" . . . and now, inventor of the split-finger fastball . . . . . . . David Letterman!"

ACT 1:
Monologue Joke: Sarah Palin started the debate off by asking, "Can I call you Joe?" To which Joe Biden replied, "Can I call you Smokin' Hot?"

Great Moments in Presidential Speeches:
Bush: "We're doing a better job of talking to each other. The left hand now knows what the right hand is doing." Bush references his right hand when he says "left hand," and raises his left hand when he says "right hand."

ACT 2:
The V.P. debate? Last night Dave thought Miss Alaska did very well.

It didn't take long for the first odd moment to take place at the debate Thursday night. If you have the High-Def, you probably saw it.
We see debate moderator Gwen Ifill introduce the two candidates. We see Joe Biden enter. We then see Hillary Clinton make an entrance. Huh? Hasn't she gotten the memo yet?

And now it's time for "A Message from Sarah Palin."
Palin: "It's so obvious I'm / not ready to be / vice president."

The McCain camp isn't taking any chances with the inexperienced Sarah Palin. Yes, she's dynamic and energizing, but she's kind of new at this. Dave saw something last night that definitely shows she is being handled with kid gloves. We see a clip from the debate. Gwen Ifill poses a question to the potential vice president. As she pauses to gather her thoughts, a McCain campaign worker leans in and whispers her next line, "I'm not going to wave the white flag of surrender." She then delivers it flawlessly.

And once again, "A Message from Sarah Palin."
Palin: "But I will tell Americans straight up that I don't / know what a vice president does."

And now it's time for "Sarah Palin Debate Re-Cap"
We watch a montage of her folksy phrases:
-Joe Six-Pack
-Hockey moms
-Now, doggone it
-Maverick
-Darn it
-Darn right
-Maverick
-Nucular
-Straight up
-Drill baby drill
-Shout out to a bunch of third graders
-Maverick
-Team of mavericks

And one more time, "A Message from Sarah Palin."
Palin: "I have / no / experience. John McCain / should / get rid of / me."

ACT 3:
TOP TEN: Messages Left on Sarah Palin's Answering Machine
#10. "It's John McCain; I had to go to bed. How'd it go?"
#7. "My name is Joseph Sixpack . . . . knock it off!"

BRIAN WILLIAMS
He's the anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News.
Did the V.P. candidates avoid the questions? Of course they did, but Sarah Palin was the first to ever state it out loud when she said "I'm not going to answer the question you want me to."
Brian says the debate was like two separate debates at once. It was sort of like having a playdate for two children. One is playing with blocks. The other is playing with Legos. They are playing side-by-side but not together. It wasn't really a debate with each other. It was just two people giving their prepared speeches.
ABC's Charles Gibson has interviewed Sarah Palin.
CBS's Katie Couric has interviewed Sarah Palin.
When is it Brian's turn? Williams says the McCain team isn't quite so happy with the NBC cable wing. They don't like the MSNBC.
Brian says what Sarah Palin is lacking is that she is not practiced in political responses. It's that simple. Every question has an answer whether it's the answer to the question or not. Biden has been at this for decades and political-speak comes quite naturally. It's an art form that Sarah Palin has not yet mastered.
Dave is an Independent, not a Democrat or a Republican, but is concerned with McCain's selection of Sarah Palin. In these terribly ultra volatile times we now live, the job of V.P. shouldn't be given to a beginner.
And Dave is more than a little disappointed that nothing terrible happened at the debate.
Dave and Brian Williams then talk of the recent passing of Paul Newman and Tim Russert. Brian says he was desperate to talk to Tim Russert when Joe Biden was chosen to be Barack Obama's running mate. And then a week later when Sarah Palin was the Republican choice, he REALLY missed him. Brian says they talked a lot and Russert was a guiding light for him and NBC.
I like how Williams described Barack Obama and John McCain. "They're a 'quality hang'," meaning they are really good people to hang out with. Both great guys. Brian Williams then likens this election to that of Kennedy and Eisenhower, though I think he meant Kennedy/Nixon of 1960. Kennedy never ran against Eisenhower. Unless he meant the new shining star in Kennedy was running for President following 8 years of Eisenhower, much like the new shining star in Barack Obama is running for President following 8 years of Bush. I think that's what he meant and I misunderstood. This came to me just now while typing. I'll have to go to the video tape.
Brian Williams - he's my favorite news anchor. He's a former volunteer fireman!

ACT 5:
Announce: "Monday on the Late Show, Dave welcomes Russell Crowe, author Sarah Vowell, and musical guest The Pretenders.
The Late Show! America's first choice for strawberry preserves.
We'll be right back."

ACT 6:
TIM ROBBINS
Dave brings up the past two disappointing seasons of Tim's beloved New York Mets. Tim says he will miss Shea Stadium when they tear it down this year. He is one of the few who will. Tim says he saw lots of magic at Shea. He was there October 16, 1969 when the Mets won the Series. He sat in the very last row in the upper deck. The fans ran all over the field, tearing it to pieces, taking clumps of sod as a souvenir. Tim says he got some grass on the subway on the way home. Dave says that where he used to get it, too. Big laugh from Tim.
Dave admits to be sort of amused by the Mets collapse and their ensuing Shea Stadium celebration the day they were eliminated from the playoffs. Dave says he's always had a sort of sore spot for the Mets tracing back to 1973 and the Bud Harrelson/Pete Rose donnybrook at 2nd base during the playoffs.
Back from commercial, Tim tells a story about working with Paul Newman and driving 100 mph through North Carolina while filming "The Hudsucker Proxy."
Dave asks Tim to talk a little bit about his film, "The Lucky Ones" about 3 returning veterans from the Iraq War.
And Dave speaks highly of Tim's most recent film, in theaters October 10th, "City of Ember." It was filmed in Belfast and Tim is proud to say it's a mature film which kids will enjoy. There's not a fart joke in the whole things.

And that was our show for Friday, October 3, 2008.



Instead of the taxpayers giving $700 billion to bailout the banks, how about giving it to the taxpayers? That comes to $233,000 to every man, woman, and child in America. That's nearly a million dollars in my household. That would take care of a lot of things for the McIntees and give us a lot of disposable income to spend. I'll duck under my desk while you respond to my uninformed and simple muse.

If this bailout is better than the bailout of earlier this week, then those in the House who voted FOR it on Monday need to explain why they felt there was a need to rush it through

Has Sarah Palin gotten back to Katie Couric with examples of McCain leading the charge to reform the way Wall Street does business?

While watching the V.P. debate Thursday night, I noticed at the beginning Sarah Palin was talking to the home viewer, looking straight into the camera. Joe Biden would respond to moderator Gwen Ifill. Later in the debate Biden changed and would address the camera. Don't know if that means anything. That's just about all I got out of the debate.

Sarah Palin and her folksy, down-home patter . . . . haven't we seen this already . . . . Peter Sellers in "Being There." I think I'll rent that this weekend.

I got all excited when I made the connection of the Peter Sellers movie "Being There" with Sarah Palin. Very clever. Maybe my idea would make the rounds and seep into daily conversation. But then . . . . I decided to Google "Sarah Palin" "Being There" and "Peter Sellers." Sadly, I found that the reference has been around for a month now. I'm getting onboard kind of late. Darn. I was hoping to be first. There's just too many people out there.

I'm driving home the other night and turn on the Phillie/Brewer game on the radio just to catch the score. Announcing the game is Yankee TV announcer Michael Kay. Twenty seconds into my listening, Michael says "Here is how the Phillies have done historically in Game 2s in the post season . . . ." I immediately turn the game off. Must broadcasters read everything that is placed in front of them? Such nonsense! Why does that have any pertinence to tonight's game? Why does Game 2 of the 1915 World Series have any significance to Game 2 in the 2008 divisional series? It's just noise pollution. I'd rather hear the ambience of the stadium crowd than to hear such drivel from announcers. Who cares! There was a time when Michael Kay would have screamed and scribed at such cacophony. But now . . . .

Ending world hunger is within our grasp.
www.wfp.org/lateshow

CAMEO MENTION OF A WAHOO READER
From Long Island, New York, it's Pete Rosenblum
This concludes another episode of CAMEO MENTION OF A WAHOO READER

Michael Z. McIntee
mikemack@aol.com