Populist Pundit : Lowdown on Hightower

Jim Hightower. Image from Rolling Thunder.
The lowdown:
The Texas populism of Jim Hightower

By Michael Winship / April 2, 2010

I first became aware of Jim Hightower more than 20 years ago, during the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. The Democrats were nominating Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis to run for president against Reagan's vice president, George H.W. Bush, and at the time Dukakis looked like he had a pretty good chance at the White House.

This was before a series of events did him in, including the notorious Willie Horton ad that attacked Dukakis for a Massachusetts weekend furlough prison program that allowed a convicted murderer back on the street, where he robbed and raped.

And it was before Dukakis bobbled a harsh debate question about what he would do if his own wife Kitty was raped and murdered. And it was before he was photographed atop an Abrams tank wearing a helmet that made him look like he was starring in Snoopy III: This Time It's Personal.

All of that misery lay ahead. The Democrats were still in giddy spirits during the convention and had a high old time poking fun at Bush, Sr. That was when the late Ann Richards, then the Texas state treasurer, famously lamented, "Poor George! He can't help it -- he was born with a silver foot in his mouth!"

But it was the convention speech by Hightower that I especially remember. He was the Texas agriculture commissioner in those days -- an important job in the Lone Star State -- and described Bush as a "toothache of a man," a cruel but remarkable metaphor. And he said that Bush behaved like someone who was "born on third base and thought he hit a triple... He is threatening to lead this country from tweedle-dum to tweedle-dumber."

Maybe Hightower didn't originate those lines (as Milton Berle used to say, "When you steal from me, you steal twice"), but he delivered them with a gusto akin to genuine authorship and over the years has come up with enough original material of his own to absolve him -- mostly -- from the sin of occasional joke-filching.

Now others steal from him. It was Jim, I believe, who came up with the notion that all elected officials be required to wear brightly colored, NASCAR-like jumpsuits with the corporate logos of their biggest campaign contributors, an idea I've heard appropriated by several others without proper attribution.

And I think it was Jim who first said of George W. Bush, "If ignorance ever reaches $40 a barrel, I want the drilling rights to his head." (On hearing that another politician was learning Spanish, Hightower is supposed to have remarked, "Oh good. Now he'll be bi-ignorant.")

These days, Jim Hightower broadcasts daily radio commentaries and edits "The Hightower Lowdown," an invaluable monthly newsletter. With the passing of both Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, he has became the funniest person in Texas politics -- intentionally, that is. But it is his steadfast advocacy of progressive politics, his unyielding embrace of the old time gospel of populism, that made him an especially appropriate guest on the final edition of the PBS series, Bill Moyers Journal.

"Here's what populism is not," he told my colleague Bill Moyers. "It is not just an incoherent outburst of anger. And certainly it is not anger that is funded and organized by corporate front groups, as the initial tea party effort [was], and as most of it is still today -- though there is legitimate anger within it, in terms of the people who are there. But what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government.

"...One big difference between real populism and... the tea party thing is that real populists understand that government has become a subsidiary of corporations. So you can't say, 'Let's get rid of government.' You need to be saying, 'Let's take over government.'" As Hightower's fond of saying, the water won't clear up until we get the hogs out of the creek. "I see the central issue in politics to be the rise of corporate power," he reiterated. "Overwhelming, overweening corporate power that is running roughshod over the workaday people of the country. They think they're the top dogs, and we're a bunch of fire hydrants, you know?"

Of President Obama he said, "It's odd to me that we've got a president who ran from the outside and won, and now is trying to govern from the inside. You can't do progressive government from the inside. You have to rally those outsiders and make them a force... Our heavyweight is the people themselves. They've got the fat cats, but we've got the alley cats..."

This weekend, Jim is being honored at Texas State University-San Marcos with an exhibition celebrating his life's work as a populist journalist, historian, and advocate. They're calling the event "Swim Against the Current" because, as Moyers says, "That's what he does." In fact, Swim Against the Current also is the title of Hightower's most recent book, subtitled, Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow.

He comes from a long history of flow resisters, a critical, American political tradition. "I go all the way back to Thomas Paine," he said. "I mean, that was kind of the ultimate rebellion, when the media tool was a pamphlet." The men who wrote the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence "didn't create democracy. [They] made democracy possible.

"What created democracy was Thomas Paine and Shays Rebellion, the suffragists and the abolitionists and on down through the populists and the labor movement, including the Wobblies. Tough, in your face people... Mother Jones, Woody Guthrie... Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. And now it's down to us.

"These are agitators. They extended democracy decade after decade. You know, sometimes we get in the midst of these fights. We think we're making no progress. But... you look back, we've made a lot of progress... The agitator after all is the center post in the washing machine that gets the dirt out. So, we need a lot more agitation... "We can battle back against the powers. But it's not just going to a rally and shouting. It's organizing and it's thinking. And reaching out to others. And building a real people's movement."

With this week's edition, Bill Moyers Journal has gone off the air. But we'll be continuing the conversation via our web site at PBS.org/moyers. These weekly columns will be continuing for the foreseeable as well.

It has been a delight and honor collaborating with Bill -- and the entire production team -- so intensely over the last two years. I am always improved in their presence and thank them all, especially Bill and executive editor Judith Davidson Moyers, executive producers Judy Doctoroff and Sally Roy and Diane Domondon and Jesse Adams, the two of whom every week have made sure these scratchings make it out alive, with alacrity and accuracy.

[Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program. Bill Moyers Journal, which concluded Friday night on PBS. Watch online or comment at The Moyers Blog.]

Source / truthout

• See Bill Moyers' interview with Jim Hightower at truthout.
• Go to Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown.

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Citizen-Journalist Bill Moyers : Salute to a Colleague

Bill Moyers. Image from Cincinnati.com
Final entry:
Closing the book on Bill Moyers' Journal

By Danny Schechter / April 30, 2010

I salute our colleague, our friend, our mentor and role model, Bill Moyers, who airs his last Journal program tonight on PBS.

Throughout his long career, from his days in Texas through his stint at the Johnson White House, to his role as Publisher of Newsday, to his commentaries on CBS, to his amazing track record as documentary filmmaker and talk show host, Bill has demonstrated a range of probing intellectual interests, and a deep and unwavering commitment to democratic discourse.

He went from a being a servant of power to a critic of power, from an insider to an outsider in traditional TV terms, from the networks to public broadcasting, to become an engaged citizen-journalist and then a patron and supporter of media reform lobbying, campaign finance reform, and so much more.

He was admired by his colleagues but also tolerated by a far more centrist and often cowardly crew of comfortably sinecured public TV executives because he became an institution, one of public media’s few revered legends, in part because he was damn good on the air as an issue-raiser and, also, as a fundraiser for just about every public TV station, as well as for his own work which attracted, it seemed, unlimited foundation support and even a corporate sponsor who stayed with him over the years.

Bill knows how to work the system and the room. His southern twang, charm, and charisma has kept audiences coming back, week after week, year after year, even when he was relegated to a Friday night public affairs ghetto air slot. He resigned at age 76, but the PBS Gods used the opportunity praise him to the skies while quietly killing the excellent magazine show NOW which he created. Why? Do we really need another show hosted by a corporate editor who just turned an issue of Newsweek into an uncritical praise poem for a resurgent America?

Bill is now firmly in the pantheon of TV greats -- still alive, praise the lord, and right up there with Edward R. Murrow, Cronkite and so many more.

Long live!

Bill and me

Bill was always friendly towards me, occasionally quoting me in his speeches and emailing back and forth, but I felt he was basically uncomfortable with my more independent approach. Perhaps it was my funkier style, outspoken criticisms of the PBS system, and activist proclivities.

When my dad was dying, he sent him copies of his series on death and dying and a beautiful personal letter. It so moved him that he wrote several drafts of letters to respond but none of them were quite right or said all he wanted to say. My dad had a religious devotion to his program. It was his church and, or, schul.

Moyers and I never worked together really, even though I tried. I understood his need to cover his back and to attract guests among the high and mightier.

I wish him and his thoughtful colleague and wife, Judith, every blessing as he transitions out of the public spotlight. My hunch is he will be back in public life sooner than later. The relentless “detached” advocate may soon come out of the closet as an up-front activist.

[Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," has been offering a counter narrative to news and perspectives on global issues, politics, and culture since 1970 -- on radio, TV and, for the last decade, on his blog. Danny edits MediaChannel.org and writes articles, commentaries, polemics, screeds, rants, and books. His latest book is Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal.]

Source / News Dissector

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The Muppets, Me and Public TV...

Caroll Spinney with Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. Photo by Victor Dinapoli.
And the power of popular culture
By Michael Winship / July 13, 2008

Take a moment to forget about politics and the pickle of our worrisome world. A recent dispatch from Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way, about "the power of culture to shape our society," triggered thoughts of my deep and abiding joy in the work of the late Jim Henson and the Muppets. It's a love that goes back to childhood, when the Muppets first started appearing in brief, witty, anarchic vignettes on the old Ed Sullivan and Jack Paar television shows.

I secretly suspect they're one reason I got involved in public broadcasting; a subliminal urge to associate my career with the network responsible for "Sesame Street."

Kolbert's e-mail specifically was relating the power of popular culture to the recent deaths of George Carlin and another great American you may not have heard of, Kermit Love. No relation to the frog of the same name, Kermit, 91, was the man who executed Jim Henson's designs for Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus, and assisted at the birth of Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster; a costume designer who also counted among his clients the Muppet-like Orson Welles, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. If you grew up with "Sesame Street," you'll remember him wandering among the Sesame denizens as Willy the Hot Dog Man.

I met Kermit Love in 1974, just a few months after I started working for public television in Washington, DC. Decked out in his Santa Claus-like beard and full Willy regalia, he was there in his capacity as Big Bird's caretaker. The station, WETA, was having an open house with Big Bird as special guest. Unexpectedly, thousands of kids and their parents showed up on a rainy summer Sunday afternoon, patiently waiting out in the drizzle and churning the lawns into a mud mess worthy of Woodstock.

I quickly learned that it's an endless task taking care of an 8-foot-2 canary (or whatever the hell he is). Bird (Snuffleupagus and I call him that as we consider his genius in the same league as Charlie Parker's) is, as he always has been, portrayed by the great puppeteer Caroll Spinney, who also performs the role of Oscar the Grouch. Once suited up, his raised right arm is the neck and head, and his left arm becomes the left wing with some fishing line connected to the right for proper double flapping. A TV monitor inside keeps him from blindly walking into manholes. Or birdbaths. Kermit accompanied him on and off the set.

Try standing with your right arm held up like that for any longer than a minute or three and you'll have some idea of the stamina Caroll has to have to make the whole thing work. Add to that the stuffy confines of the outfit - he can perform for only a short while at a time.

Throughout, Kermit made sure everything was fine, that Caroll was as comfortable as possible, and utmost, that the suit was kept in pristine shape. As Caroll moved about, feathers would frequently fly (some of them were supposed to). Big Birds, you may not be surprised to learn, molt big. Kermit made everything right.

When the long day was done, Caroll climbed out of the suit and we retired to a nearby restaurant. At the table next to us was a family with two small children. Caroll saw them, winked at Kermit and reached into his book bag. Inside was Oscar the Grouch himself. Caroll pulled him out and was immediately in character. The ecstatic look on the faces of those kids was unforgettable, as if they'd just been transported into the pages of the best storybook ever. This, I thought, is a great way to make a living.

Years went by and Kermit's and my paths crossed again from time to time. I finally did meet Jim Henson when a colleague producing a documentary about the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade asked the Muppets to host. I was invited to sit in on the first meeting. Henson came into the room wearing a bright paisley shirt and jeans, his long hair anchored by a headband. Following him was an accountant type in suit and tie, clipboard in hand. They watched the rough cut of the film approvingly and Henson agreed to participate, the accountant type dutifully taking down his instructions - change the color of Miss Piggy's eyes, make sure Fozzie Bear knew his call time, etc.

More years went by and I was working as a writer at the Children's Television Workshop, home of "Sesame Street." I was assigned to their series "Square One TV" and "3-2-1 Contact," which was proximate enough to let a bit of the Sesame Street stardust rub off. A fulfilling experience, writing funny stuff for kids and knowing that maybe you were even teaching them something. Grownups, too.

In 2004, I was at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, finishing up a two-week trip to Israel and the West Bank. Before I could get on my flight home, Israeli security held me for questioning. It was disconcerting - among other places, I had been spending time in Palestinian villages - and the officers knew everywhere I had been, every military checkpoint I had gone through, just about every person to whom I had spoken. They seemed to be trying to see if my account of my daily whereabouts would differ from theirs. Tense.

After quite some time, one of them asked, while you were here, with whom did you stay? I explained that I had been with friends in East Jerusalem, one of whom I had worked with at the Children's Television Workshop. What's that, they demanded?

"You know," I said. "Sesame Street."

"Sesame Street!" they cried. "Big Bird!"

I was free to go.

That's how you use culture to change society, a little bit at a time. Thanks, Kermit.

[Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program "Bill Moyers Journal," which airs Friday night on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers.]

Source. / truthout

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