AOL Money & Finance

LarryKing posts

Feed

Bin Laden's latest video blames Bush's weakness for Gazan plight

One of George W. Bush's professors at Harvard Business School said, "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago."

Exploiting a weakness in the U.S. Constitution, Bush became president in 2000 despite losing the popular vote. He ignored an August 2001 Presidential Daily Brief titled: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S. Then he used that attack -- along with some trumped up evidence of WMDs -- to justify an invasion into Iraq that killed thousands of people and cost trillions.

Now as Bush goes on his self-pity tour before he (hopefully) leaves office in less than a week, bin Laden is apparently still alive and enjoying a last laugh at Bush. Bin Laden's latest video blames Bush for weakening America which permitted Israel to invade Gaza. Bin Laden is partially right -- Bush has weakened America.

Continue reading Bin Laden's latest video blames Bush's weakness for Gazan plight

Is Couric out at CBS?

Broadcasting and Cable reports that Katie Couric, the anchor of CBS Corp.'s (NYSE: CBS) Evening News, may leave well before her $15 million a year contract expires in 2011. It suggests Couric could leave as early as next year, following the presidential inauguration in January.

Why would she leave? It looks like low ratings are forcing her out. Despite the media blitz surrounding her 2006 move from NBC's Today show, Couric did little to help the ratings, as CBS Evening News has struggled to find ratings ground behind NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

While I rarely watch her show, the few times I have she seems to be drained of life -- it is as if she is being forced to play a role that she finds excruciatingly difficult to perform. I think there is a place for her on TV but that is not it. I will be interested to see who comes in after her.

Update: The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reports that Couric might replace Larry King when his contract expires in 2009. It notes: "One possible new job for the Ms. Couric: succeeding Larry King at Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CNN [which shares a parent with BloggingStocks]. Mr. King, who is 74 years old, has a contract with the network into 2009. CNN President Jon Klein, a CBS veteran with close ties to some at the network, has expressed admiration for Ms. Couric's work, and the two are friends."

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Crox -- beauty is foot deep, but ugly goes right to the bone

I had a notion once to start a guerrilla marketing company, offering to destroy competing brands by dressing the ugliest, most loathsome people I could find in that competing brand's product.

Now, I don't mean to suggest that Dean Cain (Superboy) or G.W. Bush (Superpresidenter guy) fall into that category, but Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) has to be a little concerned when the brand shows up on C-list actors and unpopular politicians.

This caused me to jot down a list of Crocs-killers -- people who, by adopting the footwear, could trash the brand. In no particular order --

  • Kim Il Jong
  • Larry King
  • Ziggy
  • Mike Tyson
  • Osama bin Laden (only in U.S., however)
  • Draco Malfoy
  • Joan Rivers
  • Al Gore
  • Tom Barlow (if you knew me, you'd understand.)

There's a reason trendy nightclubs have doormen to weed out us dweebs. Perhaps Crocs should consider the same.

Media World: Fox News is more disciplined, former CNN anchor says

News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News channel received praise from an unlikely source: former CNN anchor Aaron Brown.

In an interview with TV Newser, Brown described Fox as "very disciplined, ratings-directed news organization, or whatever they are" and CNN as "an organization that is trying to figure out if it can be all things to all people."

Though Brown is bitter about his departure from the Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) network, he does have a point. Fox didn't only win the cable ratings war because of politics. It hired better broadcasters and put out more memorable shows. Roger Ailes figured out early that people tune into cable expecting opinions and that's what Fox gave them.

CNN has fought back though, adding blowhards such as Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace, CNN Headline News does decently in the ratings. Lou Dobbs' crusade against illegal immigration also has resonated with the public, which is kind of scary. It's also scored its share of scoops including Larry King's Paris Hilton interview. (Yeah she's horrible, but people are interested).

Continue reading Media World: Fox News is more disciplined, former CNN anchor says

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-21.9110,205.03
NASDAQ-9.852,144.21
S&P 500-4.521,088.56

Last updated: November 10, 2009: 12:51 PM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

WalletPop Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance