Go for it, Tone. I don't mind what you say -- as long as you don't disparage healthy eating! (That isn't and should never be considered political.)

Being your authentic self --- that's your metier. Don't loose it. And don't listen to these faux sensitive, obviously extreme rightwingnuts who don't know the meaning of the word "flexibility."

@ david s:

You're buying some media hype that Hannity has 15 million unique viewers per week? LOL! And you say this country is largely conservative? Is that the country that woman was talking about when she said, "I want my country back?"

Well, guess what? That country doesn't exist. And hasn't for many decades. You just didn't see it changing. That country you speak of is now all in your head.

I wonder if Bourdain really reads these? Well I hope he does. I would like to say that you have a great show. I find it very entertaining. I do however find myself wanting to turn the channel when it comes to the political comments.

Yes,we all have an opinion and we cannot please everyone. I just look at people like David Letterman who is always making political comments and the dropping veiwership he continues to have. I think many people today are frustrated by politics and most look for an escape from it.

This could be mostly why topical movies never do very well at the box office. There will always be MSNBC and FOX and every other media outlet available for political commentaries.

You are certainly entitled to your opinions and beliefs. I just feel that the political comments take away from the show.I dont think it would be good if all the righties decided to stop watching just like the lefties would do if you were on the right. With that being said I really hope your show continues in its success.

quote:

Originally posted by houstonff1980:
I just look at people like David Letterman who is always making political comments and the dropping veiwership he continues to have.

You are absolutly right. Not just Letterman (which I had watched for 20+ yrs) but Oprah and others. Didn't do them any good either. I do not look to them for political views, just entertainment. I and obviouly many others have stopped watching shows that I had tuned into for many years. Just found Anthony, won't be hard to lose him.

Will these TV personalities ever learn? Apparently only when it hits their pocket book, notice how Letterman's retoric has toned down?

@ Houstonff1980 & gardendiva: Per the latest Nielsen ratings:

CBS’s LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN continues to grow its audience, posting audience gains versus the same week last year, versus last summer and television year-to-date, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings through the week ending Aug. 21.

LATE SHOW delivered a 2.4/06 in households with an average of 3.41m viewers, up +26% in both households (from 1.9/05) and viewers (from 2.70m) compared to the same week last year (a week of rebroadcasts). LATE SHOW was up +22% in adults 25-54 (1.1/05 from 0.9/03), +14% in adults 18-49 (0.8/04 from 0.7/03) and even in adults 18-34 (0.5/02) compared to the same week last year.

Compared to last summer (from 6/1/09 when Conan O’Brien debuted as host of “The Tonight Show” through 8/21/09), LATE SHOW is up +11% in viewers (3.44m vs. 3.10m).

Television year-to-date, LATE SHOW is up +5% in viewers (3.71m from 3.54m) compared to last year.

In the week ending Aug. 21, LATE SHOW beat “The Tonight Show” rebroadcasts in households (2.4/06 vs. 1.8/05, +33%) and viewers (3.41m vs. 2.47m, +38%). The programs were tied in adults 25-54 (1.1/05, each). This marks LATE SHOW’S seventh consecutive weekly win in viewers over “The Tonight Show.”

Seems like Letterman's doing ok. Next time why don't you do your homework before making inaccurate comments. I don't even watch late night talk shows but it only took a couple of clicks to check the numbers. BTW, I'm not a Democrat either.

Touche Mr. Swamprat. It does appear Lettermans rating are back on the upside. I wonder if that has anything to do with Bush being out of office and Leno's absence in the late night line up?

My overall point is...that if I wore my politics on my sleeve, at the end of the day I would most likely be surrounded by only people who think and feel the same way I do.

I disagree with his poitical thoughts but who cares Personally I think he has a gigger bark than bite and is more center than he leads on . Plus remember that East coaster's just don't know any better .

Thanks, swamp rat, for the real facts. Those who are offended by Tony's political snark are ONLY those who totally disagree with his position. They out themselves by complaining.

Those who are such extreme rightists watch Fixed News. Or should I say Faux Noise. They watch it to the exclusion of all other news sources. They therefore commit themselves to an information ghetto, willingly. They do not appreciate when anyone reminds them that they've stepped out of it.

It's a very small ghetto. Only 3.6 - 3.9 million unique viewers TOPS, at Faux Noise's most popular program, The Factor. All other Faux shows rate significantly lower -- and it's over-all daily rating is a fraction of ABC's, which is the lowest of the network channels.

But they don't want to hear that either, and neither does Faux want them to know it. Last night I saw OhReally! spinning his numbers in the most ludicrous way. It was like a school yard bully yelling how big HIS was, waiting for everyone to start shaking their heads in agreement. Pathetic doesn't cover it. Seems not telling the truth about ratings is just as important to him and his audience as not telling the truth about everything else.

@ houstonff1980: You wrote, "My overall point is...that if I wore my politics on my sleeve, at the end of the day I would most likely be surrounded by only people who think and feel the same way I do."

Exactly! The comments saying Tony's remark about Sean Hannity will keep them from watching the program are "wearing politics on their sleeves". So by not watching a person who disagrees with them, they are guilty of exactly what they preach against.

I think back to William Buckley, the father of the conservative movement, and his close friendship with John Kenneth Galbraith, who was as liberal as could be. If they were so narrow minded, they could never have been friends. In fact, being that way excludes half your possible friendships.

@ jozla: What some here might not have considered is that Tony's remark about Hannity didn't necessarily mean he was super liberal. He might just think Hannity's political opinions are superficial and mostly nonsensical. If he does, I agree with him. I also think Keith Olbermann's political opinions are just as superficial and nonsensical.

It certainly doesn't mean he thinks all conservative ideas are bad or all liberal ones are good. That's just making an assumption. The people who have popped off about Tony on this thread have all made that assumption. What if he just hates superficial knee-jerk political talking heads?

@ swamp:

You are a rational person in an irrational time.

I feel the need to respond to the OP's statement, but from the opposite end of the spectrum. Now, I am from San Antonio/Austin Texas (I'm sure what plenty of East-coast ivory tower types consider the ignorance pit) and I certainly have no problem with snuffing Porky or the occasional choking of a chicken (so to speak), or the constant munching of balls in the show (really, what's up with that? Does he having a running testi eating bet with Zimmern?) but when Anthony went to (I believe it was Scotland) and stayed in a certain hotel, famous for it's heavy influx of authors as patrons, I was offended. First off, because he commented on several other sub-standard writers and skipped over mentioning the brilliant 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell', by the illustrious Susanna Clarke (only half-kidding). Second, he stated that Noam Chomsky hated America and proceeded to (very disrespectfully) sign (deface, whatever) what I believe was Noam's book, 'Hegemony or Survival'. If Mr. Bourdain believes that Chomsky hates America, he obviously has not read a word of his writing correctly. It is because Chomsky cares about us (us being the future of this nation) that he even gives even the slightest s**t about confronting the hypocrisy in our general understanding of the United States government and the wrong-doings that are constantly at work. The man single handedly modernized linguistics and could have spent the rest of his life in relative anonymity, with far less (or no) resentment and negativity associated with his name. Instead, because of social duty and his overwhelming ability to intellectually bully the lame, fake-conservative, neo-con right, and a frail, p***y, pandering and agenda-confused left, he writes books of fact. The man labors over hundreds of newspapers and declassified files to further educate us in the reality of the current state of politics. Is this not noble? Is it not a sacrifice to be hated in order to inform those that aren't too chauvinist to want to know the true facts? Some would call Mr. Chomsky a patriot for his effort. My point is that he (Chomsky) does not deserve Tony (or fans of No Reservations reaction that he might inspire to do the same)'s vitriol or baseless judgment. I do support the original poster's understanding that politics of a certain kind (and the blatant defacing of books) have no place on the program. Keep to what you do best Mr. Bourdain, eating, getting drunk and being a grandiloquent and irreverent wisecracker. Still a big fan of the show. ~BXR

I don't understand why people are freaking out about this? I think you have to be a politician to be able to say that was a political jab. Neither Tony or Hannity are the latter. Neither are reporter(although Hannity thinks he is). These men are both commentators and entertainers. So everyone cool your jets and relax and be entertained. It is their opinion that makes both these men entertaining so please allow them to have one. If Tony said he hate game meat, it does not mean he hates hunters. And if Hannity says he thinks the President made a mistake is doesn't make him a terrorist. So settle down, relax, enjoy and remember no matter who it is you will never agree with him/her all the time, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the things you do agree with. Aren't any of you married out there?

quote:

Originally posted by david s:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/122...-prevails-south.aspx

Do you even read your own "facts"? Since when does a gallup poll regarding the conservatives in the South considered as the views of the entire country?

quote:

Originally posted by deejus:
Do you even read your own "facts"? Since when does a gallup poll regarding the conservatives in the South considered as the views of the entire country?

May I suggest opening the link and reading past the headline? But if you're only going to read the headline, try this then...

http://www.gallup.com/poll/120...eological-group.aspx

.

quote:

Originally posted by david s:
May I suggest opening the link and reading past the headline?

May I suggest you take your own advice? From your own article it says:

"-- the percentage identifying themselves as "conservative" does not by itself provide a complete picture of the relative strength of conservatism across states. For this reason, the "net conservative" statistic -- defined as the total percentage calling themselves conservative minus the total percentage defining themselves as liberal -- is used in the accompanying map to identify the ideological makeup of each state."

Then look at the map key and see how many colors they have for anything remotely conservative and how many they have for anything liberal.

As a marketer, I can tell you the way they made the survey out to be was that even the ones that do not affiliate with practicing conservatives were affiliated with the ones that were full conservative.

quote:

Originally posted by deejus:
As a marketer, I can tell you the way they made the survey out to be was that even the ones that do not affiliate with practicing conservatives were affiliated with the ones that were full conservative.

That's not true. Gallup is highly regarded as an objective opinion poll. They don't form their polls and "market" or present their results to benefit any party or ideology.

"These findings are based on Americans' answers to a question asking whether their political views are very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, or very liberal."

Those that did not affiliate with practicing conservatives, or liberals for that matter, were counted as moderate and are not reflected on the map.

The reason the map is colored that way is because "conservatives outnumber liberals in nearly every state". The map is simply a representation of the percentage point advantage of conservatives over liberals.

"States where the conservatives' advantage over liberals is greater than 25 percentage points are defined as Most Conservative. Net conservatism registering 20 to 25 points is defined as More Conservative; from 10 to 19 points, as Somewhat Conservative; and from 1 to 9 points, as Less Conservative. Only Washington, D.C., which has more liberals than conservatives, is defined as Liberal."

Now look at the data from the second link I provided, which simplifies things. 40% conservative; 35% moderate; 21% liberal.

All things considered, I suppose my original post would have been more accurate had I used the phrase "a more conservative than liberal country by almost two to one" as opposed to "a mostly conservative country". I'll concede that.

This would all be a whole lot easier if the moderates would get off the fence, but that's another subject.

This is one of the few shows in the whole of television that is still worth watching. Tony, please don't ruin it by bringing the ugly world of politics to your program.

Can we not leave politics out of the show?

Cane we let an interesting multi-faceted guy express his opinions and not get bent out of shape because we don't agree with his opinions?

Can we just shut the hell up and enjoy the freaking show?

Guess not.But it's a thought.

In tonight's recap of "highlights" past, Tony makes a snarky comment about Lindsey Lohan's vanishing career. It was made in the EXACT same spirit as his comment about (of all people totally unworthy of all this angst) Yawn Hammity.

Why didn't any of those offended viewers pick up on the fact that this is Tony's style? That he specializes in these drive-by/hit-and-run snarks? But no-o-o-o-o-o... it has to be taken as political, even though Hammity is an entertainer and not even a news anchor.

Shows how confused our media has become.

to Jozla: Where are your liberal 'broad sympathies'? Do they just not include the right wing and disgraced former child actors? (I kid)
to all: I am genuinely shocked that no one has commented on my previous post, in particular with Sean Hannity getting much backing on this board you would figure that there be more Chomsky bashing from this crowd. Ultimately it's more a matter of what is entertaining. Tony picking on Lindsay Lohan is pleasing to most everyone, where as political figures in the states (valid minds or talking-heads) are still too polarizing to be universally pleasant. Not only that but politics are maddening to some and boring to most, so who really wants to be confronted with that when choosing a travel/food program? Tony is old enough, traveled enough and punk-rock enough to probably not 100% "believe" in much of anything anymore, as far as full constructed political allegiance (for example, he f***ed with Hannity, far right viewers, as well as with Chomsky, far left readership). Anyone who puts aside his or her own prejudice can most likely find st least one piece of legislation or propaganda from the opposite side of where your politics sit, and say to themselves that it makes sense. Like, I'm probably what most would consider a die-hard lefty, but I love owning and operating guns (consider Hunter S. Thompson). Tony can say whatever he wants, it is his show. But if he wants to keep inclusively entertaining us all, it would be wise to leave the left or right (or left versus right, R vs. L) out of his show. Just one man's opinion.