Ok, let's discuss George Carlin for a minute, and...

[AmyStrange]

Last edited Mon Jan 18, 2021, 02:02 AM - Edit history (1)

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PLEASE, don't reply with a knee jerk reaction, because this is why I can put up with his insane and sometimes annoyingly stupid political crap.

When you take away all his political humor, he was one funny guy, and up there with some of the greats like Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, and Eddie Murphy.

I know there are some folks here who don't like him, because he espoused the lie that ALL politicians are corrupt, including democrats.

Ok, I'll give you that, but think about this for a minute. Over the last fifty years, which political party has had more control in DC than any other? I'm not just talking about total control, but enough so that the other party couldn't get any of their stuff done.

Republicans, that's who.

When he goes on and on about his political lies (that he thought was comedy), I imagine in my head that he's talking about the BAT-SHIT CRAZY republican voters, and then it actually ALL makes sense, and I can't help but laugh.

I adamantly disagree with his logic for not voting, and this last election proves that when we mobilize and vote, we can kick anybody's freakin' ass.

And finally, George Carlin may not have thought of himself as a democrat, but he DID believe in many of our ideals.


George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy (Documentary)

Jon Stewart interviews comedian George Carlin in a career retrospective that finds the legendary comic performing material and reflecting on his upbringing.

https://tubitv.com/movies/515945/george-carlin-40-years-of-comedy
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[Karadeniz]

1. I like him!

[AmyStrange]

7. He was funny...

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and I kind of miss him a little.

I can just imagine what he would've thought of Trump.
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[rsdsharp]

2. You know he's dead, right?

[AmyStrange]

3. Yeah, so?

[jb5150]

4. I think if Carlin was still alive ...

he would have refined his views a tad.

[AmyStrange]

5. I can just imagine his Trump jokes...

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He would've been added to the seven things (now eight) you can't (or shouldn't) say on TV.
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[Initech]

11. Go listen to Life Is Worth Losing. He saw it coming.

And he tried to warn us about what we were in for.

[JI7]

6. He died years ago. Mostly talentless guys use him these days to defend the shit they say

Last edited Mon Jan 18, 2021, 01:37 AM - Edit history (1)

today .

As for CArlin himself he was talented and wrong on things but I would like to think he would have learned better if he was alive today .

[AmyStrange]

8. I believe that also, and...

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thank you.
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[betsuni]

15. +1

[3Hotdogs]

9. It's a club

and you and I ain't in it.

That says all I need to know about politics.

[AmyStrange]

12. heh heh heh

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succinct and so true.

Thank you.
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[betsuni]

14. No, the Biden administration is going to be the most diverse and progressive

in history. Voters decide who is in politics. People have to work hard to ensure Republicans can't stop us from voting. Carlin didn't vote.

[AmyStrange]

26. He said he didn't vote, but...

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how do we know this for an actual fact?

Sometimes, I think he just liked to yank our chains.
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[JonLP24]

31. I think he was sincere

This is him giving his honest views in an interview rather than a stand-up act.

I will say after this election I will be voting for Democrats for awhile.

[AmyStrange]

34. Very interesting interview...

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I'm rooting for the big comet to come and wipe us all out and make this right.

Heh heh heh, that's a classic example of Carlin's wit.

Thanks for sharing.
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[betsuni]

52. He doesn't lie.

From "Last Words":

"Kelly ... feels that if you don't vote you shouldn't have a say when it comes to complaining. ... On occasion she's also questioned that I'm antiauthoritarian and anarchist, with no belief in any system or political wing. That I often showed myself to be a very traditional -- even conservative -- father. ... I don't think the world is that neat, none of us is that neat; none of us fall into categories. There are differing aspects of ourselves, not all of which point in the same direction. I'm a collection of liberal, conservative and anarchist."

People shouldn't use him to make some political point. Why not also post his environment rant, "I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists" or how stupid people are when now we're not supposed to say how stupid people are, beside the one "It's a big club and you're not in it" one.

[Initech]

10. I'm a huge Carlin fan! Ever since the 6th, I've had his bit about Dumb Americans playing in my head.

&t=23s

Man if only he could have lived to see the absolute hell that Trump has unleashed on us. He saw it coming and warned us. Oh man did he warn us!

[AmyStrange]

13. Ain't THAT the truth and...

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thank you for sharing.
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[MustLoveBeagles]

16. George Carlin was cool

That is all.

[AmyStrange]

18. Well said and thank you

[grantcart]

17. I find Carlin one of the most deceptive ( in a good way) artists of our time

He started in very conservative suits with edgy material and then went counter culture in clothes and manner.

The reality was while he appeared relaxed and counter culture he was extremely conventional in his work habits. He worked 8vhours a day at a desk writing basic ideas and spent hundreds of hours refining them. His classic style of running through dozens of contradictory word formations in sticatto style took up to 6 months to write, refine, perform, adjust and perform again until he exposed it to a national audience.

His casual utterances appeared to be given off the hip but we're in fact intensely rehearsed and after each syllable and word was decided on given word perfect, like a superstar rocker who performed the same song perfectly a thousand times.

He developed a working routine at his office that was mechanized, disciplined and rigorous while appearing quite spontaneous, carefree and relaxed.

I liked his humour but admired his work habits even more.

[AmyStrange]

21. Wow!

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That was very interesting, especially about his staccato style, and thank you for sharing.
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[Celerity]

19. Over the last fifty years, which political party has had more control in DC than any other?

House

Dems 32 years (and counting), Rethugs 18


Senate

Dems 26 and a half years (and counting), Rethugs 23 and a half years



POTUS

Rethugs 30, Dems 20 years (and counting)

[AmyStrange]

23. How many years did the democrats have total control?

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Maybe 8 all together.
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[Celerity]

27. Rethugs had control of all 3 (House, Sen, POTUS) 7 and a half, Dems 8 years (and counting now)

[AmyStrange]

28. 7 and a half years? What happened to the other 35 years?

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I'll tell you what happened. They were controlled by the republicans is what happened.
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[Celerity]

30. no, read again, 7.5 years was complete Rethug control, 8 years was complete Dem and 34.5 was mixed

control.

I already gave you the year breakdown for the POTUS alone, the Senate alone, and the House alone.

[AmyStrange]

32. Ok, but the way I see it is we only had 8 years to get good things done, while...

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the republicans obstructed us (in some way) the other 42 years.

They could and can still obstruct us, but not as easily for those 8 years.
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[Celerity]

38. no, that is factually wrong, as we also had vast swathes were we could block as well

The Rethugs did not have 42 years of control of the entire federal government out of the past 50, there is no way to say that.

They had 7 and half years were they had trifecta control (President, House, Senate) and we had 8 years of trifecta control at federal level.

The other 34.5 years either us or the Rethugs could block each other in terms of majority control in one or more of the 3 parts (POTUS, Senate, House) being discussed. Also, the Rethugs never once had Senate majorities of 60 or more to overcome filibusters (we did).

Of course we did away with filibusters (under Harry Reid in 2013) for certain things (executive branch nominees and judicial nominees, except to the Supreme Court), which came back to bite us in the arse under Trump (when in addition to keeping the 2013 changes, McTurtle took away the ability to filibuster SCOTUS nominees as well, so damn near all of Trump's insane judges and executive branch nominees sailed though).

[AmyStrange]

40. They had enough control to stop us from getting anything done for 42 years...

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Why are we arguing about this?

ETA: I fixed my OP to reflect this.
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[Celerity]

45. That is not what you claimed, nor what I presented. Of the 30 years they held the POTUS, we had

blocking ability at either House or Senate (or both) level in 22 and half of those years, so we could handcuff their POTUS at multiple levels, just as they could handcuff us in 12 of our 20 years when we held the POTUS.

It is factually (and logically) wrong to claim that their 12 years of Congressional blocking of Dem POTUS's by Rethugs count, but then say our 22 and half years of Congressional blocking ability of Rethug POTUS's doesn't count (which is what you are saying when you claim 42 years of Rethug control).

I am done here, I have more than shown that what I said is true, and more than shown that the claim that the Rethugs had control of the federal government for 42 years of the past 50 is false.

cheers

[AmyStrange]

46. Kick and thank you

[Celerity]

51. yw

here is something that DOES show how little complete control we have had.

We have had complete control of all three (House, Senate, POTUS) for only FOUR years since the 1970's.

Clinton's first 2 years, and Obama's first two.

Carter had massive majorities for all 4 of his years. (1980 was the last year of the 1970's, just like 2000 was the last year of the 1990's, 2010 the last year of the noughties, 2020 the last year of the 20-teens, etc, as there was no year zero)

If 2022 is anything remotely like 1994 or 2010, we are real danger of losing control of both the House (likely, atm it only takes a net 5 D to R flips for the thugs to pull it back) and a real chance at losing the Senate.

As a result of 2010 (and before, from January 2009 onward), we lost a net 63 House seats and a net 7 Senate seats from where we were at post 2008 elections.

We have 35 to 45 (maybe even 50 plus if you really widen the search parameters a bit) Dem House seats in potential real danger, and 4 Dem Senate seats in potential danger (Warnock in GA, Cortez Masto in NV (especially if Sandoval runs), Hassan in NH (especially if Sununu runs, and NH just flipped from Dem control in both the state House and Senate to Rethug control of both), and AZ (Kelly, the least at risk I would say, but Ducey might present issues).

We only have really solid chances at flipping the two open seats (PA and NC), plus maybe the fucker Ron Johnson in WI (we need a great candidate, maybe Mandela Barnes).

The rest are really hard, even Rubio will be a slog and is in no way an easy flip, as FL is just a hot mess.

[Beakybird]

20. Genius.

He was funny, and when he punched, it was always up and never down.
Of course the don't vote shit bothers me. You eat the coconut and throw out the shell.

[AmyStrange]

25. Here's to throwing out the coconut shell on the 20th and...

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thank you.
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[Beakybird]

33. Thanks for the topic.

[AmyStrange]

43. Thank YOU for replying

[Redleg]

22. I've had similar thoughts

I am a big fan of Carlin. I think he became sort of a crank toward the last part of his life- his comedy became more political, darker in tone and less discerning in who to blame. He lumped Democrats and Republicans together with big business as parts of the system that keeps people stupid and docile. Perhaps he was disenchanted with the raw and bruising political climate of the 90s and 00s in which neither Democrats or Republicans covered themselves with laurel. He saw stupidity on all sides and seemed to blame all politicians for it.

I think it would have been interesting had he lived during the Trump administration. I think he might have played less both-sides and more as we see it here at DU.

[AmyStrange]

24. A agree with ALL of that and...

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thank you.
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[rickyhall]

29. I do miss the hippy dippy weather man.

Quote: “Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.”

[AmyStrange]

37. OMG! I forgot all about THAT one...

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[Iggo]

35. Oh god let's not.

[marlakay]

36. I love the guy, saw him in person once

I am a serious person hard to get me to lighten up but George I laugh and laugh...

[AmyStrange]

39. His seven dirty words still cracks me up.

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[coti]

41. Carlin is without a doubt one of the greatest comics of all time,

if not the greatest. He was a far better and more prolific comic than Eddie Murphy, that's for sure.

Quite honestly, he was a genius both in comedy and in other ways.

I in large part agree with your take on his political views, but I think it's also easy to make too much of those views. Too many liberals/politicos only know him for those radical views. His politics didn't define his comedy at all.

What Carlin was was a lover of language. So many of his best bits were playing games with English diction and grammar and poking fun at all of us in how we unthinkingly use them. He was quite literally a recognized expert in the English language. You can see it in almost all of his routines when you look at them in that light.

Just as one example, check out his routine examining the fine distinctions between an "asshole," a "jagoff," and a "scumbag." (IMO, he has by far the least respect for scumbags, of the three. )

And here's another example of his work that might give you an idea of why many call him a genius:

I encourage you to look into Carlin's work beyond his generally brief political asides. He left an enormous amount of material behind and almost all of it is worthwhile. I think if you looked at him a bit deeper you'd see him differently.

[AmyStrange]

42. Definitely a genius in many, many ways...

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and thanks for that video. I'm watching seven dirty words right now.
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[Dirty Socialist]

44. I don't want to start an argument here

So I won’t say anything

[Xolodno]

47. In my view..

..comedians can be the greatest critics on society. Carlin was one of the greats.

Sure he beat down Democrats and many bristle over that, to me, that's an opportunity to learn....so he doesn't have to make that joke.

And in reality, a significant portion of his material, reflects on what the GOP is today.

But lets also face reality, some think Democratic politicians are walking on water. They are fallible, just like anyone else, ignoring and dismissing it isn't not the solution. That's how you lose credibility.

[AmyStrange]

48. +100000000000000000000000000000000 x 2

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Hopefully, you don't get slammed, but I can certainly see the logic in what you're saying.
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[Maru Kitteh]

49. One of his relatives used to post here, a cousin or niece/nephew or

something of the sort. I remember that I appreciated their first-hand insight on Carlin. I always enjoyed Carlin. I don't need to agree with every last thing anybody says.

[AmyStrange]

50. I didn't know that and thank you...

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I wish they were here now.
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[alphafemale]

53. I got to see him live.

Most of his routines were scripted and did not change for years.

"7 Words"

Still a treat though.

He was quick witted in interviews and obviously could have improved for 90 minutes. I think people expected his great routines?

[AmyStrange]

54. I'm sure they did...

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I know I would and thanks for sharing.
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