Schultz And Papantonio Tell Dems To Focus On Themselves, Not Tea Party Whackjobs

Teabaggers are nuts. They have no real solutions to helping our country out of it's morass. Yet they know how to get under the skin and into the minds of many that are sick and tired of the troubled times and more than a few are buying their heated and often times racist rhetoric. Ed and Mike are right on here, it isn't good enough that we make fun of the lunacy candidates like O'Donnell and Paladino exhibit.

Democrats must put forth an agenda that will make sense to voters this fall and defend their record thus far. Stick the path that puts job creation ahead of deficit reductions and remind voters of where we came from....as in the Bush years.

M.P. Gets It Exactly Right About B.P.

Mike Papantonio is a master at tapping into the people's discontent and rage about the companies and politicians that exert control over their lives. When it comes to British Petroleum, the subject of offshore drilling and the catastrophe that is still ongoing in the Gulf, Mike rips everyone and anyone responsible for this mess.

Ed Schultz Talks Obama At Take Back America Conference

Many progressive stars and activists alike are attending this week's Take Back America Conference. One of them, radio host and recent MSNBC addition Ed Schultz sat down with "the Real News network" to talk all things Obama:

Ed Schultz Speaks Out For EFCA

Big Ed joins the chorus of left-leaning media personalities and wholeheartedly endorses the Employee Free Choice Act. He's been for this stuff all along, but now is the time to take a strong stand on the issue as it is now in front of Congress.

Obama Fights With Fire Against The Flames Of Clinton

One of the things the Clinton camp uses against Obama is that he won't be able to stand up to the vast right wing conspiracy's attack machine...and that Hillary already has. Of course, her "standing up" has resulted in high negatives for the New York Senator that stretch across the political spectrum. Clinton's team doesn't think Obama can be that tough, but he definitely showed it today against Hillary in a pre-taped interview on the Ed Schultz show.

From RawStory:

Schultz asked Obama to "be very direct" on his view of the Clinton campaign's push for delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated at this summer's Democratic convention. Clinton won uncontested primaries in those states, which were stripped of their delegates after scheduling the contests earlier than party rules allowed.

"I think even a six-year-old understands that you don't change the rules of the game halfway through," Obama said.

An aide then immediately tried to cut in and end the call, but Schultz managed to get out another question, asking if Obama would like a "do-over" in Michigan and Florida.

"I'm sure that we can work something out," he said. "But I think the main thing is just to make sure that the delegate results coming out of two contests that were not contested and were not supposed to count, that they don't somehow start counting now."

Thats right, playing by the rules is important. While the general contest this fall may have rule-breakers involved, they certainly should not come from the Democratic side. If Hillary gets away with Michigan and Florida's delegates counting as they stand now would be outrageous and completely unfair. If a six year old can understand it, so can the voters this fall when they want to choose a candidate that believes in principles and fair play. The nation is sick of a President that skirts rules and laws and we definitely do not need another one.

One Last Thing About CNN's Nevada Debate

I seriously do not understand how the traditional media gets to spin their circus show debate any which way they please. Everyone with a mic and a camera are saying that Hillary won the debate, especially CNN. At least the chief MSNBC political hack Chris Matthews had a couple of progressive viewpoints told on his show that refute the unconventional wisdom.

From Crooks and Liars:

Download (125) | Play (140) Download (136) | Play (71) (h/t Heather)

Tweety had progressive radio giants Mark Green and Ed Schultz on to talk about Hillary’s big win at the debate in Las Vegas Thursday night and apparently Schultz didn’t get the memo.

Schultz: “I think all this postmortem of this debate about how wonderful Hillary is a bridge too far. I think it’s a sad day when a candidate has to start saying well its mud-slinging if you point out what my voting record is.” … “CNN, and especially Wolf, I think they were bending over for Hillary big-time last night.”

Ed also went on to make several other good points too that went against what’s become conventional wisdom regarding who “won” the debate. I’m not saying Hillary did poorly, because it surely was an improvement over her last debate in Philly and clearly she owned the audience all night who were quick to come to her defense to boo Edwards and Obama when each tried to attack her record, but she had a lot of help from CNN too. Not only was the network completely unfair in the amount of time they gave to most of the other candidates, they also were caught planting a softball question from the audience specifically for her to end the night that they had to admit to and then they followed that by having James Carville and David Gergen featured on their post-debate show, both of whom had previously held positions in her husband’s administration and Carville is currently listed as an “informal advisor” to her campaign. That’s quite a coup for any campaign to pull off and should be cause for anyone to re-evaluate the entire evening. Quite frankly, if Hillary won the debate, then any record of the win deserves an asterisk beside it.

So I’m wondering. Who do you think won the debate?

I personally think we all lost. No one really won the debate, because it wasn't a debate. Our democracy is being pulled asunder by the cable news networks so that they can create a narrative that sells their "product." Hillary may have won some points in the horse race, but that is exactly what it is, a horse race. This is not a public forum where voters can choose a candidate based on real issues.