Debbie Schlussel: Um, Why is My TV Weatherman Telling Me to Vote for Obama?
On Sunday Morning, I watched in disbelief as I heard weatherman Andrew Humphrey tell the Detroit TV audience to vote for Obama. No, Humphrey didn't flat out say, "Vote for Obama on Tuesday". As a graduate of the University of Michigan and MIT, he's smarter than that.
No, meteorologist Andrew said on WDIV/Local 4 (Detroit's NBC affiliate, owned by the liberal Post-Newsweek), "And on Tuesday, it's your chance to get out and make history on this very historic election day." Well, I think it's pretty clear what he was saying, and very unclear what this had to do with the weather.
I called Channel 4's newsroom immediately to complain and I got through. The news staffer said that he also meant Sarah Palin--that we could make history by electing either Obama or Sarah Palin. Uh-huh. The Detroit Free Press reports that 98% of Black voters here are voting Obama. The other 2% are undecided, and he isn't one of them. Do you really think he was telling us to make history with Palin (not that that would make it okay--it would be equally objectionable)? And why the heck is this in a . . . weathercast?
I know Andrew Humphrey, though not well (he's liberal and definitely voting Obama). I like him--really smart and nice guy. But, dude, just give me the damn weather.
Keep the politics and other pronouncements to yourself. There's a reason it's called a "NEWScast", not an OPINIONcast.
Maybe you think I'm making a big deal out of an innocent statement. I suppose that Andrew--who is no militant--could have said something far more blatant and egregious. But come on, I think we know what the weatherman was telling us to do on election day.
The only "history-making" that should be mentioned in a weathercast is record precipitation or temperatures.
It's amazing that in no less than Rev. Wright's alleged "U.S. of KKKA" people get away with this.
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Here's my new weather term: Partly Obama (partly cloudy). When there's a blizzard outside, it's SnObama--kinda like what Obama does whenever he's asked for specifics about anything, as in he gives you the SnObama.
Posted by Debbie on November 3, 2008 09:17 PM to Debbie Schlussel