Comments on: Slow Parade

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:31:40 +0000

For a minute I thought that Michael was actually answering the question “Who really gets a parade of foreign affairs,” but sadly, no.

By: Michael Bérubé

Michael Bérubé — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:39:45 +0000

The Wallechinsky brothers used to be regular contributors. Yes, but that was before they left Parade to direct The Matrix. Seriously, the "ten worst dictators" series is a Wallechinsky project. The democratic left lives at Parade! I would have guessed Parade was having the late Ms. Bhutto discuss her favorite 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray. I understand that the late Ms. Bhutto's favorite TV series was "Gray's Anatomy." Not that US media would trivialize an important election, of course. who really gets their foreign affairs from Parade? Um, mds, that would be me, as I thought this post made painfully clear. This ghostly head is lookin' right at you, dear.

By: mds

mds — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:41:24 +0000

And mds, you don’t look a day over 90, and no, I’m not just saying that.

Wait, that big ghostly head in my home really is two-way?

Anyway, though I’d love to ascribe this to fomenting despair by maliciously pulling a rug out from under people, er, retroactively, I’d more readily accept that they simply couldn’t be bothered, because who really gets their foreign affairs from Parade? Especially when that’s what “Get Fuzzy” is for.

By: BillCinSD

BillCinSD — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:03:15 +0000

I would have guessed Parade was having the late Ms. Bhutto discuss her favorite 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray. therefore the last best hope was probably her “listen up, lasagna”—a whole wheat lasagna with an escarole salad

By: roac

roac — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:22:15 +0000

I am old enough to remember when there were two of these Sunday supplements—the other one was called “This Week.” (Plus some small fry, but the major Sunday papers all carried either Parade or TW.) For a while, at least, Parade had faint but observable lefty tendencies. The Wallechinsky brothers used to be regular contributors. And Dotson Rader. Of course, that was when lefty was in. I don’t pay much attention to it any more, but I get the impression that the editors try to make it smarter than it has to be.

Of course, the whole enterprise has to be very marginal these days, with the newspaper business continuing to go south. My wife asked why they didn’t pull the BB issue after she was killed. My assumption was that they couldn’t possibly afford to give the advertisers a refund.

By: Michael Bérubé

Michael Bérubé — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:13:07 +0000

Well, that’s just silly, then. Everyone knows that only Rudy! can save us from terrorists.

And mds, you don’t look a day over 90, and no, I’m not just saying that.

By: shpx.ohfu

shpx.ohfu — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:23:15 +0000

Parade is the home of Republican smear merchant Ed Klein. Anything they can to to drum up terror hysteria, such as running a cover story showing a now-dead BB blurbed as “America’s best hope against al-Qaeda?” is good for their editorial POV.

By: mds

mds — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:36:20 +0000

70+ age? In five days, 108. Thanks for asking.

I think you misspelled “REDRUM”.

No, it’s actually spelled “The Red Room.” Hey, I haven’t gotten my Parade yet: when did Long Island get taken over by Pennsylvania?

By: Michael Bérubé

Michael Bérubé — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:04:13 +0000

My question is why Parade was doing BB coverage in the first place. Back when my family would get it, it was all celebrities and diets and recipes. Have they become more consistently “newsy” or was this piece an exception?

They’ve become inconsistently newsy, TC, sort of like morning TV —an “in step with” interview with an entertainer, a few human-interest side things, timely financial tips, the Marilyn vos Savant column, a coupla cartoons, and a range of feature stories—Oprah and Denzel, Bill O’Reilly watching out for you, someone’s recovery from depression, a list of the ten worst dictators, and so forth. Think Reader’s Digest meets Good Morning America.

So I wonder whether there aren’t a couple of Sunday-supplement- reading Americans out there this morning, most likely in the 70+ age bracket, who are hoping that that nice Bhutto woman can help save us from terrorists.

By: abb1

abb1 — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:32:59 +0000

They probably print it in India.

By: Hogan

Hogan — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:27:26 +0000

16: Clearly our domestic supply of “hotties who haven’t recently been in prison, rehab or divorce court”—traditional Parade cover material—is running dangerously low.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:45:35 +0000

The inserts are printed up weeks in advance. Here in the actual middle of the continent there’s a printer (Banta Publications, Long Prairie MN) which I have been told mostly prints these inserts for newspapers all over the country. Decades ago I was a midnight inserter for the Washington Post on Saturday nights.

That’s why Doonesbury has problems being timely, since the funnies are an insert.

By: The Constructivist

The Constructivist — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:15:09 +0000

My question is why Parade was doing BB coverage in the first place. Back when my family would get it, it was all celebrities and diets and recipes. Have they become more consistently “newsy” or was this piece an exception? If an exception, back to my original question.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:01:20 +0000

5: Phone?

By: Hattie

Hattie — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:40:56 +0000

I must be dead, because even though I knew Bhutto had been murdered, I looked at her pic on the cover of Parade, read the article, and said oh well.
It’s the opposite of Twain’s remark that the reports of his death had been exaggerated. In her case, the reports of her continued existence had been exaggerated.
I feel as if I’m turning into a zombie that accepts everything without critical thought, because I am so tired and overwhelmed.