Tag Archives: parties

Daily Kos: Tea Parties Much Like Texans Who Cheered JFK’s Assassination in 1963

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Daily Kos: Tea Parties Much Like Texans Who Cheered JFK’s Assassination in 1963

The Daily Kos could not let the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination pass without making comparisons between the “far right” greeting JFK received in Dallas in 1963 and the greeting President Obama receives from the Tea Parties today. The blogger with the handle “Devtob” claimed some Texans cheered the death of Obama in the “nut country,” and presumes today's Texans would cheer Obama's death: Dallas was also the site, in 1961, of the National Indignation Convention, which Rick Perlstein relates to the tea partiers of today : Thousands of delegates from 90 cities packed a National Indignation Convention in Dallas, a 1961 version of today's tea parties; a keynote speaker turned to the master of ceremonies after his introduction and remarked as the audience roared: “Tom Anderson here has turned moderate! All he wants to do is impeach (Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl) Warren. I'm for hanging him!” read more

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Daily Kos: Tea Parties Much Like Texans Who Cheered JFK’s Assassination in 1963

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Behar Claims Tea Partiers ‘Don’t Believe in Any Govt At All, Zero,’ Taxes Not Increasing in January

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on Behar Claims Tea Partiers ‘Don’t Believe in Any Govt At All, Zero,’ Taxes Not Increasing in January

On the September 15 The View on ABC, co-host Joy Behar insisted that co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck was wrong to assert that taxes are set to increase in January as the two sparred over the issue. Behar: “It’s not an increase, Elisabeth. It is not an increase.” She soon added, “They are not, stop saying it’s an increase because it’s not.” After Hasselbeck shot back, “Okay, we’ll talk in January,” Behar continued, “The Democrats want to eliminate the tax cuts for the rich. That’s all. Stop doing that.” Behar also exaggerated the anti-big government views of the Tea Party movement, claiming that members “don’t believe in any government at all, zero,” and mocked activists for supposedly not realizing that Medicare and Social Security are run by the federal government. Behar: “They just don’t believe in any government at all, zero. At the same time, it’s fascinating about them, at the same time that they don’t believe in any government, a lot of them are like, ‘Don’t touch my Medicare.’ Well, what do you think that is? That’s the schism within the Tea Party. Don’t touch my Social Security. Get the government out of my house, you know, come on.” Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, September 15, The View on ABC: ELISABETH HASSELBECK: The Tea Party is more like a generator behind certain candidates. So they’ll get behind certain candidates and raise money for them, whereas they maybe wouldn’t get it someplace else. They’re more like a renegade group that’s kind of pushing candidates forward. They have power, obviously. We just saw this happen. I mean, but to say that she won’t win, don’t discount. We saw what happened with Scott Brown in Massachusetts. SHERRI SHEPHERD: Are they like a rebel branch from the Republican, the Tea Parties? BEHAR: Kind of. HASSELBECK: They don’t take on social issues, which is interesting. They’re purely fiscal. BEHAR: They just don’t believe in any government at all, zero. At the same time, it’s fascinating about them, at the same time that they don’t believe in any government, a lot of them are like, “Don’t touch my Medicare.” Well, what do you think that is? That’s the schism within the Tea Party. Don’t touch my Social Security. Get the government out of my house, you know, come on. HASSELBECK: It’s a different issue because what’s going to happen now with the tax increase is it is actually going to affect senior citizens more than anybody else right now. BEHAR: It’s not an increase, Elisabeth. It is not an increase. HASSELBECK: Let me tell you something, it is going to be an increase, and they are changing the terms- BEHAR: They are not, stop saying it’s an increase because it’s not. HASSELBECK: Okay, we’ll talk in January. BEHAR: The Democrats want to eliminate the tax cuts for the rich. That’s all. Stop doing that. HASSELBECK: They’re changing the lingo, so guess what? All seniors citizens are going to end up paying the price on this tax, and it’s a crime in this country. BEHAR: If you don’t make over $250,000, you’re not going to have tax raising. HASSELBECK: It’s actually going to come from the stocks they hold in dividends, so when you look at it, you’re going to see what’s going to happen. They’re changing all terminology. BEHAR: It’s a very small percentage of people. HASSELBECK: It’s not, because they own the most in dividends of anyone else in this country.

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Behar Claims Tea Partiers ‘Don’t Believe in Any Govt At All, Zero,’ Taxes Not Increasing in January

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George Will Smacks Down Beinart’s Claim Sarah Palin Is GOP’s George McGovern

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

George Will on Sunday refuted Peter Beinart’s claim that former governor Sarah Palin is the Republicans’ George McGovern. As NewsBusters previously reported , Beinart appearing on ABC’s “This Week” claimed the GOP today resembles the Democrat Party between 1968 and 1972 when McGovern took it over and moved it so far to the left that it no longer represented the views of average Americans. This ended up harming the Democrats in the long run leading Beinart to conclude, “The Republicans will do great in 2010, but I think Sarah Palin is really the Republicans’ George McGovern.” Will smartly responded (video follows with partial transcript and commentary): GEORGE WILL: But eight months ago, the worry was the worst case analysis for Republicans was that the Tea Party energies would be diverted in a third party candidacy splitting the conservative vote in this country. Sarah Palin, think of her what you will, has brought them into the Republican Party, and they are one of the main reasons for what is going to be probably decisive in November and that is the enormous enthusiasm and intensity gap that favors the Republicans this year.  Indeed. The fear of the conventional wisdom punditry months ago was that the Tea Party would be so divisive it would result in third party candidates splintering the conservative vote. So far the only such “insurgents” have been sore losers within the GOP establishment like Florida’s Charlie Crist and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski who refuse to be good Party members and get on board the winner’s bandwagon.   Congressional Quarterly’s Craig Crawford made a similar point on Sunday’s “Reliable Sources”: The thing about the Tea Party that strikes me is it’s very similar in particularly their fiscal conservative views to the Perot movement. And this argument that they’re bad for Republicans doesn’t wash as much with me because as least they’re inside the Republican Party. The Perot people were outside the party and much more damaging to Republicans.   Exactly, which means that liberal media members like Beinart continue to either misunderstand what’s going on with this movement or just choose to dishonestly misrepresent it in order to assist the Party they really  support.  Readers are encouraged to review Brent Baker’s ” Tea Parties Will Lead to 1964-Like Goldwater Debacle…No, Make that a 1972-Like McGovern Drubbing .”  

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Matthews Admits: Maybe I Was Smart Not to Run For Office This Year

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Well you have to give Chris Matthews credit for admitting the obvious. On Monday’s Hardball, as he overlooked the bad environment for Democrats this midterm season, Matthews appeared grateful he didn’t make his much rumored run for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat, as he asked one of his guests: “Do you think it could be the year where guys…like me were smart not to make the run?” [ audio available here ] The admission came during a segment in which Matthews, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and local radio talk show host, Dan Gaffney of WGMD, were breaking down the prospects for Christine O’Donnell to upset Republican Mike Castle and go on to win the general election for the Deleware Senate seat with Gaffney explaining that it was a distinct possibility since there is “a lot of anti-establishment, anti-incumbent sentiment” in that state, calling that race “a crap-shoot.” This caused Matthews to wonder, if in fact, that attitude extended to Pennsylvania as he asked Gaffney the following question: Let me go to Gaffney, a fellow Irishman, while I’ve got you on the show, I’ve got to ask you this. Do you think it could be the year where guys like Beau Biden and guys like me were smart not to make the run? I’m looking at this situation. You cannot predict this year! It is a crap-shoot! And they’re so anti-establishment out there, that they recognize your name and they say, “I knew that name three months ago.” They don’t like you. Isn’t that true? The following exchanges were aired on the September 13 edition of Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Welcome back to Hardball. The Republican primary in Delaware, the little state of Delaware, tomorrow could have big implications for the Republicans nationwide and their ability to take over the U.S. Senate, which is possible. Republican Mike Castle is fending off a tough challenge from Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell and polls show she’s in the race of his life, actually that’s a close, too close to call. … MATTHEWS: Joining me is Delaware radio talk show host Dan Gaffney and WashingtonPost.com managing editor Chris Cillizza. Dan, give me a sense do the voters of Delaware know how important this vote is tomorrow. That this could affect the, I guess you could call it the outside chance of the Republicans grabbing the Senate as well as the House, come November. DAN GAFFNEY: Yeah, I think many of them do, but some of my talk radio callers don’t care. They are more interested in winning the actual battle than the war and there’s such a wind of anti-Castle, you know there’s a wind of anti-Castle wind in the air and even when presented the fact that Castle has a better chance of beating the Democrats, many people don’t care. They want to vote him out any way. MATTHEWS: Boy that sounds like the Democratic left sometimes. That sounds like November Doesn’t Count. I grew up with it, it’s called NDC. Cillizza, you’re, you’re shaking your head positively. The one thing about a polarized electorate is it doesn’t care about practical electoral consequences. CHRIS CILLIZZA, WASHINGTON POST: Yep. MATTHEWS: By the way, I want to give a salute, if not a positive salute, a reality check to the far right. Bob Bennett was knocked off, the guy that beat him, Lee is going to win the general. Crist, Crist has been bumped out of his party but Rubio could well win that. He’s ahead in the polls down there. Specter was knocked out of his party, but Toomey is well ahead by about seven points in PA. And who am I missing? Murkowski. Well I gotta bet, what’s his name up there, Joe Miller is gonna win that, or if he gets in that thing clean, one on one. So you could argue that the Tea Parties have had a pretty good record of positioning themselves to win generals. Maybe not in Nevada, but other places. CILLIZZA: Chris, first of all, isn’t it amazing that we’re talking about Delaware? You’ve got the New Hampshire Senate race, you’ve got New York, you’ve got Wisconsin, we’re talking about Delaware. This is a state we never thought we would be talking about. Number two, that states you just listed: Alaska, Utah, those kind of states. The one thing that’s different, this is Delaware. This is a Democratic state. Mike Castle’s been elected for more than 40 years. He’s been the governor of the state. He’s been the at-large representative. This is not a state where whoever winds up being the Republican nominee, Utah, Alaska, has a big leg up in winning. Not sure if they’re gonna win, but that’s a big leg up. MATTHEWS: Okay let me give you, let me give you, let me give you some history, young fellow. Joe Biden, back in 1972, bumped out a guy who had won the House seat, and let’s go in here Dan, you’re the expert, had been a House member, a Senate member, for x many terms, and a governor, just like this guy Mike Castle. Joe Biden, at the age of 29, knocked him out of the seat and held it for what? 40 years. So isn’t it possible that Christine O’Donnell could be a senator for life. We don’t know. GAFFNEY: Well let me tell you, what my original opinion was that if she wins the primary tomorrow, we would say “Hello, Senator Coons.” That was my original opinion. MATTHEWS: Right. GAFFNEY: But now I’m starting to think that if she pulls it off tomorrow, if, that’s a big “if”, she could do anything. If she can beat Mike Castle in this state, she can do anything. MATTHEWS: What’s your state like these days? Is it as unhappy as the rest of the country and could it say, you know what if she isn’t quite prepared or maybe this other fellow Coons has more executive experience, the usual logic way we make decisions may not be in play this year, there’s so much anger. GAFFNEY: No it’s very emotional Chris. MATTHEWS: Yeah. GAFFNEY: It’s very emotional. There’s a lot of anti-establishment, anti-incumbent sentiment. The Tea Party movement is strong. There is a strong sentiment, especially in the southern part of the state. There are only three counties, the two lower counties, much more conservative, much more likely to go to Christine O’Donnell. The upper county, Newscastle, is urban, it’s the city of Wilmington. Much more likely to go toward Mike Castle. However, will he win enough in Newcastle to take the whole state? It’s a crap-shoot. All of my political pundit friends are saying the same thing to me, “I don’t know.” MATTHEWS: Well Let’s talk about the country. Chris go back, let’s pull back and look at the whole country. CILLIZZA: Sure. MATTHEWS: People watching now from California want to know this. It’s possible with Boxer in play, with Patty Murray in play, with Harry Reid in play, with Russ Feingold in play- CILLIZZA: Yep. MATTHEWS: That the Democrats could lose the Senate. It’s very possible, on a bad night, a what do you call it, a wave night, well you’re the expert, right? Delaware matters. CILLIZZA: Look I would say Delaware, you used the word in the intro Chris – shoe-in. And I thought to myself, that’s exactly right. We considered this like, I met Chris Coons, I like Chris Coons, I didn’t think Chris Coons was gonna beat Mike Castle. I agree that Christine O’Donnell, you never know what’s going to happen if she wins, but she’s not as strong a candidate as Mike Castle in the general election. Doesn’t mean she can’t win, but she’s not as strong a candidate. So if you take Delaware and move it into the “We don’t know” category. Now you’re looking at rather than winning two out of the three of Wisconsin, Washington and California, now you’re talking about winning all three. Is it possible? Yes it’s absolutely possible. MATTHEWS: Ha! I love it! CILLIZZA: Polling, polling in all three suggests it could happen, but it seems odd to me. I think Wisconsin, in order, I think Wisconsin, California, Washington, even the most sort of optimistic Republican strategists I talk to say, “Look we’d love to win two out of three of them that would make a great night.” But two out of three and losing Delaware that means they’re probably not in the majority. MATTHEWS: Okay there’s others than. I think you’re so smart. Let me go to Gaffney, a fellow Irishman, while I’ve got you on the show, I’ve got to ask you this. Do you think it could be the year where guys like Beau Biden and guys like me were smart not to make the run? I’m looking at this situation. You cannot predict this year! It is a crap-shoot! And they’re so anti-establishment out there, that they recognize your name and they say, “I knew that name three months ago.” They don’t like you. Isn’t that true? GAFFNEY: Well I think Beau Biden, yeah it is true. Beau Biden should have gotten in this year. I mean he, he probably is… MATTHEWS: Could he have beaten either of these candidates? Could have beaten Castle or beaten O’Donnell? GAFFNEY: Yes, I think he could have. Not that I would’ve supported him but I think he could. Yes. MATTHEWS: Really? GAFFNEY: Beau Biden? Absolutely.

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AP Howler of the Day: Kasich ‘Keeping Pace’ With Strickland in OH Guv Race

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Talk about an in-kind contribution. In a short item about a Democratic Governors Association election complaint about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, the Associated Press’s Julie Carr Smyth showed that she is willfully ignoring Buckeye State reality, or has been living a hermit’s existence for the past few months. In describing Kasich’s standing against Democratic incumbent governor Ted Strickland, Smyth claimed that Kasich “is keeping pace with Strickland in polls and fundraising” (a picture of the relevant paragraph is here ). As you can see , that’s sort of like a baseball writer claiming that “The Cincinnati Reds are keeping pace with the Chicago Cubs this year”: For those who aren’t following baseball closely, the Reds have a 21-1/2 game lead on the Cubs with less than 30 games remaining. Who do you think you’re foolin’, babe? (Answer: Relatively disengaged voters who need to given the impression that the sinking Strickland campaign is really on track to victory, instead of heading towards the first defeat of an incumbent governor in the Buckeye State in 36 years.) Democrats are upset that Kasich appeared on Fox News and was able to give out the name of his web site and encourage viewers to donate to his campaign during Bill O’Reilly’s show on August 18. Awwww. The election complaint is carried at a Huffington Post item courtesy of Sam Stein , a former NewsWeak (spelled that way on purpose) reporter . Two years ago, Stein claimed that Republican presidential nominee John McCain couldn’t possibly have vetted VP pick Sarah Palin because no one had visited her town’s local newspaper and looked through its archives. Well Sam, that just might be because the paper’s archives going back a decade were available online , and contained hundreds of entries. This Internet thing is pretty cool when you have a clue about how to use it. Ben Smith at Politico, who is not being linked because of his outfit’s outrageous attempt to shut down the College Politico, seems to think that this complaint has as much validity as Stein’s unproven claim against Team McCain two years ago: It seems to hinge on a chyron and, to my eye, is more in the great tradition of thin, high-profile election-year litigation than about winning in court. Speaking of “in-kind contributions,” maybe Julie Carr Smyth can estimate how much value favoring Strickland we should place on her demonstrably false claim in a national news story that Kasich is only “keeping” pace with him, when the fact is that Kasich has an averaged-out double-digit lead? Cross-posted at Bizzyblog.com .

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USAToday.com Notes Poll Showing Bush Blamed for Economy, Skips One Showing Voters Favor GOP On Issues

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Yesterday the Gallup organization released a poll showing that Americans trust Republicans over Democrats on most major issues heading into the general election season. Today the same polling outfit released a poll that found a large number of Americans blame George W. Bush for the faltering economy.  Guess which one Gallup partner USA Today hyped? Here’s how USA Today staffer Susan Page began her September 2 online story (filed at noon today): Nearly two years after Barack Obama was elected president, Americans still are inclined to blame his predecessor for the nation’s current economic problems. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, more than a third of those surveyed said George W. Bush deserved a great deal of the blame for economic woes and a third said he should get a moderate amount of it. Not quite another third called that unfair, saying Bush warranted not much or none of the responsibility. The 71% saying Bush should get blamed was a modest decline from the 80% who felt that way about a year ago, in July 2009. A search of the USAToday.com website failed to turn up a story specifically devoted to the September 1 Gallup poll that gauged voter preferences for the parties based on the issues. Staffer Susan Page did make a brief reference to the poll in a September 1 “analysis” article regarding President Obama’s Oval Office speech about the end of combat operations in Iraq, but that occurred in paragraphs 17 and 18 of her 20-paragraph story: But the Iraq war is no longer the driving issue for Americans facing job layoffs and home foreclosures. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,021 adults Friday through Sunday, those surveyed rated the economy, jobs, government corruption and federal spending as the top issues shaping their vote in November’s congressional elections — and preferred congressional Republicans over Democrats on handling the economy by double digits. The war in Afghanistan ranked eighth in a list of nine issues. Here’s an excerpt from Gallup.com’s website regarding the top issues poll: PRINCETON, NJ — A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Americans saying the Republicans in Congress would do a better job than the Democrats in Congress of handling seven of nine key election issues. The parties are essentially tied on healthcare, with the environment being the lone Democratic strength. The Republicans’ advantage on most issues is an indication of the currently favorable political environment for the party. Of particular note is the parity between the two parties on healthcare, an issue on which Americans historically have viewed the Democrats as superior . A similar USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in October 2006, just prior to Democrats’ major gains in that fall’s elections, highlights the potential implications of these findings. That poll, which includes several issues measured in the current survey, found the Democrats leading on all eight issues tested at that time , including some usual Republican strengths like terrorism and moral values. In more bad news for liberal Democrats, Gallup.com released another poll today that shows that “Republicans Hold Wide Lead in Key Voter Turnout Measure” : PRINCETON, NJ — Two months before this year’s midterm congressional elections, Gallup finds 54% of Republicans, compared with 30% of Democrats, already saying they have given “quite a lot of” or “some” thought to the contests. This “thought” measure is an important variable in Gallup’s well-established classification of “likely voters,” which is put into use closer to Election Day. The current gulf in thought between the parties mirrors the partisan gap in Gallup’s voter enthusiasm measure that is tracked weekly. We’ll have to see how USA Today covers this later today or tomorrow, but I’m not holding my breath for the paper giving it much attention, if any.

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USAToday.com Notes Poll Showing Bush Blamed for Economy, Skips One Showing Voters Favor GOP On Issues

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New Yorker Publishes Hit Piece Demonizing Koch Brothers for Thought Crime of Supporting Conservative Causes

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Tea Parties are driving the liberals crazy. They charged that Tea Partiers were racists but that pretty much backfired on them when they were unable to collect on the $100,000 Breitbart prize offered for any video evidence of racial epithets that were supposedly hurled at congressmen on March 20 at the Capitol. Now it seems that they have gone back to the Nancy Pelosi charge of accusing the grassroots Tea Party of being an “astroturf” organization. And who is suposedly financing them? According to a New Yorker hit piece article written by Jane Mayer , much of the money is coming from businessmen brothers, Charles and David Koch. Of course, any article complaining about businessmen contributing to conservative causes will have a big elephant in the room in the form of George Soros who pours hundreds of millions into the far left movement. And that elephant is so large that even Mayer can’t ignore it. So what to do? Why, portray Soros as saintly. So start plucking your harps as you read the hilarious money quote Mayer employs to explain away this hypocritical matter by presenting the “benevolent” Soros floating upon his heavenly cloud: Of course, Democrats give money, too. Their most prominent donor, the financier George Soros, runs a foundation, the Open Society Institute, that has spent as much as a hundred million dollars a year in America. Soros has also made generous private contributions to various Democratic campaigns, including Obama’s. But Michael Vachon, his spokesman, argued that Soros’s giving is transparent, and that “none of his contributions are in the service of his own economic interests.” A big tell as to where Mayer is coming from is presented at the get go in a photo caption that states: “David H. Koch in 1996. He and his brother Charles are lifelong libertarians and have quietly given more than a hundred million dollars to right-wing causes .” Much of the information for Mayer’s article comes from the “non-partisan” group, Center for Public Integrity. And how do we know it is non-partisan? Because Jane Mayer says so. Unfortunately for Mayers’ assertion, even a most basic Web search reveals Center for Public Integrity to be a left-wing group which is funded by the aforementioned George Soros. What is most laughable about the charge by Mayer about the Tea Party movement being funded by the Koch brothers is that there is really nothing much to fund. It takes almost no money to hold Tea Party rallies. How much has to be spent to post on Facebook that there will be a Tea Party rally taking place in, say, Sunrise, Florida at the northeast corner of University and Oakland Park Blvd. on a certain date? Pretty much the only costs consists of minor gas fare to get there and small expenditures on signs and flags paid by the participants themselves. No big league funding necessary but that hasn’t stopped Mayer from making the ridiculous charge of big money being poured into the Tea Party movement.  Other charges made by the transparently devious Mayer are that the Koch brothers don’t (EEK!) blindly buy into the Global Warming mythology. Bottom line is that all the Koch Brothers are really “guilty” of is that they support conservative (along with vast charitable) causes. In an alternative universe where those brothers were supporting liberal causes there would be no Jane Mayer hit piece on them. 

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FNC Notices Americans More Positive Toward Tea Party Than Toward Pelosi or Reid

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

In FNC’s “Grapevine” segment Thursday night, Shannon Bream highlighted a finding in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which NBC’s Chuck Todd failed to point out in emphasizing the public’s disgust with Democrats, Republicans and the Tea Party. Bream observed:  A new poll suggests Americans have more positive feelings for the Tea Party movement than for either of the Democratic leaders in Congress. The NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds 30 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party movement, compared to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 21 percent and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 11 percent. The evening before, on Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, Todd declared: “It’s an unhappy America” where “the Democrats hit a record high in their negative rating – 44 percent” while “the Republicans are doing even worse – 46 percent of the country has a negative view of the Republican Party” and “even the Tea Party – which has actually enjoyed a little bit of a renaissance over the last six months – 34 percent now have a negative view. Just 30 percent have a positive view.” The next morning (Thursday) on the Today show, Todd repeated: “Democrats hit an all-new high in their negative rating. Republicans have even a higher negative rating. The Tea Party, which had enjoyed a positive rating for awhile, now they have a negative rating.” More in Geoffrey Dickens’ post: “ NBC’s Todd Proclaims If GOP Wins in November It’s Still ‘A Bad Election Night for All of Washington .” More of Todd’s poll summary on the August 11 NBC Nightly News, transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth for Todd’s look at evaluations of the parties: CHUCK TODD: It’s an unhappy America. Look, they don’t like the Democrats. The Democrats hit a record high in their negative rating – 44 percent. Just 33 percent have a positive rating on them. The Republicans are doing even worse – 46 percent of the country has a negative view of the Republican Party; 24 percent has a positive view. Even the Tea Party – which has actually enjoyed a little bit of a renaissance over the last six months – 34 percent now have a negative view. Just 30 percent have a positive view. What does this mean for the fall campaign? Right now, voters are sort of in a hold-your-nose moment. They’re sort of split decision – 43 percent want Democrats to keep control; 42 percent want Republicans to take control. But, among voters who have the highest interest in the November elections, this is where Republicans have a potential big advantage – 50 percent of high-interest voters want Republicans to take control of Congress, and just 39 percent would like to see the Democrats keep control. But, again, it’s an unhappy America. And this election, right now, could turn out being a hold-your-nose election when you go into that ballot box. Bream’s “Grapevine” item on the August 12 Special Report with Bret Baier where she was filling in for Baier: A new poll suggests Americans have more positive feelings for the Tea Party movement than for either of the Democratic leaders in Congress. The NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds 30 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party movement, compared to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 21 percent and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 11 percent. 33 percent of those surveyed have had a positive attitude toward the Democratic Party compared to just 24 percent for Republicans. Congress’ overall job score even worse: 21 percent approved compared to a whopping 72 percent who disapprove.

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FNC Notices Americans More Positive Toward Tea Party Than Toward Pelosi or Reid

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New Attempt at Civil Discourse From the Left: ‘F*ck Tea’

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

A “progressive” political activism campaign has launched a new project apparently aimed at engaging opponents in civil discourse about important issues of the day. Their motto: “F*ck Tea.” Setting its sights on the Tea Party movement, the Agenda Project has launched an online store to sell shirts and mugs with the slogan and inform visitors of some statistics about the Tea Parties – none of which are sourced. On its own website , the Agenda Project claims its goal is “to build a powerful, intelligent, well-connected political movement capable of identifying and advancing rational, effective ideas in the public debate and in so doing ensure our country’s enduring success.” “Our goal is to return normal Americans to the center of the policy debate by cultivating an understanding of public policy, facilitating common action, and connecting the best ideas and the strongest leaders with engaged citizens, elected officials, the media, political insiders, and experts through a variety of in-person and on-line platforms,” the group says. Apparently that didn’t fit on a t-shirt. Politico reports that the Agenda Project was founded by Erica Payne, who also helped establish the Democracy Alliance and the Center for American Progress, a left-wing think tank.

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New Attempt at Civil Discourse From the Left: ‘F*ck Tea’

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Hardball Panelist Bemoans: Townhallers Only Getting News From Limbaugh, Drudge and Fox News

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

NBC’s Chuck Todd, substitute hosting for Chris Matthews on Monday’s Hardball, invited on Vanity Fair’s Todd Purdum and the Politico’s Jonathan Martin to navel gaze about what ailed the political structure as Todd questioned “Is Washington broke and beyond repair?” Pivoting off a Purdum article, that in part, blamed lobbyists, Martin offered his own explanation as he brought up the typical mainstream media boogeymen of the Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. After Todd noted that it’s not just the “lobbying community” causing distress in D.C., that the “media is playing a role here” and “it’s not clear which came first, the polarized Washington or the polarized way that people get information” Martin offered his account of how townhallers in Florida were “listening to Rush Limbaugh,” “reading Drudge” and “watching Fox News.” JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO: But it’s also, it’s also the break down in not just Washington media but in regional newspapers. Last August, a year ago, I was down in Florida, the panhandle, going to Allen Boyd town hall meetings. The folks at those town hall meetings – Chuck, they, they were not reading the Pensacola News Journal, they were not reading the Tallahassee Democrat, they were listening to Rush Limbaugh, they were reading Drudge, and they were watching- CHUCK TODD: Local news has gone national. MARTIN: -and they were watching Fox News. And that’s where they got their information entirely! The following is the full exchange as it was aired on the August 9 edition of Hardball: CHUCK TODD: Well, we are back. Is Washington broke and beyond repair? Vanity Fair’s national editor Todd Purdum has a great big piece. One of those big think pieces in the latest issue of the magazine, which of course has Lady Gaga on the cover, because you have to sell the magazine. But it’s called “Washington, We Have A Problem.” We’re also joined by a Washingtonian from birth, Politico’s senior political reporter Jonathan Martin. And look you’ve gotten, Todd, you’ve gotten a lot of attention for this piece. This idea that it’s broken. I think Rahm Emanuel refers to Washington, in cementing his own four letter legacy as “F” Nutsville. But one part of your piece has not gotten a lot of attention and it was striking to me and that was the fact that the media is not the Fourth Estate it’s the industry of lobbying. Let me, this figure you used, you said in 2009 expenditures for lobbying – $3.5 billion, with a “b” dollars or $1.3 million for each hour that Congress was in session according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s, that to me, is the eye opener of this piece, almost more than anything now. TODD PURDUM, VANITY FAIR: It’s pretty incredible. And a single lobbying entity, the Chamber of Commerce, spent $144 million last year, which is more than the combined payroll of all 535 members of Congress. So I mean the, the stakes are so wildly disproportionate in terms what have resources can be brought to bear. And the typical congressman or senator, you know, doesn’t need that much. John Breaux, senator from Louisiana once famously said, “My vote can’t be bought, it can occasionally be rented.” TODD: You know Jonathan I was looking at this piece and I went into it with a little bit – cynical. You know is Washington broken? You know what? We’re all gonna thumb suck. You see a number like that though and you say, “Okay think maybe things have changed.” This lobbying community, like I said, you’ve grown up around here. JONATHAN MARTIN, POLITICO: Right. TODD: K Street is no longer just a street. It’s a community. MARTIN: Well it’s the entire, it’s the entire culture now of Washington. And also, if you go to the Hill, those bills are frequent, this is not a cliche, those bills are actually written by lobbyists. I mean the actual language itself, because the lobbyists are the only ones that actually are the experts on the issues. They’re the ones feeding the committee staff, the actual language of the bills. That’s a fact. But I was struck, Chuck, in this piece and also the New York piece by George Packer about the U.S. Senate. PURDUM: Wonderful piece. MARTIN: Two things. Increasingly, the, the real campaigns are played out within the parties themselves, not against each other, R’s versus D’s. But these folks are so scared of primaries nowadays that you’ve got now Republicans, for example talking about overturning the 14th Amendment. Why are they doing that? Does Mitch McConnell suddenly care about this issue? I would doubt it seriously. They are scared of a radicalized GOP base that, that right now is demanding action on immigration and they’re talking about addressing this issue because they’re scared of their own base and being primaried. That’s what drives the folks on the R side and the D side now increasingly. It’s primaries. TODD: Now you, rightly, I think put a focus, Todd, on this, the, the lobbying community as this sort of hidden Fourth Estate that no one talks about. You hear it sort of used as a punching bag. But the media is playing a role here, a little bit, too. And that is the fact that it’s not clear which came first, the polarized Washington or the polarized way that people get information about Washington. And then we’ve shined a spotlight on it, but with our own lens and we focus it in its special way. PURDUM: Well first of all, I mean the media from the French Revolution on, the media thrives on conflict. And that’s why we say “man bites dog,” and not “dog bites man.” So that’s, that’s a given. But it’s the intensity- TODD: Wait a minute, breaking news. Another plane has landed safely at National Airport. That is correct. Another – right, we never break in for that. Yeah. MARTIN: One hundred today now… PURDUM: You scared me for one second. I thought that’s going on here? TODD: No, no but that’s my point. We don’t break in for that. PURDUM: And we don’t say Washingtonians got up and had their coffee and went to school and… TODD: Right. PURDUM: But, but what has happened to the frequency, the velocity of it, has so increased, that even 15 years ago when I covered the White House for the New York Times, we like to say we had a 24/7 media, we really did not. We had CNN, which every 22 minutes kind of had the world headlines. But it wasn’t that some blogger sitting in a house some place, could cause a story that would make the White House reacted at midnight. That just didn’t exist. MARTIN: But it’s also, it’s also the break down in not just Washington media but in regional newspapers. Last August, a year ago, I was down in Florida, the panhandle, going to Allen Boyd town hall meetings. The folks at those town hall meetings – Chuck, they, they were not reading the Pensacola News Journal, they were not reading the Tallahassee Democrat, they were listening to Rush Limbaugh, they were reading Drudge, and they were watching- TODD: Local news has gone national. MARTIN: -and they were watching Fox News. And that’s where they got their information entirely!

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Hardball Panelist Bemoans: Townhallers Only Getting News From Limbaugh, Drudge and Fox News

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