# The 'Stupid Things People Say' in the Media Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 10, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624 "2004-06-10T12:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/21 "2004-06-10T21:48:24Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > And the camera cut to the dog. It cut away from the Capitol to a cocker spaniel, which was cute, yet hardly seemed relevant to the state funeral preparations. It’s about as relevant as having Letitia Baldridge, Empress of Etiquette, commenting on the appropriateness of how members of the Reagan entourage were dressed. Not that I watched this drivel (on MSNBC according to reports received), but Baldridge supposedly remarked in horror about the prospect of Patti Reagan wearing pants (she wasn’t), while a short time later Maureen Reagan emerged from a vehicle wearing pants. The earth totters on its axis. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/22 "2004-06-10T22:12:47Z")
> [@P\_T\_](#): > > I sure hope that’s remembered when old Chirac passes away… Yes, because Chirac has a lot to do with French newspaper coverage and French public opinion of Ronald Reagan. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/23 "2004-06-10T22:15:09Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > I’m confused. If what they wanted to know was how France was reacting to Reagan’s deathe then THAT guy seem to have told them. That’s his job. > > If you’re suggesting there shouldn’t have been anything negative said about Reagan…well, an ordinary guy should have his loved ones mourne for him, he shouldn’t have strangers weighing in on his life…but and ordinary guy doesn’t get a natioanal day mourning and a lying in state either. A President is not an ordinary person. > > The international reaction to his death is a perfectly valid journalistic question. “They don’t like him” (as far as covering his death) is a perfectly legitimit answer. It’s still disrespectful. If you go to a funeral or a wake, you don’t tell people, “Well I really didn’t like the guy, and neither did any of my friends.” There will be ample time later for dissecting the man’s political career. I never voted for him either, but what did he do to the French? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/24 "2004-06-10T23:38:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Not that I watched this drivel (on MSNBC according to reports received), but Baldridge supposedly remarked in horror about the prospect of Patti Reagan wearing pants (she wasn’t), while a short time later Maureen Reagan emerged from a vehicle wearing pants. > > The earth totters on its axis. That is shocking, considering Maureen Reagan died a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/25 "2004-06-10T23:40:57Z")
Back when some soldiers from a local unit returned from Desert Storm the camera focused on a soldier and his wife, who had gone into a clinch. The idiot reporter tried to stick a microphone in their faces, and asked “Do you have any plans for tonight?” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/26 "2004-06-11T00:55:35Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > That is shocking, considering Maureen Reagan died a couple of years ago. Turning up to a funeral dead and in slacks? That’s the height of rudeness, as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/27 "2004-06-11T01:02:01Z")
> [@lambchops](#): > > Turning up to a funeral dead and in slacks? That’s the height of rudeness, as far as I’m concerned. I think I’d like to hear **Eve** ’s opinion on that one… ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/28 "2004-06-11T02:19:35Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > It’s still disrespectful. If you go to a funeral or a wake, you don’t tell people, “Well I really didn’t like the guy, and neither did any of my friends.” There will be ample time later for dissecting the man’s political career. > > I never voted for him either, but what did he do to the French? Did they actually have anything to back up the assertion that “they don’t like him very much” or was that just an American reporter’s own opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/29 "2004-06-11T03:50:49Z")
If you think that your politicians are stupid, think again, I give you some pearls of wisdom from our current president: 1- In an interview with an American TV station asked the interviewer is he had plans to also interview his competitor in the elections. When he was told that yes, they had such plans he told the journalist to ask him if he was true “that he is attracted to men”. 2- When told that the price of eggs had risen 300% during his government he replied that it was fair, “do you know how hard it is for a chicken to lay an egg?” 3- Said in an interview : “Although I don’t know what I am doing I was elected president, so I am going to do what I think I should do.” 4- “The economy is stumbling from here to there and from there to here. It is for this that I say ‘may God have mercy on our souls’”. This isn’t anywhere near the worst of what he’s said, but I am too embarrassed to say any more. We just had new elections in which he ran again for president, are any of you surprised that the competing candidate beat him with nearly 70% of the votes in a 3-party system? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/30 "2004-06-11T04:09:40Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Brooke Shields was once interviewed while in Chicago. She breathlessly exclaimed, “Gee! I had no idea Chicago was on an ocean!” > > Oy! Not in the media, but this reminds me. A couple years ago I attended a ballgame on Lou Gehrig Day. At ballparks across the country, famous people read his retirement speech as a part of a fundraiser for ALS research. I was fortunate enough to see Brooke Shields at PacBell. It was so hideous my hair hurt. After she finished up, she leaned into the microphone and said “Thank you all for supporting ALS!” Oy! ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/31 "2004-06-11T04:20:43Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > This is unlikely to be at all familiar to non Aussies, but we too have a Federal election looming at the end of this year. To cut a long story very short, a member of the Greens Party, Peter Garrett, has been snaffled by the Labor Party (sort of like the Democrats) to stand for election in a safe Labor seat in Sydney, to the consternation and dismay of grassroots/rank-and-file members of that particular seat. Garrett is famous for his lead-singer role of Midnite Oil, and his later environmental activism here in Aus. He has no apparent connection to the ‘seat’ where he is now standing as a candidate to represent the residents. > > On the telly tonight though, Garrett was defending his critics/appointment by saying that \*\*he played his first _gig_ at a pub in the electorate. \*\* > > Geez, Pete, most of us thought you might have been a bit above ‘playing politics’. We trusted you \*because \* you refused to play the party game. And here you are spouting bullshit like “I played a gig at the local pub 20 years ago, so therefore I am qualified to represent the locals as their parliamentarian now”? And you wonder why we might be a bit pissed off? > > Fuck off Garrett…When come back, bring credibility you moron. What could he have said instead to qualify his appointment? I’m asking because I am ignorant of Australian politics. Does [this](http://www.petergarrett.com.au/speeches.html) website explain better? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/32 "2004-06-11T04:27:40Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > If you think that your politicians are stupid, think again, I give you some pearls of wisdom from our current president: Sorry for the hijack, **Mighty\_Girl** , but which country’s president are you writing about? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/33 "2004-06-11T04:34:50Z")
Dominican Republic. I could also mention that he made a reference to his wife having “a tit cut off” (mastectomy) but I won’t. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/34 "2004-06-11T04:43:01Z")
In the spirit of fairness and full disclosure I have to admit that the latter is most probably an urban legend, I couldn’t find any supporting evidence that he actually said that. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/35 "2004-06-11T11:53:04Z")
> [@\*\*AlbertRose\*\*](#): > > What could he have said instead to qualify his appointment? Nothing. He has sold out and he has sold out big time, and there’s really nothing he can say. I suppose there is some sense in him wanting to “come into the mainstream”, but he’s already started to moderate his stance on things which were once very important to him and his supporters in order to take his place at the trough. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/36 "2004-06-11T12:17:18Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Not in the media, but this reminds me. A couple years ago I attended a ballgame on Lou Gehrig Day. At ballparks across the country, famous people read his retirement speech as a part of a fundraiser for ALS research. I was fortunate enough to see Brooke Shields at PacBell. It was so hideous my hair hurt. After she finished up, she leaned into the microphone and said “Thank you all for supporting ALS!” > > Oy! She went to a pretty prestigious school, as I recall…but she’s not what I’d call the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree! ---
**Author:** ![OneYogini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b9e5f3/32.png) [@OneYogini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneYogini)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/37 "2004-06-11T13:49:22Z")
To respond to **betenoir** , what **Spectre** said. The response, to the “valid journalistic question” was, while a “legitimate response”, IMHO, still disrespectful. I too would like to know though why the man said France disliked Reagan so much. I’d be interested in hearing that if anyone knows the history. To **Sublight** , I wish I had paid better attention to the name of the person the US news correspondent was interviewing over in France. I’m not really sure who it was, sorry. It was the comment that caught my attention, and then they quickly cut away from him and went on with showing the procession. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/38 "2004-06-11T16:42:01Z")
That’s ok. It seemed a little weird that the media there wouldn’t report his death until a few days later, so I did a little checking around this morning. _Le Figaro_ only allows searching for members, so I don’t know when they broke the story, if at all (there was nothing about it in today’s news). TF1’s (TV network) website ran a story about his death back on the 6th, and also had follow-up stories over the following days. One of the other big networks, france2, seems to be doing the same, although the bigger story now looks like the death of Ray Charles. Sounds more like their “man in France” wasn’t interviewing and investigating so much as just spouting his own opinions. For comparison, the media in Japan, which is relatively America-friendly, reported his death right after it happened, ran some follow-up stories the next day, and now has moved on to other news. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/39 "2004-06-11T16:51:56Z")
You could make 5 of these threads per week just listening to the Sean Hannity show. I loved this one I heard recently. It’s stupid for a lot of reasons. Basically the caller said, “well, it’s pointless for me to vote in my state because Kerry’s going to win it anyway.” I wonder if he realized. . . 1. It’s also pointless for him to vote in a state that Bush was going to win anyway. 2. It’s just pointless to vote. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/40 "2004-06-11T18:27:37Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Brooke Shields was once interviewed while in Chicago. She breathlessly exclaimed, “Gee! I had no idea Chicago was on an ocean!” > > Oy! Well? Neither did I. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624.md?page=3)