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There They Go Again!
Talking heads continue to bash the First Lady, threaten to shut down government -- and blame the Clintons, of course!
by The Editors
Sunday, August 8, 1999 -- New York -- They just can't let go, can they?
The Sunday pundits continued to light into Hillary Clinton for her interview in Talk magazine. The nonstop blather about the interview had us asking whether Condé Nast slipped a little "largesse" to the Washington big-mouths.
The self-important "opinion elite" also discussed the doomed GOP tax cut legislation -- and the possibility that it could result in another government shutdown. Are they trying to "float a balloon" for their GOP pals?
Judge for yourself. Here's today's pap:
Fox News Sunday
Armey Falls Flat
Tony Snow is on vacation. Lucky dog -- he didn't have to put up with Wall Street Journal loudmouth Paul Gigot, who took Brit Hume's place on the panel as Brit played host.
Topic one: the tax cut Clinton promises to veto. Brit spelled out the details of the cut with graphics as a "promotional" ploy -- as if they even have a chance of passing. The guest: Rep. Dick Armey.
Dick said public sentiment was for these cuts. He must not be listening to most Americans, who want Social Security and Medicare taken care of. He tried to sound hopeful, saying the President signed welfare reform after twice vetoing it -- but somehow neglected to mention that the GOP had to gut their plans to starve kids and deprive poor families of all help.
Dick also claimed that if Clinton wanted to support Al Gore, he might always change sides. You wish, Dick! More likely, Clinton and Gore will cudgel the GOP with this issue and the GOP will put their failed shutdown strategy into reruns.
Armey was, as is his wont when appearing with the Sabbath blowhards, all spin and no substance. And the Fox panel kept feeding him softballs like "…will you take less than $792 billion" rather than substantial questions such as "You used to be the party of fiscal discipline -- what about ending the national debt?" The closest we heard was Mara asking Armey about spending the surplus on "emergency spending."
Armey tried the spin of "government that is effective and more cost-effective" -- which was pure hypocrisy when you consider that the GOP is wasting the surplus and not doing anything that positively affect people.
And Juan Williams confronted Armey on the GOP having no issues. The best that Armey could do is say that tax cuts and "returning education to the community and parents" were their issues.
Funny, but education already IS in the hands of communities and parents.
Brit finished by asking about a DeLay comment that he would negotiate with "Clinton on his knees." And Armey backpedaled from this position, trying to sound like a compromiser.
Truth is, Armey's weak performance made the GOP sound compromised!
Commercials: Mead-Johnson, First Union, Morningstar Farms, and the NFL on Fox.
Jack Lew from the White House budget office was the second guest -- and he said that the President could support a $250 billion tax cut -- IF Social Security, Medicare, the environment, defense and commitments abroad are covered. He called the GOP budget a "cynical charade… you [CAN'T] make 50% cuts in programs in 3 years," and the spending the GOP wants will lead to more borrowing and higher interest.
Lew was talking tougher than Armey, whose vague platitudes sounded just plain pointless -- and Lew was motormouthing far faster than Armey, who had seemed a few cups of coffee short of full consciousness.
Lew attacked the GOP for "economic quicksand" -- cuts in programs that help people, including farm supports. Wow -- now that there's a massive drought in the Northeast, we're actually hearing references to agriculture policy on the pundit shows! Not even ADM can stop it!
Lew pushed a "tax cut for working Americans" -- and Gigot asked Lew if $500 billion is too high. Lew said yes -- it would drain money from needed programs and the plan to kill the debt.
Gigot: "We're not fighting Hitler or Tojo. What justifies this spending" which he claimed was the highest since WWII. Lew talked about programs -- and here he did poorly. He should have cited Ronald "Red Ink" Reagan's don't tax-but-spend-America-into-massive-debt policy instead.
Lew also should have taken more time on a point he made about real taxes and the fact that low national debt means lower interest. His point: 1% of a $100,000 a year mortgage is $800 for thirty years. Thirty!
Now stop and think, readers -- do the ultra-rich need another tax giveback now, or do we need the discipline to eliminate the debt, lower interest rates, and make homes and living expenses affordable for the average Jane and Joe?
Spots (all local): Toyota, Rita's Gelati, Strauss Discount Auto, the Cancun Tourist Board, Monroe College.
Toe-sucker Dick Morris and feminist attorney Susan Estrich were the next two guests (introduced with the theme from "The Odd Couple"). Brit first asked Susan, in his inimitably snide way, about Hillary Clinton's poll numbers having gone up as a result of her Talk magazine interview. Estrich was not surprised; Morris claimed that with the Talk interview, "she has regained her victimhood." Morris knows about victimhood -- as does his wife, we're sure. And Estrich exploded Morris's spin -- and said that she is such a strong candidate that the GOP is not allowing Rudy to be challenged in a primary!
Morris tried to make much hay about Hillary taking a "high visibility" vacation and talking about "still sleeping" with her husband -- and Brit tried to continue psychoanalyzing the Clintons!!
You know, if Brit and company are people who "despise" psychobabble so much, you have to wonder just why they engage in so much of it.
Morris made the claim that the President had used his campaign war chest to hire private detectives -- and there should be a law against it. Right, Dick -- as if dirt-digging alcoholic billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife and others didn't do the same thing, but with at least 100 times the budget. As if some GOP presidential wannabes aren't doing the same thing to each other! And Estrich said that if someone is making claims against a candidate, they should have the right to hire detectives and investigate -- and rebut vigorously.
Brit made much of Pataki's "strong statement" supporting Rudy Giuliani for the New York Senate -- but not a word about the fact that Pataki was pressured by the national GOP leadership and key Congressional republicans to do so. Morris talked as if Hillary were not going to run in the end -- and said Rudy would likely drop out "after Hillary does." Estrich said that Hillary will run -- and "Rudy will have a wonderful time." Dick predicted that "Rudy would have a great time as Senator for the rest of his life."
We say Rudy does not have a ghost of a chance -- and that his own warehouse of skeletons will start pouring out of the closet in a matter of weeks.
Spots: Gateway, Fox shows, a local spot for Sandals and a couple we missed. No sign of GE on Fox, though!
David Yepsen of Fox News was the final guest, talking about the Iowa Straw Poll -- a so-called important GOP "litmus test" in which individuals pay to vote. What an appropriate way for the GOP to begin their horse race -- with a "pay to play" vote. Yepsen did not say one word about this -- instead handicapping the horse race (Alexander and Dole having a lot to lose) and talking about the opportunity GOPers had to engage in "fed bashing" and "a world of hurt in rural America."
Mara asked the magic question: has a straw poll ever determined a nominee? No, said Yepsen.
Well, of course not! These "straw polls" bear no resemblance to the broader opinions of the nation -- especially corporate contributors! And Mara pressed the point that it's money that matters -- but without naming BushBaby.
Gigot said that he'd heard the Bauer was planning to stage a surprise and organizing support in the churches. Well, that's no surprise -- you don't think he's going to organize in the boardrooms of ADM or GE, where he is considered a laughingstock!
The roundtable was a bore -- a little talk about the tax cut bill (Mara and Paul both said they did not think it would pass, and sounded crestfallen) was followed by some spin on Tom Daschle's calling for all GOPers, including BushBaby, to come clean about the cocaine allegations.
Brit made light of Buchanan's answer (no pot, no coke, and maybe to Jack Daniel's), and Mara said he'll have to answer. Juan Williams said that other GOPers are likely to go after BushBaby on "using or dealing it."
Dealing it -- now that got a visible rise out of Gigot, who said that BushBaby should have gotten the matter behind him last year. Brit (making us wonder what he knows) asked the panel what might happen if a specific charge comes to the fore, and Mara (again, what does she know) speculated on what would happen if a member of the press asked BushBaby if he used heroin.
Talk turned to Pataki getting behind Rudy. Gigot said that GOPers are putting aside their suicidal tendencies -- and sees the hand of BushBaby in this. But we can tell you that the orders came from the top of the GOP -- who have had it with the big egos, petty infighting, and interloping has-beens like Al D'Amato undermining the party's influence in the biggest and most politically important East Coast state.
Mara said there has been quite a lot of thought about this on Pataki's part (we're sure he gave plenty of thought about doing the endorsement in such a way as not to appear he was eating crow and swallowing his pride simultaneously, even though he looked visibly uncomfortable doing it), and Juan mentioned Al D'Amato's having said that he "likes" Rudy -- which Juan called a lie!
This Weak
Invasion of the New York Has-Beens!
Cokie can't get off Hillary's case!
Cokie started the first segment with a sound bite of Lucinda Franks, the author of the recent Talk magazine interview with Mrs. Clinton, making an emphatic comment about "the president's sexual dysfunction."
It was a sickening, cheap and swinish attempt to further humiliate the First Lady. Cokie also claimed that the revelation that Hillary has Jewish relatives "hit the New York press like a bang."
Fact is, it did not. The New York Times and Daily News practically ignored it. It did hit the race-baiting New York Post and went off the radar a day later, only to return among the back-stabbing pundit blabfests Sunday morning.
George Will asked once-interesting writer and full-time Hillary-basher Jimmy Breslin, who now sounds like the bitter, washed-up and marginally relevant whiner he has become, about Hillary; the obnoxious, boorish Breslin characterized her as a "part-Jewish Yankee fan." Cokie asked ex-Mayor Ed Koch -- who was so awful as "judge" on the mindless syndicated "reality" program The People's Court that he has been tossed off the bench by the series' producers -- about Hillary's "Jewishness," characterizing the Clintons as "rednecks."
But he did mention that Rudy Giuliani's first marriage was to a second cousin! Okay -- at least Ed's an equal-opportunity basher.
We will spare you the remaining details of the segment.
Suffice it to say that ABC is intent on avoiding actual issues in the upcoming New York Senate race, and is focused on damaging the Clintons. Otherwise, they would not have allowed the migraine-suffering and migraine-inducing Will and the bitter Miss Roberts -- whose sewing circle of Georgetown biddies is still smarting and griping over the failure of Congress to send those interloper Clintons back to Arkansas -- to waste our time with has-beens Breslin and Koch.
Spots for Merrill Lynch and GE preceded Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who appeared primarily to lie repeatedly about his party's pathetic attempt at tax cuts. He called John Podesta's criticism of the tax givebacks "typical of the White House" and "lies" -- this despite the fact that the White House is able to support every one of their arguments with empirical statistics, facts and numbers -- often straight out of the GOP-controlled Congressional Budget Office! Lott went off on an uninterrupted two-minute tirade, slamming the inevitable Clinton veto and lying over and over again about the bill "helps" Americans.
Right, Trent -- more than half the tax givebacks go to the 2.5% of Americans in the highest income bracket.
Cokie said, "It looks like you're headed for a train wreck… another government shutdown." This spin point had cropped up on other Sunday shows -- shadow House Speaker Tom DeLay is planning just that, and the Pundits are already sharpening their shivs to side with the GOP.
We say go ahead, Tom -- it will cost you your job as Speaker… er, Majority Whip. And go ahead, pundits -- you'll only marginalize yourselves even more!
Will preferred wonkspeak to bashing with Lott, talking defense spending and "emergency" spending that we can tell you really isn't. Funny how Will doesn't ask Lott about GOPers about breaking their OWN caps! He did ask about the possibility of shutting down the government, though, using the same "train wreck" comment Cokie used.
Throughout the interview, Lott tried to sound like he was on the offensive, but there was a slippery, defensive tone in his voice. And he sounded bitter recounting that Reagan was blamed for shutdowns in the 80s -- and now Congress is in the 90s!
Well, Trent, maybe it's because you can't fool all of the people all of the time -- and the truth hurts. We feel your pain.
Cokie asked Trent about the call for BushBaby to "tell all" about cocaine use -- and Trent, bottom-feeder that he is, said the same should be asked of Clinton as he decried "trash-mouth" politics.
What a sterling hypocrite. We could remind readers that Lott has never come completely clean about his ties to the white-supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, or persistent rumors concerning his sexuality -- but we wouldn't stoop that low, now, would we?
Spots -- Pfizer (Bob Dole on blue pills), T. Rowe Price ("Give us your Social Security money to exploit!") and ABC "News" shows (20/20) -- preceded Lawrence Summers, the new Secretary of the Treasury. Cokie played a sound bite of Rep. O.J.... oops., make that J.C. Watts (R-OK) claiming that there was an "overcharging" of the people.
Summers came out hard and strong -- saying we must pay down the debt while protecting Social Security, Medicare, education and the environment, and "we can have… the right kind of targeted tax cut." Cokie brought up Alan Greenspan's comment that he's for tax cuts if the alternative is spending -- and Summers discussed options that would fund programs. Cokie brought up the "lock box" on Social Security funds -- but, like her pundit colleagues, never asked about the loopholes in the lockbox. Nor, unfortunately, did Summers comment on them.
George Will uncharacteristically made the GOP look bad, asking Summers about whether the anticipated $14 billion surplus next year wasn't already spent!
There was more wonk talk, most of which just rehashed the White House v Congress debate. But Cokie asked a very interesting question about the possibility of a Federal bond buyback. Her spin -- it would have a negative effect on the bond market. Summers' point -- it would lower interest rates (i.e., make American life more affordable), and issuance of fewer bonds would also be a factor that would positively impact all markets.
Spots: GE, Janus, and a slew of local spots.
The over-long roundtable was duller than usual -- with item one the possibility of a Jerry Springer candidacy in Ohio. George Stephanopoulos and Bill Kristol joined Cokie and Will in making even this subject sound boring. Steph compared Springer to Reagan (Springer was a mayor at one time).
Will said that Reagan was underestimated as a union leader -- yeah, George, a union leader who sold out his union to Nazi Joe McCarthy.
Cokie celebrated Springer for "talking straight" -- and we were rolling on the floor! Most people who are familiar with Springer know his "straight talk" is usually attached to topics such as "My wife is a transsexual," "My dad has a thing for farm animals," and "My ho's ho is a ho, you ho!"
There was some comparison of Springer to Jesse Ventura, the argument being that the electorate is weary of professional politicians -- this from a program that contributes to the disgust over pols by allowing the likes of Trent Lott an opportunity to spin week after week.
We actually think some pundit show producers are hoping for the likes of Springer to run -- because they know it will help their ratings. Every time they get Gov. Ventura on as a guest, up go the ratings.
Speculation about the outcome of the Iowa straw poll had us reaching for the No-Doz -- until Cokie brought up Gary Bauer's attack on BushBaby for not addressing questions about drug use. And Bill Kristol -- the man who has been orchestrating much of the attack on Bill Clinton's conduct and morals, of all people -- decried trash mouth politics, claimed Bush was faithful to his wife, and said talk of Bush's drinking was a private matter.
Kristol, your hypocrisy makes Trent Lott look like a decent guy -- and we all know he's a stealth segregationist thug!
Face the Nation
Go Ventura!
...That's all we can say for today's no-Bob Schieffer Face the Nation. Even if you don't agree with many of his views, you've just gotta love Ventura's intensity and directness in how he doesn't play the media game.
The first guests were Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Gloria Borger asked Charlie Rangel if the tax bill is dead this year.
Rangel said perhaps, and pointed out that this bill only passed by one vote in the Senate. He added that it's clear "that the Republicans never intended to have a tax cut bill. What they wanted was a campaign Christmas tree list… knowing that it was going to be vetoed…. It was done in the middle of the night, rushed to get votes in the House and the Senate, and then they decided, instead of giving it to the President to review and study, that they are going to campaign on it. So it really was a gift to Chairman McConnell as he raises funds for the Republicans throughout the country."
Gloria wanted to know if Sen. McConnell thinks Republicans and Democrats can get together on some compromise regarding Medicare, prescription drugs and tax cut.
 Separated at birth: Mitch McConnell, and... (click here) |
The only viable option for us was to tune out and take a break from this nonsense.
Gloria then said that "the House Republican leaders are loading up all of these spending bills with their own priorities, essentially asking the President to veto them, so you get in a kind of a game of chicken, which could lead to a government shutdown. Are we going to be headed for this?" McConnell basically said they are not backing away from it.
Gloria asked Rangel if New York Governor Pataki's endorsement of Giuliani on Friday will make life a little bit more difficult for Mrs. Clinton.
Rangel said no, and that if the race is between Giuliani and Hillary, there will be more excitement. And in a state like New York, more people voting always benefits the Democrats.
McConnell claims it's "going to be a unified Republican Party in New York -- that's the Democrats' worst nightmare."
Gloria asked him if Rick Lazio is going to get in this race. McConnell said he hopes not and that the Governor has made it clear he wants to support the mayor. But Rangel told the real story, that Republicans are putting a lot of pressure on Lazio who has a tremendous support upstate with Republicans, and that Lazio said he's not getting out.
Gloria showed a clip of the President and Mrs. Clinton doing "damage control" because of her "controversial" comments in Talk magazine. Of course, imagine if they would leave that alone. She asked McConnell if this interview was a mistake.
Sen. McConnell now came with the most ludicrous comment we've heard so far on this – and believe us, it's a tough competition there. His words: "I don't remember back in the '70s Mrs. Nixon saying Richard Nixon was involved in Watergate because he wet the bed when he was 4 or 5 years old [Gloria was laughing in the background]. I mean, this is utterly absurd, this kind of psychobabble that is put out as an excuse for everything that goes wrong. I mean, that's a traditional kind of liberal approach. I don't think people are going to buy it."
What is utterly absurd, Mitch, is to keep listening to your visceral hatred. So much for Family Values -- coming from those who insist in putting Hillary down for staying in her marriage. But, wait… of course, the GOP's expertise is in divorce!
After this, it was a great relief to listen to both Charlie Rangel's and Jesse Ventura's replies to Gloria as she kept bringing up the same ridiculous subject.
As she continued with this, in commenting on Rangel's quote in Talk, she went beyond his original meaning and asked him if what he was saying was that President Clinton wanted Hillary to run for the Senate to save his marriage!
Come on, Gloria, even you can do better than that.
Rangel put her in her place by saying no, he doesn't know anything about how to save marriages, and that we've heard enough of the Clintons' marriage, we don't want to hear about it anymore. "Let's deal with substantive issues."
Amen.
Ads: Charles Schwab, Pfizer, Canon.
The next guest was Gov. Jesse Ventura (Reform -MN). He clarified that he never said he wanted to run for President. "That's totally media created…. If the media doesn't have a story, they'll create one. And that's what they did there."
Gloria insisted: "What if there is a 'Draft Jesse' movement?"
His reply: "I enlisted in the Navy. They never drafted me into the military either…. It's got to be volunteer."
Gloria kept at it: what about the VP position? He said he would only do that if Gen. Colin Powell runs for President.
Gloria again! "So there's nobody else you would run with then?"
No, Gloria, no.
She then asked him about other Reform Party candidates. Ventura believes it's far too early for all of this and that "by this time next summer, we're going to be so sick of hearing about the Republican and Democratic candidates, that… a solid third-party candidate could come in and do extremely well in these elections."
Gloria asked him regarding talk about Perot and Buchanan getting together against Ventura's "wing" of the Reform Party.
Ventura said he heard nothing about that. "First of all I don't have a 'wing' of the Reform Party. We are all one party." He believes they need a new candidate other than Perot. As for Buchanan, he is still a Republican, so this "is strictly media speculation." Besides, he's not "necessarily a good fit because Pat Buchanan puts social issues on the front burner. We in the Reform Party do not…. We're more into the normal political government issues."
What are the burning issues? asked Gloria.
Ventura: "Campaign finance reform is huge. We at the Reform Party don't accept any PAC money. We don't accept special interest money. Pat Buchanan would have to do likewise if he joins the Reform Party -- not accept that money."
We were roaring with laughter.
Ventura didn't let up: "I think that's a huge issue because you have the buying and the selling of our political people today through campaign finance…. All through the Lewinsky thing, the media focuses on an affair, when at the same time you've got the Democratic and the Republican parties accepting money from communist China. And yet that gets on the 5th or the 6th page of the paper? Had I been on the military with a top secret security clearance, you would be talking to me from Portsmouth Naval Prison right now. That's treason."
Next, Gloria seemed to push him too far. And the exchange became juicier. And Ventura does what we'd like everyone to do when asked manipulatively irrelevant questions in these Pap shows. She tried to go slowly on him by using his own words as an opening, but he didn't bite the bait.
Gloria: "As long as you mentioned the Lewinsky matter, you have given me a segue to talk a little bit about something that's been big news… this week." And in a derogatory way she commented, of course, on Hillary who "has finally spoken out about her husband's infidelity" and implied that his childhood "in some way explains his behavior. How do you respond to that?"
Ventura: "I don't respond to it because that's the President and the First Lady's personal business and it's none of my business."
Gloria (stammering, in disbelief probably): "So, you have, how do you, you don't have any reaction to that at all?"
Ventura: "No, it doesn't concern me. I govern the state of Minnesota and the President is still the President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief of our military and I look at him from that aspect. His personal life doesn't matter to me."
Wait, didn't it use to matter to him not too long ago? As much as we liked his answer, we wonder -- why the switch?
Gloria asked him if the surplus is really going to materialize. Ventura said he doesn't go by projections and that it's a very dangerous thing to do.
He's backing down again? And now from his openly supporting tax cuts?
Gloria now tried to get him in one of those absurd (no) cause-and-effect inferences: "You criticized Bill Clinton for sort of demeaning his office given the Lewinsky matter. You have come under a great deal of criticism for going back in the ring."
Ventura: "Why?"
We laughed.
He went on to say that if he were a former NBA player and came back to referee a game, he would not be given the same type of criticism.
Gloria retorted that it's a little bit different. At which he charged like a motor mouth -- and concluded by saying that "just because you've got a bunch of highbrows that want to pretend that it's demeaning… why should that matter at all on my job….?"
Gloria interrupted: "What if you like wrestling more than governing, though?"
Is it the absence of Bob Schieffer that has caused such unmanageable stress, Gloria?? Give it a rest! And give us a break!
Ventura: "I don't…. What I choose to do on my own time is my business and nobody else's."
And, for the second time, amen!
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Gloria asked the next guest, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), member of the Select Intelligence Committee, about Osama bin Laden.
Sen. Hatch said that we've done a pretty good job on counter terrorism, but a nation as free as ours can never be totally devoid of vulnerability. And that bin Laden has been held in check. He commended the Administration and the FBI, saying that they have done a very good job in this area.
Jim Stewart, CBS News Correspondent, asked him what bin Laden has now in terms of resources.
Sen. Hatch said that he has the resources to penetrate the U.S. and there are a number of wealthy Arabs who are funding him. "Ultimately we're going to get him and ultimately we're going to make an example of a person who literally is causing death all over the world, or at least trying to cause death."
Gloria: "Are we going to try and kill him?"
Hatch: "I can't comment on that. All I can say is that the CIA, FBI and others are right on top of it. We know where he is. We basically know what his activities are. And we've just got to stay ever alert because he does have the finances, he does have some support around the world that literally can cause him to penetrate our country as well as others. And American citizens can be endangered. So this menace has got to end some day. And I think we'll find some way of doing that."
Stewart asked if bin Laden is the leader of terrorists or just inspiring these people.
Sen. Hatch said he's not the only terrorist in the world. He's one of the wealthiest and one of the most respected by those in terrorism. But there are others as well, and fanatical people who think they are doing Allah's will, some of which are downright hardhearted criminals.
Gloria asked him about, oh no, not again, the Chinese espionage.
It was interesting to see Sen. Hatch now scrambling to do a complete 180 and vehemently criticize the Administration after just having commended it highly.
Hatch: "On contrast to the kind of terrorism efforts of this Administration, the kind of intelligence efforts have been abysmal. And frankly there hasn't been leadership from the top or in many respects with regard to counter intelligence."
And we turned off as he went on with the usual "China scandal" spin, into which this time he included the Vice President! Of course.
We'll leave it up to the reader to extract the obvious motives for presidential candidate Hatch's contradictory positions.
The McLaugh-In Grope
a.k.a. The McLaughlin Group
Day of the Iguana
Issue One -- "You talk too much!" -- a slam at Hillary Clinton, of course. By the way, Mrs. Clinton succeeded in doing nothing less than moving her poll numbers up -- not down, as McLaughlin inferred by his stupid opening which referred to her interview in Talk magazine. Which is "harder to swallow": Grandma made him do it, or the vast right wing conspiracy, asked moron McLaughlin.
John Fund, the Iguana-like wimp behind the "murder" of Vince Foster with his hateful and dishonest Op-Ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal that drove the Clintons' friend to suicide, was a McLaugh-In Group groper this week. Fund finds himself on talk television more often these days as he casts off his moniker of "journalist" and adopts his real persona -- as weasel for the hard-right wing of the GOP.
McLaughlin has become such a piece of homo sapiens garbage that he thinks that just because Hillary said the grandma taught him to read -- and now said the grandma caused Bill a trauma -- that Hillary is inconsistent. Eleanor Clift put John straight on this point.
Tony Blankley, who we had a lot of respect for before today, began to uncharacteristically bash Hillary Clinton. McLaughlin then said the Jews won't vote for her -- which is also a lie -- and followed it up by out and out saying that Hillary is "a better liar" than her husband.
Poor, poor John. He may not like Hillary's rationale -- but that's just plain tough, ain't it?!
McLaughlin said that Hillary "parses her words" with "obvious" lying intended. He said this because she told a reporter that she did not tell Talk magazine that Bill was a victim of child abuse.
Next McLaughlin shifted to Jew bashing -- by putting down Hillary for revealing that her grandmother was married to a Jew after her first husband died.
It's true, it's fine -- but its pandering said the weasel Fund.
The rest wasn't worth reporting -- except that Fund got into an iguana... er, cat fight with Eleanor, and she was the most masculine- - winning the tiff , paws down.
McLaughlin then turned to General Wesley Clark. It was the only way he could work in an international relations issue this week -- his pet subject because he knows nothing about domestic politics, something he proves time and time again). And, truth be told, he knows little about international relations as well -- but few Americans are prepared to call him on his idiotic comments on foreign policy.
McLaughlin is either steamed about Clark's removal or angry at Clark's recklessness -- because Clark ordered an attack against the Russians at Kristina Airfield! General Michael Jackson refused to take the order and told Clark that he wasn't going to start WW III for Clark.
McLaughlin wanted to know if Clark is capable to have ordered the bombing of the Chinese Embassy. John Fund -- who knows nothing about war, let alone the military -- ducked the question and talked instead about Macedonia out of thin air -- comments which McLaughlin ignored. Clarence Page, the only Black journalist McLaughlin parades in his stupid Group, wondered why the White House is punishing Clark this much.
McLaughlin said, "Clark is a military psycho!"
The entire APJ media room erupted in laughter. I wonder if he'd say that to Clark's face! Clift said, "Look, he's not a psycho...." -- probably thinking to herself, "Look who's talking, mad King John...."
Blankley said he thinks Clark is cool. McLaughlin sticks to his guns: "Clark is evil, with saturation bombing not called for."
The ten year 792 billion tax cut -- over ten years (funny how the pundits seem to sweep this key point under the rug) -- was next. McLaughlin wanted to know whether Congress ignoring the Clinton veto is a sign that Clinton is getting weaker. Now that was funny! McLaughlin must be out of his skull. Of course the President will veto -- and Congress will not be able to override it. McLaughlin thinks that Congress will get a tax cut by passing a smaller tax cut next.
Global warming!!! John brings up world terrorism under this banner! Osama Bin Laden is the target -- and we like that target. But McLaughlin asked if the U.S. brought this on itself.
What?
He then accused the United States of bombing a "poor little" pharmaceutical plant and bombing Iraq too much, and claimed Bill Clinton has created a world in which all Americans are at maximum risk. John Fund said he thinks that the Chamber of Commerce should handle foreign policy and that we should close up most of our embassies. Did we tell you he was a iguana? Or is it a weasel -- a moronic weasel at that?
Eat That Mess!
The Girls Cat It Up with Tim
Were you wondering whether Tim Russert is going to gang up on Hillary Clinton right out of the chute this morning?
Well, let's see....
Prior to Eat That Mess airing, the editors voted that Mrs. Clinton would be the last story of the day so Russert and his panel could ALL bash her.
His issues at the top of the broadcast:
the GOP passes their tax bill -- is there any chance for compromise?
the First Lady talks; White House spin control kicks into high gear; why did Hillary decide to speak out?
Lucinda Franks and Gail Sheehy along with Andrea Mitchell would "cat it up" with Timmy. Now remember, Andrea Mitchell is the gal married to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- and who almost daily mocks the President with ex-crack-addict Don Imus. maybe it's just "irrational exuberance." How fair will she be to Hillary Clinton today?
John Podesta -- the Murgatroyd to Russert's Marmaduke -- discussed why the GOP tax cut is bad, bad, bad. He talked first about how the "tax cut" bill would result in cuts to meals on wheels, other safety net programs for the poor and put the social security and medicare programs at risk. Podesta said he and the Administration are looking for common ground and mentioned the prescription drug benefit which the giant pharma companies have been lobbying against viciously for the past few months.
Tom DeLay, the House Majority Dunce Supreme, said in an interview last week, "We will negotiate with the President on his knees!"
Yes, we say -- picking up DeLay's teeth for him!
What DeLay wants to do is spend money RIGHT OUT OF the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for a tax cut not needed by the majority of Americans.
We are for a no tax bill on families of four who earn less than $37,500.
Russert then began flogging the dead horse of Chinese "espionage" -- a topic no one else is talking about it. "Will heads roll at the highest levels of the Clinton Administration for not moving fast enough:?" Russert, of course, forgot to say that the bipartisan committee on Chinese espionage said that there was absolutely no political interference causing these security breaches. Remember, Russert practically had an erection some weeks back claiming the President must have laid out a garden path for Chinese spies to get hold of our so-called secrets.
Tim then asked Podesta about Talk magazine -- a topic which is really none of Podesta's business. Podesta should have said "no comment." He said the interview was about her goals and commitments and it was not a political strategy as some claim.
Then Russert moved on to REPUBLICAN Judge Susan Webber Wright's wholly political ruling charging the President $90 thousand dollars for contempt of court, lying, and obstruction of justice -- none of which he did. Clinton will pay the fine. What he is doing is accepting responsibility for whatever the American people thinks he did. Podesta would not say that the President "accepts" the decision that he lied under oath. Of course not, Russert!!! He will pay the fine. That is all Podesta would say! Russert was red in the face with anger trying over and over again to get Podesta to accept that he lied.
Then Russert brings up Jerry Springer's possible run for a Senate seat in Ohio and whether the President would campaign for him.
Jeez -- how far afield do you have to get just to bash the Clintons? We're surprised that Russert -- who "Springerized" coverage of the Lewinsky flap like no other pseudojournalist on television -- hasn't volunteered to campaign for Jerry himself!
But we did see Russert's strategy: use the Podesta interview to slam both Clintons rather than talking income tax solely.
His next guests: three women to help him slam Hillary and Bill Clinton even more. First, Russert showed a clip of Lucinda talking about why Bill's sexual transgressions have nothing to do with loving Hillary, as Hillary told her. Lucinda said the President may be a victim of his childhood -- but this is no excuse for his actions. Russert -- worming his way toward mocking modern psychology as did McLaughlin earlier -- asked why Hillary sat and talked with Lucinda about a zone of privacy which she drew around herself. Lucinda said Hillary didn't like the kind of popularity she was gaining from her stoicism. "So, it WAS part of a political strategy," mocks Russert.
Lucinda said she can smell a script -- and this was coming halting and slowly from Hillary, and to the great surprise of her staff. Russert tried to get her to claim that friends of Hillary called her after the article was published in a sleazy attempt to prove that Lucinda was "ragged" by the White House -- a GOP charge that is a lie. How stupid would they be if they had tried to trash a writer that Hillary confided in?
Gail Sheehy (a telling name) bashed Hillary for not talking about herself. "She thinks her job is to protect Bill the child," said Gail. Tim read Hillary's heart-rending words about the young Bill's childhood, then turned to Andrea Mitchell on this quote. Andrea said she thinks there was a need for Hillary to explain to voters -- especially women over 45 -- why she sticks with Bill.
After all, that's why Andrea sticks with Alan, isn't it?
Andrea talked of Whitewater -- the "defensive crouch" and the then the "offense." Russert pulled out the two-year-old Today Show clip concerning whether Bill was fooling around again and hurting the marriage. Hillary said that a lot of this is deliberately designed to undo two elections. The story to write about is this vast right wing conspiracy... " Did Hillary have an inclination that the Lewinsky story was true when she gave that interview?" Russert asks Lucinda.
No. Of course not. But Russert needed an excuse to show that clip -- for the umpteenth time.
Gail, a washed-out hag with dyed red hair, said "her husband [Bill Clinton] is continually unfaithful -- she is looking for a rationale so she does not have to admit that she is not giving her husband what he wants or needs." Gail said she thinks Clinton is an addict, but thinks this is an extraordinary thing to say about the President of the United States. Extraordinary? Why? Because he, like others, is. Lucinda said Hillary "used the language of addiction" but not the word addiction. Ten years ago, Hillary did not know about this addiction.
But anyone with a mind will tell you that it is not an addiction -- just a normal male and female trait which impacts more than 75% of all people. In truth, people love to make love. It feels good. Only 5,000 years of recorded history, novels, films, television, radio and opera have celebrated and focused on infidelity. Where has Russert been? Sex addiction is an invention -- fabricated by male psychoanalysts and female analysts who want a rationale other than their own lack of sexual attractiveness that has now made this a disease. Our Mac MacArthur knows no fewer than four men who have "undergone treatment" for sex addiction and "Dr." Gonzo knows three -- all merely to placate their wives and put themselves in the "victim's" seat. Oh, by the way -- it works!!! So the next time your husband, wife, girl or boyfriend cheats -- don't be surprised if they check themselves into the Betty Ford Clinic to be "cured" -- if only to keep you. Why? Because they love you, and love is NOT only underpinned by sex, no matter what the law infers.
Finally, Russert had Woodwind and Burnspleen to graze in the filth of Nixon once again. Today is the anniversary of Nixon's resignation. Both of them say they were awed -- and not gloating.
Sure -- and cookies taste lousy with chocolate chips.
Needless to say, they spent the next fifteen minutes gloating.
We know that Russert wouldn't be gloating if Bill Clinton had resigned, now... would he?
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