So much for the SOTU address opening many eyes among the masses. Poll shows most had a positive reaction.
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President's Televised Address
- Thread starter TheBigA
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The problem is that he was previously a TV star. He knows that long lectures given by one person are death to the ratings. If it was up to him, the final scene in The Apprentice would have run much longer. But the show had producers who edited the speeches to fit in the viewers' short attention spans. He needs that same kind of person at the white house.
The SOTU could have been done in 20 minutes. It really could have been done in two sentences. But I get that presidents want to acknowledge special guests. They provide a little relief from the endless lecture. They give those in the room a chance to stand up and stretch. But one hour and 47 minutes without any kind of break is absolute ratings death. I predict that ratings for these things will continue to decline.
Trump also needs a better makeup artist.
newrepublic.com
Was Trump Hiding His Massive Bruise at the State of the Union?
Donald Trump’s hand was hidden from view as he delivered his State of the Union address to Congress.
newrepublic.com
But this positive reaction was obviously limited to people who chose to watch the speech. There were many people who either couldn’t watch, didn’t bother to watch or actively decided not to watch.
In addition to his tendency when making a speech to go on and on, I wonder in the back of his mind if he was trying to minimize viewership of Democratic response, knowing the later it was (especially on the east coast) the less likely it was people would watch the response (and any after speech analysis).
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"and he's universally worshipped and adored again". Geesh
I, among others, watched the State of the Swamp or People's State of the Union, Democratic counterprogramming
I saw the Democratic response, and I agreed with everything. I fast-forwarded though all the delayed analysis.
Especially since he too has a short attention span. He refuses to read anything too long or complicated.
I can fast-forward through this and get through faster. It might take several days to get through it all, and I don't know when those days will be.
Infographic: How Many People Watch the State of the Union Address?
This chart shows TV ratings for presidential State of the Union addresses in the U.S. since 1993.
www.statista.com
That would be me. I made it through about an hour and changed the channel, never bothered to watch the response.
One of my Facebook friends posted a video of the State of the Union with lies redacted. It lasts 13 seconds.
many liberals were closest Limbaugh listeners, Trump has become so predictable he no longer gets hate watchers
Oh, Rush was pretty predictable. Come out of the top of the hour with a recap/recasting of the news, then tease the thing that's "really going to make you mad" going into the second break, elaborate on it afterwards to get the villagers all riled up, and then take callers after the bottom of the hour local break. Then take the calls from angry listeners and maybe - if Rush's phone screener did his job - find that one whiny "liberal" caller whom Rush could thump in an argument. It was (at least when I listened during his 90s heyday) a pretty consistently structured show...littered with the occasional "comedy" bit where he punched down on people.
And the formula worked, to put it mildly. It was - as one consultant pointed out to me - entertaining enough to keep listeners hanging on through 4 breaks an hour complete with news, traffic, weather, and a bevy of commercials. The difference between Rush and Trump is that the former was the ring-master, while the latter is (at this point) the circus animal. I didn't listen past the late 90s, but I'm guessing that Rush didn't drag out the "Chelsea Clinton is a dog" bit 8 years after Bill had left office, or ranted on about "Travel-Gate" a decade later, but instead kept it topical. Yet during his speech, Trump dragged out the whole "the 2020 election was stolen" thing, and seemed to be still focused on old grievances.
Was Rush still playing the political parody songs in the late 90's?
Seemed to be fairly seldom after the mid-90s. Once Rush was apparently convinced by Newt, etc that he was a kingmaker, a lot of the humor stopped.
I had only heard this from one person, but the claim was that certain GOP politicians had a line to call into the show when Limbaugh got hung on a topic. It seems to track from what I remember. Poor Bob in Iowa City had been trying to get through for a year, but then it's "what a surprise, Newt Gingrich is on the line". Can anyone verify that.
Early on, Rush brought a lot of his shock-jock antics to the show. For example, one time he was complaining about efforts to ban gas-powered chain saws due to the noise and pollution they generate, so he brought one into the studio and ran it on the air. (This was decades before Elon used one as a DOGE prop.)
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