I have been watching it on Sunday mornings since it's start ... always enjoy the many panel member past and present!!! I will miss him!!!
On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 5:11 AM, Bear Guy <[email protected]> wrote: > Controversial? > I never thought so. Though I suppose it was for it's time. Seems so tame > now. > I've been watching the show since it's beginning. We get it Friday > evenings here, so it's part of my Saturday morning routine. > I liked his humour and the balance of the show. Even Buchanan and the ever > batty Eleanor Clift. > > > Thatbearguy > @Thatbearguy > > > > John McLaughlin, host of confrontational TV show, dead at 89 > > FRAZIER MOORE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS > > FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2016 05:11 PM EDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, > AUGUST 16, 2016 06:41 PM EDT > [image: John McLaughlin]In this April 28, 2012 file photo, John > McLaughlin arrives at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in > Washington. McLaughlin, the conservative political commentator and host of > the namesake long-running television show that pioneered hollering-heads > discussions of Washington politics, died Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, according > to the Facebook page for “The McLaughlin Group.” He was 89. (AP Photo/Kevin > Wolf, File) > > NEW YORK — John McLaughlin, the conservative political commentator and > host of the namesake long-running television show that pioneered > hollering-heads discussions of Washington politics, has died. He was 89. > > McLaughlin died Tuesday morning, according to an announcement on theFacebook > page <https://www.facebook.com/The-McLaughlin-Group-175565443734/?fref=nf> > of “The McLaughlin Group” series. No cause of death was mentioned, but > an ailing McLaughlin had missed the taping for this past weekend’s show for > the first time in the series’ 34 years. > > > > > > Since its debut in April 1982, “The McLaughlin Group” upended the > soft-spoken and non-confrontational style of shows such as “Washington Week > in Review” and “Agronsky & Co.” with a raucous format that largely > dispensed with politicians. It instead featured journalists quizzing, > talking over and sometimes insulting each other. In recent years, the show > billed itself as “The American Original” — a nod to all the shows that > copied its format. > > “John McLaughlin was a TV institution for generations of Americans,” > tweeted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “We will miss his contagious > spirit & tireless dedication.” > > In an interview with The Associated Press in 1986, McLaughlin said he felt > talk shows hadn’t kept pace with changes in television. > > “I began the group as a talk show of the ’90s,” he said, adding that he > thought informing an audience could be entertaining: “The acquisition of > knowledge need not be like listening to the Gregorian chant.” > > Critics said the show was more about show business and entertainment than > journalism and politics. They said it celebrated nasty posturing, abhorred > complexity and featured a group of mostly aging conservative white men > spouting off on topics they knew little about. > > “Whether it was the guerrilla strategy of Afghan mujahedeen or the next > open-market operation by the Federal Reserve Board, the members of the > group always seemed to have just gotten off the phone with the guy in > charge,” Eric Alterman charged in his 2000 book, “Sound and Fury: The > Making of the Punditocracy.” > > But the format was hugely successful. As McLaughlin himself might have > said, on a probability scale from zero to 10 — zero meaning zero > probability, 10 meaning metaphysical certitude — in the show’s heyday, the > chances that the Washington establishment were faithfully tuning in each > week was definitely a 10. > > The show began with McLaughlin declaring, “Issue One!” and often featured > the journalists pontificating on four or five issues. It would end with the > journalists forecasting the future — usually with a high degree of > certainty, if not accuracy — and McLaughlin declaring, “Buh-bye!” > > The show made stars of its panelists, who could go on to command > high-priced speaking engagements and even played themselves in movies such > as “Independence Day,” ”Mission: Impossible“ and ”Watchmen.“ McLaughlin > also played himself on episodes of ”ALF“ and ”Murphy Brown“ and was > ridiculed as a speed-talking egomaniac by Dana Carvey on ”Saturday Night > Live.“ > > The current group of panelists included Pat Buchanan, Eleanor Clift, Tom > Rogan and Clarence Page. > > “Sad news,” Page tweeted. “We lost John McLaughlin this morning. I hear > that he smiled before he passed. His final gift to us.” > > “My parents made us watch him every week,” tweeted former “Saturday Night > Live” player and current “Late Night” host Seth Meyers, “which made the SNL > sketches all the sweeter.” > > The 1982 pilot featured syndicated columnists Jack Germond and Robert > Novak as well as Chuck Stone of the Philadelphia Daily News and Judith > Miller of The New York Times. Stone and Miller were quickly replaced by Pat > Buchanan and Morton Kondracke. > > Fred Barnes and Eleanor Clift were added in 1985, after Buchanan left to > become Reagan’s communications director, giving the show its first woman. > > In July 1984 McLaughlin began hosting “John McLaughlin’s One on One,” an > in-depth interview program. He also hosted a CNBC show, “McLaughlin,” from > April 1989 to January 1994. > > McLaughlin could be a hard boss to work for. A 1990 article in The > Washington Post Magazine by Alterman quoted former McLaughlin staffers Anne > Rumsey, Kara Swisher and Tom Miller recalling instances of petty tyranny > and McLaughlin leering at female employees. > > His former office manager, Linda Dean, filed a $4 million lawsuit against > McLaughlin in 1988, claiming she was fired after protesting his unwanted > sexual advances. McLaughlin denied the allegations; the suit was settled > out of court in December 1989. > > McLaughlin and his wife of 16 years, former Labor Secretary Ann Dore > McLaughlin, divorced three years later. > > In 1997, McLaughlin, then 70, married 36-year-old Cristina Vidal, the > vice-president of his production company. They divorced in 2010. > > Born March 29, 1927, McLaughlin grew up in a middle-class neighbourhood of > Providence, Rhode Island, where his father was a furniture salesman. He > trained for the priesthood at Shadowbrook, a small Jesuit seminary in > western Massachusetts, and earned master’s degrees in philosophy and > English at Boston College and a doctorate in communications at Columbia > University. > > He worked as an editor at a Jesuit weekly and gave lectures on sex before > shocking his friends in 1970 by switching parties to run unsuccessfully as > a dovish, anti-war Republican against Rhode Island’s hawkish incumbent > Democratic U.S. senator. > > He opened a consulting firm and gave up his Roman collar in 1975 to marry > longtime friend Dore, who served as secretary of labour from December 1987 > to January 1989. McLaughlin became a talk radio show host on a Washington > station in 1980, but only lasted a year. > > In 1982, he persuaded wealthy friend Robert Moore, a former aide in the > Nixon White House, to underwrite a new form of public affairs television — > and a juggernaut was born. > > > http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/08/16/john-mclaughlin-host-of- > confrontational-tv-show-dead-at-89 > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- brine http://brineb.blogspot.com/ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
