That's A Big Ass Difference

I still vividly remember right wingers gloating over the fact that the news outlets were reporting that the Million Man March did not number a million people. Most outlets did have estimates well over half a million but the sheer fact that it was promoted as a Million Man March primarily geared towards African American men and it didn't actually reach a million people was seen as something to be embarrassed about by the wingnut crowd.

Well I wonder what the hell they have to say about this:

Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, the group that organized the event, said on stage at the rally that ABC News was reporting that 1 million to 1.5 million people were in attendance.

At no time did ABC News, or its affiliates, report a number anywhere near as large. ABCNews.com reported an approximate figure of 60,000 to 70,000 protesters, attributed to the Washington, D.C., fire department. In its reports, ABC News Radio described the crowd as "tens of thousands."

Yeah, check how many rubes mistook less than 100,000 for 1 million. I wonder if they will laugh and mock all the teabaggers for such a meager turnout even on a weekend when presumably nobody had to work.

Speaking Of Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow went on Meet The Press this morning and owned it! The contrast between how she handled herself and how David Gregory just sat there like a lump on a log with all the lies flying around showed for the world to see who should be hosting that show. If NBC has any sense they will make that change before Gregory drives Meet The Press into the ground to the point where it never rebounds back to its former glory.

Here is the podcast.

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Here are some choice bits from the show.


What Tom Coburn said in response to David Gregory's question about the over the top rhetoric from the right wing on health care reform:

SEN. COBURN: The, the—but the tone is based on fear of loss of control of their own government. What, what is the genesis behind people going to such extreme statements? What is it? We, we have lost the confidence, to a certain degree, and it’s much worse than when Tom was the, the, the leader of the Senate. We have, we have raised the question of whether or not we’re legitimately thinking about the American people and their long-term best interests. And that’s the question. The, the mail volume of all the senators didn’t go up based on the healthcare debate, the mail volume went up when we started spending away our future indiscriminately. And that’s not Republican or Democrat, that has been a problem for years. But it’s exacerbated now that we’re in the kind of financial situation and economic situation.

Rachel's retort:

MS. MADDOW: I—well, I, I think that anytime you’re trying to stop discussion, I think that’s un-American. But I, I mean, I take issue with the idea that the government has done anything to earn the kind of threats of violence that we have seen.

And Coburn, seeming to not realize that he had just said something on national TV that will probably be on YouTube shortly, said this in response.

SEN. COBURN: I didn’t say that.

Seriously.

Then Rachel turned her sights on Dick Armey

MS. MADDOW: The Tea Party Patriots is an organization that your organization is a member of a coalition with. It’s called the Tea Party Patriots Health Care Freedom Coalition partner. That’s what Freedoms Work***(as spoken)***is, that’s what Americans for Prosperity is. If you go to Tea Party Patriots right now, what they’ve got on their front page of their Web site, the top item, is a video showing the violence at the town hall in Ybor City, in Tampa, Florida, essentially promoting that as if that was a good thing that happened, that showed what the Health Care Freedom Coalition wants to have done in the healthcare debate. FreedomWorks is part of that coalition.

REP. ARMEY: Right.

MS. MADDOW: You can say that you denounce it, but the organization that you head is part of it.

Now at this point Gregory allowed Armey to filibuster and claim that FreedomWorks was as pure as the driven snow and that they weren't like all those other groups that were disruptive. And then Rachel drove the point home again.

MS. MADDOW: Are you a member of the Tea Party Patriots Health Care Freedom Coalition?

REP. ARMEY: I’m a member of FreedomWorks, and FreedomWorks works with many people who fight for and, and argue on behalf of individual liberty.

Now check Rachel out punching David Gregory in the mouth with those pesky facts.

MR. GREGORY: All right, Governor Ritter from Colorado, thanks, as always. Always good to talk to you.

Rachel Maddow, does the president bear some responsibility? Does he undermine his credibility when he makes some claims like, if you like your insurance you can keep your insurance, when a lot of people have said not really; employers could drop people from insurance if they wanted to move people into a public plan, if that existed? It may be an aspiration, but he can’t guarantee it.

MS. MADDOW: It’s the way—what he has suggested would guarantee it. What’s happening, I think where the, where the president has some more responsibility is to give the Congress more direction. I find it strange that we have—the American people have decided that there will be a lot more Democrats in Congress than Republicans. The Democrats have a huge 60-seat majority in the Senate, and therefore they’ve got big majorities on every committee, too. But Max Baucus, who is a Democratic senator, has decide on the Senate Finance Committee, which has this key role in what’s going to happen next, that they won’t have the whole committee do it. It’ll just be three Democrats and three Republicans who are going to make that decision. One of those Republicans is going around the country giving out copies of Glenn Beck’s book and saying that healthcare reform will pull the plug on grandma, Senator Grassley. So for, for, for, for the Democrats in Congress to be essentially giving up their majority, deciding the way this is going to pass, I think is something that the president ought to weigh in on. There’s a reason that Democrats have a 60-seat majority. The American people voted for it, and I think they’d like Democratic bill.

Ouch, that had to burn!

I also loved that she pointed out how ludicruous it is considering the present make up of the Senate for Max Baucus to have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans negotiating the terms of the Senate Finance committee, something you would NEVER hear Gregory point out.

But bigger than that was Rachel's ability to make points and ask questions that Gregory himself should be making to Dick Armey and totally exposing his radical philosophy.

MS. MADDOW: Do you really think that there’s a major uprising of seniors wanting to get out of Medicare? I know you’re suing the government for your right personally to get out of Medicare.

REP. ARMEY: Right.

MS. MADDOW: But do you really think that’s the problem...

SEN. COBURN: Is it...

MS. MADDOW: ...that Medicare—that seniors hate Medicare and they want out?

REP. ARMEY: No, I didn’t say that. Most seniors—I was talking to my minister the other day. My minister says, “Dick, I’m so fortunate I’m in Medicare.” I said, “Bless you, my, my friend that you get to be in it if you choose to be so.” But if you give a government program and you let me choose to be in or choose to be out, that’s generosity. If you force me in, irrespective of my desires, that’s tyranny. Now, if Medicare’s $46 trillion in the red, with no idea how we’re going to pay for it, why, why do they not let people who don’t want to be in out?

MS. MADDOW: This is...

MR. GREGORY: Let me—I want to get it...

REP. ARMEY: I mean, that’s...

MS. MADDOW: Just—I—very briefly.

REP. ARMEY: This, this, this defies logic.

MS. MADDOW: This is a really important point. The anti-healthcare reform lobby thinks that Medicare is tyranny, OK?

REP. ARMEY: I did—I said...

MS. MADDOW: This is an—I mean, you said in 1995 that “Medicare is a program I would have no part of in a free world.”

REP. ARMEY: Right. Absolutely right.

MS. MADDOW: You said in 2002, “We’re going to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over a period of time.”

REP. ARMEY: And I’m going to enumerate exactly what I’m talking about. Medicare...

MS. MADDOW: Americans need to know this is your position and this is the position of the anti-healthcare reform lobby.

MR. GREGORY: I’m going to, I’m going to stop this...

REP. ARMEY: This is the Medicare law that was written and...

MS. MADDOW: It’s very important to understand.

REP. ARMEY: The Medicare law that was written by the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and the chief lobbyists of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, voted on without amendment as an amendment to Social Security, first imposes severe sanctions on physicians and medical providers that don’t comply with its requirements, and it says to seniors at the age of 65 you can no longer buy the insurance that you bought prior to 65. And now by virtue of an internal memo—not a regulation, not a law—they tell seniors today...

MR. GREGORY: All right.

REP. ARMEY: ...if you don’t sign up for Medicare you’ll lose your Social Security.

MR. GREGORY: I want to...

REP. ARMEY: Now, if—you tell me what, what, what that has to do with anybody’s notion of liberty...

MS. MADDOW: Tell me what that has to do with healthcare reform.

Notice that when Rachel starts dismantling Armey David Gregory all of a sudden wanted to just move on. Hmmm I wonder why.

It doesn't take a blind man to see that Rachel would be perfect for the show and that Gregory is in over his head. Someone should tell NBC to get their heads out of their asses and do the right thing before its too late.

P.S. I have to give it to him, Tom Daschle also brought it today too. He wasn't letting Coburn get away with his made up facts at all.

Ladies And Gentlemen, She Got Him!

I have been advocating that Rachel Maddow be recognized in some way for the excellent reporting she has been doing about who is behind the organized opposition to health care reform. Well I don't know if she will win an award but she just bagged a trophy earlier today when Dick Armey had to resign from the DLA Piper lobbying and law firm because of the scrutiny they were cominig from due to his ties to the astro turf group opposing health care reform, Freedom Works. Ties that Rachel helped to expose.

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Ahhh the fruits of righteous labor are really sweet some times.

And the best part of this story hasn't even happened yet Both Rachel and Dick Armey will be on this Sunday's Meet The Press. If you come to this blog with any regularity you know I am a HUGE critic of David Gregory and the right wing framing he puts on that show. But I am pretty sure it will be worth the price of admission this weekend. Plus if we want to get them to book more progressives on the show then we have to tune in when they have someone like Rachel on.

Lets meet up there day after tomorrow, you bring the popcorn, I'll bring the butter.

Rachel Maddow Shines Sunlight On The Opposition

If Rachel Maddow can find all this information why can't the rest of the bums in the mainstream media? We are being failed over and over in this fight and it is sickening. At least one person is taking on the responsibility of providing transparency on those who are opposing health care reform.

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The "8 Mile" Strategy

I don't claim credit at all for this but I AM happy that someone was smart enough to understand how to exploit their advance knowledge of what was going to happen at their townhall. And it goes to show that taking the winds out of their sails before they can get started actually works.

10. And then in opening remarks, I blew the Tea Baggers' cover. Roughly, it went like this:

Meetings like this one continue a democratic tradition more than 2500 years old, that of the ancient Greek "Ecclesia." The term means "those called out"—called out to discuss and decide civic matters, and to defend their ancient Greek city-states, to defend their democracy. And you all were called out by notices in the local papers, radio stations, by e-mail and internet, to discuss Health Care Reform and Clean Energy with our Representative tonight.

So know this: efforts to disrupt and thwart public discourse on civic matters are profoundly anti-democratic. But, that's an obstacle we face tonight. It's public knowledge that groups known as Tea Baggers intend to disrupt and thwart the public discourse on Health Care Reform in meetings like this during this month's Congressional Recess. They want Democracy to fail. So, let's face this obstacle together.

The Tea Baggers' instructions are also public knowledge. If some people stand up, shout out and sit down; if some try to rattle us and the Congressman; if some pretend numeric superiority; if some try to stifle intelligent debate; then we can compare that behavior to the Tea Baggers' instructions and draw our own conclusions.

I can only hope that other Democratic Congresspersons pass the word about how to handle this situation going forward.

(h/t Micheline

The Proper Response To The Leaked Memo

Think Progress has gotten its hands on a leaked memo from FreedomWorks where they give directions for their activists go in and disrupt the townhalls of Democratic members of Congress.

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

My advice is that every Democratic member of Congress should get intimately familiar with this memo. And at if they plan on holding a townhall during the break they should employ what I like to call the "8 Mile" strategy. For those who never saw the movie, Eminem's character wins the rap battle at the end by predicting all of the lines of attack that his opponent will use and then he goes in on his opponent. By the time his turn comes Em's opponent is flustered because for one he didn't have any disses left to use and for two because Eminem had ripped him up. So he just hell the microphone and froze.

The first thing these Democrats should do is present the memo and inform the audience of all of the things that are to come. That there will be people yelling, and interrupting and they will also fan out to inflate their numbers. And then they should point out that these people do not want honest debate. They are there for one thing only and that is to deprive the rest of the attendees of the opportunity to learn about health care reform and have their voices heard. And then they can always point out that these people are paid for by the health insurance companies. (whether that is true or not isn't really important) Once they get that out of the way they will have the audience on their side and against the obstructionists. Instead of allowing these people to hijack the townhall, more than likely what will happen is the audience will turn on them and boo them out of the event.

That, to me, should be a no brainer. Why even give them an opportunity to try to derail the discussion? Or for that matter why try to act like they won't be there when its likely that they will. Just punch them in the mouth first and then you win the battle before it gets started.