Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-01-13/friday-news-roundup-domestic
Republican presidential candidates moved on to South Carolina, as front-runner Mitt Romney faced criticism from within the GOP over his tenure at Bain Capital. White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley is leaving after just one year on the job. A Federal Reserve survey showed the economy ended 2011 with the highest growth since last spring. David Chalian of Yahoo! News, Susan Page of USA Today and John Dickerson of Slate.com join Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
David Chalian
Washington bureau chief, Yahoo! News.
Susan Page
Washington bureau chief for USA Today.
John Dickerson
chief political correspondent for Slate.com and CBS political analyst and contributor. Author of "On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star."
Friday News Roundup Video
Callers voice concerns about GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's management of Bain Capital. One woman whose husband's company was bought by Bain said that Bain laid off many workers and that its management strategy is placing tremendous stress on employees, although her husband makes the same salary:
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DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz revives old meme: Tea Party still to blame for Tucson shooting.
"We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago, where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords — who is doing really well, by the way, — [was shot]. I hesitate to place blame, but I have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and lack of civility with the growth of the Tea Party movement.”
Perhaps. DWS should be rebuking herself and her fellow party members.
•DWS herself said Republicans “literally” want to drag the country “back to Jim Crow days”?
•Rep. Andre Carson said Tea Partiers want to see minorities “hanging on a tree”?
•Rep. Maxine Waters said the Tea Party could go straight to hell?
•Rep. Frederica Wilson called the Tea Party “the real enemy”?
Most members of the Tea Party operate under the notion that the government no longer represents them as an average citizen. The favored treatment of corporations under President Bush and then President Obama may have been the breaking point, but we’ve had the last 8 years to get all riled up about excessive government spending, intrusion of American’s privacy, The Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind leaving kids behind, the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer, minimal domestic spending versus excessive foreign spending, waging illegal wars, sanctioning torture in the military, doing absolutely nothing about health care reform or election reform and making the government bigger while claiming to be against big government every step of the way. Let us not forget how terribly irresponsible the Bush administration was in handling the federal budget while in power. Liberals and Independents were pissed off then, but the conservative movement was fine and dandy with everything going on in Washington. And suddenly you want us to believe you weren’t? Which conservatives were they?
I would like to take the Tea Party movement as seriously as they take themselves, but I can’t. We are being forced to take a good hard look at this movement and what it represents and reflects in America, but right now it’s difficult to discern any real direction in the party. Initially one would hope that they could direct their focus and energy into improving the quality of life for all American’s, but as it stands, extreme and not so extreme rhetoric points to the notion that the Tea Party just plans on staying angry until President Obama is no longer president.
Tea Party members fear they are doing too much to help blacks and the poor, but the backbone of the movement insists that these notions and ideas are not rooted in race baiting nor are there any racial undertones at any of the protests. Some supporters believe that passing health care means they will be forced to pay the medical costs for the poor and uninsured by seeing a rise in their tax burden. Others believe the government is simply TOO BIG, but sit idly by while states trump even the government’s invasion of privacy by proposing and passing laws like the one just passed in Arizona, which targets illegal immigrants, and opens the door for massive racial profiling of brown-skin people.
The point of the Tea Party protests were to express discontent over what they consider “out of control government spending” and growing budget deficits. If you read the polls then these are points of concern for all Americans. But spending money to run the government is not only necessary, it’s as American as apple pie. Or should we resort to gated communities and private security forces?
We saw a massive influx in the Bush years of not only big government intrusion of our personal privacy, but unchecked spending in areas related to Homeland Security, national defense and foreign military affairs. Again, movement conservative was fine with all of that then. But you are all different now….right.
I would suggest that if the Tea Party actually wants to be treated legitimately, then it had better distance itself from the Republican Party because while they say that they want you, that they are with you…. they just want to co-opt you.
This just in:
Pentagon officials vowed Wednesday that a video posted online purportedly showing U.S. Marines in Afghanistan urinating on dead Taliban fighters will be "fully investigated.
= American Exceptionalism!
Teece Bowman wrote:
" I would like to take the Tea Party movement as seriously as they take themselves, but I can’t. We are being forced to take a good hard look at this movement and what it represents and reflects in America, but right now it’s difficult to discern any real direction in the party. "
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I would like to take the Occupy movement as seriously as they take themselves, but I can't. We are being forced to take a hard look at this movement and what it represents and reflects in America, but right now, it's difficult to discern any real direction in these lost souls desperately in need of a compass.
If the Occupy crowd were comprised of conservatives, Wasserman Shultz would blame them for the "Left-Wing Pothead" * Jared Loughner's shooting of Giffords.
*
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/01/jared_loughner_alle...
If Romney with the help of the voter suppression laws and the misinformation from FOX and the rest of the right wing propaganda machine becomes Pres. how will he get the Europeans to cooperate with anything the U.S. would like to accomplish after he's all done bashing and trashing them. And in the name of American "exceptional ism" will he venture beyond and trash any more U.S. allies around the world. The man is making ridiculous and outrageous statements and the sad thing is that too many Americans will believe this trash. Why would anybody who is in the rapidly shrinking middle class vote or support an organization (the GOP) that clearly represents only the very rich. It just makes no sense whatsoever.
So, I have little confidence your panelists will take the Bain Capital criticism seriously since it seems that all knowledgeable people says Romney is it. But how does Romney square his tough talk on China with the fact that Bain Capital has offices in China and has conducted business with China. No doubt your panelists will say he is no longer is working at Bain Capital but he still takes income from them.
For those of your panelists who care, this information is derive from legitimate press reports AP, AsiaPulse News; May 2, 2007,China Knowledge Newswires; July 21, 2010 to name a few.
Why is so much emphasis placed on candidates’ media campaigns? Newt attacks Romney. Romney attacks Newt. The media then analyzes how these ads are interpreted, how much money they cost, who is funding them and if the candidates should be fighting each other at all. Aren’t there more important issues we should be focusing on?
Robin Shoulders wrote:
"If Romney with the help of the voter suppression laws and the misinformation from FOX and the rest of the right wing propaganda machine becomes Pres. how will he get the Europeans to cooperate with anything the U.S. would like to accomplish after he's all done bashing and trashing them. "
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Sounds like you are parroting harpy DNC Deb pointless talking points. You prefer to get your misinformation from left wing propaganda outlets that are surrogates for POTUS Obama such as MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and NPR. OK.
Since when do we need Europe to help us with anything? We pulled British chestnuts out of the fire in WWII, saved France and rebuilt Germany and Italy.
What do the candidates stand for? What policies would they enact? What would be the effect of a return to the Gold Standard on our economy?
What the hell is wrong with Romney getting his shoes shined? Supporting small business. Just hope to hell he gave the person a huge tip.
What I see coming is Sprint, Verizon, Apple etc doing commercials with individuals saying "I enjoy firing" etc etc. Bet the Romney team have Americans saying "I enjoy firing Obama" when he is not doing a good job. It is coming. They are going to flip this.
@MarcusTullius wrote:
"Since when do we need Europe to help us with anything? We pulled British chestnuts out of the fire in WWII, saved France and rebuilt Germany and Italy."
Well, we needed help from Europe in Iraq wars I & II, the war in Afghanistan, and in the successful attempt to hem in Qadaffi. We could not have gone into Iraq II without Great Britain & some other European countries. Sure we could have taken down Saddam on our own, but imagine the aftermath with fewer countries sending troops.
As to pulling the "chestnuts out of the fire in WWII" that was 67 years ago!
What is up with the MSM's especially MSNBC's war against Rep Paul. They either ignore his second place win or keep repeating that he is "irrelevant" What do they not get that he cuts a huge swath into the anti unnecessary wars contingents in the Dems, Indes and Republicans. Most of us know he will not be elected but we also know that if he is pulled from the stage the anti unnecessary wars and a more sane US foreign policy message goes with him. Why does the MSNBC team hate him so?
Anyone else notice how during today's (Friday) weekly round up Willie Geist mentioned Romney's win and every placement with the exception of Rep Paul's second place win. Did not even mention this. MSNBC has a war against Rep Paul. The MSNBC pundit class have a war against Rep Ron Paul. Now don't get me wrong would never ever vote for Rep Paul based on domestic issues. But why the MSNBC crew do not get that his anti war based on false claims stances unites Democrats, Independents and Republicans against unnecessary wars based on lies. He has huge support amongst the military. Yet Chris Mattews, Ed, Lawrence O Donnell, Al Sharpton continue to rip him up. They really have a war against him. Here are a few of their comments last night during their coverage of the outcome of the New Hampshire results.
Lawrence O'Donnell " nothing Ron Paul can do that is relevant" "I just don't count him. A joke. A srew up."
Chris Matthews: " If the second place is taken by Rep Paul blah blah(those words Chris's words) who cares"
Al Sharpton: "discounts" Ron Paul "whacky"
Bob Shrum "irrelevant"
Khaddafi did the same thing in Libiya, the Syrian is blaming Foreigners right now.
Always blame foreigners. Americans are too innocent and believe this standard brain rattling tactic. In order to have a 'we' you have to make up a 'them.' The more they get away with this kind of talk in US, the less the world has to believe the candidates have any presence of mind, enough to worry about the effect on minds of foreign populations. Everyone fears another 'incurious monkey' , 'Panderer's in Chief' and 'full-speed ahead on bashing the world and not our own 'thoughtfulness'
How are people getting away with blatant lies in their campaign ads. Take the obvious one recently put out recently that Romney has 15 homes when he only has three.
Why is this legal?
I agree with equalizer. Please give is more on the issues and less analysis of the candidates' media campaigns.
How about the biggest news of last night, Stephen Colbert has decided to start up an exploratory committee to run for President in South Caroline.
He has cut ties to his Super PAC and Jon Stewart is now in charge of the Super PAC.
Those two Americans are pointing out everything that is wrong with the Citizen United ruling!
Cspan aired the poverty conference that Tavis Smiley hosted last night in D.C. Most of the panelist pointed out how the issue of Poverty has been ignored in all of the Republican debates and also basically by the Obama administration. Folks should take the time to watch the whole conference.
Micheal Moore stated that Obama could pick up his base and have them making phone calls again if he would come out right now...right now and give Wall Steets money back that they have all ready contributed to his campaign and start out fresh by saying he will only take small contributions. He could start a revolution right now
What does Susan Page mean that most of President Obama's money for his re election campaign have come from "small" donations. Could she please define "small" Can she also address the huge donations coming into the Obama campaign and where they are coming from?
NOVEMBER 19, 2011.Inside the Obama Money Machine
Campaign Goes Very Big—and Very Small—to Top $750 Million; Telemarketing to Operagoers .
In hopes of topping the $750 million he raised in the 2008 campaign, Mr. Obama is going very big and very small. Events around the country are raising huge donations for a joint Democratic National Committee-Obama re-election effort, with contributions topping out, by law, at $35,800 per person, $71,600 per couple. At the same time, Mr. Obama's telemarketing army is pressing small donors to dig into their pockets for whatever they can spare, in compliance with the $2,500 cap on direct individual contributions to candidates.
So far, 46% of the Obama fund-raising total has come from $41 million in donations from those who gave less than $200, according to Federal Election Commission data and the Center for Responsive Politics. In contrast, 10% of the contributions to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama's best-funded Republican competitor, have come from $3 million in small donations.
Teece Bowman wrote:
"I would suggest that if the Tea Party actually wants to be treated legitimately, then it had better distance itself from the Republican Party because while they say that they want you, that they are with you…. they just want to co-opt you."
Once again, Teece, you never let the facts get in the way of making a post. The Tea Party has ROCKED the Republican Old Guard. They wish as much as Dems do that the TP would just go away. It won't.
Many of us DID cry aloud at the excess spending and growth of government that took place during the Bush Administration, but the Tea Party did not coalesce until after he was out of office.
Now it is a force to be reckoned with.
"But spending money to run the government is not only necessary, it’s as American as apple pie. "
We have a Constitution - or at least we used to - that says what the extent of that government should be. THAT is the message of the Tea Party. Essentially, in many respects, the Constitution is no longer of any affect. Presidents over-reach, Congress rewrites its rules, and the High Court makes law.
Lovely.
I want a president who has been hungry longer than the time between breakfast and lunch, therefore Romney would never be my candidate.
hcky18 wrote:
"...everything that is wrong with the Citizen United ruling!"
I am still waiting to hear from someone, given the facts of the case in CU v FEC, how the case could have been decided differently. No one who is opposed to the ruling seems to be able to articulate that.
(hint: "SCOTUS should have decided against CU" is not a sufficient answer.)
When the caller was speaking of "serial murder" when corporations are considered people, my first thought was Massey Energy, etc., whose corporate policies over multiple years lead directly to employee deaths.
I don't think the Republican's can say they can cut the budget if they can't cut the budget of the National Security Agency, which is not open for public review. I saw a program that showed how much realestate and 'business as usual' style architecture that has taken over the area where the NSA rules. The other day I heard how NSA consumes so much electrical power, that they have to have a confab to plug in a coffee pot or a breaker can trip and put them in the dark. If the power consumption can not go on the books for review by local power suppliers, how will they be able to protect the citizenry in the area from black outs during high consumption times. Who is first, citizens and their children in schools and hospitals, or Dick Cheney's minions and 'private' , off-the books, expenditures. This is the way 'corporations' should be run, according to some agenda., Bad mouthing regulation leaves them able to operate like the NSA, without oversight of any kind. This is government by priviy council. And the corporations become the new HOSTESS (cupcake) of the world and USA by operating like the old commercial: "I say what and I say when." But we have no voice in this, thanks to the Obscene Court.
When the media purposefully takes a snippet of a candidate's comment to present it out of context, (a) it's not a 'gaffe' as your panel member suggests, but a distortion, and (b) it's a sign of integrity that the original speaker would come back and reiterate the original comment and emphasize that he says what he means and thinks. I value that.
BTW, I shop my auto and home insurance every year, and I too 'fire' the company that didn't provide me good service the previous year. Don't see anything wrong with it. Most Americans don't.
Re: your caller whose husband's company has suffered at the hands of Bain. How thoughtful of you to avoid getting all the facts. What if the company was distressed and on the verge of closing their doors. What if her husband has a job BECAUSE Bain stepped in with a capital infusion? Plus, in this economy, who (apparently other than public radio talk show hosts) ISN'T doing two or more jobs just to stay employed? Caller, if your husband doesn't like working there, he may leave. There are a dozen others EAGER to have the paycheck.
I think calling capitalism gone wild vulture capitalism is an insult to vultures. They wait for their prey to be dead. These private equity companies sound like they pick their prey apart before they are dead.
I don't think I ever argreed with Tony Blankley but nonetheless I enjoyed his contributions to the DR show and MacLaughlin. Nice of you to remember him Diane, your show is nothing but class.
johnandere:
Do you mean these facts?
If the Republican establishment would like the Tea Party to go away, then they are probably going to get their wish. The Tea Party is on the way out….
The future is anything but bright for the tea party. The faux grassroots movement started by a GOP consultant and funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers is now less popular than atheists and Muslims and ranks almost as low as the Christian ultra-right in the view of mainstream Americans.
Recent polling about the favorability of the Tea Party in every swing state shows the same thing every time, only 41% of voters have a favorable opinion of that movement to 49% who view it negatively. The ‘Tea Party’ label has gotten to the point where it’s a turn off for voters most everywhere….unless you’re running in a Republican primary in a deep red state that’s probably something you want to stay away from if you hope to win the general election.
So much for ROCKING the Republican establishment.
kathleen wrote:
"I think calling capitalism gone wild vulture capitalism is an insult to vultures. They wait for their prey to be dead. These private equity companies sound like they pick their prey apart before they are dead."
Oh, kathleen, "better to be thought [ignorant of how venture capital works] than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt".