Catching Up: The Sunday Morning Talk Shows

1. Polls, Polls, Polls …
2. Jake Tapper (CNN): “… where the state of our union is … frozen. (The anchor shrugs and acts like he shivers.) “Tomorrow will be a consequential day.”
3. Tapper in Washington and co-anchor Dana Bash is in Des Moines.
4. “Bone-chilling weather” and, incidentally, the 15th anniversary of State of the Union program on CNN.
5. This morning a poll showed Trump had the lead in the Iowa Caucuses at 48%; Haley with 20% and DeSantis in with 16%.
6. DeSantis appeared in the first segment of both SOTU and ABC (with Jonathon Karl anchoring.)
7. DeSantis: “We’re gonna do well in Iowa tomorrow.”
8. … “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you’re always a day away.”
9. … Did I tell you how much I hate that song?
10. DeSantis looks better when he smiles and shows his baby blues. Let’s see more of that. Loosen up a bit, bud.
11. Mr. DeSantis called the Houthis (Yemen, a political and military organization) a bunch of “malcontents.” We can’t let terrorist troops block ships in the Red Sea.”
12. DeSantis this, DeSantis that …
13. He visited all 99 counties in Iowa and is “very optimistic.”
14. He seemed really pumped up on ABC.
15. … Yeah, and he ran off at the mouth a lot too.
16. Bernie Sanders was the second guest on State of the Union, from Vermont.
17. CNN “supered” (lower third of TV screen), “Exclusive One-on-One” with Sanders.
18. … I guess you could call it “Exclusive” because he was only on one show this morning as far as I could tell.
19. … But you have to be watchful to what they-the networks-put up on the screen on these Sunday talk shows and other news programs throughout the week. The producers will practically call anything “exclusive” these days. It’s like “Breaking News” when nothing’s really breaking.
20. … Nothing’s exclusive, if you ask me.
21. Gaza is a “tremendous catastrophe” with “imminent starvation,” said Sanders.
22. … “Congress must take immediate action.”
23. Gov. J.B. Pritzger (D-IL) on ABC: The latest ABC News/Ipsos poll shows Biden at 33% with “the public reporting widespread economic discontent.”
24. J.B.: “Things are getting better in this country-and over the course of an election year, as the economy continues to improve, you’re gonna see poll numbers improve too.”
25. Jonathon Karl said it is supposed to be -19 degrees tomorrow in Iowa.
26. Fmr. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said. “It’s (Iowa) gonna be a wild ride in 2024.”
27. And he endorsed Nikki Haley. He said, “It’s pretty clear” that Trump will win in Iowa. But he thinks Haley has “all of the momentum to make her a strong nominee in November.
28. On “Full Measure” Sharyl Attkisson reported on transgender science and the use of a chemical compound called Atrazine which can cause changes in hormone levels and has been shown to impair sexual development in tadpoles leading to “hermaphroditism” and “demasculinization” and more.
29. … Is that enough for ya?
30. The other segments were Scott Thuman reporting on the threat of an expanding war in the Middle East; and Lisa Fletcher on mutilated money (cash that went up in flames due to a home or office fire) and that some of the charred dough could be redeemed.
31. … in Fletcher’s piece there were people with partial dollar bills that were almost a bunch of ashes and it was their job to put the cash puzzles together.
32. … What a great job.
33. CLOSE VIDEO: On CBS Sunday Morning, David Pogue (subbing for Jane Pauley) took us “swimming with the manatees in Crystal River, FL.”
34. … Of course, all “nat snd.” That’s inside TV language meaning that the sound is natural—no human voice attached to the “track.”
35. Meet the Press with Kristen Welker is in Iowa; Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan is in D.C. with reports from correspondents in Iowa.
36. Both of the above shows kicked off with the numbers: NBC’s dark khaki-wearing pants was at his board in New York, and Anthony Salvanto, CBS News director of elections and surveys, was at the desk in Washington with Brennan.
37. “Face” was right out of the gate, moving fast.
38. Meet the Press was at what looked like a restaurant/bar or something. Their set was filled with junk, cluttered, I’d say. Welker was at an oval wooden desk and that’s where the show was conducted from. Not very impressive and the space was too tight.
39. … ROLE REVERSAL: NBC’s Chief Political analyst Chuck Todd is in a different role-now as a guest/no longer anchoring MTP. He and Welker talked.
40. Asa Hutchinson, another presidential candidate-remember him?-was on FTN.
41. … So was Chris Sununu (R), governor of New Hampshire. His state will hold the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, Jan. 23., next week.
42. CNN’s “Inside Politics with Manu Raju“ was simply a Washington round table as it normally is except there were a lot of political soundbites Manu led into from his Capitol Hill daily gig.
43. Some evangelicals made a video called “God Made Trump.” Whew. The lengths they’ll go.
44. That’s it. I’ve had it.
45. UH … I’ve Had It by The Bell Notes, 1959 on the Time record label.
46. Careful driving in Iowa tomorrow. Don’t let a snow plow, plow you down.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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