Governing through Reason
Talking Heads December 4
No news this week was big enough to warrant a sweep of the talk shows. According to Politico, here’s the lineup for this week:
Meet the Press (NBC) — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is interviewed against Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.
This Week (ABC) — Representative Barney Frank (D-Newton, MA) will talk about his impending retirement after over three decades in the House. Also, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who is amazingly still running for President, tries to make it sound as if he has a chance. Then, Angelina Jolie discusses her work with the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Face the Nation (CBS) — Priebus is paired up here with former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
State of the Union (CNN) — Two more Republican Presidential hopeless hopefuls: Representatives Ron Paul (R-Lake Jackson, TX) and Michele Bachmann (R-Stillwater, MN), plus the last GOP nominee, Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Also, former White House budget director Alice Rivlin and former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin discuss the latest unemployment numbers.
Fox News Sunday — Bachmann’s here, too, along with Gang of Six Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), who will talk about the debt and how to address it.
Newsmakers (CSPAN) — National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling is interviewed by The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib and The Economist’s Greg Ip.
Political Capital (Bloomberg TV) — House Energy and Commerce Committee member Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph, MI) is interviewed here.
Related articles
- Sunday talk show tip sheet (politico.com)
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#2 written by Max aka Birdpilot 1 year ago
Any reporter worth a damn will have done enough homework to be able to counter talking points and to recognize lies. Why they won’t immediately challenge these assertions, repeat the question if left unanswered, even going to the limit of saying something as: “I’ve asked twice now, very politely. We have 9 minutes left in this segment. I will continue to ask the same question until you answer or the clock runs out. So save yourself the embarrassment and answer.”
Mainer is correct. The hosts are as much as fault as the pol.
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#4 written by Mainer 1 year ago
Probably Michael. But one enterprising new age journalist could make one hell of a wave if he or she started it. Oh my gosh we shall not get Michelle Bachmann back if we actually question her? Who on gods green earth gives a living shit. Throw herin stocks and pelt her wit hrotten fruit but get straight answers. If she does not come back get other people on there that are not liars and burry them.……they will be back to try and lie their way out of the last lie.
When the only place these dipwads can go is Fox News then we the people will win. So crowd them push them and even harrase them if it moves the whole damned lot to just one outlet. Lets see just how well that works in the general.
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#5 written by Max aka Birdpilot 1 year ago
MW,
So what?
Then the host starts a new segment. “Dishing on the Absentee”
“Folks, we’ve asked Joe Candi-ass-date at least three times to appear on “Face the Press” and they have refused our offer. So today we shall do a review of some of Joe’s past statements and appearances on other shows. We will continue to show Joe’s highlight’s every week. Some of these may be considered slanted, but all Joe needs to do is come on with us and dispute those with which he disagrees. Bobby, let’s go to the videotape!”
Bet a consistent pattern will inevitably change the mind of even the most hard core refusenik after a bit.
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Easy for you guys to say. After Ames, Bachmann was necessarily the hot ticket. These shows get paid by eyeballs, and if you don’t have the hot item, you don’t get the eyeballs. If you don’t get the eyeballs, you don’t get the money. No money, no show.
So if you build the reputation of having hardball interviewers, you don’t get the guests you need to get the eyeballs you need to get the money you need to keep the lights on.
Not saying it’s right, but I am saying that’s how it is.
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Let the record show MW is basically sayin’ Sunday political, talkin’ point tv babblin’ is meaningless scripted minutia ~ by definition er it’s a catch-22, eh ie even if an intelligent/pertinent/relevant question is asked, as a rule, it won’t be answered. Just avoided by a politician’s best song and dance evasion.
So, “we” are all in agreement w/MW lol.
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Reps on Sunday talk: Dems/Obama sucks!
Dems on Sunday talk: Reps suck!
No charge for saving everyone a lot of time … btw, Republicans really do suck!
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#8 written by Max aka Birdpilot 1 year ago
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#9 written by Rose 1 year ago
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Is it too early for hypotheticals/prognosticating
absolutely not considering this site is an offshoot of 538.com ie Nate Silver is now makin’ a living predicting political scenarios at The NYTs, eh.Anyway, who would be Gingrich’s vp ?!? knowing his ship will probably go down in teabagger flames in the general. He has burnt soooo many Rep/conservative bridges, Obama’s infrastructure plan wouldn’t help that much. Nobody Gingrich has ever worked with seems to like him
except for Pelosi and Clinton. 
So let’s recap shall we: Teabaggers are/were looking for a new and exciting savior who had what it took to dethrone America’s anti-christ Obama and the best they can currently come up w/is the only Speaker in American history to resign in disgrace. A (2) time divorced, corrupt ego maniac lobbyist yada yada yada.
Everything old is Newt er new again.
Thank you teabagger nation for the gift that keeps on giving, Gingrich. And for continuing to cause the Rep party to go off the rails w/great frequency ie Buck, Angle, O’Donnell ~ Walker, Kasich, Scott, Nikki Haley et al. btw, Rick Scott’s job approval is now 26%, ie he is now losing support w/Reps in FL ~ yes Virginia er grog, Scott is now the most unpopular governor in America, overtaking Kasich lol.
Even the teabagger’s boy wonder, Marco Rubio, is below 50% in Florida ~ ‘nuf said!
On the bright side Limbaugh likes Gingrich !!!
Gingrich/Scott 2012 ~ hmm, the 2012 Republican convention/Tampa, Florida ~ Oops!, will Scott be allowed to participate!
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We now return you to Supreme Court discussion(s), speaking of which how many SC justices will Obama be replacing in his second term …
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#11 written by mclever 1 year ago
Now that the Intrade market for Herman Cain to drop out has expired, I guess it’s official. Herman Cain is OUT of the Republican race.
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=753309
How fitting is it that the expiry volume was 999 shares!
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#13 written by Mainer 1 year ago
So lets see Pawlenty folded his tent, Huntsman never had a chance and is for all intents and purposes gone along with Johnson. Bachmann still flails about but seems less of a candidate with each passing day. Perry and Scantorum seem locked in a contest to see who can crawl the farthest to the right and or say the dumbest right wing comment in any 24 hour period. But even after his flirt with stardom Perry is more done than an over cooked cheap steak. And Cain will now disapear into oblivion.
So we are left with Mitt, Newt and Paul. Now there is one charismatic group. Newt is going to spend untold millions and could still prove he is not as he says a career politician or one any one wants, Newt has no money but enough baggage to drag down several candidates. And Paul will keep on keeping on for no real hope of success other than maybe a caucus or primary win here or there. My word the Republicans are now in a situation where they could easily have no candidate that can even win the nomination let alone the general. Brokered convention? How about just a broken convention to match the party?
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#15 written by shortchain 1 year ago
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#17 written by shortchain 1 year ago
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#19 written by mclever 1 year ago
Corzine testifying right now!
He began by expressing his profound sadness for those affected by MF Global and apologizes to those impacted. He says that contrary to reports, he actively reduced exposure to risk while he was in charge.
He says he doesn’t know where the missing money went. He doesn’t know if the shortfall was caused by operational errors or by withheld funds. He’s had limited access to the company documents since bankruptcy, so he remains deeply concerned. He simply doesn’t know where the money is or why the accounts have not been reconciled.
He admits that as CEO he has responsibility, and he explicitly accepted responsibility for European trading bets, but he says those debt positions rarely exceeded proscribed limits.
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#20 written by mclever 1 year ago
Q: Mr. Corzine, is there a shortfall in the customer funds that MF Global was legally required to keep segregated?
A: Mr. Chairman, there are unreconciled accounts which account for the shortfall.
Q: To the best of your knowledge, why is there a shortfall?
A: I’m not aware, nor do I have the information to look at those transactions, so it’s difficult for me to speculate why the shortfall took place.
Q: Did you authorize transfers of segregated funds?
A: No.
Q: Are you aware of any transfers?
A: I’m not in a position to know.
Q: When did you become aware?
A: Sunday night, as I said in my opening statement.
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#22 written by mclever 1 year ago
Q: Did the Chief Risk Officer express concern about Euro sovereign debt to you?
A: He expressed concerns to me and to the board, but we also discussed other European positions.
Q: Did anyone else on the board express concerns?
A: There were multiple discussions. We arrived at a consensus.
Q: Did you tell the board you’d leave if they didn’t do what you want?
A: No. I didn’t threaten the board, but I did say that if the board lost confidence in me then I’d be willing to step down.
Q: Were you involved in causing the Risk Officer to step down?
A: My opinion was that we needed someone in the Risk Officer position who was more familiar with the broker side. There were concerns about how people worked together that led the board to that decision, and my agreement.
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#24 written by mclever 1 year ago
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#26 written by mclever 1 year ago
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#27 written by mclever 1 year ago
Q: How would you react to “MF Global’s books were a mess.”
A: Our books reflect the chaos of the loss of confidence… That is distinct from the records of prior periods where auditors concur that our books were not in a mess. In the last hours and days, there were many, many, many more transactions than would normally occur.
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#28 written by mclever 1 year ago
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#29 written by mclever 1 year ago
Corzine admits that having MF Global functioning as both an FCM and a broker-dealer presented issues. Not a shocker, there…
The cause of MF Global’s “stress” in its last few days was a combination of sovereign positions, ratings downgrades, and an inability of those at MF Global to convey what the losses were really about, because we didn’t have losses on our sovereign positions.
<Committee has to break for votes.>
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#30 written by mclever 1 year ago
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#31 written by mclever 1 year ago
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This looking at the weekend talk shows may well have become a dead horse that needs no more beating. I used to try and catch one or two depending on what I have going but no more. The cast of characters is numblingly repetitive. What will be said so scripted as to be useless. Talking points and Luntz speak passing for thought. Fawning ill prepared and gutless hosts that ask pointless questions or worse shill for politicans or party positions while trying to appear neutral when they are patently not. People maybe with a point being yelled over or down by those more interested in obfuscation then truth.
So why both with this any more? If in the unlikely event some one ever does say some thing of worth it will be in other reports and we can look at it then.