Kevin Koster commented on Eric Bolling Is Suing Reporter Yashar Ali Over Dick Pics Story
2017-08-09 23:31:11 -0400
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I realize that Eric Bolling is panicking and lashing out now, but this may have been the most foolhardy action he could have taken. Filing a SLAPP suit against a reporter for saying true things is going to cost him dearly, and he will wind up losing more than his job at Fox News.
For those who are unfamiliar, a SLAPP suit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. This is how big companies and rich individuals used to handle lower income people who would inconvenience them with protests and sit-ins. (Such as protestors standing outside the Rand Corporation) The big-money company would file a massive and frivolous lawsuit against the individual leading the protest, knowing that this person would almost certainly run away in order to avoid the massive legal costs of defending themselves in court. This is clearly Bolling’s intention here – to intimidate Ali from speaking the truth about Bolling’s shameful conduct.
But Bolling is apparently unaware that we have anti-SLAPP laws on the books in many states, I believe including New York. These laws are designed to protect the 1st Amendment rights of writers like Ali. Anti-SLAPP laws state that a SLAPP suit can be countered directly, and that if the initial litigator can be shown to have attempted to infringe on the defendant’s 1st Amendment rights, the initial litigator can be held accountable for massive damages, not including being compelled to pay all the legal fees (including attorney’s fees) incurred by the defendant.
In simple English, this means that Ali should immediately countersue Bolling, using anti-SLAPP laws as his basis and noting that his reportage is factual and that we already have actual witnesses corroborating the story he wrote. Ali could easily countersue Bolling for the same nonsensical 50 million dollars Bolling is trying to throw at him, and he can also demand to see Bolling’s correspondence regarding this matter, to show the intent behind the frivolous lawsuit. If Bolling tries to cry attorney-client privilege, he’s as much as admitted his guilt. And if Bolling turns over the correspondence, he admits it directly. Either way, Bolling’s just placed himself in an unwinnable situation that will only get uglier for him as it goes on.
It’s a sad truth that panic and desperation rarely lead to happy outcomes. Bolling’s misstep here is a classic example of that truth.
For those who are unfamiliar, a SLAPP suit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. This is how big companies and rich individuals used to handle lower income people who would inconvenience them with protests and sit-ins. (Such as protestors standing outside the Rand Corporation) The big-money company would file a massive and frivolous lawsuit against the individual leading the protest, knowing that this person would almost certainly run away in order to avoid the massive legal costs of defending themselves in court. This is clearly Bolling’s intention here – to intimidate Ali from speaking the truth about Bolling’s shameful conduct.
But Bolling is apparently unaware that we have anti-SLAPP laws on the books in many states, I believe including New York. These laws are designed to protect the 1st Amendment rights of writers like Ali. Anti-SLAPP laws state that a SLAPP suit can be countered directly, and that if the initial litigator can be shown to have attempted to infringe on the defendant’s 1st Amendment rights, the initial litigator can be held accountable for massive damages, not including being compelled to pay all the legal fees (including attorney’s fees) incurred by the defendant.
In simple English, this means that Ali should immediately countersue Bolling, using anti-SLAPP laws as his basis and noting that his reportage is factual and that we already have actual witnesses corroborating the story he wrote. Ali could easily countersue Bolling for the same nonsensical 50 million dollars Bolling is trying to throw at him, and he can also demand to see Bolling’s correspondence regarding this matter, to show the intent behind the frivolous lawsuit. If Bolling tries to cry attorney-client privilege, he’s as much as admitted his guilt. And if Bolling turns over the correspondence, he admits it directly. Either way, Bolling’s just placed himself in an unwinnable situation that will only get uglier for him as it goes on.
It’s a sad truth that panic and desperation rarely lead to happy outcomes. Bolling’s misstep here is a classic example of that truth.
Kevin Koster commented on This Is How Sean Hannity Is Deliberately Trying To Undermine The Russia Investigation
2017-08-05 16:58:15 -0400
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At this point, the Right is desperately trying to push any angle they can to show the Pence White House as having been a “big success”. They’re painfully aware of how unpopular Trump is, and how very little has been accomplished since Pence took over the executive branch.
This is part of the reason why Hannity, Carlson and others are so frantically trying to scream “Nothing over here! Nothing over here!” when more details of the Russia probe come out. All this story does is drum up more ominous clouds for a presidency that is lining up to be one of the most unfortunate ones of our history – if not the single worst one ever.
Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised when very little comes from the full investigation. My instincts say that the Pence DOJ will simply smack Trump and his kids on the paws, in the same way that James Comey handled Hillary Clinton – they’ll say that these guys acted irresponsibly but not in a criminal manner, and they’ll let it go at that. Same thing will go with the Congressional inquiries. If anyone complains about it, they’ll be screamed at about how the Clintons got off easy. And we shouldn’t be surprised when the Pence DOJ actually does proceed against the Clintons – I’ve been waiting for them to actively play that card for six months now. Trump is only recently starting to foment the “Lock Her Up!” ideas again, and hard line Right Wingers in Congress are just now trying to gin up new investigations of Hillary Clinton. I’m anticipating that in the event of anything more serious happening with Mueller, the Pence DOJ will announce either a grand jury or indictments on the Clintons, as a way to draw the focus away from themselves.
There’s another area that is also becoming clear as a Right Wing talking point feast. Which is that the Right has always stated that if the economy were to really improve, Donald Trump would be assured of re-election, regardless of scandals. So it should be no surprise that the Right is trying to push the new meme of “record high stock market!” and “record low unemployment!” and any new jobs projects it can pretend were the result of the Pence White House’s machinations. Of course, the improved numbers that happened under President Obama were regularly dismissed by the same cheerleaders, as they always wanted to act like the economy was tanked throughout the Obama presidency, without taking any ownership for the behavior of W and the GOP congresspeople who triggered the last recession. But what’s interesting is that Trump’s approval rating continues to plunge, most recently hitting 33%, even while the Right keeps trying to cheerlead the same economic numbers they dismissed one year ago.
The only other step these guys could take to try to bolster the Pence White House would be to get involved somewhere in a military fashion – and let’s hope they’re not foolish enough to make that mistake.
This is part of the reason why Hannity, Carlson and others are so frantically trying to scream “Nothing over here! Nothing over here!” when more details of the Russia probe come out. All this story does is drum up more ominous clouds for a presidency that is lining up to be one of the most unfortunate ones of our history – if not the single worst one ever.
Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised when very little comes from the full investigation. My instincts say that the Pence DOJ will simply smack Trump and his kids on the paws, in the same way that James Comey handled Hillary Clinton – they’ll say that these guys acted irresponsibly but not in a criminal manner, and they’ll let it go at that. Same thing will go with the Congressional inquiries. If anyone complains about it, they’ll be screamed at about how the Clintons got off easy. And we shouldn’t be surprised when the Pence DOJ actually does proceed against the Clintons – I’ve been waiting for them to actively play that card for six months now. Trump is only recently starting to foment the “Lock Her Up!” ideas again, and hard line Right Wingers in Congress are just now trying to gin up new investigations of Hillary Clinton. I’m anticipating that in the event of anything more serious happening with Mueller, the Pence DOJ will announce either a grand jury or indictments on the Clintons, as a way to draw the focus away from themselves.
There’s another area that is also becoming clear as a Right Wing talking point feast. Which is that the Right has always stated that if the economy were to really improve, Donald Trump would be assured of re-election, regardless of scandals. So it should be no surprise that the Right is trying to push the new meme of “record high stock market!” and “record low unemployment!” and any new jobs projects it can pretend were the result of the Pence White House’s machinations. Of course, the improved numbers that happened under President Obama were regularly dismissed by the same cheerleaders, as they always wanted to act like the economy was tanked throughout the Obama presidency, without taking any ownership for the behavior of W and the GOP congresspeople who triggered the last recession. But what’s interesting is that Trump’s approval rating continues to plunge, most recently hitting 33%, even while the Right keeps trying to cheerlead the same economic numbers they dismissed one year ago.
The only other step these guys could take to try to bolster the Pence White House would be to get involved somewhere in a military fashion – and let’s hope they’re not foolish enough to make that mistake.
Kevin Koster commented on Chris Wallace Badgers Nancy Pelosi For An Obamacare ‘Compromise’
2017-07-31 02:26:26 -0400
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Wallace’s questions were intended to portray Pelosi as out of touch and unreasonable, so that when Trump announces this week that the subsidies (and thus the exchanges) will no longer be funded, he can be defended on the basis that he had no choice due to these awful Dems. Pelosi should have understood this was the foundation of the questioning and challenged the very premise of what Wallace was doing, but she apparently was just happy to be offered an opportunity to speak on a program that usually would ignore Dems completely. In simple terms, she got conned.
People keep acting as though the Right Wing is suddenly going to have a V8 moment and decide to start acting reasonably toward the Dems in Congress. Recent history shows us this is not likely. And the messaging from the Pence White House this weekend has been consistent on the matter. Pence has no intention of working with Democrats on this or any other issue. Trump has no intention of conceding a centimeter of ground here. They’ve declared the ACA dead, and it is dead. They will make sure of this. This is not a negotiation over how the law can be fixed or modified. It’s not even a discussion. This is Trump punching President Obama in the face and making sure Dem voters know to keep their heads down. If the Senate won’t give him what he wants (a modifiable bill that can be adjusted to something closer to a full repeal before it gets to Pence’s desk for Trump’s public signature), then Pence will just turn off the subsidies. And doing this allows him to take a nice cheap swipe at the congresspeople from both sides who didn’t hop to when they were told to do so. It’s not an accident that Fox News is repeating the names of any GOP senators not toeing the line.
I would love to be able to say that the ACA is somehow going to survive what Pence is doing to it, but that would be spreading a false narrative. A big part of Pence’s agenda is tied up in getting rid of the ACA and declaring the Obama Administration a total failure. This will also lead in to cuts in Medicaid and potentially Medicare. Keep in mind these guys will never give up on the notion of getting rid of anything they consider an “entitlement” – or to use the vernacular that Right Wing radio loves, a “handout”. One has to be impressed at the commitment of the Right in their work to obstruct and kill this law. Had they been this steadfast about Social Security and Medicare back in the 1930s and the 1960s, those programs would never have survived this long. My instincts say this is not just about the program, which they would never have allowed through if they could have killed it like they did Hillarycare in the 90s – it’s also about Barack Obama and their visceral hatred for him.
The smarter use of resources will be toward the 2018 midterms and the 2020 campaign. There will be millions of people losing their coverage who the Pence White House will try to convince that this was all caused by the Dems. It is extremely important to make sure these people understand who threw them off the rolls, and why. If the Dems blow another election, there will be far greater consequences than this one.
People keep acting as though the Right Wing is suddenly going to have a V8 moment and decide to start acting reasonably toward the Dems in Congress. Recent history shows us this is not likely. And the messaging from the Pence White House this weekend has been consistent on the matter. Pence has no intention of working with Democrats on this or any other issue. Trump has no intention of conceding a centimeter of ground here. They’ve declared the ACA dead, and it is dead. They will make sure of this. This is not a negotiation over how the law can be fixed or modified. It’s not even a discussion. This is Trump punching President Obama in the face and making sure Dem voters know to keep their heads down. If the Senate won’t give him what he wants (a modifiable bill that can be adjusted to something closer to a full repeal before it gets to Pence’s desk for Trump’s public signature), then Pence will just turn off the subsidies. And doing this allows him to take a nice cheap swipe at the congresspeople from both sides who didn’t hop to when they were told to do so. It’s not an accident that Fox News is repeating the names of any GOP senators not toeing the line.
I would love to be able to say that the ACA is somehow going to survive what Pence is doing to it, but that would be spreading a false narrative. A big part of Pence’s agenda is tied up in getting rid of the ACA and declaring the Obama Administration a total failure. This will also lead in to cuts in Medicaid and potentially Medicare. Keep in mind these guys will never give up on the notion of getting rid of anything they consider an “entitlement” – or to use the vernacular that Right Wing radio loves, a “handout”. One has to be impressed at the commitment of the Right in their work to obstruct and kill this law. Had they been this steadfast about Social Security and Medicare back in the 1930s and the 1960s, those programs would never have survived this long. My instincts say this is not just about the program, which they would never have allowed through if they could have killed it like they did Hillarycare in the 90s – it’s also about Barack Obama and their visceral hatred for him.
The smarter use of resources will be toward the 2018 midterms and the 2020 campaign. There will be millions of people losing their coverage who the Pence White House will try to convince that this was all caused by the Dems. It is extremely important to make sure these people understand who threw them off the rolls, and why. If the Dems blow another election, there will be far greater consequences than this one.
Kevin Koster commented on Dana Perino Predicts Trump Will Move Sessions To DHS In Order To Fire Mueller
2017-07-29 23:22:29 -0400
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It seems to me that every Right Wing pundit and personality has their “I got it!” explanation for Trump’s bullying of Jeff Sessions. Everyone wants this to make some kind of fiendish sense, as though Trump is “playing three dimensional chess”. Somehow this will all tie in to some incredible plan and everyone will say “AHA!” when the final pieces fall into place.
How about that Trump is just a bully with the intellect of a fifth-grader, and he doesn’t care how he comes across when he bullies someone? And how about that Jeff Sessions is happy enough bullying other people as AG that he’s willing to put up with it?
I have no tears to shed for Jeff Sessions. He was and is an extremely bigoted man. He continues to use his position in government to attack people of other ethnicities, simply because he thinks he can get away with it. Just because Donald Trump bullies him in public doesn’t make him any less despicable.
How about that Trump is just a bully with the intellect of a fifth-grader, and he doesn’t care how he comes across when he bullies someone? And how about that Jeff Sessions is happy enough bullying other people as AG that he’s willing to put up with it?
I have no tears to shed for Jeff Sessions. He was and is an extremely bigoted man. He continues to use his position in government to attack people of other ethnicities, simply because he thinks he can get away with it. Just because Donald Trump bullies him in public doesn’t make him any less despicable.
Kevin Koster commented on Reince Priebus Gives Up His Last Shred Of Self-Respect On Hannity
2017-07-29 14:38:38 -0400
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I have a feeling Fox News will in fact move to hire Priebus at some point – he’s not that damaged and he’s a reliable cheerleader for the Right Wing and the GOP. This segment was indeed a “loyalty test” to see if he’d dish on what happened. He was a good soldier, which should warm the hearts of the guys at Fox News, and I have a feeling he’ll wind up as one of the easy go-to’s for the various talking heads shows they run – always ready with a supportive comment about Trump and the “good fight” the GOP is waging against the rest of us.
I have no tears for Priebus or for Sessions or for anyone else who signed up to be part of the abomination of the Pence White House. They knew what they were getting into, and they have conducted themselves like angry, spoiled children. Because of their behavior, we’ll be digging out from their vicious actions for the next decade or more.
I have no tears for Priebus or for Sessions or for anyone else who signed up to be part of the abomination of the Pence White House. They knew what they were getting into, and they have conducted themselves like angry, spoiled children. Because of their behavior, we’ll be digging out from their vicious actions for the next decade or more.
Kevin Koster commented on Reince Priebus: Repealing Obamacare Is Not Off The Table
2017-07-29 14:30:16 -0400
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Trump just made clear in his latest tweeting that he intends to pull the federal funding. Could be finished as quickly as next week, since the current funding was only set to go through the end of July.
Kevin Koster commented on Health Care Vote on 'Skinny Repeal' Bill - Open Thread
2017-07-30 13:06:00 -0400
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I honestly don’t think Barack Obama is laughing about this. The petty action about to be undertaken by the Pence White House will cause major problems for millions of people and destroy the ACA in one shot. President Obama wanted the GOP to work with the Dems in creating and then fixing and maintaining the ACA. This action will simply end it – and he knows they are doing this as a direct attack on him. I again urge people to not think that this situation is somehow a settled matter.
In a civilized situation, we’d have the Dems and GOP congresspeople sitting down and working out their differences and coming up with a compromise that could work for everyone. We’re not in that situation. The GOP does not negotiate with anyone but their Far Right Wing. Trump will apparently be announcing his action this week. It will be one of two options, from what I can see. The less likely option will be for him to announce he’s only approving the funding of the exchanges for a single further month and then that’s it, presumably to motivate the Senate to come back and pass a repeal bill of some form so it can go to conference with the House and then morph into as close to a full repeal as possible. The more likely option, given that Congress is leaving for their latest recess, is that he’ll simply defund the exchanges immediately and declare his victory. The ACA will continue to exist, but as an unfunded program that is ignored from this point forward.
In a civilized situation, we’d have the Dems and GOP congresspeople sitting down and working out their differences and coming up with a compromise that could work for everyone. We’re not in that situation. The GOP does not negotiate with anyone but their Far Right Wing. Trump will apparently be announcing his action this week. It will be one of two options, from what I can see. The less likely option will be for him to announce he’s only approving the funding of the exchanges for a single further month and then that’s it, presumably to motivate the Senate to come back and pass a repeal bill of some form so it can go to conference with the House and then morph into as close to a full repeal as possible. The more likely option, given that Congress is leaving for their latest recess, is that he’ll simply defund the exchanges immediately and declare his victory. The ACA will continue to exist, but as an unfunded program that is ignored from this point forward.
Kevin Koster commented on Health Insurance ‘Expert’ Herman Cain Calls GOP Objections To Trumpcare ‘Flimsy Excuses’
2017-07-26 17:48:40 -0400
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Okay, one more time: this debate among the Right has nothing to do with health care or health insurance. It never did. These guys don’t care about whether you can see a doctor or whether you can get treatment for any illness.
This has always been about getting rid of President Obama’s one major achievement in Congress before the Right Wing successfully obstructed everything else. And punching his supporters in the nose at the same time.
I submit that if the current crop of Right Wingers had been active in the 1930s or the 1960s, we would not have seen Social Security or Medicare survive. Because Right Wing governors would have refused to let those programs take hold in their states and Right Wing legislators would have obstructed them at every turn and starved them of funds until the programs could be portrayed as teetering. And then they would have advocated pulling those programs completely as unaffordable boondoggles. Hang on a second – that’s actually the notion they’re trying to pull on Social Security and Medicare right now…
This has always been about getting rid of President Obama’s one major achievement in Congress before the Right Wing successfully obstructed everything else. And punching his supporters in the nose at the same time.
I submit that if the current crop of Right Wingers had been active in the 1930s or the 1960s, we would not have seen Social Security or Medicare survive. Because Right Wing governors would have refused to let those programs take hold in their states and Right Wing legislators would have obstructed them at every turn and starved them of funds until the programs could be portrayed as teetering. And then they would have advocated pulling those programs completely as unaffordable boondoggles. Hang on a second – that’s actually the notion they’re trying to pull on Social Security and Medicare right now…
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Doesn't Want To Discuss Trump's Military Transgender Ban
2017-07-26 17:00:39 -0400
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Amusing first comment here, including a bigoted comment about Shepard Smith. But past that, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Pence White House would have Trump take this action. It’s intended as a distraction from everything else that’s going on, particularly the Senate’s continuing moves toward eliminating the ACA and giving Pence a big win before they break in mid-August.
It’s of course a hateful action, but again, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Pence White House would engage in hateful and vicious behavior. It’s what their base expects and loves, and it lines up with what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity want to encourage throughout the country.
And at this point, Fox News is doing its part to retroactively justify the hateful act.
It’s of course a hateful action, but again, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Pence White House would engage in hateful and vicious behavior. It’s what their base expects and loves, and it lines up with what Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity want to encourage throughout the country.
And at this point, Fox News is doing its part to retroactively justify the hateful act.
Kevin Koster commented on Tucker Carlson Ignored Healthcare Vote
2017-07-26 13:08:56 -0400
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I strongly recommend people not start celebrating while this matter is on the Senate floor. Just because one proposal was shot down does not mean the repeal isn’t going through. There will be multiple proposals brought up for votes, and there will be multiple opportunities for McConnell to sneak in an amendment that does what the Right Wing really wants here – namely to just repeal the ACA and get rid of it. If they can get that through with 50 votes, it’s over. And if McConnell needs to change the basic voting rules via amendment to make everything a 51 vote situation (meaning 50 plus President Pence), he’ll do it. These guys want a win very badly, and Pence will twist arms to make sure they get one.
And even if this somehow doesn’t go their way, keep your eyes open for Pence to simply pull the funding for the exchanges. That’s been their lurking threat since January. The only reason they haven’t used that option is that they want the Congress to take the blame and the hit. And it plays to their narrative that they’re somehow following the Constitution better than President Obama.
And even if this somehow doesn’t go their way, keep your eyes open for Pence to simply pull the funding for the exchanges. That’s been their lurking threat since January. The only reason they haven’t used that option is that they want the Congress to take the blame and the hit. And it plays to their narrative that they’re somehow following the Constitution better than President Obama.
Kevin Koster commented on Ann Coulter Runs To Her Safe Space On Fox News Over The Agony Of Losing Her Delta Seat
2017-07-19 03:55:58 -0400
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This is Coulter’s second major tantrum this year, and both show the same level of childishness and viciousness from her.
The first was her cranky behavior in Berkeley, when she was fraudulently booked for an appearance and refused to acknowledge that the campus was trying to fix the problem by offering her a legitimate venue on a more appropriate date and time. Her response was to demand that the campus and students cancel another event to make room for her – something that was never going to happen, as she well knew.
This time, she decided that her comfort mattered more than anything else, including the needs of other passengers or the airline.
Same basic perspective and same basic problem. Unfortunate for everyone else.
The first was her cranky behavior in Berkeley, when she was fraudulently booked for an appearance and refused to acknowledge that the campus was trying to fix the problem by offering her a legitimate venue on a more appropriate date and time. Her response was to demand that the campus and students cancel another event to make room for her – something that was never going to happen, as she well knew.
This time, she decided that her comfort mattered more than anything else, including the needs of other passengers or the airline.
Same basic perspective and same basic problem. Unfortunate for everyone else.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox’s Brit Hume Thinks Covering Pre-Existing Conditions ‘Defeats The Whole Idea Of Insurance’
2017-07-17 02:05:53 -0400
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Ellen is correct to note the completely tortured logic being used by Hume in this segment. And he didn’t figure that out on his own – it’s an old chestnut Right Wing talking point that Rush Limbaugh has been using for years. Only Limbaugh uses the home insurance analogy. As though a person who has a recurring medical condition is the same situation as a homeowner who wants to get a handout after they burn their house down. Again, we should remember that the Right Wing position in this matter is a consistent one – as far as the Right is concerned, it’s your problem to pay for your doctor bill. They don’t want to hear about it. If you have higher bills because you have bigger problems, then that’s your cross to bear. Maybe you should work a second or third job and deliver pizzas. (Of course, Hume says this while enjoying the rich health benefits of being a lifetime member of SAG-AFTRA and as a multi-millionaire) The Right Wing position is that there should never have been an ACA, because that’s just the government taking money away from the healthy to allow everyone else to steal an “entitlement” they don’t really need or deserve. Getting rid of the ACA is essentially just desserts for everyone from the Right Wing point of view, and if that action causes many to lose their belief that society can collectively act to help each other, that’s actually a major win for the Right, which would prefer the notion of every man for himself. Also known as Libertarianism.
But there were far nastier moments in Chris Wallace’s panel conclave today than Hume’s petty viciousness toward sick people. The saddest part of this is that the only truly non-Right voice I could see there was Dr. Emanuel (I wouldn’t count Julie Pace, who’s been repeatedly called out for accepting Right Wing canards as legitimate facts).
The panel included Michael Needham from the Far, Far Right Wing group Heritage Action – the very same group that inflicted the list of horrors Mike Pence is using in isolation for consideration for any Supreme Court vacancy that should arise. The very same group that concocted the current GOP ACA “replacement” plan. (It’s due to the Heritage Action fingerprints all over it that I’ve dubbed it the “Heritage Action Health Act” or HAHA for short…) Needham wasted no time in any subject trying to slip vicious lies into the discussion, hoping that he could get away with as many as possible, given that Dr. Emanuel would not likely know about them. (My favorite moment of this was when Needham threw in the debunked lie about Ted Kennedy supposedly trying to curry favor with Russians before the 1984 election – Emanuel looked completely confused at that reference and wasn’t able to immediately call Needham on the lie, so it just lay there unrefuted. For the record, Ted Kennedy did NOT do this, and the document the Right Wing wants to rely on for it has been completely discredited – Rush Limbaugh still tries to bring this one up from time to time, but it’s easily batted away by anyone who knows anything about it – and Emanuel was sadly not ready for that non-sequitor.)
Needham and Hume also openly lied about what is actually happening in the Senate with the efforts to get rid of the ACA. Hume tried to ply the line that actually the latest version of the bill (with Ted Cruz’ transparent attempt to skyrocket the premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions) is somehow getting “very close” to passing, which is the line that the Pence White House’s spokesman is frantically trying to push in his weekly address. Hume is ignoring the fact that with 2 GOP senators having already announced their opposition, there’s pressure about which of the other GOP holdouts will be the third one to say no, and thus be held responsible for the bill dying on the vine. It’s not about passing the bill – it’s about passing the buck. My money is on Dean Heller saying no first and then the dam breaking and another 5 or 6 GOP senators jumping ship. And that’s where Needham’s other lie kicks in. Needham tried to say that only 15 or 16 GOP senators would agree to sign on for a total repeal of the ACA. But he’s parsing it – he means for a bill that would have to get 60 votes, not something that could be rammed through reconciliation. (And the 60 vote threshold will be junked by McConnell as soon as he tires of needing to play these games – the only question is whether McConnell holds out for fear of falling victim to it himself after the 2018 midterms…)
After the Senate realizes it cannot pass the current bill and really cannot come up with a “replacement” that anyone can agree upon, we’ll be given the Repeal Only option, which is what most Hard Right congresspeople were pushing from the beginning. I particularly enjoyed the Rand Paul segment, where he announced his concept of a “replacement” actually consisting of just repealing the ACA and telling the consumers to exercise free choice in finding insurance. Paul’s idea continues to be to separate the “repeal” and “replace” sections so that the former can immediately pass and the latter can be bogged down in committee debates and tabled to infinity, just like Hillary Clinton’s health care idea from the mid-90s. As we’ve discussed, Paul has already built in the notion of saying that the “replace” section would just be a bunch of spending that would never fly with real conservatives, so that it should be left to RINOs and Dems “who always want to vote for big spending items anyway”. Meaning that Rand Paul would want to get rid of the ACA and then blame the Dems for not voting for an inadequate replacement that furthers the punishment.
I note that Dr. Emanuel tried to point out the fallacy in Brit Hume’s arguments, but in the absence of him having any time to point out the rest of the argument, it came across as whining rather than as a factual rebuttal. Which was, of course, Wallace’s real point.
But there were far nastier moments in Chris Wallace’s panel conclave today than Hume’s petty viciousness toward sick people. The saddest part of this is that the only truly non-Right voice I could see there was Dr. Emanuel (I wouldn’t count Julie Pace, who’s been repeatedly called out for accepting Right Wing canards as legitimate facts).
The panel included Michael Needham from the Far, Far Right Wing group Heritage Action – the very same group that inflicted the list of horrors Mike Pence is using in isolation for consideration for any Supreme Court vacancy that should arise. The very same group that concocted the current GOP ACA “replacement” plan. (It’s due to the Heritage Action fingerprints all over it that I’ve dubbed it the “Heritage Action Health Act” or HAHA for short…) Needham wasted no time in any subject trying to slip vicious lies into the discussion, hoping that he could get away with as many as possible, given that Dr. Emanuel would not likely know about them. (My favorite moment of this was when Needham threw in the debunked lie about Ted Kennedy supposedly trying to curry favor with Russians before the 1984 election – Emanuel looked completely confused at that reference and wasn’t able to immediately call Needham on the lie, so it just lay there unrefuted. For the record, Ted Kennedy did NOT do this, and the document the Right Wing wants to rely on for it has been completely discredited – Rush Limbaugh still tries to bring this one up from time to time, but it’s easily batted away by anyone who knows anything about it – and Emanuel was sadly not ready for that non-sequitor.)
Needham and Hume also openly lied about what is actually happening in the Senate with the efforts to get rid of the ACA. Hume tried to ply the line that actually the latest version of the bill (with Ted Cruz’ transparent attempt to skyrocket the premiums for patients with pre-existing conditions) is somehow getting “very close” to passing, which is the line that the Pence White House’s spokesman is frantically trying to push in his weekly address. Hume is ignoring the fact that with 2 GOP senators having already announced their opposition, there’s pressure about which of the other GOP holdouts will be the third one to say no, and thus be held responsible for the bill dying on the vine. It’s not about passing the bill – it’s about passing the buck. My money is on Dean Heller saying no first and then the dam breaking and another 5 or 6 GOP senators jumping ship. And that’s where Needham’s other lie kicks in. Needham tried to say that only 15 or 16 GOP senators would agree to sign on for a total repeal of the ACA. But he’s parsing it – he means for a bill that would have to get 60 votes, not something that could be rammed through reconciliation. (And the 60 vote threshold will be junked by McConnell as soon as he tires of needing to play these games – the only question is whether McConnell holds out for fear of falling victim to it himself after the 2018 midterms…)
After the Senate realizes it cannot pass the current bill and really cannot come up with a “replacement” that anyone can agree upon, we’ll be given the Repeal Only option, which is what most Hard Right congresspeople were pushing from the beginning. I particularly enjoyed the Rand Paul segment, where he announced his concept of a “replacement” actually consisting of just repealing the ACA and telling the consumers to exercise free choice in finding insurance. Paul’s idea continues to be to separate the “repeal” and “replace” sections so that the former can immediately pass and the latter can be bogged down in committee debates and tabled to infinity, just like Hillary Clinton’s health care idea from the mid-90s. As we’ve discussed, Paul has already built in the notion of saying that the “replace” section would just be a bunch of spending that would never fly with real conservatives, so that it should be left to RINOs and Dems “who always want to vote for big spending items anyway”. Meaning that Rand Paul would want to get rid of the ACA and then blame the Dems for not voting for an inadequate replacement that furthers the punishment.
I note that Dr. Emanuel tried to point out the fallacy in Brit Hume’s arguments, but in the absence of him having any time to point out the rest of the argument, it came across as whining rather than as a factual rebuttal. Which was, of course, Wallace’s real point.
Kevin Koster commented on Eric Bolling Deflects: We Should Be Blaming Obama For Russiagate
2017-07-16 19:03:15 -0400
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Yet another temper tantrum from Bolling, who’s clearly still smarting from not being given Bill O’Reilly’s show and from being left in the afternoon hour while the rest of The Five were able to transition to prime time.
News flash for Bolling: President Obama did not cause this meeting to occur. The evidence shows that the Trump campaign enthusiastically attended it to hear any dirt they could get on Clinton.
Bolling is trying to push the discredited notion that somehow reporting the truth about the corruption of the Trump group is a sign of “collusion” between “The Left” and “The Media”. He apparently doesn’t know what actual Left Wing media is, since we’ve never seen him actually talk to anyone from the Left, such as Amy Goodman, Dean Baker, Larry Bensky or Sonali Kolhatkar. He’s also neatly reversing the facts. It’s not that there’s some conspiracy in the mainstream media to invent the fumbling we’ve seen from the Pence White House – it’s that the Right Wing is desperately trying to distract everyone from the coverage of what has actually been happening. And in the forefront of this panic at the media are Right Wing outlets like Fox News and AM Radio.
Interesting to hear a lecture about “sore losers” from a man who bristled at both Obama victories in 2008 and 2012, and who repeatedly did anything he could to undermine that presidency for the entire 8 years.
Also interesting to hear how Hillary Clinton “overwhelmingly lost” the election, when she in fact won the popular vote by 3 million votes. It’s true that Trump squeaked by in the swing states, and it’s true that several million Obama voters in those states chose to stay home rather than vote, but there has been no real mandate for the Pence White House, which continues to be historically unpopular and which refuses to do anything to reach out to the rest of the country.
When the history is written about this particular epoch, it will be quite harsh about the behavior of the Pence White House and even harsher about the behavior of its lackies in the Right Wing media, even the lower-level ones like Bolling.
News flash for Bolling: President Obama did not cause this meeting to occur. The evidence shows that the Trump campaign enthusiastically attended it to hear any dirt they could get on Clinton.
Bolling is trying to push the discredited notion that somehow reporting the truth about the corruption of the Trump group is a sign of “collusion” between “The Left” and “The Media”. He apparently doesn’t know what actual Left Wing media is, since we’ve never seen him actually talk to anyone from the Left, such as Amy Goodman, Dean Baker, Larry Bensky or Sonali Kolhatkar. He’s also neatly reversing the facts. It’s not that there’s some conspiracy in the mainstream media to invent the fumbling we’ve seen from the Pence White House – it’s that the Right Wing is desperately trying to distract everyone from the coverage of what has actually been happening. And in the forefront of this panic at the media are Right Wing outlets like Fox News and AM Radio.
Interesting to hear a lecture about “sore losers” from a man who bristled at both Obama victories in 2008 and 2012, and who repeatedly did anything he could to undermine that presidency for the entire 8 years.
Also interesting to hear how Hillary Clinton “overwhelmingly lost” the election, when she in fact won the popular vote by 3 million votes. It’s true that Trump squeaked by in the swing states, and it’s true that several million Obama voters in those states chose to stay home rather than vote, but there has been no real mandate for the Pence White House, which continues to be historically unpopular and which refuses to do anything to reach out to the rest of the country.
When the history is written about this particular epoch, it will be quite harsh about the behavior of the Pence White House and even harsher about the behavior of its lackies in the Right Wing media, even the lower-level ones like Bolling.
Kevin Koster commented on Jesse Watters: Let’s Make People On Food Stamps Build The Border Wall
2017-07-14 15:01:06 -0400
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This kind of viciousness is to be expected from Watters, as is the ineffectual reaction from Juan Williams, who has sadly become the new Alan Colmes for the network. His presence on the Five has become almost unwatchable, because he’s shouted down at every turn, sneered at for nearly every statement he makes, and is treated like the idiot nephew everyone has to tolerate.
The actual idea that Watters and the Right are discussing is a serious threat – and they mean it. If the Right can maintain or increase their standings in both Houses next year, I guarantee something like this will be passed through for signature by the Pence White House. They’re not kidding. If they can both express this level of hatred for Mexico (and the Dems) and simultaneously attack everyone outside of their sandbox by taking away funding from Food Stamps, etc, that’s a big win for them. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with women’s health or whether low-income people can afford to eat. These guys don’t care about that. This is about punching the Dems in the nose and having a good time while doing it. Future historians will view this period quite harshly (similar to how we can see the despicable nature of those who tried to maintain and defend slavery up to the Civil War), but people like Jesse Watters figure that they’ll have Fox News around at that time to try to cover it up.
The actual idea that Watters and the Right are discussing is a serious threat – and they mean it. If the Right can maintain or increase their standings in both Houses next year, I guarantee something like this will be passed through for signature by the Pence White House. They’re not kidding. If they can both express this level of hatred for Mexico (and the Dems) and simultaneously attack everyone outside of their sandbox by taking away funding from Food Stamps, etc, that’s a big win for them. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with women’s health or whether low-income people can afford to eat. These guys don’t care about that. This is about punching the Dems in the nose and having a good time while doing it. Future historians will view this period quite harshly (similar to how we can see the despicable nature of those who tried to maintain and defend slavery up to the Civil War), but people like Jesse Watters figure that they’ll have Fox News around at that time to try to cover it up.
Kevin Koster commented on Sean Hannity Pretends To Care About ‘You, The American People’ As He Demands GOP Take Away Health Insurance From Millions
2017-07-14 14:50:42 -0400
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Let’s be open about what Hannity is actually advocating here. His goal isn’t to replace the ACA – it’s to get rid of it. He’s coming from the same place as Rush Limbaugh and the Pence White House – just repeal the ACA and worry about how to replace it later, if ever. And that’s almost certainly what will be happening this summer.
Hannity and his associates on the Far Right are not interested in whether someone in Tacoma or Toledo can get to see a doctor. As far as the Right is concerned, that’s your problem, not theirs. They don’t want to hear about it.
What the Right is actually going for here is the cherry on top of their sundae – the scrapping of the only remaining vestige of the presidency of Barack Obama outside of his two appointments to the Supreme Court. After they get the straight repeal to Pence’s desk and Trump dutifully signs it, the Right will throw a party that will make the Rose Garden affair over the House bill look like a quiet nod. Repealing the ACA means that they can retroactively declare the Obama Presidency the complete failure they’ve been labelling it for years – and I guarantee that Hannity will be ready with his show-length special attacking President Obama as a failure the moment this thing gets signed.
The current Senate bill looks almost certain to fail, since they can’t get to 50 votes with what they have. Which is why McConnell will go with the Rand Paul idea of just repealing and putting off the effective date – which will still kill the ACA just as dead within a couple of months. McConnell cancelled the first half of the August recess specifically to give himself time to generate the straight repeal once the current bill fails next week. There will be a momentary breath of relief from the Dems, but that will be short-lived once they see what’s coming next.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this happening – the only surprise here is that they didn’t just do this in January. But one supposes they wanted to play a line about how they were trying to work with the Dems. Even while the Right has repeatedly bragged that they don’t need a single Dem vote to do anything in either House – it’s only when the Right can’t get their people together that their failures are suddenly the fault of the Dems.
BTW – I also note that the Right’s whining about the appointments and nominees completely ignores how the Right obstructed FAR more nominees from both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, specifically so they could try to pull maneuvers like this. For the last couple of years of the Obama presidency, almost nobody got through – because the Right was hoping to completely stymie the Dems and then get all those appointments for themselves. Obviously, the most infamous example of this behavior was the Right’s refusal to even acknowledge that Merrick Garland had been properly nominated to the Supreme Court for over a year. The Right does not get to rewrite this history.
Hannity and his associates on the Far Right are not interested in whether someone in Tacoma or Toledo can get to see a doctor. As far as the Right is concerned, that’s your problem, not theirs. They don’t want to hear about it.
What the Right is actually going for here is the cherry on top of their sundae – the scrapping of the only remaining vestige of the presidency of Barack Obama outside of his two appointments to the Supreme Court. After they get the straight repeal to Pence’s desk and Trump dutifully signs it, the Right will throw a party that will make the Rose Garden affair over the House bill look like a quiet nod. Repealing the ACA means that they can retroactively declare the Obama Presidency the complete failure they’ve been labelling it for years – and I guarantee that Hannity will be ready with his show-length special attacking President Obama as a failure the moment this thing gets signed.
The current Senate bill looks almost certain to fail, since they can’t get to 50 votes with what they have. Which is why McConnell will go with the Rand Paul idea of just repealing and putting off the effective date – which will still kill the ACA just as dead within a couple of months. McConnell cancelled the first half of the August recess specifically to give himself time to generate the straight repeal once the current bill fails next week. There will be a momentary breath of relief from the Dems, but that will be short-lived once they see what’s coming next.
We shouldn’t be surprised at this happening – the only surprise here is that they didn’t just do this in January. But one supposes they wanted to play a line about how they were trying to work with the Dems. Even while the Right has repeatedly bragged that they don’t need a single Dem vote to do anything in either House – it’s only when the Right can’t get their people together that their failures are suddenly the fault of the Dems.
BTW – I also note that the Right’s whining about the appointments and nominees completely ignores how the Right obstructed FAR more nominees from both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, specifically so they could try to pull maneuvers like this. For the last couple of years of the Obama presidency, almost nobody got through – because the Right was hoping to completely stymie the Dems and then get all those appointments for themselves. Obviously, the most infamous example of this behavior was the Right’s refusal to even acknowledge that Merrick Garland had been properly nominated to the Supreme Court for over a year. The Right does not get to rewrite this history.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Reporter Suggests Trump Jr.’s Meeting With Russian Lawyer Was A Democratic Plot
2017-07-10 01:39:00 -0400
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Reince Priebus looked a lot like Nathan Thurm when he was interviewed today on this. He was visibly sweating and nervous, and his answers didn’t make sense. He tried the tactic of saying “I really don’t know anything about this meeting” and then went into a bunch of what he hoped would be harmless details, like how long it was, when it took place, who was there and what they talked about.
Unfazed by all the contradictions in his account, he then went on to try to say this idea would somehow backfire on the Dems because Circa News says so. Which would be spit-take funny if viewers knew anything about Circa News and its primary reporter Sara Carter.
Sara Carter is infamous for her false and misleading reporting on the matter of former Border Patrol agents Ramos & Compean, who were properly convicted and sentenced for their attempted murder of a fleeing suspect, who Ramos shot in the rear end. (And there was the matter of the guys trying to cover up the shooting…) Carter made a name for herself in Right Wing media with that canard, even after it was thoroughly debunked, because the Hard Right loved the narrative she was telling, and its true purpose. (She was painting the felons as heroes of the Border, and was trying to defend a practice that would essentially turn the Border into a far more dangerous badland than it already is.) These days, Carter peddles whatever conspiracy theories the Hard Right wants to hear for Circa, which is why Sean Hannity keeps putting her on his show. While the rest of the world is watching the mess of the Pence White House and its various entanglements with Russia, Carter keeps pushing any thread she can find that might be about Hillary Clinton or Loretta Lynch.
So to be clear, Circa News is not a legitimate news source. It is a partisan attack group that is trying to establish an alternative narrative, something they’re really going to need after the Pence White House is sent packing.
Unfazed by all the contradictions in his account, he then went on to try to say this idea would somehow backfire on the Dems because Circa News says so. Which would be spit-take funny if viewers knew anything about Circa News and its primary reporter Sara Carter.
Sara Carter is infamous for her false and misleading reporting on the matter of former Border Patrol agents Ramos & Compean, who were properly convicted and sentenced for their attempted murder of a fleeing suspect, who Ramos shot in the rear end. (And there was the matter of the guys trying to cover up the shooting…) Carter made a name for herself in Right Wing media with that canard, even after it was thoroughly debunked, because the Hard Right loved the narrative she was telling, and its true purpose. (She was painting the felons as heroes of the Border, and was trying to defend a practice that would essentially turn the Border into a far more dangerous badland than it already is.) These days, Carter peddles whatever conspiracy theories the Hard Right wants to hear for Circa, which is why Sean Hannity keeps putting her on his show. While the rest of the world is watching the mess of the Pence White House and its various entanglements with Russia, Carter keeps pushing any thread she can find that might be about Hillary Clinton or Loretta Lynch.
So to be clear, Circa News is not a legitimate news source. It is a partisan attack group that is trying to establish an alternative narrative, something they’re really going to need after the Pence White House is sent packing.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox News Hatriotism: Trump And Putin At G-20 Edition
2017-07-09 15:09:22 -0400
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Interesting to hear all this hatred toward the Dems for voicing appropriate criticism of the behavior of the Pence White House and its chief spokesman on Twitter. As I recall, during President Obama’s terms, Fox News regularly featured psychological and personal judgments about everyone in the Obama administration. This included Keith Ablow, but also multiple panelists on O’Reilly’s shows, and multiple panelists on other shows, all referring to President Obama as being “weak”. (The purpose of that was to tie him to the Right Wing perception of Jimmy Carter as a weak and ineffectual man)
Throughout President Obama’s terms, Fox News repeatedly attacked him for every single thing he said and did, with the only exception being the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. (Of course, Rush Limbaugh made a point of continuing his attacks on Obama even then, with a sarcastically overblown description about how President Obama must have done the whole operation by himself…)
The Far Right viciously resented that President Obama was more respected around the world than George W Bush or his enforcer, Dick Cheney. (I note that there are outstanding warrants for their arrest should they appear in various European cities, which is why we don’t hear about them travelling overseas anymore.) Obama did not go on an “apology tour”, much as the Right would like to paint it that way. He went on a series of visits to foreign countries who were appropriately concerned about the warmongering and torture that the W White House had engaged in over the prior few years. Obama’s discussions with those countries led to a breath of relief from the world, restored a lot of our credibility and obviously led directly to the Nobel commission giving that prize to him.
I find it interesting that Hegseth and McCain think they can make their viciousness and hatred somehow look reasoned if they holdsa pen in his hand while stating outright lies. (Hannity does this as well, and I have to believe it’s based on some kind of polling that showed their viewers think the speaker has more intelligence if they hold a pen and might be taking notes…) Hegseth and the Right’s resentment of President Obama being given the Nobel Peace Prize is pretty obvious here. They simply cannot stand that a President they hated was actually popular around the world and actually did work to restore our credibility and integrity after the disaster of the W years. I note that the “millions dead” were not a result of President Obama restoring our credibility and working with the rest of the world, but were instead a result of the massive regional destabilization caused by W’s foolhardy invasion of Iraq and his bumbling behavior in Afghanistan – both of which stemmed from decades of wrong-headed foreign policy going back to Ronald Reagan’s unfortunate adventures in the area. Hegseth clearly doesn’t understand this, but the situation is not that most people have turned on the Pence White House “because he takes a different perspective that the American people elected him to take.” The situation is that most people in America and around the world have been taken aback by the immaturity of Donald Trump, by his inability to do a job he said he wanted to do, and by the Pence White House’s clear and vicious isolationism. And Hegseth doesn’t get to rewrite the history on the election – the majority of the American people did not vote for this – it was a sliver of voters in the swing states that Pence was able to win by gaming the election and depressing millions of Dem votes.
Ellen is correct to note that it’s bizarre to hear these people trying to play the “I don’t care what you say anyway” game, when they’re spending this whole segment trying to attack Dick Durbin. If they didn’t care, they’d just ignore it.
McCain’s screed of course ignores that President Obama took multiple steps and made multiple statements regarding Russian behavior throughout his presidency. He worked at all levels to deal with Putin’s actions, and also to engage with the Russians (something that McCain clearly doesn’t understand, as it would require a much greater level of complexity than she appears capable of handling.) But McCain shows her hand when she openly supports Trump’s isolationism and xenophobia, and then says that “we are going to completely undo the legacy of the last eight years”. Because that’s the actual intent here – to erase the presidency of Barack Obama. Funny to hear McCain try to talk with a moral tone about the Left and Russia – one has to wonder if she’s ever actually heard anything from the actual Left in this country, such as Pacifica Radio and Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now.
McCain also lies about President Obama “arming the Middle East” as her way of getting around the fact that Trump’s vicious statements about American media were made while he was in Europe. (And that’s yet another embarrassment on top of the multitude of others we have endured from the Pence White House…) Hegseth gets into a weird lie about how Donald Trump was just criticizing the press for their coverage and how Trump wasn’t saying anything about other politicians. Which forgets how Trump was attacking President Obama, and how Trump and his people regularly continue to attack Hillary Clinton even today.
Interesting that McCain is full of righteous indignation about President Obama correctly noting how out of line the W administration had been in encouraging torture and warmaking and in demanding fealty from the rest of the world while it did so. She seems to have some kind of fixation on the word “arrogance.” Here’s a news flash for her – President Obama was addressing very real behavior problems and very real arrogance that we saw from the W White House and now from the Pence White House. If she doesn’t want to hear anyone call the Right on their “arrogance”, it would help to not show arrogance. Same thing applies about racism. If they don’t want to be called out for racism, then don’t say racist things.
Kennedy’s last statement is a marvel of hypocrisy. She claims the media and Dem politicians never criticized President Obama’s foreign policies – but that’s blatantly untrue. President Obama was regularly and roundly criticized, and not just from Fox News and AM Radio where there was an obvious agenda to obstruct and dismiss him. But while Kennedy is making this statement, she’s forgetting that the Right Wing press demanded allegiance and obedience from everyone else to W and now to Trump, because they wanted to support their home team. The only real criticism I saw from the Right of the W presidency was that they wanted him to pardon Ramos & Compean so they could encourage more Border Patrol agents to shoot border crossers. But when it came to bread and butter issues, we were repeatedly told by these people – “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists!” Kennedy shows a lot of gall in trying to ignore and rewrite this history. (On the other hand, Kennedy’s own documented prior demonstrations of her ignorance may explain this…)
Finally, it’s interesting to hear these guys trying to talk up Trump’s vicious partisan rally in Poland as though it were an example of historical scholarship. McCain’s final comment about how the Left is somehow “hysterical” is bizarre in and of itself. Would she prefer that we simply note that Donald Trump regularly acts like a small child (as she herself noted during the campaign) and note that this is a dangerous notion when that person is ostensibly in charge of our military?
Throughout President Obama’s terms, Fox News repeatedly attacked him for every single thing he said and did, with the only exception being the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. (Of course, Rush Limbaugh made a point of continuing his attacks on Obama even then, with a sarcastically overblown description about how President Obama must have done the whole operation by himself…)
The Far Right viciously resented that President Obama was more respected around the world than George W Bush or his enforcer, Dick Cheney. (I note that there are outstanding warrants for their arrest should they appear in various European cities, which is why we don’t hear about them travelling overseas anymore.) Obama did not go on an “apology tour”, much as the Right would like to paint it that way. He went on a series of visits to foreign countries who were appropriately concerned about the warmongering and torture that the W White House had engaged in over the prior few years. Obama’s discussions with those countries led to a breath of relief from the world, restored a lot of our credibility and obviously led directly to the Nobel commission giving that prize to him.
I find it interesting that Hegseth and McCain think they can make their viciousness and hatred somehow look reasoned if they holdsa pen in his hand while stating outright lies. (Hannity does this as well, and I have to believe it’s based on some kind of polling that showed their viewers think the speaker has more intelligence if they hold a pen and might be taking notes…) Hegseth and the Right’s resentment of President Obama being given the Nobel Peace Prize is pretty obvious here. They simply cannot stand that a President they hated was actually popular around the world and actually did work to restore our credibility and integrity after the disaster of the W years. I note that the “millions dead” were not a result of President Obama restoring our credibility and working with the rest of the world, but were instead a result of the massive regional destabilization caused by W’s foolhardy invasion of Iraq and his bumbling behavior in Afghanistan – both of which stemmed from decades of wrong-headed foreign policy going back to Ronald Reagan’s unfortunate adventures in the area. Hegseth clearly doesn’t understand this, but the situation is not that most people have turned on the Pence White House “because he takes a different perspective that the American people elected him to take.” The situation is that most people in America and around the world have been taken aback by the immaturity of Donald Trump, by his inability to do a job he said he wanted to do, and by the Pence White House’s clear and vicious isolationism. And Hegseth doesn’t get to rewrite the history on the election – the majority of the American people did not vote for this – it was a sliver of voters in the swing states that Pence was able to win by gaming the election and depressing millions of Dem votes.
Ellen is correct to note that it’s bizarre to hear these people trying to play the “I don’t care what you say anyway” game, when they’re spending this whole segment trying to attack Dick Durbin. If they didn’t care, they’d just ignore it.
McCain’s screed of course ignores that President Obama took multiple steps and made multiple statements regarding Russian behavior throughout his presidency. He worked at all levels to deal with Putin’s actions, and also to engage with the Russians (something that McCain clearly doesn’t understand, as it would require a much greater level of complexity than she appears capable of handling.) But McCain shows her hand when she openly supports Trump’s isolationism and xenophobia, and then says that “we are going to completely undo the legacy of the last eight years”. Because that’s the actual intent here – to erase the presidency of Barack Obama. Funny to hear McCain try to talk with a moral tone about the Left and Russia – one has to wonder if she’s ever actually heard anything from the actual Left in this country, such as Pacifica Radio and Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now.
McCain also lies about President Obama “arming the Middle East” as her way of getting around the fact that Trump’s vicious statements about American media were made while he was in Europe. (And that’s yet another embarrassment on top of the multitude of others we have endured from the Pence White House…) Hegseth gets into a weird lie about how Donald Trump was just criticizing the press for their coverage and how Trump wasn’t saying anything about other politicians. Which forgets how Trump was attacking President Obama, and how Trump and his people regularly continue to attack Hillary Clinton even today.
Interesting that McCain is full of righteous indignation about President Obama correctly noting how out of line the W administration had been in encouraging torture and warmaking and in demanding fealty from the rest of the world while it did so. She seems to have some kind of fixation on the word “arrogance.” Here’s a news flash for her – President Obama was addressing very real behavior problems and very real arrogance that we saw from the W White House and now from the Pence White House. If she doesn’t want to hear anyone call the Right on their “arrogance”, it would help to not show arrogance. Same thing applies about racism. If they don’t want to be called out for racism, then don’t say racist things.
Kennedy’s last statement is a marvel of hypocrisy. She claims the media and Dem politicians never criticized President Obama’s foreign policies – but that’s blatantly untrue. President Obama was regularly and roundly criticized, and not just from Fox News and AM Radio where there was an obvious agenda to obstruct and dismiss him. But while Kennedy is making this statement, she’s forgetting that the Right Wing press demanded allegiance and obedience from everyone else to W and now to Trump, because they wanted to support their home team. The only real criticism I saw from the Right of the W presidency was that they wanted him to pardon Ramos & Compean so they could encourage more Border Patrol agents to shoot border crossers. But when it came to bread and butter issues, we were repeatedly told by these people – “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists!” Kennedy shows a lot of gall in trying to ignore and rewrite this history. (On the other hand, Kennedy’s own documented prior demonstrations of her ignorance may explain this…)
Finally, it’s interesting to hear these guys trying to talk up Trump’s vicious partisan rally in Poland as though it were an example of historical scholarship. McCain’s final comment about how the Left is somehow “hysterical” is bizarre in and of itself. Would she prefer that we simply note that Donald Trump regularly acts like a small child (as she herself noted during the campaign) and note that this is a dangerous notion when that person is ostensibly in charge of our military?
Kevin Koster commented on After Trump Dissed U.S. In Poland, Pence Claims He Showed ‘Unapologetic American Leadership’
2017-07-09 14:13:26 -0400
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We should keep in mind the reality of what happened in Poland, not the cheerleading that Fox News and AM Radio would like to do.
The reality is that the Pence White House’s public spokesman once again embarrassed himself, this time with a rambling, pedantic set of remarks that served just to aggrandize himself and further his obsession with trying to bully his critics and insult President Obama. The audience at this speech was a group of Far Right supporters of the Polish regime and of US Far Right notions, so it’s no surprise that they were eagerly applauding and chanting his name. Essentially, the Polish regime just gave Trump a rally like he’d get in Texas. Probably made him feel right at home.
The reality of the Pence White House’s approach to foreign affairs is that we’ve managed to alienate the rest of the world – in a manner that may take decades to undo the damage. Where before the US was looked to as a nation the world could depend on for leadership in multiple areas, now the world is retreating from America and charting their own course, since Trump has made clear that Pence has little interest in working with them. This isn’t completely a bad thing – it’s healthier for other nations to find their own path and not worry about our behavior, and in the long run it means that the balance of global relations will be more even. But in the short term, one really wonders how the next president in 2021 will be able to convince Angela Merkel or any other foreign leader that the commitments we make will be honored in the future. This is precisely the mess that Tom Cotton was trying to make with his treasonous letter to Iran a couple of years ago, when the GOP was frantically trying to scuttle Kerry’s work there. The behavior of the Pence White House is essentially a continuation of the Cotton letter – it tells the rest of the world that they can’t depend on the US to live up to its obligations, and that other nations should expect that the American Right will petulantly walk away from any commitments we make that they don’t feel like honoring.
I note that this situation is also reflected in the Pence White House’s domestic policy, which is entirely driven by their obsession with erasing everything accomplished by President Obama’s administration over 8 years. We can see it in Pence’s shameful approach to foreign refugees, who are once again being threatened by the Muslim ban, thus reinforcing the notion that America is no longer receptive to “your poor, your tired, your huddled masses”, but instead would like slam the door on their fingers. We can see it in Pence’s continuing attempts to create a racist, hateful wall on the Mexican border, and in Trump’s continuing attempts to bully the Mexican people about it – including the fantasy that he can force the Mexicans to fund it. We can see it in Pence’s steady increase in pressure on undocumented immigrants, particularly those who enrolled in the DACA program. After another president takes off and tries to undo this damage, it’s hard to see how the DACA enrollees will ever trust a US president again – since any program can simply be erased by the next president on a whim, and the enrollees’ information can be used as a weapon to deport them. (And this is really a big point of the Pence approach here – where President Obama tried to bring these people out of the shadows and into some kind of normalcy, the Pence group is intent on chasing them out of the light. Because in addition to feeding the Right’s hatred of Mexican immigrants, it really helps the various businesses who employ them – if the immigrants are constantly scared of being deported and are living with one eye over their shoulder, they’ll work for much lower wages and much worse conditions. So it’s a win-win.)
And there’s the whole healthcare debacle – where insurers properly do not believe that Pence will honor the various subsidies and supports that President Obama instituted for the ACA. Since Pence’s spokesman keeps yelling that the ACA is “dead”, the insurers are doing what they must to protect their own bottom line – they’re backing away from it. The situation was already tenuous enough with so many GOP governors and state legislators refusing to participate and thus making their own residents’ lives more difficult. With the Pence White House refusing to subsidize the insurers (as we predicted Pence would do), what little coverage was available in many red states has now been reduced to a tiny amount, if anything. It’s been a self-fulfilling prophecy, intended to help buttress Trump’s constant whining about “victims of Obamacare” and about how it’s “failed”. After the Senate proceeds to a simple repeal of the ACA (which I understand can be quickly confirmed by the House and sent to Pence’s desk for signature), we’ll re-enter the scenario where tens of millions cannot afford healthcare and wind up in the emergency rooms when their situations become dire. Just like the immigrants and the refugees and the rest of the world, the insurers and medical providers will be extremely wary of any further government programs in the future. And that’s the point for the Far Right.
The reality is that the Pence White House’s public spokesman once again embarrassed himself, this time with a rambling, pedantic set of remarks that served just to aggrandize himself and further his obsession with trying to bully his critics and insult President Obama. The audience at this speech was a group of Far Right supporters of the Polish regime and of US Far Right notions, so it’s no surprise that they were eagerly applauding and chanting his name. Essentially, the Polish regime just gave Trump a rally like he’d get in Texas. Probably made him feel right at home.
The reality of the Pence White House’s approach to foreign affairs is that we’ve managed to alienate the rest of the world – in a manner that may take decades to undo the damage. Where before the US was looked to as a nation the world could depend on for leadership in multiple areas, now the world is retreating from America and charting their own course, since Trump has made clear that Pence has little interest in working with them. This isn’t completely a bad thing – it’s healthier for other nations to find their own path and not worry about our behavior, and in the long run it means that the balance of global relations will be more even. But in the short term, one really wonders how the next president in 2021 will be able to convince Angela Merkel or any other foreign leader that the commitments we make will be honored in the future. This is precisely the mess that Tom Cotton was trying to make with his treasonous letter to Iran a couple of years ago, when the GOP was frantically trying to scuttle Kerry’s work there. The behavior of the Pence White House is essentially a continuation of the Cotton letter – it tells the rest of the world that they can’t depend on the US to live up to its obligations, and that other nations should expect that the American Right will petulantly walk away from any commitments we make that they don’t feel like honoring.
I note that this situation is also reflected in the Pence White House’s domestic policy, which is entirely driven by their obsession with erasing everything accomplished by President Obama’s administration over 8 years. We can see it in Pence’s shameful approach to foreign refugees, who are once again being threatened by the Muslim ban, thus reinforcing the notion that America is no longer receptive to “your poor, your tired, your huddled masses”, but instead would like slam the door on their fingers. We can see it in Pence’s continuing attempts to create a racist, hateful wall on the Mexican border, and in Trump’s continuing attempts to bully the Mexican people about it – including the fantasy that he can force the Mexicans to fund it. We can see it in Pence’s steady increase in pressure on undocumented immigrants, particularly those who enrolled in the DACA program. After another president takes off and tries to undo this damage, it’s hard to see how the DACA enrollees will ever trust a US president again – since any program can simply be erased by the next president on a whim, and the enrollees’ information can be used as a weapon to deport them. (And this is really a big point of the Pence approach here – where President Obama tried to bring these people out of the shadows and into some kind of normalcy, the Pence group is intent on chasing them out of the light. Because in addition to feeding the Right’s hatred of Mexican immigrants, it really helps the various businesses who employ them – if the immigrants are constantly scared of being deported and are living with one eye over their shoulder, they’ll work for much lower wages and much worse conditions. So it’s a win-win.)
And there’s the whole healthcare debacle – where insurers properly do not believe that Pence will honor the various subsidies and supports that President Obama instituted for the ACA. Since Pence’s spokesman keeps yelling that the ACA is “dead”, the insurers are doing what they must to protect their own bottom line – they’re backing away from it. The situation was already tenuous enough with so many GOP governors and state legislators refusing to participate and thus making their own residents’ lives more difficult. With the Pence White House refusing to subsidize the insurers (as we predicted Pence would do), what little coverage was available in many red states has now been reduced to a tiny amount, if anything. It’s been a self-fulfilling prophecy, intended to help buttress Trump’s constant whining about “victims of Obamacare” and about how it’s “failed”. After the Senate proceeds to a simple repeal of the ACA (which I understand can be quickly confirmed by the House and sent to Pence’s desk for signature), we’ll re-enter the scenario where tens of millions cannot afford healthcare and wind up in the emergency rooms when their situations become dire. Just like the immigrants and the refugees and the rest of the world, the insurers and medical providers will be extremely wary of any further government programs in the future. And that’s the point for the Far Right.
Kevin Koster commented on Dana Loesch Plays The Victim Over Criticism Of Her Hate-filled, Inflammatory NRA Ad
2017-07-06 03:28:26 -0400
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Loesch has made a career out of encouraging hatred and viciousness, and Fox News has promoted her campaigns without any problems. Loesch has also made a habit out of trying to bully other speakers on Fox News, sometimes to embarrassing effect. I honestly don’t know what set her off, but she seems to delight in indulging in a mean streak whenever confronted with someone who disagrees with her.
And she could do everyone a favor by being honest about this ad. She was not doing an ad for a Peace Corps-like organization. She was shilling for the NRA, and yes, she was advocating violence. Just as Hannity has been trying to get Right Wingers to do a full Tantaros and just punch Obama supporters in the face. If we want to really look at her statement, she wasn’t trying to fight violence with truth. She was encouraging her listeners to fight truth with violence.
If she had any sense of human decency, she would apologize to the nation for her offensive behavior. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Like Ann Coulter, she profits from that behavior.
And she could do everyone a favor by being honest about this ad. She was not doing an ad for a Peace Corps-like organization. She was shilling for the NRA, and yes, she was advocating violence. Just as Hannity has been trying to get Right Wingers to do a full Tantaros and just punch Obama supporters in the face. If we want to really look at her statement, she wasn’t trying to fight violence with truth. She was encouraging her listeners to fight truth with violence.
If she had any sense of human decency, she would apologize to the nation for her offensive behavior. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Like Ann Coulter, she profits from that behavior.
Kevin Koster commented on Fox Host: People Worried About Losing Obamacare Probably Shouldn’t Have Had It In The First Place
2017-06-29 15:50:37 -0400
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Kennedy’s vicious comments here are best understood in the context of how the Right Wing (and thus Fox News and AM Radio) see this issue.
In short, the Right Wing has never believed that healthcare is anyone’s problem but the person who seeks treatment. You need to see a doctor? Fine, go to the doctor. You can’t afford the doctor’s price? Fine, save your own money up til you can afford it. You still can’t afford it? Try the Emergency Room if they’ll take you. Still not getting help? Well, then, that’s your problem, isn’t it?
The last thing the Right Wing ever wanted to see was a situation where anyone in the country would have to pay a single dime for someone else to get medical treatment. At the same time, the Right Wing has never wanted a situation where we had anything like Medicare or Social Security either – which is why they regularly attack those programs as “entitlements” – a term meant to denigrate anyone who uses them as freeloaders who don’t deserve them.
Once the GOP settles on just repealing the ACA and putting off the discussion of how to replace it, you’ll see a LOT more of this argument on Fox News as a way to explain how the ACA was a bad idea in the first place and we’re better off without it.
In short, the Right Wing has never believed that healthcare is anyone’s problem but the person who seeks treatment. You need to see a doctor? Fine, go to the doctor. You can’t afford the doctor’s price? Fine, save your own money up til you can afford it. You still can’t afford it? Try the Emergency Room if they’ll take you. Still not getting help? Well, then, that’s your problem, isn’t it?
The last thing the Right Wing ever wanted to see was a situation where anyone in the country would have to pay a single dime for someone else to get medical treatment. At the same time, the Right Wing has never wanted a situation where we had anything like Medicare or Social Security either – which is why they regularly attack those programs as “entitlements” – a term meant to denigrate anyone who uses them as freeloaders who don’t deserve them.
Once the GOP settles on just repealing the ACA and putting off the discussion of how to replace it, you’ll see a LOT more of this argument on Fox News as a way to explain how the ACA was a bad idea in the first place and we’re better off without it.