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Connie Chung is, just... oh my G-d (video)

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 8:45 AM on June 19, 2006.


Gasp.

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When a person is able to make a complete ass of themselves I can't help but have a little respect.

If you want to skip my commentary, by the way, and just click on the train-wreck of a video below, please do so. A source, very close to AlterNet commented: "If Imelda Marcos had had a daughter, her name would have been Connie Chung."

Gawker writes: "Everytime Connie Chung Says Goodbye We Die A Little, Especially This Time."

As someone who grew up in the NYC area with Connie Chung as a one of the premier newscasters, this performance is especially perplexing. Imagine what an Asian-American woman had to go through to become a TV anchor in the nation's largest market.

Now, imagine said anchor becoming the epitome of the buffoonish nature of the contemporary newsroom. Or don't bother -- just watch the clip below:

(Gawker)

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Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.


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View:
Truly Cinematic
Posted by: trampoline on Jun 19, 2006 8:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's like the Big Cringe scene in a painfully well-done movie.

Todd Solondz and Ricky Gervais couldn't have made me any less comfortable.

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Good sport!
Posted by: americandissentradio on Jun 19, 2006 9:07 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
She's having fun. The grunt as she comes off the piano is just funny. Cameron Diaz did a similar bit in "My Best Friend's Wedding" and she stole the movie.

Self-humiliation for humor is hard to pull off. You have to appear unaware of your humilation to get the laugh. It's an increasingly popular form of comedy (The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Strangers with Candy, Colbert Report) and Connie Chung just put herself well within a group of telented funny people.

I will always respect her for this.

Great laugh.

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oy
Posted by: sui_generis on Jun 19, 2006 9:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think whether or not it was intended as self-parody and "correctly" executed as such is irrelevant. One has to have some kind of serious standing or a shred of gravitas to begin with to engage in such auto-satire. The fact that nobody knows whether to laugh or cover their eyes when it comes to Connie's just shows she doesn't have even half the reputation it would take to pull something like this off and end up cooler, rather than even more of an embarrassment than before...

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EastMeetsWestCorp, LLP
Posted by: Jimmy Cee on Jun 19, 2006 9:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sorry to disagree...but Connie Chung is still a 'Class Act' and she pulled out all the stops on this one, bringing the curtains down on another chapter in her remarkable life. Perhaps I could be called 'biased' in her favor, as I've always admired her and, besides, I don't just admire her for her 'brains'.
That 'grrrl' has got a great set of gams, as they used say, and she knows how to use 'em! First rate performance!

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Connie Chung can - - -
Posted by: NotNeoCon on Jun 19, 2006 9:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Connie Chung can put her shoes under my bed, anytime.

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Talentless.
Posted by: Meehan on Jun 19, 2006 10:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Weekends with Maury and Connie is the equivalent of watching a turd circle the bowl, desperately attempting to cling to the porcelain sides in a vain effort to forestall the inevitable - finally being flushed. Now that this has actually happened, the only thing left to do is wait for the stench to dissipate.

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THE BEST CANCELLATION SHOW EVER!
Posted by: chanceny on Jun 19, 2006 10:59 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I doubt Connie will use this tape to audition for anchoring at any of our fine tv stations, but, considering the bloviating morons now holding sway at their 'newsdesks', she'd be a breath of clean air. She was obviously having fun at her own expense and I'm sure her Maury had little, if anything, to say. Maybe this could start a trend. I'd love to see cancellation notices go out to Hannity, O'Reilly, Rita Cosby & all the other factually challenged, personality hampered blabbers. They could get together in a chorus line, kicking their RIGHT legs only and croaking out their outrage at being fired with the same sanctimonious passion they've been puking up on air for way too long. A lovely thought, no? But, alas, not a one of their ilk could possibly even hope to equal the Connie rendition. They would need a sense of humor, an understanding of irony, and, most of all, the ability to acknowledge reality. Those qualifications would have made them unfit for Scarborough country and even worse, would be such an affront toChris-machowannabe- Matthews, they would not even get a seat on his famous bush bootlicking panel.

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actually...
Posted by: bryanhurst on Jun 19, 2006 11:37 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I kinda liked it.

I never saw their show, and I heard it was awful, and yes both she and her husband have become a bit of a joke. (Though no worse than 80-90% of the people on TV these days.)

But it looks like a deelish way to tell their former employers to go get fucked. My only question: is that guy at the piano even playing? Can't hear him, and that may be why Connie manages to unintentionally wander off into about five different keys while singing...

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Connie is Okay!
Posted by: Romdrom on Jun 19, 2006 4:10 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sad as this was to watch, it's nice to see behind the veneer. Of course blocking out the accompaniment was sort of slimey. Next to Walter Cronkite I trusted her reporting and take on the news the most. She was great, and then she got passed over for the pretty, dumb blonds and it made me sick. She was never a lightweight. She had breeding and class, something sorely missing in today's attempt at journalism.

One embarassing moment in my life was standing on Rodeo Drive at a light behind two men in suits. Connie drove by in her red Mercedes and one man said to the other "I'd sure like to throw one in to that." The other man replied, "Yeeeeeep!" Then they both noticed me. You go, girl! Chin up! You had it and you've got it still. You gave them something in that performance that they are kin to.

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Mr.
Posted by: rwallace on Jun 19, 2006 5:53 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
OMG!!

This is like watching a fatal car accident in slow motion..........

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What a dork
Posted by: Newbie1 on Jun 19, 2006 6:19 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I love how people like to make complete fools of themselves in order to gain publicity. This was PAINFUL to watch!

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IDOL
Posted by: davewuxi on Jun 20, 2006 4:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Looks like suitable candidate for the next series of American Idol.

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SHE DOES HAVE A DAUGHTER!
Posted by: iamreallyfunky on Jun 22, 2006 9:00 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Actually, IMELDA MARCOS (former First Lady of The Philippines and former Miss Manila 1956) does have a daughter -- in fact 3 daughters and a son!

Eldest daughter is IMEE MARCOS (a graduate of Princeton University) who is a now a Congresswoman in the Philippines representing the same Congressional District her father held before he became President of the Philippines. She is rumored to be running for the Philippine SENATE next year. IMEE is also popularly known as the mother of BORGY MARCOS MANOTOC -- one of the most popular male models in Asia and the Host of the popular Philippine TV show "It's a Guy Thing" (see www.mostbeautifulman.com/misc/borgymanotoc/bio.shtml ). In fact, mainly because of his drop-dead gorgeous looks and his charisma, BORGY (who is IMELDA's favorite grandson) has been constantly voted as the MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR IN THE PHILIPPINES repeatedly out-polling even Cory Aquino's bachelor son, Congressman Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

IMELDA's only son, FERDINAND "BONG-BONG" MARCOS JR. (a graduate of both Oxford and the Univ. of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School), is the popular 3-term Governor of Ilocos (the Northern Philippines).

IMELDA has 2 other daughters -- IRENE and AIMEE. both of whom are private citizens.

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Connie, Imelda, Bong-Bong?
Posted by: Carl Hendrickson on Jun 23, 2006 8:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Who the hell cares!

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oh my
Posted by: BEZERKO on Jun 24, 2006 4:58 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
OMIGAWD!

It's like a trainwreck, you have to watch it.

"The horror, the horror..."

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It's not that bad...is it?
Posted by: joaniede on Jun 24, 2006 6:07 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If that had been Katie Couric no one would be saying anything. Yes, probably because Katie could pull it off a heck of a lot better, but Connie wasn't THAT bad...okay, yes she was. Never mind. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING????

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Alternet presents.... Infotainment
Posted by: boblippold on Jun 24, 2006 8:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
C'mon! I send my support to Alternet for this? Irrelevant. You're wasting bandwidth.

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The "JackAss-ization" of TV News' "Old Guard"
Posted by: pelle_in_goal on Jun 24, 2006 9:17 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think people may be missing the journalistic statement being made in the last week about the TV news industry -- both by management and "labor."

Dan Rather undergoing a forced retirement and Connie Chung's "up yours" farewell to MSNBC were both part of the same process -- to present what little was left of moderate MSM as a "dying breed."

The Rather story is far more intriguing. In 2004, Rather was either set up by Viacom/CBS or took one for the team -- as they say -- with the Killian/Lt. Col. Burkett papers about Bush's Texas ANG service. That story couldn't possibly have been anything but a pre-emptive strike against somebody bringing Bush's fraudulent National Guard service up just before the November 2004 elections. In the end Dan got "swiftboated." And Viacom/CBS got "payback" at Mary Mapes -- who was eventually set-up as the fall guy (fall gal?) and fired over the Bush Texas ANG affair.

Mapes had recently produced news segements that 1) helped expose the Abu Ghraib atrocities, and 2) revealed that Strom Thurmond had a interracial daughter out of wedlock.

I once thought that Rather was merely naive enough to get sucked into the now-called "Rathergate" affair but the set-up was indeed a sophisticated GOP plot to make it look like CBS was trying to throw the election to Kerry when the opposite was true. Many in the GOP had been pushing for Mapes' head even before Rathergate -- especially she produced a story casting "shame" on a GOP icon like Thurmond.

Connie Chung's farewell was her giving the finger to MSNBC -- and, I think TV journalism as a whole -- because it HAS become a "circus" complete with freak shows. I'm glad the parody she put on wasn't missed by everybody.

But -- as expected -- nearly all of the MSM just "played dumb" and took Chung's farewell as "just another day at the office." Sadly, that gives you an idea of what a day at their office has become -- at places like CNN and Faux News and the others. People in charge take White House, Pentagon, and Treasury Department press releases over the phones and fax machines and turn them into the day's neo-con propaganda.

Pravda reporters were more critical than the goons and lackeys brought in to run today's "new" TV news. That's why it's become little more than a propaganda tool for the GOP, their lobbyists, major defense contractors, and oil megacorps.

Who needs journalists?

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I think it's HILARIOUS
Posted by: helenwheels on Jun 24, 2006 9:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And I love people who can be self-deprecating. Keith Olbermann interviewed her by phone about it, and she said she couldn't have a pianist actually play because how off-tune she sings.

I have to say, that grunt coming down off the piano was a gut-buster. She's one funny lady. And able to point fun at herself. I'd call that a class act.

Plus, I give her credit for knowing she has a crappy voice and loving to sing anyway. Good for Connie!

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» RE: I think it's HILARIOUS Posted by: jazz35
ChiChi
Posted by: colleenmarie1@comcast.net on Jun 24, 2006 11:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I thought Connie was hysterical. Especially "climbing" off the piano. She did it to be funny and she was. You go girl -

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Un-funny!
Posted by: Steven Wanzell on Jun 24, 2006 2:41 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What's funny is that she chose to do it. For me, she lost all journalistic integrity years ago, when she (so obviously!) tricked the totally naive mother of Newt Gingrich into saying on tape "Hillary is a B-I-T-C-H", telling the silly old bag "it's just between us", as sound and cameras rolled.

But still, I congratulate Connie for revealing the "integrity" of the corporate-owned media, and its mouthpeices, yet again.

Steven Wanzell
artist/activist/ex-American
www.wanzellarts.com.ar

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HOW PATHETIC!
Posted by: yogendra2 on Jun 25, 2006 6:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
REMEMBER CONNIE'S SHORT SHORT STINT ON CNN. WELL . . . .

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A star is born
Posted by: veive on Jun 25, 2006 9:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If Connie can hook up with William Hung the next American Idol competition is over. Let's hear it for cacophony. We here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave are blessed with a surfeit of talent, that goes along nicely with all our other surfeits (which, incidentally are rapidly turning into dearths).

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NABNYC
Posted by: NABNYC on Jun 25, 2006 10:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think she is impaired. I've noticed, the few times I've watched even a bit of their show, that she is very slow on the uptake, and seems to miss a lot. I hope she gets help. And I wish people would just take a pass on this one - it's too cheap to get a laugh off of someone who clearly has a problem.

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Connie Chung
Posted by: mayo38 on Jun 25, 2006 5:25 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Agree with all the positive feedback. This is one lady who has won respect and now merits a shared grin.

What a sendoff!

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