Sphere: Related ContentComing up this weekend, both Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson have high stakes in the Super Bowl- their men.
And on this morning’s Ryan Seacrest show, both Reality TV babes showed up to do a little pre-game trash talking.
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Democrats who politicized the Afghan war are reaping the consequences.
…with Democrats in charge of the entire U.S. government and George Bush nowhere to be found, Pelosi and others in her party are suddenly very, very worried about U.S. escalation in Afghanistan. “There is serious unrest in our caucus,” the speaker said recently. There is so much unrest that Democrats who show little concern about the tripling of already-large budget deficits say they’re worried about the rising cost of the war.
It is in that atmosphere that Obama makes his West Point speech. He had to make certain promises to get elected. Unlike some of his supporters, he has to remember those promises now that he is in office. So he is sending more troops. But he still can’t tell the truth about so many Democratic pledges to support the war in Afghanistan: They didn’t mean it.
Will the dithering Dems see the war effort through?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Tiger Woods.
Yeah, this isn’t the sports open thread, but as it’s now been two days since this story broke, and Tiger has yet to go before cameras to explain what’s going…what’s going on?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: the liberal elite’s hostility towards capitalism.
The elite hostility to business — a holdover from Europe, perhaps, where aristocrats looked down on “trade,” or an unconscious echo of Marxism — is unseemly and harmful to both general prosperity and the individuals who are influenced by it to avoid productive enterprise. It crops up in President Obama’s commencement addresses sneering at students who want to “take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy” and in Michelle Obama’s urging hard-pressed women in Ohio, “Don’t go into corporate America.” It’s nice that some people, like senators’ wives, can make $300,000 a year in “the helping industry,” but it’s business that produces the wealth that allows such nonprofit generosity.
Killing the goose that lays the golden egg?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: ObamaCare passes cloture Saturday evening. What’s next for healthcare reform?
One year ago tonight, Thursday, November 20 — like today, the Thursday one week before Thanksgiving — MSNBC ridiculously plastered “BREAKING NEWS” on-screen for video of Sarah Palin at a turkey farm just after pardoning one, running more than three minutes of video of some turkeys being slaughtered by a man in the background behind her. Palin, then just weeks off the presidential campaign trail, was simply answering questions from reporters in her role as Governor of Alaska.
Filling in as host of Countdown, David Shuster scolded Palin: “She neglected to notice what was happening directly behind her — in clear view of the television cameras. We’ve blurred out the goriest parts, but here’s her interview, from start to finish.”
As the video ran, MSNBC displayed rotating chyrons with hyperbolic declarations, such as:
GOV. SARAH PALIN KEEPS TALKING WHILE TURKEYS GET SLAUGHTERED BEHIND HERGOV. PALIN APPARENTLY OBLIVIOUS TO TURKEY CARNAGE OVER HER SHOULDER
The November 20, 2008 NewsBusters posting, “MSNBC Turns Palin’s Pardoning of Turkey Into Means to Deride Her,” recounted:
MSNBC took denigrating Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to a new low on Thursday night’s Countdown. With “BREAKING NEWS” ridiculously on screen, MSNBC ended the show, hosted by David Shuster filling in for Keith Olbermann, with more than three minutes of video of some turkeys being slaughtered by a man behind Palin while rotating chyrons hyperbolically declared:Sphere: Related Content
GOV. PALIN PICKS WORST POSSIBLE BACKDROP FOR TV NEWS INTERVIEWTURKEYS DIE AS GOVERNOR PALIN TAKES QUESTIONS FROM MEDIA
GOV. SARAH PALIN KEEPS TALKING WHILE TURKEYS GET SLAUGHTERED BEHIND HER
GOV. PALIN APPARENTLY OBLIVIOUS TO TURKEY CARNAGE OVER HER SHOULDER
GOV. PALIN NOT REALIZING INCONGRUITY OF HER WORDS VERSUS HER BACKDROP
TURKEY-KILLING FOWLS PALIN NEWS CONFERENCE
The video aired after MSNBC ran a story on Palin’s pre-Thanksgiving pardoning of a turkey at a Wasila poultry farm. Shuster, quite serious, set up the segment with this warning:
We’ve made every effort to sanitize the video of what happens next, but you still might want to consider getting the kids out of the room right now and anyone who’s a little squeamish about where Thanksgiving dinner comes from. Are they gone? Okay, here’s what happened next: As Governor Palin stepped outside of the hatchery, to give a post-pardon interview, she neglected to notice what was happening directly behind her — in clear view of the television cameras. We’ve blurred out the goriest parts, but here’s her interview, from start to finish.Afterward, Shuster asserted:
And you thought her media outings as a vice presidential candidate were as bad as it gets.To watch the video in a larger frame — those interested in the supposed gore, or reading the chyrons, play it on the MRC’s Eyeblast site.
For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: "Going Rogue."
With her book coming out, and scheduled interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will continue to be in the news this week.
Of course, this means she will continue to be trashed by all of her detractors in the media.
Question: has there ever been a political figure who wasn’t a member of the White House that has received this kind of regular, constant trashing by the press? If so, who?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Ft. Hood’s implications for gun rights.
Last week’s shootings, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 30, demonstrated once again the folly of “gun-free zones,” which attract and assist people bent on mass murder instead of deterring them.
Judging from the comments of those who support this policy of victim disarmament, Smith’s desire for a gun was irrational. According to Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places.”
Note how the reference to “a heavily fortified army base” obscures the crucial point that the people attacked by Hasan were unarmed as a matter of policy. Also note the breathtaking inanity of Helmke’s assurance that “more guns” are not “the solution to gun violence.” In this case, they assuredly were.
Where guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Seems pretty straightforward, no?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: confessions of an ObamaCare supporter.
[The New Yorker's John] Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes. "Let’s not pretend that it isn’t a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won’t. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration … is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."
Why are they doing it? Because, according to Mr. Cassidy, ObamaCare serves the twin goals of "making the United States a more equitable country" and furthering the Democrats’ "political calculus." In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run.
Finally, some honesty.
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: PelosiCare passes by surprisingly narrow margin.
How many people watched much of the debate and vote Saturday? Regardless of the results, did you enjoy it? How do you think this sets up the Senate? Will this narrow margin make it very difficult for Reid to get 60 voters? What’s up with the lone Republican Cao from Louisiana breaking ranks?
Finally, and maybe most importantly, do you think Stupak’s abortion amendment impacted the final result actually allowing some moderate Democrats to vote for the bill? Or do you think this is a lot of hooey either because an equal or greater number of liberal Democrats especially women might have voted "Nay" because of that amendment passing or that Pelosi was going to get this passed no matter what she had to do?
Any other post mortems?
Sphere: Related ContentFor general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: how will apologists try to spin this one?
Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. This is just more evidence that Hasan had assumed the role of Jihadist in the massacre.
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On Monday’s AC360, CNN’s Anderson Cooper forwarded the media’s new talking point about the New York 23 congressional race, that “Tea Party protesters and other conservative voices are…driving moderates out of the GOP.” Correspondent Tom Foreman continued on this note, stating that “angry conservatives…[are] forcing the party to choose between…its base and attracting more moderate Americans.”
Cooper led the 10 pm Eastern hour of his program with the question, “Does the Republican Party have room for moderates?” The anchor outlined that “state and local elections tomorrow may have profound national effects, and President Obama and Sarah Palin are a big part of it. Two governor’s races may test the President’s ability to get others elected or turn into a referendum on his presidency.” He continued with the media’s new spin on the electoral contests, as if it was a matter of fact: “As for Sarah Palin, she, Tea Party protesters and other conservative voices are front and center, driving moderates out of the GOP.”
Foreman then came in with his report, which focused on the New York congressional race, and continued with Cooper’s point:
FOREMAN (voice-over): If waves of angry conservatives gave Democrats a scare last summer, they may be terrifying Republicans this fall, by forcing the party to choose between satisfying its base and attracting more moderate Americans. A case in point: New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a Republican stronghold for more than a century. The GOP candidate, Dede Scozzafava, had been favored to win, a moderate who fit nicely into the national party’s plans to claw back middle voters, especially women. But that was before big-name conservatives like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh made it clear they wanted her out and a more conservative candidate in, calling Scozzafava a Republican-in-name-only, a RINO, whose Democratic leanings have tainted the whole idea of a moderate Republican.
RUSH LIMBAUGH: We can say that she’s guilty of widespread bestiality. She has screwed every RINO in the country. Everyone can see just how phony and dangerous they are.
FOREMAN: Under the onslaught, Scozzafava’s numbers crumbled. She suspended her campaign, and Doug Hoffman, the candidate for the Conservative Party, is now the chief challenger to Democrat Bill Owens. For organizers of those Tea Party events, who call this a grassroots victory, that’s fine. They say they frankly want conservatives to win, and they don’t care if they’re Republican or not.
Brendan Steinhauser:
BRENDAN STEINHAUSER, FREEDOMWORKS: The grassroots uprising on the right is not about the party. It’s not about getting Democrats out of office. It’s not about- you know, ending President Obama’s tenure. What it’s about is electing conservatives to Congress, conservatives to the Senate.
FOREMAN: The driving force of this conservative surge is money, outrage over President Obama’s expansive government, the soaring deficit and rising unemployment. Social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion, are clearly taking a backseat. Yet, at conservative bastions, such as the Heritage Foundation, folks like Rory Cooper is crowing.
RORY COOPER, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: You’re seeing that the conservative movement not only isn’t dead, but it’s thriving.
FOREMAN (on-camera): So, Republican leads have a tiger by the tail, an impressive force that some believe could drag their party back into power, if it can be tamed. But, if it can’t, others fear it could just as easily tear their party apart. Anderson?
Cooper and Foreman are clearly adopting the earlier takes of CBS’s Harry Smith, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, that a “civil war” in the GOP is leading to a “purge” of moderates from the party.
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