To the editors:
Bryan Miller’s cover story on Bill McCarter, Channel 11’s general manager (September 4), quotes me accurately for the most part. She’s on the button concerning my disdain for WTTW’s Board of Trustees (CETA). However, I was astonished by this quote attributed to me: “The more I think of Bill McCarter, the less I disrespect him. Like the kids say, ‘I don’t dis him anymore.’” My God, did I say that?
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I’m not faulting Ms. Miller, but I’m afraid something was lost in translation. Perhaps I was off my feed at that moment or the imp of the perverse had me on the hip. The hard fact is: I have no use for the man. I would trust him no further than I can throw William Perry. What I had in mind, though I may have fouled it up in words, is simply this: My disrespect for McCarter is not as deep as that which I feel for his board. An analogy: my contempt for a hit man is not as deep as that which I feel for the Respectables who hire him. ‘Tis not as deep as a well, nor as wide as a church door; but ’tis enough; ’twill serve.
With chutzpah that could only be described as monumental, the board complained that we were losing money and changes must be made. The crudity was enough to make Nicholas Nickleby’s uncle blush. This piece of offhand purse snatching, fused to self-righteousness, was positively Dickensian. The deed was as brazenly done as anything El Rukns ever undertook. The difference is: Respectables did it.
Studs Terkel
