rachel maddow

Olbermann To Return On Tuesday

STATEMENT REGARDING KEITH OLBERMANN - SUNDAY, NOV. 7

From Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:
After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.

And it turns out this was all over something I suspected – egos:

Network sources tell Playbook that Keith Olbermann was suspended because he refused to deliver an on-camera mea culpa, which would have allowed him to continue anchoring "Countdown." Olbermann told his bosses he didn't know he was barred from making campaign contributions, although he is resisting saying that publicly. Olbermann may not hold as many cards as he thinks. He makes $7 million a year and MSNBC's prime time is not as dependent on him as it was before the addition of Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell, who make considerably less.

Seeing more details come to light makes me think that we’ll see more stories like this in the future. Olbermann’s contract is up in 2012, so I wonder if he’ll be looking to go elsewhere, or if Griffin will look to push him out, when that happens.

Politics

Meet Rand Paul

Rachel Maddow started her show last night with Rand Paul, the Kentucky GOP Senate candidate. By the end of the 20-minute long interview, Rand Paul came off looking like some totally blabbering idiot.

Jack Conway’s campaign must be thankful for this interview, as it has just given them a ton of information to use against the tea bagger.

Media

Right Wing Smear Machine In Action

For months the news was inundated with coverage of “illegal activities” by ACORN. Last night Rachel Maddow showed for the first time the unedited “undercover” video tapes that lead to ACORN’s demise.

ACORN has a very good case here against FOX News, James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart. Their quest for ratings have cost a lot of people their jobs and destroyed an organization that helped millions of needy Americans.

Given Congress’ hand in dealing the defeat to ACORN, by removing their funding, perhaps it’s time for Congress to reverse course a little bit and start hearings on who made the decisions to edit the tapes and represent them as something they are not. It was slanderous, to say the least, and Congress bought right into the right wing noise machine. Democrats should be ashamed of doing that and need to right their part in this very huge wrong.

Don’t Interview Liars And You Won’t Hear The Lies

Sounds simple enough – doesn’t it? Well apparently not, and this is where we go to the latest escapades of one Liz Cheney:

"I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this."

Catch the lie in there? If not then read what I posted yesterday:

The dramatic image of a president on the tarmac was a portrait not witnessed in years. Former President George W. Bush spent lots of time with grieving military families but never went to Dover to meet the remains coming off the cargo plane. Obama did so with the weight of knowing he may soon send more troops off to war.

And as Rachel Maddow just reported, a spokesperson for George Bush confirmed that he never once went to Dover.

Let’s face it – Liz Cheney is a liar. Almost every time she has appeared on the TV or in some interview she has been caught lying. So why does the media keep turning to such an unreliable source? Once can only conclude that they must hope her lies won’t be caught by those dirty Cheeto eating, PJ wearing bloggers, but they are. So I no longer blame Liz Cheney for lying. Let’s face – that’s what she is. Who I do blame is the brains in the media that choose to let her air her lies. They are like the dealers on the corner saying “come on – you can go ahead and take some of this crack. Just remember where you got it”.

The Need For Two Parties

If you been following my blog for awhile you know that I take the demise of the GOP very seriously. Sure they are fun to pick on and its funny to watch, but our democracy is reliant upon a two party system to enact a system of checks and balances. That very ideal is in jeopardy due to the actions of the GOP and its something our nation should be discussing.

Well it turns out I am not the only one holding that view. Last night Ed Rendell and Rachel Maddow were both echoing their concerns over the very same thing.

Instead of working to become relevant and opening their party up to a wider array of views, the RNC is wasting their times with childish games like asking the Democratic Party to change their name to the Democrat Socialist Party. Barack Obama said last year that we have entered the “silly season” in politics. The Republicans seem contempt on extending that season indefinitely.

I sincerely hope that the RNC gets someone in there of rational mind to worry about the parties goals and message, instead of wanting to play games that would be found in a school yard. As it stands right now the Republicans are risking a long life in the abyss.

OMG! Obama Has Pledged Himself To Satan

The proof is given by Rachel Maddow

Chuck Hagel Eviscerates His Own Party

Chuck Hagel was on Rachel Maddow last night and he went all out against the Republican Party, from putting a lot of blame for the economic mess on their shoulders, to defending Obama from Cheney’s recent comments.

One thing that really stuck out to me was when Hagel was asked about Michael Steele and his wanting to go after Specter, Snowe and Collins. Hagel made the same argument I have been making, that these people were elected and sworn to defend the constitution and work for their constituents – not the part.

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Again, this is the key problem with the Republican party, and what ended up putting them out of power – their blinded faith to the GOP. Republicans believe in a constituency of one. That one is the GOP; the voters who put them into office be dammed. This is what caused countless people to leave the GOP over the past few years. When a party is run in such a way, you get the idea that either you must sign off on every single belief, or you aren’t welcomed.

Rollins: “Republicans Are Not Relevant”

Ed Rollins, former political director for Reagan and strategist for Huckabee, cuts through the BS and delivers some strong words for his party:

The battle to be the "de facto leader" of this party is akin to the question of who wants to steer the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Who represents the party or its values is not relevant when only 26 percent of voters have a positive impression of the party at all and only 7 percent very positive, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey.

The Democratic Party is the reverse, with 49 percent positive. When 60 percent of the country approves of the job President Obama is doing, every Republican leader is going backward.

Republicans are not relevant. We just lost two back-to-back elections (2006 and 2008), and obviously, what we are selling, the voters aren't buying. In the midst of the most severe economic crisis in my lifetime, we have a president who is taking the country on a dramatic sea change. This is what he said he would do and he is doing it. And where are Republicans? Right now we don't have the alternative ideas, a message or, more important, the messenger.

I really like the Titanic reference there.

Interesting enough, this brings me to something I saw last night on Rachel Maddow. She had Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty on. Pawlenty is considered one of the rising stars of the GOP, and he said something that goes right to the heart of the failing Republican argument.

What?

Just now on Rachel Maddow, Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Il), who voted against the stimulus bill (duhh), was saying he wanted to see something like this. We give people a $5,000 voucher to go out and buy a new car. That way they could get that new car for about $300 a month and that would put people back to work in the auto industry.

Ok – first thing’s first. The credit markets are still frozen solid. So how will this person get the loan for this $300 a month? On top of that, people aren’t spending money. This idea sounds like something based upon a pipe dream instead of actual substance. People re-sodding the National Mall is guaranteed work. Giving people a voucher for a government sponsored discount on a car isn’t guaranteed to put people back to work. (and not mentioning the fact that buying a new car is one of the worst investments ever)

This all goes to the House Republican’s plan they laid out earlier today. It’s the same record, just skipping over and over again. They want to cut taxes to business owners saying that they would use the savings to hire new people. Well a majority of this country isn’t in that category, but they are the ones who support those businesses. If I have extra money, do I hire more people even if my demand hasn’t increased? No – that is throwing away the money.

We need to get money into the hands of the consumers, and that means making sure they are working. Once people are working then demand will go up, which in turn will also increase employment opportunities.

Shut Up!

Pat Buchanan flipped out on Dan Abrams last night. He was trying to say that Obama only won states with heavy black populations. When another guest tried to correct him, Pat responds by telling the guest to shut-up. That was followed by Pat getting scolded by Rachel Maddow.

Bye Twirp!

You will be missed (NOT!):

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

In recent days, Jossip, as well as other blogs, ratcheted up the talk that Tucker would be replaced "for a new project." In its 33-month run, Carlson's show has had two names, four time slots and multiple formats. At 6pmET, it builds on its Harbdall lead-in on some days, but loses audience on others.

Carlson is expected to host the show through next week, with his new role and title to take effect March 17. We're told he'll also be reporting from the campaign trail.

Two words for a new show - Rachel Maddow.

So How Will The Super Delegates Go?

It's looking more and more like Obama could come out the winner in pledged delegates. With every victory we get closer to needing an answer on the super delegate question. Rachel Maddow said last night that if Obama wins the pledged delegates and the Super Delegates give it to Hillary then there will "be torches and pitchforks" in the streets of Denver this summer. I really hope, for the sake of the party, that this doesn't happy. The DNC needs real leadership now more than ever.

What Will Happen on MTP?

Rachel Maddow wrote an open letter to Orin Hatch this week about the lies he told on last week's Meet the Press. Hatch has issued a letter to Tim Russert regarding his "accurate statements" that he "misspoke" on (yeah - have fun figuring that one out. Everyone else has!). I wonder if Russert will just read his statement, or if we might see Hatch make a guest appearence to try and "set the record straight".