The Morning Joe Rebuttal For November 30th, 2009
Observations:
1) Joe Scarborough takes a courageous stand about not wanting the content of his show to be weighted towards Tiger Woods coverage, yet he is outvoted by producers citing the number of world leaders and CEO’s who watch his show and the fact that they expect him to cover it as a matter of necessity? If I took any part of that self serving failure wrong, please correct me, but that is a level of lousy typically reserved for other people, and your viewers are left 3 hours later screaming: SCOREBOARD.
I’m going to lump the White House crashers in with this. Afghanistan, the Jobs Summit, Palin polling at the top of Republican presidential lists, and the purity test have just lost out to the first time in the history of the show that Willie Geist could’ve anchored. Apologies to WG, but we never mention him for a reason. We’re in it for substance, and rather than waste anyone’s time, we can leave the “features” part of the show to others. Old Mika would’ve never let this happen, but passiveness here is the equivalent of job security run amok.
2) Trading tax gets brought up as an opening line in a roundtable featuring the shows cast, Jim Cramer, and Donny Deutsch and yet again the main point of it all might as well be wearing camouflage clothing. A trading tax is a misguided idea trying to find revenue in a lynch mob sort’ve way. It unfortunately is fatally flawed in that it’s too easy to kill for its misguided-ness, and it turns a blind eye to known economic principle. To hear Joe Scarborough go at it in another attempt to shore up his all tax is bad platform was unoffendingly predictable, but to hear Jim Cramer say it’s worse than actually doing something, and Donny Deutsch explain away the idotic optics is unforgivable.
Please have an economist at the table when you talk about these matters so that the bottom line doesn’t get boiled down to what tax will be cute enough to pass. I at first thought I heard this referred to as a “traitor tax” and boy, that is actually the idea to solve it all at once, and you guys accidentally dithered upon it. Lets leave capitol gains taxes exactly where they are, or better yet lower them, depending on the value of the investment towards the lowering of domestic unemployment, the amount of domestic corporate tax value of the company in question, or any version of value to true domestic national product. That’s right, anti-NAFTA, protectionist taxation at the capital gains level. If you are going to move money around to profit speculatively in a way that either benefits a competing nations economy or creates inefficiency in the market for commodities, lets tax it at the top US Income tax scale, because it’s the government that will have to correct the negative effect of your investment, and
they need the money. Goldman Sachs would owe more than their bonuses in that scenario.
3) Donny Deutsch played the race card. It’s not clear to me if Lou Dobbs deserved it or not, but Lou doesn’t like migrant workers I’m told. I do know this, this column is late today as I was driving the 8 freeway from Phoenix to San Diego all day. At points you could see the new border fence just feet from the freeway. It runs continuously across the entire state of California. We have had it pretty good up here. I’ve had a supposed “Lib” or two say that no matter what ideological position I may have adopted, the southern border needs control or it would be the end to the way of life that Southern Californians and Arizonans have enjoyed for many years. Get to the right ideologically, in the purity test crowd, and it’s a far more disturbing version of what needs to be done for the sake of national safety, as exemplified by the forced construction of this fence.
I don’t buy it. It feels so much like South Africa driving that road, that it has an air of natural unsustainability. The fence may be a most modern technology, but it still boils down to me stopping the car inside the US so that a US Agent can inspect the car and “assume we are all US Citizens”, and if Lou Dobbs is racist, so is that misguided interdiction. I love the people of Mexico and have less animosity for many of those citizens than for many north of the border. Tear down that wall. Make a negative a positive. Take money from coyotes and put it towards a prepayment for a work visa that pays a migrant workers taxes and social payments like our new national health care and make it open to anybody who is not a terrorist. Don’t let anyone tell you that pushing migrant workers into the shadows further is good for America, it’s a kick the can down the road endless shell game that trades humiliation for personal political gain.
Donnie was abandoned by the show on the subject as everyone ducked and quickly moved on, so I had the debate for you.
That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Scarborough Tries The Old Ball O’String Trick
The Morning Joe Rebuttal For November 25th, 2009
Observations:
1) Now look, any day that John Boehner looks bad is a good day for the truth. This person is the minority leader of the House of Representatives. They are currently in charge of obstruction of progress for the American people and have spent the last 2 years and 11 months trying to harm America, sell doublespeak as fact, and reinforce the movement of the distribution of wealth in our country forever northward.
But that’s not what Joe Scarborough intended when golf-gate was the main story today. It is that technique of using what amounts to a benign occurrence with very bad optics to appear to be closer to the middle, only to use that regained false credibility to attack a far more substantive matter: health care, jobs, Afghanistan, take your pick.
It’s what your older brother did to you in the back of the car on family trips to steal your ice cream sandwich, look {Morning Joe Viewer} there’s the worlds biggest ball of string, then BAM!, when your head’s turned your ice cream was gone!
Don’t let them get away with it. The best defense is to blithely play along, let the damage to Boehner be maximized, and then refute the first attempt by JS to use that momentum for any “see, I’m on your side” munitions. That’s called the engineered backfire technique and I know you’re up to it.
2) Speaking of doublespeak, I have an antidote for you, and his name is Dr. Howard Dean. If you had to trust any one person with your future, you have chosen Barack Obama, but if you ever wavered, ever wondered why so many Goldman guys are in power, why guys who are going to vote no anyway got to shelve anti-trust provisions for health care, why the American people are still in last place in the domestic food chain, who should you pick next? John Boehner and let commerce govern you for another eternity, or Howard Dean, the one guy on the planet left who didn’t have to be a billionaire already to tell you the truth and really govern.
Dr. Dean is like that guy on Fast Times At Ridgemont High who is “just flown in for games”. The reason he doesn’t have a gig right now, after managing the resurrection of the Democratic party culminating in the first sweeping majority in 35 years, is that he is the party’s designated hitter and free to attack whatever trouble spot exists while the party’s in power.
Dr. Dean has a position on health care and it’s the one that will serve as kryptonite to the right if needed. He will be the person who will be the face of reconciliation if that’s what it takes to put a bill through the Senate either pre- or post-conference containing real teeth. He is Harry Reid’s best friend in the world right now, and if you had a hellfire missile like him with a clumsy crusading army of obstructionist approaching, you would like your chances.
3) Independent voters the world over have a single motivating force: they know that both parties are forced to mislead them due to the structural engineering of their platform. If you don’t have 8 of 10 items right on your Republican checklist, guess what, you’re now an independent. If you didn’t want to reverse the annexation of the Panama Canal, ditto. This prevalence of managed messages and agenda talking points bundle stuff you need from either side and forces you to embrace or exile. Exile is where the overwhelming majority of Americans are today, and it’s a new kind of paradise in formation.
The Democrats know this and they are comforted going forward by showing the infighting that’s going on as healthy, hoping that independent voters will come back once they look at the Republican party and see the checklist. The checklist is absolute suicide, and lets hope it’s here to stay. John Boehner reading that checklist and looking like the principal in Breakfast Club, trying to represent the future? I must be dreaming.
John Hughes was a generational treasure.
Have a great Thanksgiving, see you Monday.
Observations:
1) Now look, any day that John Boehner looks bad is a good day for the truth. This person is the minority leader of the House of Representatives. They are currently in charge of obstruction of progress for the American people and have spent the last 2 years and 11 months trying to harm America, sell doublespeak as fact, and reinforce the movement of the distribution of wealth in our country forever northward.
But that’s not what Joe Scarborough intended when golf-gate was the main story today. It is that technique of using what amounts to a benign occurrence with very bad optics to appear to be closer to the middle, only to use that regained false credibility to attack a far more substantive matter: health care, jobs, Afghanistan, take your pick.
It’s what your older brother did to you in the back of the car on family trips to steal your ice cream sandwich, look {Morning Joe Viewer} there’s the worlds biggest ball of string, then BAM!, when your head’s turned your ice cream was gone!
Don’t let them get away with it. The best defense is to blithely play along, let the damage to Boehner be maximized, and then refute the first attempt by JS to use that momentum for any “see, I’m on your side” munitions. That’s called the engineered backfire technique and I know you’re up to it.
2) Speaking of doublespeak, I have an antidote for you, and his name is Dr. Howard Dean. If you had to trust any one person with your future, you have chosen Barack Obama, but if you ever wavered, ever wondered why so many Goldman guys are in power, why guys who are going to vote no anyway got to shelve anti-trust provisions for health care, why the American people are still in last place in the domestic food chain, who should you pick next? John Boehner and let commerce govern you for another eternity, or Howard Dean, the one guy on the planet left who didn’t have to be a billionaire already to tell you the truth and really govern.
Dr. Dean is like that guy on Fast Times At Ridgemont High who is “just flown in for games”. The reason he doesn’t have a gig right now, after managing the resurrection of the Democratic party culminating in the first sweeping majority in 35 years, is that he is the party’s designated hitter and free to attack whatever trouble spot exists while the party’s in power.
Dr. Dean has a position on health care and it’s the one that will serve as kryptonite to the right if needed. He will be the person who will be the face of reconciliation if that’s what it takes to put a bill through the Senate either pre- or post-conference containing real teeth. He is Harry Reid’s best friend in the world right now, and if you had a hellfire missile like him with a clumsy crusading army of obstructionist approaching, you would like your chances.
3) Independent voters the world over have a single motivating force: they know that both parties are forced to mislead them due to the structural engineering of their platform. If you don’t have 8 of 10 items right on your Republican checklist, guess what, you’re now an independent. If you didn’t want to reverse the annexation of the Panama Canal, ditto. This prevalence of managed messages and agenda talking points bundle stuff you need from either side and forces you to embrace or exile. Exile is where the overwhelming majority of Americans are today, and it’s a new kind of paradise in formation.
The Democrats know this and they are comforted going forward by showing the infighting that’s going on as healthy, hoping that independent voters will come back once they look at the Republican party and see the checklist. The checklist is absolute suicide, and lets hope it’s here to stay. John Boehner reading that checklist and looking like the principal in Breakfast Club, trying to represent the future? I must be dreaming.
John Hughes was a generational treasure.
Have a great Thanksgiving, see you Monday.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Poker Face Mr. Scarborough, For They Refer To You By Proxy
The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 24th, 2009
Observations:
1) With all the talk of Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity, there was that familiar discomfort evident on the set today with the unknown political aspirations of Joe Scarborough looming sidestage like a two-ton Frappacino-sucking wildebeest.
Sure a couple of nervous jokes and insinuations place JS in the heap of “talk show host turned candidate”, but none would ask for clarity, as if it was in the pre-show stipulations to leave him out of it.
You don’t owe anyone anything, until you consider that any opinion you render must walk a line between non-hypocritical journalistic endeavors and service to an increasingly intolerant platform of the only party out there waiting for you with open arms. Tough spot, chin up.
2) Mark Halperin has gotten pesky, and that’s a good thing. Halperin as Lawrence O’Donnell did yesterday, is really starting to reinforce the recent platform updates on deficit vs. jobs and Afghanistan vs. deficit vs. jobs. There had in the past on this show been a tendency towards recidivism where a debunked theory like jobs without deficit spending had come back to the fore as a recognized strategic option.
John Halperin, joined by Andrew Ross Sorkin, seemed to be aligned to prevent the reduction of an important advance in the shows recognition that the show can’t complain about jobs without finding an acceptable deficit expanding stimulus program to effect necessary change. Just in the past couple of weeks has this new version of checks and balances seemed to feel to the average subscriber like, well, evolution.
3) It felt like another missed opportunity when The Nations Jeremy Scahill came on to talk about Blackhawk, but the subscriber was reminded that that MJ never got around to covering the DOD direct payments to the Taliban.
That hasn’t stopped Joe Scarborough from defining his Afghanistan position of no matter what the other complexities on the ground, the decision is 2-3 years to clean up and that’s it. I love this position, but I find it easy to predict the Dick Cheney avalanche of criticism that will ensue as a result, and I wonder if JS will ever challenge the Cheney clan on a point-counterpoint basis, leaving President Obama out of the discussion. That would be good television, but Liz Cheney is the second scariest female in Joe Scarborough’s life next to Hillary Clinton, so a fair amount of skepticism must be present at all times that JS would avoid confrontation with a party elder or his proxy.
That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.
Observations:
1) With all the talk of Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity, there was that familiar discomfort evident on the set today with the unknown political aspirations of Joe Scarborough looming sidestage like a two-ton Frappacino-sucking wildebeest.
Sure a couple of nervous jokes and insinuations place JS in the heap of “talk show host turned candidate”, but none would ask for clarity, as if it was in the pre-show stipulations to leave him out of it.
You don’t owe anyone anything, until you consider that any opinion you render must walk a line between non-hypocritical journalistic endeavors and service to an increasingly intolerant platform of the only party out there waiting for you with open arms. Tough spot, chin up.
2) Mark Halperin has gotten pesky, and that’s a good thing. Halperin as Lawrence O’Donnell did yesterday, is really starting to reinforce the recent platform updates on deficit vs. jobs and Afghanistan vs. deficit vs. jobs. There had in the past on this show been a tendency towards recidivism where a debunked theory like jobs without deficit spending had come back to the fore as a recognized strategic option.
John Halperin, joined by Andrew Ross Sorkin, seemed to be aligned to prevent the reduction of an important advance in the shows recognition that the show can’t complain about jobs without finding an acceptable deficit expanding stimulus program to effect necessary change. Just in the past couple of weeks has this new version of checks and balances seemed to feel to the average subscriber like, well, evolution.
3) It felt like another missed opportunity when The Nations Jeremy Scahill came on to talk about Blackhawk, but the subscriber was reminded that that MJ never got around to covering the DOD direct payments to the Taliban.
That hasn’t stopped Joe Scarborough from defining his Afghanistan position of no matter what the other complexities on the ground, the decision is 2-3 years to clean up and that’s it. I love this position, but I find it easy to predict the Dick Cheney avalanche of criticism that will ensue as a result, and I wonder if JS will ever challenge the Cheney clan on a point-counterpoint basis, leaving President Obama out of the discussion. That would be good television, but Liz Cheney is the second scariest female in Joe Scarborough’s life next to Hillary Clinton, so a fair amount of skepticism must be present at all times that JS would avoid confrontation with a party elder or his proxy.
That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Trigger Is Joe Scarborough's Latest Dog Whistle
The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 23rd, 2009
Observations
1) Imagine the horror amongst subscribers to have JS and Lawrence O’Donnell giving each other credit for “having it right” for the last several months. The revisionist history that it takes to convince one’s self that your frequent projection of failures have not time and time again been countered by the forward marching of health care have made you officially in denial.
Obviously I’m on Lawrence’s side on political matters, but he has the air of a gatekeeper, of a doorman at the Mondrian that tells you that even though you’re a democrat your expectations of success are naïve. It’s apparently empowering as he lines up false failures and explains away the extremely tough but seemingly routine procedural success we’re witnessing.
The latest in “having it right” from Joe Scarborough is that this series of events lines up for the use of the trigger version of the public option. It takes a village of people willing to vote yes on a thing to get a thing, and because JS is aligned with the 39 no votes, a viewer is forced to assume this is the latest in a long line of soon to be debunked wishful thinkings. But like only dogs hear a dog whistle, only Joe Scarborough is convinced that he is predicting the future, and will be revising his historical stance sometime soon to claim he was right about this wrong as well.
2) Thankfully , there was a wide range of guests today and you can point two things out that make the message coming out of the show very well rounded. Joe Conason described the trigger as a way of not providing a public option at all and stated that history shows no trigger has ever, well, triggered in our nation’s history.
That scenario I was asking for last Thursday with Lawrence and one other realist on a panel found the result I had anticipated, albeit on a different front. The spending is out of control and we need to focus on jobs conundrums were reconciled as a “false choice” by Lawrence and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Just to be clear, ARS asked Joe Scarborough for his plan on jobs {thank you!} and it was all about public works, ARS reconciled immediately that that was stimulus and that Joe had to back off of an anti Stimulus position if he wanted public works, and furthered that stimulus is a requirement of a jobs initiative, but because that would require a deficit expenditure, it was a false choice for the shows platform to try and have it both ways. Music to my ears.
If we had made a tourism friendly transit system in Los Angeles a priority with some portion of the stimulus money and stopped greeting European and Japanese tourists with bus maps and dangerous layovers out in the open at Slauson and La Brea, you might argue that you fixed two problems with jobs and revenue in Southern California that will never be able to be fixed at the state or local level. That’s a reconciled stimulus opportunity and I’m sure it exists in all 50 states.
3) Mike Barnicle continues to be confused. How can the oldest soul on the show wake up and suddenly cry foul at an earmark for vote scenario? What have you been covering all of your life, the Philippines? I love the Will Rogers populist take that Mike brings to things, but beyond some point it only accomplishes the preaching of discontent and uncertainty. Guest after guest described the Louisiana earmark scenario as having been played out since the 1920’s as a method for getting a tough bill done. What I wish I would have heard from Mike is the “A-ha” of just why Joe Lieberman is running around with his hat out. But, they’re friends so I guess Joe gets a pass.
That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.
Observations
1) Imagine the horror amongst subscribers to have JS and Lawrence O’Donnell giving each other credit for “having it right” for the last several months. The revisionist history that it takes to convince one’s self that your frequent projection of failures have not time and time again been countered by the forward marching of health care have made you officially in denial.
Obviously I’m on Lawrence’s side on political matters, but he has the air of a gatekeeper, of a doorman at the Mondrian that tells you that even though you’re a democrat your expectations of success are naïve. It’s apparently empowering as he lines up false failures and explains away the extremely tough but seemingly routine procedural success we’re witnessing.
The latest in “having it right” from Joe Scarborough is that this series of events lines up for the use of the trigger version of the public option. It takes a village of people willing to vote yes on a thing to get a thing, and because JS is aligned with the 39 no votes, a viewer is forced to assume this is the latest in a long line of soon to be debunked wishful thinkings. But like only dogs hear a dog whistle, only Joe Scarborough is convinced that he is predicting the future, and will be revising his historical stance sometime soon to claim he was right about this wrong as well.
2) Thankfully , there was a wide range of guests today and you can point two things out that make the message coming out of the show very well rounded. Joe Conason described the trigger as a way of not providing a public option at all and stated that history shows no trigger has ever, well, triggered in our nation’s history.
That scenario I was asking for last Thursday with Lawrence and one other realist on a panel found the result I had anticipated, albeit on a different front. The spending is out of control and we need to focus on jobs conundrums were reconciled as a “false choice” by Lawrence and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Just to be clear, ARS asked Joe Scarborough for his plan on jobs {thank you!} and it was all about public works, ARS reconciled immediately that that was stimulus and that Joe had to back off of an anti Stimulus position if he wanted public works, and furthered that stimulus is a requirement of a jobs initiative, but because that would require a deficit expenditure, it was a false choice for the shows platform to try and have it both ways. Music to my ears.
If we had made a tourism friendly transit system in Los Angeles a priority with some portion of the stimulus money and stopped greeting European and Japanese tourists with bus maps and dangerous layovers out in the open at Slauson and La Brea, you might argue that you fixed two problems with jobs and revenue in Southern California that will never be able to be fixed at the state or local level. That’s a reconciled stimulus opportunity and I’m sure it exists in all 50 states.
3) Mike Barnicle continues to be confused. How can the oldest soul on the show wake up and suddenly cry foul at an earmark for vote scenario? What have you been covering all of your life, the Philippines? I love the Will Rogers populist take that Mike brings to things, but beyond some point it only accomplishes the preaching of discontent and uncertainty. Guest after guest described the Louisiana earmark scenario as having been played out since the 1920’s as a method for getting a tough bill done. What I wish I would have heard from Mike is the “A-ha” of just why Joe Lieberman is running around with his hat out. But, they’re friends so I guess Joe gets a pass.
That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Congratulations On A Wonderful First Step In New Orleans
The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 20th, 2009
It’s important in this world to recognize achievement where it exists and not try and make political hay out of it.
There is no rebuttal today in light of the great work done by the Morning Joe staff in delivering on behalf of the citizens of New Orleans.
Congratulations goes to them and you can donate to their cause at Joe.Msnbc.Com
Have a nice weekend, and see you Monday.
It’s important in this world to recognize achievement where it exists and not try and make political hay out of it.
There is no rebuttal today in light of the great work done by the Morning Joe staff in delivering on behalf of the citizens of New Orleans.
Congratulations goes to them and you can donate to their cause at Joe.Msnbc.Com
Have a nice weekend, and see you Monday.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Joe Scarborough "We Can Do Health Care Reform Any Time We Want"
Joe Scarborough Takes A Stand: Kill Health Care To Save Our Budget And Jobs Because We Will Have Another Chance At Reform In The Near Future!
The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 19th, 2009
This is not news. But this is the single biggest reason I started this project. The quote “You don’t do health care when unemployment is 10% you wait until unemployment is handled then you revisit health care then”
This is the biggest shell game a person could ever attempt, and I am begging Joe Scarborough to limit myopic distortions of the real world from his game.
Why do you think smart people don’t understand that the phenomenon of a congress and president coming into simultaneous unified power is a unique momentum opportunity that occurs every 35 years at best?
Why do you deny reality that any delay in the health care vote is a death sentence to the prospects of it’s passage in our lifetimes.
Why do you allude to this denial-based version of events as a rational choice?
Is this why you rarely take a stand? Because when you do it’s so easy to see that you’re playing to the kick the can down the road crowd? Playing to the crowd that’s afloat in health care lobby money? This is the antithesis of what you want people to believe about you, that you’re a populist.
This is dishonest, and it has your name on it. You’ve said this repeatedly, and no one on the show ever calls you out for how unique this situation is.
Here’s what you’re going to need to do to correct this: any pairing of Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Matthews, Mark Haynes, Dr. Howard Dean, and your choice of any non-congressional right center ally that you can find all in a round table and you make the case that a second opportunity at health care reform, after this next 6 months, exists. Just that. No yes or no on health care, just you defending your blatantly false rationale that there is ubiquitous opportunity to reform health care.
Otherwise you need to find a more credible stand, because a false choice has caught up with you today.
Have a nice day, see you tomorrow.
The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 19th, 2009
This is not news. But this is the single biggest reason I started this project. The quote “You don’t do health care when unemployment is 10% you wait until unemployment is handled then you revisit health care then”
This is the biggest shell game a person could ever attempt, and I am begging Joe Scarborough to limit myopic distortions of the real world from his game.
Why do you think smart people don’t understand that the phenomenon of a congress and president coming into simultaneous unified power is a unique momentum opportunity that occurs every 35 years at best?
Why do you deny reality that any delay in the health care vote is a death sentence to the prospects of it’s passage in our lifetimes.
Why do you allude to this denial-based version of events as a rational choice?
Is this why you rarely take a stand? Because when you do it’s so easy to see that you’re playing to the kick the can down the road crowd? Playing to the crowd that’s afloat in health care lobby money? This is the antithesis of what you want people to believe about you, that you’re a populist.
This is dishonest, and it has your name on it. You’ve said this repeatedly, and no one on the show ever calls you out for how unique this situation is.
Here’s what you’re going to need to do to correct this: any pairing of Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Matthews, Mark Haynes, Dr. Howard Dean, and your choice of any non-congressional right center ally that you can find all in a round table and you make the case that a second opportunity at health care reform, after this next 6 months, exists. Just that. No yes or no on health care, just you defending your blatantly false rationale that there is ubiquitous opportunity to reform health care.
Otherwise you need to find a more credible stand, because a false choice has caught up with you today.
Have a nice day, see you tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
