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Violence Over Anti-Migrant Fence in Greece

A pro-migrant march was attacked by far-right stone throwers after demonstrators in Athens walked through the city in protest of a 12.5 kilometer “anti-migrant” fence being constructed on Greece’s border with Turkey. —JCL Reuters: Far-right protesters threw stones at a pro-migrant march in Athens on Saturday before being dispersed by bursts of teargas, police said, in the latest sign of tension over the capital’s growing immigrant population. Over 1,000 members of anti-racism groups, leftists and immigrants were marching in central Athens to protest against a controversial plan to build a fence at the border with Turkey to stop illegal immigrants from entering Greece. A survey conducted by the Alco polling group for weekly newspaper Thema showed on Saturday that 73 percent of respondents back the plan to build a 12.5 km fence at the border with Turkey. Read more

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Changing of The Guard at RNC

A new sheriff is in town for the Republican Party. Ousted chairman Michael Steele has been replaced by Reince Priebus, the former RNC chair for the state of Wisconsin known most for claiming the RNC is “part of” the Tea Party movement. —JCL The New York Times: For Reince Priebus, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, politics has long been more than simply a hobby. It provided the entertainment for the first date with his wife. More than a decade ago, when Representatives Henry J. Hyde of Illinois and James F. Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin were delivering keynote speeches at a Lincoln Day Dinner in Kenosha, Wis., Mr. Priebus reserved two tickets and turned the event into part of his courtship. “I know. Nerd alert,” Mr. Priebus said in an interview a few hours after he was elected on Friday to lead the national Republican Party. His voice was filled with self-deprecation as he recalled the moment “But we went to a movie after that.” Read more Related Entries January 12, 2011 ‘Daily Show’: Jim Gets a Promotion in the New ‘Huck Finn’ January 6, 2011 10 Reasons Why the Slurs Should Stay in ‘Huck Finn’

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Pat Buchanan Smacks Down Bill Press: ‘You’ve Got to Get Beyond Being a Fringe Talk Show Host’

During an impromptu reunion of CNN's “Crossfire” Friday, Pat Buchanan told his old sparring partner Bill Press, “You’ve got to get beyond being a fringe talk show host.” In the middle of a very heated debate on MSNBC's “The Ed Show,” Buchanan strongly cautioned the host and his liberal guest, “I think this last week, there’s been a climate of hatred built up against [Sarah Palin] who did nothing and I tell you, if she does run for president of the United States, I pray to the lord she’s given secret service protection from day one” (video follows with transcript and commentary): ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW. The “Battleground” story tonight, I guess you could say, Sarah Palin is doubling down. She has no regrets, she’s not apologizing. And she’s not going to back down from what she said. Palin set off a firestorm of controversy this week releasing her now infamous video where she never apologized, played the victim, and outraged a lot of people by using the term, blood libel. Today, “The Daily Beast” reports that she signed on to be the keynote speaker on the program convention in Nevada after the shooting tragedy in Arizona. A lot of folks aren’t going to like that but the righties are gunning up, I guess you could say. She’s also scheduled to do her first live interview with Sean Hannity on the republican FOX News Channel Monday night. She’s not backing down. I think we’ve got that, and she still has her sights set on 2012 and I think she’s had a pretty tough week but let’s see what these guys think. Bill Press, nationally syndicated radio talk show host and Pat Buchanan, former presidential candidate and MSNBC political analyst. Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight. BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Ed. SCHULTZ: Pat, I almost had to get out the external defibrillator here in the office. My wife is a nurse because I heard you say earlier this week, you think Sarah Palin is a victim. Do you believe that, Pat? PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that for the last week, she’s been a victim, Ed, in one the saddest smears that I’ve seen in a long, long time. From the very moment, they picked up those wounded and dead at that incident, she’s been charged with moral complicity in a crime which she had no responsibility whatsoever. It is been day and night. Day and night. Until finally, the president of the United States went out there and did a magnificent job I think in Arizona and said, put a stop to it, incivility is not responsible for this tragedy and let’s not uses it as what means to start up the wars, one against another again. Nicely stated by Buchanan. Now watch Press's pathetic response. PRESS: Hey, Ed, look, if Sarah Palin’s a victim, I’m an astronaut. Let me tell you something the victims are lying on the ground outside of the Safeway last Saturday in Tucson. Sarah Palin is a political figure, she’s a person who has used a lot of inflammatory rhetoric, nobody starting with you, Ed, me, not the president, nobody blamed her for what happened in Tucson, but they did say that she’s one of the ones who’s used a lot of gun-filled rhetoric including putting out that map with the crosshairs, she’s called it bull’s eyes and telling people to reload. You know it would had been so easy for Sarah Palin just to say, as I thought you said, Pat, all of a sudden, think about her language and maybe not use that gun- filled imagery anymore. Instead she whined and she called people, accused them of blood libel, it’s disgusting and I think her political career is over. BUCHANAN: Well, you’ve thought a lot of people’s political careers are over, Bill and they won 63 seats in the house last fall. President of the United States, Barack Obama said 19 — what was it 2008 when the Republicans bring a knife to a fight, we’re going to bring a gun. That’s over the top rhetoric. It had nothing to do with what happened out there in Arizona. And neither did Sarah Palin. You talk about her whining, she’s come out tough. She’s not only defended herself but she’s gone on the attack and that’s why you folks are out here talking about her tonight. PRESS: But that’s the problem, Pat. She went on the attack. Thank you for saying that. That’s exactly what she did. That’s not what they. BUCHANAN: Right. PRESS: Wait a minute, let me finish, please. That’s not what the American people wanted to hear. BUCHANAN: How do you know what the American people want? Great question, especially given recent polling data finding a small percentage of Americans believe the media was right for blaming this tragedy on heated political rhetoric. Not surprisingly, facts weren't interfering with Press's view of things: PRESS: Because, because, Pat, you look at the response to that memorial service where the president hit absolutely the right tone. Sarah Palin is tone deaf, at some point she’s got to go beyond being a fringe candidate, Pat. She had a chance. She missed it. She blew it. She’s done. BUCHANAN: Look, you’ve got to get beyond being a fringe talk show host, Bill. Here’s what happened. (LAUGHTER) PRESS: You’re a fringe TV talker. Come on, Pat, you can’t — why can’t — can you get away from the personal attacks? SCHULTZ: All right. Let’s go back to this, gentlemen, let’s go back to this. BUCHANAN: All right. Let me go back to the basic point. SCHULTZ: Pat, you bring up the point about what the president said. The president ought to apologize for that. He said it was the wrong use of words, he shouldn’t have done it. Sarah Palin’s apologized for nothing and I have to ask you, is it appropriate to put these crosshairs up and granted the Democrats have done it in the past but in the environment that we’re in right now, doesn’t this deserve you know, maybe I shouldn’t have done that? She can’t even bring herself to do that, Pat. BUCHANAN: Well, look, she’s got nothing to apologize for because she did nothing wrong. SCHULTZ: OK. BUCHANAN: Going forward, Ed, going forward, because of this, the Democrats showing the bull’s eyes on the stage, the crosshairs in the states, that goes out. But, Ed, look, why are you talking. SCHULTZ: How about blood libel? Is that going forward, Pat? Let’s play this sound bite, here it is right here. BUCHANAN: OK. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SARAH PALIN,FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible. (END VIDEO CLIP) SCHULTZ: Pat, was that appropriate? BUCHANAN: It is appropriate. I’ll tell you what, when Alan Grayson says, Republicans want you to die quickly — that is a smear. SCHULTZ: I’m not talking about Grayson. I’m talking about Sarah Palin, was that appropriate? BUCHANAN: She’s got the same right to use that phrase as Alan Dershowitz did. SCHULTZ: OK. BUCHANAN: As Andrew Sullivan did. As Michael Barone did. As Ann Coulter did. SCHULTZ: Ann Coulter, there’s a source for you. PRESS: Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. BUCHANAN: You know, let me tell you this. You know, Ed, look, you talk about a climate of hate. Now I think this last week, there’s been a climate of hatred built up against this woman who did nothing and I tell you, if she does run for president of the United States, I pray to the lord she’s given secret service protection from day one. Great point, especially given reports on Wednesday that Palin is now receiving an unprecedented number of death threats: (CROSSTALK) SCHULTZ: I tell you what, I hope that she has all of the protection in the world. Go ahead, Bill. I’ll give you — go ahead. PRESS: Just let me get in here, look, all people said is that among with a lot of other people, Sarah Palin used an imagery that was inappropriate. It would had been so easy for her to say, you know what, I didn’t intend any harm to anybody and I know she didn’t. I don’t accuse her of that. BUCHANAN: Why you’ve been talking about her for a week for? PRESS: But she could have said. BUCHANAN: She came out and did a tape. PRESS: Hey, Pat, hey, Pat, hey, Pat. I know this is cross fire but give me a shot. Listen, she could have said that was inappropriate. I wouldn’t use that language again, that’s all people wanted to hear and then move on, instead she missed that opportunity, Pat. The president saw the opportunity. And I really think that she made a fatal mistake in terms of her political career, just like going to this gun show, Pat. She’s already got that crowd. What’s that going to get her? Nothing but more inflammatory rhetoric. BUCHANAN: The last person — Sarah Palin is a national sensation. The second-most beloved woman in America after respected after Hillary Clinton. She’s got great success on the circuit. Eighteen of the 20 districts. PRESS: Fine. BUCHANAN: She targeted. She won those races. She doesn’t need your advice, Bill. SCHULTZ: OK, all right, Pat. (TALKING OVER EACH OTHER) PRESS: Let her stay on FOX News, Pat. SCHULTZ: Did she have a good week? Did she use proper judgment in using blood libel? That will not politically come back to haunt her in your opinion, yes or no? BUCHANAN: Ed, you decide in your own way whether things come back to haunt her. You guys have been working this line and working this thing continually. SCHULTZ: I didn’t release the tape, Pat, she did. I didn’t release the tape, she did. BUCHANAN: She released that tape five days after this smear campaign began and I think she had every right to do so. SCHULTZ: The right to use blood libel. BUCHANAN: She has the first amendment right just like do you, Ed. SCHULTZ: Go ahead, Bill. PRESS: Shame on you, Pat. You know what that word means, that word has no place in American politics whether she knew what it meant or not, it’s stunningly. SCHULTZ: Buchanan and Press, great to have you guys with us tonight. Gentlemen, time-out. Thanks so much. BUCHANAN: Alan Dershowitz say, it was fine to use it. PRESS: Who cares about Alan Dershowitz? We’re talking about Sarah Palin. We’re talking about Sarah Palin, Pat. SCHULTZ: All right. We have to go. Thanks. Pat Buchanan and Bill Press, you guys are great. Yeah, you are talking about Sarah Palin, Bill. Seems like that's all you liberal media members want to talk about. Makes you wonder why more people don't want the former Alaska governor to become president just to show up all the so-called journalists that have been tearing her limb from limb since August 2008. Exit question: will liberal media members like Press and Schultz ever admit they were wrong for immediately tying Palin to this awful event, or will they continue pointing their fingers despite the evidence? (H/T Right Scoop )

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Bruce Reed, Social Security Foe and DLC Chief, Named As Biden’s New Chief of Staff

enlarge Bruce Reed, former head of the Catfood Commission, has been named Joe Biden’s new chief of staff. Looks like the Obama administration has now brought on just about everyone of any import from the Clinton administration, except the one we wish he had: Robert Reich. And while theoretically, it may not be deeply significant that the head of the DLC and former head of the Catfood Commission (the same strategist who’s pushing to cut Social Security) is Joe Biden’s new chief of staff, it would be disingenuous to pretend he won’t have any influence: When President Obama named Bill Daley his new chief of staff, there was muted grumbling on the left. Daley, a banker and commerce secretary under Bill Clinton, had publicly criticized the Democratic Party and Obama administration for governing too far from the left. But his appointment was not presented as an ideological repositioning so much as a pragmatic choice. At the time, many liberals—in the words of Robert Kuttner, the coeditor of The American Prospect and a fellow at Demos, a progressive think tank—saved their fire for bigger potential fights to come, especially potential cuts to Social Security benefits. Now the administration is bringing in one of the architects of the proposal to cut Social Security benefits and other domestic programs: Bruce Reed, who has been named chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden. Reed recently served as executive director of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which Obama created to fashion a bipartisan compromise on long-term deficit reduction, and is also known as the Bowles-Simpson Commission, after its co-chairs. The commission report was criticized on the left for agreeing to what liberals considered arbitrary and unnecessary limits on domestic discretionary spending. “Reed is someone who has been very open for a long time in his desire to see Social Security and Medicare rolled back,” says Dean Baker, codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. Putting Reed in charge of Biden’s shop is especially troubling to some economic liberals because Biden is viewed as a relative populist among the administration’s top players, and Jared Bernstein, the most left-leaning economic adviser in the White House, works for Biden. And while chief of staff to the vice president is far from the most influential policymaking role in the administration, Reed’s selection, especially coming on the heels of Daley’s, may be a signal that the White House is taking more a more conservative tack on economic policy. “By itself, his appointment is not a big deal, since this is not a top-level position,” says Baker, “but in the context of the Bowles-Simpson Commission recommendations and other recent appointments, this is not good news from the standpoint of people who value these programs.” Another mark against Reed for the left: he is the CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council . The DLC, long an object of scorn for the Democratic Party’s left wing, is a centrist think tank that was associated with the Clinton-era party’s “New Democrat” reinvention. Reed served as a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration. Colleagues of Reed’s say that he will be loyal to whatever political direction Obama sets. “Bruce is a very smart man with his own policy views, but he’s also a team player as I think he demonstrated during the Clinton administration,” says Ed Kilgore, managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, who worked with Reed at the DLC.

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Anderson Cooper Trashes Think Progress by Comparing Their Site to Michelle Malkin’s

Click here to view this media Anderson Cooper and his producers apparently think that something mentioned in a post by the liberal web site Think Progress that was not the main topic of the post that they took issue with somehow is equal to what hatemonger Michelle Malkin does day in and day out on her blog, and these two websites somehow are equal in spreading misinformation to the public. All I can say after watching this is: Shame on Anderson Cooper and his producers, and shame on the supposed liberal on the panel, Maria Cardona, for letting this pass without defending the work that Think Progress has done week after week on their site. Here is the post that was being criticized by Cooper — Gohmert Warns Of ‘Reverting’ To Era Of Congressional Duels — While Pushing Bill To Arm Congressmen . The main substance of that post was that it is pretty well insane for Gohmert to be pushing for handguns to be allowed on the House floor. They mentioned that his argument that there was a handgun ban in DC was not true. Here’s Cooper’s criticism of that. COOPER: Well, the liberal blog ThinkProgress jumped all over Gohmert’s idea, mocking it, calling it — quote — “harebrained.” Their main point was this, though. “Gohmert” — and I’m quoting — “Gohmert explained the need for his bill by falsely claiming that Washington, D.C., has a gun ban. The Roberts Supreme Court did away with D.C.’s handgun ban in 2008.” Well, there’s only one problem with that statement. It’s wrong. Even after that Supreme Court decision, ordinary citizens cannot carry a registered — registered handgun in D.C. You can keep a handgun in your home if you have a permit, but you can’t carry one. Now, you can say what you want about Louie Gohmert’s idea of lawmakers carrying guns in and around the Capitol, but you should criticize it based on actual facts, not made-up ones, which is just what ThinkProgress did. So what part of not being able to carry a gun outside of your home did Cooper not realize was still banned? You know, the one that would mean you also can’t carry one into the halls of Congress. Jebus these people make my head hurt. This just looks like an excuse to me for CNN to play the “all sides are equally bad” game and take a shot at Think Progress. Those folks actually have one of the few liberal think tanks out there behind the research they’re doing, unlike Malkin, who just makes crap up to be outraged about. And one last note here: If Think Progress does end up thinking they made a mistake in their reporting, we’re likely to get a retraction from them. You’re never going to see that from the likes of Michelle Malkin. In the meantime, we get to hear more of the “all sides do it” bulls**t from the Villagers who would not recognize an honest conservation about anything if it bit them on the nose. Transcript below the fold via CNN . COOPER: We begin “Keeping Them Honest” with politicians and pundits playing politics with the tragedy in Tucson. There are cringe-worthy examples on both the left and right. We showed you fund-raising letters that went out earlier in the week. At the memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday, President Obama implored politicians and the whole nation really to tone it down, to honor those who lost their lives by stepping up the civility. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy — it did not — but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Well, from pundits and politicians from both sides of the aisle, there has been and continues to be a lot of finger- pointing. Some on each side are claiming they hold the exclusive deed on the high road, accusing the other side of playing politics. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, “THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW”) RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party in this country. He’s sitting there in jail. He knows what’s going on. He knows that a Democrat Party, the Democrat Party, is attempting to find anybody but him to blame. He knows, if he plays his cards right, he’s just a victim. (END AUDIO CLIP) (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, “THE HUCKABEE REPORT”) MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Meanwhile, a lot of people in politics and the media covered themselves in shame by rushing to judgment about the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner. The same people who were so quick to falsely blame the Tea Party for the bomb planted in Times Square apparently learned nothing from that mistake. (END AUDIO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FOX NEWS CHANNEL) BERNARD GOLDBERG, AUTHOR, “100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA”: Well, in all my years as a working journalist, I have never seen such shallow, thoughtless, agenda-driven dribble as I have in the past 36 hours. And it’s all masquerading as serious analysis and commentary. (END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Now, many observers have already reduced this tragedy to simple questions of whether overheated rhetoric is to blame or one partisan group or another. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Well, a lot of it is just finger-pointing about finger- pointing. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but, recently, we have noticed a few people or groups who think they’re entitled to their own facts. Two examples tonight, first, a liberal blog called ThinkProgress attacking a Republican congressman based on something that’s simply not true. The congressman is Louie Gohmert from Texas. And he wants members of Congress to be allowed to carry guns inside the Capitol Building, even on the House floor. He explained his reasoning in an interview with WorldNetDaily’s Radio America. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, RADIO AMERICA) REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R), TEXAS: And up here in Washington, D.C., because there’s a gun ban, beside law enforcement, the only people that have guns here are the criminals. So, we’re looking at a bill that would allow members of Congress to carry a weapon. (END AUDIO CLIP) COOPER: Well, the liberal blog ThinkProgress jumped all over Gohmert’s idea, mocking it, calling it — quote — “harebrained.” Their main point was this, though. “Gohmert” — and I’m quoting — “Gohmert explained the need for his bill by falsely claiming that Washington, D.C., has a gun ban. The Roberts Supreme Court did away with D.C.’s handgun ban in 2008.” Well, there’s only one problem with that statement. It’s wrong. Even after that Supreme Court decision, ordinary citizens cannot carry a registered — registered handgun in D.C. You can keep a handgun in your home if you have a permit, but you can’t carry one. Now, you can say what you want about Louie Gohmert’s idea of lawmakers carrying guns in and around the Capitol, but you should criticize it based on actual facts, not made-up ones, which is just what ThinkProgress did. On the right, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has been pushing a story that seems to have no basis in fact. She says the color scheme at the Tucson memorial was some sort of a political conspiracy. She has a diatribe on her blog about what she called the branding of the Tucson massacre. She wrote that the White House was behind the “Together we thrive” theme at Wednesday’s memorial, and she didn’t like the sea of blue on the signs and the T-shirts. Malkin wrote — quote — “Will there — will there be giant foam fingers and blue cotton candy, too? Can’t the Democrat political stage give it a break just once?” But here’s the problem with that. According to the University of Arizona, the White House had nothing to do with the logo or the T- shirts. The university says it was behind — it was behind the branding. The shirts, they say, were designed by a student, and the university paid for them. On her blog, Malkin backtracked, but only kind of, writing, “Given U-of-A president Robert Shelton’s embarrassing, thinly-veiled partisan cheerleading for Obama tonight, it may indeed be a 100 percent campus-initiated campaign. Given the Obama campaign — given the Obama White House’s meticulous attention to stage prop details, however, I would say the odds of involvement by Axelrod, Plouffe and others are high,” regarding two Obama advisers, David Axelrod and David Plouffe. Now, no facts to back it up, and facts matter, the truth matters, maybe even more than ever right now. Joining me now, senior political analyst David Gergen, political analyst and Republican strategist Ed Rollins, and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. Ed, if the finger-pointing and the deliberate misinformation isn’t going to stop now, in the wake of a tragedy like this, I mean, is there ever hope of it stopping at all? ED ROLLINS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I wish it would. I wish the tone would go down. I mean, the bottom line is, the Republicans now have the votes and they can be in the meetings and may — can make their cases, and obviously pass out things out of the House. They don’t need to be yelling and screaming back and forth. And equally as important, the Democrats don’t have to be yelling back and forth. I think a lot of it is the blogs, a lot of it is talk radio, a lot of it is cable shows. I think the key thing here is, can members of Congress sit down and come to some compromise on some very significant issues? I’m — I’m doubtful of that. The — there’s such distance between the various programs, you know, the key thing here is, can you fiscally balance budgets or push towards balancing budgets, eliminate programs, you know, add some revenue, without killing each other? COOPER: It is interesting, Maria. I mean, it seems so juvenile, basically, both sides saying, no, you started it; you started it. MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Oh, absolutely, Anderson. I think the whole thing is just nonsense on both sides. And I don’t think either side does itself any favors when it goes either on the blogs or on TV or on Web sites, and tries to accuse the other side, without having any facts to back it up. It demeans all of us, and it demeans the political discourse. And it doesn’t get us to where we need to be, to President Obama’s point. We have huge problems that we need to try to solve. So, I do think it’s incumbent — incumbent upon our leaders to give the example to all of us that we can live up to, but it’s also incumbent upon all of us, on you, Anderson, on you, Ed, on myself, everybody who is part of this political discourse, to try to take it down a notch and make sure that what you’re saying is either fact-based, and just focus on ideas, and don’t do it personally. COOPER: David, you think things have actually gotten better this week? DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Anderson, I’m more hopeful. And let me acknowledge up front I thought the president’s speech Wednesday night was successful, but it clearly was even more successful than I imagined. I think he resonated with much of the country, to his credit. And I think he poured water on a lot of the flames that were out there, that there are still some fires burning. We have some outliers, are the ones — the ones you have cited tonight, and it’s good to keep them accountable, to keep the focus on them. But I — I think, next week, for example, as the Republicans in the House of Representatives debate the health care bill, my expectation is, their arguments will be more tempered than they would have been otherwise. I think there will be less demonization. Sure, they are going to disagree with the health care bill. That’s what they ran on. But I think they will do it in a more tempered way. And I do think the president has opened the way now to a new conversation that he can continue in his State of the Union, in — in ways that can bring people together, perhaps institutionalize more bipartisanship, more bipartisan meetings, meetings at Camp David and the like, and actually do more shaming, as — as your show is doing tonight, shame those people who are the outliers, so that they get off this, and we — and we put more of the flames out. COOPER: Ed, do you think that’s true, A., that the president will try to do that in the State of the Union, and that next week’s debate on health care will kind of reflect some sort of a change? ROLLINS: I think the president gave a superb speech. And I think he lifted it to a higher, higher plane. You know, I mean, he was very partisan in the course of the campaign, more so than most presidents. But, you know, go back to a president David and I both worked for, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan — there’s this great myth that Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill sat down and had a beer every night on the South Lawn and resolved things. It was a very partisan period of time, too, but there was a gentle tone. And the American public saw a couple of congenial Irish guys that weren’t yelling and screaming at each other, even though, behind the scenes, it was tough. Equally as important, there was more of a social life in Washington. A Bob Michel could go play golf with a Tip O’Neill. They were friends. They weren’t — they weren’t enemies. They could fight on issues. Danny Rostenkowski, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, would sit down and work out with David Stockman on the budgets. Today there’s no social life, and so, to a certain extent, in the last 10, 15 years, it’s gotten more and more partisan on both sides. They don’t know each other. COOPER: Hmm. ROLLINS: So, all that they’re doing is dealing with rhetoric. And you need to eliminate — where I’m hopeful is that the members of Congress and the Senate, which is really where it matters, speak with a softer tone and fight for — hard for their issues, but speak with a softer tone. COOPER: It’s hard, though, Maria, after the last campaign that we have seen, the last election, you know, a lot of folks getting elected with very tough tone. CARDONA: I think that’s exactly right. And I think the other thing that is a reality today, Anderson, that wasn’t even 10 — or maybe even five years ago is that we have a 24/7 news cycle that is full of bloggers, is full of tweeters, is full of Facebookers, that can actually ignite and — and put more gasoline on the fire than otherwise would have been the case in a normal daily political debate of 10 years ago. COOPER: Yes. CARDONA: So I think that has really changed this. And I think what we all need to realize, including these bloggers, including anybody who put a post — a post up on Facebook, is that you’re not just talking to your friend, you’re not just talking to your neighbor. You are now talking to America. And your words can matter, and your words can influence. COOPER: Yes. CARDONA: That’s what we all have to realize, which I don’t think we have realized to this point. COOPER: David? GERGEN: Anderson, I do want to express one sense of disappointment. And that is, the deeper problem with this shooting has been the culture of violence in this country. We have too much hate, too many guns, too many killings. You know, the United States has 20 times as many killings by guns as other developed countries. And, among teenagers, people, we — we have over 40 times as many killings by guns. And there has been a reluctance on both sides to face up to the gun culture and the violence and what this is all about. And that is a disappointment. It’s going to take a long time to get there, clearly. COOPER: Obviously, it’s a — it’s a hot issue. A lot of people disagree with you, David, who simply don’t think… GERGEN: Sure do. COOPER: … that guns are the problem, as we have… CARDONA: Anderson, can I just… COOPER: Yes. CARDONA: Can I just finish this one thing? First of all, I completely agree with David 100 percent. But, secondly, you know, I’m raising two kindergarten-age children. And it just seems to me, especially in these last couple of days, it is so simple to just go back and — and look at what we all learned in kindergarten, the golden rule. Let’s treat each other how we would like for them to treat us. I know it sounds simple, but, clearly, you know, a lot of the — the solutions to the hardest problems are the simple ones. We should all go back and take a look at that and live it in our everyday lives. COOPER: Maria Cardona, appreciate you being on. Ed Rollins, David Gergen, thank you.

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‘Moderate’ Republicans try to do outreach with Latinos. Lots of luck with that.

Click here to view this media [Video courtesy of America's Voice: H/t Maria and Jackie] Establishment Republicans — the business-friendly wing of the party — have been trying to talk a good game when it comes to Latino voters — their ruling Neanderthal Nativist wing notwithstanding. Now they’re out hustling to convince Latinos that they really should vote Republican — kinda like the way all good chickens should go vote for Colonel Sanders. Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich are out leading the charge, as it were: But Republicans overall still lost the Hispanic vote nationwide by about 2-1 — not much different than in 2008. Bush wants to change that. “The challenge, though, is that we have a situation right now where Republicans send out signals that Hispanics aren’t wanted in our party, not by policy so much as by tone,” he says. But it’s more than just the tone. It’s one issue in particular, says Alfonso Aguilar, the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and a participant in Thursday’s conference in Miami. “Latinos are inherently conservative: They’re socially conservative; they are entrepreneurial; they’re pro-business. Immigration … is that one issue that prevents us from winning the support of Latino voters,” he says. Yeah, if only they didn’t have the people running the party right now out there demanding we alter the Constitution in order to deny Latino children their birthright citizenship. But in realituy, gingrich of course talks out of both sides of his mouth, defending Arizona’s SB1070 while trying to do Latino outreach . Similarly, Jeb is in denial about just how deeply in their thrall Republicans really are: Even though anti-immigrant voices seem to be getting louder inside the Republican Party, Jeb Bush is convinced that they do not speak for most on the right. “That view is in the minority even in the Republican Party,” he says. “But, I think if you got to the point where legitimate, emotional concerns about the lack of border security and the lack of rule of law, once those issues subsided, then you would find a great majority of people that would support some solution to the large number of people that are here illegally.” One of the Republicans speaking out and pushing them to abandon their delusions has been conservative Latino columnist Ruben Navarette: Columnist Ruben Navarrette, who is also speaking at the conference in Miami, says there is a new conversation going on beneath the surface in the GOP — particularly when it comes to the push by some Republicans to repeal the 14th Amendment in order to deny birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented parents. “They’re not fools — they realize that there are those places where they can overplay their hand, and I think the 14th Amendment change is a perfect example of a bridge too far,” Navarrette says. “It’s poison. You play with that, and I am never, ever going be able to go before a group of Hispanic women … and convince them that the Republican Party isn’t anything but a bunch of ogres.” Indeed. This weekend at the big shindig for GOP Hispanics he had the same message, as Frank Sharry blogged yesterday: Early in the day, Bush stated: It would be incredibly stupid [for the Republican Party] to ignore the burgeoning Hispanic vote. Given the anti-immigrant rhetoric that emanates from so many GOP leaders these days, however, it won’t be a simple matter to win these voters back. As a new America’s Voice memo makes clear, Republican leadership is stuck in a deep rut of denial and inflexibility when it comes to Latino outreach and their party’s position on immigration. They seem to think that taking up kinder, gentler “rhetoric” and reaching out on “common values”—instead of revisiting their party’s extreme immigration policies—will do the trick. One panelist at the conference, conservative syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette, made this very point quite passionately at this afternoon’s panel on media and messaging. From a live blog of the conference: Update – 2:55 PM: Navarrette: “If you come away thinking that this is all about language and tone, you will miss the point… You are always going to be number 2… T he problem is not the tone. It is the message itself—it is offensive, racist. You’ve got to fix the product.” […] Commentator Alex Castellanos, Sr. disagrees. He appears to believe that a majority of Latinos agree with the Republican Party on immigration policy. Helen Aguirre disagrees with Castellanos: “Jeb Bush is the only one who challenged Tom Tancredo. If the [majority of the] Republican Party disagrees but keeps quiet…” Ruben Navarrette argued that the GOP has a track record on immigration that: 1. Deals with immigration dishonestly 2. Caters to that ugly element of racism — “nativism/racism is in the bloodstream” 3. Offers “solutions” that ignore the problem. Navarrette cites the fight to repeal the 14th Amendment and Arizona’s SB1070 as two examples of false solutions on immigration. Lotsa luck to these folks. They’re going to need it: The GOP in reality is in the deep thrall of the Tea Partiers, who are some of the most mouth-foaming and nasty nativists in the country.

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Townhall Magazine Does Its Best To Promote Civil Discourse

enlarge From an email that was sent out a couple of days ago (like the little “Godfather” reference in the corner?): Townhall Magazine Identifies the Top 50 Most Dangerous Liberals in the U.S. Every conservative knows that liberals are working hard every day to recreate this country in their own image, tarnishing our great history and the hard-working people who live here. While some of the faces of the Left are too clownish to be taken seriously (see Keith Olbermann) others shy away from the limelight in order to push their agenda from behind a veil. Those people are some of the most dangerous liberals that threaten our way of life. Not to take away from some of the more obvious liberals, like the Barack Obamas and the Barney Franks of the world, there are many who push the leftwing radical agenda. In the latest issue of Townhall Magazine we have identified the top 50 most dangerous liberals in America. We also have exposed their secret agendas, some as devious as any threat to the United States . Below are a few snippets from the list. Take a look and then get Townhall Magazine today! Subscribe to Townhall Magazine today to get the entire list and you’ll also receive a FREE book from a conservative author! Hmm. It seems to me that if these liberals are so dangerous and devious, threatening our way of life, why, there’s really only one solution for any real patriot, right? There’s not an actual target painted on anyone, but I think the message is all too clear. Civility! It’s only for Democrats!

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New Rules: Bill Maher to the Teabaggers – The Founding Fathers Would Have Hated Your Guts

Click here to view this media Bill Maher was back on the air this weekend with the 2011 premier of Real Time and he had a few things to say about what the Founding Fathers might have thought of this anti-intellectual teabagger movement in his New Rules segment.

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Bozell Column: No Tucson Lectures for ‘Artists’

Within minutes of the news breaking that Jared Lee Loughner had killed six and wounded 12 in a rampage outside a Tucson safeway store, including a critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the news media immediately leapt to the conclusion that the harsh tone of our political discourse – led by conservative talk radio — surely must be to blame. That narrative turned out to be hogwash, but another one has emerged during the investigation into Loughner’s psyche, yet virtually no one wants to discuss it. Was the shooter inspired by the entertainment media? Why would violent movies or music be left out of the rush to judgment? Perhaps it’s because pop-culture defenders never tire of arguing that no one can blame the “artists” – be they musicians, movie-makers or video-game manufacturers – for youth violence. So it becomes awkward, to say the least, that everyone’s discussing the need to curb a national appetite for angry rhetoric, when it was disturbing music and movies that were influencing Loughner’s mind, and they are ignored. It took 72 hours for Loughner’s entertainment appetites to enter the media mainstream. On January 11, The Washington Post noted that on the shooter’s YouTube channel, a lone video is listed as a favorite. J. Freedom du Lac reported on the rock band Drowning Pool: “As a hooded figure wearing a garbage bag for pants limps across the desert to set fire to an American flag, a howling heavy-metal song called ‘Bodies’ serves as the video's relentless soundtrack.” The lyrics are screamed: “Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floor!” in an obvious echo of a shooting rampage like Loughner’s. This isn’t the first time this music was associated with a murder.

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Bill Maher: ‘Because We Don’t Have Government Healthcare, That’s One Reason Why a Crazy Person Gets a Gun’

More and more, the idea that Bill Maher has his own television show to advance his insane theories should be worrisome to right-thinking Americans. Case in point: during the first installment of the new season of “Real Time” on HBO, Maher actually said with a straight face, “Because we don't have government healthcare, that's one reason why a crazy person gets a gun” (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRYSTIA FREELAND, REUTERS: I'm from Alberta. I’m from Alberta. Calgary has a Muslim mayor. My Dad does have guns, but we have universal healthcare. And Canada is heaven for the Elizabeth Warrens of the world because it has banking regulations. That's the difference. It didn’t have a financial crisis. And the government didn't have to bail out the banks. So the middle-class is okay. BILL MAHER: Because we don't have government healthcare, that's one reason why a crazy person gets a gun, because you know what, it's hard for a crazy person to get a job. So therefore it's hard for them to get healthcare in a country that doesn’t have government… So, if America had universal healthcare, Jared Lee Loughner would have had a job, wouldn't have purchased a gun, and wouldn't have gone on a shooting rampage last Saturday. And this man Maher actually has his own television program to advance such theories. It's almost scarier than folks like Loughner possessing a gun, isn't it?

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