This Van Susteren person do not write so good
July 5th, 2008 at 11:21am Pat Cunningham
I never watch Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, and I rarely watch her time-slot rival Anderson Cooper on CNN. So, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
But I had to pass along THIS MISSIVE from Van Susteren’s blog, simply because her writing is so shockingly bad. It’s an instant classic. She writes like a 14-year-old in a remedial English class.
Entry Filed under: Anderson Cooper, Greta Van Susteren
20 Comments Add your own
1. hokumboy | July 5th, 2008 at 11:31 am
UWM ? Really?
2. Menlo Bob | July 5th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Van Susteren–click.
3. LD | July 5th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Wow… and that T shirt pic she posted? Awhile back you could alter the text on the t-shirts they sell.
http://www.jeffzilla.com/2008/04/cnn-prints-custom-headline-t-shirts/
Perhaps Greta just wants Anderson to be her boo?
4. Jim C | July 5th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I think we can all agree you are totally biased in this one, just like in all your other “unbiased” postings. I doubt very much MS. Van Susteren care what a blog writer from Rockford, IL thinks of her writing ability. Obviously her’s has gotten her much further in her career than did yours. A little jealously on your part perhaps?
5. MG | July 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Pat,
Before you begin bashing someone who has views opposite of yours, realize the fact that this is a blog and not some actual news article. While the writing is not polished, it is informal which is what blog posting is all about. Seriously, I would think you have some better things to bash on the conservatives for considering they (I guess we considering I am one of them) are supposedly ruining this nation. Give us something a litle more newsworthy please.
6. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Jim C.: When did I ever say my posts are “unbiased”? And I don’t care if Ms. Van Susteren cares what I say about her writing ability. The woman can’t write. It’s that simple.
7. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
MG: You say I was “bashing someone who has views opposite of” mine. If so, that’s only coincidental. I don’t know Van Susteren’s views. As I said at the top of the post (which you seem not to comprehend), I don’t ever watch her show — hence, I don’t know her views. I vaguely recall that she became famous on CNN during the O.J. Simpson trial. That’s all I know about her — except, of course, for discovering today that she writes like an eighth-grader.
8. Tom McMahon | July 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Pat, I think you’ve gone way overboard on this one. As for Greta, her father was Joe McCarthy’s campaign manager. She grew up in Appleton, Wiscon, where she learned how to drive.
9. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Tom: How have I “gone way overboard”? All I said is that she’s a terrible writer. What do her father’s political affiliations or where she learned how to drive have to do with it? My post was entirely non-political. I knew nothing of her politics when I wrote it. I don’t care about her politics. I was only amazed that a person of such prominence — indeed, a person with a law degree — would write so poorly, even in such a relatively informal forum as a blog. What’s so overboard about my saying that?
10. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Tom: One more thing: Your link to your own blog references a book Van Susteren co-authored with Elaine Lafferty. I figure that means that Lafferty ghosted the book, especially since the book is about Van Susteren, not Lafferty.
11. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
To all: Lest the question arise of how I was unfamiliar with Van Susteren’s political views until today, let me explain. As I said, I never watch her show. The few times I’ve happened upon it while channel surfing, she was talking about some celebrity crap or about the kind of sensational crimes that are discussed by that insufferable Nancy Grace on CNN Headline News. If Van Susteren is so political, how come her name never comes up in discussions of political pundits? How come I’ve never read any political op-ed pieces she’s written? Anybody who writes as poorly as she does obviously is not the sharpest knife in the drawer or anything close to it. Ergo, her political views make no waves whatever, which is why they’ve never come to my attention.
But let me concede one point: Van Susteren’s writing is downright Shakespearean compared to the stuff from some of the commenters at the bottom of the blog post from her to which I linked.
12. LD | July 5th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Pat, I didn’t realize your blog had so many Van Susteren fans. She does indeed take to the sensational crimes. I believe she spent the entire year (perhaps longer) in Aruba when Natalee Holloway went missing. Since she’s attacked Anderson Cooper, I’ll conclude this was a slow week for missing white girls.
13. Pat Cunningham | July 5th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
LD: I know so little about Greta that I wasn’t aware that she went bonkers on the Holloway story. Upon reflection, I guess I would have been surprised had she not. You’re probably right: Missing white women, especially if they’re attractive, are manna from heaven to Van Susteren and Nancy Grace. Stories about missing minority women, especially if they’re not attractive, are relatively negligible. I think the audiences for these programs are mostly women who buy the celebrity mags at supermarket checkout counters (which explains the writing skills to which I referred at the bottom of Comment No. 11).
14. Tom McMahon | July 5th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Pat, you will simply have to buy yourself a Tivo to ensure you don’t ever miss any of Greta’s show.
I’m surprised nobody thus far has mentioned that she’s a Scientologist . . .
15. kaus | July 5th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Pat is right on the mark with this one. How did she make a mark in television journalism anyway?
Obviously Pat’s blog is better than Greta BUT….I hate to say it, but Pat has been far more photogenic in his past television commentary than Greta…perhaps the makeup and lighting are better in Rockford?
16. Pat Cunningham | July 6th, 2008 at 6:04 am
So she’s a Scientologist? To each his own. I’m a Snake Handler myself.
17. hokumboy | July 6th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I’ve been looking into becoming a Pastafarian and joining The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
http://www.venganza.org/
18. Pat Cunningham | July 6th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Sounds like a fun group, Hoke. What’s their stand on sex after death?
19. Bookworm | July 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Some people, like me, write better than they talk, while others talk better than they write. Greta, being a broadcast person, would fall into the latter category. It does not surprise me at all that her blog would be poorly written.
Also, the mere use of blogs, e-mail or other electronic forms of communication seems to tempt many otherwise rational people to abandon all semblance of proper punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. I find this particularly irritating.
Call me old-fashioned and stuffy, but I still like to write everything I write online clearly, properly spelled and in complete sentences. I even use dates, formal saluations (”Dear Mr./Ms…”) and conclusions (”Sincerely yours, Jane M. Doe”) in my e-mails.
20. Pat Cunningham | July 6th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
So, now we know. Bookworm’s real name is Jane M. Doe. And she’s old-fashioned and stuffy. But seriously, Jane, Van Susteren’s writing is especially bad.
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