Morton Downey Jr. - No respect for being the first Rush Limbaugh

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

Before Shawn Hannity, before Bill O'Reilly, before Rush Limbaugh, there was a chain-smoking, brylcreemed, loud-mouthed clown with big teeth named Morton Downey Jr. He had a "talk show" on TV and played the part of an "angry white male", a blue collar Archie Bunker Reagan Democrat. He actually smoked cigarettes on the air, one of the first examples of the tobacco companies trying to get around advertizing rules on TV, and Morton Downey was an opening salvo in the tobacco companies defense against the lawsuites and public pressure against smoking.

The first time I saw Al Sharpton was on the Morton Downey Jr. show about race relations in New York City, and I saw him again on a show about the Tawana Brawley case, along with a guy named Roy Innis, who was somehow "conservative". I think that's the one where Roy Innis beat up a skinhead or something.

I must have been about 14 when I saw this show, so I'm sure my reaction now would be different. Looking back it seems that Morton Downey Jr. was the prototype of all the right-wing blowhards of today, but I've never heard Rush Limbaugh giving a shout-out to his predecessor and trailblazer.

So here's to Morton Downey Jr., the embarassing cousin the right-wingers don't want to think about anymore!

[JohnKleeb]

1. omg my dad supposely used to love that and hes always been a lefty

whoa!

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. I loved that show when I was a kid

I think it lasted for a year, and I must have seen at least 10 episodes and a few repeats. My memory was hazy, but the character is basicly the same thing as Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but I couldn't give you the political details. He came across as reactionary in matters of race and gender and I believe he was a big Reagan supporter, but always sort of pro-union or at least pro-"regular guy".

I think he was a prototype of the right-wing propaganda we see today, but it's been a while so I could be wrong

[JohnKleeb]

4. I dunno

why would a pro union guy support Reagan. :puke:

[DemPopulist]

8. I remember it very well

I was like 12 or so then and just starting to follow politics. I was already leaning heavily in a Democratic direction but that show fascinated me. It was just entertaining to see people get that worked up over political issues that they were nearly punching each other and stuff.

I do remember the Sharpton-Innis appearance. As I recall, it was smack dab in the middle of the Tawana Brawley controversy and Innis actually tried to push Big Al out of his chair - on stage in front of, I think, a mostly black audience at a college somewhere (not the usual lily-white Downey studio crowd). Needless to say, the place erupted into pandemonium.

The show was like a cross between "Crossfire" and Springer. It was quite a ways away from Fox and the old Limbaugh show. The liberal guests frequently gave as good as they got, even when the audience was totally hostile, and you're right, Downey's politics weren't 100% conservative. He was definitely your prototypical Archie Bunker Irish Catholic Reagan Democrat. Supposedly he had worked for Bobby Kennedy, and he was pretty reverent of JFK and Bobby. I remember he had Mark Green on once, when he was head of Consumer Affairs or whatever he was in NYC at the time, to talk about how the oil companies were gouging people during the runup to the first Gulf War. Downey praised him and said, "Doesn't this guy look just like Bobby Kennedy?" So I think he was sort of what O'Reilly pretends to be: an Irish-Catholic populist who was way over to the right on social issues but suspicious of big business.

One more thing I remember about Downey: he contracted, and eventually died from lung cancer and this precipitated another change in his politics. He endorsed Clinton in '96, I think mostly because of his anti-tobacco stand, and actually appeared with the president for some type of anti-smoking event at the White House. A minor figure, but kind of an example of people that went full-circle from being Kennedy Democrats in the '60s, became big Reagan supporters in the '80s, and finally back to the Dems during Clinton in the '90s.

[shirlden]

16. Some Downey trivia

Morton never worked for the Kennedys. Downey senior had a summer home next to the Kennedy compound on the Cape. When John became president, he borrowed the Downey home because it was bigger and he needed all that extra room for his entourage. The Downey kids and the Kennedy kids were all friends of many years.
I was a guest at the Downey home there several times in the 50's. When John Kennedy took over the house, I rec'd a post card from my friend Tony Downey and it said...."Hey, President Kennedy is sleeping in your bed". What a thrill for me....my first true love was John K.

:bounce:

Oh, yes, Morton did die of lung cancer.

[Ivory_Tower]

3. I can remember an ad in "Smithsonian" magazine

It was around 1988, I think, maybe even earlier. I don't even remember what the ad was for, but it featured a picture of Morton Downey, with the heading "President of the United States, 2004?" Personally, I couldn't stand him, but people were fascinated with his show.

His star fell rather quickly, and he ended his career doing things like appearing in films such as "Revenge of the Nerds Part III" (or was it II?).

If I recall, he passed away a few years ago, nothing more than a trivia note these days.

On edit: Before Rush coined terms like "feminazi", Morton was throwing around terms like "pablum pukers". He was definitely the prototype of the crap that we're stuck with today.

[stevedeshazer]

5. Crappiest show ever

What site did you copy the first paragraph from?

[shirlden]

6. Morton's brother and I were

great friends, but I only saw Morton a couple of times. He was very different in person. I could not believe when he started that show that he was the same mild mannered guy I knew. He blew his inheritance, as I was told, and needed to make some money. The old adage is true....some people will do anything for money.

:kick:

[Jack The Tab]

7. I used to LOVE his show....

I was 16 or 17 when it was on, and used to love that crap. If memory serves me, he wasn't so much of a repuke as he was just a chain-smoking equal opportunity offender. I saw the show where Roy Innis got up and throttled some skinhead, although I seem to remember Innis also took a swing at another black guest, but his throttling of the neo-nazi was CLASSIC.

I also saw the one where Morton claimed some skinheads jumped him and shaved a swastika in his hair.

That show was like Grand Guignol TV.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. I used to watch that show.

It was popular for a while. His show even starting taping in different parts of the US. I remember when he came to Houston but I couldn't get tickets. I wasn't into politics back then so I didn't realize what he was about. And that was the first time I had ever heard of Sharpton too. He was on that show a lot. So was Gloria Alred. He was what you called a radical. I did like it when he would yell in the camera "Let's Kick ASS!"

I think he may have been the only tv person that would have Lyndon LaRouche on his show.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. He was more of a populist than a conservative

Although he used to use the phrase 'pablam puking liberals.'

It was more entertainment than politcs. I was a teenager when it was on, and found it funny as hell.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

11. Morton Downey taught me "liberal" was a bad word

"pablam puking liberals" - now I remember.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

12. Almost had a comeback with Ally McBeal

But he succumbed to drugs once again. Hope he gets straight - he was a decent actor. Does not strike me as conservative, though.

[pbeal]

13. Wrong Downey, Robert Downey jr = Ally McBeal

Morton Downey Jr is not that goodlooking

[FredScuttle]

14. Actually...

Ol' Mort was preceeded by two pioneers of the screaming, ranting wingnut talk show...Joe Pyne in New York (a 60's show where Joe would invite lesbians and communists on and scream at them for the program's duration) and Wally George in Orange County (a truly bizarre show where Wally would nearly pop a vein screaming at his "un-American" guests).

I did enjoy Morton's brief, yet never-boring show on WOR-TV. One memory that never fails to make me laugh was when he was discussing capital punishment. He had a liberal guest on to oppose the DP, but hardly let him get a word in. Mort closed the show by delivering a rant on killing criminals, then dangled a noose in front of the camera. The crowd went nuts...even I had to laugh at the "overkill"

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

15. wow

I would love to see that Pyne show from the 60s - I had no idea they've had this kind of stuff for so long.

[charlie]

17. Haw!

I'd forgotten about Wally, with his bunting-draped desk and shiny platinum helmet. His schtick was not just yelling at his guests, but hectoring them off the stage and out of the studio. I've always wondered how he felt about his daughter's (Rebecca deMornay) sexy movie roles.