Radio Sweethearts

I want to keep this week’s “On the Media” recap short-ish; I’m having a terribly busy day, and haven’t done the usual pre-writing that both Kerry and I do.That said, there’s a lot of stuff in this episode worthy of extreme praise, rather than the general snark I unleash on exceptionally bad programming decisions (usually just NPR trying to be lighthearted, clever, whatever).

There is some stuff in this week’s program worthy of that light invective (Bob interviews the peace sign - the peace sign), but I’m going to hold back this week so as to let the praise stand on its own. Read more after the jump.

Listen to this: Bob totally unleashes on congressional Republicans for walking out of Congress so as to protest the Democrats’ refusal to vote on the extension of the Administration’s eavesdropping authority. Given my desire to create a version of the Gadsden Flag with a telephone receiver and a coiled cord, I’m with Bob here.

It’s my personal opinion that these broad eavesdropping powers violate the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure of our “persons, houses, papers, and effects.” I was glad to see that the temporary wiretapping privileges were about to expire.The Democrats were about to hold a vote to hold a couple White House officials in contempt of Congress. The walkout, however, was ostensibly about protesting the Democrats’ wish to not bring the wiretapping privileges up for a renewal vote. It’s confusing to me what exactly happened, but it’s clear that the walkout is an attempt to, as Bob says, “change the subject.”

Bob’s righteous invective is… well… righteous. Listening to the podcast for the first time, I climbed onto the city bus with a huge grin tearing my face in two as Bob lets Congressional Republicans have it with clear thought and speech.

Then, Brooke pretty much has her way with the director of this week’s episode of PBS’ “Frontline.” The episode, if you missed it, was about the massacre at Haditha in Iraq. It streams in its entirety at the Frontline website, which has some pretty excellent use of Gill Sans.

It’s good, but I don’t feel like talking about it.

What does seem worth talking about, however, is the piece about the use of the word “pimp” as applied by MSNBC’s David Shuster to Chelsea Clinton. It’s pretty clear that the word wasn’t intended to cause harm; what Shuster said was: “But doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?”

The Huffington Post’s Media Editor Rachael Sklar made it sufficiently clear that the uproar over Shuster’s question was not because (suprise) people got confused and thought Chelsea’s body was being sold on street corners, but because of the sexist overtones, whereas the term would never be applied to Michelle Obama, or really anyone in the Obama campaign staff, because it would then take on racist overtones.Also in this episode:

The Transportation Security Administration created a blog in a weak attempt to redeem their poor public image. Seriously. The more passive agressive comments on each post, the better.

There’s an interesting piece on the Maharishi and the time the Beatles spent with him. I wasn’t paying enough attention, apparently, to figure out how this ties into the current media landscape - apart from the fact that the Beatles created… get this… media.

Oh, and there was the attempt at being light-hearted, witty, clever, or whatever, where Bob interviews - sigh - the peace sign, who (yeah, “who,” not “which,” because it’s an interview based on the idea of a sentient pictograph) apparently has had a recent, devastating falling-out with the “have a nice day” smiley face.

Bob, you were so on top of it at the beginning - really ready to truly impress Brooke, and then you go for the peace sign interview? Yes, she had a nice affectionate giggle when introducing it after the pimp story, but I’ve heard that laugh before. It’s the laugh girls make when a boy makes a dopey, dad-quality joke.

Guys like us, Bob, we have to rely on Smart-and-Funny to get girls, but when it’s clear that our smart is smarter than our funny is funny, it’s time to turn down the funny. (She’s cute, by the way, we’ve looked up your head shots. You totally should make a move. Just be smart about it. Not clever.)

This post was written by Matthew and edited by Kerry, who sorta pimped it out in a weird way.