Hmm…and all this time I’ve been a good, tough-talking, get-tough-on-crime advocate, but I’ve never been a cop. My bad!
Thanks for the insight. :rolleyes:
My admiration for a man who inspired Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity knows no bounds.
And where did you hear he specifically inspired them? 
I just got a terrible image of reproductive malfeasence. Please be careful; incautious speach can have profound and terrible consequences.
Stranger
Starving Artist
I’m glad that my incisive comment elucidated a profound change in your rationale.
Thank you. 
If you’re curious, you can listen to tapes of his broadcasts at paulharvey.com
Why, Paul Harvey himself said so, that’s why. So it’s true. Well, kind of. At least the part about their names being Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity. I think.
I hold a grudge against Paul Harvey because he harmed my relationship with my mother. When I was just a wee lad, it seemed that, every time I came running into the house to share some vital information with my mother, I would be rebuffed with, “SHHHHHH! I’m listening to Paul Harvey!”
According to Wikipedia (known for stretching the truth in a Harvey-like fashion, but they give a cite for this):
I have to be honest and say that the first time I saw or heard him (it was on television) I thought he was a raving nut. Later on, I had a job where I was exposed to his radio program and his ‘Rest of the Story’ segments, and I enjoyed them. I’m sorry to learn they were “inaccurate,” but I’m not surprised.
“Here’s to you, Mr. and Mrs. Erotic American”
Yesterday, I posted a long annecdote but the hamster ate it. I didn’t have the strength to repeat it. But now I am back!
Ok. Here goes:
When I was in high school (early 90’s), we were discussing the timelessness of Shakespeare in my Forensics class (it was the offseason). My teacher/coach had somewhat of a wicked sense of humor so what he said MUST have been sarcasm and not ignorance. Only, I am usually good at detecting sarcasm. It is my second favorite “-asm”. Yet, I had to have been whooshed.
He said that Shakespeare was still popular centuries later because of his timeless themes and plots. He pointed out that broad themes and plots like love, greed, and power translated well throughout the ages.
He then, without a smirk, smile or twinkle in his eye said that this is why they kept playing old re-runs of Paul Harvey. My teacher said Harvey had died in the late 80’s yet because he had always played it broad they could re-play his material forever without it getting dated.
And then he moved on.
Well, it made sense to me. I could never recall Paul Harvey talking about ANYTHING relevant in all the time I had listened to him. It is easy to believe when one discusses the day to day happenings of Adalai Stevenson that he had been dead for a long time.
And nothing I ever heard from Paul Harvey after that clued me in to the fact that I had been whooshed.
Even his commercials seemed canned. He was always shilling for the same old products. True Value, Weed and Feed, Foot Powder. No tip offs there.
And so I spread this ignorance for more than half a decade.
And you know what? Everyone I told (and there were a LOT because I thought it was pretty interesting) believed me.
The usual response was: “Really? Hmmm…That DOES make sense…”
It wasn’t until Shirly Povich (Maury’s Dad) died in 1998 that I learned the truth. Harvey admired the late Washington Post sports columnist and gave him an on-air tribute.
The feelings I experienced in the car that day were not pleasant, dear dopers.
Since then, I have heard him make a few contemporary references, but largely it is stuff about how the first public library was founded.
And so, though I was whooshed, I realize that my teacher really did have some GREAT, biting criticism of Paul Harvey. They really COULD recan most of his stuff and syndicate it after his death.
For the most part the guy talks about nothing.
Could I get a cite for this?
According to the Chicago Tribune…
Indeed, if you go to his website, you’ll see their logo.
(He’s been with them since 1951)
I grew up neatr Boston and went to college in the mid west. I remember listening to Paul Harvey for the first time and laughing my head off, I thought it was satire. My college room mates had to set me straight. I thought “Toto, we’re not in Boston anymore”.
Eh, I’m sick, I’ll just boil it down. Basically… recipie… aw, hell with it. I can’t organize my head for more than a two line comment right now. Sorry, guys. I think I’ve posted it before, though.
watsonvil, what makes you sure your teacher wasn’t mistaken in the same way you were?
PH is has been fading recently, though. I heard a substitute on his program recently. (I’m not a regular or even an infrequent listener – just happened to flip to AM that day.)
I listened to him as a kid thirty years ago. I like learning a bit of history. I noticed that he was pro-war (in Vietnam) and became less and less so until coming out against the war when I certain young man became eligible for the draft. And that young man’s name, why it was Paul … Harvey, Junior.
I never heard Billy Graham associated with “right wing” before. As President Clinton said of him:
When I became president, Billy counseled me and prayed with and for me as he had with so many of my predecessors. He gave the invocation at both my inaugurals. We talked about lots of things and I was always inspired by his wise insights … He … visited me after the pain of my private sin became public and the subject of political debate. We talked about repenting, atonement and forgiveness. He was a source of strength, reassurance, and faith beyond my ability to relate … But to me, he is a friend, a model of Christian charity, an intensely human pastor."
He presented Graham and his wife the Congressional Gold Medal.
Wrong. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps after Pearl Harbor. But hey, don’t let any actual facts get in the way of your slam.