Put Something On It!

David Corn appeared on MSNBC opposite Republican hack Brad Blakeman today to discuss Karl Rove's book. Normally this wouldn't be an earth shattering event because dozens of these segments happen every day on cable news. BUT Corn came up with a diabolical/genius way of shutting Blakeman up when he was lying through his teeth, something Republicans do on a daily basis now with little or no blowback. Instead of just leaving it at calling Blakeman a liar, he challenged him to a $1,000 bet that he was right and Blakeman was wrong. And of course Blakeman wanted NOOOOOOOOOO parts of that bet. It was wildly amusing watching him try to filibuster the rest of the segment without admitting he wouldn't agree to Corn's challenge.

More of this please!

The Liberal MSNBC

Will members of the media who keep equating MSNBC to FoxNews please explain when FoxNews has a liberal on their programming for 3 straight hours who yells and berates guests on a regular basis, always favors liberal and Democratic ideals, and would be such a hypocrite as to shut off a conservative's mike and command his producers to go to commercial when that conservative was holding a liberal guest's feet to the fire?

Im waiting....



For the record both Joe Scarborough and Marc Theissen are pussies.

That is all.

You Lie!

I am not the world's biggest fan of Dylan Rattigan but he gets major props for giving this guest a nice steaming cup of shut the fuck up over her lying about the Stupak amendment in health care reform.

How You Handle A Loud, Know Nothing, Jack Ass Interviewer

Dylan Ratigan has to be one of the most transparently ignorant cable news hosts not on FoxNews. Barney Frank does a masterful job of exposing him and putting him in his place.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

On My Tee Vee

Just now Mike Stark of firedoglake was on MSNBC went up against wingnut Tim Carney over this latest faux controversy of these school kids singing a song praising President Obama and Stark straight up smashed Carney, especially when he went to that favorite right wing move of feigning indignation over Stark using the term teabagger.

I am crossing my fingers hoping that somebody posts a video of the exchange because it was a beautiful thing. Truly

Any Discussion On MSNBC About President Carter Needs To Include A Discussion Of Pat Buchanan

As I alluded to in an earlier post, this morning Joe Scarborough had on Michael Eric Dyson to talk about former President Jimmy Carter's statement about racism playing a role in some of the opposition to President Obama. For once Dyson didn't totally irritate the hell out of me (even though he did have throw in his obligatory "I was the first one to endorse Barack" chit) and he made some salient points about why President Carter's words hold weight.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Now while I applaud Dyson's efforts this morning to push Joe, Mika and the rest of the lily white panel on the fact that racism has played a role in the opposition to President Obama, I feel like he missed a MAJOR opportunity here. While I agree with him that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are representative of the prominent conservatives and Republicans who have ginned up racist opposition against Obama, one of the most blatantly racist political commentators shares the set with Joe and Mika several times a week. I am speaking of course of Pat Buchanan.

The same Pat Buchanan that was one of the advisors who came up with the "Southern Strategy". The same Pat Buchanan that tried to portray Justice Sonia Sotomayor as a racist and unqualified because she was a Latina. The same Pat Buchanan who went on "The Rachel Maddow Show" and ridiculously asserted that America is and always will be a white nation, built by whites and fought for solely by whites.



The same Pat Buchanan who uses his column at human events to gin up racial tension with whites on a regular basis.

Yeah, that Pat Buchanan.

See white guys like Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews will say they believe that racism exists in America but then they will turn around and claim its only on the fringes. When you bring up guys like Rush they will quickly claim they have never heard him say anything racist. Its an easy dodge because you can't prove that they have listened to every show. But bringing up Pat Buchanan kills two birds with one stone. All at once you put them on the spot because they can't say they haven't heard the things Buchanan has said on their own network and at times on their own shows. And on the other hand you put MSNBC on the spot for continuing to employ an avowed racist. Something that thus far they have not confronted.

Now I am nobody's fool. I recognize that for Dyson to bring up Buchanan on Morning Joe would probably mean he would have to look elsewhere going forward for TV appearances. But at some point being real has got to mean more than getting paid or getting exposure. Im just sayin.

One last thing, Joe Scarborough obviously DOES listen to Limbaugh quite a bit because he gave the standard Limbaugh excuse for the "Barack the Magic Negro" song that Limbaugh made. In fact he actually called Dyson disengenous because an black LA Times columnist first coined the phrase. Well I have read the column several times and not once do I see in it where there is a parody of an illiterate black man speaking as is the voice on Limbaugh's song. In point of fact the eloquence of the column itself bears absolutely no resemblence to the crass and obviously racially stereotypical words and tone of the song. If anybody is being disengenuous its the person who excuses Limbaugh for that song by hiding behind the original column.

I have posted links to both though so you are free to come to your own conclusion.

What is not in dispute is that MSNBC has a regular commentator who appears on several of their shows who embodies exactly the kind of race baiting that President Carter was speaking of yesterday. So if they are going to ask whether Carter was right or not, that conversation almost has to include a discussion of the things Pat Buchanan has been doing since President Obama took office.

Bartiromo Becomes Weiner's Latest Victim

Congressman Anthony Weiner revels in rhetorically smacking the stupid out of right wingers on health care reform. He prefaced this back and forth today by saying he had recently reduced Joe Scarborgh and I quote "to a quivering mass" when he debated him on health care, but evidently Maria Bartiromo wasn't paying attention. He so destroyed every one of her GOP talking points that after awhile it got embarrasing. Especially when she asked Weiner why he wasn't on Medicare.

Ezra Klein points out the painfully obvious.




I know he doesn't have a ton of seniority but if the Democrats had any kinds of brains they would make Weiner one of the point people on health care reform. He should be all over TV every single day pushing for a public plan in a way that all Americans can understand.

Breaking!!!

MSNBC just reported that Attorney General Eric Holder will in fact appoint a special prosecutor to investigate torture and prisoner abuse from our war on terror.

As the saying goes, stay tuned!

Update: From the Washington Post

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has decided to appoint a prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen cases in which CIA interrogators and contractors may have violated anti-torture laws and other statutes when they allegedly threatened terrorism suspects, according to two sources familiar with the move.

Holder is poised to name John Durham, a career Justice Department prosecutor from Connecticut, to lead the inquiry, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not complete.

Durham's mandate, the sources added, will be relatively narrow: to look at whether there is enough evidence to launch a full-scale criminal investigation of current and former CIA personnel who may have broken the law in their dealings with detainees. Many of the harshest CIA interrogation techniques have not been employed against terrorism suspects for four years or more.

The attorney general selected Durham in part because the longtime prosecutor is familiar with the CIA and its past interrogation regime. For nearly two years, Durham has been probing whether laws against obstruction or false statements were violated in connection with the 2005 destruction of CIA videotapes. The tapes allegedly depicted brutal scenes including waterboarding of some of the agency's high value detainees. That inquiry is proceeding before a grand jury in Alexandria, although lawyers following the investigation have cast doubt on whether it will result in any criminal charges.

Crazy Like A Crack Head

I can't get enough of Orly Taitz. LOL I hope they keep this woman on TV all day everyday because the more people see her batshit craziness, the more they will associate it with the Republican Party. Gotta love it!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

A Reminder That The Public Option Is A Compromise For Progressives

I think this should be shouted from the hilltops. Congresswoman Maxine Waters speaks a lot of truth to power in this interview on MSNBC. From how culpable Rahm Emanual is for the current state of negotiations after he recruited so many Blue Dogs, to the incoherent contradictions in the Blue Dogs' demands. But what she really hits on here is something that I feel like the liberals and progressives have done a horrible job of stressing.

The public option itself is a compromise for progressive Democrats.

The truth is we would MUCH rather have a single payer system which would both curb costs AND cover everybody. But because President Obama backed away from that on the campaign trail and because some of the Democratic leadership are simply too cowardly to put forward a bill that best helps accomplish the goals as set forth by President Obama.

But the debate has been framed almost from the start as between having a public option and not having one. That of course pulls everything about the debate right ward. Now part of this is the fault of progressives and liberals in Congress who don't get in front of the camera and argue our point of view. Leaving the fight for public opinion up to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid is just a foolish proposition. Mrs Waters and other progressives should be in front of the cameras every day pulling the debate back to the left. But for some reason they aren't and we all know that the Villagers prefer "centrist" ie "bought off" Democrats rather than liberal or progressive Democrats.

Can we have more of this please?

In The Company Of Genius

It seems that some of the smartest men on the planet also believe that President Obama did a great job at his press conference last night. Check out Paul Krugman's revue as well as Johnathan Cohn's more extensive assessment.

Suck. On. That. MSNBC!

Good, But Not Good Enough.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Rachel Maddow devoting a segment to debunking the many lies that that racist Pat Buchanan told last week on her show, but its still not good enough. His ass needs to be fired like yesterday and although they probably don't care, MSNBC won't have me as a viewer until they get rid of that bastard.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Boycott MSNBC

Until MSNBC gets rid of that racist, sexist, bigoted white supremecist, Pat Buchanan, I can no longer watch their network. His performance tonight on The Rachel Maddow Show was the final straw.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Its not hard at all for me to imagine Pat Buchanan cheering for the Nazis when Jesse Owens ran against them.

He must go!

Co Signed

I fully endorse everything Coates says in this post about Pat Buchanan, but especially this part:

It's amazing to me that people actually sit next to this cat, and have the balls to let the word "postracial" pass across their lips.

Just as a heads up Pat Buchanan will be on "The Rachel Maddow Show" tomorrow night.

If you agree with TNC just as I do how about tweeting some of MSNBC's on air talent and asking them why they allow him to get away with his blatant racism without saying anything.

Rachel Maddow

Carlos Watson

Contessa Brewer

David Shuster

Tamron Hall

Please hold their feet to the fire. Maybe that will inspire them to finally hold Buchanan accountable for his vile, racist, bigoted, and sexist rhetoric.

We Got The Little Hooker On Tape

Somebody should tell Liz and Dick Cheney that in the 21st Century regular citizen can pull up videos of the shit they have said in the past. Since the media won't do it, people like Jed Lewison will expose you and people like me will be oh so happy to spread the word.





Better step your game up.

We Need A Break

Since MSNBC is bound and determined to shove Liz Cheney down our throats today, even though she is nothing but a dumb ass propaganda organ, I vote we just watch Jon Stewart's take down of her Dad every time they bring her on.

Enjoy

Dick (Uncut)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Dick (Uncut)
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Economic Crisis

Why Does MSNBC Continue To Give Pat Buchanan a Platform?

Media Matters runs down his record.

I honestly can't understand why this man is on my Tee Vee everyday.

When Will Someone At MSNBC Push Back On Liz Cheney?

Crossposted at Attackerman

Yesterday MSNBC gave Liz Cheney a platform to deceive yet again.



Now interestingly enough Carlos Watson asked for questions to ask Liz Cheney before she came on for the interview. I myself submitted probably 10 good questions to ask her. Nothing over the top, just straight forward questions that she probably would have a hard time answering and which would expose her as being there purely for propaganda purposes. Several other people endorsed many of the questions. Sadly maybe at the most one of my questions were used. Not only that he allowed Liz Cheney to make up shit out of whole cloth. Like for instance when she said that Bush saying torture saved lives meant thats exactly what happened. Or when she claimed DNI Dennis Blair said that torture saved lives which he didn't.

Maybe the most frustrating thing was that Carlos Watson used the "some people say" device when interviewing her instead of being specific. The President of the United States says she is wrong. The Director of the FBI says she is wrong. The FBI interrogator who extracted the most useful information from Abu Zubaydah says she is wrong. But Watson seemed content with generalities allowing her to frame it as if just partisan politicos were the ones who were saying she was wrong.

Watson also refused to say that waterboarding is "illegal" using that word, or that the CIA may have "broken the law", instead using the weaksauce euphemism "crossed the line". What the hell does "crossed the line" mean? And what in the hell is so hard about being honest about what is at stake here?

Well now Greg Sargent is reporting that the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Carl Levin, has now come out and said that Liz Cheney and her daddy Dick are both full of shit.

Levin’s comments are highly newsworthy because they give us the most detailed picture yet of what’s in the documents Cheney wants. You can watch Levin’s speech right here at TPM. This is what Levin said about the documents:

Mr. Cheney has also claimed that the release of classified documents would prove his view that the techniques worked. But those classified documents say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of the abusive techniques. I hope that the documents are declassified so that people can judge for themselves what is fact and what is fiction.

If this is true, it’s big. A Senator who has seen the documents Cheney claims will prove that torture saved lives says that those docs contain absolutely nothing about whether the torture techniques were actually responsible for yielding any valuable intelligence.

Networks such as MSNBC have given literally hours of airtime to Cheney and his daughter Liz to claim endlessly that these docs will prove Cheney’s torture assertions. These claims have gone almost entirely unchallenged, due to the classified nature of the documents. You’d think that a contrary claim from a well-respected Senator who has also seen the docs would merit a few passing mentions, too.

Yeah you would think that but for some reason I doubt it will happen. For whatever reason MSNBC has decided to allow Liz Cheney to come on their show and have free reign. I don't know if the edict has been handed down from on high, but its pretty evident that either no anchor has been allowed to really press her on specifics or every anchor who has interviewed her is woefully inept. I happen to have a pretty high opinion of Carlos Watson so I am going to go with the former. But the question is when will people start holding MSNBC accountable for absolutely failing their audience by giving these softball interviews? I can't think of one credible reason for them continuing to have a blatant propagandist come on their network and spew misinformation. Can you?

Like it or not Liz Cheney can move public opinion on this issue. That means that every time she is allowed on MSNBC they are basically helping to push against accountability for torture. That is not only morally wrong but also irresponsible. We should demand better.

Pat Buchanan Is STILL A Racist Asshole

I know I am stating the obvious but still. To call a woman of Sonia Sotomayor's accomplishment an affirmative action nominee is disgusting even by Buchanan's low standard. When will MSNBC put that old bastard out to pasture and spare the rest of us his perpetually bigoted wankery?

MSNBC Needs To Hire That Man

MSNBC needs to stop bullshitting and give Lawrence O'Donnell his own show!



I just keep praying for the day that Liz Cheney makes the mistake of showing up on MSNBC when O'Donnell is there.