Contradiction seems to be the operative word of the day for today’s Meet The Press. In Tom Brokaw’s interview with Secretary Paulson from Beijing, Mr. Paulson said that there is a need for better regulation of the U.S. financial system – he called it outdated. This comes from an administration that has championed deregulation and has let Wall Street run amok over the years.
The journalists in the second half refuted almost every point that Sec. Paulson made in the first half of the program. Mr. Paulson said that the economic stimulus checks are still kicking in and we haven’t seen the full benefit yet. In the second half, Paul Gigot declared this round of stimulus checks a failure at lifting up the economy.
Sec. Paulson stated that China would suffer political backlash for not taking a harder line with the Khartoum government in Sudan. China keeps that country’s government afloat with it’s refinement and purchase of Sudan’s oil. In turn, the government uses those monies to strengthen its torturous hand over the people of Darfur. However, as Erin Burnett pointed out, the U.S. is hamstrung to do anything to force China, or Russia for that matter, to change their behavior because of all the debt the United States owes to China. And President Bush’s misjudgment of Vladimir Putin came to complete fruition this week with Russia’s aggression/invasion in Georgia.
Lastly, Sec. Paulson, as evidenced by today’s interview, is not a good spokesperson when it comes to calming U.S. citizens about the economy – constantly stuttering through is answers after Mr. Brokaw’s softball questions and speaking in generalities providing no real substance at all. To this end, Mr. Brokaw mentioned that there has been talk of Mr. Paulson staying on as Treasury Secretary to provide stable transition to the next administration. Mr. Paulson said that he was looking forward to doing other things come the next year. This column’s retort to that answer – GOOD.
A few program notes: One, the dual hosts – Brokaw in China and David Gregory in the studio doesn’t measure up. This column still contends that if MTP is left to either Mr. Brokaw or Mr. Gregory as host, the clout of the program will most certainly be diminished (farther than it has already). If Mr. Gregory is, in fact, going to take the desk, lots of polish is needed. (At the end of the program, he thanked ‘everyone at the table.’ Everyone at the table? That’s not acceptable.)
Also, we never mention commercials but between the first and second half, there was a GE commercial. The main point of the commercial was that through wind power, GE is helping to power Beijing during the Olympics. Can they make that boast here in the United States? That they are using wind to power... .anything? No, and given the energy crisis that we face, it left a slightly bad taste in the mouth.
Lastly, a couple of tidbits [read: Politicians of the 90’s] to cover. It seems that Bill Clinton doesn’t think that Barack Obama can win the election – the Clintons remain the insidious factor in this race. This column believes that the Clintons will play a decisive role in who wins in November and that they will not necessarily tip the scale to the Democrats. Suffice for now that it is a dark cloud looming. The other little bit is the John Edwards news story. This column was aware of this rumor some 5 months ago, but refused to give credence to it – that’s not the function of this column. But what we will say is that we completely agree with David Broder (congrats! On the the 400th appear) that it just deepens the cynicism that the American public has for its politicians. For such as high-profile political figure to deceive and blatantly lie, without any tact, is an extreme disappointment – to understate it. The affair and love-child is incidental. It’s the subsequent deception and flouting of public trust that can not be excused. But… we’ve unfortunately seen this too many times before.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
8.3.08: Talking Out of Your Depth
Senator Joe Lieberman is a tool. That may seem like a shallow low blow, but let's take a moment to think about. A 'tool' in this case is a person who is acting stupid because of stubbornness and who in fact have lost his usefulness. This is an accurate description of Sen. Lieberman's behavior based around his endorsement of John McCain for President and his reason for that endorsement - that John McCain is more ready to lead this country based on experience. Let's face it, Lieberman is an establishment Senator who would not benefit from a change in the status quo of how business is done in Washington. An Obama Presidency leaves Sen. Lieberman on a desert island of politics - without power. As shown from the Connecticut Senate Race, holding onto power and self-preservation are what Mr. Lieberman is most concerned about. And Sen. Lieberman is spreading inaccurate facts about Sen. Obama's Iraq position in that there wouldn't be any consideration of conditions on the ground, but that's not Senator Obama's position.
There should be no more allowance for Lieberman to caucus with the Democrats in Senate.
This column has pointed out the many deficiencies in Senator McCain's reasoning on several points, but we will revisit two. First, with regard to off-shore drilling, as it was a topic of today's program, and whether we should do it. Senator Kerry, as Sen. Obama's surrogate, makes a correct point that if we started drilling today, we wouldn't see the results until after 2020. However, Senator Kerry's problem on today's program as was also his problem when he was a Presidential candidate, is even when he makes a points that's correct, he sounds as if he is wrong. It's uncanny how he does this. Now, we're forgetting one huge fact with regard to this particular oil gleaned from our coastline. Everyone's saying it will be America's oil, but it won't be! It will become the ExxonMobil's oil and it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll sell it all to American citizens. The oil companies are making more profit then ever before and they are exporting more oil to countries, that aren't the United States, than ever before. This will not change by drilling off the United States coast.
However, with that said, Sen. Obama did say that he would consider, not prefer, some off-shore drilling as part of a compromise. The senator should stand on his initial opinion and NOT soften. That sends a signal that when pressure comes from the other side, you'll bend to the point where you don't quite break but it almost looks that way. Again, this column does not endorse off-shore drilling in anyway.
The second, as also addressed on today's program, was the surge. Again with the surge. Yes, the argument can be made that it worked, but is it really a surge. No, it's an escalation. A surge implies an flow and eventual ebb. The escalation has worked because in saving soldiers because there are more guys to watch each others backs. When are we going to get out of there? And lastly - the Anbar Awakening - all that means is we started paying Sunnis not to shoot at us.
And a note on the panelists, every time, we make the argument for Chuck Todd as the next host, the water starts dripping from behind his ears. He is truly a numbers/polls wonk but today he showed the green tint of his skin. He was correct when discussing Hillary Clinton voters going over to Obama. He said that lifetime polls show that they're already there and that 10% cross the aisle anyway. However, when discussing potential VP picks, referenced the 1988 election - Bush/Quayle vs. Dukakis/Benson. He made the point that the candidates picked two extremes of experience and this plays in the choice. However, he was out of his depth on this. He wasn't even of voting age at the time and he's sitting with people who were all personally there. They collectively blew his point out of the water, noting the Benson kicked the snot out of Quayle in the debate, highlighted by Benson's famous Kennedy line, but that it eventually didn't move the needle in the end. Ah Chuck... know when to quit while you're ahead.
Lastly, another observation about Mr. Mike Murphy. He is certainly not the Republican version of Bob Shrum. The difference between these two men is that Bob Shrum was on the losing side of elections due to his ineptness and poor decision-making and not the candidate's. Mr. Murphy, on the other, was also on the losing side but for that exact opposite reason. His judgement was sound, but not his candidate's.
There should be no more allowance for Lieberman to caucus with the Democrats in Senate.
This column has pointed out the many deficiencies in Senator McCain's reasoning on several points, but we will revisit two. First, with regard to off-shore drilling, as it was a topic of today's program, and whether we should do it. Senator Kerry, as Sen. Obama's surrogate, makes a correct point that if we started drilling today, we wouldn't see the results until after 2020. However, Senator Kerry's problem on today's program as was also his problem when he was a Presidential candidate, is even when he makes a points that's correct, he sounds as if he is wrong. It's uncanny how he does this. Now, we're forgetting one huge fact with regard to this particular oil gleaned from our coastline. Everyone's saying it will be America's oil, but it won't be! It will become the ExxonMobil's oil and it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll sell it all to American citizens. The oil companies are making more profit then ever before and they are exporting more oil to countries, that aren't the United States, than ever before. This will not change by drilling off the United States coast.
However, with that said, Sen. Obama did say that he would consider, not prefer, some off-shore drilling as part of a compromise. The senator should stand on his initial opinion and NOT soften. That sends a signal that when pressure comes from the other side, you'll bend to the point where you don't quite break but it almost looks that way. Again, this column does not endorse off-shore drilling in anyway.
The second, as also addressed on today's program, was the surge. Again with the surge. Yes, the argument can be made that it worked, but is it really a surge. No, it's an escalation. A surge implies an flow and eventual ebb. The escalation has worked because in saving soldiers because there are more guys to watch each others backs. When are we going to get out of there? And lastly - the Anbar Awakening - all that means is we started paying Sunnis not to shoot at us.
And a note on the panelists, every time, we make the argument for Chuck Todd as the next host, the water starts dripping from behind his ears. He is truly a numbers/polls wonk but today he showed the green tint of his skin. He was correct when discussing Hillary Clinton voters going over to Obama. He said that lifetime polls show that they're already there and that 10% cross the aisle anyway. However, when discussing potential VP picks, referenced the 1988 election - Bush/Quayle vs. Dukakis/Benson. He made the point that the candidates picked two extremes of experience and this plays in the choice. However, he was out of his depth on this. He wasn't even of voting age at the time and he's sitting with people who were all personally there. They collectively blew his point out of the water, noting the Benson kicked the snot out of Quayle in the debate, highlighted by Benson's famous Kennedy line, but that it eventually didn't move the needle in the end. Ah Chuck... know when to quit while you're ahead.
Lastly, another observation about Mr. Mike Murphy. He is certainly not the Republican version of Bob Shrum. The difference between these two men is that Bob Shrum was on the losing side of elections due to his ineptness and poor decision-making and not the candidate's. Mr. Murphy, on the other, was also on the losing side but for that exact opposite reason. His judgement was sound, but not his candidate's.
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