DOWNLOADS: (145)

PLAYS: (1642)

Embed

Oh cry me a freaking river please. Is anyone else as tired as I am of Matt Dowd still pretending that if President Obama were just a little bit nicer to Republicans that it would help to "lower the vitriol" in Washington? Does he think we've all been asleep for the last five years?

Thankfully, Paul Krugman was there to call B.S. on Dowd and inject a dose of reality back into the conversation on This Week:

DOWD: To me, this is a perfect example of what's gone wrong in Washington. I think Samantha Power is very competent and very qualified. I think Ambassador Rice is very competent and very qualified. But just because you can appoint somebody doesn't mean you should appoint somebody. And to me, this is basically at a time when everybody says we need to lower the bitterness, and lower the vitriol and bring Washington and figure out a way to get all of this screaming and yelling, he basically sticks a stick in the eye of many Republicans and says, oh by the way, the people that you've been castigating, the people that you don't trust I'm going to put in these two key positions.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But he puts them in a White House position -- I mean, he puts her in a White House position, not a senate confirmable position, that would have been the in your face move.

DOWD: No, this is even more in your face, George, I think. It basically it says we're not even going to let you approve this. We're going to put them now in charge of an agency that as we've learned in the last few days...

KRUGMAN: No, you can alternatively view this as I will not be bullied. You guys tore this person up for no good reason and I'm going to show that that doesn't actually work.

DOWD: But I actually think strength comes from actually going to try to reach over to the other side and try to get something done.

KRUGMAN: Boy, has this guy has reached. He has reached and reached and reached...

DOWD: Not really.

KRUGMAN: Had all his fingers bitten off at this point in his life.

DOWNLOADS: (68)

PLAYS: (181)

Embed

On ABC's This Week, former George W. Bush chief campaign strategist and constant false equivalency purveyor of the "both sides are equally terrible" meme, when it's been obvious for some time that it's his side and those that voted for his former boss that are the biggest problem when it comes to everything that's wrong with our government, once again attempted to revise history with these remarks.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... address the other question coming this morning. You're hearing this a lot at the National Governors Association from Republican governors right now, they're saying, fine, if Mitt Romney wants to get -- whatever he does on the tax returns, what he needs to do is come out with a much more specific, much bolder agenda.

DOWD: What I actually think he needs to do -- he's got a 59-point plan or a 62-point plan or whatever. He needs a three-point plan. I mean, the problem in politics is not too many specifics. The problem in politics is, how do you pare it down with a vision and a message that the average person can lean over their back fence or talk on the front porch and say, "I like what Mitt Romney has to say about X, Y and Z, not X, Y, Z, A, B, C, one, two, three, four, five, six"? He needs a much more limited -- a limited message.

But the other thing I think he has a problem with is that most of his economic plan feels like it's retread of something from 25 years ago. It feels like what we're going to give you is more tax cuts, what we're going to give you is less government regulation, what we're going to give you is this, and it feels like it's something in the time gone by.

And I think a lot of the middle class, as James' book says and as James says, a lot of the middle class thinks all of those solutions aren't going to help us, all of those things aren't going to help us. I would take his 59-point plan, throw it out, and figure out a three- or five-point plan that basically addressed what we want to do in the next five years.

Sorry Matt, but the problem is not too many specifics. The problem is that it's not a "retread of something from 25 years ago." It's a retread of your old boss and his failed policies and we've been down that road before with that it meant for our economy. It's a retread of trickle-down economics that your party has been pushing for well over 25 years that we know does not work.

And it's a symptom of a party that has allowed themselves to be taken over by their Libertarian wing that thinks it's survival of the fittest, you're on your own, government has no role to play for the good of our society, and you'd better be ready to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps or you can just starve. And don't dare ask the rich to pay another dime in taxes in the mean time or you're harming the "job creators."

Dowd apparently thinks that everyone who watches this show has no memory whatsoever of what his former boss did while in office, or that he worked for him. And if anyone was counting on Stephanopoulos to do his job and point any of that out, they'll be sorely disappointed since his job is to be a propagandist rather than attempt to actually report anything that could be considered "news."

DOWNLOADS: (423)

PLAYS: (4673)

Embed

Stephen Colbert had a bit of fun with El Presidente Barack Obama for his "shocking" new policy where he's now "thrown open America's doors to people who already here" with his administrations newly announced policy of halting deportations for young undocumented immigrants.

COLBERT: This of course replaces our long standing policy of not deporting them if they were really good at baseball. This is shocking folks. This is shocking! [...] Now we can expect a steady stream of preexisting, born into their present locations.

After showing clips of Tim Pawlenty, Lindsey Graham and Karl Rove carping about President Obama using this as nothing but a "cynical political move" Colbert pointed out that President Obama needs to do something about November and that 43 point lead he's "barely clinging to" with Latino voters.

After noting that even Bloody Bill Kristol, George Will and Matt Dowd said this was the right thing for the President to do, Colbert noted "Fine but, the President's not supposed to do anything in an election year. Let alone the right thing. Now maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I'm beginning to think Barack Obama is trying to get reelected. You don't see Republicans cynically pandering to Latinos like this."

Cue the RNC's Latino outreach page with stock photos of Asian children and Mitt Romney touting self-deportation during one of the Republican debates.

COLBERT: Yes, if Mitt Romney is elected, illegals will self-deport. In fact, some Americans might even join them. But folks, that's how effective... that's how effective the policy will be.

Colbert followed up with a bit mocking Neil Munro from Tucker Carlson's rag, The Daily Caller, for interrupting the President when he was announcing this policy during his press conference and pretending he didn't realize President Obama wasn't done talking and some "footage" of Colbert supposedly joining Munro at the press conference as well and heckling the President.

DOWNLOADS: (368)

PLAYS: (9134)

Embed

During their panel discussion on ABC's This Week, Christiane Amanpour actually took some time out to bring on Daily Kos blogger Jesse LaGreca, otherwise known as Ministry of Truth, to give his perspective on the Occupy Wall Street protests. LaGreca did a good job on there and called the corporate media out for ignoring the working class in the United States.

LAGRECA: Well I think the matter at hand is that the working class people in America - as you know, the ninety nine percent of Americans who aren't wealthy and aren't prospering in this economy have been entirely ignored by the media.

Our political leaders pander to us but they don't take action. They stand in the way of change. They filibuster on behalf of the wealthiest one percent. They fold on behalf of the wealthiest one percent. So the conversation we need to have is about the future, about what type of country we really want to be. And I think the most important thing we can do in our occupation is to continue to push the narrative that's been ignored by so many pundits and political leaders.

I mean the reality is, I'm the only working class person you're going to see on Sunday news, political news... maybe ever. And I think that's very indicative of the failures of our media, to report on the news that matter most to working class people.

I have seen some working class people on the Sunday shows, but they're usually just panel members in some focus group and not getting any individual air time like LaGreca did here. The working class is definitely not represented well on these shows though. As a rule, these Sunday shows won't book anyone that actually represents the progressive side of the aisle at all. Or when they do, they're far outnumbered, as LaGreca was here.

LaGreca is not some paid professional pundit who's used to being on television that has their rehearsed talking points down pat. Given that fact, I'd say he did very well and held his own on there. He had some points he wanted to make and he made sure he got a chance to make them whether they wanted to hear them or not.

DOWNLOADS: (200)

PLAYS: (1349)

Embed

What do you know? Matt Dowd actually said something I agree with on one of these Sunday bobblehead shows. While discussing Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent entry into the Republican presidential primary race, Dowd said two things I agree with about Rick Perry: One, I think it would be unwise for anyone to underestimate him. And two, he's going to have trouble in the general election because he sounds too much like George W. Bush.

I think he's going to have trouble if he gets the nomination for other reasons that Dowd did not mention here as well. Sounding too much like Bush might be the least of his problems. The Texas Democratic Party has a host of other reasons he may not fair too well in the general election here -- Meet Rick Perry.

Lots of good stuff there on Perry's record as Governor of Texas, so go check it out, but here's a taste.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (246)

PLAYS: (1247)

Embed

I presume someone actually pays Matt Dowd to come on television and utter this drivel. Dowd first of all pretends that there wasn't anyone out there protesting the invasion of Iraq early on, which is not true. There were millions of people protesting and the media refused to cover them. And to add insult, to injury he calls anyone who was protesting extremists.

He also wants us to think that the Republican re-branding operation called the "Tea Party" hasn't already been co-opted by big business. Thankfully, CBS reporter Terry Moran was there to point out that there is some very big money already behind the "movement," but that didn't seem to faze Dowd.

Dowd: All movements in this country start out with people on the extremes and the success of those movements over time are either... are when one of the parties co-opt that movement and the tactics and the messages, then moderate it.

It started with, Barack Obama who sits in the White House was the beneficiary of a very extreme movement that started after the Iraq war, which was very few people were protesting the war. In the end that became a majority in this country and Barack Obama got elected based upon that movement.

The conservative movement, Ronald Reagan was not considered a moderate when he ran against Gerald Ford in 1976. He ran against moderates. He then ultimately mirrored the country and got elected. All movements start out that way.

Amanpour: So you think then that what they're saying right now is not going to be what they say if they get elected?

Dowd: No, what I'm saying is that if somebody co-opts this movement, which is an anti-Washington, anti-federal government movement and then takes that movement and then puts a brand of politics on that that moderates and can appeal to younger voters it will have a huge amount of successes. […]

Moran: But as far as co-opting the party, and that is important, a lot of the money behind the Tea Party is not mom and pop money.

Amanpour: It's very wealthy money.

Moran: Very wealthy money. People definitely purchasing or trying to purchase the Tea Party movement and a lot of those issues, free trade, the kinds of issues the Chamber of Commerce and some of the other big money behind the Republican Party this year is trying to co-opt the Tea Party movement. I'm not sure quite how many of those Tea Party activists would agree with that.

Dowd wraps things up by saying the Chamber of Commerce and big business should fear this movement. That might be true -- if they hadn't already co-opted it.

DOWNLOADS: (872)

PLAYS: (2372)

Embed

Well PolitiFact caught Bill Maher getting his facts wrong during this exchange with George Will -- Bill Maher and George Will spar over oil and Brazil. We play the ref.:

Conservative columnist George Will challenged Maher about Brazil. "Could you just explain to me in what sense has Brazil got off oil?"

"I believe they did," Maher said. "I believe in the 70's they had a program to use sugarcane ethanol, and I believe that is what fuels their country."

"I think they still burn a lot of oil and have a lot of offshore (drilling)," Will said.

"Can we have judges factcheck this on Brazil?" Maher said a few moments later. "I don't think I dreamed that on Brazil."

As PolitiFact noted, Maher was dead wrong on that one and scored a "False" from them. As much as I enjoy a lot of Maher's humor and agree with a lot of but not all of his positions politically, anyone who has read this blog knows that I've also criticized him for not following the issues well enough. If he wants to be a guest on these Sunday shows and spar with George Will, he needs to read up on the subjects that are going to be addressed or don't bother.

That said, can we get PolitiFact to do some fact checking on Matt Dowd as well? He told this whopper while debating Katrina Vanden Heuvel over immigration reform.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (636)

PLAYS: (1680)

Embed

After discussing some of the Republican's problems with the RNC and their recent financial disclosures, the panel on this week talks about the problems for incumbents in both parties and what that might mean at the ballot box come the mid-term elections. Despite admitting that the Republicans have a huge problem with their ever dwindling base and that they don't have any actual strategy, Matt Dowd touts how many seats they're going to pick up because people are angry right now and the Democrats "own the levers of power". He neglects to mention that they haven't had their hands on that lever for very long and as Robert Reich points out they're not offering any alternatives except for negativity. George Will disagrees.

TAPPER: ... you're shaking your head that the Republican Party -- you don't buy that they are perceived as negative about everything?

WILL: I would set up Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin's roadmap for tax reform, job growth, and entitlement reform...

TAPPER: You embrace that more than John Boehner does, though...

WILL: Well, that -- that could well be. I'm right, and he's wrong. But...

(CROSSTALK)

WILL: ... against all the so-called ideas, these recycled Great Society, New Deal ideas, of which my friend, Bob, is so enamored

Yeah, that's the winning ticket George. Follow Paul Ryan's plan and turn Social Security over to Wall Street and more tax cuts for the rich. I guess George Will doesn't remember how well that Social Security tour worked out for George Bush a few years back. By all means, please encourage all of the Republicans to go out there and take that same message back to the people but they need to quit lying about what they want to do and dressing it up with phony names. It's not "entitlement reform". It's Social Security privatization. I'd love to see the GOP take George Will and Paul Ryan's advice.

Full transcript below the fold via ABC News.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (570)

PLAYS: (1263)

Embed

The Republican National Committee is trying to manipulate their donors by playing on "fear" of President Barack Obama and the top Republican in the Senate doesn't like it. Politico revealed a GOP PowerPoint presentation last week that recommended using fear and extreme negative feelings about Democrats to raise money.

"That sort of thing is certainly not helpful. I can't imagine why anybody thought that would be helpful," Sen. Mitch McConnell told ABC's Matt Dowd Sunday.

"I don't like it. I don't know anybody that does," he said.

When asked if someone should be fired for the presentation the Senate Minority Leader tried to distance himself from the RNC. "Look, I don't run the RNC. That's up to them," he said.

DOWNLOADS: (440)

PLAYS: (1052)

Embed

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told ABC's Matthew Dowd that health care reform has been slowed by attempts to get support from Republicans. "I think part of the pace of this debate was a real attempt to have a bipartisan approach," said Sebelius.

(Nicole:) What a polite way to say "If the Republicans weren't such lying, fear-mongering obstructionists, we'd be in a much better place right now." And even with all the assistance the Republicans are receiving from the media, who NEVER challenge their oft-repeated meme that Americans don't want reform, a recent Gallup poll shows that Americans actually are seeing past the gamesmanship and trust Obama more than the Republicans.

This Gallup poll released yesterday notes:

Americans remain more confident in the healthcare reform recommendations of President Obama (49%) than in the recommendations of the Democratic (37%) or Republican (32%) leaders in Congress. But these confidence levels are lower than those measured in June, suggesting that the ongoing healthcare reform debate has taken a toll on the credibility of the politicians involved.

I'd imagine those numbers would be significantly higher if we didn't have such an enabling media, only too happy to mis-inform the public. As Plumline points out, the majority of those polled in key states support the public option over the watered down Senate bill.

SEBELIUS: Well, actually, I think part of the pace of this debate was a real attempt to have a bipartisan approach. The House bill had Republican support. In the Senate bill, there were months spent with six senators, three Republicans and three Democrats, in a room, negotiating, adding ideas to the bill, trying to figure out a strategy to move forward in a bipartisan fashion.

As you know, the Senate bill didn't pass 50 plus one, it passed with 60 votes, a supermajority, and I think the president would love to have Republican votes. What he has is lots of Republican ideas -- selling insurance across state lines, making sure that we crack down very aggressively on fraud and abuse, you know, moving forward.

But there is a fundamental difference. The Republicans feel strongly that insurance companies should have less regulation than they do now, less consumer protection, less oversight. The president feels strongly that we need to change the rules of the road, that we can no longer have a private health system where insurance companies get to pick and choose, where they can lock people out and price people out. And that's really one of the fundamental divides. And even though there are lots of Republican ideas in the bill, I'm not sure -- you know, we are hopeful that there will be Republican votes, but I'm not sure there will be.

So yes, in the strictest sense, the Republicans are correct: Americans are not happy about the Senate bill. But not because they don't want health care reform, but because they want a STRONGER bill. That's not going to happen if the Republicans have anything to do with it, so while the attempt to reach out for a bipartisan solution was admirable, it's long past the time to just get it done.