Shannon Nutt

Funny how the Liberals are screwing up America, but it's the Conservatives who have control of the White House and Congress, isn't it?!

dhmac

Jon Stewart called him out on his book and Goldberg could barely mount a defense. I could see where Goldberg was desperately trying to come from because there is a lot a crap polluting the popular culture, but the ridiculous title to his book doesn't at all fit his argument. (And the fact that he singles out people from the left-wing and not the right-wing, which these days has a lot more yahoos, shows his own bias all too strongly.)

dhmac

All too true, but the demonizing of the opposition is seen as a necessity in order to cover up what a lousy job they are doing running things.

benedict

Anyone here still wanting to talk about the book or should I close it?

dhmac

I'd like someone to have the chance to post the list of 100 people first before it is closed.

Miyazaki

Quick google search...

A quick once over of this list, and I have to say it is just bullshit.

1. Michael Moore
2. Arthur Sulzberger
3. Ted Kennedy
4. Jesse Jackson
5. Anthony Romero
6. Jimmy Carter
7. Margaret Marshall
8. Paul Krugman
9. Jonathan Kozol
10. Ralph Neas
11. Noam Chomsky
12. Dan Rather
13. Andrew Heyward
14. Mary Mapes
15. Ted Rall
16. John Edwards
17. Al Sharpton
18. Al Gore
19. George Soros
20. Howard Dean
21. Judge Roy Moore
22. Michael Newdow
23. The Unknown American Terrorist
24. Lee Bollinger
25. James Kopp
26. Dr. Martin Haskell
27. Paul Begala
28. Julian Bond
29. John Green
30. Latrell Sprewell
31. Maury Povich
32. Jerry Springer
33. Bob Shrum
34. Bill Moyers
35. Jeff Danziger
36. Nancy Hopkins
37. Al Franken
38. Jim McDermott
39. Peter Singer
40. Scott Harshbarger
41. Susan Beresford
42. Gloria Steinem
43. Paul Eibeler
44. Dennis Kozlowski
45. Ken Lay
46. Barbara Walters
47. Maxine Waters
48. Robert Byrd
49. Ingrid Newkirk
50. John Vasconellos
51. Ann Pelo
52. Markos Moulitsas
53. Anna Nicole Smith
54. Neal Shapiro
55. David Westin
56. Diane Sawyer
57. Ted Field
58. Eminem
59. Shirley Franklin
60. Ludacris
61. Michael Savage
62. Howard Stern
63. Amy Richards
64. James Wolcott
65. Oliver Stone
66. David Duke
67. Randall Robinson
68. Katherine Hanson
69. Matt Kunitz
70. Jimmy Swaggart
71. Phil Donahue
72. Ward Churchill
73. Barbara Kingsolver
74. Katha Politt
75. Eric Foner
76. Barbara Foley
77. Linda Hirshman
78. Norman Mailer
79. Harry Belafonte
80. Kitty Kelley
81. Tim Robbins
82. Laurie David
83. The Dumb and Vicious Celebrity
84. The Vicious Celebrity
85. The Dumb Celebrity
86. Chris Ofili
87. Sheldon Hackney
88. Aaron McGruder
89. Jane Smiley
90. Michael Jackson
91. Barbara Streisand
92. Kerri Dunn
93. Richard Timmons
94. Guy Velella
95. Courtney Love
96. Eve Ensler
97. Todd Goldman
98. Sheila Jackson Lee
99. Matthew Lesko
100. Rick and Kathy Hilton

slop101

You are a master at sarcasm.

dhmac

Wow! That list is even crappier than I imagined!

lucasorion

jeez, it was clear Goldberg thought he had buttered up Stewart enough at the beginning of that interview that he was going to get a free pass to hawk his book - a very impressive performance by Stewart there.

darkside

Considering what Stewart did to bowtie boy on his own show there was no doubt that Goldberg was running into trouble going on the Daily Show. However, I thought Jon handled the interview vary fairly and didn't go out of his way to insult Goldberg. He did make a very clear point that most of the people on his list are completely powerless and hardly the influences on the country that the extreme left and right wing politicians are. I agree with Jon that a guy as smart as Goldberg should focus on people actually screwing up the country and not a bunch of pointless celebrities with little or no influence outside of 15 minutes of pop culture fame. The fact a guy that cares about people as much as Jimmy Carter is number six and guys like Karl Rove aren't even on the list shows what complete bullcrap this whole book is. Yeah, Michael Moore can be an annoying idiot when trying to make a point but his films are hardly ruining the fabric of America any more than say Catwoman or From Justin to Kelly.

Breakfast with Girls

Very impressed with Stewart's interview.

chess

Ditto that. Stewart did an excellent job of illustrating the pointlessness of the book while maintaining a fairly civil discourse with the man.

He was much nicer to Goldberg than he was to, say, Tucker Carlson. I finally got around to downloading that clip from Crossfire, and Stewart called both hosts to task for being part of the political marketing campaign. Tucker was feeling up to the task of going toe to toe with Stewart and just had his ass handed to him...on his own show!

Jon is almost enough to singlehandedly convince me to get "real" cable again.

darkside

Stewart is one of the most intelligent guys I have seen on TV. Definitely smarter than 99% of the guys on "real" news shows. Granted he can hide behind the fact he is a comedian, but his interviews on the Daily Show are excellent and his comebacks are quick, smart and brutal. I'm still convinced Crossfire getting taken off of CNN had a lot more to do with John Stewart's total humiliation of Tucker Carlson than it had to do with ratings. I doubt a day goes by in MSNBC hell for Carlson without thinking about the mistake he made putting Stewart on the show.

Josh-da-man

I can't believe Janet Jackson's tit didn't make the list.

Yeah, it was funny as hell seeing John Stewart completely take him apart. Guess he was't prepared to actually be called on his own bullshit.

dhmac

I read some of Bernie Goldberg's 100 People book in a bookstore today. He actually starts off okay and has some valid points in the pre-List first part of the book. But then when it gets to the List, the book severely derails. Too many of the people on his list are pointless 15-minutes-of-famers, while others are there for a single dumb thing they did or said, or for no reason at all except that Bernie doesn't like them. And his chapter on #37 on the List, Al Franken, is an amazingly unfunny attempt at humor that fails so utterly that I'm surprised the publisher didn't ask him to rewrite it. (I now get Jon Stewart's advise to him to leave trying to be funny to the comedians.) If he gave the book a different title (say "Bernie Goldberg: What I Think Is Wrong With Today's Culture"), dumped the list of people and instead had chapters on different topics like the first part of the book, it would've turned out much better. Instead, it's a mess.

William Fuld

Goldberg was on O'Reilly's show tonight whining about how the liberal media is keeping him down. He was complimentary to Jon Stewart though.

blakader

He also made it clear that this list is about people screwing up American culture, that is somewhat different than politics

dhmac

Why he should've put the term "American Culture" instead of the word "America" in the title of his book!

Groucho

If that were truly the case, he would have filled the book entirely with cultural figures, and not put in people like Judge Roy Moore or Jimmy Carter.

JasonF

And if he really thinks that there's something wrong with our culture, maybe he shouldn't contribute to the problem by calling Courtney Love a ho.

Not that I really disagree with his assessment, but I was always taught that a proper gentleman does not refer to a woman of questionable morality as a ho.

benedict

Pardon me for asking, but what is "American culture"? Is it something to do with McDonald's etc.?

NB) I can imagine that a definition could become quite "political".

Bandoman

I agree that Jimmy Carter is the No. 6 person ruining our country. Who does he think he is, working tirelesly for Habitat for Humanity to give homes to poor people? Rich people need homes too!

Baron Of Hell

American culture is the way of god and all good people. It is justice and freedom. Peace and love. American cultrure strives to spread around the world bringing the way of the good to all things. In short it is a great force of love and good that seeks to bring its way to all the lost cultures of the world and to destroy the evil cultures that would stand against justice and peace.

blakader

Umm the opposite of what these 100 people think it is?

darkside

Guy won a freaking Nobel Peace Price and he is that much higher on the list than Courtey Love as someone ruining American Culture. Bill Clinton I could let slide, but putting Carter on the list, much less at the top, is bullcrap. Yeah, I get he wants peace and doesn't want to see people under sanctions starve and maybe that doesn't jive with our current conservate leadership. He just cares about people. Yes, this is a weakness our current president doesn't suffer from, but Jimmy is who he is. I respect him for it and he certainly isn't screwing up America or its culture.

Now the Courtney Love is a Ho thing I may let go.