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CNN Live At Daybreak
Lott Has Given Headline Writers Plenty of Ammunition
Aired December 20, 2002 - 05:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Lott has given headline writers plenty of ammunition, not so much with his controversial comments as much as his last name.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on a lot of puns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The puns have been punishing. One of the best of them came from "Time" magazine, , "A Sorry Lott." But that could also apply to the crop of puns, "A Lott On The Line," "Not A Lott of Support," "Lott of Heat," "Trent Casts His Lott," "Lotts of Fallout."
JAMES CARVILLE, HOST: You're lying.
JONAH GOLDBERG, POLITICAL ANALYST: The most pernicious thing about this is that even if you don't want to make Lott puns, you find yourself heeding the siren song of Lott puns.
MICHAEL COLTON, CO-AUTHOR, "ONE NATION, EXTRA CHEESE": It's kind of like a primal human instinct to pun. It's sort of like searching for food or shelter or water.
MOOS: Michael Colton is co-author of the parody "One Nation, Extra Cheese." He says it is Trent Lott's misfortune to have a common word for a name. Lott has seven different definitions in "Webster's."
COLTON: There's no definitions for the word Daschle, nothing for Gephardt.
MOOS: But a lot can be anything from a parcel of land to a considerable quantity. No wonder there are a lot of puns, especially given the rage for writing all over the TV screen these days.
GOLDBERG: And you know that deep in the bowels of this organization there are some poor interns handcuffs to radiators having to come up with material for these things.
MOOS: Well, actually, Jon Auerbach is a senior producer, not an intern. But he helps make up the onscreen banners for CNN's "Newsnight."
JON AUERBACH: Well, at the beginning we had a lot of trouble, now we have a lot of explaining. There's certainly been a lot of apologies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's time to lay off.
MOOS: Even viewers have gotten into the act, sending us e-mails with subject lines like "Lott At Stake," "Trent's Lott In Life," "A Lott of Nothing." But before we cast stones...
COLTON: Your segment on CNN is a pun. What's the name of your segment?
MOOS: He would have to bring that up. There are so many Lott puns that when you see an actual lotto story, you're duped into thinking it's about Trent Lotto.
(on camera): Are you not running dry of puns?
AUERBACH: It's getting a lot larder.
MOOS (voice-over): A lot harder. But even if the Lott puns peter out, there's always Trent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "In the trent-ches, should he fight on or throw in the towel?
GOLDBERG: And in some ways this creates essentially a race to the bottom among headline writers to come up with the worst possible puns.
MOOS: May the worst puns surface from the bottom. We the press have created a Lottness monster. Sorry, Trent.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 20, 2002 - 05:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Lott has given headline writers plenty of ammunition, not so much with his controversial comments as much as his last name.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on a lot of puns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The puns have been punishing. One of the best of them came from "Time" magazine, , "A Sorry Lott." But that could also apply to the crop of puns, "A Lott On The Line," "Not A Lott of Support," "Lott of Heat," "Trent Casts His Lott," "Lotts of Fallout."
JAMES CARVILLE, HOST: You're lying.
JONAH GOLDBERG, POLITICAL ANALYST: The most pernicious thing about this is that even if you don't want to make Lott puns, you find yourself heeding the siren song of Lott puns.
MICHAEL COLTON, CO-AUTHOR, "ONE NATION, EXTRA CHEESE": It's kind of like a primal human instinct to pun. It's sort of like searching for food or shelter or water.
MOOS: Michael Colton is co-author of the parody "One Nation, Extra Cheese." He says it is Trent Lott's misfortune to have a common word for a name. Lott has seven different definitions in "Webster's."
COLTON: There's no definitions for the word Daschle, nothing for Gephardt.
MOOS: But a lot can be anything from a parcel of land to a considerable quantity. No wonder there are a lot of puns, especially given the rage for writing all over the TV screen these days.
GOLDBERG: And you know that deep in the bowels of this organization there are some poor interns handcuffs to radiators having to come up with material for these things.
MOOS: Well, actually, Jon Auerbach is a senior producer, not an intern. But he helps make up the onscreen banners for CNN's "Newsnight."
JON AUERBACH: Well, at the beginning we had a lot of trouble, now we have a lot of explaining. There's certainly been a lot of apologies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's time to lay off.
MOOS: Even viewers have gotten into the act, sending us e-mails with subject lines like "Lott At Stake," "Trent's Lott In Life," "A Lott of Nothing." But before we cast stones...
COLTON: Your segment on CNN is a pun. What's the name of your segment?
MOOS: He would have to bring that up. There are so many Lott puns that when you see an actual lotto story, you're duped into thinking it's about Trent Lotto.
(on camera): Are you not running dry of puns?
AUERBACH: It's getting a lot larder.
MOOS (voice-over): A lot harder. But even if the Lott puns peter out, there's always Trent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "In the trent-ches, should he fight on or throw in the towel?
GOLDBERG: And in some ways this creates essentially a race to the bottom among headline writers to come up with the worst possible puns.
MOOS: May the worst puns surface from the bottom. We the press have created a Lottness monster. Sorry, Trent.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
