Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-09/friday-news-roundup-domestic
The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February, while the nation's unemployment rate remained stable at 8.3%. Consumer borrowing in January went up to nearly pre-recession levels. A look at what the increase in auto and school loans says about the economy. The House passed the bipartisan Jobs Act. Longtime Ohio congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich loses his seat. And the question continues – is there a 'war on women'? John Dickerson of Slate, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times and syndicated columnist Steve Roberts join Diane for a discussion of the week's top domestic stories.
Guests
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."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Washington correspondent, The New York Times.
Steve Roberts
syndicated columnist and journalism professor at George Washington University.
Friday News Roundup Video
In response to a listener tweet, Diane reacted to the ongoing controversy over Rush Limbaugh's insults directed toward Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. "I think what he did with Sandra Fluke is disgusting. I think he gave a weak apology. I think he ought to be repudiated by every single candidate out there, and I think his apology was pure cowardice," she said:
Comments
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It seems the Sandra Fluke controversy has exposed many hypocrisies and deliberate attempts to distort the facts by the liberal media for political gain. I hereby demand an Apology from the Diane Rehm show and specifically the host herself. Deliberately not revealing well known facts about the controversy and pretending otherwise is the same as lying to the listening audience in order to achieve a partisan political edge. I further demand that Diane Rehm give back and not accept further public tax payer funding that benefits WAMU and Ms. Rehms show. Tax payer funding is given to NPR with the expectation of non biased broadcasts, clearly the host has failed to maintain that trust over the years. The host of this show Diane Rehm has stated many times there is no liberal bias coming from the D.R. Show. Here is evidence of some of the deliberate deceptions by Ms. Rehm on March 7 / 2012 about the Sandra Fluke controversy. If Ms.Rehm claims ignorance, then she has no business being on the air at all and certainly not at tax payers expense. Ms.Rehm did not once correct the inaccuracies put forward by what we are led to believe are "professional journalists" that many of us know better as the liberal media where investigation into the facts as far as republicans are concerned no longer exists. The selective outrage for media sources that insult women is no accident by Ms. Rehm.
Continued
REHM
10:35:59
But, you know, as a woman -- not as someone who has a microphone, but as a woman, I'm just so offended.
LIZ
10:50:01
We had talked about some of the discourse and how toxic it has been, and I agree. I think that it should be much more civil. But in the criticism in Ms. Fluke versus Bill Maher's criticism and lack of apology, at least Bill Maher was criticizing actual political figures, such as Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are the most quoted by conservatives about, well, you know, what about Bill Maher, whereas Ms. Fluke was a private citizen addressing Congress. And I think that that distinction has not been really clearly...
REHM
10:50:35
Big difference, Susan.
PAGE
10:50:37
You know what, Liz, I was -- I've been struck by the same thing. I mean, I don't actually think even members of Congress or Sarah Palin should open them self up to this kind of language. But especially a 30-year-old law school student who doesn't have kind of -- it hasn't put her -- hasn't been elected to anything, isn't a particularly public person, doesn't have the resources to respond that -- than elected official have, I thought it made it even more egregious.
CILLIZZA
10:51:01
I couldn't agree more. We were talking about this off air. I mean, I think that is a critical difference, not to excuse Bill Maher and his comments, but I do think it is different. I would say if people wanna criticize Diane Rehm, and Chris Cillizza and Susan Page, we are public figures of a sort. We go on the radio. We talk about our opinions. We put ourselves out there. I don't think that Sandra Fluke, in testifying before Congress, is putting herself out there in that same way. And I think as the result, she -- it just seemed -- the words themselves are unacceptable period...
REHM
10:51:34
Totally.
Cont.
CILLIZZA
10:51:34
...whether you're a public figure or not. But it seemed even worse to do so to someone who is not really seeking the lime -- I mean, testifying before Congress is not really seeking the limelight in any meaningful way.
Sorry, but Ms.Fluke has positioned herself deliberately as an advocate for insurance covered contraceptives at a University that did not offer them in it's coverage, she was looking for a fight "the lime". Her desire to be a "public figure" are self evident in her appearance on sympathetic shows like The View. The hearing where Ms.Fluke testified was not a congressional hearing but a media event set up by the democrats with Nancy Pelosi conducting it. To any honest observer the events that led up to this charade of a Congressional hearing would know what this was all about. Changing the debate from Constitutional rights to an attack on women's health. Ms.Fluke did not drop out of the sky, in time we will learn exactly how her appearance was so perfectly timed to create a politcal trap for the opposition. Diane Rehm's claims of being offended as a women look more than suspicious when she dismisses similar or worse commentary from the left for conservative women. Ms.Rehm has spoken out many times at her disgust with Rush Limbaugh and has decided at this opportune time to pile on in a subversive way to do what she can to remove him from the airways. Read the entire transcript and it is plain Diane Rehm had a goal in mind to facilitate a narrative to diminish Rush Limbaugh and all republican candidates to please her personal objectives.
Ms. Fluke is a known feminist activist, the "journalists"on the D.R. show know it, if they did not know it at the time of the NON congressional hearing they certainly knew it before this show aired.
http://mrctv.org/blog/sandra-fluke-gender-reassignment-and-health-insurance
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/sandra-fluke-a-fake-victim-of-georgetown...
Will Sandra Fluke be able to afford $5 a gallon gas while attending Georgetown Law School? Which expense is more onerous on her budget, $3.28 a day for contraception, or $5 for a gallon of gas? Will she go to Congress to make an appeal for free gas allowance and will POTUS Obama then call her to encourage her and support her and thank her "for speaking out about the concerns of American women.”
Thanks to Limburger's Fluke diatribe, and subsequent mea culpa, he turned a would be lawyer into a heroine. For Limberger's next trick, he will manage to get sympathy for used car sales folks.
Part 1
Republican base belief system.
You have to believe you know what women want but deprive them of the right to choice.
You have to believe that a man who has no core belief system is one of you because he described himself as a severe conservative.
You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all
On their own!
You have to believe that wars are good so long as the rich make money out of them.
You have to believe that tax cuts for the wealthiest creates jobs and subsidies to job exporters are vital for America’s future.
You have to be against government programs, but expect your Social
Security checks on time.
You have to believe that government should stay out of people's lives, yet
You want government to regulate only same-gender marriages, what a woman
Does with her uterus, and what your official language should be.
Part 2
You have to believe that pollution is OK so long as it makes a profit.
You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don't pray to
Allah or Buddha!
You have to believe that only your own teenagers are virgins and het ro.
You have to believe that a woman cannot be trusted with decisions about
Her own body, but that large multi-national corporation should have no
Regulation or interference whatsoever!
You love Jesus and Jesus loves you and, by the way, Jesus shares your
disdain of LGBT’s and Obama!
You have to believe that society is color-blind and growing up black in
America doesn't diminish your opportunities, but you wouldn't vote for a
Black president!
You have to believe it is wise to keep contraceptives out of schools, because we
All know if teenagers don't have access they won't get pregnant.
You have to believe that a man can dictate what women’s’ rights should be.
Part 3
You have to believe that the ACLU is bad because they defend the
Constitution, while the NRA is good because they defend 1 section of the Constitution.
You have to believe that socialism hasn't worked anywhere, and that
The Nordic block and Australia don't exist.
You have to believe that the federal government doesn’t have the right to mandate healthcare.
But states have the right to disenfranchise voters.
But, you know, as a man -- not as someone who has functioning eyes and ears, but as a man, I'm just so offended. To think I am forced through taxes to pay for liberal propaganda. I have to sit by and let the left destroy the country with failed welfare schemes that cannot be altered or the dominant liberal media including NPR will destroy any candidate who proposes real change through smears and distortions. If I choose to do as the left has done by attacking Rush Limbaugh's advertisers in an attempt to starve the show of financial resources to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airways I would go to jail. Not paying taxes is a crime, so in essence I am forced to pay for the D.R. Show or go to jail.
Very good, I'm all in for cleaning out the sewer pipes of liberal media. Last week we read slander upon the good, the very good name of the late Andrew Breitbart. Lets get it right.
Andrew Breitbart did a piece on Shirly Sherrod, it's in the news again to slam Breitbart upon his death as a dishonest journalist. The fact remains Ms.Sherrod is a racist and deserved to be fired by Obama. The Obama administration acting quickly fired her, later MSM cries fowl that the quote was taken out of context and she was wrongfully fired and this is how MSM put the issue to rest and it was widely accepted, this is false. Ms.Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.
See the video below for the full statement in context. Ask yourself if a white person in her position would have been able to stay on the job saying what she said.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2010/07/19/Video-Proof--The-NAAC...
THX- I'm sure those two aroused prudes, Limbaugh and Santorum, from the gynecological wing of the Republican Party will soon re-seduce their sponsors.
Or if not, they can spin off together in the Beefcake Party.
Teece- You should have saved those old-timed recipes for fundraising: "Mouthwatering Froth From the Hate-filled Kitchen." Romney's new slogan "I gotta believe even if it damns me." Here's a spoon Mitt, if you want the nomination, eat it up.
From the proto-fascist barrage today I can tell mercenaries with Koch mortars are in the woods of Battery Kemble Park. If you don't want to overpay the drycleaner, Diane, don't go out without a golf umbrella.
Pancake, I know you buy into "citizens united" as being a "threat to democracy", I do not. Voter ignorance on the issues and dishonest non investigatory journalism is the real threat. Main Stream Media as represented on the D.R. show and all of network television daily has become nothing more than advocacy journalism and it advocates in only one direction, BIG GOVERNMENT.
These T-Party radicals cannot bend over enough for Rush Limbaugh. The T-Party is afraid of Rush Limbaugh,but not war with Iran? That says the T-Party considers our wives,moms,and daughters common sluts and prostitutes.
Pancake Rankin wrote:
"Teece- You should have saved those old-timed recipes for fundraising: "Mouthwatering Froth From the Hate-filled Kitchen." Romney's new slogan "I gotta believe even if it damns me." Here's a spoon Mitt, if you want the nomination, eat it up".
Pancake, Teece has nothing except knee jerk point missing empty responses to my posts.
I give the D.R. Show credit for not removing the hard hitting accurate posts from THX 1138. It obviously has had an impact because the show intro has removed from the topic list "over 40 advertisers have pulled their advertising from Rush Limbaugh" from yesterdays initial domestic hour intro for the March 9 show (today). We probably can expect no or little discussion of Rush Limbaugh, certainly no apology will be forthcoming.
When Republicans took over the House in 2010 they said the FIRST thing they would do would be to pass a jobs bill. A year and a half later here it is, preceed by all their social agenda bills and lots of doing nothing.
Can someone explain to me?:
If it's our nation's goal to achieve "energy independence", isn't it counterintuitive that currently our largest EXPORT is oil?
If we are on a global playing field and it's all about greatest profits for oil corps, it would seem no matter the amount of alternative sources we create or oil we produce, the price of gas/energy in America will not be much effected.
Has our goal then become to create "energy independence" for entire 'civilized' world??
That would seem a tall order.
Supply and demand ? We are awash in gas out here.Big Oil has T-Party State governments increasing the speed limits to waste gas,to drive up prices.
Drew Kelly:
I think it's refined petroleum products, not oil. But still...
Teece Bowman wrote::
You have to believe that the ACLU is bad because they defend the
Constitution, while the NRA is good because they defend 1 section of the Constitution.
-------------------------------------------
ACLU defends what they deem is in the best interest for the ACLU.
When it comes to the 2nd Amendment, the ACLU is as ignorant about firearms as the media. Naturally, that never interferes with their benighted comments on the subject.
Romero and his organization believe criminals should be able to profit from their crimes while in prison. They fought to overturn the Son of Sam Law in California. ACLU= All Criminal Laws Unconstitutional.
-------------------------------------------------
Teece Bowman wrote:
You have to believe that socialism hasn't worked anywhere, and that
The Nordic block and Australia don't exist.
---------------------------------------------------
And capitalism doesn't work anywhere, and that the U.S., UK, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, don't exist.
-------------------------------------------------------
Teece Bowman wrote:
You have to believe that the federal government doesn’t have the right to mandate healthcare
------------------------------------
No more than they have the right to mandate auto insurance.
Why does energy policy have to be lower demand or higher supply? Can we do both and get a better faster reduction in current oil prices and expected future prices.
THX 1138 has it exactly right. Rehm is no more unbiased than O'Bama's wife. For those of us who take a balanced view of politics - this fabricated controversy about the Georgetown shill - will have long term benefits of helping oust this poor excuse for a President - an accomplisher of virtually nothing of significance prior to his coronation. Fortunately, the sheen has worn off, and the Emperor has been shown to be without substance.
Oh boy, another mention of the possible creation of 20,000 jobs by the Keystone Pipeline. If we assume that 10% of the jobs are supervision, that would mean that there are over 10 people per mile positioned along the 1,661 mile pipeline. That includes the mileage in Canada, but these are supposed to be US jobs. Doesn't quite pass the smell test does it?
What you failed to mention in your discussion of gas prices is that domestic production of oil and natural gas is at all-time HIGH. So, the president is doing everything any president can do to keep prices down. More importantly, this fact undercuts republicans' argument that we can drill our way out of the energy problem.
I feel sorry for Diane. If she were to stop the show and correct every lie told by her T-Party guests,there would be NO SHOW!
Big Oil promised $1 BILLION to defeat Obama,we see their tv ads,and we`re paying for them at the pump.
The question and answer about the Canadian pipeline reflect what is wrong with journalism in this country. Ms. Rehm asked whether it mattered that most/all of the oil transported through the pipeline would be sold to other countries. The guest answered she didn't know what the facts are, but that didn't matter to the public! First, it is a journaist's job to know what the facts are. Anybody influencing public opinion without knowing the facts is doing the public a great disservice. Second, shouldn't all policy discussions start with the facts. How can we debate the merits of a pipeline without all of us starting from the same facts? I would have thought that the Diane Rehm Show would insist on first getting the facts rights. Otherwise, it is just another version of what happens regularly on the Fox Network.
My question is this: The Democrats had a similarly long and protracted primary race in 2008. What are the differences that allowed Barack Obama to come out of that race relatively unscathed, as opposed to Mitt Romney, who has seemed to have been hurt by the Republican primary race so far?
Diane Rehm has continually had a liberal bias, contrary to what she espouses, in all areas. It should come as no surprise that she should not have one when it came to the Sandra Fluke affair. Hypocrisy was in no short supply when the program could single out this incident with a demagogues zeal and yet make short shrift of Obama accepting one million dollars in funds from the super pac that is, in part, funded by Bill Maher who uses the c-word to describe conservative women.
I wish your guests would comment on the letter that was sent this week to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by 22 Senators and 48 members of Congress, urging the CFTC to stop excessive speculation in the oil and gasoline markets, which they claim is the cause of unfair pricing, rather than fair pricing being determined by supply and demand.