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Steve Malzberg Destroys Joy Behar: ‘You Represent a Radical Leftist View’

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

Conservative radio personality Steve Malzberg on Tuesday told Joy Behar exactly what the vast majority of right-thinking Americans would love to say to this “View” co-host if given the opportunity: ” You represent a radical leftist view in this country; it`s a very small minority .” Chatting with Behar on the CNN Headline News program bearing her name, Malzberg told the comedienne turned political commentator a thing or two about the Democrat President she adores, the former Republican President she hates, and why those controlling Congress are to blame for the sagging economy. After only three minutes of having her poorly-founded opinions challenged, Behar quickly dismissed Malzberg to bring on a friendlier guest (video follows with transcript and commentary):  JOY BEHAR, HOST: Well, it`s back-to-school season. You know what that means. Time for some schools in Texas and Colorado to screen President Obama`s speech to children to make sure it`s fit for their ears. Hide your children. I`m about to play a piece. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody gets to write your destiny but you. Your future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it and nothing, absolutely nothing is beyond your reach. So long as you are willing to dream big. So long as you are willing to work hard. So long as you`re willing to stay focused on your education. (END VIDEO CLIP) BEHAR: Good thing they screened that because if you play it backwards it`s actually socialist propaganda. Here with me now are Stephanie Miller, host of “The Stephanie Miller Show”; Steve Malzberg, WOR radio talk show host and columnist for Newsmax.com. Hi Steve, how are you? STEVE MALZBERG, WOR RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good, Joy. How are you? BEHAR: Good. What is the paranoia about on the right Steve? Tell me what it`s about. MALZBERG: You can`t ignore what happened last year with the Department of Education put out a directive to schools all over the country on how to handle Barack Obama`s speech last year to kids. BEHAR: What are they afraid of? MALZBERG: First of all, they backed off. They must have been — well, what is who afraid of? What are parents afraid of or what is the Department of Education afraid of? BEHAR: What are they afraid that he is going to say that is going to be so harmful to children? MALZBERG: Well, we know that the school wanted the kids to write letters on how they would help Barack Obama achieve his policies. And the Department of Education must have known they did something wrong because when that was discovered, they backed off and they told teachers not to have kids do that. So you`d have to ask the Department of Education what they did wrong last year that made them change what they did. Look, Barack Obama is the most divisive president we`ve ever seen. BEHAR: Come on. MALZBERG: That`s not just me. You can read Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell, two life-long Democrats who wrote in the “Wall Street Journal” a column called “The Divisive Presidency.” BEHAR: You know, can I just say Steve that — MALZBERG: Sure. BEHAR: I think that the tipping point for divisiveness was when the Supreme Court said that George W. Bush was the president and not the people — of the United States. I think that was the moment when the divide began. Don`t blame it on Barack Obama. MALZBERG: The people of the United States voted. It was the Supreme Court who deciphered the votes. BEHAR: Oh, come on. They never counted all the votes in Florida. There were more hanging chads there — come on. MALZBERG: You represent a radical leftist view in this country; it`s a very small minority. BEHAR: And what do you represent? MALZBERG: I represent the majority of people. BEHAR: Oh, the moral majority? MALZBERG: I didn`t say moral. I said look at the polls. He lost all his independent support because he is a radical, divisive figure. Why do you think all the independents have deserted him? White, educated women have deserted him. BEHAR: What is so divisive about trying to get health care for everybody, about trying to redo the financial situation in this country that he was left with, by President Bush in the previous years — (CROSSTALK) BEHAR: By trying to end the war in Iraq which was an immoral war and a political war that had nothing to do with the truth? What is so divisive about that? Tell me that. MALZBERG: First of all, the Congress has been Democrat since 2006. I don`t know if you know that. But aside from that — BEHAR: I love how the right wing, they blame the Democratic Congress when it suits your side. MALZBERG: Well, you say — well, everybody assumes that the Democrats took over with Obama in `08 and are trying to save us. The unemployment rate when the Democrats took over Congress was 5 percent. It went up to where it is now under a Democratic Congress. That aside — BEHAR: Come on. Cut the guy some slack. You see what he inherited. I really have to go. Thanks, Steve. Let me turn to Stephanie Miller now. Yeah, let’s turn to Stephanie Miller, someone who’s much more likely to agree with Behar. Of course, parents with children watching should be advised to quickly change channels, for after Behar showed a campaign ad mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Miller asked, “Is it wrong that I want to pour hot coffee in my genitals just from having been subjected to that?” Now that’s some classy material for a cable news network during prime time. What must CNN have been thinking giving this cretin her own show? On the other hand, that’s a silly question given the recent hiring of Kathleen Parker, Eliot Spitzer, and Piers Morgan, isn’t it? And they wonder why their ratings are plummeting faster than the President’s they helped get elected. Nice job, Steve! Bravo!

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Steve Malzberg Destroys Joy Behar: ‘You Represent a Radical Leftist View’

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

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Ed Schultz to Speak at Hastily Arranged DC Rally He Claims Not in Response to Glenn Beck’s Rally

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Remember the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza pretended to be an architect? Seinfeld thought it was a bad idea, suggesting Constanza would do better as a fake marine biologist, leading Constanza to complain, “You know I’ve always wanted to pretend that I was an architect.” Ed Schultz, liberal radio host and MSNBC flamethrower, is done pretending to be an architect. Schultz garnered plenty of attention last week with his huff-and-puff claim he could outdraw the estimated 300,000 people who attended Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally in Washington on Aug. 28. What made Schultz’s boast so insipid was his insistence that he not actually organize or take part in a rally to exceed Beck’s draw, if only in spirit. Schultz’s suggestion alone would suffice. No need to actually draft a blueprint or break a sweat. Perhaps the Labor Day weekend knocked some reality into Schultz. According to Brian Maloney at The Radio Equalizer , Schultz has decided to appear at the “One Nation Working Together” rally on the mall in Washington on Oct. 2, exactly one month before the midterms. Here’s Schultz talking about this on his radio show yesterday (audio available at Radio Equalizer) — The march is on, Oct. 2. Will you march with me?  And thousands upon thousands. Oh, we’ll get three hundred grand. We’ll get 300,000, absolutely. We’ll show you conservatives out there when big Eddie starts cranking on something we don’t back down until it gets done. It’s happening on Oct. 2. I appreciate all of you going to our website at wegoted.com, there’s a consortium of groups that are coming together. You see, the Republicans, they want you to quit. They want you to think that there’s a tsunami coming. What tsunami? Ain’t no tsunamis coming! Nothing’s lost until you give up! If you give up, then they have a chance. I don’t buy the polls, I don’t believe it, I believe America is smarter than this, and I think Americans don’t want to go back. … Many of you are out of work. Many of you can’t make it to the rally but a lot of you will. We have been inundated with all kinds of communication from wonderful listeners and viewers and I will be a featured speaker. There will be other speakers and there will be some groups that are going to be obviously helping out with all of this, just like FreedomWorks and the billionaires and the six months of promotion helped out the Beckster. And I want to get something very clear right now. If Beck had not done his rally, this would have happened, OK? This is about the country. This is about making sure that information is where it has to be, with the American people. And now it’s about passion, now it’s about emotion. And by the way, there will be some old and there will be some white people at the Oct. 2 rally on the mall in Washington, D.C. They just won’t be angry. And they won’t be motivated by hate and they won’t be race-baited. Schultz asserts that “if Beck had not done his rally, this would have happened” anyway. Maybe so, and I’ll temporarily set aside my well-deserved skepticism of anything claimed by Schultz. But the whiff of desperation wafting from Schultz’s reversal makes me wonder if Beck hasn’t put the fear of God in him.

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Ed Schultz to Speak at Hastily Arranged DC Rally He Claims Not in Response to Glenn Beck’s Rally

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AUSTRALIA…Independents Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor to give decision on government

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

THEIR time is up – Australia has waited 17 days and now three men will decide who will form government. Since the Gillard Government went into caretaker mode almost two months ago, thousands of cancer patients have gone without drug treatments, pay rises have been delayed and a solution to the asylum seeker issue is on hold. With national retailers and business leaders claiming consumer confidence was also being affected by the uncertainty, the way is finally clear for Bob Katter, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor to make a decision. Late yesterday, agreement was reached with Tony Abbott on critical parliamentary reforms already agreed to by Julia Gillard. As Labor sources revealed the “momentum” appeared to be going their way, Coalition insiders said a “realism” had set in that it was unlikely to go theirs. Both major parties yesterday also offered unprecedented regional development packages in a final round of meetings with the independents. Sources close to the negotiations said both sides had offered “significant” regional development assistance, including prime ministerial oversight of regional and rural policy as well as funding for regional infrastructure. Ms Gillard needs only one of the three independent's support to take Labor to 75 out of the 150 seats in Parliament, one short of being able to form government, but denying Mr Abbott government as well. To avoid a deadlock and a return to the polls at least two would have to back Labor, or all three would need to go with the Coalition. Mr Oakeshott yesterday alluded to the possibility that they were split in who to support: “It does look like we may have to make some choices about whether we stick together or not.” But the long wait for government is starting to take its toll on the lives of Australians. Patients with bowel cancer and those at risk of acute myeloid leukemia are waiting for a government to be formed so it can rubber stamp an expert government committee's recommendation it subsidise two new high-cost drugs – the $20,000-a-year Erbitux and $40,000-a-year Vidaza. Dr Anna Williamson from the Leukemia Foundation said some patients were talking about mortgaging their houses to pay for the drugs as they feared the ongoing delay in approving subsidies could endanger their lives. A national equal pay case for 200,000 social workers has also been affected. A new pipeline to improve water supply water to Canberra, which is still facing water restrictions, is on hold waiting approval from Environment Minister Peter Garrett. Negotiations over a new offshore refugee processing centre in either East Timor or Nauru can't take place during the caretaker period, while more boatloads of asylum seekers arrive. Retail figures show Australians are delaying purchases on big-ticket items such as whitegoods and furniture, a delay which retail groups believe is so consumers can ascertain which policy direction a new government will take. “We want a decision as soon as possible, but certainly we want to ensure that whatever decision is made is made in the interests of the country,” Australian Retailers Association director Russell Zimmerman said. added by: eden49

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DeGette Pushing Poll-Negative Embryonic Stem Cell Research Spending Bill

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Ignoring the current political reality for wishful thinking of bygone days, Politico’s Richard Cohen wrote a nice bluff piece today for Democrat anti-life CO Rep. Diana DeGette , strongly pushing a bill to force taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. Such legislation would render mute the August 23 federal court ruling that escr violates federal law by killing that law. Cohen has either not seen or is ignoring (would bet it’s the latter) the August 27 Rasmussen poll that showed a stunning reversal of American thought on paying for escr. While 17 mos. ago a slight majority (52%) supported President Obama’s now-enjoined executive order authorizing public-funded escr, 57% today oppose it. Now, only 1/3 of America (exactly: 33%) support what DeGette is pushing. I’m sure DeGette knows about the poll but is attempting a bluff, wanting her shaky colleagues and leadership to think public-funded escr is in the bag and that it would be to their political benefit to have a hand in this done deal. From the article : As Congress prepares to return for a limited pre-election agenda… DeGette… said she has picked up wide support for her bill to permit embryonic stem-cell research and expects it will pass this month. Although it has been strongly opposed by anti-abortion activists, she voiced confidence that the measure will be a political boost for its backers as well as good policy. Working with her bipartisan allies and with Democratic leaders who want to make sure the bill does not raise objections from pro-life Democrats, DeGette has not resolved all details of the measure. But “the stars are pretty well aligned,” she said. “ This is a positive wedge issue. Supporters can use it in an election because there is strong public support and its opponents look extreme. “ I refer DeGette’s colleagues back to the Rasmussen poll . Interestingly, the poll indicates Americans don’t have such a moral issue with escr as a fiscal issue with spending their tax dollars on it. So people are not now arguing about whether embryos are human and even if so whether it would be for the greater good to experiment on them. They’re saying it’s fiscally irresponsible right now to throw money at it, since we have none. (“They” being the critical independent vote.) And so, in fact, public funded escr is a negative wedge issue that enjoys overwhelming public opposition . As for DeGette’s “bipartisan allies,” way down in Cohen’s piece, in the 2nd-to-last paragraph, we learn those amount to a whopping 2: DeGette has worked closely with Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) and cites the bipartisan support for her bill. But the 51 cosponsors include only 2 Republicans : Castle and Mark Kirk (R- IL ). Coincidentally, both are running for the Senate. Currently Kirk is losing in the polls to his Democrat counterpart with absolutely zero conservative support. His support of this issue puts him in the negative-zero range, meaning he should begin to anticipate cat calls at rallies. Meanwhile Castle is much in the news as a Tea Party primary target, with he and DE Republican leaders “scrambling to prevent the possibility” of a “seismic upset.”  Daily Kos reported August 30 that with conservative Christine O’Donnell breathing down Castle’s neck, a debate over public-funded escr “puts Castle in a spot.” I expect Castle is wishing right about now DeGette would shut up and go away. I equally expect pro-life Democrats – you know, the ones our groups are targeting and beating for supporting Obamacare – are privately telling DeGette the same thing. To help them along: Call your congressperson today and tell him or her to oppose DeGette’s bill or any measure authorizing taxpayer funding of escr. [Photo via Politico ]

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DeGette Pushing Poll-Negative Embryonic Stem Cell Research Spending Bill

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9.5% Unemployment and Chris Matthews Doesn’t Get Why People Miss Bush

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

Despite unemployment at 9.5 percent and millions of people having lost their jobs since Barack Obama was elected, Chris Matthews just doesn’t understand why anyone would miss George W. Bush. Without naming this week’s PPP poll finding Ohioans would vote for Bush over Obama by the tally of 50 to 42 percent if a presidential election was held today, Matthews in the first segment of “Hardball” asked his guests, “Why would you want that back?” When Time’s Michael Scherer tried to explain logically why voters are disappointed with what Obama has done since Inauguration Day, Matthews wasn’t having any of it (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Here`s the point. Why are the voters now in these polls — now, some of the polls are robocall polls. They`re not the most reliable polls. But I`m seeing enough evidence to think there`s something going on. When people say — independent voters say they`d rather have Bush back — MICHAEL SCHERER, TIME: That`s right. MATTHEWS: — after Iraq and taking this economy — doubling the national debt, bringing the deficit out of nowhere, when Clinton left it with a big, fat surplus, why would you want that back? SCHERER: Take — MATTHEWS: What`s your reporting tell you? SCHERER: What a lot of these voters are voting for — these are independent voters. You know, the miracle of Obama in 2008 wasn`t that he got elected, it was that he got elected in a lot of states like Indiana and North Carolina that didn`t go Democrat very often. He did that by grabbing independent voters who were sick of President Bush, who thought the country was going in the wrong direction, and he offered a broad promise of hope and change that hasn`t been delivered. That`s what he`s suffering for. And I think in a place like Ohio, where you`re talking about that poll, what people are saying is, “Look, you know, we weren`t being treated well with the last guy. We`re not treated being well with this guy. We`ll take whatever we can get.” Exactly. Matthews either forgot or was dishonestly ignoring that this is why the Democrats won in 2006 and 2008: the country was unhappy with Republicans and just wanted to vote “D”. Now, the country is unhappy with the Ds: DAVID CORN, MOTHER JONES: There has been a message problem out of the White House. When you have polls showing that people don`t believe the stimulus has created jobs or saved jobs and you have Republicans echoing and — and reemphasizing that particular lie, and it sets in, well, that`s something that actually, I think, is within the realm of control for the White House. MATTHEWS: There are two choices when you vote, D or R. If the people push R, does your reporting tell that they know they`re voting for more lackadaisical administration, like Katrina, more hawkishness and neo- conservative fighting of wars that are wars of choice, not necessity? Do they know they`re voting for that kind of thing? And they`re voting for a guy who was so sloppy on fiscal policy, refused to veto a single spending bill, that we doubled the national debt? Do they know that that`s what R means when they vote R this November? SCHERER: When I was in Indiana — I was in South Bend, Elkhart, Joe Donnelly, very tough reelecting, won with 67 percent — MATTHEWS: Yes. SCHERER: — of the vote — MATTHEWS: I liked that part. SCHERER: — a couple years ago — he is dealing with voters who were telling me Barack Obama`s not the guy I voted for. I thought he was going to turn the economy around. He didn`t turn the economy around. I didn`t know he was going to do this health care thing. I thought he was going to change Washington (INAUDIBLE) Washington change. That`s what they were voting for. It has nothing to do with the wars, the other — MATTHEWS: Well, that`s the reelection talk, right. SCHERER: No, but these are independent voters. These are people — you know, they`re not high-information voters — (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: When Obama was running for reelection or running for election, the economy wasn`t in the tank. It went in the tank during the transition. Doesn`t anybody remember that? It was the last quarter of the Bush administration that everything went to hell. Once again, it’s tough to determine whether Matthews’ memory is suffering or he’s just dishonest. The recession officially began in December 2007, and the financial crisis started in September 2008 – the THIRD quarter almost two full months BEFORE Election Day: SCHERER: Obama went to Elkhart, Indiana, in February of 2009, couple weeks after he gets in office, he says, I`m going to pass the stimulus. It`s going to help you. I`m going to keep my promise — MATTHEWS: Right. SCHERER: — to Elkhart. Elkhart`s unemployment now is over 13 percent and it`s been rising again this summer. MATTHEWS: Because it was rising when he came in. SCHERER: It was rising — (CROSSTALK) CORN: — probably would be higher now if Obama hadn`t — (CROSSTALK) CORN: And you know, this is — this is the administration`s obligation, and Democrats on the Hill are livid because they don`t think the White House is living up to this obligation of making a stronger case – – MATTHEWS: There`s so much — CORN: — making the case that you just made! MATTHEWS: Let`s make the points through the numbers. Unemployment when Bush came in was 4.2 percent. When he left office, it was up to 7.6 percent, way up from where he came in. When Bush came into office, we had a $281 billion Clinton-led surplus. When he left, we had a $1.2 trillion deficit. And he doubled the national debt. Those are the facts on the table. Yes, but unemployment is now at 9.5 percent and likely climbing. There are currently 3.3 million fewer people on non-farm payrolls than in January 2009 making today’s labor markets FAR WORSE than they were when Obama took office. But that’s only half the story, for the Democrats have controlled Congress since January 2007. As this is a Congressional election, it is a referendum on what the Party controlling the House and the Senate have done since they took over. Here, the numbers are even more glaring, as the unemployment rate that month was 4.6 percent. Over 7 million people have lost their jobs since the Democrats took over Congress. As for fiscal policy, the last budget created by the Republican-controlled Congress had a deficit of $160 billion. This year, with Obama and Democrats controlling everything, we’re on pace for close to a $1.6 trillion deficit, or TEN TIMES 2007’s shortfall. But Matthews doesn’t want to share those numbers with his viewers:  MATTHEWS: Let`s go back to the politics again. The voter out there, he can only choose between what he had and what he has. You`re saying he`s going to choose what he had in Elkhart, Indiana. SCHERER: They`re not voting for Bush in Elkhart. They`re voting — they`re voting because they`re — (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Their memory of what? SCHERER: No, they`re disappointed with what they have. Indeed, because no matter how you slice it, in most parts of the country, things are worse today than they were when Obama was inaugurated and FAR WORSE than when the Democrats took over Congress. But don’t expect a shill like Chris Matthews to report that in an election year.

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Rick Sanchez Apologizes After Labeling Obama the ‘Cotton-Picking President’

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

CNN’s Rick Sanchez quickly apologized on his Rick’s List program on Monday after inadvertently labeling Barack Obama the ” cotton-picking president of the United States .” Sanchez used the racially-tinged term in response to the President recently addressing the significant percentage of American population who believe he is Muslim or was born outside the U.S. The anchor raised President Obama’s recent comment about his birth certificate with correspondent Jessica Yellin 21 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern hour. Yellin explained that “this is the first time he’s talked about it since the polls showing how many Americans believe him to be Muslim came out” and that “you get the sense that he’s been sort of through this. He wants to set the record straight, but he really does seem to accept that he’s not going to convince everyone, and he’s not going to spend a lot of time and energy on something that’s not going to change.” Sanchez replied to Yellin full of frustration: ” I’m just sitting here just shaking my head. He is the cotton-picking president of the United States! ” He continued with another slighter gaffe: ” If the president of the United States doesn’t have enough of a bully pulpit to convince people of a lie- that a lie is a lie, I should say, then- you know, where are we? What kind of planet are we living on? What the hell is going on here? ” To her credit, the CNN correspondent brought up the many people on the left who refused to believe Obama’s predecessor: “The assumption is there are a certain number of people that just don’t buy it. You know, there are people who didn’t think George Bush was telling the truth. You know, there are all those bumper stickers that said, ‘George W. Bush is a liar.’ ” Even with this, Sanchez continued with his frustration: “Here’s the point. I can understand 5%. I can maybe understand 10%. I can maybe understand 15%. We’re talking about- what was the latest number? A third of the American people or more?” Moments later, after taking a commercial break, Sanchez came back with an apology, crediting his Twitter followers for spotting his error: SANCHEZ: This is great. This is what works about having a conversation with my viewers throughout this newscast, because you know that I’m here on Twitter and I read what you write during the commercial breaks. And many of you are pointing out a fault that I just- a faux pas that I just made, and I want to apologize for it, because I obviously didn’t mean any disrespect or anything when I said that . But I was having that conversation with Jessica Yellin, and I think I said something to the effect- it’s so frustrating that people are lying about the president of the United States, that people are saying these things and it seems like he is defenseless to try and deal with it- although this weekend, the President came out and defended himself . And we had a very ample conversation about what it is that the President did, what he didn’t do, what his detractors say about him and what he can or can’t do. In the middle of that conversation, at one point, I said, why can’t the president of the United States seem to figure this out? After all, he is the cotton-picking president of the United States. Well, soon after I said that, I started getting some Tweets from some of you, saying, you just said ‘cotton-picking president of the United States’ about the first black president of the United States? Without even realizing it? I’ve was just saying ‘cotton picking’ because it’s a term that I’ve used because I grew up in the South. It’s a point that’s often used to illustrate frustration- not in any way shown to use- used to show any kind of disrespect. However, I apologize nonetheless for using it, in case it was taken by anyone as an act of disrespect . So, there you go. And, by the way, thank you! I got about ten Tweets right away from people on Twitter saying- hey, be careful using comments like that. So I do, and I apologize for it. This isn’t the first time Sanchez had to apologize for something he said on the air. On October 16, 2009, the CNN anchor gave an on-air apology for running an unconfirmed quote attributed to Rush Limbaugh earlier that week . As for other on-air gaffes, just during the course of 2010, Sanchez wasn’t sure who was protesting at the annual March for Life , misidentified the Galapagos Islands as Hawaii , “joked” that it was “too cold” in Iceland “to have a volcano there,” and incorrectly guessed that the Nixon/Kennedy debate took place in 1962 . The transcript of the relevant portion of the segment from Monday’s Rick’s List: SANCHEZ: Take us now through what is being described as the President becoming defensive this weekend in that interview with NBC. I mean, not only did he talk about- look, what do I have to do? Go around with my birth certificate on my fore- pinned to my forehead, to get people to stop believing that I’m a Muslim? JESSICA YELLIN: Right- SANCHEZ: And then he also addressed the Glenn Beck rally- YELLIN: Right. SANCHEZ: This group of people who got together for Glenn Beck up in Washington. What did he say about that? YELLIN: Well, first of all, on the Muslim question, this is the first time he’s talked about it since the polls showing how many Americans believe him to be Muslim came out. And so, these are the first comments from him. He is right. It came up a lot during the campaign. I was covering him and there were endless e-mails voters were getting from- you know, a friend who was e-mailing something that another friend had sent, saying that he’s Muslim, and people would come up to me and ask me about it on the trail. So you get the sense that he’s been sort of through this. He wants to set the record straight, but he really does seem to accept that he’s not going to convince everyone, and he’s not going to spend a lot of time and energy on something that’s not going to change- SANCHEZ: But that- you know that- YELLIN: There’s a certain amount of the American public that’s going to believe- go ahead. SANCHEZ: I’m just sitting here just shaking my head. He is the cotton-picking president of the United States- YELLIN: Right- SANCHEZ: If the president of the United States doesn’t have enough of a bully pulpit to convince people of a lie- that a lie is a lie, I should say, then- you know, where are we? What kind of planet are we living on? What the hell is going on here? YELLIN: Well, there will be a certain, I suppose- the assumption is there are a certain number of people that just don’t buy it. You know, there are people who didn’t think George Bush was telling the truth. You know, there are all those bumper stickers that said, ‘George W. Bush is a liar.’ SANCHEZ: Yeah. YELLIN: So maybe there’s a certain amount of the population- they accept- that just, you’re never going to reach them and that’s how it is. SANCHEZ: But- you know, but- but here’s the point. I can understand 5%. I can maybe understand 10%. I can maybe understand 15%. We’re talking about- what was the latest number? A third of the American people or more? YELLIN: I think- there’s- it depends who you ask. I think our polling had 18%. Look, we keep reporting- he keeps saying, it’s something that you’ve got to just sort of accept at some point is, and move on. We tell the facts. We’ll continue to tell the facts like they are. SANCHEZ: Yeah, yeah. Well and- look, it’s- as much as it is our job, it’s also the White House’s job, right? I mean- I guess it comes down to this question, and this is just a matter, I suppose, of common sense that people can figure out. I don’t know. I’ve never been the president of the United States. (Yellin laughs) I know what it’s like to be lied about. People lie about me every single day, and it just comes with being a public figure. But if I was the president of the United States and someone was just making a bald-faced lie like that one about me, would my impetus be to have a news conference to stand on top of the highest mountain, as my Mom and Dad always used to say, and just tell the truth? And it’s frustrating- as Americans, as we look at all of these things, whether it’s a lie about a Republican or a Democrat or whoever the heck this is going on about, it’s difficult to look at it and say what a shame that it can’t be remedied, that it can’t be fixed. You get my drift? YELLIN: I do. I do. You know, they blame us for talking about it so much. So go figure. (laughs)

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Rick Sanchez Apologizes After Labeling Obama the ‘Cotton-Picking President’

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MSM Acknowledges Lisa Murkowski Lost Primary Because She’s Pro-Abortion But Thinks We’re Crazy

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Even though liberal MSM types like Ron Elving , senior Washington editor at NPR , have a hard time understanding what’s going on, they are giving credit for Joe Miller’s Alaska GOP Senate primary (apparent) victory to pro-life voters. But the title and opening paragraph of Elving’s August 26 piece not so subtly tell us he thinks Alaskans have gone crazy… Elving, among others, still can’t fathom that pro-lifers now comprise the majority. Even if so, he thinks people who believe preborn humans shouldn’t be slaughtered for convenience and profit, and/or parents who want to know before their daughters abort (which was the ballot initiative that helped get voters out), wear tin hats. Nevertheless, he gave us credit: Which kind of AK Republican was most motivated for this primary? The answer appears to be the populist, evangelical, anti-abortion Republicans who are likely to identify with the movement known as the Tea Party . Murkowski [pictured right] had a vulnerability within her own party because she was a supporter of abortion rights in some cases . While abortion views are divided in AK as elsewhere, opposition to abortion is more concentrated in the Republican Party. And this week’s ballot featured a voter measure on requiring parental notification prior to an abortion for a minor. Murkowski endorsed the measure, but the anti-abortion activists who came out to vote for it may well have preferred Miller’s anti-abortion credentials overall . It was also this issue that influenced former AK Gov. Sarah Palin to switch her support from Murkowski to Miller…. [W]hen Miller later emerged as an anti-abortion champion aligned with the Tea Party and other Palin causes, the state’s most mediagenic citizen made her move. It didn’t hurt that Mike Huckabee , the former minister, governor and presidential candidate who also appears on Fox News , came to the state to campaign for Miller….   Politics and World News also gave the nod for Wilson’s (apparent) win to those who believe preborn babies shouldn’t be suctioned and chopped, nor should 12-yr-olds almost certainly impregnated under shady circumstances be secreted away for abortions without their parents knowing… as did the Anchorage Daily News … Note in ADN’s story how enthusiastically Miller supported Ballot Measure 2, in contrast to Murkowski’s tepid support, clearly trying to straddle the fence… The abortion issue may have cost embattled… Murkowski an untold number of votes Tuesday to Republican primary challenger Joe Miller , say anti-abortion activists. The ballot also included a sharply contested voter initiative generally requiring parents to be notified before their teen receives an abortion. Miller [pictured below left, with voters] came out strongly for Ballot Measure 2. “He told voters over and over again: Flip your ballot over, vote ‘yes on 2.’ Before you vote for me, vote ‘yes on 2.’ Ballot Measure 2 is much more important than this Senate race,” said Bernadette Wilson, campaign manager for Alaskans for Parental Rights, the “yes on 2” group. Murkowski never did the same, Wilson said. All the other statewide Republican candidates gave money to the effort. Murkowski didn’t, Wilson said. Supporters of the parental notification requirement noticed, she said. Murkowski’s campaign said the senator supported Measure 2 and went to 2 fundraisers for it. But her campaign lawyer advised that she couldn’t let Alaskans for Parental Rights use her name in its materials, because that would amount to an illegal campaign contribution to her, under federal election law, according to an e-mailed copy of the analysis. The initiative, which marked the first time Alaskans confronted an abortion issue at the polls, passed with 55 percent of the vote. In addition… AK Family Council asked candidates detailed questions on abortion and other social issues. Murkowski’s answers showed her to be pro-choice, while Miller was the opposite… The political group sent the answers to thousands of its supporters, as well as pastors and the media…. Murkowski’s record on abortion is complex . She has long said abortion decisions are between a woman and her doctor, and in her first appointed Senate term, she voted for a nonbinding “sense of the Senate” that supported Roe v. Wade . But she’s voted against federal funding for abortion, and supported a ban on late-term abortions…. Alaskans for Parental Rights never told its backers to vote for Miller, and didn’t work on his campaign, Wilson said. But it didn’t have to. Weeks ago, when her group first waved their “yes on 2” signs along the Seward Highway in Midtown, Miller drove past, then made a U-turn to join them, Wilson said. On Election Day, Miller waved one of their signs along with one of his own. “People who voted ‘yes’ on Ballot Measure 2 and people who voted for Joe Miller are of like mind,” Wilson said. “People kind of linked arms and came to the polls for both.” “There’s no doubt that Lisa Murkowski’s pro-abortion views had an influence on this election,” [council president Jim ] Minnery said. Of note is I learned about this MSM articles via Robin Marty at the pro-abort site RH Reality Check , who seemed to have no wind in her sails when reporting the AK pro-life phenomenon…. no excuses, no rationalization, even appearing to defend Murkowski as a supporter of Measure 2 by reposting her excuse for lack of overt support. [Bottom photo via the AP ]

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MSM Acknowledges Lisa Murkowski Lost Primary Because She’s Pro-Abortion But Thinks We’re Crazy

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Bloomberg: ‘100 Percent’ of 9/11 Families Support Ground Zero Mosque

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Michael Bloomberg www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might consider checking out the polls. He’s under the impression 100 percent of 9/11 families support building the Ground Zero Mosque at the current planned location. “The family members, they do care,” Bloomberg told “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart Aug. 26. “And the family members that I’ve talked to – and I’m chairman of the board of the World Trade Center Memorial – 100 percent in favor of saying, ‘These people, if they want to build a mosque, can build a mosque. The lives of our loved ones were taken because the right to build a mosque or say what you want to say was so threatening to people.'” Even Stewart, who takes Bloomberg’s side in supporting the mosque and has mocked opponents in several episodes of the hit comedy news program, couldn’t let Bloomberg’s exaggeration go unchecked. “I think the difficulty always is, unfortunately, I’m sure there are veterans who fought over there who feel we shouldn’t,” Stewart said. “I’m sure there are family members, maybe you haven’t heard of them, who feel we shouldn’t.” In fact there are many 9/11 family members speaking out against building a mosque so close to Ground Zero, including Neda Bolourchi, a Muslim woman whose mother died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Bolourchi is one of the numerous Muslim voices opposing the mosque, a demographic the media are mostly ignoring . The group Keep America Safe featured six more family members in a  video opposing  building the mosque near Ground Zero.  Others  have also spoken out. Bloomberg said opposition to the mosque is based on politics, and suggested most opponents don’t actually care about the issue. “There’s nothing new here,” he said, referring to the fact the project has been in the works for over a year. “The difference is we’re in an election season and this whole issue, I think, will go away right after the next election. This is, plain and simple, people trying to stir up things to get publicity and trying to polarize people so that they can get some votes, and I don’t think that most of the people who are yelling and screaming really care one way or another.” A recent  CBS News poll  found that 71 percent of respondents believe it is “not appropriate” to build the mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero, including a majority (57 percent) of Democrats. A  Time poll  found that 68 percent are following the issue “somewhat closely” or “very closely.”

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WaPo: ‘Florida Senate Race Begins Without a Clear Favorite’; But Paper Ignores Rubio Lead in Dem Firm’s Poll

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

In today’s Washington Post, Dan Balz argues that the “Florida Senate race starts without a clear favorite.” While that may be true in some sense, recent polling data has some favorable signs for conservative Republican candidate Marco Rubio. Yet nowhere in his 20-paragraph story did Balz delve into those poll numbers. Instead, Balz presented the Florida race as complete wild card that is unpredictable due to the three-way nature of the contest: Gov. Charlie Crist is the man in the middle in Florida’s high-stakes race for the Senate, a candidate without a party whose hopes of moving from Tallahassee to Washington depend on his ability to fend off a squeeze play from his Democratic and Republican rivals. The three-way campaign for the Senate is the latest in a series of important races in Florida – including the 2000 recount that helped define red-blue divisions in America – but with dynamics new to the Sunshine State.  But a look at recent polling data available on RealClearPolitics.com seems to indicate Rubio went to bed on primary election night in good shape for the general election fight ahead. The last poll taken before Tuesday’s primary was conducted of likely voters by the liberal Democrat-friendly polling firm Public Policy Polling (PPP). That poll had Rubio up eight points over Crist, 40 to 32, with Meek garnering a humble 17 percent.  Rubio had a 5-point edge over Crist in a poll by Mason-Dixon in mid-August with Meek at a paltry 18 percent. Other polls from August show a Crist lead, but those are of registered, not likely voters, and in a midterm election it’s the motivated, fired-up voters that are most likely to show up. While it’s true that the two-and-a-half months until Election Day are an eternity in politics, it seems that right now Rubio is doing pretty well. It could change for the better or for the worse, but it should have been noted by Balz.

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WaPo: ‘Florida Senate Race Begins Without a Clear Favorite’; But Paper Ignores Rubio Lead in Dem Firm’s Poll

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