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MSNBC Declares Barton’s Comments a Big Victory for Dems; Bring on Van Jones Afterwards

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

If you take MSNBC’s Luke Russert’s words at face value, you would think the Democrats are going to win big this November–all thanks to Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-Texas) comments on the Obama administration’s treatment of BP, and their “shakedown” of the company via the escrow fund. “A lot of Democrats see this as the ammunition they need to directly tie the Republican Party with that of big oil,” Russert summarized. Barton expressed his disapproval at the hearing for the White House’s treatment of BP in forcing them to agree to the $20 billion escrow fund, calling it a “shakedown.” MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer was visibly irritated during her news hour with the statement, and Russert called it a “really big blunder.” However, as NewsBusters reported , MSNBC’s own Ed Schultz was ecstatic yesterday over the very actions of the White House, and spoke positively of the “shakedown.” Russert mentioned comments from multiple Republicans distancing themselves from Rep. Barton’s comments, including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “One Republican I spoke to said ‘This was absolutely one of the worst things that could have ever happened to us. We essentially gave the Democrats an early Christmas gift with this one’,” Russert reported. ‘This is great news for the White House,” Russert continued. “They’ve been coming under attack for not taking an authoritative leadership position–they can now spin this as a political issue.” Russert also mentioned Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) who called the escrow fund a “redistribution of wealth” fund, and essentially put her in the same camp with Barton. “A really big political victory today for Democrats on Mr. Barton’s slip-up,” Russert concluded. MSNBC then brought on Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), but lost him in the middle of his segment. The network then switched to liberal guest Van Jones, who defended the Obama administration’s response to the disaster. “There is a whole ideology at play here that says ‘We hate the federal government. The federal government is a problem’,” Van Jones added. “The last time I checked, the federal government was America’s government. America’s government does not need to be weakened and undermined.” The transcript of the segment, which aired on June 17, at 3:42 p.m. EDT, is as follows: MSNBC anchor CHRIS JANSING: BP’s CEO Tony Hayward, since 10:00 this morning, with a couple of breaks, maybe an hour and forty-five–he has been on the hot seat for four hours, give or take, and one huge piece of controversial statements that came out of this didn’t come from him but came from a Congressman Joe Barton who called the agreement to set off fund to pay the people who have been hurt by this a “$20 billion slush fund.” He accused the White House of a shakedown and he apologized to BP for what happened in setting that up. Now he came back in just about the last half hour. He said in case anything was misconstrued, he is fully behind this investigation of BP’s actions and that there is no doubt in his mind that BP is responsible for this spill. Let’s go to our Capitol Hill correspondent Luke Russert, and this has set off a storm of controversy, Luke. LUKE RUSSERT: It absolutely has, Chris. A really amazing subplot within the hearing. Mr. Barton saying that he is apologizing to BP for the White House making them set up this escrow fund. A lot of Democrats see this as the ammunition they need to directly tie the Republican party with that of big oil.  Mr. Barton’s comments have not just upset Democrats, they have upset a lot of his fellow Republicans. One Republican from Florida, Jeff Miller, someone who’s from the area that’s directly affected by this spill, calling on Mr. Barton to resign as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Also John Boehner, the Republican Majority Leader of the Republican party, the Minority Leader of the Republican party saying, quote, that he does not agree with the characterization that Mr. Barton made. He himself tried to distance himself from those comments. Really quite extraordinary, party leaders trying to keep Joe Barton away. Barton is from Texas. Records have shown that he is a friend of big oil. Since 1989, he has gotten well over a million dollars in donations from the folks attached to the oil industry, or the oil companies themselves. So it’s not too shocking he would probably make a statement like that. That being said, a huge political firestorm up here on Capitol Hill, one that is so big that even the Vice President had this to say at a press conference at the White House this afternoon. (Video Clip) Vice President JOE BIDEN: And I find it outrageous to suggest that if in fact we insisted that BP demonstrate their preparedness to put aside billions of dollars–in this case $20 billion–to take care of the immediate needs of people who are drowning. These guys don’t have deep pockets. The guy who runs the local marina, the guy who has one shrimping boat, the guy who has one small business–he can’t afford to lose ten, twelve, fifteen thirty thousand dollars a.month. RUSSERT: There you have Vice President Biden speaking out very forcefully about Mr. Barton’s comments. Now we should say that Mr. Barton just apologized at the committee hearing, saying that he was sorry if anyone misconstrued his comments earlier, and that he does–that BP is in fact responsible for this spill. But the damage has really been done. One Republican I spoke to said this was absolutely one of the worst things that could have ever happened to us. We essentially gave the Democrats an early Christmas gift with this one. A really big blunder on Mr. Barton’s part, Chris. Now Michelle Bachmann from Minnesota has also dived into this, saying that this escrow fund was a “redistribution of wealth fund.” You’re going to see Democrats in the next few days really trying to paint Republicans as the party of big oil, something they have desperately wanted to do. This is great news for the White House. They’ve been coming under attack for not taking an authoritative leadership position–they can now spin this as a political issue. They were very quick to release a statement against Mr. Barton. As you saw, the Vice President speaking out forcefully right there, this will now become “Republicans are with big oil, we’re with the residents of the Gulf, who are on the Democratic side.” A really big political victory today for Democrats on Mr. Barton’s slipup. JANSING: Thanks very much, we appreciate it, Luke.We want to talk now to Gov. Haley Barbour, he is at a new Toyota plant that is opening in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Something interesting here, because one of the groups of people we’ve seen in the past will probably have a little understanding of what the BP execs have gone through with these hearings are some of the Toyota execs who have been in the hot seat before. And I do, governor, want to ask you, of course, about what’s going on there with the Toyota plant. But let me ask you first if you have had a chance to watch any of these hearings today, and if so , what do you think about them? Gov. HALEY BARBOUR: We have had the pleasure in Mississippi of announcing that Toyota decided this morning, and announced this morning, that they will go forward with the start of operations for their new facility in Blue Springs, Mississippi, and begin it in February of 2011, just over a near from now. They will have Corollas coming off the assembly line here, 2,000 jobs for us in this plant plus more than that in supplier facilities around North Mississippi. It’s a big day for us, we have been celebrating, I haven’t been paying attention to Congress. JANSING: Well let me tell you a little bit about what was said there, maybe you had a chance to hear a little bit of what Luke Russert said. Because I think it certainly is relevant to your constituents who may have claims against BP. He said he thought this $20 billion in escrow was in fact a shakedown by the White House, that it’s a $20 billion slush fund, and he apologized to BP. What do you think about that? BARBOUR: Well first of all, it’s not $20 billion. I mean, when I heard this announced by the President, it concerned me that BP was going to have $20 billion taken and put into an escrow account. BP owes the people of Mississippi every bit of damage that’s been done. It’s BP’s responsibility to pay, we expect them to pay, we’re going to demand that they pay. But if the government had taken $20 billion of working capital from them, we were worried they couldn’t drill wells. Now we found out what the facts are, that it’s not $20 billion now, it’s $3 billion in the next quarter, $2 billion in the following quarter and then $5 billion in 12, $5 billion in 13, $45 billion at 14. That makes me feel much better, it makes me know that BP is going to be able to operate so they can generate the revenue to pay the people of Mississippi what BP owes them. Because BP is responsible for paying all the claims for all the legitimate damages that’s been done. JANSING: So in other words you think that what the White House has arranged, that this escrow fund– BARBOUR: She must not have liked my answer, I lost her. JANSING: Well, that was not the case, I want to make sure that he understands that it was nothing about his answer, I’m not quite sure why his ability to listen dropped out. I’m sorry, tell me again where we’re going? JANSING: We’re going to go now to Van Jones, who joins us live. Thanks very much for joining us, I’m sorry for the little bit of confusion, apparently our previous guest had some IFP problems. Have you had an opportunity to be listening to these hearings? JONES: I have. JANSING: You’ve been sitting there listening. So tell me what you think about this controversy, real controversy, false controversy, about the $20 billion fund? JONES: I think a real controversy, I mean, I was stunned and shocked. I don’t think any American official should be apologizing to this corporation that you saw all day long, here’s the head of this corporation, a multinational corporation that’s come to our country. As best we can tell, they corrupted our government. They slagged up our coastline. The criminal negligence has resulted in the death of innocent workers. America’s beauty, environment, workers, economy, all at risk. And the first thing out of the Republican leader’s mouth is to say “I’m sorry” to you? I think he has to apologize for the apology. But I think this is not just an accident. Night and day to hear the governor of Mississippi, who yesterday was attacking the first victory for America in this fight–getting this escrow fund is the first victory–you heard the governor of Mississippi who was just on this show yesterday attacking that. You have Michelle Bachmann calling it a redistribution of wealth fund. This is outrageous. This is the first glimmer of hope for the people in that region, there will be money on the table to help them get through this tough time. You have one party who is consistently, not just this official, but consistently, attacking this result. On the one hand, you’ve got the President of the United States who says he wants to kick some ass, and now you’ve got the other side saying apparently they want to kiss some ass. A pparently they believe there’s nothing a multinational corporation can do that’s wrong and nothing that the American government can do that’s right in this catastrophe. JANSING: Let me tell you what Senator John Cornyn had to say. Because he kind of gave a little bit of a defense of that statement. He said he believes that the president has made this a political issue. And he’s trying to deal with it by showing how tough he’s being against BP. He’s gone from being Commander in Chief to Claims Adjustor in Chief.  JONES: First of all, in this situation, one of the biggest catastrophes to ever hit our country, we should be proud that our President has stood up. With his address to the country, he said, “I’m going after BP. I’m going to make sure they’re responsible. The next day he brought them into the office. He said “Listen, you’re going to have put $20 billion on the table to make sure that this is going to be handled the right way. They said, “Yes, sir.” He said $100 million to make sure that our workers are going to be taken care of. Yes sir. $500 million to make sure that the help is assessed properly. Yes sir. He is getting this corporation to finally step up and do the things that they should do. Now, I cannot understand why we have people in our government who want American government to be weaker in the face of this crisis. We need America’s government to be stronger. This is not an accident. There is a whole ideology at play here that says “We hate the federal government, the federal government is a problem.” The last time I checked the federal government was America’s government. America’s government does not need to be weakened and undermined. America’s government needs to be strong enough to protect us from these kinds of predatory multinational corporations coming over here hurting the American people. JANSING: Well I’m curious about how you think, then, that these kinds of hearings play into that. I was checking out the British newspapers to see how they were covering this. And one of them said this was a public flogging of Tony Hayward. And I guess there are two general schools of thought. One is that this is nothing more than a chance for all the members of this committee to grand stand, to get their names in the local paper. Nobody thought we were going to get anything new out of Tony Hayward. Nothing is accomplished here, and they could be better, their time could be better spent working on the very real problems that have come out of this. On the other end of the spectrum is the idea that, you know what, this is an example for other CEOs. You do what BP did, and this is what’s going to happen. You, you’re going to end up sitting there and have all the nation watching you. Where do you come down on that?  JONES: Well, first of all let’s be clear. We did not know that this CEO was going to sit there and stone wall and stonewall. And he went to talk to the President and came out of that with real victories for the American people. The first glimmer of hope, the first victory for America in the past 60 days was yesterday. So there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t sit down and be forthright. He made a decision to sit there and look like he’s at the principal’s office, just waiting for for bell to ring and mom to come and get him. That was his choice. But he could have actually given the American people some comfort, some answers. We are 60 days into this process. He knows more than he said. And I think that what we’ve got to understand is that going forward, you’re going to see a big contrast. You’re going to have some people in American politics, who I hope they keep talking, that are going to make it clear. In the choice between standing with this multinational corporation, this oil company, or standing with the American people, they’re going to find every excuse to defend and apologize for–literally apologize for this corporation’s egregious, disgusting behavior. And you’re going to have other people who stand with the American people. That’s going to be the contrast going forth. It turned into theater because, again, this corporation refused, once again refused, to do the minimum, the minimum that would have been decent and respectful to the American people.

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MSNBC Declares Barton’s Comments a Big Victory for Dems; Bring on Van Jones Afterwards

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Chris Matthews Crams Year’s Worth of Anti-Tea Party Cliches into One Hour Special

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

What do Tea Partiers, Truthers, birthers, Birchers, militias, Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, Barry Goldwater, Joe McCarthy, Father Coughlin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Rand Paul, Alex Jones, Orly Taitz, and Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh all have in common? Approximately nothing, but don’t tell Chris Matthews. The MSNBC “Hardball” host spent the better part of an hour last night trying to associate all of these characters with one other. Of course he did not provide a shred of evidence beyond, ironically, a McCarthyite notion that all favor smaller government, and are therefore in league, whether they know it or not, to overthrow the government. Together, by Matthews’s account, they comprise or have given rise to the “New Right.” The special was less a history of the Tea Party movement than a history of leftist distortions of the Tea Party movement. As such, it tried — without offering any evidence, mind you — to paint the movement as potentially violent. Hence, after Matthews tried his hardest to link all of these characters, he went on to paint them all as supporting, inciting, or actually committing violence. Matthews trotted out Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center to claim that “one spark” could set the militia movement off into a violent frenzy. But Matthews used the statement not to indict the militias Potok was discussing, but rather as evidence that the Tea Party movement at-large is a violent one. Set aside for a moment the fact that Potok is nothing but a partisan hack with a pathetic track record of predicting violence, the B-roll footage while the thoroughly-discredited Potok was making these predictions was footage of the 9/12 Tea Party rally in Washington. This is what Matthews did throughout the special: splice together clips of militias firing weapons with Tea Party protesters in order to create a mental association between the groups. That there is no evidence whatsoever linking Tea Parties to militia groups, nor incidents of violence occurring at rallies, did not dissuade the former Jimmy Carter staffer. Matthews simply chose the unseemly route of trying to associate the numerous characters in his special without any evidence to back up his claims. The only connection that Matthews managed to legitimately draw between the Tea Party and militia groups — indeed, between any of the long list of characters mentioned above– is their aversion to government intervention in their daily lives. That’s right, in the same segment in which Matthews ragged against the late Joe McCarthy, he associated Tea Parties with the Hutaree Militia because both have a distaste for big government (the latter much stronger than the other, obviously). By Matthews’s logic, every American who has qualms with some element of capitalism is complicit in, and supports, openly or not, radical anarcho-socialist violence perpetrated at the G-8, or any other incident of leftist violence (and there have been many of late). Matthews himself has touted the wonders of the ” social state .” So he must support, or at least acknowledge the justifiability of folks who wish to violently overthrow the government and impose a socialist system. That is the only logical conclusion, if we accept Matthews’s premises. Such hypocrisy is rife in the special: if folks associated with the Tea Party use words like “revolution,” they must be literally advocating violence, whereas when mainstream leftists literally advocate violence , they are not worth mentioning. The special’s rank hypocrisy continues right through Matthews’s final monologue. “Words have consequences,” he states. “You cannot call a president’s policies ‘un-American,’ as Sarah Palin has done,” he claims. Or, Matthews forgot to add, as Salon Editor Joan Walsh and Time columnist Joe Klein have done, the former on Matthews’s show and the latter on another MSNBC program. You can’t “refer to the elected government as a ‘regime'” by Matthews’s account, unless, presumably, you are Chris Matthews or a host of other MSNBC personalities , in which case it is permissible. Given that the special really offered no new insight into the Tea Party movement — just the same cliches the Left has regurgitated since the fall of last year — it is hardly surprising, though worth mentioning, that neither Matthews nor any of his cohorts seem to remember their total lack of concern over the potential for anti-government violence during the Bush administration. A movie depicting the assassination of George W. Bush , the plethora of signs at anti-war rallies calling for his death , the litany of incidents of violence committed by leftist groups in the recent past — none of these things were particularly worrisome for the Left throughout Bush’s term. In all of these ways, the “Rise of the New Right” special was just more of the same.

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Chris Matthews Crams Year’s Worth of Anti-Tea Party Cliches into One Hour Special

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Lawrence O’Donnell Brings More Liberal Orthodoxy to MSNBC at 10 PM

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

MSNBC contributor Lawrence O’Donnell will take over at the 10 pm slot, the cable network announced Tuesday. O’Donnell, who guest-hosted “Countdown” while Keith Olbermann was on leave, is a self-described socialist, and will fit in nicely with the rest of MSNBC’s prime-time lineup. The 10 pm slot has to this time been “Countdown” reruns, so MSNBC viewers will now be treated to far-left rant a tad different from Olbermann’s 8 pm far-left rant. That said, O’Donnell’s segment will hardly be a breath of fresh air, if his previous antics are any indication. He has a short, if colorful history of liberal outbursts. Let us review some of his greatest hits: As mentioned above, O’Donnell made sure to correct Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe,” telling him, ” we’re socialists, not Marxists. ” O’Donnell then launched into a vicious tirade against author and former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen that forced Scarborough to cut to commercial early. When the program returned, Scarborough carefully mediated the discussion. The new MSNBC anchor has challenged the basic mental fortitude of Sarah Palin. Though that is hardly groundbreaking for a liberal, I suppose, O’Donnell even hosted a comedian to bizarrely mock Palin in drag . O’Donnell retains the dubious honor of conducting “possibly the worst interview in history.” A member of Congress told him during an interview, “you’re illustrating why MSNBC’s viewership is in the tank.” To his credit, O’Donnell was one of the few liberal media figures to accurately report that ObamaCare would mean a de facto tax increase–the largest one ever , by his account. But that didn’t stop him from offering his support.

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Matthews Teases His Documentary About Scary and Violent Tea Party

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

If Chris Matthews’ preview, on Tuesday’s Hardball, of his MSNBC documentary Rise of the New Right, is an indicator of what his special will be like expect a lot of rehashing of Matthews’ various attacks on the Tea Party over the past year as he conflates them and the likes of Rush Limbaugh with the birther movement and ominously warns of their potential for violence. Matthews even warned his viewers that his special “will stun you” and that the “voices you’ll hear” and “the guns you see” will explain why “you’re seeing men at political rallies for the first time ever, wearing guns.” In a segment that featured conservative Pat Buchanan and leftist David Corn of Mother Jones, Matthews included the Limbaugh as a member of the “new right” that is “justifying violence.” CHRIS MATTHEWS: Pat these people are saying things about the country that just aren’t true. The President is not legitimate. That the, that the federal government is a tyranny. They are justifying violence. DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: Don’t forget secret FEMA camps! PAT BUCHANAN: Well look that’s, I think that’s preposterous. Look now, I’m sure you can go out there, you’ve got a country of 300 million and find people- MATTHEWS: Okay I’m talking about people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, I’m not talking about strangers here. BUCHANAN: Alright but you’re taking, you take Joe McCarthy in 1954, four years into his crusade, 50 percent of the American people thought he was doing a good job. Twenty percent, what I’m saying is, take a look… MATTHEWS: That’s the point. I’m not denying the popularity of these people. That’s why we did the documentary. To say how scary it is. The following exchanges and final commentary from Matthews were aired on the June 15 edition of Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Pat you’re one of the stars of this not because you’re a current hero but because you were a pathfinder. What I find stunning about this, and I think liberals, progressives, people from the center left will be stunned and scared by what they see tomorrow night. People on the right may find themselves yelling “right on, right on!” because a lot of this documentary is people on the right saying their thing from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh to Orly Taitz to all these people out there, Alex Jones, saying their thing. It’s a true documentary, as you know. What is it today that scares people about Washington government to the point where some are arming themselves? They’re calling it illegitimate. This government was elected legitimately. They’re calling it a tyranny. It’s not right/left anymore. It sounds revolutionary these people. All of them. Tea Party, militia, patriot groups, truths, birthers, the whole crowd. PAT BUCHANAN: Well, I think you’re mixing an awful lot of things. MATTHEWS: Well there’s because they use the same language. BUCHANAN: But look, look I don’t know the Michigan militia guys. I don’t go out with them into the woods and things like that. And I don’t know if these guys with guns and things like that, really represent our Tea Party. What you gotta ask, Chris, is how is it that a Tea Party that you described in a one-hour documentary as very dangerous and in some ways threatening, had a 2-1 approval record and the Tea Party was more admired and approving of than the Democratic Party and the Republican Party as of a couple of months ago. Where you’ve got it pretty close, I think Chris, is on the second part. I think the first part would be like me doing a documentary on the civil rights movement and starting off with Stokely Carmichael and H. Rapp Brown and you know Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad and then you get around to Whitney Young and, and Martin Luther King. MATTHEWS: Yeah but Martin Luther King was never a black nationalist. He wasn’t calling for separation. Let me go to you, David. It seems like what strikes me in doing this, and reporting it is the use of the flag “Don’t Tread on Me.” The great Gadsden flag from South Carolina. These people are referring to the federal government of the United States which was honestly elected. Nobody questions the election of Barack Obama. He won with a good, what? 53, 54 percent. DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: Well some actually do. MATTHEWS: Well look they’re saying he’s not an American. They’re saying he’s illegitimate. CORN: Yeah. MATTHEWS: This language I’ve never heard before. CORN: What was interesting to me about, about the piece that you did was, that you show the continuum between people, Dick Armeys of the world, who you interview, who was a member of Congress, you know libertarian conservative. You know helping to stir up the Tea Party. And then you have someone like Alex Jones who you just saw in that clip. Radio talk show host who says he’s not right, says he’s not left. But he says that basically there is a planetary elite that literally has a secret plan to kill 80 to 99 percent of the population. And you have Rand Paul going on his radio show every couple of months, in which they talk about the threats to liberty. Now I’m not saying that Rand Paul believes the conspiracy theories of Alex Jones, but by appearing on that show he is somewhat legitimating- MATTHEWS: Right. CORN: -Alex Jones as a voice of the right. MATTHEWS: Why, look Dick Armey, we all like, I’ve known Dick Armey forever. Dick Armey will not disown the birthers. Now this is where I think you’re wrong Pat. Thirty-two percent of Republicans, self-identified Republicans are birthers now. They believe the President wasn’t born in the United States now. The latest CBS poll. So you can’t just say it’s a fringe crowd. BUCHANAN: Alright well let me talk as a political figure- MATTHEWS: I mean can you imagine a third of the Republicans you know believing this guy is not an American. It’s true. BUCHANAN: Well Chris there about one-third of African-Americans in this country think that George Bush was responsible for either blowing up or deliberately not doing anything- MATTHEWS: What poll was that? BUCHANAN: I saw it after New Orleans. Because they said, because it was black folks there. Now what do you do about that? Here’s what I do about birthers, I say, no. I think the Honolulu Advertiser. They didn’t huck that up. I think he was born in Hawaii. And they say, “Well we don’t think so.” I’d say, well who are you going to vote for? If the say, “Well we’re gonna vote for you I’d say thanks, fine.” But you- MATTHEWS: Even though you’re de-legitimizing the government and justifying a lot of talk here. BUCHANAN: I’m not legit-, Chris there are people out there in my movement, all over the place that got views- MATTHEWS: Okay. BUCHANAN: -that I don’t agree with. What are you gonna say? I don’t want your vote or I don’t want your vote? MATTHEWS: You don’t think it’s dangerous for people to believe this government is illegitimate? BUCHANAN: Mean in what sense? MATTHEWS: And believe it’s illegitimate. Meaning it was a usurped power taken from the people. Somehow this guy is not an American. Somehow he was elected- BUCHANAN: I understand the birthers but I don’t know anybody that doesn’t think this was a legitimate election. MATTHEWS: They say he shouldn’t have been on the ballot. CORN: This is a danger and we’ve talked about this on the show before. If you have people out there saying that Barack Obama has a, is a secret Muslim, as one of the people say on your documentary, or he has a secret plan to destroy America or that America will cease to exist if what he wants, if he wants goes through, it does send a green light, a signal to people: “Wait a second. This is about life and death.” This is… MATTHEWS: Okay let’s take a look, first of all Dick Armey. CORN: And then what do you do? People out there are gonna get the wrong message about taking extreme action. MATTHEWS: Okay. BUCHANAN: Well you know, like Lee Harvey Oswald. I mean take a look at these guys who have done all the shooting in the sixties. MATTHEWS: By the way the trouble is this rationalizes all kinds of behavior. Let’s take a look at this. This is the origins of the Tea Party voices you’ll hear right now. Let’s listen. (Clip from documentary) MATTHEWS: And then you have the head of the John Birch Society saying that Ike was a communist, his brother Milton was a communist. All communist discipline guys. Pat these people are saying things about the country that just aren’t true. The President is not legitimate. That the, that the federal government is a tyranny. They are justifying violence. CORN: Don’t forget secret FEMA camps! BUCHANAN: Well look that’s, I think that’s preposterous. Look now, I’m sure you can go out there, you’ve got a country of 300 million and find people- MATTHEWS: Okay I’m talking about people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, I’m not talking about strangers here. BUCHANAN: Alright but you’re taking, you take Joe McCarthy in 1954, four years into his crusade, 50 percent of the American people thought he was doing a good job. Twenty percent, what I’m saying is, take a look… MATTHEWS: That’s the point. I’m not denying the popularity of these people. That’s why we did the documentary. To say how scary it is. … MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with our big documentary coming up here tomorrow night. The Rise of the New Right at 7pm Eastern tomorrow night will stun you with what’s happening with this country. You’ll never again believe this so-called Tea Party movement is just about taxes or deficits or Obamacare. No, what you’ll see is far more like the original Tea Party up in Boston, the one that previewed our war against the British. Look at the Gadsden flag they wield, that warning of “Don’t tread on me” with the coiled rattlesnake. In 1776 it served warning to those who threatened America from abroad. Today it’s being waved in contempt of our own honestly elected American government in Washington. Listen to Rush Limbaugh stir on the new right by calling the government in Washington “a regime” or Orly Taitz, leader of the birthers, calling the President illegitimate. Listen to militiamen on guard against tyranny here on the Potomac and you get the full force of what’s happening. This isn’t about what the tax rate should be. It’s an argument about whether the federal government deserves toppling like any other tyranny or illegitimate regime in history. It’s not the talk of politics, but of revolution. Listen to Limbaugh, Beck and Palin and Michele Bachmann, Orly Taitz and yes Rand Paul and you hear of a Washington that has usurped authority, of a president who is not one of us, of a Congress that needs to be investigated for treason. Of a country itself that’s been taken over and needs to be taken back. The voices you’ll hear speak for themselves. The guns you see, the semi-automatic weapons of the arms of those who see the government of the United States as the looming tower of tyranny. If I can put it as bluntly as possible, catch The Rise of the New Right here tomorrow night at 7:00pm and you’ll suddenly get why you’re seeing men at political rallies for the first time ever, wearing guns.

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Chris Matthews: Etheridge ‘Ambushed By Activists’ ‘Ginning Up A Skirmish’

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Monday said, “Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge of North Carolina was ambushed by a group of unknown activists.” The “Hardball” host began his report on the Congressman’s attack on two students asking whether he supported President Obama’s agenda, “Next: ginning up a skirmish.” This came just a few hours after Matthews’ colleague Tamron Hall made similar on air allegations concerning the incident. Obviously, the folks at MSNBC have decided to present Etheridge as the innocent victim and the students he attacked as the guilty parties. Matthews ended the brief report, “By the way, no word yet on who those self-proclaimed students working on a project are” (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t Freedom’s Lighthouse ):  CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Next: ginning up a skirmish. Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge of North Carolina was ambushed by a group of unknown activists last week, and didn`t like it much. An edited version of the video first appeared on the Web site of a former Drudge Report editor. Here it is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you fully support the Obama agenda? REP. BOB ETHERIDGE (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! ETHERIDGE: Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! ETHERIDGE: Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m here for a project, sir. ETHERIDGE: Tell me who you are. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re just here for a project, sir. ETHERIDGE: Tell me who you are. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re just here for a project. (CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, could you please let go of my hand? ETHERIDGE: Who are you? Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please let go of my arm, sir. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir… ETHERIDGE: Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, sir, sir, please… UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman, please let go of me. ETHERIDGE: Who are you? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. (END VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEWS: Well, after that video spread over the Internet, today, Congressman Etheridge issued a statement saying: “I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction. And I apologize to all involved.” By the way, no word yet on who those self-proclaimed students working on a project are. The bias on display here is both staggering and quite disturbing. Let’s assume for moment that these young men were activists. Is it against the law for activists to approach an elected official with a camera and ask a question concerning his or her position on an issue? These young men asked the Congressman, “Do you fully support the Obama agenda?” Is that verboten? If John McCain had won in November of 2008, and liberal activists got attacked by a Republican Congressman simply for asking, “Do you fully support the McCain agenda,” Matthews, MSNBC, and virtually every news outlet would be calling for this representative’s resignation. Instead, MSNBC on at least two occasions Monday defended the Congressman’s actions while condemning the students he attacked. Of course, this ignores the possibility that these were just students doing a project and they weren’t activists at all. What should most concern readers is if the folks at MSNBC have become so overwhelmed by their support for Obama and the Democrat Party that they are willing to go on the air and defend Etheridge’s actions while condemning those who HE could be guilty of assault and battery against, it is THEY that are the activists. That’s quite a statement about today’s so-called journalists, wouldn’t you agree? 

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On Hardball: Obama Too Cautious About Exerting His Power

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, on Monday’s Hardball, pushed Barack Obama to “overdo” and “overstep” in his efforts to get BP to plug the leak and stop the oil spill in the Gulf, something Fineman claimed Obama hadn’t done yet because “he’s usefully and rightfully dangerous about power. I think he thought…George W. Bush overstepped in terms of executive power…he’s an observer by nature.” This observation from Fineman seems particularly odd, as it comes at the same time the President has pushed for a $50 billion in additional domestic spending. Fineman made the comment after the Politico’s Roger Simon insisted there’s only so much Obama can do, as he insisted: “He’s not Iron Man. He cannot dive a mile underwater and stop this by himself.” However host Chris Matthews asserted Obama could do more and he asked if the President will be “tough” and “really threaten BP” and openly wondered: “Does he know he’s a powerful man?” After Fineman responded that Obama needs to “overstep” a concerned Matthews questioned: “Even at the risk of being called a socialist again?” The following exchanges were aired on the June 14 edition of Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: I guess the first question is can this president honestly claim he has command and control when it looks like BP is the boss? ROGER SIMON, POLITICO: No, he can’t. And he said in the interview that “We analyzed the problem and we had no greater ability to stop the leak than BP did, so we’re gonna let BP do it.” And he can’t control BP. MATTHEWS: Well looking down the road is BP going to be the big shot, and he’s going to be, as I call him, the Vatican observer watching them do what they do? And that’s all he can do. SIMON: All he can do is threaten them. All he can do is send the attorney general down there. All he can do is threaten to, to depress their stock price to such an extent they’ll go belly up. But that’s all he can do. He’s not Iron Man. He cannot dive a mile underwater and stop this by himself. … MATTHEWS: Howard, the question I have is what can he do? I’m looking back to history. I’m a political person, not an oil person, as we all are. Harry Truman, the coal miners wouldn’t mine coal after World War II. He, he conscripted them all. He drafted them. When Big Steel raised its prices and sort of, Kennedy felt was screwing them, basically, he said “Okay I’m sending the IRS to your house. I’m gonna see if you got any, any action with your secretaries at work.” He was unbelievable! He went after them and said, “Bob McNamara don’t buy any more steel from U.S. Steel.” I mean he was unbelievable. Will this president be that tough? Will he threaten, really threaten BP with all the actions of an Executive? HOWARD FINEMAN, NEWSWEEK: Well if he, if he does he’ll only be dragged kicking and screaming into it because that’s just Barack Obama’s nature. He’s judicious. MATTHEWS: Does he know he’s a powerful man? FINEMAN: He’s, he’s an observer. I think he’s usefully and rightfully dangerous about power. I think he thought George Bush, George W. Bush overstepped in terms of executive power. And it’s also, he’s an observer by nature. But before I continue I just want to say that Roger, whom I’ve known for decades, is the best in the business and we’re so happy to have him back. And, and he’s seen this before. He’s seen presidents who use power or don’t use power. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Barack Obama should overdo. He should overstep. MATTHEWS: Even at the risk of being called a socialist again? FINEMAN: Even at the risk of having a lawsuit filed against him. The Army should be in there. The Navy should be in there. They should- MATTHEWS: Okay you agree with Roger, you agree- FINEMAN: You know, and by the way BP is not in danger of going broke tomorrow. SIMON: Right. FINEMAN: But yet Obama is putting this whole escrow idea out there, so that BP can possibly do its dividend on June 21st.

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Poll Finds Americans Think Dems Are Too Liberal, Undermining Media Meme

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The legacy media love to paint steadfast conservatives as “far right” “ideologues” who are destroying the GOP’s “big tent” and “purging” moderates. The notion that the Republican Party has drifted too far to the right, however, is contradicted by a new Gallup poll showing that Americans are more concerned about Democrats’ fringe elements. About half (49%) of poll respondents told Gallup that they thought the Democratic Party is too far left. Forty-two percent said the GOP is too far right. The former number is the highest it has been since 1994, when Republicans picked up 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate. Of course most journalists probably don’t share that sentiment–indeed, a number have bemoaned President Obama’s supposed refusal to move even further to the left. Since those journalists are well outside of the nation’s mainstream, center-right political outlook, they will inevitably see Republicans as too far right and Democrats as moderate and centrist. Hence we have Chris Matthews decrying the “frightening, almost Cambodia re-education camp going on in [the Republican] party, where they’re going around to people, sort of switching their minds around saying, if you’re not far right, you’re not right enough.” There is probably not much hope in showing Matthews the light, but this new Gallup poll should dispel theories such as Mark Halperin’s , that Republicans’ steadfast opposition to the president’s agenda is “unlikely to produce a majority against the administration.” In fact, as long as voters see the Democrats’ agenda as too far to the left, such opposition is likely to pay off in November. Ed Morrissey explains : First, it speaks to voter enthusiasm for Democratic candidates.  They won’t get the kind of turnout in 2010 that they did in 2008 when half of all Americans consider them the extreme.  Independents are the biggest problem; in 2008, when Democrats extended their control of Congress and took the White House, independents were narrowly split 43/40 in thinking that the Democratic Party ideological position was “about right.”  Now they have a 19-point deficit among independents, 33/52. They have even lost 10 points among Democrats for “about right” in the last two years, although that got evenly split between “too conservative” and “too liberal.” Second, Obama and Democratic leadership have already hinted that they want to argue in the midterms  that Republicans are the real extremists.  That argument would have worked, according to Gallup’s data, until Democrats started pushing ObamaCare through Congress.  At that point, a plurality of voters thought the GOP was too conservative as opposed to “about right,” 43/34.  That has shifted to 40/41, while Democrats have gone from a “too liberal/about right” split of 46/42 to 49/38 in the same period.  They’re not going to win a debate over extremism, not while rolling up debt like a college freshman with his first Visa card.

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Jerry Brown Calls Meg Whitman a Nazi, Media Mostly Mum

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

California’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown on Tuesday called his Republican rival Meg Whitman a Nazi. You probably didn’t hear about this because America’s media largely ignored it.  By contrast, the press had a field day when Republican senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina made a comment about Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) hair that was picked up by an open microphone Tuesday evening. Why the double standard? Consider your answer as you read what Brown told KCBS radio’s Doug Sovern (h/t NBer Gary Hall): Brown boasted about his legendary frugality. “I’ve only spent $200,000 so far. I have 20 million in the bank. I’m saving up for her.” It’s true – his stay-on-the-sidelines, bare-bones primary run cost him almost nothing, at least in California political terms. But he also fretted about the impact of all those eBay dollars in Whitman’s very deep pockets. “You know, by the time she’s done with me, two months from now, I’ll be a child-molesting…” He let the line trail off. “She’ll have people believing whatever she wants about me.” Then he went off on a riff I didn’t expect. “It’s like Goebbels,” referring to Hitler’s notorious Minister of Propaganda. “Goebbels invented this kind of propaganda. He took control of the whole world. She wants to be president. That’s her ambition, the first woman president. That’s what this is all about.” Sovern followed this up Thursday: The campaign of Meg Whitman has issued the following statement in response to the comments made by Jerry Brown, quoted in my blog posting “Run Jerry Run.” “Just last week, Governor Brown promised he wasn’t going to engage in mudslinging, but now he is comparing Meg Whitman to Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Jerry Brown’s statements comparing our campaign to a propagator of the Holocaust is deeply offensive and entirely unacceptable.” –Meg Whitman 2010 Campaign Manager Jillian Hasner Jerry Brown’s campaign spokesman, Sterling Clifford, confirms to the Associated Press that the conversation took place, describing it as “a discussion after a chance meeting while they were exercising. I wouldn’t vouch for the accuracy of it, but I also don’t want to dispute the accuracy of it. It was jogging talk taken out of context.” He says Brown was not comparing the Whitman campaign to Nazis. UPDATE: Friday afternoon, Jerry Brown issued the following statement: “I regret making the comments. They were taken out of context.” Pretty serious stuff happening in America’s most-populated state, wouldn’t you agree? Yet our media weren’t very interested. Although Politico reported this matter late Thursday evening, as did the Associated Press shortly after, the rest of our supposedly impartial press almost completed ignored Brown’s disgusting remarks. According to Google news and LexisNexis searches, the news divisions of by ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and NBC didn’t file one report on this subject through Friday evening. NOT ONE! I can also find no newspaper reports outside of California. Zero, nada, zilch!  Bucking the trend was Fox News during Friday’s “Special Report” and CNN’s Jack Cafferty giving it a mention on the same day’s “Situation Room.” By contrast, when Fiorina was caught on an open microphone saying that Boxer’s hair was “so yesterday,” the media had a field day. CNN has already done eleven reports on this vital matter impacting our nation. MSNBC’s done three. On the broadcast networks, NBC did three reports, ABC did two, and CBS did one. Those actually included a segment on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer”    As for newspapers, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, and the Houston chronicle all found Fiorina saying Boxer’s hair was “so yesterday” newsworthy.  I guess our media must think a Republican commenting about a rival’s hair is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than a Democrat calling a political opponent a Nazi. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? 

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Olbermann Claims FNC ‘Says ‘Indefensible & Even Racist Things’ Like Helen Thomas

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Friday’s Countdown show, after having decided not to include Helen Thomas in his “Worst Person” segment for her anti-Semitic declaration that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to Germany and Poland, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann included Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace in his “Worst Person” segment for suggesting that it would be “poetic justice” if Fox News were to be given her seat in the White House briefing room. Olbermann went on to claim that FNC personalities are guilty of making comments that are similarly racist as compared to Thomas’s attack on Israeli Jews: “Wallace thus implying that a far right entity that occasionally says indefensible and even racist things should replace a far left entity that occasionally said indefensible and even racist things.” On Wednesday’s Countdown show, Olbermann had similarly found a reason to include in his “Worst Person” segment the rabbi who exposed Thomas’s anti-Semitism, even though Thomas herself was never included in the segment. Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, June 11, Countdown show on MSNBC: Runner up, Chris Wallace of Fox, saying his place, its own kind of get rich quick pitch, should get Helen Thomas`s front row seat in the White House press room. “This is actually kind of interesting because I think it would be the final sort of back payment for Helen Thomas if this were to happen because, obviously, she was very far to the left wing. And if her seat were to be taken by Fox News, it would be kind of poetic justice.” Wallace thus implying that a far right entity that occasionally says indefensible and even racist things should replace a far left entity that occasionally said indefensible and even racist things. When his implication was pointed out to him by a Fox interviewer, he said, “I just realized that`s probably not the way to go on this. We`re fair and balanced. That`s the point.” Chris, good luck with the rest of the toothpaste.

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MSNBC’s Mitchell: Oil Spill An ‘Opportunity’ for Obama to Push Energy Bill

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Speaking to New York Magazine columnist John Heilemann on MSNBC Friday, anchor Andrea Mitchell wondered if the Gulf oil spill could be a political opportunity for President Obama: “Is there an opportunity now to do something real on energy?” Heilemann proclaimed the disaster was “a triggering action for us to try and get toward a greener future…break our addiction to oil…”              The discussion occurred during the 1PM ET hour on Andrea Mitchell Reports with Mitchell noting how the President was “trying to contain the political damage” from the spill. After she spun the crisis as an “opportunity,” Heilemann argued: “I think this is one of these real moments for any president…what better moment is there than this?” Both Mitchell and Heilemann seem to share the philosophy of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Heilemann actually worried that the White House would not exploit the situation enough: “I think that for the White House to do that and not end up with a piecemeal, some kind of small bill – small ball bill – he’s got to go really big and turn this into a crusade.”  He described the “fear” on the Left that the administration was “going to end up settling for a small solution rather than the big one that really changes, fundamentally, our relationship to energy and the – and our climate.” Mitchell then quoted Heilemann’s recent column in New York Magazine: …you wrote that: “As much as pulling the country back from the economic brink or passing health-care reform, the catastrophe in the Gulf offers Obama a chance to rise to the occasion, and in the process not only validate his conception of progressive, activist, and competent governance but reclaim the visionary mantle that inspired so many during his campaign.” Mitchell agreed with the sentiment and declared: “…it strikes me that this is an opportunity for him [Obama] to change the conversation….[to do] what he arguably does best and show his competence and the big conceptual approach to the energy policy, that would really be a major test of leadership.” Heilemann replied: “It would be…he does competency, he also does inspiration really well….he does inspiration terrifically well.” Heilemann concluded: “There’s places where he [Obama] can go here and – on both substance and symbolism – that would actually benefit him and what I – as I said, play to his strengths rather than his weaknesses.” Mitchell was pleased by all of his political advice for the President: “John Heilemann, that’s why we always love to talk to you. Thank you very much.” Here is a full transcript of the June 11 exchange: 1:14PM EST KEITH JONES [FATHER OF OIL RIG VICTIM]: I don’t criticize the President in not having condemned BP or any other party that may have been at fault in the accident. Not yet. ANDREA MITCHELL: Keith Jones, whose son died on the Deepwater Horizon rig after visiting the White House, as BP tries to cap the oil spewing into the Gulf. President Obama is trying to contain the political damage, but as estimates of the oil continues to rise, what is this political fallout? With us now, John Heilemann, national political columnist with New York Magazine and of course co-author of ‘Game Change,’ the best-selling book. John, The President has taken step by step measures to change the policy. Now, he’s inviting BP to the White House next week – summoning really – next Wednesday, after saying for days and days, weeks, that there was no need for them to communicate. He met with the families. He went down and spent hours there last week. He’s going back on Monday and Tuesday. Is this course correction going to work? JOHN HEILEMANN: Well, I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do think that there is, you know, there’s this daunting sense, and I say this not in a way to suggest somehow they were – this is not criticism of the White House. I think for all of us, there’s the sense that this thing is –  the scale of it is much larger than anybody thought and I think more importantly, that the time frame for it is now much longer than most people had ever hoped or expected, right? So this is going to go on for months and months. And so, you know, if tomorrow they capped the well completely, which of course is not going to happen, you would have months of an environmental disaster, an economic disaster, that the President is going to – the political challenge for him and the substantive challenge, is greater, I think, going forward, than it even has been in this last two months. And so as they’ve started to realize that, that this is like – he’s going to be judged not on whether he capped the – plugged the hole, but on how he deals with this. How does he protect the coastline? What changes does he get through in terms of energy policy? That’s where he’s really going to be judged and that’s where he either win or lose. MITCHELL: And on energy policy, do you think – where do you come down? Is this an opportunity or is this a real loss in terms of the ability to get something done? John Kerry and  Lieberman say something can be done. There’s a competing Lugar proposal that actually Lindsey Graham has signed on to. And a vote this week we saw, where – a fairly narrow vote, 53-47, Senator Murkowski tried to limit the White House’s ability to contain emissions and failed. But that was a pretty tough fight in the Senate yesterday. Is there an opportunity now to do something real on energy? HEILEMANN: Well, I think that the politics of it have gotten more complicated, not less, because, as you know, you know, the notion of opening up some offshore drilling was a key carrot to get Republicans and conservative Democrats on board. At the same time, I think this is one of these real moments for any president, where if there is going to be a triggering action for us to try and get toward a greener future, a different kind of energy future, break our addiction to oil, what better moment is there than this? But I think that for the White House to do that and not end up with a piecemeal, some kind of small bill – small ball bill – he’s got to go really big and turn this into a crusade. Lay out a future for American energy, American climate policy, and really drive for that. And I think the fear for people who would like to see him do that is that they’re looking at the difficulty of the politics and they’re going to end up settling for a small solution rather than the big one that really changes, fundamentally, our relationship to energy and the – and our climate. MITCHELL: I read, recently, you wrote that: ‘As much as pulling the country back from the economic brink or passing health-care reform, the catastrophe in the Gulf offers Obama a chance to rise to the occasion, and in the process not only validate his conception of progressive, activist, and competent governance but reclaim the visionary mantle that inspired so many during his campaign.’ You know, it strikes me that this is an opportunity for him to change the conversation so that he’s not arguing over whether he’s emoting enough or feeling the pain enough. That’s not a natural instinct for him, it’s the theatrical – he has to do a little bit of that because he is the commander and consoler-in-chief, but if he does what he arguably does best and show his competence and the big conceptual approach to the energy policy, that would really be a major test of leadership. HEILEMANN: It would be, and look, he also – he does competency, he also does inspiration really well. That’s one of the things we know he does well. He doesn’t do anger well, but he does inspiration terrifically well. So there’s the energy legislation side of this. There’s also another side of this, right? Which is there are going to be – we’re going to need thousands of people to be down in the Gulf trying to keep this oil from getting further into the wetlands than it already is, from getting onto the beaches in Florida. I say why not start a Gulf Conservation Corps or a Gulf Recovery Corps? And start a new branch of our national service of AmeriCorps and tell them – try to inspire young Americans to take a year off and go to the Gulf to save our natural habitat. There are things he can do that would play to his strengths rather than asking him to do some of these theatrical things that don’t play to his strengths and that he, I just think, when he does them he actually looks phony doing them. There’s places where he can go here and – on both substance and symbolism – that would actually benefit him and what I – as I said, play to his strengths rather than his weaknesses. MITCHELL: John Heilemann, that’s why we always love to talk to you. Thank you very much. HEILEMANN: You’re welcome. 

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