About 20 years ago I met Paul McCartney. We spent four days together in Chicago. I was with CBS News at the time doing a 90-minute show about him for the program 48 Hours.
We hit it off. Two blue collar guys, one from Liverpool the other from the Bronx. After we finished the shoot, I went to his hotel suite to say goodbye. We talked for a while then I turned to leave. Paul, standing in the doorway as I walked down the long hallway of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Chicago, yelled out to me: “See you around, Dave.”
I slowly turned, looked back, smiled, and said, “After four days and you still don’t know my name.”
“Sure I do,” he said.
Since I didn’t believe him, I said, “Really, what is it?”
“Bernie,” he shot back in no time flat.
“So why did you just call me Dave?”
“I call all Americans Dave,” he said, with a smile of his own.
“No problem, Ringo,” I said, and then turned and continued walking away, down that long hallway.
I saw him again a few years later when he came to Miami. We chatted backstage before his show. I introduced him to my wife Nancy, and my son Brian played video games with his son James. Like I said, we hit it off. Which is why it’s not easy for me to now suggest to my pal Paul: Shut the hell up!
The other day McCartney told the Sun newspaper in England that, “Sadly we need disasters like this [the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico] to show people. Some people don’t believe in climate warming – like those who don’t believe there was a Holocaust.”
Quick question, Paul: What does global warming have to do with the oil spill in the Gulf?
While we’re waiting for an answer, let me point out that McCartney said pretty much what CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes has said. After doing a completely one-sided story on global warming – or climate change, or whatever they’re calling it this week – Pelley was asked why the bias. “If I do an interview with [Holocaust survior] Elie Wiesel, am I required as a journalist to find a Holocaust denier?”
This is mainstream liberal opinion, whether you’re a journalist or an ex-Beatle.
“There comes a point in journalism,” Pelley said, “where striving for balance becomes irresponsible.”
That would be true if someone said “The Earth is round” and some reporter ran out to find an idiot who said, “The Earth is flat.” But the jury is still out on whether global warming is a man-made catastrophe about to kill us all.
Pelley ought to know that. McCartney ought to stick to what he knows about Eleanor Rigby.
This wasn’t McCartney’s first leap into the world of liberal commentary. Just a few weeks earlier at the White House, after receiving the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from Presidesnt Obama, McCartney told the audience, “After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.”
A liberal taking a cheap shot at W: Now there’s one I didn’t see coming.
I like Paul. I like his music and I like his easy going, non-elitist, regular-guy style. So Paul, please — Shut Up and Sing!
Is it strange that Obama gives award to prolific pot smoker while 3 miles away the feds bust some kid for it. Or just ask Willie.
Ted Nugent & Gene Simmions are about the only “enligtned one’s” ( musicians )about politics. the rest are pretty much in a “Purple Haze”.
Ted Nugent is another European-basher who talks tough with a gun in his hand.
Gene Simmons, I have no real opinion about.
Bernie from Wynnewood PA.Cheers to you Bernie for telling Paul McCartney to keep his big mouth closed and use it for singing.
I am not sure anyone should shut up because I disagree with their views. What bothered me about the White House comments was where he made them and the fact that the President and crowd was not bothered by someone criticizing a former President at a White House event and laughed at it.
I just added this at Digg.
Thank God for Paul McCartney’s (and the Beatles’) songs. McCartney’s nutty politics are another matter, though.
[...] Paul, Eleanor Rigby and Me … | Bernard Goldberg [...]
The guy is too busy hanging out with rock stars while the gulf is being destroyed:
http://americaspeaksink.com/2010/07/bp-oil-spill-revolutionary-war-lost-over-two-hundred-years-later/
Paul McCartney should really shut up. He sounds like an old fool when he speaks of global warming or of his fondness of Obama. Really, Sir Paul? You like Obama? Even you Brits and all of Europe are finally waking up to socialism. It doesn’t work. But of course when one is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, they becomes so detached from the common man,they lose all common sense. He doesn’t speak for the masses. He speaks because he’s a liberal progressive elitist. Makes me want to throw my Beatles records away. Hey, Ringo may feel the same way, but at least he doesn’t seek the spotlight to voice his views one way or the other. He is an entertainer, not a political columnist. Take a cue Sir Paul.
Well, who said Sir Paul has sound judgement.
http://www.gearlog.com/2008/05/paul_mccartneys_13gallon_lexus.php
I have to admit I am a closet Beatles fan – seems like McCartney is not taking aging very well – smartwise.
God bless him!
Thanks for the “God created the irony” comment – I am still laughing.
Paul who ?????
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Holly Bacon, Dave Brush. Dave Brush said: Paul, Eleanor Rigby and Me …: About 20 years ago I met Paul McCartney. We spent four days together in Chicago. I… http://bit.ly/9WLJyO [...]
As you get older you get wiser.
What happened Sir Paul?
I think much less of Paul McCartney because of this. There was no need for a remark like that. One would think that a man of his years and experience would have some sense of decorum. Fool On The Hill indeed.
Bernie-you’re right-show business people should keep their opinions to themselves. Evidently they do not fear alienating those in their audience with their stupid remarks because, in the limit, there are enough people of feelings similar to theirs not to be turned off by them. I’m personally offended by any singer or actor who presumes to tell me of their political feelings. While I freely accept their superiority to me in singing or acting, I DO NOT acknowledge any such in political analysis. I make it a practice to avoid watching or listening to the performance of any person in show business who publicly mouths off and if everybody would do similarly those performing seals would definitelySHUT THE HELL UP.
I agree with another post that I saw here; George Bush married a librarian/school teacher who has worked on literacy causes. I think Bush might be a little familiar with libraries.
In Paul McCartney’s case, you have to take his comments in context. When he made the cheap shot at Bush, he was performing at the White House in front of what was most likely a group of liberal elitists; he wanted to score some cheap points with the crowd. (By the way, just asking, but who paid for that party at the WH, anyway?)
Making his statement comparing climate change critics to Holocaust deniers was sheer stupidity. Six million jews died in the holocaust; the effects of global warming haven’t been conclusively proven one way or the other.
Paul McCartney may have started out “a regular, non-elitist guy” but after almost 50 years of mega-stardom I think he’s forgotten what that means.
Now you are definitely one of my hero’s! Iiving near those young hooligan’s enabled me to watch them when they were Leather clad rockers who went off to Hamburg and returned to change my world.
My mother hated John Lennon for his uncompromising attiitude and the way he upset so many Americans. I loved him so I had to keep my head down!
I just wish Paul would grow up like all his founding fans have done. He cannot write good songs without his partner and he certainly has no idea about anything else.
As I understand it, most Lennon/McCartney songs were written by either one of the two rather than as a collaboration. Therefore, Mr. McCartney wrote many good songs without his partner.
It’s fully documented who wrote what and they collaborated many many times in the early days and speaking about early days, From ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ to the end was about 7 years.
Damn I like ‘Martha My Dear’.
‘When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you…’
Paul McCartney’s wisecrack about Bush was probably rather mild compared to what John Lennon would have said about the man, in which case Lennon would have been accused of being unable to write good songs without his partner.
After fifty years, it’s good to know that at least one Beatle has been to a library.
That said, conservatives, in general, subscribe to the principle of “err on the side of caution,” e.g., when it comes to stuff like to Saddam sitting on stockpiles of WMDs that he could have handed off to a terrorist group, or the possibility that Iran could secretly be building a nuclear weapon.
Although there were certainly two sides to the issue and plenty of dissenters, in the run up to the Iraq war, conservatives were falling over each other dismissing all who expressed doubt in the WMD scenario as liberal nuts who, for ideological reasons, turned a blind eye on the evidence.
Strangely, when it comes to climate change, conservatives are falling over each other erring on the side that there’s no problem and no counter measures are necessary.
There was enough time for Saddam to hide evidence of his WMDs with the help of the U.N., and even more than enough time to delete the damning e-mails re: climate change, but it wasn’t, so there.
Your argument is structured thus: There was … but it wasn’t, so there. I have no idea what you’re saying.
Note the one common theme: protecting American interests, whether nat’l security or economy. What we do know about global warming is that the jury is out on how much man has actually contributed to it, and that the alarmists are pushing their agenda more for political reasons than real concern.
Also note that liberals in power were also on the side of protecting American interests on the subject of WMD’s.
“After the last eight years, it’s good to have a president that knows what a library is.”
Maybe McCartney should have visited a library himself and looked up the word Prenup before he married a one legged b—- who took him to the tune of 50 million! They married in 2002 and separated in 2006. Lets see…. that’s $50 million divided by 4….Wow an eye-popping $12.5 million per year! That was one expensive….. sexual adventure! If you know what I mean.
Paul’s recent remarks place a tarnish on his reputation in my book. Wish he had not said what he did. For someone who built a career on writing songs about love and who had a reputation for wanting to get along with everyone – from what I remember he even forgave his ex for the mess she placed him through – his political comments seem out of place. I don’t remember him being overly political in the past. This seems to be something new. The only thing I can think of is, I guess the more we age, the grumpier one can become. Even Beatles can fall from grace.
I guess Sir McCartney forgot that Bush married a librarian. I don’t know about McCartney but I do know that my husband is very familiar with my line of work. His cheap shot at Bush only ended up making him look small and idiotic.
Linking global warming or climate change to the Holocaust is irresponsible. Make no mistake the mainstream leftist elite are linking the two. According to evolutionists change is inevitable, climate change would happen with or without us; the Holocaust did not happen without the imaginings of madmen.
To Lily and Bernie; What Paul McCartney said about Global Warming and Bush is true!
Wil, what Rush Limbaugh is saying about Barack is true!
Juan, Remember when Rush speaks, he’s high on drugs!
’nuff said!
What drugs is he high on, Wil?
’nuff said!’ by you hopefully
Prove it!
Prove what?
Prove global warming is real and that Bush has never been inside a library.
Hard to “prove” that he’s ever been inside a library, but may I present twins Jenna and Barbara as evidence that he’s been inside a librarian at least once.
In terms of lingering in a room full of books, I’m sure Mr. Bush has spent more time in libraries than all the Beatles combined. I didn’t like some of his politics, but he never struck me as dumb.
As to global warming, by the time conclusive proof comes down the pike, it may be a little late in the game to take effective counter measures. Hence erring on the side of caution may be in order. A cleaner planet can’t hurt, global warming or no global warming.
the Holocaust did not happen without the imaginings of madmen>>
Lily, Yes, and with the help of the right-wing Germans! Remember that!
You’re getting more foolish with each post.
“Right-wing Germans?” Nazi is a shortened form of National SOCIALISM (National Sozialismus in the German). Get it? Socialism. Just because they wore military uniforms doesn’t mean they were conservatives; remember the Soviet army wore military uniforms, too. The Nazis were just another left-wing organization who have been tagged right-wing by leftists re-writing history.
Since when socialists are right wingers? they were NAZIonal socialists.
Just for the record, Nazi is an acronym is the National Socialist Party. Socialism is a left wing ideology. The German/Nazis weren’t right wingers…that is a popular misconception.
Kathie, Any claim that the Nazis were socialist rather than capitalist must deal with the fact that big German business supported them and the German socialists and communists were their enemies. And it was the socialists and communists in the United States and Europe that were in the vanguard of opposition to the Nazis, while it was European and American capitalists (like Ford, Harriman, Lindbergh and of course ancestors of GW Bush himself) who urged support for the Nazis.
Now George W Bush is to blame for the Nazi Party and the Holocaust? Do you have any facts to back that up? I’m a history buff, and always interested in learning something new. Can you refer me to a good website or book that doesn’t start with “wiki” or end in “for Dummies?”
Right-Wing Germans? Wow, you’ve officially gone off the deep end.
It was called the National SOCIALIST Party, remember that!
They weren’t typical right wingers, but they weren’t exactly left-wing socialists, either.
Recall that one of the cornerstones of left/liberal philosophy is the belief that all people are born exactly the same, and that some folks are simply driven into poverty and crime by societal oppression perpetrated by the rich and greedy. Since we’re all the same, we all deserve the same, hence “spread the wealth around.” The only distinction left-wingers are willing to draw between people is rich (i.e., greedy) versus poor (i.e. non-greedy).
Right-wingers and conservatives, on the other hand, tend to view disparities in wealth and overall success in life as the result of inherent differences in people. Some folks are simply smarter and more driven, whereas a certain percentage of the population is simply “hopeless” and will succumb addiction and criminality no matter what. (Bill O’Reilly frequently invokes the 10% figure of those who can’t be helped.)
The Nazis, of course, were extremists in the sense of “recognizing” vast congenital disparities in people, which, if anything, puts them a tad more on the right than on the left.
On the other hand, they were big on running a powerful, centralized government, which puts them more on the left.
Bottom line, the Nazis weren’t really anywhere with respect to our modern notion of right and left. Mostly, they were a bunch of genocidal maniacs.
Hitler was a right-winger?? Surely you jest. The man was a vegetarian who shamed his dinner guests away from eating meat. He also wanted to outlaw smoking and last but not least Hitler decided auto manufacturers were better off if the government owned them. Hitler was a Democrat.
Hitler was a Democrat. Sure. And I’m the Avon lady. And while it is true that he expressed interest in vegetarianism, he wasn’t a practicing vegetarian by any definition of the term.
We all know—and it is obvious from forums like this one—that, on balance, liberals despise conservatives, and conservatives despise liberals. But once the partisan bickering stoops to the level of cobbling together tortured arguments as to why Hitler and his crew were “Democrats” or “Republicans” depending on which of the two parties we loathe, the word infantile doesn’t even come close to describing such behavior.
Actually, I was joking. If it was infantile it was only to illuminate the childishness of attributing past maniacal beliefs to our present political realm. I have heard the terms “fascist” and Nazi” tossed at conservatives for my entire life. Neither was actually right or left but took the worst from both extremes. Fascists believed in collectivism and were anti-individual. Not exactly attributes of the American right.
Also, isn’t it strange how the past, present and future mix together conveniently in baseless arguments.
“I don’t need to balance a piece about a fact from the past, so why should I balance a piece about a prediction of the future?”
Maybe “telling time” shouldn’t be the last lesson about time in our (mostly government run) schools.
Dan
- “The Next 10 Amendments” http://bit.ly/aa7vFR
Bernie