john mccain

When Katie Couric was on The Late Show with David Letterman earlier this week, Dave forgot to yell at her for taking Senator John McCain away from his show a couple of months ago to interview him at the same time he was supposed to be on Letterman's show. The New York Post pointed this out in yesterday's paper, so last night Dave agreed and decided to call Katie and ask her all about it on the air. The exchange is after the jump.

However, it's not the only video from Dave and Katie. She has her own video channel on YouTube, where she uploads various behind the scenes videos on a regular basis, and she made one for the night that she was on the show. It features Couric in her dressing room and backstage, talking to various staff members, a Late Show producer, and other people before she went to the chair to talk to Dave.

It's over. It's finally over. The talking points, the smears, the empty promises... it's been a fun two-year ride, but it was definitely time for it all to end (at least until December, 2010... heh...). And, just like the other networks, NBC didn't have much of anywhere to go after they called the election for Obama at 11 PM ET.

NBC decided to stick with the tried and true this year -- an anchor, the old sage analyst, and a few other people to help along the way. No real outrageous commentary, no poop-eating grins from any of the anchors (Keith Olbermann stayed on MSNBC) or anything that would be construed as "interesting" or "entertaining."

It's about 12 hours later and as I look back on MSNBC's Election Plaza broadcast, I can see things a bit more clearly now. Overall, the "place for politics" did a fine job covering the most historic presidential election in my lifetime. It wasn't the most dramatic, but it was living history.

History was in the making because we knew going in whether the Dems or the Reps won, an African-American or a woman would be in the White House by the end of the night. MSNBC captured that political reality with images and by letting the camera run long after Obama's speech just to watch the faces of the people -- including Oprah and Jesse Jackson, both in tears -- celebrate in joy.

The prognosticators and pollsters were all on target by choosing Obama/Biden as the winners, so that means nobody's at Gallup or Fivethirtyeight.com is losing his/her job.

Let the celebration begin. McCain's concession speech. Obama's rousing acceptance. Lots and lots of reflection. It's a special night for the networks, even though the election was called relatively early. NBC was no exception:

• Emotional speeches by Tavis Smiley and Tom Brokaw. Brokaw's hard enough to understand as it is; with his voice wavering, he becomes downright impossible.
• Smiley wanted to break into an Electric Slide. Brokaw said "you need a bunch of white people to do that." Methinks Brokaw's been to too many cheesy weddings.
• BriWi tried to break out the humor, saying that Obama and Biden were about to move into "government housing." Brokaw was better: "Obama will be housebreaking a puppy in the White House; he'll have a harder time housebreaking the Democratic majority in Congress."
• Nice job bringing in sigfinicant African-American politicians: John Lewis, David Paterson, Cory Booker. It was good to get their perspective on this historic day (and a local shoutout to WNBC, who got anchor Sue Simmons' perspective on Obama's election; she's also from a mixed-race family, and the way they were treated in Chicago was a bit rougher than the treatment Obama got).
• Ann Curry got to break out of her green dungeon and sit at the desk after Obama's speech. She's gonna be tired on Today tomorrow.
• Luke Russert: "It's our turn now." Oh, the youth. So optimistic.
• Oh, the cutaways from Obama's speech: Harlem, Spellman College, and Election Plaza. Much more interesting than the pool camera showing Oprah and a sobbing Jesse Jackson every thirty seconds.

Final thoughts on NBC's coverage tomorrow morning...

It's fantastic to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert team up on something other than an award show (not that I'm complaining about super-adorable Stewart/Colbert/Carell hugs, which warm my otherwise bitterly cold heart). It will be interesting to see how the boys react to the live results, but I'm most interested in seeing how Stephen Colbert stays in character. Check back later for videos Click on the jump for the full episode!

10:05: Man, those intros were hardcore. And how long is that bird going to stay on Stephen's shoulder? I'm waiting for a startled poo. I'm still not used to seeing Jon and Stephen together. It's too much awesome.

10:12: Hi, Jason Jones! Nice to see -- Whoa, what just happened? Something flashed on the screen, but I didn't catch it. Suddenly compelled to join the military, though.

MSNBC has summarized how historic this is -- Keith said it best. "This is man on the moon historic." He's right. Nobody will ever forget where they were when the first African-American U.S. President was elected.

11:18 John McCain is conceding. He's a class act. A person sometimes shows more about himself in defeat then in victory. McCain recognizes that this is a great moment in history and he must acknowledge it gracefully. He's doing it well. I especially like his mentioning the passing of Obama's grandmother. He's taking the blame for the loss and calling for unity. I think he couldn't say it any more plainly or with courage. Call me crazy, but this sounds like the McCain of 2000. Very classy.

Well, at 11:00p/10:00 Central, with the polls having just closed in California, Fox News Channel officially projected Barack Obama to win the presidency by taking California and jumping to 297 projected electoral votes. It was nice of them to make the projection exactly on the hour. Everyone likes a nice round number.

Then, the election panel said that no one could have predicted this even a year ago, but 24 predicted it seven years ago with President David Palmer. That's a sister station, Fox. Didn't you see it? This year they're saying they can see a woman president. Does that mean Clinton in four or eight years? Palin in four? Oprah?

MSNBC is perking along. Either they're getting better at the results or I'm getting more comfortable with all their bells and whistles and commentary.

8:48 David Gregory is good as a traffic cop. He's bouncing the focus around from Chuck to Chris to Ann to Lester really well. He's interviewing Obama's campaign chief strategist David Axelrod now. He doesn't look worried. He looks like Mr. Whipple, but he doesn't look worried.

8:55 Tom DeLay, former House Majority Leader -- is talking trash. He claims Nancy Pelosi is going to push President Obama around. Hmm...he sounds pretty bitter. Of course, he was forced to resign when he was indicted for election fraud.

Everyone's getting bored now. Megyn is running around talking to people all over the set and trying to make love to her "launchpad," while others are handing out cookies and snacks. When the election is turning into a landslide (which is how Fox News would have us think), I guess they're at a loss as to how to fill the time. "We booked the whole night for this coverage. Vamp! Vamp!" For more on why I love Fox News Election coverage, flip to the other side.

I think it's time to shake things up. Go crazy and call the whole election for McCain. Or even Nader. People will look back on it fondly and you'll be infamous in history. Just picture Brit Morgan's dour skull with the skin melting off looking at the camera with the words "McCain Projected to Win Presidency" below him. Legendary!

FOX NEWS - AMERICA'S ELECTION HQ. Not dramatic enough? Maybe we could spruce it up a bit. "Fox News - For Election Coverage that's Guaranteed Right!" Even some of their analysts were reluctant to think that the country could go to the left of center.

Fox News Channel is a part of the new media, running streams of election data along the bottom, including a static corner box tracking projected electoral votes. We get two different bits of election data next to that, changing about every 7 seconds. Above that is an Alert bar with text data "Fox News Projects John McCain has won Kentucky." And, of course, they kept it scrolling through the commercials, too.

(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.

At the rate they're going, the 2008 presidential candidates will have made appearances on every kind of TV program before voting day arrives. No show is too insignificant, it seems. (Seriously, if only we could have seen Obama and McCain do the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars!)

Therefore, it comes as no big shock that on the eve of the election -- Monday, November 3 -- the presidential candidates are going to appear on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

They will be interviewed -- separately on tape -- by half-time anchor Chris "Boomer" Berman. The anticipated time is 10:15 p.m. (ET), but because of the flow of the game, it could be closer to 10:30.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their latest musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• When I was younger, I went through weird movie phases. When I was about 10, I decided that I needed to see every single Friday the 13th movie; so I did. Suffice it to say, I'm psyched about An Obsessive-Compulsive's Guide to the Friday the 13th Movies.
• Am I the only one who feels like starring in a movie based on a video game is beneath Gerard Butler? Check out an early review of his upcoming movie, Game, and decide for yourself.
• The film, W., is obviously not a documentary, but while Oliver Stone took dramatic license with the material, he did do extensive research as well. Check out the fact guide for W.
• Do these Hollywood director attack ads make more fun of John McCain, or directors like John Woo and Wes Anderson? More importantly, are they funny?
• Cinematical wants to know what you're wearing. Enter their 4th annual Halloween costume contest, and win a crap-ton of DVDs!

Remember back at the beginning of the season when Senator Barack Obama was going to be on the premiere of Saturday Night Live but had to bow out because of Hurricane Ike? At the time, we were told that the Democratic presidential candidate would be on later in the year. Well, rumors are flying that Obama will appear on SNL a week from this Saturday, November 1 -- just three days before the election.

NBC has denied the rumors, much like they did all those rumors before Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared last weekend. However, SNL boss Lorne Michaels always holds his cards close to his vest when it comes to big name appearances. Even after gossips reported that Sarah was definitely going to be on the show, NBC and SNL didn't confirm it till the last minute.

So McCain finally broke down and reappeared on Letterman in lieu of his bugging out of the last one to be interviewed by Katie Couric. He begged forgiveness in as dignified a manner as a Presidential candidate could. Letterman responded by ripping him a new one, deservedly so.

The hypocrisy of skipping out on an interview to supposedly fix the economy but end up on ANOTHER interview show deserves at least a few snide remarks.

But, all feuds must end otherwise the public tires of them. This happened on Letterman last night.