More of the False Equivalency Game from the Cast of Morning Joe
Here we go again with more false equivalencies from the media and pretending all sides are equal when it comes to the threats of violence we've seen escalating in the past year and egged on by Republican politicians and these Tea Party leaders. First Mika Brzezinski talks about a death threat that Eric Cantor received and conveniently omits the fact that this same man threatened a number of other politicians as well.
From TPM -- What To Make of Norman Leboon?:
The initial portrait emerging of the man charged with threatening to kill Eric Cantor and his family suggests he's made similar, if not criminally actionable, threats on dozens of occasions against an ideologically diverse array of public figures.
According to the federal complaint against him, Norman Leboon of Philadelphia has admitted making some 2,000 videos that contained threats. A sampling of his "work" reveals rambling incoherent videos that mix pseudo-religious incantations with random warnings and threats. In one video he addresses President Obama, Vice President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by name and says, "Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your god, it will be severe, you will know god's swine, god has warned you." (Some conservatives are already chortling over the fact that Leboon contributed to Obama's 2008 campaign, though it's not clear what that's supposed to signify.)
Pat Buchanan defends the Tea Party movement and says the left is just trying to demonize them for political reasons. Brzezinski goes on to read from some of Eugene Robinson's recent op-ed in the Washington Post -- The Hutaree militia and the rising risk of far-right violence:
It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction -- the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day -- and, quite regularly, at Tea Party rallies -- is calibrated not to inform but to incite.
Buchanan responds to Robinson's column by calling the L.A. riots after the Rodney King incident the "greatest act of anti-government violence" that he can recall "in recent years". Uh Pat... the name Tim McVeigh ring a bell? Hello. Then he starts howling about violence that took place in the 60's. And the hackery goes on from there. To his credit at least Dylan Ratigan corrects Pat Buchanan when he attempts to portray the stray bullet that hit Cantor's office as "someone firing at" the window. Joe Scarborough wasn't even there for this show but I'm not sure how he could have made this segment much worse. Brzezinski and Buchanan more than made up for his absence.
I get up at 5:45. It takes me 15 minutes to get a cup of coffee empty my ash tray from the night before and kick on the TV. I need my morning news. But I never get it. I get Mika, Joe, Willie and Barnicle.
They're a puppet short from that early morning show FOX had in their early years with Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd...Breakfast Time?
is intended to be a factual statement
I used to read the morning paper; now, you call that a newspaper??
Then, I used to turn on CNN; now, i can't differentiate it from Fux.
Now, I just pat the dog on her head, gulp my coffee, chain two Marlboros, and say "Fuck it." I may not learn anything new, but I don't feel I've wasted my time.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
"I just
patpet thedogcat on her head, gulp my coffee, chain twoMarlborosCamels"Other than that - exactly the same.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
I take the dog out, then feed the dog and the cat, start the coffee and struggle through some Morning Joe, and some fox until Washington Journal comes on C-span. If the guest on WJ sucks, it's back to MJ for a little while longer.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
there's some glitch with the cable that runs horizontal bars through the picture, and a buzzing sound accompanies it on Channel 3 (CSPAN here) and Channel 4. Not my TV, so I can't complain about it.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
If liberals stopped doing this, it sure as hell wouldn't hurt our political landscape, and you wouldn't be any less knowledgeable news-wise.
Turn it off. Keep it turned off. Read liberal blogs like Buzzflash, Kos, Crooks and Liars, and Huffington Post instead. Then you can be informed by sources you can trust!
Is it the 21st century yet?
They swap out MSM bullshit for "new" bullshit. Aside from the irresponsible stories, they moderate the hell out of posts by their new-age gurus and anti-vaccinationist cult. Not only is the content dangerous, but they don't allow people to post contrary information.
They may be the biggest liberal site out there, but it's a cesspool and we need better sources.
No one is more responsible for the violence in this world than MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News when they hyped up the WMD story to allow the U.S. military to invade and torture Iraqis as well as killing over 1 MILLION people. Yet they claim to be the watchdogs for violence. Give me a break.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Good point. Makes the militias look like peacekeepers.
reason when you've found god?
Aim in!
"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people."
Doris Egan, House M.D., The Right Stuff, 2007
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
At least I know where all the "patriots" are each day...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
... failing of the media, but of humanity in general. We like to think of ourselves as civilized, so we routinely seek validation of our own values.
Thus, it's torture when OTHER people do it, terrorism when OTHER people do it, anti-government violence when OTHER people do it, and so on.
The media is just the leading method.
our ratings! our delicious ratings! we must follow Fox to the bottom! (Rot in hell, CNN.)
probable murderer.
By 1967, King had also become the country's most prominent opponent of the Vietnam War, and a staunch critic of overall U.S. foreign policy, which he deemed militaristic. In his "Beyond Vietnam" speech delivered at New York's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967 — a year to the day before he was murdered — King called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Thank you Heather for this post. I was in such frustration watching this that I about screamed. What the fu*k is wrong with Mika? I thought she was supposed to represent rational thinking on that show. She is saying some of the same stuff that BillO has been saying. She even lends some credit to the "no one has a video of the people yelling the "n" word and the "f" word, just as BillO is saying. Why does she think the men would lie about such things. One reporter, I forget her name, said she heard and saw what happened.
This bs that the ugly comes from the fringe on both sides is total rhetoric. It's just not true, at least in this time frame. Mika must think she has to act like an ass to fill in for Joe not being there. Pat Buchannan came as close as he could to his comfortable bigoted self without just stating it flat out.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
She's always been an apologist, a lightweight. She makes Colmes look like a brute.
Remember who her neighbor is?....thats right,Liz Cheney AKA'little dick'
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
Buchanon that it's not 1960 or 1992 and the rhetoric we are referring to is the right wing of 2010. Not to mention, we had a real media representation in 1960.
Yeah, he kept saying the biggest domestic terror event he could remember was the King Riots in LA, 1992.
Notice how no one on this show said a word about 4/19/1995!!
The biggest and most deadly domestic terrorist attack was on that date, McViegh was a right wing militia loon. No doubt about it, the right wingers are the ones that killed more innocent people than any lefty in history in America.
Pat gets a pass on that show to say any damned thing he wants and no one ever calls him on his bs. Why they have him on there at all is beyond me.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
that I don't miss MJ (only occasionally saw it in FL anyway) at all. I'm not sure what the appeal of the show really is at all, other than it's not CNN or Fux. That's hardly an endorsement.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Some mornings you can barely draw a line between fox and morning joe. At times morning joe has good guests and they are interesting if Joe allows them to get a complete sentence out before he takes over the dialogue.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
has become more right-wing with their hosts as well as guests.two or three years ago,FAIR did a great piece on the show,pointing out the descrepencies.i wish they would do another piece and compare whats happened to the show.....sad really,it truly is americas soapbox.well it should be. what,the left doesn't have 'think-tanks?
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
A non-dixiecrat in today's GOP?
people, and he uses that term loosely, whom Pat Buchanan doesn't consider real Americans.
So clearly there are just as many greco-roman deities causing violence too.
Yet the media doesn't warn us of them! It is just unfair targetting of
uneducated gun-toting moronstea-baggers.This morning Mika was on a rant about junk food. Someone sent the station an email that said Mika reminded them of Nancy Grace, only less sane.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I never thought of Mika as quite that annoying, but she's not worth waking up to in the AM either. And falling asleep to Nancy is a guarantee of bad dreams.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
This week Mika seems like a totally different person. She is acting like Joe. I don't know what the hell is going on.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
that Joe may run for president is true, they need someone to ake over the show. Mornin Mika.
With Joe away, the morning drinking game kinda falls flat. He himself has mentioned that there is probably a drinking game where everyone drinks each time he mentions his time in DC.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Might be on 'better' meds.She sometimes seems,ah,more 'peacefull',watch her eyes.
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
1 left = infinite right
I quit watching the msm in 2003. I just cannot take the lies and the corporate bent to everything on the msm.
They have no honor or honesty, no morals or intelligence.
It is just one lie after another. It really makes me want to cry every time I watch one of the clips, I would not dare watch the shows live.
They are beyond repulsive. Fox is the worst of them all.
I don't know maybe it will take a revolution to fix things.
We will never have any trustworthy news as long as the big corps control the news outlets. I tell everyone the was killed in the late 1990s and pronounced dead in 2000. May they all rot!
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
How many of you called this one? Cause I find it VERY hard to believe that I was the only one who forsaw GOP talkers equating one solitary lunatic with a highly organized, heavily armed militia.
would mika please just do joe and get it over with...
I have often wondered about such things.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... is "God's swine"?
I might understand what he was talking about if he replaced "swine" with "wrath", but I don't get this "swine" stuff.
Are they Kosher swine?
Fox News Jokes About Killing Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjYpkvcmog0
There's tons more of examples where Fox News threatens other people. Plenty for any journalist to call their bluff when pretending to be against political threats etc. Hypocrites and valueless people who support that corporation.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Are horrible people when it comes to "political correctness" but clutch their pearls when their ideology gets threatened by jokes.
This pathetic excuse for entertainment doesn't even qualify as crap.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
"First Mika Brzezinski talks about a death threat that Eric Cantor received and conveniently omits the fact that this same man threatened a number of other politicians as well."
She also failed to mention the gas line being cut at a house and other threats democrats recieved. The threat to Cantor was bad, but I doubt it was worse than some of the others.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
The Rodney King Riots were anti-government violence? You mean they weren't 'justifiably angry' and 'exercising their free speech'?
Are never "uppity". They are "concerned".
LOL! Indeed.
They have been uppity for 500 years, ever since Henry the 8th left the Catholic Church because he wanted another goddam divorce!
Is it the 21st century yet?
It was his first...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Leboon threatened Cantor AFTER Cantor went on National TEEVEE and proclaimed himself a VICTIM.
That was Thursday - Cantor's "I'm a victim too" speech.
LeBoon was arrested on Saturday, and the FBI had to inform Cantor that Cantor had been ONE of 2000 victims of Leboon's threatening YouTube videos.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
let me go on record stating that I'm glad the person who threatened C*ntor's life has been arrested.
Lightning season is starting; I'm guessing God is a better shot...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
All young men were subject to be drafted in the 60's!!
What is there to compare???
Go to war or go to prison!!!
They protested, and the returning Vets also protested . .
Can you all just imagine how the pro-war republican 'keyboard commandos' would be screaming if they were forced to fight in Iraq . .
Had the pro-war republican 'keyboard commandos' been in a position to HAVE to fight in Iraq...that 'war' would have shut down in a heartbeat...maybe
unless there were more 'dems/minorities/socio-economically disadvantaged people to gather up...oooops...I guess it wouldn't have been over in a heart-beat after all...........................
So the riot after the Rodney King arrest was due to terrorism??? Is that Buchanan idiot THAT DOGGONE STUPID???? He would equate a riot because of a messy arrest of a black man with TERRORISM? Why do we have to listen to his drivel.
I noticed that as well. :)
I was wondering if Buchanan was going to exploit any other minorities in that segment, more then he did. Pitiful... I tell ya.
Study the symptoms not the virus...
But I'd still like to hear the "point(s)" of contention(s). What exactly is the specific issue(s) causing such angst?
I just heard childish bickering. I noticed Pat doesn't like to give up that victim-card. ;)
Some day they'll get the picture... though maybe not until, they all get into heaven. ;)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
He wouldn't know joe from septic tank seepage...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Bjt0Z0psY
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I only watch Morning Joe to raise my blood pressure. SO STUPID! It pains me greatly to think some Americans are SO stupid/misinformed to actually believe them! And yes, they are desperately trying to shove this false "both sides are equal" BS. But Patty Buchanan made me smile today -- every single example he gave were 40-50 years old. Why didn't anyone point out that we are talking about TODAY. You know, Patty, things in the past 10 years? He even brought up the SLA! Damn! That was when I was in college! And I am almost 60 now!
I've been waiting for someone to bring up his hateful retort about that protester at Palin's rally...and how Buchanan was hopping mad..
hoping that ALL protesters would get a broken nose.
(I'll bet it was 'all AGAINST THE RIGHT WING AGENDA AND CUTESY PALIN protesters...)
Andrea Mitchell blinked, and said, 'That's assault, Pat'.
and then his ensuing, same remarks were ignored.....
...but Mika Brezezinski is in the dark.
Pathetic.
Is the Hutaree militia the same group as the Michigan militia whose meetings that McVeigh attended?
I read an article that said that the group was cleared of any involvement with the OKC bombing, but it is not clear if these are two separate groups.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
that they formed after a black man got elected,think i heard it that a way
....the fools do not realize,a population that can ,..... not paticipate .............in the 'economy'...,can not keep it viable!..........."we are listening,.......and we're not blind.,......this is your life....this is your time."
I have more respect for President Obama than to refer to him as just a "black man". Please C+L commenters and bloggers, stop doing this!
Is it the 21st century yet?
I think your reaction is a bit over the top, nobody said Obama was JUST a black man...well, except you.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
The most troubling segment came later, when Patrick J. Buchanan was listing the most violent acts committed during the 1960's as the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Malcolm X (to highlight how they weren't caused by the political right in this country), but he conveniently omitted the assassinations of Marlin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, the murder of the little girls in the church, and the murders of the three campaign workers - which were all caused by the political right!
webmaster, Fox News Lies ( http://foxnewslies.net )
I was disappointed this morning that the congressman from Arizona was allow to go on and on about how bad the Dems behaved and basically approving the tactics of the Republicans over the past couple of weeks. To, in essence, say that John Lewis should be prepared to be called names when out in public is tragic. No American should have to be called names or be spit on. Mika did nothing this morning to stop the rant even though Jon Meacham tried to redirect a couple of times to get at a more accurate answer.
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