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Paul Harvey RIP


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I grew up listening to him, too. Does anybody else remember Rich Hall's brilliant impression of Harvey? He did Harvey on an episode of SNL during the Weekend Update segment several times. I remember one show where Christopher Guest chastised Paul Harvey for sneaking in plugs for his radio show's sponsors (True Value, the Pep Boys, etc) and Harvey threatened to take his message to the Russians, doing the whole broadcast in mock-Russian (my favorite was when he compared Stalin, Lenin and Marx to Manny, Moe and Jack...the Pepski Boys).

Did you know that Paul Harvey had been a supporter of Joe McCarthy?

It's true!

And now you know....

....the rest....

....of the....

....story.

I wonder if he ever taught drama to William Shatner?

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Personally, I couldn't stand his style of delivery. But still, RIP.

Perhaps my favorite Paul Harvey moment was when he was announcing George C. Scott's passing. It went something like "General Patton is dead. Today, the man who played him on film, George C. Scott, joins him." :lol:

No, they don't make 'em like Paul Harvey anymore.

Good... day, Sir.

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I was no fan of Harvey's politics and love a good conservative hypocrisy tale as much as the next lefty. But I've seen no mention in any of the obits about draft dodging. To the contray, Harvey enlisted in the army in 1943 and, according a staff written obit in the Washington Post, was discharged honorably in 1944 for medical reasons following a training injury.

I thought this previous profile from the Post reprinted today does a good job of exploring the nuances of Harvey's influence, innovations and his politics, which evolved in interesting ways (came out against the Vietnam war in 1970, supported the ERA, criticized the Christian right) though in most ways he remained right-wing.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher..._harveygoo.html

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don't believe it - the first sign of his lies is the bio as given all over the net - that he served in the Army from December 1943 to March 1944 - interesting - how does someone, in the midst of a World War, get out of the service in 4 months? An injury? Bullshit, it is undocumented; the truth was that he used some political influence, had to enlist briefly as the wheels turned, and served out the war working for a newspaper - as I mentioned, there were well-documented articles on this coverup more than 30 years ago -

this seems to be a Warmonger problem - like with Ted Nugent, famous Iraq warhawk, who got out of the Vietnam draft by the time-honored method of taking a weird drug concoction in order to make his body chemistry go beserk (Curley Russell told me how membrss of Benny Carter's band did this to get out of WW II) -

Edited by AllenLowe
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Oh my......so Allen even went so far as to log on and post as 'SusanDani' so that he could piss on Harvey? There's spiteful determination for ya. :rolleyes:

Paul Harvey was a homophobic McCarthyist, who

spewed fear-based patriotic nonsense to sell beds and phony herbal meds--all while his presidential "friends" such as golf-buddy Ronnie & the 2 Georges where killing our soldiers & innocents, while robbing this nation blind. Paul Harvey dead? I say good day and good riddance.

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it was well documented in contemporary articles, but that goes back more than 30 years - will see what I can dig up -

I vaguely remember a profile of Harvey that Esquire published--late 60s or early 70s. I don't remember specifics anymore, but I'm fairly certain that Harvey was dishonorably discharged and that somehow <_< his records were altered when he became a cheerleader for the the military and the republican party.

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Harvey was the subject of an Esquire cover story in Nov. 1978. Here's the cover of the magazine; the short summary from the table of contents says nothing specific, only that his image is not the reality.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ESQUIRE-November-7-197...bayphotohosting

There are some website references to the article, though interestingly all that I found repeat the exact same language that appears to have been part of a wiki entry at one point but isn't any longer. The quick take from those dubious sites: Harvey stole an airplane and was discharged with a Section 8 (mental illness).

So, obviously, one would have to track down the Esquire issue and evaluate the sourcing, documents, etc. Interesting. Anybody got an Esquire collection lying around to check?

Edited by Mark Stryker
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Also, as far as Harvey's public/moralistic homophobic stance goes, in his personal life he was gay. Yes, I know he had a wife and a son, but it was well-known in Chicago journalistic circles that Harvey was a heavy-duty cruiser, if that's the right term. Usual "Seinfeld" line applies, but then don't be a public/moralistic ... you know the drill.

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Also, as far as Harvey's public/moralistic homophobic stance goes, in his personal life he was gay. Yes, I know he had a wife and a son, but it was well-known in Chicago journalistic circles that Harvey was a heavy-duty cruiser, if that's the right term.

Let me get this straight - this closeted gay person cruised the watering holes of Chicago journalist types? Is that how they found out?

And how does it become "well-known"? Because the journalist types spread the story far and wide? What constitutes proof? Multiple reports from different people, all of whom say that Harvey picked up someone they knew? To say it was "well-known" mostly establishes that the people spreading the story wanted to believe it. But unless you tell me that this man indiscriminately picked up anyone with a Y chromosome and didn't care who knew it, I'm going to chalk up this story to the likelihood that your average Chicago journalist hated Harvey's politics and happily spread the story, making it "well-known".

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Also, as far as Harvey's public/moralistic homophobic stance goes, in his personal life he was gay. Yes, I know he had a wife and a son, but it was well-known in Chicago journalistic circles that Harvey was a heavy-duty cruiser, if that's the right term. Usual "Seinfeld" line applies, but then don't be a public/moralistic ... you know the drill.

Shades of J. Edgar Hoover--another one of them poor lost GOP'ers who couldn't find their way to the log cabin!

Just read Dan's post. Funny how these Bushie-poos are quick to accept vague rumors when it comes to the dreaded "liberals" yet need a first-hand eyewitness account when it comes to their own :)

Edited by Christiern
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Also, as far as Harvey's public/moralistic homophobic stance goes, in his personal life he was gay. Yes, I know he had a wife and a son, but it was well-known in Chicago journalistic circles that Harvey was a heavy-duty cruiser, if that's the right term.

Let me get this straight - this closeted gay person cruised the watering holes of Chicago journalist types? Is that how they found out?

And how does it become "well-known"? Because the journalist types spread the story far and wide? What constitutes proof? Multiple reports from different people, all of whom say that Harvey picked up someone they knew? To say it was "well-known" mostly establishes that the people spreading the story wanted to believe it. But unless you tell me that this man indiscriminately picked up anyone with a Y chromosome and didn't care who knew it, I'm going to chalk up this story to the likelihood that your average Chicago journalist hated Harvey's politics and happily spread the story, making it "well-known".

No, not " the watering holes of Chicago journalist types," at least not per se. In Chicago, as in all cities of any size, there were watering holes that catered to gays and where cruising for one type of partner or another was the thing. Obviously under wraps by design, especially in the "closeted" pre-Gay Lib days (though for a figure like Harvey the closet door would have had to remain closed no matter what the era), these places were potentially porous because they were subject to regular police (vice squad) attention/harrassment, and some vice cops and associated law enforcement personnel like to gossip, especially about famous people they round up or run across, especially if those famous people happen to behave officiously toward them. And to whom do vice cops and such like to gossip about such things? Police reporters. Further, as one might expect, some habitues of gay bars (and/or members of the gay community at large) like to gossip about the presence in such places of famous person X -- especially if that person has a public persona that is quite different from their private one. Can't offer proof of the sort you'd accept, Dan, but while there obviously was some "gotcha" factor at work here, you'll have to take my word (or don't) that what I heard about Harvey in this respect over the years did not strike me as terribly tendentious in tone; it was more bemused and casual.

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So, while Harvey spent his public life praising cops, they repaid him by gossiping about him to reporters? Or perhaps his reason for praising cops wasn't respect for the job they do but because they didn't actually round him up on a public morals charge, thus keeping his secret.

I find it interesting that so many closeted gay preachers get outed yet an equally prominent one, a broadcaster no less, manages to apparently go to his grave with nary a peep about his activities.

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wish I had a time machine to go back, but the article I remember was, I think, from New Times, and showed Harvey's machinations to avoid getting sent into actual combat. Not a surprise, as right wingers routinely advocate sending people into harms way in wars that they, themselves, refuse to fight - as in Bush Jr and Cheney, to name only two -

and Berigan and Weizen, what's keeping you guys from joining up?

(what did YOU do in the war, daddy-o?)

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