Wednesday Night Video – Ezra Klein on Joe Biden

On Saturday, my brother emailed regarding his latest wish.

MATTHEW’S BROTHER: I would be happy if Joe Biden was named Vice-President for life. I really would.

My brother also sent an email linking to the following clip of Ezra Klein guest hosting The Last Word. I like how Klein divides his time talking about Biden-the-entertainer and Biden-the-negotiator. But why does it look to me like Klein borrowed his dad’s suit to be on the TV?

Monday Night Video – Belated Happy Birthday, The Rachel Maddow Show!

It’s difficult for actual activist progressives to get a show on the teevee. MSNBC kind of backed into backing progressives when the sports guy they hired, Keith Olbermann, turned out to be critical of George Bush. Who knew? It was back when the traditional media was trying to cover for Bush, so Olbermann got a lot of attention for speaking out. I still think of him more as an outraged moderate than an activist progressive. Like Jon Stewart, Olbermann was prompted to start pillorying conservatives when they turned away from all common sense.

But Rachel Maddow is a bona fide progressive, for whom the cause has always come first, before sports or comedy…although humor is one of her strengths. You can see it in this short clip of Ed Schultz congratulating her on her show starting its fifth year. (It debuted on September 8, 2008.) Sure, Schultz’s Eastwood impression isn’t that great, but who cares, as Maddow makes it fun to talk about politics and fight for what’s right.

Thanks to Maddow and new pundits like Chris Hayes and Melissa Harris-Perry, there’s an actual liberal media out there.


SEE ALSO
ThinkWing Radio with Mike Honig: Rachel Maddow Masterpiece Theater: She schools the Koch Bros. [VIDEO]
Quai Franklin Radio: GOP Adds War on Voting to Party Platform – Rachel Maddow – Air Date 8-21-12

The Daily Show on Joe Scarborough’s Outraged Defense of Elitism

Reason #253 why MSNBC is not a left-leaning partisan alternative to the far-right political activism of Fox Republican News, is that MSNBC allows the establishment conservative Joe Scarborough to host more hours on their network than anyone else. Could you imagine Fox allowing an establishment liberal like Chris Matthews to host their morning show?

It’s part of a fairly common media double standard against progressives, one which Scarborough embraces wholeheartedly when he attacks The New York Times for reporting on Mitt Romney’s opulent homes, in their “Home” section. The Daily Show played clips of an outraged Scarborough wanting to know when the Times had ever applied the same standard to John Kerry.

SCARBOROUGH: Did the New York Times ever dispatch reporters to John Kerry’s homes — because John Kerry’s worth a lot more money, obviously, than Mitt Romney…

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Melissa Harris-Perry on Money in Politics

Over the weekend, The Melissa Harris-Perry Show looked at the issue of money in politics. Harris-Perry was joined by “youth engagement consultant” Jessy Tolkan, Politico’s Abby Phillip, columnist Mona Eltahawy, and former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer.

Roemer, who was running in the Republican presidential primary and is now running for the Americans Elect and Reform Party nominations, was first out of the gate:

We ought to know where the money’s coming from — full disclosure — and we ought to be concerned when it comes in overwhelming amounts from a few special interests. Washington DC is not just broken, in my opinion, it’s bought.

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John Cusack on Due Process

Yes, John Cusack. He was on the Howard Stern Show last week (on Wednesday 4/18) and besides talking about his film career and dodging questions about women he’s dated, he and Howard wound up talking about politics. On all the subjects, Cusack came across as a down-to-earth and sensible kind of fellow.

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Chris Hayes Reveals Romney’s Actual Record on Working Moms

Chris Hayes demonstrates what a real liberal media looks like when he doesn’t fall for the hokum that Mitt and Ann Romney are somehow suddenly standing up for the rights and dignity of mothers who choose to stay at home in order to raise their children. How is Hayes different than, say, the good folk at CNN? For starters, he examines Romney’s actual record on the issue.

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Melissa Harris-Perry on Mad Men

I’m excited by the return of Mad Men but not enough to have stayed up late, so my review of the season premiere should post later in the day. Or maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, take a look at some more Melissa Harris-Perry, as she and her panel discuss the AMC show. My worlds collide!

Mad Men

Mad Men (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Sunday Night Video – Melissa Harris-Perry Details the Trayvon Martin Case

As one would expect, Melissa Harris-Perry’s show today provided some excellent details when looking at the current state of the Trayvon Martin murder aftermath. Anti-racist activist Tim Wise is particularly eloquent as he asks us to remember the big picture and how this is part of a wide pattern of anti-black bias.

HARRIS-PERRY: I keep asking myself, how do police officers arrive on a scene and see an armed man and see a dead unarmed man and make no arrest…

Thursday Night Video – Ed Schultz Points Out How Reagan Was the Real Big Government Spender

The smart thing for governments to do in bad times is to spend more, to generate (yes) a stimulus effect on the economy when private companies are unable (or, in our current case, unwilling) to do so. Big Eddie points out that in previous recessions, such as the one faced by Ronald Reagan, Democrats and Republicans came together to do so. Now? Not so much. Government spending rose under President Reagan but has gone down under President Obama.


SEE ALSO
Back on the Block: The Difference Between Private and Public Morality
The Lefty Gazette: Robert Reich on rising gas prices: ‘This is not about supply and demand…’

Sunday Night Video – Melissa Harris-Perry on the President Obama / Professor Bell Controversy

On her MSNBC show yesterday, Melissa Harris-Perry addressed what she correctly called a “manufactured controversy” that has “erupted around an extraordinary legal scholar.” As Harris-Perry points out,

Professor [Derrick] Bell spent his career questioning and critiquing the institutional racism that infects America’s legal structures.

I definitely agree with Harris-Perry that the Fox and their friends are attacking President Obama for being around black people.

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Four Praises for Rachel Maddow

Why do I love Rachel Maddow? Let me count the ways…

English: Rachel Maddow in Seattle.

Image via Wikipedia

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Rachel Maddow and the Language of Lefty Politics

The left (and sensible centrists) have been appropriately outraged over the rape facilitation legislation that various Republican state legislatures have take up of late.
Anti-abortion bills. Rachel Maddow took a look at this issue yesterday and her segment made me wonder why the Democrats aren’t better at messaging. Trans-vaginal or not, these ultrasounds are medically unnecessary elements of the Republicans attempt at social engineering. Why not call them out for forced medical experimentation, and make them address the issue of medical necessity?

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