Presidential Protection

I'm trying to remember when the last time anyone questioned the Secret Service's actions as it pertains to protecting the president... I think the answer is never. That is of course until this president.

The latest smear tactic of the rabid right wing is to try and pin "wasted tax dollars" on President Obama for two tour buses at a cost of $2.2 million that were used for his 3 day bus tour; vehicles that were commissioned by the Secret Service over a year ago and actually SAVE the country money as part of the permanent Secret Service fleet, as opposed to retrofitting leased buses every four years. Vehicles that the future GOP presidential nominee will also use. But that doesn't stop hacks like Sean Hannity and Eric Bolling from blaming Obama for yet another thing that he's not responsible for. David Shuster takes the hacks down handily filling in for Keith Olbermann.



After a 400% increase in presidential threats since Obama took office, I suppose Hannity or Bolling would prefer him ride around in a convertible... maybe in Dallas... and wave to passersby in Dealey Plaza.

It's Time For MSNBC to Fire Pat Buchanan

David Shuster was suspended from MNSBC for expressing Hillary Clinton's use of her daughter during her presidential campaign as "pimping out" Chelsea. He was suspended again for tweeting about that yellow faux journalist douchebag James O'Keefe. He was suspended yet again and eventually fired by MSNBC for filming a pilot for CNN. Keith Olbermann was suspended by MSNBC for making campaign donations to politicians without first asking permission. His continual conflicts with his bosses eventually led to his release.

So what will MSNBC do with conservative pundit Pat Buchanan for referring to President Barack Obama as "boy" not once, but three times? Will they suspend him or fire him for his racist code words?

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Calling the African-American President of the United States "boy" three times is three times too many. Time for Pat to go.

(H/T GottaLaff)

Tancredo's Hissy Fit

And this numbnuts wanted to be President!



Why MSNBC, or any other real news organization for that matter, would continue to have an overt racist on as an "expert" boggles the mind. That goes for Pat Buchanan too.

Why is it always the chickenhawks who complain about the VA? It's not like they ever qualified for that benefit and know them through usage.

Shuster Asks GOP Hypocrite Hasner To Denounce All Nazi/Holocast Rhetoric

I'm glad I found this video from yesterday's MSNBC broadcast. Florida State House Majority Rep. Adam Hasner was all ready to jump on the "We Hate Alan Grayson Because He Said Holocaust" bandwagon, but didn't expect to be questioned about other vitriolic statements from members of his own party or denounce Rush Limbaugh's constant use of "Nazi" phrases.

Obviously, Hasner chose not to for fear that he and his helmet hair would suffer the Limbaugh wrath.

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Douche Quote of the Day, Part 4

posted by Armadillo Joe

"I think she'd say that her word choice in 2001 was poor"
- Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary

(sigh)

Why concede any ground at all when the wingnuts were well and truly about to implode into a fine red mist of degenerate racism and reprobate misogyny?

Why?

Washington D.C. is hard-wired for Republican Rule. As Atrios pointed out today, no matter how bad things may be for Republicans at any given moment (and they look pretty bad right now), the GOP will always enjoy a home field advantage in Washington. That's why we bloggers invented the term "Villagers" to describe all those Kewl Kidz who golf-clap their approval whenever some politician displays strength by punching a dirty fucking hippie in the face. Their incomes and class and economic upbringing and social status all make them part of a non-partisan ruling elite who nevertheless distrust an "Other" which usually resides in the Democratic Party. This reflexive distrust of the less monied, the less plugged-in, the less connected, the less powerful, the less glamorous -- frankly, hatred for the riff-raff -- gives them a natural affinity for the policies, procedures, arguments and methods of the Rethugli-goons, whose raison d'tre is to advocate for The Villagers -- not as "Villagers" per se, but simply as the rich, entitled, powerful people who expect special treatment that they are.

I mean, hell, Cheney's speech last week was presented by our MSM opposite Obama's like anything a potentially-indicted private citizen has to say about anything even remotely merits 1/10th the attention as an important speech by the sitting president. And Cheney reinforced that whole misguided notion by growling his way through a pro-torture "answer" to Obama national security speech, strutting and preening like the titular head of a government in exile, which to much of The Village he is.

So, now, the official stance of the White House is that some of the things Sotomayor said casually in a public forum almost ten years ago are out-of-bounds and, like that poorly-trained friend's dog we all know who will take the slightest breath of a hint of attention from a house-guest to jump and slobber and bark, a perpetually-in-search-of-conflict media pounces on the hairline fracture to split it wide-open. Shuster and Fineman nattered away on Hardball today like two old biddies in a sewing circle about the young hussy who just moved in down the street.

As digby said about it today:

Republicans were acting like crazed freaks, alienating Hispanics by the thousands and making women hate them even more, and the whole country was aghast. Why they gave them validation on this, I don't really understand.

[...]

this controversy will make it necessary for Sotomayor to bow and scrape before Jeff Sessions and Orrin Hatch. The wingnuts have been hoping for a chance for some payback for Thomas and maybe they'll get a pound of female flesh this time.

Two steps forward, three steps back.

The Silence Was Deafening

MSNBC Barely Touches Stewart vs. Cramer

Every time someone uses the phrase,"liberal media," I look for the nearest brick wall on which to pound my head against.

In anticipation for the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer knock-down-drag-out, Cramer took to the airwaves of the morning shows in his defense to attempt to rehabilitate his image and rebut his main critic with a specific message: "A comedian’s attacking me. Wow. He runs a variety show." I remember him saying it at least twice. He appeared on the Today show, got Joe Scarborough to shill for him on Morning Joe, and even pounded dough with Martha Stewart.

After the bloodletting, Joe Scarborough was touting an exclusive interview with Cramer on Morning Joke™ using Twitter.



I even got up at an ungodly hour to watch. No Cramer. Then this.



So much for Jim Cramer taking it like a man. Did he no-show or was he cancelled? Maybe the latter.

..."MSNBC producers were asked not to incorporate the Jim Cramer/Jon Stewart interview into their shows today." In fact, the only time it came up on MSNBC was during the White House briefing, when a member of the press corps asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if Pres. Obama watched. Gibbs wasn't sure if the president had, but Gibbs did. "I enjoyed it thoroughly," the Press Secretary said.

Keith... Keith... Why have you forsaken us?

The biggest disappointment in all of this is that the "liberal media" (namely MSNBC according to its detractors) took its marching orders with the culmination of Keith Olbermann completely ignoring what was probably one of the best journalism pieces this short year. Not. A. Word. And the silence was deafening.

Now we all know what side KO's bread is buttered on, but I think this qualified as a pretty big news story and if Olbermann doesn't think he can mention it because of a conflict of interest with separate NBC network entities, then he actually did no better than Jim Cramer.

Luckily, there is still one person on the MSNBC line up that kept her integrity.

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Yes, Rachel Maddow framed the feature of this "Dust Up!" story in regards to what millions were interested in, in comparison to other newsworthy stories... but she mentioned it. She didn't ignore it like the rest of the day of MSNBC programming, from Morning Joke™ to hours of inane coverage of that missing Halleigh girl to even more news of Anna Nicole Smith two years after her death. That's what they talked about. But something that happened to one of their own in the NBC family? Mum's the word.

Chris Matthews, who got his own drubbing in my opinion with the Ari Fleischer crapfest, ignored it. David Shuster? Did he mention it? Apparently not, since it seems to be the talk of the intertubes that except for Maddow, the Cramer story was ignored (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Let's not forget that this isn't some little side story about television personality rumbles. This was the true outing of the lack of financial oversight and regulations that have put our government in an economic crisis that we all fear, an admission from a former hedge fund manager as to how the inside game is played because the SEC doesn't understand it, as well as a complete deficiency of investigative journalism on the part of the financial "reporters" on financial news networks like CNBC and Fox Business Channel. If they have doubts about a certain company, do they seriously expect a CEO of said company to come on their show for an interview and be honest?

As for Jim Cramer, he was the only other NBC regular that actually mentioned "what happened yesterday" on his Friday broadcast, proving to all that it was going to be "business as usual" on his show, bell, whistles, red buttoned sound effects, plastic sledgehammers and all. So much for the promise of change, Mr. Cramer. So much for the promise of change.

Excuse me while I go find a brick wall.

Topsy-Turvy World - UPDATED

I think I've just fallen into Alice's rabbit hole. I'm watching MSNBC's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and to my astonishment, Pat Buchanan is condemning Israel's airstrikes in Gaza while David Shuster and Harold Ford, Jr. are arguing the Israeli side and blaming Hamas.

I think my head is going to explode.

I hope someone has video soon. If not, I'll attempt to put some up myself.


UPDATE (8:22pm): Here's the video in which Pat Buchanan is awesome... yeah, I know!

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Joe Scarborough: Biggest Douchebag On Television

Scarborough makes a comment criticizing Iraq's Prime Minister for wanting a timetable for US troops to get out of Iraq, says he'll be dead in 15 minutes after we leave and that the Sunnis will string him up like Mussolini and then gets offended when taken to task by David Shuster and turns a debate into a little, whiny girl argument.

Mike Barnicle and Scooter sit there in disbelief unable to comment.

What a fucking asshole.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Did Edwards Slip On Morning Joe?

Hat tip to Bob Cesca and Paddy on Cliff Schecter on this one.

First of all, let me say how nice it is to watch Morning Joe on MSNBC without the "Joe" part of it. The discussion was actually a discussion; engaging and serious, not loudmouth and idiotic. Mika Brzezinski, fill-in David Shuster and Tiki Barber (again?) had a twelve minute conversation with John Edwards and his thoughts on the race.

Mika prodded him for an endorsement, didn't get one, but did get him to admit that he would "very likely" endorse the same candidate he voted for. Listen to the 10 minute mark - he follows up with "I just voted for 'em on Tuesday" (emphasis mine). He didn't specifically say "him", he said "'em". But if you're speaking quickly, the 'h' isn't as emphasized, such as "voted forrim" as opposed to "voted forrer." Who the hell knows?

He does have a differing opinion as to how important, or not, his endorsement is, and at this point, it's probably best "forrim" to lay low and let this thing play out until at least May 20th. Hillary wouldn't drop out of the race with an Edwards endorsement of Obama anyway, so what's the difference? And if he has a chance to be a "War on Poverty" Czar for either candidate, why potentially upset either individual with an endorsement?

They also discuss Hillary's "hard-working Americans, white Americans" slip of the tongue and he doesn't believe that it was racial, knowing her the way he does. I'm not completely sure I agree, as we've all seen how the race baiting has come and gone, subtley and no so subtley, but fair enough. I take Edwards at his word on that one. He has his opinion just like everyone else.

Great interview - of course it is - Joe Scarborough isn't anywhere near the studio playing "gotcha."

Shuster Apologizes But Clinton Threatens MSNBC

Last night, David Shuster made an inappropriate comment while interviewing a couple of analysts regarding Chelsea Clinton's role in her mother's campaign and calling the hosts of The View as well as superdelegates trying to garner support for Hillary Clinton.

SHUSTER: ...there's just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea is out there calling up celebrities saying, "Support my mom." And, apparently, she's also calling these super delegates... doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?

Now we all know what he meant by that comment and it was a definitely a slip of the tongue and inappropriate for Shuster to use that particular slang phrase. Had Shuster said Chelsea was "being used" instead of being "pimped out," there would be absolutely no story here. But apparently the public flipped out to the extent that MSNBC has suspended Shuster from all NBC broadcasting except to apologize for the remark, which he has done.

Story over, right? WRONG.

Now the Clinton campaign has threatened not to participate in any MSNBC sponsored debates.

In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on Friday excoriated MSNBC's David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party "superdelegates" on her mother's behalf.

Wolfson called Shuster's comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting.

"I, at this point, can't envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network," he added.

I now call "BULLSHIT" on Wolfson. Who the fuck does he think he's kidding? If Hillary Clinton doesn't want to participate in the debates, then fine. We're done with it. They won't participate on MSNBC, but they're ready to debate on Fox News? Are they fucking insane?

Just last week, Clinton was begging for a chance at weekly debates as her funds were running low and the contests would provide free exposure, but now that she's gotten an influx of internet cash after revealing that she has signed a $5 million personal check to keep her campaign going, NOW the campaign is threatening MSNBC? Really?!

You know what, Hil? Go ahead. Shoot yourself in the foot, because that is exactly what you're going to do if you decide to renege on MSNBC. Obama will say no to Fox, and you'll be back at square one, with maybe one debate on CNN. All this after MSNBC has suspended Shuster from any NBC broadcast due to the comments for which he's already apologized.

You've had 18 fucking debates already! I'm sick of hearing "ready to lead on day one," and "35 years of experience," so unless you have a new talking point, I think I've heard your entire schtick multiple times. I don't need to hear it another five times before March 4th. Debate exposure at this point is only going to benefit you, so if you really want to pull the trigger before removing your gun for its holster, be my guest.