follows: “To understand this sad scenario look no farther than its authors, Ford management, especially then-president Henry Ford II and Ernest R. Breech, chairman of the board in 1955-60.”, “[circa 1954] John Davis, the company’s vice-president for sales, made a study that led him to recommend development of a new medium-sized, medium priced model line.”, “In a showdown vote, Breech was the only only executive in favor of the Davis plan-so naturally that was the only one adopted. Now, Reith and Ford Division general manager went all out to establish the E-car… Richard Krafve moved over from Lincoln-Mercury to take charge.” The Edsel lines were introduced in September, 1957, as 1958 models. Sales quickly dropped for the 1959s, and a small 1960-model line was introduced in the fall of 1959. “The foolish charade of the ‘new-nifty-thrifty’ 1960 models was quickly halted by the hard-nosed Robert S. McNamara as one of the few major decisions made duting his brief tenure as FoMoCo president.”
You mean like challenging CEOs to give an honest, straightforward defence of their labor practices (Phil Knight maintains that there’s nothing wrong with Philippine sweat-shops, and that “Americans don’t want to make shoes”. Of course, he at least had the courage to actually meet with Moore, which most don’t)?
Or showing CSPAN footage of the GOP literally shoving people around on the floors of Congress?
Or how about trying to talk to the head of a major corporation that’s just killed the economy of his hometown–even going so far as to buy stock to get into the stockholders meeting?
Or talking the the Michigan Militia and discovering that they’re mostly average guys who just reacted badly to losing their jobs–at a time when the company they worked for was making profits in the billions?
Yup, those all sound firmly anti-American to me. :rolleyes:
Don’t forget my all-time favorite–making up fake political groups like Abortionists for Buchanan, Pedophiles for Free Trade, the John Wayne Gacy Fan Club, and the Hemp Growers of America, and sending $100 checks from them to the Presidential candidates. (Pat Buchanan cashed all of them.)
The Awful Truth has been great this year–particularly the Presidential Mosh Pit and the Mayor Giuliani Gift Shop and Sex Emporium.
The best moment all season was when George Dubya greeted Michael by saying, “I see you’re up to your old tricks again. Why don’t you get a real job?” Cut to Mike on the phone: “Hello, Dad? You wouldn’t happen to have an oil company or something for me to run, would you? How about a major leage baseball team?”
Glad I’m not the only one rising to Mike’s defense.
yeah, the only episode of the Awful Truth that I’ve been able to see so far (maybe I should get cable just for that show) is the one where he got a guy to dress as Adolf Hitler and go into Swiss banks and try to withdraw all the stolen money that the Nazis deposited, so he could give it back to those it was taken from.
“Umm, what did you say your name was?”
“Adolf Hitler, you have my signature on file”
<voice over> “Maybe it was the military uniform that was making this difficult–I was indimidating them”
CUT to Hitler in a buisnessman’s suit trying again.
I think Michael Moore is great . In his last series he saved a guy’s life by getting his HMO(?) to give him a transplant that they were he wasn’t covered for . In this series he has campaigned for a group of illegal immigrents who were report by their employers ( holiday inn , I think ) because they tried to set up a union . The have now being allowed to stay in the States.
I cann’t see how standing up for people’s rights and getting in the face of politicians and big bussiness is unamerican , surely as a American he has the same right to free speech as everyone else . If you don’t like him use that little button on your remote .
As far as Conrad is concerned, he was enough of a name actor to get other series even when his old ones flopped. Even when his shows were bad, people tended to like him. This is a phenomenon with some other TV actors, notably Robert Urich, Harry Morgan (the only man to star in two different spinoff series), and Alison La Placa.
If I’m not mistaken, I believe McNamara was one of the so-called “Whiz Kids”
(I had to read his book, In Retrospect, for a history class…it actually wasn’t too bad…a little TOO detailed and tedious, but oh, well, the guy meant well…)
Michael Moore is a jerk and an idiot. Unfortunately that is enough to get you on TV these days. His show was at the level of Jerry Springer or worse. He is not even funny.
I saw him not too long ago talking about how bad american workers have it. Where does this guy live? This is the longest economic boom in history. Did I say he’s an idiot? Oh and a jerk as well.
Michael moore, if you notice, talks to real, average Americans. These are people I know. These are people who are my neighbors, relatives, friends, and co-workers. These are people who are working more and more for less and less.
Sure we have this big economic boom, but it’s not going to the average worker. Maybe you should actually sit down with both tapes of the show, and take an open, unprejudiced look at them. They have absolutely nothing in common with Jerry Springer, or any of the other drivel that populates the television.
He lives right here in America. If you think he’s a jerk for sticking up for what ought to be these people’s basic rights, you’re fighting against me, my family, my neighbors, most of the population of Baltimore (where I live), and most of the population of America.
Just because the country as a whole is getting richer doesn’t mean we’re all seeing the benefits of that.
Seriously, watch the tapes with an open mind. Better yet, watch * Roger & Me. *
Gee, when I saw the OP I was goin to say something about michael Moore. But then everybody else did. And then I saw sailor’s post and I was going to say something but Myrr pretty much covered it.
But I think I’ll say it anyway: Jerry Springer??!!
Oh yeah, I forgot, the stock market is up and $6.00/hour jobs are plentiful, so we should just shut up and be grateful. We don’t need some malcontent, idiot jerk pointing out that “economic boom” is not a paneacea that banishes all injustice, stupidity and greed. And all need for social commentary.
Not that I’m a total fan of Michael Moore. Some of the stuff he’s done was pretty silly. TV Nation was…uneven. But…Jerry Springer? Sheesh.
I’ve already said this but I’ll say it again . He saved a mans life . You may disagree with his politics , you may think that his show is crap but there is a family with their husband/dad that may disagree with you .
hey, it’s just my opinion. This country has the highest standard of living in the world. Michael Moore thinks its a crappy place. You think it would be better off if he ran the place? Vote for him! Sorry, I still think he’s one big idiot.
sailor I think you have MM all wrong . The thing I get from him is that he loves America and it’s people and he thinks that your country and it’s bussiness’ should treat all Americans with the respect they deserve.
About Robert McNamara, you should read a book called “The Reckoning” by David Halberstram. I don’t usually recommend “business” books, but this one was a classic.
He was the leader of the Whiz Kids during WWII. While everyone else was trying to figure out how to get all those bombers from the European Theater to the Pacific Theater, he and the Whiz Kids crunched the numbers and concluded that it would be cheaper to build new bombers for the Pacific.
At Ford, he had them crunch the numbers and come up with cars that looked great on paper, but which no one wanted to buy.
As Secretary of Defence, he had them crunch the numbers on the amount of bombs dropped and ‘battles’ won, and concluded that we were winning the war.
There’s a big difference between “thinks it’s a crappy place” and “thinks it could be better”.
I freakin’ wish! Of course, the list of people that I would vote for before I’d vote for either of the two current Presidential frontrunners is getting longer by the day, and is no longer limited to Homo sapiens.
Michael Moore doesn’t have to run. He is already Earl of Wessex, or something like that. Of course, he bought the title. Kind of a similar way in which presidents and senators are bought, sailor.
There was the situation about taxicab in New York not picking up Black people. The mayor should have seen the episode a few years back when Yaphet Kotto was passed over for a white ex-convict, sailor.
Yes, he does make mistakes about geography and history (IBM HQ is at Armonk, NY, not in New York City). But at least he is earnest at what he does, sailor.
