I’ve always been a big fan of Dennis Miller. I love his extended metaphors, complex similes, and the simple fact that he is unafraid to leave a large group of people scratching their heads in order to reach for the really funny, obscure reference. But my biggest disappointment lies in his slow turn from liberal comedian to conservative pundit comedian.
I think this entire bad review in Salon has nothing to do with Dennis Miller’s lack of subtlety in observations– his wry commentary has always been a weapon whose handle is embroidered by a wonderful sophistication of language and allusion, but is nonetheless suited best for making large, blunt holes in our social and political assumptions and misapprehensions. This reviewer is really mad that his viewpoints have turned so cravenly conservative, to the point that he waxes enthusiastic about our president and our military “ass-kicking.”
I’m glad he indulges himself in saying things that we find guiltily amusing (I have to admit, I laughed when he spoke on “The Daily Show” and said “Sand and heat makes glass, and when we’re done with Iraq, it’ll look like Superman’s dad’s apartment on Krypton.”)… but it is hard to see an intelligent man take some of these positions, particularly about George W, who is not competent and knowledgeable enough to be trusted writing his autobiography (as an internet wag put it today), much less running a country.
how do you know bush is not competent to run this country?? would you rather have GORE????? oh my god, i couldn’t even imagine. i take dennis miller with a grain of salt, i laugh at the funny stuff, and don’t laugh at the stuff i disagree with. i supported the war and stand behind it. i also laugh at the protestors and their persistency and the fact that it doesn’t do much good, but to make them feel better i guess.
I just go by the evidence to judge Bush: he’s a moron intellectually, he can’t fumble his way through a three minute prepared speech, he is surely of limited vision when it comes to foreign policy and betrays no hint of understanding domestic policy. Need I go on? Although I am not a big Gore fan, I would take him over Bush any day, no questions asked.
As for Miller– I too laugh at the funny stuff. The problem is that he isn’t very funny anymore because he has decided that beating people with his polemical shtick is more amusing… but only to himself. He’s lost not only his edge, but his depth (how’s that for mixing metaphors).
I didn’t support the war in Iraq because of the way it was approached, and all the fumbling and bumbling now proves my thesis from before it started that Bush and Co had no idea what they would do when it was over. The “War on Terrorism” remains a joke. But I do support the soldiers, and once the decision was made I was glad to see that it went about as smoothly as possible.
The protestors do a larger good– they represent the not unsubstantial group that opposes the war and/or Bush’s inept politics. It remains a good sign that we don’t have groupthink. Maybe it will help curb some injustices like the Patriot act and the other hidden agendas that the puppet masters are really after while they pull the wool over their supporter’s eyes with talk of “war”
Hi! I think I’m going to post this page on my new website:
An Open Letter to Dennis Miller
http://mnl_1221.tripod.com/dennismiller.html
or
http://members.tripod.com/~MNL_1221/dennismiller.html
Please visit, and add your own comments if you will!
Boy have people turned on Dennis Miller. Ha! It is sad that when a “celebrity” espouses views that are right of liberal, that person’s view all of a sudden isn’t as insightful or important as it seemed when they came across as left wing. Dennis Miller is still as savvy as ever, and don’t think for a moment that he has lost relevance just because he isn’t towing the leftist party line for the pseudo-intelligensia like so many thought he would. Keep up the smart work, Dennis.
Dennis Miller is still funny, if you like his particular type of humor. The problem is he got a little older and had some kids, and has been on this path to conservatism for quite a while.
If you look at earlier HBO shows (94) he is a rabid crazed liberal. Then around say 99, he talks about how when you are young you are very anti establishment type and against the death penalty, and then you have kids and you are like “fry that motherf****r”
It has been fabled to be said by Churchill (which I don’t believe he did, but someone said it) that is you are not a liberal before the age of 35 you have no heart, and if you are not a conservative after the age of 35 you have no brain.
That seems about right to me, and I have an exception to a few of the comments–
the one about the President’s speaking ability. I have been an avid follower of political speeches since I was about 12. And are we watching the same man speak? His address to the UN was great, his address to the nation after 9/11 was one of the perfect and his state of the union address after 9/11 was one of the best state of the unions ever. Even liberals where saying that, and it is sad that Melanie is so blinded by ideology that she is unable to see that.
And about his intelligence, he is quite a bit smarter than Gore who failed out of divinity school and dropped out of law school. You name will get you into Harvard, but not through it– ask teddy kennedy who got kicked out for cheating.
The sad fact is that if you are a Republican you get called dumb– whether you are Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan or now Bush (Nixon was a mean man, and Bush 41 was a wimp), and compare that with the dems that all are supposed to be smart
roosevelt was not smart — at all according to friends and the new deal was a disaster that lingers and haunts us today
Kennedy was killed to young– the only thing he accomplished was to cut taxes
Johnson was mean and smart, and was the driving force with a ton of help from the Republicans at pushing civil rights legislation through. The Great Society programs put us further on the road to economic and fiscal demise.
Carter they say was smart, but I for the life of me can not see it. He is one of the worst presidents and ex presidents of all times– it seems he has never met a dictatorial mass murderer he did not like.
Clinton was supposed to be smart, but he sure did do and say a lot of dumb things. But he did sign 7 ot the 10 things in the Newt Gingrich’s contract with America– so the best thing Clinton had going for him is that the was a 70% Gingrich supporter.
By the was Reagan did have an economics degree so he new as I know taxes help boost the economy and create jobs. Tax revenue in Reagan’s 8 years doubled from $500 billion to $1 trillion. His tax cuts also created 20 million jobs.
So did tax cuts that increased tax revenue cause deficits? not hardly– that like blaming your company that doubled you salary for you buying 4 cars and now you are in a huge deficit– it is just stupid and lacks common sense– which you need to lack common sense to believe most of the liberal talking points.
by the way- dems controlled the house the whole time under Reagan and Dacshle, Gephart and Tip Oneal approved bigger budgets than Reagan wanted 7 of the 8 budgets they fought over.
Just think– and read– especially financial and economic books– huge government programs do not work and will not be efficient– this has been proven time and time again from the ancient times. Study economics– it is very accurate.
You liberals can’t say anything without empty insults toward George W. Bush, like, he’s not intelligent. You have nothing to back it up, period. Tell you the truth, I don’t know about politics that much, but all the things that have been bad in my life are a result of you lying liberal democrats, and unlike you, I can back it up.
The liberal posters on this thread are the nothing more than the typical brain dead big government lackeys. Give me a break. Is that all you have is senseless Bush bashing? I have spent many years serving in the military and was one of the (if not THE) first ones over there shooting Tomahawks at the goons who attacked us, and I can tell you this: Life in the service of our country under Clinton was miserable. Imagine yourself in service of your country where your life is potentially on the line in a very real way, and your resources are constantly slashed until the point that you have been almost completely gutted out, and for what? To get thrown into little liberal skirmishes to serve personal political ambitions?
Fast forward to a President who actually supports and uses the military to serve in a, *ack!*, just cause. He gets lambasted by the mentally stunted left constantly!
I am not exactly a huge Bush fan, but I will tell you what, you will not find a better man on the left anywhere. All you have are lies, deceptions, threats, stonewalling, name-calling..all the dirty tricks in the book. Liberals fall in one of two categories as far as I am concerned…those who are genuinely evil and motivated by political power, and those who are genuinely ignorant and guided by the fake “we are the world”, “love one another” rhetoric of the left.
Although I heard a different version than the above poster, I agree with Churchill when he said “If by the age of 20 you are not a liberal, you have no heart. If by the age of 30 you are not a conservative, you have no brain”. That is almost gospel truth. You libs are just brain damaged, only willingly so. And for the clever lib who cries “hypocrite” because they think I am resorting to the same name-calling that I condemn them of…sorry pal, the truth hurts, and that is the difference…the truth is almost never on your side.
Derek, you should read more and blab less. “Liberal” and “conservative” mean nothing anymore. A “liberal” used to mean someone opposed to government intervention in the economy. A conservative used to mean someone wary of technological advancement and foreign intervention. Call it like it is: the right, the republican anti-labor anti-civil rights anti-social welfare pro-war pro-corporate pro-Bush pro-”Christian” agenda, and the left, the pro-environment pro-worker pro-internationalist pro-democracy pro-secular anti-war anti-economic imperialism agenda. Who’s “right,” and who’s left back in the 19th century? Anybody but Bush in 2004. Either Republicans are dumb, selfish, or both.
I always liked listening to Dennis Miller. I liked watching his HBO show. I didn’t always agree or like what he said. I think he’s great now! This is just my opinion, but from what I have heard him say in different appearances on TV, he has been a closet conservative for a while now. Maybe he used to be a liberal as he says, but even Dennis admits that he started to “turn” when Rudy was mayor of NYC and people were calling him Hitler, and Dennis was thinking how much nicer the city was, how much safer. If he starting “turning” then, it was way before 9-11-01, so its been a long time coming. I bet Christopher Hitchens resigning from “The Nation” magazine and his support of Bush, among other things, helped Dennis be brave enough to “come out” in Hollywood. JMO I admire his courage considering the business he is in. It would take courage to be a left-winger in my neck of the woods. Way to go Dennis!
I wish I had an address to write him.
Everyday I am surprised by the levels of ignorance and dishonesty conservatives espouse in their constant and reflexive defenses of Dubya.
Dane, if you honestly believe that Dubya is intellegent and an eloquent speaker you need a lobotomy. The self-admitted C student who was only admitted to Yale as a “legacy” cannot correctly pronounce the words “nuclear” or “subliminal”. And regardless of his vocabulary, he is arguably one of the worst speakers ever to be elected president. His speeches are so slow, uninspiring, and full of breaks and glances at the teleprompter that they barely register as coherrent.
Hey Military Moron, can you explain why the Defense Department needs a budget exceeding the world’s next 15 biggest spenders combinded? Even during the Clinton Administration the Defense budget remained at 88% of its Cold War level. Can anyone tell me which enemy of ours can afford to spend $380 billion a year to combat our military supremacy? The next highest spender, one of our allies, Japan, spends $60 billion. And what about Red China, our fearsome new adversary? $11 billion. Ha. How are those for facts, Military Moron? But you’re right about one thing. America does face real danger during this period of history. As a result of religious fundamentalism confounded by Dubya’s strategic blunders (aka Iraq), a large portion of the world hates the U.S. And our old allies are far less likely to come to our support as most of them too now have an unfavorable opinion of the U.S. Safer under Dubya? I don’t think so. And your Churchill quote has one fatal flaw. Albert Einstein, the preeminent scientist of the last century, was a liberal. In other words, Einstein had no brain. I think you might have a tough time arguing that one, Moron.
On the economic front, conservatives are at a distinct disadvantage. During both of largest periods of economic growth over the past century, the 1960s and 1990s, Democrats were president. That said, economists will tell you that the president has very little control over the business cycle. The best the president can hope to do is to invest in the future, something Dubya has failed miserably at.
As far as Dennis Miller goes, I could probably care less what political philosophy he subscribes to. But it is sad to see people who once held independent, objective, and intelligent opinions join the ranks of the ditto-heads. Whether or not Dennis Miller is one of the aforementioned, only time will tell.
Dennis Miller is the funniest man alive today. He has taken the next logical step in his personal emotional/political evolution, i.e., maturing into the conservatism that every “non-emotionally-arrested” individual SHOULD make simply as a result of paying attention to your life as it goes by. 9/11 was his wake up call…make it yours, you liberal goons, before you COMPLETELY sell this country down the river.
I find Dennis Miller is a very smart man that brings to light the hilarity of politics. I mean I come from the land of Left-Wing political correctness (Canada), and I’m glad that somebody has finally brought out the loopholes of the system.
Another thing that I support Dennis Miller on is his stance on the War in Iraq. I think somewhere along the line people forgot that Saddam was a dictator, and his people were living in bondage. Since when did fighting for freedom become a sin? For Christ sakes, maybe we should all sit back and think maybe those who are fighting for freedom are the good guys. It’s left wing liberals like the majority of protestors out there that probably wouldn’t support a war on Hitler if the Nazi’s wouldn’ve come to power 60 years later.
What amazes me about this whole thing is that liberals whine about Dennis Miller not being funny since he became more conservative in his views (although last time I heard him he was still repeating the idiotic idea that only women should have a say on the question of whether abortion should be legal; but since he’s thinking clearer he’ll probably come around on that too) but love wienies like Al Franken who mindlessly spout liberal political statements.
And the left being pro-democracy, pro-civil rights? Give me a break. The left is pro-power; with them justice truly = “just us”.
Dennis Miller funny??? Give me a break. He wasan’t funny on SNL and on this show he is horrible! He wouldn’t make I a pimple on Al Franken’s Butt! I guess he feels his own recourse is to suck up to George W.
Dennis Miller funny??? Give me a break. He wasan’t funny on SNL and on this show he is horrible! He wouldn’t make I a pimple on Al Franken’s Butt! I guess he feels his own recourse is to suck up to George W. Lola 4 15 04
doesn’t do much good? i’m responding to the idiot that posted comment one. sorry new to this site, and don’t know the names. anyway, any kind of protest does good, unless u live in china or the soviet union during the reign of stalin. i guess it’s kind of comparable, stalin’s rule and bush’s but fuck: this is america and it does do good cause bush isn’t going to be reelected, there are people with some sense out there and they will vote this moronic, dictator, LYING, ruler out of power.
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