You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (18)

PLAYS: (65)

Howard Kurtz asks his panel if the gridlock in Washington is just business as usual or "a political version of the snowpocalypse". Of course conservative columnist Debra Saunders thinks that the media is picking on the poor little old GOP even though they have as so many people have reported done an absolutely unprecidented amount of obstruction since Barack Obama took office.

Keli Goff almost sounds like she's going to make some sense in response when she talks about the riffs in the Democratic Party as well until she decides to throw the progressive wing of the party under the bus instead of recognizing the fact that there are corporatist Dems that may as well be Republicans to contend with.

Lynn Sweet adds a bit of sanity to the conversation and reminds Saunders and Kurtz about some minor detail called the filibuster rule.

KURTZ: So is the press prepared to assign blame for this endless gridlock or just report it as a natural paralysis, a political version of the snowpocalypse that has hit D.C. this week?

Joining us in Atlanta, Debra Saunders, columnist for "The San Francisco Chronicle." In New York, Keli Goff, political blogger for TheLoop21.com. And here in Washington, Lynn Sweet, Washington bureau chief for "The Chicago Sun-Times."

Lynn Sweet, Obama keeps talking about bipartisanship. He wants to meet with Republicans, hold hands, sing songs. I don't know.

Is the press right to be reacting so skeptically?

LYNN SWEET: Well, sure, because nothing in Congress has happened in a bipartisan year for the first year of the Obama White House, no major legislation that has passed has done so in any bipartisan roll call. So, this upcoming February 25th bipartisan meeting that Obama is calling is a chance to see, once again -- and I guess the press will evaluate -- is it real bipartisanship or just some kind of a showcase?

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (80)

PLAYS: (146)

Lynn Sweet apparently doesn't know the difference between a community organizer and these corporate funded astroturf organizations trying to distort the conversation on health care reform. I do agree with her that the White House has done a lousy job of explaining just what they want in this health care bill though. The media isn't helping matters either when you have conversations like this going on.

LEMON: CNN political editor Mark Preston, Lynn Sweet from the "Chicago Sun-Times" and PoliticsDaily.com, both join me to help sort it all out. We're glad that Lynn is back. She's been on vacation.

Good to see you, Lynn.

And you know, the president has been spared the public heckling over this health care reform, everything that we've been seeing at the town halls. But, Mark, you know, the more he holds these town hall meetings himself, which he will do another one on Wednesday, the more he opens himself up to the chances that he's going to see this and hear it personally.

PRESTON: Yes, Don. I mean, look, the protests up to this point really have been organized. We've seen these interest groups have really gotten their supporters riled up and convincing them to go to these town halls.

But you're absolutely right. President Obama, when he starts to do these town halls across the country, is going to face the same thing. He's going to face supporters, of course, who are going to be -- you know, backing him in this health care plan. But he's also going to face those angry voices, those angry faces that we've seen so far.

LEMON: And, Lynn, you know, the White House had tried to play it down, but are they changing their tune now? They had called it -- what I believe it was Astroturf or something like that.

SWEET: Oh, please, give me a break. All of a sudden orchestrating, community organizing, organizing people to come out, orchestrating is a dirty word, Don?

The Democrats are divided even among themselves. You know, there's a difference between having an unruly group of people, that's one thing, and saying that you're turning out people. That's just a ridiculous thing. I hope the White House is able just to explain the many policies and concepts within a complicated bill in simpler ways, so if they have a story to tell, it is upon them and the president to tell it, too.

But on the other hand, I don't think the Democrats are that unhappy because this helps them organize. And it helps them -- helps them show the House members, who, they are afraid, will get nervous and shaky and lose their nerve. They're going to try and bring in their troops during this August recess to show that they can bolster them and keep them.

Look, I just got an e-mail even from Eleanor Holmes -- to go to the office of Eleanor Holmes Norton in the district, and she doesn't even have a vote.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOAD (52)

PLAY (114)

Don Lemon talks to Reid Wilson and Lynn Sweet about the CD distributed by Chip Saltsman which included the Barack the Magic Negro song. The absolute tone deafness out of Saltsman is pretty astounding given that the GOP pretends that they would like to figure out how to improve race relations within their ranks and with voters and become more inclusive. This just set them back a step as noted by Wilson and Sweet. If they want be the party that embraces Rush Limbaugh and his racist "jokes" I look forward to them continuing to shrink those red spots on the electoral map until there's little or nothing left of them.

Over at MSNBC another African American news anchor, Tamron Hall, was not quite as reserved as Don Lemon on CNN with her criticism of the CD and portraying it as a "parody". She let conservative pundit Kate Obershain know just how listening to this garbage made her feel as reported by Think Progress.

Full transcript and video of Hall from Think Progress below the fold.

Continue reading »