Meet the Press Frustrates Rachel Maddow

Image from LATimes

And it was frustrating to watch too. I have watched Meet the Press with David Gregory each week with increasing reluctance. Gregory is simply not the moderator that Tim Russert was. This morning was different, because for the first time, Rachel Maddow--of whom I'm a huge fan--was on as a panelist. The discussion was on health care reform, and the other panelists were former Senator Tom Daschle (not a fave), Sen. Tom Coburn, and former Rep. Dick Armey (aptly named).

Wow, was this a bad forum for getting at the truth. I know it is a regular occurrence to have someone for a given cause appear on these shows, and stick as hard as they can to their talking points (on both sides). It's also tradition that each panelist get their say, with little interruption, while it is their turn to speak. This prevents loud, raucous cross-talk, but it also shuts down rebuttal when a dozen or so points are made by one person. I could feel Rachel Maddow's frustration both with where we are in this discussion, and where she was in this obnoxious panel.

Armey--who is up to his armpits in the whole "rile up the angry mobs" strategy--sat there and said things I knew not to be true, so it had to be driving Rachel crazy. It didn't help that early on, she tried to shut down one of Armey's lies and was chastised for it, and then seemed to get a frog in her throat. I was actually clenching my fists in frustration for her.

I think that Rachel's intelligence and grasp of the facts came through, though. And I think of the four people on the panel she came off best. And certainly, Armey came off badly. I hope that isn't just a partisan opinion. Because I can't imagine watching Armey's performance and both agreeing with it, and liking him. Shudder. . . .

Tax Issues for Obama Cabinet Appointees

There have been a few high-profile tax problems among Barack Obama's appointees to his cabinet, and it has been the over-riding news item of the day. I myself wouldn't pass this test, having forgotten a 1099 once myself.

An issue that hadn't occurred to me previously was raised on The Randi Rhodes show today on the radio. How exactly are all of these tax issues coming to light? It isn't as though tax information is public record. Could there be some nefarious reason that all of the sudden, the tax records of public officials is becoming mainstream news? Is somebody digging where they shouldn't ought? I wonder. . .

[Excerpt]

ANALYSIS-Obama's bumpy path to reforming Washington

U.S. President Barack Obama is struggling to get a handle on a series of embarrassing disclosures involving top appointees who are testing the limits of his pledge to end business as usual in Washington.The withdrawal on Tuesday of Tom Daschle as his choice for healthcare chief underscored the problem. . .

Read more at: Reuters

Latest Meme: Barack Obama Playing Race Card?

Ah, me. I'm in the middle of watching the tedious Sunday morning political shows. Meet the Press was a difficult way to wake myself up today. In fact, I woke up a little late, so joined the program a few minutes in. On the panel (currently hosted by Tom Brokaw), were two Democratic losers. Literally. One was Senator John Kerry, nominee for President in 2004; the other was Senator Joe Lieberman, nominee for Vice President in 2000. Snooooooze!

You'd expect more camaraderie between the two Democrats, but no. Lieberman seems to be completing his transition from D to R, and is speaking (in his Willie Tanner on ALF voice) at the Republican National Convention. The round table segment was a snooze as well, with Chuck Todd the only guy with anything of interest to say.

FOX "News" Sunday was its typical self, with some usual suspects. Senator Lindsey Graham continued his histrionics, his bad note-reading skills, and still looks like a constipated, sexually frustrated turtle.* Opposite him was Former Senator Tom Daschle, who is far too "inside the beltway" to adequately argue for Barack Obama. Graham, fulfilling a blog prophesy from earlier in the week played the race card, by saying that Barack Obama played the race card. Sneaky! Frustrated Lindsey read (with disgust in his voice) Obama's jokey "doesn't look like other Presidents" and "by the way, he's black" comments with disgust dripping from his voice. He really is quite the drama queen thespian.

The "by the way, he's black" comment that Obama said in a joking manner, is probably an allusion to a racially themed public service announcement often heard on the radio. The ad I'm talking about--if I'm remembering the right one--has a man going through resumes, looking to hire someone. He tosses out each one with a discriminatory remark, one of which is something like, "by the way, he's black." It's a sound clip often played and parodied on The Stephanie Miller Show. And it is not out of place. I absolutely guarantee that the 527s, if not John McCain's campaign, will be playing the race card, sublty and overtly, many times between now an November. Mark my words.

Face the Nation was on, but I lost interest. And This Week was delayed here by sports. It's just as well. After the first two, I was so over it. And you probably are too, so goodbye for now!

*One last thing. Sorry for my potentially childish assessment of Graham, but in truth it is a gentle substitute for what I wanted to write. Graham has an air about him that gives me a wiggins, and having Chris Wallace at the same desk makes that worse. I can't put my finger on why, but they give me the creeps. 'Nuff Said.

Sunday Morning: Why Do I Keep Doing This?

By "this," I mean why do I keep watching these Sunday morning political gas-bag shows? You could call it research for the blog, I suppose. It's not particularly enjoyable. As I type this, the third of the major four shows, CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Shieffer has just begun.

On FTN, the first thing I noticed is that New Mexico Governor Bob Richardson has gotten a makeover, sporting a goatee and a nice new haircut. A far cry from his look during the Presidential primaries. Maybe he's trying to increase his chances of being Barack Obama's VP choice?

The "big story" this week on these first three shows is that of Obama's decision to forgo public financing. This is a very "inside the beltway" story, one that you'd likely find little interest among the public. Except that the shows and the right-wing are making a very big stink about it, trying their hardest to make it a big deal. Gov. Richardson is the first I've seen so far to point out that John McCain bounced like a ping-pong ball from public to private financing during the primary. He didn't go far enough though, as McCain actually broke the law doing it.

Over at FOX "News" Sunday, Tom Daschle (a nice enough guy, but very milquetoast) battled out the issue with Tom Ridge (who while fiddling with his earpiece demonstrated an odd tremor in his hand). Ridge was completely willing to excuse McCain's flip-flop on oil drilling as acceptable because of $4/gal. gasoline. Situations change, policies change. Apparently it escaped him that the logic also applies to the public financing situation: things change, policies change. On the pundit side, the most interesting thing to me was that Brit Hume, stalwart conservative, approved of Obama's decision, while the "liberals" on their panel thrashed Obama for it.

NBC's Meet the Press with(out) Tim Russert discussed the financing and oil issues too, showing a disturbing single-mindedness between at least three of the networks. Do they all get together and agree on what to cover? This time it was Joe Biden defending Obama, and Lindsey Graham thrashing him. Biden was very direct about Obama's change in position, and gave clear reasons why--though he did not point out McCain's more serious finance flips. Lindsey Graham--looking more like a constipated turtle than ever--feigned utter disgust at Obama's decision.

[Sidebar: Lindsey, disgust on your face is very unbecoming. I mean it, watch the tape of the show if you don't believe me.]

What I've learned this week is that the Democrats (at least on these shows) defend themselves without getting too twisty or bendy about it, and will cop to a change of position on an issue. Republicans--who sound very much like they've been given an outline with bullet points to follow--will criticize Democrats for "flip-flopping"--and then excuse their own side by saying "facts changed on the ground." Facts didn't change for Barack Obama on campaign finance? Um, yes they did. You can't have it both ways, Republicans, but I know you'll keep trying.