I thought that the 'Education and Media' forum here would be a good place to discuss the miserable performance of CNN's golden boy Wolf Blitzer on the game show 'Jeopardy' tonite.

He was on as a guest playing for charity against Andy Richter and Dana Delaney.

Now, as I am sure you will recognize, Blitzer hosts the "Situation Room," CNN's keystone news analysis show that's usually on in the afternoons. From what I have observed, the hallmark of the show is the wizened examination by Wolfie of the latest breaking news, with the concept "modeled on the concept of the White House Situation Room...the program combines traditional reporting methods with the newest innovative online resources, making the entire process of newsgathering more transparent and placing the latest news and information at the viewers' fingertips."

To put it bluntly, Wolf Blitzer embarrassed himself. When asked for a (paraphrased) "five-letter word that describes the emotional and financial phenomenon that was common at the outset of the great depression and accompanied the U. S. stock market crash," Blitzer actually replied "a crash". He was unable to provide answers to even the simplest gimme softball questions, whereas Delaney and Richter ran away with the show.

At the end of the final round, Wolf was IN THE HOLE by minus $4600. Andy Richter had him beat by a total of $39000 and won the round with $68000 going to charity. Blitzer was only able to walk away with the money that is the default "consolation prize" offered by the producers of the show...$2000 to the charity of his choice.

It just struck me as hilarious and more than a little ironic that a guy that has spent his professional career "analyzing" complex domestic and international military and political happenings, and moving and shaking among Washington and Wall Street power players got his butt handed to him by a second tier talk show writer and late-nite comedian. Richter cleaned his clock.

My guess is that this is typical of the mainstream media talking heads. They read from a teleprompter pretty well and sound pretty good on a microphone,but their actual fund of information and knowledge and their critical/abstract thinking skills are the pits. As a group, these people couldn't think their way out of a wet paper sack. Yet they attempt to shape the opinions of the American public on a nightly basis.

Hmmm....reads from a teleprompter well, can't think his way out of a wet paper sack... Who does that bring to mind?

He can't be that dumb. I'm sure he makes more money then I do. The MSM rules man. Can't be beat for accurate, fair and balanced reporting.

Media propaganda talking heads aren't paid to think they're paid to read from a teleprompter, everything stays on script and it does, in the media, government and corporate worlds.

It's an axiom that intelligent people tend to talk too fast and make little sense to an average person, at times.

In broadcasting, in order to be a STAR, you need the slow talking skills that are rare in an uber intelligent person and have to be uniquely talented in dropping habitual use of "ahh... Uhm... you know...". That's why most end up working production and people like Wolfman "Blitz" Blitzer are the frontmen.

That, and being insane enough to be in the middle of Baghdad in GW1.

My wife and I watched it and was cracking up at how bad he was doing. The funny thing is that those questions were on par with the questions they ask the High Schoolers.

I don't know how many times we asked each other how he gets off being a news commentator when he doesn't know anything. I actually started to feel a little bad for him when Alex gave him gave him the charitable 1000 at the end.

I've watched Blitzer over the years on CNN and I have to admit, he's as clueless as a thick, short plank. When he runs out of questions provided for him, he starts to stutter, rattle paper in his hands and shuffle around on his feet while looking nervous. He hasn't got an original idea in his head and only knows how to rhyme off 'the best political team on television' every 10 minutes.

He can't dance either, ladies. You know what that means.

Bill O'Reilly, now... that man can talk like normal.