This morning, while doing cardio at the gym, I looked up at a TV monitor to see a promo for the Ellen DeGeneres show. The guest of that gifted gabber and comedienne host was Jenna Bush, one of the President’s twin daughters. It appeared that that young lady would be calling her Dad while appearing on the show.
Reader Peter Hughes alerted me to this post about that conversation. It shows a more human side to the president. The president said he was “glad to talk to Ellen.” I guess it doesn’t bother him that the Emmy-Award winning talk show host is a lesbian.
Apparently, Ellen treated this Republican leader’s daughter with great respect.
She’s truly a classy lady. I wish she got more press than did another lesbian who once did a daytime talk show.
I think it would greatly improve the standing of gay people in America if we had people like Ellen as the public face of lesbians. Given a few things she has said, I would guess that her politics are left of center, but she doesn’t let them define her public persona. And she has the ability to tell a joke or otherwise provoke a laugh–or a smile–without insulting someone else.
Someone to whom can all look up.
I am sorry I missed the Ellen show. I think she showed class by having someone that she may disagree with “politicaly” on her show and not be obnoxious. A great step forward for our community!
Ellen is a class act. She’s among the shrinking class of comics capable of being funny without being filthy. She’s great.
A sharp contrast to, say, Bob Saget who’s recent HBO performance was downright creepy.
This was truly a watershed moment: an openly gay talk show host who not only respects her guest, but also avoided the temptation found in so many Hollyweird types to voice her own opinion and either (a) embarrass her guest or (b) embarrass herself by mouthing off at the Commander-in-Chief.
Attention Rosie: you could learn a few lessons in TACT here.
Regards,
Peter Hughes
PS – I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! But for a limited time only due to my new job.
PETE!!!
Anyways, I used to watch the Ellen show occasionally when it was still on. I rememberred watching some of her stand up on HBO back before it was “premium” and there was only one. I always thought she was brilliant and very funny.
If I recall correctly, didn’t Ellen show get kind of preachy after she came out? Wasn’t that the reason it was cancelled?
My observation is that Ellen is much more of a role model than Rosie the Nut Job O’Donnell. It is why Ellen is still on the air. She knows her audience and does not get off on being offense. What a breath of fresh air! Just as this is one of my favorite blogs because we may not agree on some pesky social issues, but we see the real threat, Islamofacsist Terror. And, we agree that our federal government is way out of control. As Ellen showed by having Jenna Bush on her show, we are proof that conservatives of all stripes can talk and blog with each other and with respect.
Isn’t she? They don’t usually pick schlaubs to host the Academy Awards. Ellen is very popular and very famous.
Oh, I guess you were saying more people like Ellen. [Yup, that’s what I was saying. –Dan] I re-read the quote. Well… there aren’t too many really famous lesbians. Ellen and Rosie are about it. Melissa Etheridge is sort of a B list celebrity at this point, though a lot of people were inspired by the grace with which she handled her battle with cancer.
One thing that also surprised me about this moment (I saw a clip of it on Yahoo) was that not only was Ellen polite and friendly to both Jenna Bush and the President, but the audience clapped and cheered when President Bush was on the line. He may be more popular than the polls tell us, or at the very least, Ellen’s studio audience is able to take cues about their behavior from her.
No, I would have clapped for Bush in that context too. One can clap for Dubya as a father, while thoroughly disapproving of his job as President. Perhaps if Laura Bush had been Vice-President, the Bush Presidency would have turned out as well as his daughters seemingly have. 😉
It’s my belief that one should not look up and see carpet.
Who are you and what have you done with Chase????
I sort of understand what you’re saying though. On one of Bush’s visits to Tampa in 02 or 03, the caravan went past our office by TPA on the way to the stadium where the Yankees have spring training. Anyway, there were about a dozen of us who stood around waiting to see what and/or who we could see. Most of the people were libs and we were all late to work or returning from break. We all stood there and watched the caravan drive past and saw him for all of 2 seconds. It was, as a Houston radio co-host used to say, a “cool feeling”.
I suppose that it’s that “brush with celebrity” feeling or something. Even if it had been President Clinton, I still would have stood out there to watch.
I heard about this and saw the video on Ellen’s website. This right here is what has been missing from the political debate we’ve had in this country the last few years. We’ve been filled with such anger that we’ve dehumanized our opponents (both sides have done this) that such moments actually surprise us. It shouldn’t. I don’t know Ellen’s politics and frankly I don’t care. What she did was show class and such class is always good to see from the left and the right. I wish we would see more of it so political and ideological foes can battle over issues when the time is right, and still appreciate the humanity of each other as well. I’m specifically reminded of Reagan and Tip O’Neill.
As I said on on another site, Ellen’s not my cup to tea, but she seems to be a nice lady. I just hope she doesn’t pull a “Rosie” and get all nasty and vicious.
I saw the clip this morning on the WB website. If you’ve got the stomach, take a look at the 200-odd comments there. A lot are “classy lady, class act,” “cute Jenna,” “nice gesture by W,” and so on, but nearly half are deranged BDS screams that Bush should have been booed, needs to be impeached and needs to be executed for war crimes.
What is it about the left that they can’t let their hatred go for one moment? Is it THAT precious to them? God knows I hate Bill and Hillary with the fury of a thousand suns, but if Ellen (or, hell, even Rosie) had done this sort of thing when the Horny Hick was polluting the Oval Office, I’d have thought it was cute. Kudos to Ellen for being a nice lady (apparently she’s being slagged up and down on a few lefty websites for not screaming “NAZI!” the moment she heard Dubya’s voice).
Ellen is a rare example of someone who is able to mature in Hollywood. When she came out, she was very preachy and somewhat militant. Her show went from funny to awful, and was quickly dropped.
I never watch day time TV, but from time to time see clips – she is now a very classy lady.
Watching the clip with Jenna yesterday, I wondered, was Jenna so frightened because she was scared that as soon as her father was on the phone, the crowd and Ellen would turn vicious. I was very proud to see both behaving admirably – as befits any audience who is in the presence (even if only by phone) with the President.
Also, my guess is that Ellen’s audience is more middle America than Hollywood, they were probably thrilled the hear the President of the United States simply being Daddy.
Dan, I’m not sure Ellen is so much about “class” as she is trying to cater to an audience a whole lot different than The View… which I think is more like Jon Stewart’s audience on his faux news show than anything that Ellen would draw.
Ellen’s just being smart and marketing-savvy. Plus, how cool is it to have the President and 1st Lady on the phoneline to your show? The grey-haired ladies and wannabe “hip” 30somethings who watch that show must have loved it!
BTW, I don’t think for a second that was impromtu… right down to the Prez being available. As staged as one of those famous Bill Clinton Presidential townhall meetings he was soooo fond of.
I saw this news story yesterday as well. I thought it was amusing – it’s good entertainment. Imagine that – entertainers trying to entertain us, rather than preach their politics.
Personally, I liked that she leaves politics out of it. The “get someone on the telephone” thing is an ongoing feture on her show, but I’m not sure she can top this one. How do you follow up the President?
Whatever the case, Michigan-Matt, she did show class. And I believe in giving credit where it’s due. It’s not just that, it’s, well, that there’s something I just about Ellen. She’s kind of like the image of the big sister I always wanted to have when I was growing up. 🙂
Dan, I’m smiling at that admission. Neat.
I have always liked Ellen’s pleasant demeanor and friendly personality. She conducts herself and her TV show in a manner of class, respect, hospitality, and “entertainment” … Something Rosie O-Big-Mouth has completely forgotten.
I thought, however, Ellen missed a great comedic opportunity when the President asked:
ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST: How’s it going?
PRESIDENT BUSH: It’s going great, Ellen. How’s my little girl doing?
Ellen should have said, “Oh, I’m doing great, Mr. President, thanks for asking … OH! You meant Jenna …”
“How do you follow up the President?”
The Holy Father?
What? I have no personal animosity to Bush. My opposition to him is purely related to politics. I think he does have a lovely family. His wife Laura is very endearing.
I would also wish him a wonderful retirement. I can’t wait till it begins. 🙂
#22 – “I would also wish him a wonderful retirement. I can’t wait till it begins.”
Chaser, I said the same thing about Slick Willie, but he never took the hint. Maybe when his wife loses the DNC nomination he’ll get a clue.
Regards,
Peter H.
Ugh.. can’t even trust (not that I did) “objective” news stories… a hillary clinton plant is now being quoted in many different “objective” news stories wihtout being identified as such:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2007/12/07/another-hillary-plant-sneaks-under-msm-radar
In a great many of the media’s post-game analyses of the Thursday, December 6th Mitt Romney religion speech, including that of the Associated Press, we are treated to the negative reactions thereto of one Costas Panagopoulos, who is rightly (if only partially) identified as “a political science professor at Fordham University”.
Amongst his many analytical stylings on Romney’s effort
Associated Press
“The Romney strategy with the speech appeared to be to try to kill two birds with one stone – to placate voters who are apprehensive about him as a Mormon or as a flip-flopper. But I am not convinced he was successful in doing either. At the end of the day, it is very difficult to change voters’ pre-existing beliefs, and it would probably take a much more powerful speech than the one Romney delivered today.”
“Make no mistake about it, this was a political speech. Romney sounded like he is running for pastor-in-chief rather than commander in chief.”
And on Tuesday, December 4th, in an Agence France-Presse story entitled “Caustic Clinton gets tough on Obama”, we have him offering his view on Hillary beginning to bare her fangs in the Donkey primary. He is most approving of her so doing:
“As the polls have been tightening it seems to be it is a reasonable strategy to pursue, especially when you are not far and away the front-runner, as she has been in other places and in national polls.”
There is only one little problem with going to this guy for his thoughts on all things either Romney, Republican or Rodham: he is an ex-Hillary Clinton staffer.
How do we know this? How did we ferret out this subterranean knowledge? We checked his website’s biography. Second paragraph, first sentence.
We are positively exhausted after the extensive, laborious effort to track down this tidbit.
#22 Chase, That made me laugh, at work.
And I’m sure on some levels he can’t wait until jan 20th 2008. I’m also sure that he hopes we still have a planet come jan 20, 2016.
I can’t believe I missed this. Ellen is a class act. I need to check YouTube to see if I can find a video of the segment. Kudos to Jenna as well!
I was watching —– class act all around. I assumed when he said “sitting here with your mom” that they were at the TV watching their daughter’s interview!!!
Ellen is marvelous. Love her commercials — funny stuff. Classy gal. Interesting guests. Nice projection of the Prez as a doting dad, as well.
Did I mention that I enjoy your blog??!!