Even When Harry Reid Provides An Opening, Republicans Screw Up

Here is how a Fox News story begins as it analyzes comments made by Sen. Harry Reid about Hispanics and the Republican party:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is taking heat after he told a crowd of supporters Tuesday that he doesn’t know "how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican."

Ah, so let the games begin.

Fox News, with all five minority Republican regulars on speed dial (I am being slightly sarcastic with the number ... slightly), finds one that seems most appropriate to respond: Marco Rubio, who is described by Fox News (leave it to this network to never resist an opportunity to promote one of its own) as "one of the GOP's rising stars."

If you're black, somewhat articulate (Jesse Lee Peterson is an exception that may have been sort of grandfathered in) and willing to say something bad about President Obama, at some point you will find yourself on Fox News.

I digress.

Anyway, here is some of what Rubio had to say, in response:

"You know, Americans of Hispanic descent, you know what the strongest issue there is? That is economic empowerment, upward mobility. There’s only one economic system in the world that that’s possible in, time and again, and that’s the American free enterprise system.

"And the reason why Americans of Hispanic descent should be Republicans is because the Democratic leadership is trying to dismantle the American free enterprise system. The point is he’s wrong."

OK, I was almost with Rubio until he got to the end and he turned hypocrite and tried to use Reid's comments to score political points against the Democrats."

Rubio had the moral high ground and blew it (like George W. Bush after 9/11) by turning the comments of Reid into some sort of opportunity to pull a cheap and ham-handed political stunt.

Rubio, why play politics with it?

Why be so stupid?

Rubio is upset because Reid expresses difficulty in understanding why Hispanics would support Republicans, but then turns around and basically tries to make the case for why Hispanics should not support Democrats and should run with the GOP.

To me, Rubio turned himself into a bit of a hypocrite and looked like just another shallow politician willing to use an ill-advised comment (Reid has had more than his fair share of ill-advised and/or stupid ones during his career) to score political and racial points.

OK, so back to the brief video clip.

No, Harry, you don't need to say more. In fact, please don't say too much more. As far as this issue, you've said enough. Democrats, still, are probably thanking their lucky stars that Reid's opponent, Sharron Angle, is a Tea Party nut. Angle makes Rand Paul look normal ... OK ... maybe not.

Still, with Angle as an opponent, it appears luck continues on Harry Reid's side. If he loses, and Angle wins, then luck runs out for the state of Nevada.

CBS News:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20013321-503544.html

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/11/rubio-blasts-reid-asking-hispanics-republicans/

Barack Obama Doesn't Run In 2009 Election, But Is Declared The Loser By Pundits

President Barack Obama was not running for office in 2009, but somehow conservatives and other media "experts" have been hysterically running around screaming about him taking this huge defeat this week. OK, conservatives won a few isolated local and statewide elections and now Republicans are confident they experienced a political version of Easter this week while President Obama suffered a big loss (even though, as I wrote earlier, he was not running).

Watch here as Jon Stewart, once again, destroys an idiotic argument coming mostly from far-right nuts.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911040067

Brian Kilmeade Blasts Sen. Al Franken, People Of Minnesota

This video is Brian Kilmeade and Andrew Napolitano (two more right wingers) on the radio flipping out with hate over Franken’s election.

KILMEADE: Explain to me this Minnesota. How you could do something that is such an embarrassment to America … to put this hateful character into the U.S. Senate, who is a clown of a person, who is maniacal by nature and ran as a comedian and … you don’t like Norm Coleman … that’s one thing, but for you to sit there and vote for Al Franken … I don’t get it.

This is more right-wing stuff from Kilmeade who holds a prominent position at Fox News.

KILMEADE: … He is an angry, evil person who wrote two hateful books. He is a bitter, partisan pundit without any depth to his character and the people of Minnesota have thrust him upon us.

This is laughable coming from someone who works for Fox News.

Still, what a vicious and aggressive attack by Brian Kilmeade who showed his partisanship and proved he has no credibility in terms of objectivity.

The video is here: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907010021

An Interesting Perspective From Joe Scarborough

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough made interesting comments that Think Progress has reported today. Scarborough, who I do not always agree with, seems to take a stance opposite of political partisan parrots like right-winger Mitt Romney (who will say just about anything to appease the far right).

Here is an excerpt that includes the comments from Scarborough:

Later on Meet the Press, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough seemed to rebut these right-wing claims, suggesting that President Obama’s outreach in Cairo “scared” the Iranian leaders into fixing the election:

SCARBOROUGH: You know, the law of unintended consequences came in again. I suspect that Cairo speech really scared the grand ayatollahs in Iran. If they were going to fix an election, this was the time to fix it, because the last thing they wanted to do was Barack Obama take credit for reformers winning in Iran, like they already have in Lebanon. And by the way, in the short term that’s bad news for us. I think in the long term, though – if the ayatollahs are seen stealing an election, as a result from what Barack Obama did in Cairo – I actually think that’s a positive for the United States and Iran in the long run.

That is an interesting thought, however, it is a reasonable belief that he would have done anything to remain in power as president. President Obama’s inspiration seems to be sparking people to stand up and assert themselves in the pursuit of fairness, freedom and to ensure they are not disenfranchised by a farce of an election, a rigged process with a predetermined conclusion. Perhaps Scarborough is correct in that this (what appears to some people to be a huge power grab) could spark people to continue to pursue change after being victimized by a process a large number of people see as crooked. If President Obama’s words have made people hungry for change then that seems to me to potentially be a positive.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/14/neocons-blame-obama-iran/

Fox Forum Blogger Noel Sheppard Continues To Flog A Dead Horse

Noel Sheppard is concerned about the so-called liberal bias in the media (while writing for Fox which is perhaps the most blatantly biased name in the major media).

Here is how Sheppard’s blog started:

“The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession, or another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias.”

So said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) last week as he announced the creation of a new Media Fairness Caucus, telling NewsMax, “If the American people can’t get good information, can’t get the facts, and can’t make good decisions, then we simply don’t have a viable democracy.”

Although folks in the liberal blogosphere predictably ridiculed Smith’s comments, any honest assessment supports his concerns about the continually declining journalistic standards employed by today’s news media.

Anyone affiliated with Fox News should look inward before looking outward to discuss “declining journalistic standards.” It’s laughable or Fox to criticize anyone for “declining journalistic standards.” Fox News conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly recently was caught lying about CNN’s coverage of the murder of Pvt. William Long. He waged a war of hate and demonization against Dr. George Tiller that has barely skipped a beat since Dr. Tiller was assassinated by a crazed anti-abortion nut. That is just one example. The first part of that statement is too idiotic and nutty to even warrant a response. Also, the American people are smart enough to get their news from sources they trust (even if one of those sources happens to be right-wing-leaning Fox News).

Sheppard, as you might expect, continued:

Before casting this aside as so much conservative posturing, ask yourself whether Barack Obama would be president today if the press had fully vetted him back in 2007 when he first announced his candidacy.

More to the point, would a junior senator from Illinois have beaten Hillary Clinton if the news media prior to the first primaries and caucuses had fully exposed his:

• Connections to domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn
• Connections to the Trinity Church and Reverend Jeremiah Wright
• Connections to corrupt real estate developer Tony Rezko
• Totally unimpressive tenure as an Illinois state senator and U.S. senator?

If the answer is “No,” the press elected Barack Obama — NOT the American people, which is indeed a far greater undermining of our democracy than any attack that has ever been made against this country as well as any economic calamity that’s befallen it.

More of the same old tired stuff that Republicans tried to shove down our throats during the election. No matter how much all of the aforementioned issues were touched on (by all corners of the media) conservatives continue to cry that it was not enough. The American people rejected the ridiculous notion of guilt-by-association politics. Bitter Republicans continue to cling to their failed tactics of the their failed bid for the White House in 2008.

The press did not elect President Obama. The people of this nation overwhelmingly elected President Obama with a huge mandate. The whiners on the left are mad because their efforts to paint Barack Obama as some angry black radical who is a hater of America and a friend of a terrorist failed miserably.

The American people wanted ideas rather than demonization.

The Republicans, and bitter people like Noel Sheppard who reach back into the past to chase ghosts (while laughably assisting the Bush-Cheney “Save-Our-Legacy Tour and apologizing for all the previous administration’s numerous missteps and shortcomings), didn’t get it then and still don’t get it now.

Fox Forum:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/09/noel-sheppard-is-liberal-media-bias-a-greater-threat-than-terrorism-or-recession/