Showing posts with label hyperbole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hyperbole. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Conservative Heads Explode Over #ConfederateTakeDown

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Previous Related Posts:
Confederate Flags: Hate Gets Harder to Buy
Pressure Builds for South Carolina to Take Down the Confederate Flag
The Charleston AME Church Massacre
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Lovers of the Confederate Flag are losing their minds over the recent push to rid our country of the symbol of hate.

In a conversation with black pundit Juan Williams, Bill O'Reilly insisted the flag represents "bravery" not hate.
Transcript Via Media Matters

O'REILLY: That's a positive and I just -- got to go. You say the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate and you believe that.

JUAN WILLIAMS: That's the way I feel when I see it.

O'REILLY: Okay, okay. And absolutely 100 percent legitimate. For some other people who see it in a historical context --

WILLIAMS: What's the historical context?

O'REILLY: It represents bravery.

WILLIAMS: Oh get out of town.

O'REILLY: In war.

WILLIAMS: They put it up in anger when they were trying to mass resist the Civil Rights Movement in the 60's.

O'REILLY: You know as well as I do that it represents, to some, bravery in the Civil War because the Confederates fought hard.
But that's what it represents. You're right historically, but in their minds, that's what it represents. And in your mind it represents hate. So, and everybody should know what the two sides are believing.

O'Reilly also went nuts on a guest over Racism:

Bill O'Reilly argued that racism is not an "epidemic" in America.

"I’m saying that the world is being told by anti-American haters that we are a rank, racist society, and that is a lie," O'Reilly told Powers during the segment.

After O'Reilly turned to another guest on his show, he accused Powers of "snorting" while the guest was making a point. Powers balked at the accusation, and the two quickly began debating racism again.

While arguing over whether everyone in the U.S. acknowledges the legacy of slavery in the U.S., Powers told O’Reilly, "There are actually a lot of people in this country who are racist."

The debate then took a turn for the worse.

"I have to wonder about why you can’t see what’s happening, because most Americans are not racist," O'Reilly said. "They’re not!"

"Really? So how many black friends do you have?" Powers asked. "How many black friends do you have?"

O'Reilly did not appear to be pleased with Powers' question and said, "If you think most Americans are racist, I’m ashamed of you."



Fox News Hatemonger Todd Starnes wrings his hands and worries if the politically correct flag-haters will become Confederate grave robbers.









Conspiracy-Monger, Alex Jones says because some Democrats turned into "Dixiecrats" after the Civil Rights Movement, then we ought to ban the Democratic Party. Um, but the Dixiecrats turned into the Republicans who turned into the Tea Party, so . . . But he was echoed by Fox News Derp-Mistress Andrea Tantaros.







Not really, Andrea, because History.





Breitbart decided to attack The Gay Rainbow Flag, which as we know flies over every statehouse in the south. Oh wait ...





Then there's Ann Coulter who sounds more and more like Dylann Roof's wicked stepmother in her push to "white up" 'Merica.





Even the The Blaze pointed out Coulter's mistake:



Conservative pundit Bill Kristol became so hyperbolic on Twitter that people wondered if his account was a parody. In a series of nearly hysterical tweets, he compared taking down the Confederate Flag to the French Revolution, as if the guillotines were being set up outside the SC Statehouse. And probably, he should be glad this isn't really a Revolution.






















But Kristol is hardly alone. The hysteria was building yesterday as retailers dropped Confederate Flags from their merchandising.






Monday, July 21, 2014

Chris McDaniel Leads Mississippi Mud-Slinging

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The Polar Vortex dipped as far south as Mississippi last week, but that didn't cool down the Republican Primary race, and with increased heat and humidity this week, the "Long Hot Summer" is reaching a boiling point. The trouble with throwing hot-boiling mud is that some of it bounces back onto you. That's what is happening to the Mississippi Tea Party. Talk about muddying the waters! Some of it is worse than mud . . .

Previous Related Posts:
Mississippi GOP and the Cotton-Pickin' Conference Call
Mississippi Chaos ~ Voter Fraud and Suicide
Mississippi Senate Race Shenanigans
Poutrageous ~ McDaniel Loses to Thad Cochran

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On Thursday, July 17, the State Supreme Court ruled that McDaniel and his minions couldn't view the birthdates of voters in the polling books. The people in charge of the state election had testified there was no reason to give out that information since voters were already vetted by those in charge, and McDaniel had no jurisdiction as a candidate. Also, apparently McDaniel produced no evidence of voter fraud anyway!

From the Jackson Clarion-Ledger:
The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Chris McDaniel's request for access to poll books without voters' birth dates blacked out.
But McDaniel's lawyers are going to ask the court to rehear the case.
. . . In a statement Thursday, McDaniel said a Mississippi candidate "should not have to raise $100,000 to verify an election was carried out legally."

The McDaniel campaign had filed lawsuits against numerous county circuit clerks statewide over the access and was granted access in some cases, denied in others. It appealed its case against Harrison County Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker to the state Supreme Court, asking for an emergency order opening the records.
McDaniel accused Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann — who endorsed Cochran — of intentionally misleading circuit clerks to thwart him.
On Thursday Hosemann said, "Filing lawsuits against circuit clerks who are clearly following the law is both a waste of time and taxpayer money."

From GulfLive
McDaniel has released no documents to substantiate his claims that thousands of voting irregularities occurred June 24.
The only registered voters prohibited from casting a ballot in the June 24 Republican runoff were those who had voted in the June 3 Democratic primary. Mississippi voters do not register by party, but state law bans people from voting in one party's primary and another party's runoff in the same cycle.

After losing in the Miss. Supreme Court, McDaniel once again showed he cannot lose gracefully by calling for the Republican Party to be "purged."

Via The Hill
"They hired Democratic operatives to go out into Democratic communities and call me a racist," said McDaniel, who still has not conceded in the race.
"That's despicable," he went on.
"It goes to show that there are elements within our own party that have to be purged … There are elements within our own party that have no business being Republicans. Republicans should not behave in that fashion."
McDaniel was speaking on "Focal Point," a radio talk-show based in Tupelo. His comments were reported by The Associated Press.
. . . Ads that ran on black radio stations prior to the runoff said McDaniel would cut social welfare programs such as food stamps if he succeeded in the race.
"Because of the race baiting, because of all the nasty things they said about me and conservatives in this state, they pushed more than 40,000 Democrats into the Republican runoff," McDaniel said in the interview.



At some point McDaniel will have to accept that the election is over and Cochran won. But there is now a rift in the Mississippi Republican Party that may never be healed. McDaniel supporters are using the hashtag #RememberMississippi - and we know how long memories last in that state, where the Civil War seems like yesterday. Democrats hopeful for a win in November are urging them to "Please Proceed" with their in-fighting.

What McDaniel and his supporters are particularly good at is making accusations at everyone from black voters to journalists to people who dare to state an opinion on Twitter. They spent the past week throwing muck at anyone who accepts the election laws of Mississippi or questions whether McDaniel should just concede before he does more damage.

And McDaniel is the one cheering them on.



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Posted on Chris McDaniel's Facebook on July 19

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Here's a sweet insult directed at ME on Twitter:



I'm a troll? You look more like a troll, but never mind...

Maybe McDaniel just "seems" racist because he courts Neo-Confederates:





And maybe McDaniel scared off voters because he's just cray-cray.
Here he is joking about Racism and "Mamacitas"
(Does this prove it to you, Troll?)



Some McDaniel supporters just seem confused:



Yeah - Republicans don't need those minority groups.
Oh wait.
Maybe if McDaniel hadn't been so busy with dog-whistles
he would have gotten those votes.

This next person seems almost frightened of voting.
After all, you can't trust anybody anymore.




Others think, Hey, Cochran Should Just Resign, ok?
Come, on, Thad, Pleeeeeeeeeze???



And some just want to simply change all-the- laws so that the Tea Party can win - an old story, but a dangerous one. Sore losers always want to change the rules. I don't think this will help them in the future, as it will just make Democrats more determined to win.



Yesterday, Sunday 7-20-2014, there was this exchange on Facebook, with mud-slinging all over the place:

Jeremiah Boddy
July 18 at 6:43pm · Jackson, MS · Edited ·
I had a meeting with Joe Nosef today. It was agreed that there must be apologies made on behalf of the Cochran campaign for the race baiting comments. Also coarse things said by McDaniel campaign. We can heal but there must be apologies first.

Grant Sowell
I want to see this and some orange jump suits along with apologies.
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Joe Nosef
Just for the record to make things clear I did not say the Cochran campaign needed to apologize for ads run by a third party group. No more than I would say that the McDaniel campaign needs to apologize for the nursing home break in. But I do believe people on both sides who actually care about government & how it impacts their lives should make a sincere effort to find common ground. That could include a general apology for the tone of the campaign. And things done in the aftermath. I had a good meeting with Jeremiah and do not blame him for our small miscommunication. He is a nice young man and some of the people on here who are much older should listen to him.

Danny Sowell
I am willing to take one for the team today and say Mr. Nosef and the Cochran dog & pony show can go to hell where they all belong.
I have read comments made by Nosef on another thread that was posted yesterday and the guy doesn't understand the damage done. Cochran can apologize all he wants, but his words are just that, and a I doubt his ramblings would be sincere. Personally, I don't see anything Chris needs to apologize for. Cochran has stood by and allowed these pigs to run his campaign in the ground and cause collateral damage to the conservative base. The best thing he can do is resign, admit to the wrong doing of his campaign hands, and denounce all of the criminal activity. Until those things happen, Nosef, the Barbours and Cochran can kiss it where the sun doesn't shine. I think the majority of conservatives will not fall for the idea of an apology and everything will be just fine. The most terrible act one could do is paint another as a racist and once this has been done, we all will be viewed as just that, a racist.

Joe Nosef
Danny thanks for the very intelligent post. I'm sure you were a great asset to Chris' campaign. I am going to screen shot your post so I can use it during presentations as an example of one of the main problems in this election.

And it just went downhill from there:

Stacey D.
The Republicans elected Chris. Period. Fix that. I hate politics. I have lost sleep over this and ignored my children trying to follow the news. At least they know that it matters though. I waved a flag and held a Chris sign for the first time in my life (so therein I am a problem too). I want a clean house with professionals who listen to the people and have their eyes on the Lord. Repentance requires stepping away and finding yourself again. I felt helpless as I watched a man I had voted for for years do something that as a social worker I condemn. There is a paper trail. There are facts. There is accountability. The nursing home NEVER was Chris's, doing clearly. A man who died innocent never got to speak for himself. For the love of the children of MS who need their Republican votes to mean something, SEEK THE LORD's FACE AND SEEK HIS WISDOM AND GUIDANCE AND DO THE HARD THING!!!!! GIVE THE REPUBLICAN PEOPLE OF MS WHAT THEY WANT!!!!!!!

Cynthia H.
Joe Nosef, keep siding with evil, we will remember.

Robby B.
There is no difference now between the democratic and Republican Party. Thad's campaign pulled the same stunts as the Obama campaign in stealing the election. It's not about representing conservative values, it's about power and holding onto it. Hypocrites in suits keeping the status quo.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Feverish Fox Fear Porn About ISIS

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Judge Jeanine Pirro of Fox News went ballistic over the Middle East last week:

I've told you that you need to be afraid because they are coming for you (points at camera). The ISIS assault, the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria signals the beginning of the "Reverse Crusade." They ARE coming for us. To them, WE are the Infidels. But I for one am not willing to let one more American die or come home with fewer limbs from that part of the world. Americans have shed enough blood there.

My resolution? Air strikes. Bomb them! Bomb them! Keep Bombing them again and again, and I don't care how long it takes. Just take out ISIS. Take out their convoys. Take out those troops!

And even though our President says he "didn't know" - The TOLD us they were coming for us! The head of this band of savages, Abu al-Bagdadi, was released by the Obama Administration and started ISIS one year later in 2010.

. . . ISIS is a fanatical religious terrorist organization. And if you think they are nothing more than rag-tag rebels, you are WRONG!!! They are a sophisticated band of militants who add to their ranks by emptying out jails...

. . . Now, Mr. President, you may see yourself as a war hero. The truth? There has been a 60 percent increase in radical Islamist terrorism since you’ve been in office. And you keep letting these guys out! Like the Bergdahl trade and the five terrorists, you didn’t have the balls to try in GITMO or federal court. You were simply clueless. A paper tiger who only knows how to cut and run!




Bob Cesca on The Daily Banter described Pirro's rant quite well:
Pirro’s five-minute tirade had everything: finger-wagging, fear-mongering, misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, the phrase “cut and run” and, naturally, ball-shaming. It’s a cocktail of Obama Derangement Syndrome delivered with laser-like precision directly into the outrage cortexes of typical Fox News viewers, likely inducing octogenarian white-guy erections with tensile strengths not experienced since Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley and Hume Cronyn splashed around in that magical pool in Cocoon.

GrafZeppelin127 on Daily Kos explained it as "The Truman Show In Reverse" - referring to the Jim Carrey movie about a man whose whole life has been filmed for reality TV
What we are watching on that YouTube video embedded above, what Bob Cesca describes today on his blog, is an IMPROV ACT. It is nothing more or less than a scene in an elaborate, ongoing, endless, perpetual, well-funded, well-orchestrated, non-stop 24/7 production of improvisational theatre, in which the performers get to make up the story as they go along and perform it for the audience. The person called "Jeanine Pirro" that we see and hear on the TV screen, is an actress, a character in a play. This is not a real person saying real things. She's an actress in character doing a performance piece.
. . . The difference between "The Truman Show" as portrayed in the movie and what we see on "Fox News" every day (such as the ugly fact-challenged rant by this character named "Jeanine Pirro" in the video above) is that Truman himself is not on the show. The audience does not tune in to watch Truman and see what happens; the audience is Truman. They don't know that they're watching improv. Just as Truman can't tell the difference between actors/characters and real people, Fox's audience in large part can't tell the difference between an improv act called "News," and news.

One strong response to this fire-breathing fear-mongering came from Russell Brand, a British comedian who took Pirro and Fox News to the woodshed over this tirade with a video entitled "Is Fox News More Dangerous Than Isis?". Towards the end, as he watches Pirro heap abuse on President Obama, even referring to his "b*alls," Brand says she reminds him of a dominatrix yelling at a masochist victim in a porn movie. Gives new meaning to the phrase "fear porn" to describe the nonsense Fox spews into the atmosphere day after day just to frighten their paranoid conspiracy-crazed viewers.

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She called them "Infidels"...Don't try to counter religious extremism with religious extremism!
. . . Imagine living with this woman. 'Get in there and cook my dinner! Cook it and cook it again! I don't care how long it takes!' . . . 'I will punch you and punch you again!'
. . . And don't call your fellow human beings savages.... Give aid for the refugees in the region. Try and help them and stabilize their region, and try to build infrastructure. Not the bombing, bombing, bombing system. 
~ Russell Brand

From Huffington Post
Brand fired back. "(Fox News is) ... a fanatical terrorist propagandist organization. This isn't reasonable, is it? Like the way she's talking? 'Bomb them! Bomb them!' She's worse ... She's the savage, she's totally espousing savage values."
"It's invective, just incendiary language, just volatile combative, angry language. That - I'm not being sensational - that is more dangerous than ISIS," he added. "That's attitude. That's far-reaching. That's affecting millions and millions of people."



Pundits at Fox pushed back and took Pirro's side:

From Washington Post
This is how Eric Bolling, co-host of the marvelous roundtable program “The Five,” played Brand’s rant: “First up, actor, musician and political provocateur Russell Brand has issues with Fox News and our own Judge Jeanine Pirro. Brand goes bananas in a ten-minute rambling and at times incoherent rant, comparing Fox News to the radical terror group ISIS.”
. . . During the discussion on “Hannity,” for example, Fox News’s own Geraldo Rivera said this: “But furthermore, where are the beheaded bodies here at Fox News? That kind of hyperbole only undermines any argument he has.”
When you’re disavowing studio decapitations, you’ve lost the PR war.




Monday, May 26, 2014

Scarborough Attacks #UniteBlue as Freaky Fringe Extremist Haters - UPDATE: Non-Apology-Apology

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"Morning Joe" Scarborough of MSNBC decided to launch an attack on the Progressive Twitter group #UniteBlue on Friday's show, and the members, including myself, did not take kindly to being called "fringe freaks" and "hate-mongers."

Even after the Unite Blue blog and countless tweets tried to set him straight about the group, Joe doubled down on Twitter. Maybe his real problem with us is that many Democratic candidates are joining to gain exposure and retweets, and it is helping them, especially in the South. We are the people who re-elected Barack Obama as President and ruined the nasty plans of the GOP. Sorry, Joe.

Unite Blue members are the most valuable demographic to most shows on MSNBC, and we haven't forgotten that Scarborough bragged that he helped get Martin Bashir fired for insulting Sarah Palin. Joe's pal, MSNBC Chief Phil Griffin, pandered to Palin when she got far-right Tea Party Twitter (#tcot) riled up, and Martin Bashir was thrown under the bus. But wait, Phil - isn't it the Dems and Obama supporters who are the entire "Lean Forward" Demographic?

Joe Scarborough, meanwhile, is leaning backwards and many liberals inside and outside of Unite Blue are calling for his resignation. Others just want Phil to make him apologize. I'm just glad to know how he really feels, and now we have it on the record.





Joe's Insult Via #UniteBlue Blog
“I could just take people who use the hashtag #UniteBlue and make a sweeping condemnation about America’s labor movement if I wanted to, but I don’t because I know that these people are on the fringes; they’re freaks; they’re hate mongers; that there are a lot of people who are in America’s union movements that are good, decent, hardworking people who actually would agree with me on a lot of issues.”



Response from Unite Blue:
After displaying his willful ignorance of normal, hardworking Americans, Joe Scarborough owes an apology to the mothers, fathers, retirees, millennials, activists, professionals and all other members of UniteBlue. Calling tens of thousands of good, decent people ‘freaks’ is a sweeping condemnation and makes you a hate monger.

Half a million Tweets per month use the hashtag #UniteBlue, more than #GOP or #TeaParty. It seems this has been getting under somebody’s skin. Nothing scares the Right more than a united Left, and its Joe Scarborough’s job to make progressive grassroots movements like UniteBlue look like a crazy, fringe group. That’s why he makes $100,000 per week while opposing a $10.10 per hour minimum wage.

Supporting unions and workers rights is not a fringe cause. This attack merely demonstrates how far the right has drifted, how out of touch Joe Scarborough has become with the mainstream, and how much the working class coming together scares certain people.

My Graphic that has gone Viral on Twitter:



Joe Strikes Back, Without Apology



Unite Blue Responds Again:



On Monday he started Back-Peddling Slightly
But No Apology



Change.Org Petition for MSNBC to Fire Joe

Politicus Petition to Make Joe Apologize

Open Letter from #UniteBlue to Phil Griffin:
Mr. Phil Griffin
President, MSNBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY
May 26, 2014
Dear Mr. Griffin:

Last Friday May 23, Joe Scarborough insulted thousands of honest, hardworking Americans who choose to organize under the banner of #UniteBlue, falsely alleging on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show that “these people are on the fringes; they’re freaks; they’re hate mongers.”

Mr. Scarborough owes an apology to the mothers, fathers, retirees, veterans, soldiers, activists, professionals and all members of UniteBlue. Calling tens of thousands of good, decent people ‘freaks’ is a sweeping condemnation and makes him a hate monger.

Half a million Tweets use #UniteBlue each month, more than #GOP or #TeaParty. Many of us are MSNBC viewers who were personally offended by these demeaning words and petty attacks. In response to the unprecedented outrage that resulted, Mr. Scarborough decided to double down instead of apologizing. This time he called each of us ‘extremists,’ and it’s really deeply offensive. Your entire network is being poisoned thanks to this behavior.

At this time, we are considering a number of petitions that have arisen calling for boycotts of Morning Joe and its sponsors. We have stood firmly against the promotion of hatred on the airwaves from others such as Rush Limbaugh, and cannot find any attempt on behalf of Joe Scarborough to move the political conversation forward meaningfully.

We respectfully request that Mr. Scarborough personally and publicly apologize for his comments on air and offer the opportunity for a UniteBlue representative to explain who we are; real people who want a voice in our democracy.

UPDATE: Joe Issues Non-Apology Apology

Via Unite Blue
“I brought it up on Friday… I brought up UniteBlue, and I could find people in UniteBlue who said some terrible things about me over the past two, three, four years, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t great people in the union movement, that doesn’t mean there aren’t great vets and great people in UniteBlue, that there aren’t great people in these organizations… Don’t we at some point realize that there are some people who will try to associate them self [sic] with a bigger group and say hateful things that shouldn’t be associated with the labor movement or UniteBlue?” Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe, 5/27/2014.

While this was not the full-throated apology that thousands requested, this display of respect is a promising first step, and we will continue to hold him accountable when political commentary devolves into disparaging and divisive attacks.
Now it’s time to move forward. We must continue to fight against the conservative politics of hate, division and fear, and once again affirm the audacity of hope, compassion and love.
Thank you to everyone who joined in our efforts this weekend. Way to go #UniteBlue!


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Now Joe is blocking #UniteBlue members.
He can dish it out, but can't take it.










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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

To Far Right #HobbyLobby Proves Women are Baby-Killers

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Previous Related Posts:
Supreme Court Hears Hobby Lobby Case
Mike Huckabee ~ Uncle Sugar and the Feminine Libido
Erick Erickson Labels Wendy Davis "Abortion Barbie"
SCOTUS Upholds Obamacare ~ Tea Party Heads Explode
Obama Wins ~ GOP Goes Bonkers

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As the Supreme Court heard the Hobby Lobby case, the far right trolls came out on Twitter to pray for victory, quoting the Bible's admonition "Thou Shall Not Kill" and proving once again they know nothing about human biology or the way birth control works. Common sense has flown out the window in the name of religious freedom. To the right-way of thinking, women who use contraception are sluts, pills are now abortions, and anyone not pro-Hobby Lobby is a baby-killing FemiNazi. It's a Limbaugh-Todd Akin mashup. To read some of the comments on the internet, rational married women never use birth control, and all men want to have sixteen children to work on the ranch, LOL. Even the far right knows this is theater of the absurd (at least some of them do). Hobby Lobby is just a device to give the SCOTUS another chance to gut Obamacare and for pseudo-Christians to cry persecution.






























Friday, January 31, 2014

Cheerios Tweet Riles Reince into MSNBC Boycott

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Previous Related Posts:
Tea Party Traumatized by Obama's SOTU - Maddow vs. Huelskamp
Reince Priebus Warns Networks Not to Show Hillary Clinton Movies
Epic Smackdown by Chris Matthews vs. Reince Priebus
Reince Priebus: When Caterpillars Eat Your Brain

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Lately there's a media pattern in which someone on MSNBC criticizes a conservative and immediately there is a huge brouhaha backlash calling for that person to be fired. It happened to Martin Bashir for criticizing Sarah Palin. Melissa Harris-Perry had to apologize to Mitt Romney. And now someone has lost their job over a tweet about a sequel to the biracial Cheerios ad that was met with racist backlash last year.

I guess Reince has shaken his etch-a-sketch so he can pretend the GOP has nothing to do with racism, nor did anyone associated with Republicans write nasty comments on the Cheerios YouTube account last year. He can live in a state of denial but wasn't MSNBC the network that was supposed to be leaning "Forward" and away from the Republican Party? Well, not lately! Phil Griffin will bend over backwards to apologize to any Tea Partier who has a gripe about MSNBC. Twitter is getting revenge, though, with a parody account: @MSNBCApology


From Huffington Post
The controversy began Wednesday, when MSNBC tweeted about a new Cheerios ad similar to one that was met with racist backlash last year.

"Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family," the tweet read.

MSNBC later deleted the message and apologized.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was Perturbed:

Until you personally and publicly apologize for this behavior, I have banned all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC. I have asked Republican surrogates and officials to follow our lead.
~ Message from Reince Priebus to President Phil Griffin of MSNBC

The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable. We immediately acknowledged that it was offensive and wrong, apologized, and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet. I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone offended. At msnbc we believe in passionate, strong debate about the issues and we invite voices from all sides to participate. That will never change.
~ Statement from Phil Griffin to Reince Priebus





































Friday, October 25, 2013

Liberal Media Freak-Out Over ACA Website - with Krystal Ball and #EzraKleinMusic

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Cycle Host Krystal Ball on MSNBC - My Transcript
If you've been watching our show, you know that I'm pretty angry about the failures of the effort to begin the health-care program. Washington Post's Matt Miller even told me to 'chill out.' I'm sorry, I can't. I won't chill out. See, here's the problem.
Republicans, of course, have been lying to Americans about the Affordable Care Act, telling them it’s a train wreck, saying this president is a bystander to his own presidency, arguing that the federal government is incompetent and can’t work.
Now they’ve got all kinds of evidence to back up their malicious and destructive claims.
So that's one piece of why, sorry Matt, I can't chill.
But what I'm really angry about here is the fact that for millions, the success of this law is literally a matter of life or death. As outraged as we are when Republicans try to sabotage it, we should be outraged when our own side makes its success materially less likely.
Yes, before you send your tweets, I know that the website is not the entirety of the Affordable Care Act.
But to say it's just a website is just a huge understatement.
This is the first direct experience that millions of Americans will have with Obamacare. This is the critical entry point to President [Barack] Obama’s signature achievement; an achievement that we’ve marched for, and rallied for, and fought Supreme Court cases and elections over.

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I just do not understand how something so mission-critical could have turned out so poorly.
Now look, I'm not trying to engage in hyperbole here. The Affordable Care Act can still work beautifully but we've sure taken a giant risk. An unnecessary risk with such a dismal failure of a roll-out, and there's really no excuse. After all, we are the Party who are supposed to know how to do good government. And to all those states like Texas that we wanted to convince to go forward with the Medicaid Expansion piece, well, good-luck with that now!
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in my left-leaning friends for not being more honest here. Look, we are not propagandists. We're not like them. We don't insulate ourselves into our own little media bubble, impervious to the reality around us. We are the ones who are supposed to tell it straight even when it's not convenient.
. . . We are not the ones giving comfort to the GOP propagandists. The failing website, which is keeping people from signing up for health care, is what has given them comfort.
. . . It seems to me that everyone who believes in this law, who believes in universal healthcare, everyone who believes in the promise of the Federal Government to do big things ought to be outraged at this manifest incompetence. Just because it's our team who messed things up doesn't mean they should get a pass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Washington Post Pundit Ezra Klein on MSNBC's Morning Joe
Watch Video Here
These aren’t glitches, the website, to a first approximation, simply isn’t working. When the Obama Administration calls them 'glitches' I think they are underplaying the problem.
. . . There’s a real management failure here. It isn’t that nobody knew. A lot of reporters, health care reporters, people who were engaged with HHS and CMS, folks like me and a lot of my colleagues, were going to them and saying, ‘We’re hearing bad things out of your testing. We’re hearing you’re not being able to transmit your data the way you need to transmit it.’ Senior White House staff said, ‘No, we’ve been watching this, we’re talking to people, it’s all fine, bugs are getting fixed.’ Somewhere along the management chain the news, the actual truth of what was going on—because it was not unknown—got lost, got spun, got hidden, got obscured, and they know that.
. . . There were things they could have done, and they were not given the information by their own bureaucracy to do it. That is a management failure on them.











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Joan Walsh on Salon
As predictably as night follows day, on Monday the media establishment pivoted away from obsessing about GOP extremism and the party’s alleged “civil war” to the “train wreck” that is, allegedly, the Affordable Care Act.
And liberals helped lead the pivot.
Don’t get me wrong: The problems with Healthcare.gov are real, and disturbing, and must be fixed asap....But excuse me if I believe the president knows that without my telling him.
. . . when liberals rush conscientiously to do that, they only encourage the completely unbalanced and unhinged coverage of whatever the problem may be.



















All In With Chris Hayes Transcript, Oct. 23, 2013
Watch Video Here
EZRA KLEIN: -- And, they are getting your eligibility information through that computer system. That isn`t working. So, those things don`t work. No. Obamacare doesn`t work. And, that`s why this is a really big deal. And, we are reporting it at Wonk Blog and by the way, we are doing the same thing during the shutdown as a very big deal.

CHRIS HAYES: Do you think part of -- so, what`s your response to that?

JOAN WALSH: No. It`s more than just a website. But, I think that -- you know the affordable care act is already helping people. Millions of kids are still on their parents` policies. Millions of us, myself, included, are getting preventive care that we used to have to pay money for without a copay.

Millions are getting help through Medicaid and millions more would be helped through Medicaid except for republican governors. So, there are a  lot of great things going on. And, there also a lot of people frustrated but hanging in there because they desperately need health insurance.

So, they`re going to get it. It may be a complete disaster down the road. But we are not there yet. And, I guess, Ezra, what I would say to you is you are a wonderful reporter. I read you every day. I probably read close to every word you write.

(To Klein) But, it was your tone and I think what people trust about you is your sobriety. People think you`re a liberal, that`s because reality has a well known liberal bias. But, you know, you do your job and I appreciate that. I just felt like, you know, live blogging your attempt to reach somebody on the phone and complaining about the lack of hold music kind of crossed over.

KLEIN: No.
WALSH: This is a little bit.

KLEIN: But, this is really important, right? Because -- I hope that I got a reputation from the readership of being sober about these things. I think it`s really important to keep your head about you when these things are going on. When I called the system, it`s because president was saying call the system that day. And, the system dropped the call twice because it was so overwhelmed.

I am trying through this reportage to convince people to persuade them something has really gone wrong here. Now -- You know, Chris, I don`t think there is anybody that wasn`t literally writing the law that wrote much more about this law in the construction phase in its legislative phase and through Wonkblog and its implementation phase and we have a Wonkblog.

I mean, we have been sort of covering this all every step of the way. And, so the reason we are covering this with the aggression that we are is that something real is going on here. We never said the law is doomed, but I think what we kind of found in our reporting, they think if this is fixed by thanksgiving, it`s probably pretty much OK.

But, these are not small problems. And, they`re not at the moment by the way OK problems. These are not things that the Obama administration should be given a pass on. Not least because they didn`t know they were happening. And, so one thing that I think is important about our role in the kind of informational ecosystem is something that went wrong for the
Obama Administration is they didn`t know. There was a breakdown between their bureaucracy and them.