Chuck Todd: Media Will Let McCain ‘Get Away With’ Al-Qaeda/Iran ‘Gaffe’
Chuck Todd: Media Will Let McCain ‘Get Away With’ Al-Qaeda/Iran ‘Gaffe’
This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Tim Russert asked NBC political director Chuck Todd if Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) false claim that Iran is training Al-Qaeda — which he has made on at least three occasions — will “hurt” his candidacy for president. Todd said probably not because McCain has “enough” national security credibilty “in the bank with media that he can get away with it”:
RUSSERT: Does that kind of stumble hurt a McCain candidacy? […]
CHUCK TODD: Even if he gets dinged on the experience stuff, “Oh he says he’s Mr. Experience, doesn’t he know the difference between this stuff?” He’s got enough of that in the bank at least with the media that he can get away with it.
Watch it:
While Todd noted that McCain’s Al-Qaeda-Iran link was a “talking point that he’d been using” for “over a week,” he fell victim to his own prediction, later saying that McCain simply “misspoke.”
Indeed, Fox News’ Brit Hume gave credibility to Todd’s prediction as well on Fox News Sunday this morning, dismissing McCain’s gaffe as “a blip” and a “senior moment” adding that “we all” agree that McCain has understanding and knowledge of world affairs.
McCain has a cozy relationship with the press. After a brief falling out, he hosted a make-up barbecue for reporters covering his campaign and it paid off. One reporter who attended wrote a story shortly there after calling McCain a “man of the people” for traveling by train despite noting that he rode first class.
Transcript:
RUSSERT: Chuck Todd, John McCain has been travelling in Europe and in the Middle East, had some problems when he was in Jordan when he talked about Al Qaeda being trained by the Iranians and then Lindsey Graham who he was with and then Joe Lieberman both tried to say to him that Al Qaeda is Sunni, not trained but the Shiite Iranian government. Does that kind of stumble hurt a McCain candidacy?
TODD: Well what’s odd about that stumble. Is it a stumble or was it this talking point that he’d been using for actually a couple weeks or over a week where he was talking about almost blurring the enemy of Al Qaeda and the enemy of the Shia trained Iranians and sort of blurring them as one enemy. The question is – he truncated it to the point where he ended up misspeaking.
The problem of course McCain has is that he can’t – he doesn’t want to make it so that he forgot it for a minute. Because of the age issue he can’t ever make it look like he’s having a senior moment. So instead he’s better off going ahead and saying “Ok so he misspoke.” Even if he gets dinged on the experience stuff, “Oh he says he’s Mr. Experience, doesn’t he know the difference between this stuff?” He’s got enough of that in the bank at least with the media that he can get away with it.
The irony of this is either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama misspoke like that it would have been on a running loop and it would have become a big problem for a couple of days for them.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
69 Responses to “Chuck Todd: Media Will Let McCain ‘Get Away With’ Al-Qaeda/Iran ‘Gaffe’”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
If John McCain were a container of milk in the fridge, he’d be getting his date checked, then sniffed, then poured down the drain as “iffy at best”.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pmWell of course they’ll let him get away with it, after all, Pork Chop can cook on TWO grills at the same time… we don’t want to spoil the party, do we?
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:36 pmsnark off…
How about Hillary? Can she use two stoves at the same time?
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 pmWe want a cookout with Hillary thread today, I mean, it’s Easter and all….
Over the past two days, the fawning American media has provided rave reviews of John McCain’s visit to France. While the New York Times lauded “McCain’s soothing tones,” Time gushed about “McCain’s Paris romance” and the transformation of Franco-American relations made possible by his warm embrace of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But lost in these accounts is John McCain’s vitriolic France-bashing in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Back in 2003, John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the Paris-hating purveyors of “freedom fries” and “old Europe.”
For the details, see:
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm“Fawning Media Ignores McCain’s Past France-Bashing.”
It was all over for the press after they gobbled McMaverick’s weiner down in Sedona. I guess they’re going to take it “to completion” by chugging his curdled McMilk, too.
are there living human beings more vapid and sycophantic than these “journalists”? i think not.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 pmIt was all over for the press after they gobbled McMaverick’s weiner down in Sedona.
…sucked right into the vortex…
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:52 pmThis all started 20 years ago. The kids who majored in broadcast journalism were the Greeks and the jocks — not really the sharpest crayons in the box.
March 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 pmNothin like a good ol’ American bbq to qualify you to be the president of the free world.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:00 pmDementia!! That is the elephant in the living room. We haven’t seen McCain’s medical records. Forget melanoma. The big issue for McCain may be dementia. Many of us, aging boomers, have seen the early signs in our parents. Reagan had the first signs of Alzheimer’s during his second term. The voters have a right to know. It can be tested. Does McCain have dementia? It is a fair question and one which must be asked.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pmBush gets away with 9/11, WMD, Mission Acomplished, Iran nuclear ambition to ‘hurt people’, ‘Mushroom clouds’, Valeri Plame, Katrina excellent job, 3 trillion war and Dana Perino… Why would MacCocaine not get away with something that the avarge North American does not understand?!
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:05 pmThe worst case is if McCain is knowing blurring the lines so that he can line up a new (fictional) enemy for us to fear and him to fight. He has made the statements too many times for it to be a “senior moment”. Democrats should jump on him. The media pepper him with questions and the people of the US should make him focus on the many real problems we have in the Middle East, instead of making up new ones.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 pmLBJ could out BBQ Grampa McCain. Personally, I’m ready for an intelligent, coherent, POTUS.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm“Senior moment” can not be repeated too often at this point.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:20 pmThe media is approaching John McCain the same way they did Bush. He can say or do anything and he will get away with it. It is only recently that they began to really look at Bush and see what a disaster he is. McCain is Bush-lite, and the media because he gave them day-old hotdogs will kiss his ass and push for his election in the fall, while trashing whoever the Democrats nominate as unelectable and will lie to prove it. A case of history repeating itself. The media is touted by the Rethuglicans as liberal when in fact it is right-wing conservative all the way.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:23 pmDoes America need another president thats as popular as Bush worldwide, because McCain is certainely hated worldwide already
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pmThe media is totally dependent on the status quo.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pmThey need the populace to keep watching, keep buying, and keep blindly following where they are led.
They tolerate fools and doddering dinosaurs because they will always do and say more stupid things for the press to suck up.
McCain smeaked into the UK and France unannounced the other day because his popularity status is ZILCH
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:50 pmThe cozy relationship between this administration and by extension McCain is a problem that goes far beyond FREE BBQ lunches and all that bs.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pmDo Eurpoeans clearly see him as simply the continuation of the old warmongering Americans?
I wish America would grow up.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pmWas it the experience of WWII for the Europeans that matured them to seek peace and co-operation?
I believe that for Americans not to have witnessed such destruction on our own soil acts as a blindfold to the realities of the world.
Time to reflect the last 7 years. Bush/Cheney lied Americans see no problem with that. Economy in bankruptcy in 7 years when it took Bill Clinton to balance the budget after 30 years of Republican spending. Republican John McCain forgot he didn’t read the bible when he spoke of the Holiday Purim being like the US children’s holiday Halloween. For those who laughed and thought it was true Purim is the Holiday from the story of Esther in the bible. Now we’ve been in Iraq for 5 years yet McCain doesn’t know the Shiite, Sunnies or Kurds while even after 5 years of soldiers dying in Iraq the Americans know more about Iraq then he does.
I noticed the comment about Hillary. Nice to see some of Hillary friends have and are being World Leaders. Yes the Argentina female President won and used her friend Hillary as her role model, she didn’t know at the time Americans were lying about Woman’s equal rights as Karen Hughes was spreading the lies. Now Pakistan has for the first time a female Speaker and the new President is an old friends of the Clintons. But I guess since Obama says Bill Clinton is like McCarthy he wont need any help from the Clintons since he thinks he knows every because he was raised in the Middle East and by a White grandmother and grandfather. The Foreign Press gave the truth about how Republican Lobbyist Lawyer Roger Stone used the Patriot Act for a personal vendetta against the Spitzer Family as the Media and Public rushed to judgement. Now we know it was a set up but Mr. Stone forgot to say he was having three way sex with prostitutes and his wife joined in but of course Americans see no problem with that because he’s a Republican with Christian Family Values that are preached to the rest of us to follow. This is Easter Sunday and we see American all go to church to do what? No body does a thing God say because Satan is running the White House as Americans follow his lead. No wonder World Leaders are distancing themselves from the United States. President Chavez’s comments at the United Nations have now been proved fact Satan is running the United States of America. God will not bless America until Americans remove Satan. Hillary is our best choice and only choice for recovery, but if Americans show the same action they have in the pass 7 years McCain or Obama will get in and as was with the fall of Rome so will be the fall of the United States. Americans will see change but not the change they thought. Obama would be like Bush just the front man while others run the country, but Obama would give a better speech then Bush. When the US Economy was in bankruptcy after President George H.W. Bush and was never corrected in 30 years until Bill balanced the US budge maybe Obama who doesn’t know how to do it will ask Bill to come back and clean up the United States Economy as he did before. Funny how the Clintons are used for clean ups by the mess made but are attacked by the same Americans who want their help. After reading some comments or this and other blogs about both Hillary and Bill, I wouldn’t do anything and just let the same American people and their corrupt Law Makers hang. I noticed how quickly Blacks turned their backs on the Clintons and forgot his help in the Katrina Storm and the help that got most of Black America jobs they would never have had under a Republican Administration. It is going to be funny if Obama gets in of does what he’s done in the pass for Blacks, like he never cared or helped during Katrina or when the Jenna Six were in need of help. Yes the Freshman Senator was to busy working on moving up the latter for his own greed and showed just what he would do to get there. Even working with a known crook to be a house outside the black area that was fit for our First President George Washington. Obama did good fools the Black people and he’s laughing all the way. But the Republicans will let him know he’s still nothing but a Black man and put him in his place. Remember Cheney said they were related and you know who was the Boss and who was the slave.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pmChuck Todd is weird..he has on several occasions remarked on the sycophancy of the media, and yet he succumbs to it at the same time:
“Is it a stumble or was it this talking point that he’d been using for actually a couple weeks or over a week where he was talking about almost blurring the enemy of Al Qaeda and the enemy of the Shia trained Iranians and sort of blurring them as one enemy. The question is – he truncated it to the point where he ended up misspeaking.
In the first (bold) he corectly points out that it has been an oft used talking point; in the second (italic) he describes McCains specific claims in vague terms (almost blurring…sort of”) and THEN presents a NEW EXCUSE, that McCain somehow accidentally left-out some important words!
FACT is McCain was fabricated his claims and then lied about.
FACT is Dodd is CORRECT that the media is giving and will give McCain a pass—nut instead of pointing out the lie and clearly critisizing the media,he gives both the media and McCain a pass each by willingly PARTICIPATING in the entire charade.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pmHow can McCain have any credibility- banked or otherwise- when on at least 3 occasions he proved he can’t even keep the various factions straight in Iraq? He did not ‘misspeak’ - a laughable term, anyway– he erred, screwed up, or lied.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 pmI think McCain is more dangerous than Bush. Being ex fighter jock he felt invincible 40 years ago, and war is in DNA. God help us if he’s elected, 100 years in Iraq could be a reality. Once this Dem. nomination is resolved, McCain won’t get away with his gun boat diplomacy by people or the press.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:18 pmWhich ones were charley
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 pmThe media gives McCain a pass, and Todd, who’s part of the problem, let’s us in on the secret. That I have to give him credit for, but I can’t get over his demeaning his ill-fated prediction against democrats, “Bush’s approval rating will rise to 50% with dems leading congress!!!”
And this man’s a professor?
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm5th Estate
Good post. Chuck’s way of speaking irritates me.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 pmArab media warns Bush wants Iran war
The weekly also added the disaster the Bush administration has created in Iraq is clearly not going well. As a result, the administration may feel that engaging the US militarily in Iran is their only option to for seeing a Republican president elected and a staunch military advocate like John McCain fits that bill.
http://www.presstv.ir/ detail.aspx?id=48607§ionid=351020205
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:36 pmMcSame’s only problem is the same as most of us Senior’s are blessed with to: He has CRS (Can’t Remenber Shiite–or is it Sunni).
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:37 pmThis guy? This guy is deciding for everyone what McBane gets away with and what he doesn’t? I don’t think so.
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:41 pmA friend of mine recently pointed out some facts that he felt made Senator McCain qualified to be Commander-In-Chief of our military. He claimed that since McCain had survived three or four plane crashes and five years as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton, he had the experience to lead the Country. He took exception when I reminded him that my wife and I have accumulated over fifty years of acquaintances with Naval Aviators, most of whom served, as did McCain in Viet Nam, and not one of them had crashed their airplane even the first time nor had any of them been captured by anyone more ferocious than the “B-Girls” in Olongopo City. With leaders like that who wants to follow?
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pmrepublicans always serve the best food, therefore the press always favors them.
if the dems havent learned that by now, they deserve to lose.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:17 pmlook @ candy crowley, you think she cares about policy?
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 pmits all about who’s serving the chunky chocolate chip!
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 pmMcCain doesn’t know shiite from Shinola
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:31 pmYou do and you carry on doing
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 pmFor what you do today is determined by what you did yesterday
what you do tomorrow is determined by what you did today
DreamCrusher Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, reading a Clinton surrogate blog whining about McCain receiving silky treatment from the press. How many scandals did the New York Times try to start up on McCain in the past month? Five? Six? How many on Clinton?
Yeah, would you guys like a bit more cheese with that whine?
How much longer is the press going to refer to the “anniversary” of Bill’s infidelity ?
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 pmDreamCrusher Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
When’s the last time that was in the news? It was when Spitzer’s adventures were exposed. That’s out of the news now. Sex sells, everyone knows that.
Smearing a veteran as having an affair with a lobbyist sells too. When’s the last time the media did a hit job on Hillary like that? Oh, yeah, never.
Whine, whine, whine. Keep it up Think (Clinton) Progress.
Generally , you need to have been around a lobbyist to have rumors of an affair floating around.
McLame has ; plus , he’s been nototious for his own infidelity.
Hillary never has been.
Pick another talking point……………
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pmDreamCrusher is a conservative apologist. He will say anything to defend the right. He has implied that all of the things that have gone wrong in the bush admin. could be attributed to stupidity and bad luck……and he’s ok with that.
Now he wants us to calm down and act like the disasterous and postentially dangerous actions of john mccain are trivial too. That the media is ignoring things like how stupid mccain is on the middle east is really way not a big deal. Even sadder is the fact that he wants us to believe that the press is somhow treating mccain just as poorly as everyone else….
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pmDreamCrusher Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
When’s the last time that was in the news?
How about last wednesday?
Hillary at White House on ‘Stained Blue Dress’ Day
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 pmSchedules Reviewed by ABC Show Hillary May Have Been in the White House When the Fateful Act Was Committed
By BRIAN ROSS and the ABC NEWS INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
March 19, 2008
McDementias Warped Talk Express
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:17 pmDreamCrusher Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, reading a Clinton surrogate blog whining about McCain receiving silky treatment from the press. How many scandals did the New York Times try to start up on McCain in the past month? Five? Six? How many on Clinton?
Like what? The McCain/lobbyist thing was immediately dumped, rather than investigated a it should have been. the Keating 5 debacle, MCain’s horrible flying record, the number of deaths he caused on the carrier because of his incompetence, etc., etc., all swept under the rug. mcStain is getting a pass for his treasonous and illegal behaviors, while the rightwing mainstream press goes crazy over something Obama’s minister said 6 years ago. You’re completely full of shit, as usual, creamsucker.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 pmDreamcrusher wants a drug addicted first lady in the whitehouse.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 pmIt’s almost funny to read the troll’s whines, accusing *others* of whining.
My irony-o-meter just went through the roof.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 pmSmearing a veteran as having an affair with a lobbyist sells too. When’s the last time the media did a hit job on Hillary like that? Oh, yeah, never.
using “veteran” as a shield is typical conservative hypocrisy. he was protected in a hotel in Saigon, living with hookers, not in a POW camp. If McStain’s real story ever comes out, he will be lynched by his fellow veterans.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:21 pmXisithrus Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Dreamcrusher wants a drug addicted first lady in the whitehouse.
Keep the streak going! Laura hasn’t spent a day on the last 7 years not stoned out of her mind.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pmAs for McCain, somehow I get the feeling he might just be “testing the waters” by repeating his talking point about Iran ties to AlQaeda.
If he repeats the lie enough times, people will start considering an established fact, making it easier for his hypothetical future administration to continue Bush’s aggressive policies both at home and abroad.
He needs Iran to have ties to AlQaeda.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:23 pmDreamCrusher is the perfect name for a rightwing traitor. the American dream means nothing to these pigs.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pmReporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”
Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”
(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)
Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”
Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”
Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”
Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”
Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”
McBumbles Stumped Express
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pmXisithrus Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
this is mcStain’s “experience”, that of being a fricking idiot for many years. The typical Republican experience; lie your way into office, then buy your re-elections.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 pmAmazing X @ 50 You won’t see much of that on TV
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:35 pmwhere is that right wing apologist dreamcrusher now. We really need someone to apologize for the republicans.
I agree that McCain has a BBQ fed media group that fawns on him and will take the pass on the Granpa alzheimer McCain.
He does appear to be their darling, and seem willing to garage sale this old unusable piece of DC furniture to Ameicans for what ever price they can get out of him.
Is it that the media thinks that the Republican candidate represents their tax policies and such?
Or could it be the media feels it is their responsibility to even the playing field for the republicans in the election against the American backlash for the past 8 years?
McCain does symbolize Bush with every day passing. Corporate interests are felt to be at stake here. I figure the corporate media are the fawning reporters paid to write just the right stories and neglect the ones that are harmful to John. They do it for a paycheck and to hell with democracy.!
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 pmThe sycophantic whoring mainstream media may opt to trivialize McCain’s obvious lack of knowledge; The people will never let him forget it. After all, that’s what we look for in a candidate for this office. We’ve seen firsthand what a dumkoff as president translates into in terms of devastation to our country. The People are wiser and more savvy now. If the fascist mainstream media opts to trivialize this, then it will be clear to everyone whose side they’re on. And, what they’ll sadly discover is that they’re not working for the people; they’re working for the enemy within.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pmI say: who gives a flying rat’s a$$ what the whoring press has to say about anything at all? Cancel your newspapers and leave the 24 hour news programs behind - the sudden release of tension from the daily fear mongering will amaze you. Besides, since we can’t believe a word they say (there once was a time that they had more credibility than the National Enquirer but that’s all changed now). Find your news elsewhere on the net. I find my news on the BBC and foreign channels who are not in the corporate fascist administration’s pocket and obligated to spread their spew and propaganda.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 pmX: McBumble’s Stumbled Express, indeed! Love it! Great new moniker for the Doubletalk express.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:54 pmdidn’t we once have truth in reporting laws?
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:56 pmthe media knows old man mcain is gonna drop dead sometime in the next four years; they also know that romney is best for rich people but that he cant get elected on his own.
figure it out.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm** A reminder that Chuck Todd is MSNBC’s hatchet man.
NBC un-plugs Kucinich from Presidential debate
Jan., 2008
DETROIT, MI - Less than 44 hours after NBC sent a congratulatory note and an invitation to Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to participate in the Jan. 15 Democratic Presidential debate in Las Vegas, the network notified the campaign this morning it was changing its announced criteria, rescinding its invitation, and excluding Kucinich from the debate.
NBC Political Director Chuck Todd notified the Kucinich campaign this morning that, although Kucinich had met the qualification criteria publicly announced on December 28, the network was “re-doing” the criteria, excluding Kucinich, and planning to invite only Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former senator John Edwards.
The criteria announced last month included a fourth-place or better showing in a national poll. The USA/Gallup poll earlier this month showed Kucinich in fourth place among the Democratic contenders.
…Todd notified the Kucinich campaign this morning that the network had decided to change the criteria and limit participation in the debate to only three candidates.
http://www.dennis4president.com/ go/ newsroom/ nbc-un%11plugs-kucinich-from-presidential-debate/
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:01 pmHere we go again.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pmThe Emporer’s New Clothes brought to you by the same people who gave us G.W. Bush.
The next election comes down to if the voters trust the Corporate Media Propaganda Machine.
If they do the last 7 years become the permanent state of affairs for America.
Record corporate profits, endless war, gargantuan debt, record government incompetence, corruption and war profiteering,stagnant wages, inflation, dropping dollar..but hey, how about those record corporate profits, it’s a win-win for the Corporate Media.
Hey “thinkProgress” … what does “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” mean?
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:25 pmIt means you may have used a bad word, or said something unkind about Hillary.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pmJackie,
Come back again when you’re semi-literate…if you live that long.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:41 pmJackie @ 20, that is.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 pmbarfly Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
DreamCrusher Says:
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
When’s the last time that was in the news?
How about last wednesday?
Hillary at White House on ‘Stained Blue Dress’ Day
Schedules Reviewed by ABC Show Hillary May Have Been in the White House When the Fateful Act Was Committed
By BRIAN ROSS and the ABC NEWS INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
March 19, 2008
It’s no use talking to DreamCrusher about that because to him, that’s what the media should be doing, smearing Democrats and liberals and giving Republicans a free pass like they do.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 pmWhat I wonder is how long will the MSM ignore McPander Bear’s shameless pursuit of various “Psycho-Christians”TM?
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:57 pmSadly, I think Chuck Todd is correct, he will be given a pass on this just like Bush was in 2000 and 2004 because he joked around with the press more than Gore and Kerry, the press all seem to like McCain the same way. They would rather have a beer with Bush, even though that drunk can’t have one (at least in public, he looks like he’s hitting it hard in private)
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 pmChris Matthews and Chuck Todd would have defended Gerald Ford too when he said in debate in 1976 that Poland was not dominated by the Soviet Union, which was a jaw dropping flub. McCain’s comment repeated 4 times was equally absurd. It is also a reminder of how old and tired John McCain really is.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:01 amWell, actually Dallas, I’d let that one slide as an overreach, more than anything else. This is an excerpt from the “McNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” from October 7, 1976, commenting on the debate in question:
GERALD FORD: There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.
MAX FRANKEL, New York Times: I’m sorry; could I just follow… Did I understand you to say, Sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence and occupying most of the countries there and making sure, with their troops, that it’s a communist zone, whereas on our side of the line, the Italians and the French are still flirting with the possibility of communism?
GERALD FORD: I don’t believe, Mr. Frankel, that the Yugoslavians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don’t believe that the Romanians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don’t believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union….
Ford was quite correct on the first two. The Yugoslav government, under Tito, was completely independent of Moscow, and Romania, under Ceaucescu, maintained his own hardline Communist stance, independent of Moscow. When you add in the fact that Albania (also in Eastern Europe) was a solid ally of China in the Moscow-Beijing split, that makes a fairly solid chunk of Eastern Europe that wasn’t under Soviet domination. We all know that, under pressure (especially in the heat of a debate), human beings tend to make foolish goofs, especially if there’s a possibility of confusing facts. Is there any evidence that PROVES Ford intended to say “Poland” and not “Albania”? Ford was asked a question, that wasn’t “scripted”, and he answered in a manner not unlike a “Jeopardy” contestant. (And how many of those have we seen screw up a really easy “question”?)
March 24th, 2008 at 1:52 amAt least, Ford wasn’t quoted in Polish as “desiring carnal knowledge of Poland” (as poor Jimmy Carter was a few years later due to a translator’s goof).
Thursday, March 20 2008 - Stories by Topic
An Election Without Meaning
By Peter Phillips
March 20, 2008
Will November 2008 bring a meaningful change to America? Will getting rid of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney without impeachment or indictment really make a difference? Will a 600 billion dollar war/defense budget be cut in half and used for desperately needed domestic spending? Will the ninety-three billion dollars profits in the private health insurance companies—those parasitic intermediates between you and your doctor—be used instead for full health care coverage for all? Will Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus be restored to the people? Will torture stop? Will all students in public universities be able to enroll for free? Will the US national security agencies stop mass spying on our personal communications? Will the neo-conservative agenda of total military domination of the world be reversed?
The answer to these questions in the context of the current billion dollar presidential campaign is an absolute no. Instead we have a campaign of personalities and platitudes. There is a race candidate, a gender candidate and a tortured veteran candidate, each talking about change in America, national security, freedom, and the American way. The candidates are running with support of political parties so deeply embedded with the military industrial complex, the health insurance companies, Wall Street, and corporate media that it is undeterminable where the board rooms separate from the state rooms.
The 2008 presidential race is a media entertainment spectacle with props, gossip, accusations, and public relations. It is impression management from a candidates’ perspective. How can we fool the most people into believing that we stand for something? It is billions of dollars of gravy for the media folks and continued profit maximunization for the war machine, Wall Street, and insurance companies no matter who is determined the winner in November.
We must face the fact that the US government’s primary mission is to protect the wealthy and insure capital expansion worldwide. The US military—spending more than the rest of the militaries of the world combined—is the muscle behind this protect-capital-at-all-costs agenda, and will be used against the American people if deemed necessary to support the mission.
Homeland Security, the North American Command, mass arrest practices with the FALCON raids, new detentions centers, and broadened “terrorism” laws to included interference with business profits are all now in place to insure domestic tranquility through extra judicial means if needed.
The two party corporate political system is having a HOMELAND presidential campaign—Hillary, Obama, McCain, Election, Lacking, Actual, National, Debate. It is time for real change, but it will only come with a social movement of reform in the tradition of the progressive, labor, civil rights, anti-war movements of the last century. We need to use all of our activist, legal, and political resources to reverse these threats to freedom. Naomi Wolf says it is not too late to prevent totalitarianism, but we have to act fast.
Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and director of Project Censored. Access to verifying facts and analysis for the issues mentioned above is available at http://www.projectcensored.org.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:57 amJackie. Give it up girl. Billary cannot win. Too many skeletons in that big mama closet. She is the Bush-lite incarnate. Go post in her artificial site, this is about real issues and it pertains to a different subject for grown men and real women. Bye bye
March 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm