Aren't you glad that "the White House is too small for him"? What a great First Lady would he bring there if it wasn't...
(This is wayyyyyy off-topic...)
http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20011129_1340.html
WIRE: 11/29/2001 2:34 pm ET
Ted Turner, with a smile: 'I would have fired Jerry before he could fire me'
The Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Reflecting on his career, media mogul Ted Turner said one of his biggest regrets was not buying Time Warner so that he could "have fired Jerry before he could fire me."
Turner took several swipes at Gerald M. Levin, the chief executive for AOL Time Warner, at a cable industry gathering Wednesday.
He also said that, though he'll have free time because his company merged with AOL Time Warner, he doesn't have the energy to seek public office.
Turner, 63, who has a Montana ranch and other extensive land holdings, joked that the White House has only a few acres and is "too small for me."
Interviewed for a project documenting the careers of cable TV industry figures, Turner noted his philanthropy and said he donated $250 million last year.
That gave him the opportunity to take a dig at a favorite target, media magnate Rupert Murdoch, in front of an audience that paid $150 per ticket.
"Wouldn't it be terrible to hang on to every nickel, like Rupert Murdoch and (Viacom Chairman) Sumner Redstone?" Turner asked.
Reviewing his career, Turner said his biggest mistake was selling a stake in Turner Broadcasting System to Time Warner.
The move, prompted by about $500 million in debt that TBS acquired after buying MGM in the 1980s, loosened Turner's grip on the cable company that includes CNN.
In the subsequent mergers that created AOL Time Warner, Turner lost direct control of his media empire.
"I never thought in my wildest dreams I would lose my job," he said. Young entrepreneurs, he added, should be warned: If you sell your company, prepare to leave it.
Had he bought Time Warner himself, he said with a smile, "I would have fired Jerry before he could fire me."
Turner agreed that at one time, "I was his friend, I would have had a hard time firing him. At that time."
Levin has no comment, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
Turner's remarks were taped for the oral and video history program of Denver-based The Cable Center, which develops educational and research programs for the cable and telecommunications industry. Industry members were in Anaheim for the 2001 Western Show, a trade show.
