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Jewish World Review Feb. 17, 2000 / 11 Adar I, 5760
Chris Matthews
"It's a crazy show," he only partially confesses, talking about his weekday Big Top under which people are the circus animals. "It's the stupidest show on television. But it's fun. It's a great time."
It's worse, of course.
What "Jerry Springer" sells Monday through Friday is a particular form of pleasure, as sick as it is secret.
It's what Germans call "schadenfreude," joy through others' tragedy. It's the reason people used to watch Christians face the lions, why there was always a packed public square to watch the condemned approach the gallows.
"The Senate, that would be lovely," Springer replies when asked about the rumor last summer that he might run for that office from Ohio. "I would love that, but I don't think I would be taken seriously as long as I do this show."
Agreed. But what if he didn't? What if this '60s student activist, this fan of Robert Kennedy, graduate of Northwestern law school and former mayor of Cincinnati had followed a different path?
The reason I ask is that a half-hour political conversation with this outrageous TV tummeler suggests he may be one of the sharpest knives in the drawer. The show-biz zeal that's made him millions -- put him in 200 American cities and 50 countries overseas -- is matched by a world-class mind and a surprisingly keen citizenship.
Consider Springer's thoughts on the quartet now making the best run at the presidency.
John McCain: "Politics is a matter of moments, and this is McCain's moment. There's going to be a barrage of Bush ads and, all of a sudden, some of that luster will be off."
On George W. Bush: "I'd like to ask him the Roger Mudd question: Why do you want to be president? That's his problem right there. That's it! There is something -- and it's not even their fault -- about the Bushes that you don't sense is passion. You sense it's a career move."
On Democrat Bill Bradley: "He's so independent in his life, not just in his politics. Can he really get along with that Congress? It wasn't like he enjoyed working with them when he was in the Senate.
"One of Jimmy Carter's problems was that he really thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room. How are you going to get the deals done?"
His favorite question for Al Gore, which would have to be asked with the help of truth serum, concerns the VP's state of mind in those infamous first nine months of 1998 when boss Bill was still keeping the covers on Monica.
"When did he know about Clinton? When did he really know, not when he was told but when he was sitting at home with his wife and they were talking about it? When did he really know, because that says something."
Jerry Springer. He's a lot sharper guy than "Jerry
02/14/00: McCainia and the frisky independents
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