Video Activist Network: The Best Man (1964) Some Things Never Change

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Erik Schneider

Source:The Daily Press

I saw The Best Man the 1964 version for the first time in late 2008, during that presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain on Turner Classic Movies which was doing a special where they showed political movies all night one night a week in October. The Best Man is about essentially a divided party and they aren’t sure who they should nominate for President.

One candidate from the liberal or progressive wing of the party Henry Fonda and the other candidate played by Cliff Robertson coming from the more conservative wing of the party. It reminds me of political battles that the Democratic Party had back in the 1960s, 50s and 40s where a more progressive candidates like Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy or Hubert Humphrey going up against someone like Strom Thurmond when he was unfortunately a Democrat or George Wallace someone like that and of course the Progressive would always win at least going back to Woodrow Wilson.

And the progressive would always win because the Democratic Party going back to the 1920s or so has always been the liberal party in America, even though for a long time they’ve had a right-wing faction from the South and this movie was very realistic because it was an example of how presidential nomination battles were in the past up until the 1970s or so, where you didn’t know for the most part who the party would nominate. And these things would be decided at the convention because the convention delegates could then vote for whoever they wanted.

The Best Man was a movie about looking in to what presidential politics looked like at least into the primary process of what presidential candidates go through and have to do in getting nominated for president even the dirty politics of it where both candidates know that the convention is split. And that they both need an extra edge to put them on top and they both find potential scandals in the others past. With the Henry Fonda character, his scandal was about him seeing shrinks or being on medication for depression.

With Cliff Robertson who was the right-winger a big believer in traditional values. His potential scandal was pretty ironic because apparently he had a homosexual affair when he was in the military and both candidates knew that if their scandal got out that their chance of winning the presidential nomination were over right there. So it became a question of who would leak the story about the other first or not leak the story and they spend a lot of the movie, trying to scare the other one and get them to drop out of the race, the Cliff Robertson character even offers the vice presidential nomination to the Henry Fonda character if he drops out.

To me the The Best Man represents presidential nomination contests the way they used to be and should be when conventions actually meant something and they were worth watching. Especially if you’re a political junky like myself, because you didn’t know who the convention was going to nominate for president until they held vote and I wish we got back to that type of convention for both parties. Today political conventions are more of a formality and realty TV more than anything else, the presidential nominee already has wrapped up the nomination now by March or April.

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John Kramer SNL Politics Reviewed

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The Daily Press

I can sum up the Republican presidential debates in several paragraphs or less, so I will. Mitt Romney- “vote for me because I can win” and his other slogan being, “if you’re for it so am I”. Newt Gingrich who I do take seriously as an intellectual until he says something that’s provocative. But then realizes its unpopular and tries to get away from it. As long as he doesn’t preach about moral values, “don’t do because I’ve done it and I know from personal experience.

That some of these activities in life, well take adultery to use as an example are simply personally wrong. Its wrong which is why you shouldn’t do it. (Even though I had a great time doing like having an affair with one of my staffers as Speaker of the House) When I was preaching about the moral decay of President Clinton”. Newt Gingrich won’t be up for Sainthood anytime soon, unless he pays to get in. And he is also unqualified to be a Monk, which may be why he’s stopped preaching about moral values.

You have a classical Libertarian in Ron Paul, who apparently walked into a Republican Party one day, thinking he was at a Libertarian Convention. And hasn’t found his way out of the Republican Party and is probably also unaware that he’s at a party that’s dominated by the Christian Right and Neoconservatives. And the Tea Party that at least part of them are in bed with the Religious Right and Neoconservatives. And are so warm there, that they can’t get out of bed. Then there’s John Huntsman and Gary Johnson who have no shot at the Republican nomination because they would both make excellent Liberal Democrats and they are both sane and that just aint going to cut it in today’s GOP.

I would mention Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann, but like I said I could sum up the Republican presidential debates in a few paragraphs or less. And since I’m not a politician or running for public office, I can stick with positions I’ve already made. Other to say that they are both American citizens, born in America and 35 or older. (At least as far as I know) And besides I have nothing to say nice about either of them. Other than maybe Senator Santorum who I’ll admit he’s one of the most honest politicians I know of. And that is a complement in todays politics, it’s just that he knows so much that isn’t true and actually believes in it.

Which would make Rick scary as a President and Michelle Bachmann just proves that even mental patients, even escaped mental patients are apparently qualified to run for President of the United States, or at least until they are recaptured. Rick Perry well when he decides what he believes and what his plans are for the country, I’ll take a look at his presidential campaign. The man keeps teleprompter’s in business by himself and with Herman Cain. Well his presidential campaign got suspended so now I would just be piling on. So what the hell, the man is not even qualified to pass a course on sexual harassment awareness. I’m not sure what the exact name for the course, I’ve never had to take it myself, let alone be President of the United States.

Thats the Republican presidential field of 2011-12, I know I’m thinking the same thing, “is that it”. Where’s Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Dick Nixon, Gerry Ford, Ron Reagan Bob Dole. The problem is those people don’t exist in the Republican Party anymore and wouldn’t get the nomination for President in today’s GOP. Because they wouldn’t be trusted by Religious or Neo Right which is the problem for Mitt Romney. Who twenty years ago would’ve fit in perfectly in the GOP but because of the new GOP he has to say things just to please to them and say different things to different audiences.

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Otto Preminger: Advise & Consent (1962)

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Erik Schneider

 

Source:The Daily Press

Advise and Consent was a movie about the presidential nomination process in the U.S. Senate and what presidential appointments are put through by senators both in the opposition, but also from senators who are at least inclined to vote for the nominee. Whether the nominee comes from their party or not. In this movie the party in power also has a majority of the Senate. But if you are familiar with American politics back in the 1960s, the parties back then weren’t always united ideologically. Which is one of the reasons why Henry Fonda who played the nominee for Secretary of State faced such a tough time.

This movie came out in 1962 and was based on current times and back then the Democratic Party controlled Congress as well as the White House, but had what was called a Southern Caucus made up of right-wing senators who didn’t vote with their Leadership on everything to put it mildly and would even vote with Senate Republicans to block legislation as well as presidential nominations from their own Leadership and this movie portrays that with Charles Laughton playing this Southern senator who was a right-winger and against his own President’s nomination for Secretary of State. Charles Laughton playing a character that reminds me of former Sen. Dick Russell of Georgia who was the Leader of the Southern Caucus in the 1960s.

Back in the early 1960s of course there wasn’t any cable TV or C-SPAN and Congress didn’t allow for broadcast media to broadcast what was going on in the House or Senate so a lot of Americans weren’t aware of even what the House and Senate looked like inside so this movie sort of opened that up for a lot of Americans. But Advise and Consent wasn’t just about the Senate nominating process as far as the Senate debating nominations there was a lot of inside Washington aspects of this movie of course, with the President played by Franchot Tone calling the Leader of the Senate played by Walter Pidgeon and then the Leader calling the Senate Minority Leader. To get and idea of how many Senate Republicans would vote for the nomination.

But there was also a look at what happened in Washington on the party scene, where members of Congress in both parties would get together, there was a playboy senator in the movie played by Peter Lawford who reminds me of Senator Jack Kennedy. There was a somewhat bored and lonely Vice President with not enough work to do, so he would spend his time actually presiding over the Senate played by Lew Ayers. Back then Vice President’s weren’t very powerful or important, of course that changed a long time ago where today they are basically the Chief Counsel of the Administration.

Advise and Consent was one of the first looks that Americans got to see in how the U.S. Senate operates and how they deal with the White House and how each caucus deals with each other and how the majority party deals with its own members and how the Senate Leader finds ways to get enough votes for the President’s nominations, as well as how Washington works. And is a very good movie, especially if you’re a political junky like myself, but an entertaining movie especially if you like dramas with great writing, cast and clever humor like myself as well.

Warner Movies: Advise and Consent 1962 Trailer

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Marilyn Monroe: Living Life to the Fullest

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Erik Schneider
Marilyn Monroe

Source: Inspiration Boosts– Hollywood Goddess and Babydoll Marilyn Monroe, with some brilliant advice

Source:The New Democrat

Marilyn Monroe is not known for saying many intelligent things. Not saying she was dumb or anything because I believe the opposite is true but how she presented herself in a lot of ways gave a lot of people the impression that she was a less than an intelligent person. Who may of had more than just depression issues, but she did have the ability to put things exactly as they should be put. Like when it came to life and her point in this photo is poetic and perfect.

That your life is your life and only yours and of course we all have people who care about us and want the best for us and all of that and that none of us live in a vacuum. But at the end of the day our lives are exactly that and we and only we are responsible for all the decisions that we make and have to live with all the consequences of all the decisions that we make and if we only live our lives to fit and be cool. And not to stand out and never live as individuals and always as members of groups, then we aren’t living our lives, but we are living in order to please others and just to fit in.

I wrote a couple of blog posts last week talking about that I believe that people have the right to make their own beds in life and then are responsible for living in their own beds that they make for themselves. And I meant a lot of that from a liberal political point of view and I meant every word of that. But this can also be used as a way of looking at life as well that we all have the right to make our own beds. So the beds we make for ourselves better be beds that are comfortable for us and beds that make us happy.

Doing what we want to do even if others do not approve of the beds that we make for ourselves. People shouldn’t be afraid to standout in life especially if they are happy and are productive with what. They are doing and are good caring people and so forth. Just because how they live, think or speak may be different from whatever the so-called popular will. At the time thinks different of how we are living our own lives.

Life has followers and leaders, people who follow the leaders and people who lead the followers. And that is generally how life works out with people who set trends. People who follow trends and people who may seem different but aren’t necessarily bad people. Or unproductive people, but good successful people who are simply different from how the establishment lives, speaks and thinks. But at the end of the day the followers, leaders, rebels and establishment all have at least one thing in common. That they all are responsible for their own decisions in life and are held accountable for them.
Bon Jovi Vevo: Jon Bon Jovi- It’s My Life

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William Shanley: The Made-For-TV Election Starring Martin Sheen

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Erik Schneider

The Made-for-TV Election 1980 starring Martin Sheen (1986_2008)

Source:William Shanley– A 1980 ABC documentary about American political elections.

Source:The New Democrat

“A William Brandon Shanley film available at Amazon.com.

“Pertinent, powerful, persuasive. Handsomely produced… Brilliant.” — Los Angeles Times.

“Profoundly enlightening. A devastating look at television’s impact on the presidency.” — Helen Thomas, “Dean” of the White House Press Corps.

“This film should be seen by every American in every city and town.” — Norman Lear, TV Creator.

Hollywood star and activist Martin Sheen shows how broadcast TV networks create winners and losers in US presidential elections by typecasting the candidates in a drama of their own making in this long-suppressed and sabotaged documentary about the 1980 Presidential Election Campaign when former Governor Ronald Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter.

Watch how network news shows use polls, gaffes, flip-flops, stereotypes, and show business values to pump the ratings and misdirect you from what you need to know to be an informed citizen and understand what’s really happening in America. The program dissects network coverage and reveals TV’s “hidden hand” in changing the outcome of the most important election since 1968, exposing the myth of the Reagan Revolution and the made-for-TV “conservative tide” that so tragically changed America’s course.
*
Host Martin Sheen. Jimmy Carter (president) Ronald Reagan (Republican challenger) Ted Kennedy (Democratic challenger) John Anderson (Independent challenger) Walter Cronkite (CBS News “The Most Trusted Man in America”). Other media stars and guests include Frank Reynolds, Sam Donaldson, Helen Thomas, Ed Bradley, John Chancellor, Dan Rather, Leslie Stahl, Gerald Rafshoon, Jody Powell, Ted Turner.
*
A William Brandon Shanley film. Gerald J. Keane, co-producer and writer. Alvin H. Goldstein, executive producer. Joe Rothstein, studio director. Harry Miles Muheim, consultant. Running time: 102 minutes. A Production of News Analysis Associates in association with Capitol Video Communications. Copyright William B. Shanley & Gerald J. Keane – 1986-2014 – All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Evolution Solutions, Inc., a Connecticut not-for-profit corporation. Write to Will Shanley for more information: wbs2012@zoho.com.”

From William Shanley

Comparing the presidential election of 1980 to the presidential election of 2012 is like comparing today’s culture and lifestyles of that of the 1950s. Or NFL football from the 1970s to the NFL of today, two completely different eras. And even though TV and especially TV news is no longer as dominant medium as it was back in the late 1970s and 1980, it is still crucial today and politicians still need to do well on it to be successful. Especially if they hope to be President of the United States.

TV and videos we can see off the internet either off of YouTube or even videos we upload ourselves from our own laptops are the closest thing that we have to seeing someone in person. You can see what someone looks like and how they are feeling and doing simply by how they present themselves on TV. And even though the internet and even social networks are a huge factor in how we get our news, TV is still critical in how we are presented as people.

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David Von Pein: Meet The Press: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy – October, 1960

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

The early 1960s was one of the hottest periods of the Cold War (no pun intended) and spending the first ten minutes of Meet The Press talking about China and other communist activities in Asia should be no surprise to anyone familiar with this period. Senator Kennedy who is a political hero of mine and perhaps my number one political hero and a big reason why I am a New Democrat. But he sounded on the defensive on the issue of Asia and China’s influence in Southeast Asia. And seem to want to move past that issue by saying that “Richard Nixon and I agree on this issue”.

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The Jack Paar Show: Senator John F. Kennedy (1960)

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat

Jack Kennedy running for president in 1960 because he thought it was the most important job in the world. And that if he was going to be able to do the most for his country, serving in Congress even both in the House and Senate that he did for a total of fourteen-years in Congress was not going to be good enough. That he needed to be President of the United States and that America needed to be an example in the world when it came to freedom and take the lead in showing the dangerous effects of communism.

There are more reasons why Jack Kennedy ran for president in 1960. He thought the country was starting to fall behind Russia in some key areas like with exploring outer space and perhaps in technology and influence in the world. And that the Eisenhower Administration had felt satisfied with how things were going in the country, which is how Senator Kennedy felt. And that America needed to get moving again and he believed he was the person to get America moving again.

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Any Given Sunday: Al Pacino, The Game of Inches

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat

Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday playing Miami Sharks head coach Tony Damato, which I believe was the name of his character. Explaining to his football team that life isn’t just a game of inches, but football is as well. And that every inch and every play is important and can end up being the difference between losing a game and winning the game. And the most important games are where each play in the game are that much more important. “What if I only made that tackle, or made that block, or made that catch, saw that defender before I threw the ball and get it picked off”.

Life and football perhaps especially is a game of inches and plays. Not one inch, or one play, but you add them all up and they become crucial. And the bigger the game is, or the situation in life, the better you have to play and the fewer plays you are able to take off. Because every mistake and come back and bite you in the ass and leave asking a bunch of what ifs. Which is why you have to play every play like it is not just important, but crucial. The difference between winning and advancing and losing and going home. And that was Tony Damato’s message in this scene.

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C-SPAN: Bill Clinton & Bill Maher – 1995 Political Correspondents Dinner

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

To write a blog about 1995 or even a satire about it I really have to go deep into my memory bank to remember what I think about that year. I was only nineteen at the time for most of that year. President Bill Clinton and Bill Maher touched on Vice President Al Gore’s reinventing government program that looked to save money in the Federal budget by making programs work better and consolidation. The OJ Simpson murder trial of course was big and if you watched anything on cable news that year, you would think that was the only story that year.

House Republicans wanted to gut PBS which the President touched on by saying that “PBS could only afford to send Jim Leher and not Robert McNeil because of the budget cuts”. They were the co-hosts of the PBS NewsHour in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. The 1996 presidential campaign was already going on with Bob Dole the Leader of the Senate already the GOP frontrunner for president. And the Leader proposing to move Congress’s Senate sessions up to New Hampshire and Iowa so Leader Dole wouldn’t have to fly back to Washington as much.

I could go into the government shutdown that happened in the fall of 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing that happened in April 1995, but those things happened after this dinner and the people who performed that night performed before those events happened, so I’m not going to go into that. But just the first few months of 1995 with a brand new Republican Congress the first one since 1953 and House Republicans donating their lives to passing their Contract For America, you knew this was going to be a fascinating year.

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Mike Gardner: Democratic Response to President Ronald Reagan’s 1985 State of the Union, Hosted by Governor Bill Clinton

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Erik Schneider


Source:The New Democrat 

This is where we start to see the Democratic Leadership Council the New Democrats in the Democratic Party starting to take over the Democratic Party after the Democrats had just lost 4-5 presidential elections starting in 1968. The McGovernites the New Left took over the Democratic Party in the late 1960s from the liberal and progressive establishment in the party. And as a result Democrats were seen as tax and spend, government can do everything for everybody, people shouldn’t have to work and support themselves, soft of welfare, soft on defense, soft on crime. All the stereotypes that killed the Democratic Party at the presidential level in those four presidential election losses.

What the New Democrats were saying is “that we won’t win the White House back and perhaps even come close until the change the image of the party and how we are presented. So we don’t look like we want to spend most of the money that people make for them. That we will do what it takes to defend the country from domestic and foreign predators within the Constitution. That we’ll use Welfare and other public assistance to help move people out of poverty instead of expecting nothing from them as so many other Americans struggle to just pay their bills through working and not collecting public assistance”.

And by 1992 we saw the results with Bill Clinton being elected President of the United States with large majorities in Congress and by 1996 we saw most of the negative stereotypes disappear to the point that Americans trusted Democrats more than Republicans when it came to taxes, the economy, fiscal responsibility, crime, foreign policy and national defense. Because the New Democrats took control of the Democratic Party from the McGovernites.

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