[Marxism] The latest good reason to vote for Nader

["andypollack@xxxxxxxx" <andypollack@xxxxxxxx>]

Haven't liked the good Rabbi since before he found god and was running NAM and 
baiting Trots. Now ANOTHER good reason to vote for Nader (read until end):
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/27/tv.smothers.ap/index.html
No place for Tommy Smothers
Show would 'be off in a second' today -- but legacy secure
NEW YORK (AP) -- Tommy Smothers has no doubt what would happen if he tried to 
put "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on television today.

"We'd be off in a second," he said. "Even faster than before."

The often raucous variety show was canceled by CBS in 1969 after the network 
grew uncomfortable with Tommy and Dick Smothers' social commentary, including 
opposition to the Vietnam War.

Its legacy is explored 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday in a TV Land documentary about 
political content in television -- "Inside TV Land: Primetime Politics."

Smothers said he's frequently approached by people who ask him whether he 
wishes he were on television now because he could say anything he wanted.

"They seem to miss it," he said. "The dirty words are flowing, the sex is 
flowing and the violence, but there certainly is no social comment, except for 
the corners of the television spectrum, which is Jon Stewart and Bill Maher. 
Not in prime time."

The pressure not to offend politically is much worse now, he said.

"People are afraid," he said. "I'm even nervous now."

Maher and Michael Moore "are my heroes," he said. "At one time, in people's 
eyes, that's what I was doing."

The perpetually youthful Smothers is now 67. Brother Dick -- the one mom always 
liked best -- is 65.

They still perform about 120 dates a year, at casinos and performing arts 
centers. They also have a lot of corporate gigs.

Isn't there a certain irony to the Smothers Brothers, those rebels of another 
era, getting a lot of requests for corporate appearances?

"I know!" Smothers said. "And I'm a Nader supporter!"



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