Piers Morgan rude? Surely not Ms O'Donnell

[Stavros]

Imagine, someone who thinks Piers Morgan is rude...no, can it be true? Christine O'Donnell writes a book and wants to promote it, but pre-select which part of it she discusses in public. I dont care about her anyway, my concern is that Piers Morgan, who, in addition to being rude, is a self-important, pompous, offensive journalist lose his lucrative US contracts and spend more time with his family here in the UK. Please, America, induce him to stay with you, don't send him home!

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/christine-odonnell-walks-off-piers-morgan-tonight-interview-during-gay-marriage-questions/?hpt=pm_mid

[hippifried]

She can't hang. There's nothing there.

[Stavros]

It was a selfish post, I admit. I don't like Piers Morgan and would prefer it if he stayed on the other side of the Atlantic as much as possible. The only thing I would say about Ms O'Donnell isn't really about her, its about this amazing ability that people have to produce books that get published. If I wrote a book it would be rejected by 9 out of 10 publishers, if not 10. If I shot an MP, ran naked through the House of Commons, or threw a custard pie at the Queen, there would be a book deal within 24 hours with coverage on the radio, the tv, the press: Moral: be a failure: write a book.

[Bobby Domino]

I saw the interview. Aside from the fact that Piers Morgan is a horrible interviewer, Christine O'Donnell couldn't fight out of a paper bag. That's what you get when you have two people who have nothing to say. How embarassing

[Dino Velvet]

Tell me about Piers Morgan. I'm familiar with him on American TV but don't watch his shows so I'm not too familiar with him. What about him makes you not like him other than being rude? Anything he's done that's been famously bad? He does come across as condescending which many over here don't like.

I agree with you about book publishing. I have no idea why anyone would be interested in a Christine O'Donnell book. I pretty much forgot who she was.

[Bobby Domino]

Piers was interviewing O'Donnell on his show last night and he began asking her questions about gay marriage and her definition of family because she's an adamant Christian and there are chapters in her book where she talks about her religion. She wouldn't go near it, saying she came on the show to talk about her book and not policy. Piers wouldn't let up and she was just squirming in her seat refusing to answer his questions. She repeatedly asked him to talk about other topics in the book and calling him rude for persuing something she wasn't going to talk about. Pompous, persistent Piers kept jabbing her explaining he was simply asking her questions relating to what she's writen in the book. The poor lamb was a deer in headlights and her people pulled the plug. If you catch the tail end of the interview where she doesn't know whether to get off her stool or sit there smiling, you'll piss your pants. It's quite priceless and I give tiny kudos to Piers for hammering her.


Tell me about Piers Morgan. I'm familiar with him on American TV but don't watch his shows so I'm not too familiar with him. What about him makes you not like him other than being rude? Anything he's done that's been famously bad? He does come across as condescending which many over here don't like.

I agree with you about book publishing. I have no idea why anyone would be interested in a Christine O'Donnell book. I pretty much forgot who she was.

[hippifried]

So when this book flops, will she finally do a playboy spread?
The book would probably sell if she posted the sex tape. Everybody has one these days.
Maybe there's video of the orgies at her coven meetings.

[Dino Velvet]

So when this book flops, will she finally do a playboy spread?
The book would probably sell if she posted the sex tape. Everybody has one these days.
Maybe there's video of the orgies at her coven meetings.

If she really doesn't masturbate, she must be crazy horny all the time. That coven orgy could be quite a show. I'd watch. She's cute enough to get my wiener.:jerkoff

[Stavros]

Tell me about Piers Morgan. I'm familiar with him on American TV but don't watch his shows so I'm not too familiar with him. What about him makes you not like him other than being rude? Anything he's done that's been famously bad? He does come across as condescending which many over here don't like.

Piers Morgan made his name as a journalist working for Rupert Murdoch's tabloid daily The Sun, where he covered showbiz and was keen to print stories that were less than flattering about celebrities. Morgan left the (at that time Tory-suppporting) Murdoch stable to take over the rival tabloid The Mirror whose reputation had been sunk by its previous owner and Labour-party donor, Rbert Maxwell. Morgan did help rehabilitate the paper until he sanctioned headlines and stories that were deemed tasteless, such as 'Achtung! Surrender!' before a football match between England and Germany, and particularly when the paper published some phoney photos purporting to be of Iraqi prisoners being tortured by British soldiers. He was implicated in other scandals, but has breezed through it all with the persona of a man who has a divine right to speak and be heard -we have a situation now where the media seems to be saturated by journalists and lawyers most of whom are (admittedly elected) politicians. Ordinary people get to appear as The Crowd with the right to ask questions, but otherwise tv is increasingly made up of journalists interviewing journalists, and lawyer politicians arguing with lawyer politicians.

Morgan has a reputation for 'straight talking' which is fine as far as it goes, but he has no background in politics and is probably more comfortable judging talent shows featuring dancing dogs and grandma-does-disco, and Ms O'Donnell was out of her depth anyway, but I would rather an inerviewer with intelligence grill politicians who want to be (re-)elected on policy details and not make a fool of them in public. And he could have made it clear before she appeared that he was going to ask those questions instead of a vague commitment to discuss 'the book'. I am shamelessly biased.

[robertlouis]

Is Christine O'Donnell the teapartier who makes Michele Bachmann look middle of the road?

[onmyknees]

Ms. O'Donnell certainly did not acquit herself well.....no question about it, she seem ill prepared, and more than likely is.....but other than a few people on here, and a few thousand more...no one saw it because no one watches him. No disrespect to the Brits on here, but he's not very popular over here.He comes off as a snaky, pompoms, arrogant Brit. We have enough of those over here minus the accent. Bring back Larry King !

[robertlouis]

Ms. O'Donnell certainly did not acquit herself well.....no question about it, she seem ill prepared, and more than likely is.....but other than a few people on here, and a few thousand more...no one saw it because no one watches him. No disrespect to the Brits on here, but he's not very popular over here.He comes off as a snaky, pompoms, arrogant Brit. We have enough of those over here minus the accent. Bring back Larry King !

Don't worry, he's not very popular here either, and is increasingly used as the punchline in jokes about disagreeable alternatives.

He's an arrogant, devious bastard, and Stavros described his background very well. We don't want him back, and clearly you don't want him either.

Maybe we could get him on to the judging panel for Afghan Idol lol.

[onmyknees]

Don't worry, he's not very popular here either, and is increasingly used as the punchline in jokes about disagreeable alternatives.

He's an arrogant, devious bastard, and Stavros described his background very well. We don't want him back, and clearly you don't want him either.

Maybe we could get him on to the judging panel for Afghan Idol lol.


Good Grief...he's unpopular there too? Maybe that's why he's here! I don't pretend to be a TV Exexutive, but I could have told you from the first time I saw him on Trumps show he just doesn't come across well on TV, and there was CNN giving him a multi year, multi million dollar contract...I actually miss Larry....and never thought I'd say that.

[Yvonne183]

Sheesh, I gotta watch tv more,, who the hell is this Piers guy? Is he like that English chef that curses at everyone?

[robertlouis]

Sheesh, I gotta watch tv more,, who the hell is this Piers guy? Is he like that English chef that curses at everyone?

No, he doesn't get mad, just oozes sleaze and an over-inflated sense of his own importance.

The chef is called Gordon Ramsay. He's actually Scottish. And I'd love to see him let loose on interviewing politicians lol.

[Yvonne183]

No, he doesn't get mad, just oozes sleaze and an over-inflated sense of his own importance.

The chef is called Gordon Ramsay. He's actually Scottish. And I'd love to see him let loose on interviewing politicians lol.

Scottish/English,, I get soooo confused between the two, and I hear you got another group called Welsh. To me you all sound like Irish. lol

[robertlouis]

Scottish/English,, I get soooo confused between the two, and I hear you got another group called Welsh. To me you all sound like Irish. lol


Just wait till the Rugby World Cup (USA are sending a team too) starts in New Zealand next month when you'll see us all punching lumps out of each other, the difference being that when the Scots, Welsh and Irish play against the English, we really mean it.

[Yvonne183]

Just wait till the Rugby World Cup (USA are sending a team too) starts in New Zealand next month when you'll see us all punching lumps out of each other, the difference being that when the Scots, Welsh and Irish play against the English, we really mean it.

I have watched some Rangers/Celtic games, they seem to have a grudge with each other. lol

The English must be a good team if they play the Scots, Welsh and Irish at the same time.

[Stavros]

Good Grief...he's unpopular there too? Maybe that's why he's here!

On the other side of the coin, we took Ruby Wax from you -a third rate comedienne who couldn't make it stateside and then realised there are always openings for an American here; if you want her back then please take her. There used to be one French actor who got all the roles that called for someone with the right accent (nobody ever knew his name); I think that English actress in Frasier couldn't get a regular job in the UK. Morgan, however, has no talent other than self-promotion.

[Dino Velvet]

Just wait till the Rugby World Cup (USA are sending a team too) starts in New Zealand next month when you'll see us all punching lumps out of each other, the difference being that when the Scots, Welsh and Irish play against the English, we really mean it.

I gotta watch that thing. Let me know when it's on the TV.

[robertlouis]

I have watched some Rangers/Celtic games, they seem to have a grudge with each other. lol

The English must be a good team if they play the Scots, Welsh and Irish at the same time.



Magnificent understatement. You are of course watching a barely disguised substitute for all-out religious war. And talking of the glory days of my youth.

Good one. But we take it in turns to stuff the colonial power.....

[robertlouis]

I gotta watch that thing. Let me know when it's on the TV.

Pool games start on 9th September, the final will be on 23rd October.

As it's in NZ the live timings might work in the US, likely to be middle of the night for us in the UK, I'm sure ESPN will have it.

If you do watch it, Dino, I'll be interested to get your comparative views on it vis a vis American Football. Not which is "better", which is daft, because they're different games, but how they compare in different aspects. Same for other US posters here.

[hippifried]

Bring back Larry King !

It won't be long before you can have him stuffed & mounted behind a desk with one of those voice box thingies. Or just put Regis Philbin behind the curtain. What? Oxford's been doing the same thing with Stephen Hawking for years.

[Dino Velvet]

Pool games start on 9th September, the final will be on 23rd October.

As it's in NZ the live timings might work in the US, likely to be middle of the night for us in the UK, I'm sure ESPN will have it.

If you do watch it, Dino, I'll be interested to get your comparative views on it vis a vis American Football. Not which is "better", which is daft, because they're different games, but how they compare in different aspects. Same for other US posters here.

OK. I wish we could all hang out in a pub and watch it.

What's the difference between Rugby and Aussie Rules Football? Are they completely different with too many differences to explain?

[robertlouis]

OK. I wish we could all hang out in a pub and watch it.

What's the difference between Rugby and Aussie Rules Football? Are they completely different with too many differences to explain?

Pretty well completely different, one of the major ones being that in rugby the ball can be passed from hand backwards or sideways, but never forwards. There's also the old joke that in Aussie Rules football there are no rules!

Russ might be able to explain the differences better as he's a connoisseur of both codes.

I played both soccer and rugby to a reasonable standard when I was younger, but stuck with rugby longer simply because I enjoyed it more.

And yes, it would be great to enjoy it in a pub with you, Dino. Shame!

[arnie666]

Ms. O'Donnell certainly did not acquit herself well.....no question about it, she seem ill prepared, and more than likely is.....but other than a few people on here, and a few thousand more...no one saw it because no one watches him. No disrespect to the Brits on here, but he's not very popular over here.He comes off as a snaky, pompoms, arrogant Brit. We have enough of those over here minus the accent. Bring back Larry King !

He's a cunt. Christine O'donnell appears rather too nice and a bit naive and sensitive for politics. I thought that when she was campaigning. I also think her handlers stuffed up here,they must have seen him interview other conservatives He is not only partisan but rather rude,and I think he is trying and failing to emulate Bill O'reilly to get the ratings up. He tired to get personal with Ann Coulter asking about relationships ,and she spent about 10 minutes refusing to answer questions about things she wasn't even on to talk about. Not politics ,not her new book but about who she might have been engaged too.Basically tabloid crap. They should have never let her on with him ,she is like a lamb.

Morgan is no Bill O'reilly and let alone Paxman .Despite how hard he tries. Clarkson did the world a service by punching him. I think he is over in the states because all the media luvvies over here, especially the 'chipping norton' set hate the slimy little shit.

[arnie666]

It was a selfish post, I admit. I don't like Piers Morgan and would prefer it if he stayed on the other side of the Atlantic as much as possible. The only thing I would say about Ms O'Donnell isn't really about her, its about this amazing ability that people have to produce books that get published. If I wrote a book it would be rejected by 9 out of 10 publishers, if not 10. If I shot an MP, ran naked through the House of Commons, or threw a custard pie at the Queen, there would be a book deal within 24 hours with coverage on the radio, the tv, the press: Moral: be a failure: write a book.

I don't think being a failure is why O'donnell has been advised to write a book.It is because she is a semi attractive young woman and during her campaign all that stuff came out about her saying she was a witch,but isn't anymore but some said she still was , then she made some stupid advert in response to it about witches that even Rush Limburgh said was 'ill advised'. Then it came out about some sexual episode with a younger man who made some shall we say 'personal comments' about O'donnells grooming and performance in bed.Also those videos that appeared on You tube when she was much younger and was talking about abstinence.

The reason she was advised to write a book can be summed up in one word' SEX'. Attractiveish woman, witch craft, many find females in politics sexy and sex with a younger man. As well as you said a disasterous campaign. People like to read about sleeze and crap things that happen to people. The book will probably flop though, she never won, and the stuff on her just isn't juicy enough.

As I said earlier,nice woman, I don't believe she is stupid, but Politics.... not the right career.

[Stavros]

Oxford's been doing the same thing with Stephen Hawking for years

Careful, Hippifried, Hawking is at Cambridge, with the added kudos of occupying Isaac Newton's chair...

[Stavros]

As I said earlier,nice woman, I don't believe she is stupid, but Politics.... not the right career.

You are probably right about Ms O'Donnell, definitely right about Morgan!

[trish]

I didn't know they had those fancy battery powered chairs back in Isaac's day. :)

[Stavros]

Newton was way ahead of his time...

[trish]

Only because he rolled on the shoulders of giants :)

[Stavros]

Rolled...? You obviously know more about Isaac than I...

[Jackal]

Is Christine O'Donnell the teapartier who makes Michele Bachmann look middle of the road?

She led an unsuccessful crusade against masturbation in the 1990s while providing occasional masturbation material and unintended comedy on the show "Politically Incorrect."

[Dino Velvet]

Is anyone fucking her? She could be a freak when no ones looking. I wouldn't pass it up.

[Bobby Domino]

This douche, Piers Morgan, is still milking the story two days after the fact. The last two days he's been asking his guests, who are most likely promoting their own causes, if they will walk out on him, too. Tonight is dedicated to his vindication. As much as improving his rating, which he completely admits, he's also keeping her name in the media, which is translating to more buzz about Christine O'Donnell and her new book. Such self-fulfilling bullshit. I'm watching it now and he's actually re-airing the entire interview. Shame in CNN, but alas this is the world we live in

[Dino Velvet]

This douche, Piers Morgan, is still milking the story two days after the fact. The last two days he's been asking his guests, who are most likely promoting their own causes, if they will walk out on him, too. Tonight is dedicated to his vindication. As much as improving his rating, which he completely admits, he's also keeping her name in the media, which is translating to more buzz about Christine O'Donnell and her new book. Such self-fulfilling bullshit. I'm watching it now and he's actually re-airing the entire interview. Shame in CNN, but alas this is the world we live in

Sounds like a real ass. How are his ratings compared to Larry King's? Anybody know salary numbers too? I guess he goes against Hannity and whoever MSNBC has.

[Stavros]

Anybody know salary numbers too?

Its a four-year package worth £5.5m which is not quite $10m.

[Dino Velvet]

Anybody know salary numbers too?

Its a four-year package worth £5.5m which is not quite $10m.

Thanks for that. Would you know if that is more/less than King?

[Stavros]

According to this link a base salary of $7m with stock options with potential value of $14m; the guy has been married 7 times, I dread to think what is alimomies cost...
http://uk.askmen.com/celebs/men/entertainment_60/76_larry_king.html

[Bobby Domino]

Dino,

Did a little research for ya. Piers is getting USD$2M/ year. Larry was at $7M/year with options of CNN, which bump it over $10M. Morgan's ratings did spike during this O'Donnell fiasco, but he's still third (~800K viewers) behind Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) and Hannity (Fox) who is trouncing the competition with +2M viewers in the cable news category. Not sure about Larry's ratings but I know they were stagnant for a couple years and still placing him 3rd.


Sounds like a real ass. How are his ratings compared to Larry King's? Anybody know salary numbers too? I guess he goes against Hannity and whoever MSNBC has.

[Dino Velvet]

Thanks for the info, Stavros and Bobby.:cheers:

[Bobby Domino]

you're welcome. Sometimes I like to contribute to humanity.:party:


Thanks for the info, Stavros and Bobby.:cheers:

[hippifried]

Oxford's been doing the same thing with Stephen Hawking for years

Careful, Hippifried, Hawking is at Cambridge, with the added kudos of occupying Isaac Newton's chair...
Oh well, same difference. Does it really matter where somebody gets their PHD in pomposity?

[Stavros]

Hmmmm...Hawking may have become a bit pompous, he is famously difficult to get along with, but then he can't speak or move so being intellectually brilliant and motionless must generate some frustrations. But he did his PhD on black holes and pushed the boundaries of knowledge further on that one. It used to be the case that anyone with access to the Cambridge University intra-net could access the working papers he had online, he wasn't bothered since 99.9% of the people accessing it had no idea what any of it meant...You are not confusing Hawking with Dawkins are you? Now there is pompous personified....

[hippifried]

The only Dawkins I know of is Daryl. (Forced the NBA to adopt the springloaded rim.)

I brought up Hawking because I think he's dead, stuffed, & propped up in a chair with the voice done remotely.

[trish]

He's not quite dead. He caused some controversy recently with a book he co-authored with Leonard Mlodinow called the Grand Design, in which the authors claim to prove there is no need of God to explain the workings and existence of the universe. It's a tired old argument with new draperies hung around to spruce things up a bit.

He is doing current work using the notion of the Wick-rotation from quantum field theory to re-interpret the concept of time in a way that he hopes will smooth over the difficulties between general relativity and quantum field theory. I don't have any opinion on the quality or utility of that work.

Hawking did do his undergraduate work at Oxford and moved to Cambridge to work on a Ph.D. with Roger Penrose. Even though he's known as a physicist, his Ph.D. thesis is best viewed as mathematical result. Basically he show that under what was thought at the time to be a rather weak and likely hypothesis, every space-time will exhibit a singularity. The proof is deep and the theorem is a milestone in the field of general relativity and cosmology. For this work alone Hawking deserves all his accolades.

But later he outdid himself by proving another mathematical theorem from assumptions drawn from quantum field theory and general relativity. He proved that every event horizon radiates all types of energy at all wave lengths. Only a handful of people at the time suspected this could be true since it runs counter to the notion event horizons are effectively one-way barriers to all energy or matter that would cross them. Again the theorem is a milestone that touched off a thousand other projects. Physicists and mathematicians are still working through these issues today.

I'm not sure when he rose to the Newton chair at Cambridge but in my estimation he does indeed belong to the handful of those living who are deserving of the honor. So don't diss one of favorite living mathematicians hippiefried :)

As to the chair, Newton, who said he stood on the shoulders of giants, never owned a battery powered one like Hawking. That why I say Hawking rolled over the shoulders of giants. OK bad bad joke. Instead of a motorized chair most mere mortal scientists carry grappling hooks so that they can climb up to the shoulders of those giants. I don't know how many careers might otherwise be impeded by giants.

[hippifried]

Yeah yeah yeah... But when was the last time anyone saw him so much as twitch? I keep hearing about all the stuff he's doing... How? Nobody's figured out how to tap directly into the brain.

[Stavros]

Trish knows more about this subject than I do, but we were all aware of his achievements even if we couldn't understand them (not my field anyway). Someone I know however had an altercation with Hawking, who was very rude indeed, but people like that often can be.

Its not just his brain that continues to function, he can move some fingers which tap into a sophisticated computer system which produces words and phrases rather like when txting they will suggest themselves -he probably as his own lexicon for public talks. The details are here if you are interested:
http://www.gizmag.com/go/2708/

If you do want to see a stuffed philosopher, Jeremy Bentham is sitting in a cabinet in University College, London; although the head is a wax copy as the real one is in the basement somewhere in a jar I think; or what's left of it. He asked to be put on display. He is fully dressed, by the way, including a floppy hat. Next time you are in London go see it, it will make a change to Trafalgar Square and the Crown Jewels -and you can pas by it on the way to the British Museum...Egyptian Mummies, and so on.

Richard Dawkins is known here as an aggressive atheist who loves taking on people with religious beliefs in debates on tv and wrote a book called The God Delusion; he is also a popular writer on science -The Selfish Gene, mostly evolutionary biology. He used to be Oxford's Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, although for some reason he didnt like the 'Kellogg' which used to be stuck on the front of the title when they sponsored it, not sure if they still do.

[Angelibee]

.....Richard Dawkins is known here as an aggressive atheist...

I agree with what he says but his style will only make others harden their position.

[Stavros]

True, Angelibee, all too true: but you probably know what they say about those 'Oxford Clever' chaps...aka Hubris.