I hope he checked with Katie

White House spokeman Tony Snow was just diagnosed with a recurrence of Cancer that doesn't sound too good. I wish him well. He's got the toughest job in America, as chief spokeman for The Idiot. I just hope he has checked in with Katie Couric before making any career or family decisions. If you saw the interview with John & Elizabeth Edwards, you know it's now Katie's job to decide what is appropriate behavior and what people should think.

Most ridiculous co-branding example of the week.

I could do a whole blog on the stupid shit I see at the grocery store. Who thinks up this shit? What marketing moron actually came up with the idea to print Trivial Pursuit questions in the frosting of Pop-Tarts? How can such a retarded concept be born? Sure dual-branding is epidemic. There is Scope in my Crest, Downey in my Tide, and every kind of trade-marked cookie and candy bar imaginable in my ice cream. It's just the next step in the conspiracy to stretch the toothpaste aisle (or in this case, the toaster pastry aisle) another 10 feet. But who the fuck is going to buy a package of Part-Tarts in order to get in a quick game of trivia at the breakfast table.

As I've said before: All marketing people are idiots. As several commenters previously pointed out: Brand managers are a few steps dumber.

Who Wants to be a Pedophile?

That should be the new title of Dateline, since the show (which was always fake news in the worst sense of the term), has become nearly 100% Chris Hanson standing at the kitchen island confronting potential child molesters. The show is on now as often as Who Wants to be a Millionaire was a few years ago when that was briefly a ratings juggernaut. And its on all the time for the same reason as Millionaire-because it too is a ratings bonanza.

For the brief time I can stand to watch it, I don't know if I am more repulsed by the slime that come through the front door looking for their 12 year old dates; or by Hanson emerging from the back room to confront these loosers, as if being a pompous blowdried news anchor gives him licence to play cop, detective, judge, and social worker. The show has no more social value than Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, and probably less.

And now the spillover has affected MSNBC, which has become the repository for endless reruns of the show, and now has Joe Scarborough, (who I was actually starting to enjoy, if only because its fun to hear Republicans bash Bush) nothing but a shill for the show. If Olbermann starts pushing it, I'll be done with him too.