From The Today Show, Karl Rove tries to pretend he isn't just another Lee Atwater Republican dirty trickster while discussing his new book. He also continues to claim he had nothing to do with the whisper campaign against John McCain in South Carolina.

I guess Cheney and Bush are next with more of this turd polishing exercise from the Bush administration.

(Nicole:) Someone at Media Matters with a much stronger stomach than I got a copy of Rove's book and put it to the old reality test. Guess what? Pretty much an epic fail:

Karl Rove's forthcoming memoir Courage and Consequence purports to respond to critics by "putting the record straight," but Media Matters has found that Rove's book is full of falsehoods. Below is an ongoing list of Rove's misinformation in the book, which Media Matters obtained in advance of its scheduled release.

1. Rove distorts Senate report to claim Bush didn't "lie us into the war"

2. Rove falsehood: Obama claims "Obamacare would not add to the deficit ... evidence shows just the opposite"

3. Rove revives tired smear that Gore wrongly said "that he had created the Internet"

4. Rove revives Gore-Love Story smear

5. Rove falsehood: Gore said he had "discovered the Love Canal chemical disaster"

6. Rove pals around with falsehood that Ayers was "Obama's great friend"

7. Rove wrong on number of presidents who left office by "assassination or resignation"

Lawrence O'Donnell filling in for Keith Olbermann talks to Media Matters' Eric Burns about George Stephanopoulos' bit of stenography for Rudy Giuliani on Good Morning America. As Burns points out sadly what happened with Giuliani is more of a rule than the exception and thankfully we have organizations like Media Matters and the blogs holding the media accountable when they do these sort of things.

O`DONNELL: Let’s turn now to Eric Burns, president of Media Matters for America, which as you can imagine, has been all over this one today. Good evening, Eric.

ERIC BURNS: Good evening, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Now, we know that George Stephanopoulos knows that four teams of hijackers commandeered U.S. airliners on September 11th. He knows what happened. What is it that happened to a smart guy like George in a middle of an interview like that where Giuliani can just slip that by? Does it mean that Republicans like Giuliani are so accustomed to getting away with that move in these interviews like this that the media, in a sense, has internalized this notion that there were no domestic attacks during President Bush’s presidency?

BURNS: I think there’s no question that conservatives are used to getting away with this because we don’t have a culture of accountability in our media. And, you know, what happened today is a great example of accountability working the way it should. Our job at Media Matters is to hold journalists accountable.

When we documented this morning, other folks picked it up, PolitiFact picked it up. And by this afternoon, Mr. Stephanopoulos, to his credit, had accepted responsibility for not calling out Mr. Giuliani on his factually erroneous statement. And something we need to see more of in the media.

But, unfortunately, Lawrence, the media is lazy, you know? And it’s something we just see every day, but it’s bad for the county, it’s bad for America, it’s bad for our political discourse. Media’s got to do a better job. They can’t be carrying right-wing talking points, especially when they’re wrong.

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (107)

PLAYS: (578)

Ed Schultz talks to Alan Grayson about the Republicans collective hissy fit asking him to apologize for his remarks the other day and the NRCC's statement that "This is an unstable man who has come unhinged. The depths to which Alan Grayson will sink to defend his indefensible comments know no bounds. This is an individual who has established a pathological pattern of unstable behavior".

Grayson's response:

You know what my response is? Whatever... America is sick of you, Republican Party. You are a lie factory. That's all you ever do. Why don't you work together with the Democrats to solve America's problems instead of making stuff up?

When asked if he is worried about any of this hurting his chances for reelection Grayson replied by saying if he had to choose between his job and saving the lives of 44,000 Americans a year, he knows what his decision is. Grayson also said that the response he's gotten to his remarks so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 329

PLAYS: 16

(FDR - answering the well-upholstered whiners)

During the last few days of the 1936 Presidential campaign, FDR spoke at a rally in Wooster Massachusetts on October 21, 1936, answering Republican charges he mishandled the recovery that pulled the country out of depression. It was a familiar complaint:

FDR:

“Three and a half years ago we declared war on the Depression. And you and I know today that war is being won. But now comes that familiar figure, the well-upholstered hindsight critic. He tells us that out strategy was wrong, that the cost was too great, that something else won the war. That is an argument as old as the remorse of those who had their chance and muffed it.”

You'd think, 73 years later there would be a different story. But no.

I guess the upholstery just doesn't change.

Oy. Are Democrats simply incapable of doing the right thing, of choosing the right policies because they are the right policies, and then standing behind them while they educate the public? No, what they invariably do is to hack away at their own policies in a vain attempt to keep the Republicans from beating them up. Don't let them do it again with health care reform:

WASHINGTON — Alarmed at Republican attacks on President Obama’s health care proposals, Senate Democrats huddled Wednesday with White House officials to formulate a response.

Democrats said they felt an urgent need to devise a “message” to answer Republicans assertions that Mr. Obama’s proposals could lead to “a Washington takeover of health care.”

Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana, said many Democrats felt “unease that we did not have a strategy” to answer the criticism coming from Republican members of Congress and Republican consultants like Frank I. Luntz, an expert on the language of politics.

[...] Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Finance Committee and an architect of the emerging legislation, said Democrats would counter such criticism by insisting that consumers would have an unfettered right to pick doctors and insurers.

“You can choose your own doctor,” Mr. Baucus said. “You can choose your own health plan. There’s total choice here. I do not want to say this defensively, but this is not a big government plan.”

Uh, Max? You just did say it defensively. You're acting as if fixing this massive problem is something you should apologize for.

Mr. Baucus said Mr. Axelrod had offered suggestions on how to communicate, using “words that work” and avoiding “words that don’t work.”

Rather than talk about a mandate requiring individuals or employers to buy insurance, Mr. Baucus said, Democrats intend to emphasize the idea of “shared responsibility.”

"Shared responsibility"? I hope that doesn't mean what it sounds like. Because I swear to God, if the best they have to offer is a mandate, I'm done with these people.

Obama should go on TV and tell the real truth:

"Look, the economy is crashing and burning because health care costs are dragging down businesses and, as a result, families, and we've come up with a plan to fix that which won't require you to spend one red cent out of pocket and won't require you to fill out large amounts of paperwork. Our opponents are calling that socialism, government-run healthcare. Well, that's exactly what they said in 1935 when President Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security. That's what they said in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson created Medicare.

Continue reading »