Sand sculpture celebrating Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

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MSNBC's Joe Scarborough: "We're all Americans"

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As I was in search of a decent Irish bar and a hot Irish Coffee after a very cold day that was the Inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington DC, I literally almost walked right into Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." If you're a political junkie like me, you certainly catch his show even though it comes on in the wee hours of the morning on the West Coast (ok, most of the time I'm asleep but I do try to watch it.)

After righting myself to avoid a collision I asked Joe if I could interview him on camcorder and get his thoughts on President Obama's speech. He gave permission and I promised to hold it to about 2 minutes. Scarborough said it was the greatest speech he heard since JFK's 1960 inauguration speech but most important, Joe took time to remind us that we're all Americans. I have to explain the context: while it was a great day, with a record 2 million to 3 million people in attendance (I think more than that), some took time to boo George W. Bush and as Joe said in the video, some conservatives thought it was a bad day for America. In reponse to this, Scarborough said "We're Americans. If you can't look at the sea of 2 million people waving American flags and not thank God that you're an American regardless of your political affiliation, there's something wrong with ya."

I thought about this as I considered the constant stream of hate-speech from some conservatives and claims that anyone who wanted to fix our health care system or improve our economy by spending money where needed (we have a great disinvestment problem) was in some way not American. That's when I remembered my talk with good ol' Joe Scarborough.

Conservatives should take a note from Scarborough and remember that while we may disagree on what to do to make America better, we're all interested and committed to improving our country. At least I hope we are. I'm certainly happy Scarborough checked the all-too-ridiculous rant of MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan (from "The Closing Bell") a few days ago, when he asked Ratigan if he's done a few lines (of cocaine) before appearing on "Morning Joe". Ratigan's under the impression that capitalism's under attack, when the fact is America's always had a mixed economy. The sooner folks like Ratigan get that, the better he and others will understand what's happened to our system, but that's another blog post.

Right now, I'm worried that there are two types of conservatives and the one's who aren't like Joe are more in number. We have a few conservatives who are even-tempered and thoughtful like Scarborough, and a lot who are hateful and unintelligent, like Glen Beck. I call the Beck-types "couch potato" conservatives who watch TV, listen to Rush, quote his lines, don't read a lick, never even heard of William F. Buckley, or for that matter can't deal with the fact that much of their brand of conservative behavior (I will not call it thought) is really a cover for a new brand of racism.

In fact, in my experience couch-potato conservatives don't understand economics well enough to talk about what a conservative approach should be separate from parroting tax credits as a term again and again and again, and not knowing why they work or don't work in some cases. But ask them about immigration or affirmative action and they can talk for days. Totally disinterested in rigorous thought they are, and right now, they're doing all they can to wreck this country. I hope they realize one day what Joe Scarborough said to me on January 20th 2009: "We're all Americans", and I would add, we've all got to join together as one and fix the economy of the USA.

Chris Matthews Attacks Bloggers; My Vlog To Chris Matthews

According to The Huffington Post, MSNBC's Chris Matthews tried to make "Bloggers" a perjorative on his show when he denounced Bloggers as a source for news. This is what was written:

Earlier in the segment Matthews speculated that the 'personal problem' that was given as Kennedy's reason for withdrawing was her marriage to Edwin Schlossberg. But when Benjamin said that the "affair question" was surfacing on blogs, Matthews abruptly cut her off: "Let's stick to journalism. I don't do that here. If it's just blogging let's drop it."

Chris does not understand the term "Blogging" or that journalists can blog to, thus my video:

Rachel Maddow For Meet The Press Moderator

Rachel Maddow's the best choice to replace Tom Brokaw and the late Tim Russert before him. She would carry on Russert's tradition of fairness. As I stated earlier, she's a better choice for the role than NBC News Correspondent David Gregory.

Matthews advised to quit MSNBC - Michael Calderone and Josh Kraushaar - Politico.com

Matthews advised to quit MSNBC - Michael Calderone and Josh Kraushaar - Politico.com

"Meet The Press" Mean-Sprited David Gregory Not In Sprit of Tim Russert

I just saw the headline reporting that MSNBC's David Gregory was selected to be the next host of "Meet The Press ". Congratulations to Mr. Gregory, but he's not a person in the sprit of the late Tim Russert.


Every time I see Gregory I think of this Jossip headline:


"David Gregory Mouthed Off To A Waitress, Got Scolded by Tim Russert"


If you don't know that story, Gregory scolded a waitress while he and Russert were having dinner in Washington D.C., and in turn, Russert hollered at Gregory for his behavior. Jossip reports that MSNBC asked Gregory to work on changing his behavior, but it's fair to ask in the wake of Russert's untimely passing, has Gregory really changed?  (What about Chris Matthews, for that matter?  He was also featured as ill-tempered in the Jossip post.  But he's got his own show, Hardball and was not considered for "Meet The Press".) 


Russert was known far and wide as a caring, nice person who did not try to demonize people, even as he was asking his guests tough questions. But contrast, Gregory can still come off a bit rough. I can't see him as doing well in this role. Gregory is not in the modl of either Russert or the legendary Tom Brokaw who I've had the pleasure of meeting at the Democratic National Convention.


I can't help but wonder what Russert is thinking, but my guess is he has more faith in Gregory than I do.

Rachel Maddow Makes David Frum Look..Not Smart

You've got to see this, because it's a great example of basically running intellectual rings around a person.  In this case, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had former GOP Speechwriter David Frum on her show today.


 David Frum came on with the idea of bashing Maddow on her way of reporting the news on politics and Maddow essentially forced him into a trap:  he says she's being nasty, but he's basically being nasty in saying she's nasty, but if he agrees with her, it obliterates his argument. 


Brilliant.  


The problem, again, is that the person who's idologically biased runs the risk of falling into such traps again and again -- Frum could have gotten out of this by just agreeing with her and not insulting, ie: "If you took it seriously" or "If it were important" , otherwise Frum came off looking just like the party he claims he's at odds with.


Frum could have then said "I think you're totally right Rachel."  then proceeded to focus on whatever Democratic example that was not the host but equally as bad as calling someone a terrorist he could find.  For example, he could point to my blog for examples of how Dems accuse McCain of being racist and sexist, but he didn't do that. Indeed, he'd have a hard time looking for it at Obama rallies.  Not the same kind of folks.  


Instead, consumed by a weird combination of conservativism, ego, and anger, he started throwing haymakers, and missed.  


Geez.  


Nice work Rachel!  

Todd Harris - GOP McCain Strategist On Palin's Mistake That Could Come

Todd Harris, who was Senator John McCain's communications director, said to Chris Matthews "If she goes out and makes a mistake, that will be something that will haunt them for a long time" in response to the current (as of this writing) situation where Governor Palin has not adressed questions from the political press.

Here's the video:





It's as if they have to put training wheels on Palin or something. Yikes!

Tiger Woods Amazing U.S. Open Performance Forcing Playoff

This has been a most extraordinary three days, and to prove it, we have Tiger Woods amazing come-from-behind-in-pain performance at the U.S. Open Sunday. I missed this because I was watching Tom Brokaw and friends of Tim Russert talk about Tim's contributions and remember the man. But my Mom kept me posted on the exploits of Tiger. This video says it all:

Tim Russert Passes at 58: Rememberances

This is a hard day for America and especially for anyone who's a follower and lover of politics and the media. Tim Russert passed of cardiac arrest at the young age of 58, leaving behind a wife, son, father, relatives, friends, and millions of fans, including me.

The video above is from MSNBC and below from Veracifier on YouTube:



Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama gave this speech on Tim Russert's passing:



This video is from a fan on YouTube, TRAILKIDS1:



This video was made from YouTubers tomaswk, who met Russert earlier this year:



Bloggers around America have weighed in on the news. Buddy TV reported Russert's passing; James Poniewozik at TIME Blog wrote that Russert's influence was "immense"; Futuremd informs that Russert once took MSNBC collegue Dave Gregory to task for being rude to a waitress while they were at dinner.

I check out that link.

From Jossip, I learned that Russert took issue with Keith Olbermann's activism and I learned that Dave Gregory not only had an imperious way with wait staffers at restaurants, but treated lower NBC News staff "like shit".

That stands in direct contrast to Russert's way. It's clear that he, Russert, was loved at NBC.

"Meet The Press" Tim Russert Dies Of A Heart Attack At 58

"Meet The Press" Tim Russert Dies Of A Heart Attack At 58

One of the main reasons I was so excited about attending the 2008 Democratic Convention was that I would get to meet Tim Russert, the ever-present host of the legendary show and one of my favorites, Meet The Press.

Now, I will not, because Tim Russert died of what the New York Post called an apparent heart attack today at 58 years of age.

I never met or knew Tim, but he felt like part of the American Cultural furniture and I always appreciated his on-air professionalism. In a world of "vetters", Russert was the vetter. No poitician was considered complete until they faced a grilling from Russert. Barack Obama's best presentations were on Meet The Press because he handled himself with grace and intelligence under Russerts withering line of questions.

But we always saw Russert as the person who sat as judge and jury in politics. Always fair. Always smart. Always informative. Always professional. It's no wonder Time Magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people this year. .

Tim Russert represented the best in media and I will miss him.

Here's Russert recently interviewing former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

SHAME ON CNN FOR FORCING JESSICA YELLIN TO CHANGE HER STORY

DID YOU SEE THIS:

CNN's Jessica Yellin's turnabout statement taking the blame off her former employer, which was thought in this space to be ABC News and Yellin says was MSNBC. At any rate, here's her new statement:

J

essica Yellin
Congressional Correspondent

I find myself in an interesting position. Today the blogs lit up with comments I made last night on AC360° and suddenly I’m being reported on.

It’s not the most comfortable position for a reporter.

So let me clarify what I said and what I experienced.

First, this involved my time on MSNBC where I worked during the lead up to war. I worked as a segment producer, overnight anchor, field reporter, and briefly covered the White House, the Pentagon, and general Washington stories.

Also, let me say: No, senior corporate leadership never asked me to take out a line in a script or re-write an anchor intro. I did not mean to leave the impression that corporate executives were interfering in my daily work; my interaction was with senior producers. What was clear to me is that many people running the broadcasts wanted coverage that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the country at the time. It was clear to me they wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country.

And now I’m going back to work covering the Puerto Rico primary from San Juan.

All I can say is SHAME ON CNN for having Yellin make this statement. I seriously doubt she did this on her own. But now the cat's out of the bag and the emperor wears no clothes at all. It's sad to see CNN try to restore it's reputation. Good luck there.

Taylor Marsh and MSNBC Misquote Barack Obama

Sometimes there are people who are so busy looking for smoking guns they see ghosts. Taylor Marsh is one of those people. Taylor Marsh is so upset that Hillary Clinton will lose to Barack Obama that she stoops to misquoting Senator Obama.

Barack appeared on a popular radio show called "Angelo Cataldi"

If you see the show's website , it glowingly praises Senator Obama, writing:

Philadelphia's Angelo Cataldi interviewed Barack Obama this morning on Philadelphia's Sports Radio, WIP-AM 610.

Cataldi, a wildly popular sports personality in Philadelphia, did a great interview, which you can listen to here. According to local listener Eric Schmeltzer:

Cataldi and his crew were raving about Obama for two hours after his interview was done. Guys were calling in saying they didn't know who they were going to vote for, until Obama called in, and that cinched it for them. Cataldi was saying he's going to do everything to elect him, and was getting his tux ready for the inaugural ball.

Another Philadelphia talk radio host, Michael Smerconish, who was in the audience for Obama's speech, had nothing but glowing praise for it and its message when he appeared on the the Today Show this morning. Smerconish's praise was notable, because his radio show caters to a right wing audience. Since appearing on the Today Show, Smerconish's listeners apparently have driven him to couch his praise of Obama. But its really too late now, as he's already spoken. It looks like even right wing radio talk show hosts like Obama!

One of the questions posed by Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball was how he was going to get the regular beer drinking guys working day jobs to vote for him.

Obama seems to be doing just fine in this area. It looks like a pretty good move on his part to go on Sports Radio, especially for a guy that has some other moves of his own like this left handed layup.....

But Taylor Marsh can't stand that, so she prints this misquote of what Senator Obama said on the interview:

The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it..."

But that's not exactly what he said. Obama said this:

"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is the typical White person, who uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know. You know, There's a reaction that it's been bread into our experiences that don't go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that's just the nature of race in our society we have to break through it. And what makes me optimistic is you see each generation being a little less like that, and that's powerful stuff"

The radio host didn't flinch at that, and gave Obama a glowing review.

Maybe some people aren't ready for straight talk about race. It seems Taylor Marsh is not.

Chris Matthews On Obama's "Projectile Victory" - Video

Keith Olbermann Picks Lou Dobbs "Worst Person In The World" For Immigration Rants - Video

This is simply one of the most "spot-on" monologues I've ever seen MSNBC's Keith Olbermann do. He gets after CNN's Lou Dobbs for Dobbs' really terrible and just plain racist rants about immigration. Check this out:

MSNBC Drops Don Imus

After a rowdy and racist comment, which came at the expense of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team, and calling them "Rough Hos'" and "Nappy Headed Hos" and much exhange between bloggers , media annoucers on television and radio, and a sharp exchange between Al Sharpton and Don Imus on Sharpton's show, "Today's Show" host Al Roker calling for his head, then three key sponsors -- Staples, Proctor & Gamble, and Bigelow Teas backing out, MSNBC has elected to drop the simulcast of Imus' radio show.

Here's the report from MSNBC:

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 1 minute ago
NEW YORK - MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the “Imus in the Morning” radio program, responding to growing outrage over the radio host’s racial slur against the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

In a statement, NBC News announced "this decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees. What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company. This is the only decision that makes that possible."

The network statement went on to say, "Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain this incident has caused."

(MSNBC TV is wholly owned by NBC Universal. MSNBC.com is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft).

The network’s decision came after a growing list of sponsors — including American Express Co., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. — said they were pulling ads from Imus’ show for the indefinite future.

But it did not end calls for Imus to be fired from the radio portion of his program. The show originates from WFAN-AM in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS Corp. For its part, CBS has not announced plans to discontinue the show.

Before the announcement was made, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had appeared on the MSNBC program "Hardball," where host David Gregory asked the senator and presidential candidate if he thought Imus should be fired.

Controversy continues to swirl around radio host Don Imus after his controversial remarks on-air.

"I don't think MSNBC should be carrying the kinds of hateful remarks that Imus uttered the other day," Obama said.

He went on to note that he and his wife have "two daughters who are African-American, gorgeous, tall, and I hope, at some point, are interested enough in sports that they get athletic scholarships. ... I don't want them to be getting a bunch of information that, somehow, they're less than anybody else. And I don't think MSNBC should want to promote that kind of language."

Obama went on to say that he would not be a guest on Imus' show in the future.

Team wants to question Imus about remarks
On his April 4 show, Imus and his producer had referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

The 10 members of the Rutgers team spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday about the on-air comments, made the day after the team lost the NCAA championship game to Tennessee.

Some of them wiped away tears as their coach, C. Vivian Stringer, criticized Imus for “racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable, abominable and unconscionable.” The women, eight of whom are black, called his comments insensitive and hurtful.