Senator Morning Joe

Is MSNBC a gene pool for potential future leaders of the Congress? Just a few months back there were reports off the cuff that Chris Matthews of Hardball was going to take a run for office and now we have reports coming in that Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe is going to run for the Senate. I found this little nugget of information over at Memeorandum and I do thank them for the tip!

By Jeremy Wallace

Published: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 1:14 p.m.

Television host Joe Scarborough has a new radio show and is feeling good about the influence he's having on politics.

But the former congressman from Pensacola said he may run for office again, maybe even the U.S. Senate in 2010.

"I haven't closed it off," said Scarborough, a Republican who is scheduled to address the Manatee County Republican Party at its annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Feb. 20. "I've been getting some calls from some fundraisers in Florida."

Scarborough said he is also hearing from other U.S. senators who want him to run for the seat that Sen. Mel Martinez announced he is leaving next year.

He just needs to decide whether he could have as much influence on public policy as one of 100 senators as he does now on his MSNBC program "Morning Joe," he said. - Herald Tribune

Don’t get me wrong, in their own television news magazines both of these gentleman ask or state some provocative opinions that I sometimes agree with and other times throw a shoe at the television. Chris and Joe are both pretty head strong individuals and sometimes when people don’t agree with them they throw little tantrums right on the air. Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are a good example during the Democrat Convention with Chris pretty much having a hissy fit on Keith over reporting emotions rather than facts. Joe Scarborough and former Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski where the Z’ster had to tell Joe he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about concerning world diplomacy.

In the end, these two are a bunch of hot heads and that may sell on viewers but it will not sell in the halls of Congress.

Papamoka

The McCain Campaign's Chemical Breakdown

Good Morning Papamoka Bloggers - Anybody who watched Hardball yesterday would have noticed the remarks made by MSNBC's Political Director Chuck Todd after he sat in on the Nightly News interview with McCain and Palin. He kept telling Chris how he felt their was "NO" chemistry between them.

Todd kept saying it over and over. It was obvious to him. He also said that he sensed a great deal of "tension" in the room. I wonder if they had a big fight before the interview. McCain did make faces during the interview - then again, when does he not make stupid faces. I wonder if McCain is beginning to blame her for his own problems and screw-ups. The really funny part is that they're both pretty awful.

I don't know about you guys, but most Republicans I know are famous for passing the buck. The ones I know rarely take any personal responsibility. I'll bet that's happening with McCain. He's probably blaming her for everything. I'll even go so far as to bet the man's a misogynist - just look how he treats his wife at times. He's probably regretting the Palin decision and it's starting to show. Oh well, all the better for us.

It's also reported on Raw Story this morning that the New York Times Magazine is set to publish an explosive story on Sunday detailing "the inner workings and combative personalities" of the McCain campaign.

Raw Story reports that the piece, written by Robert Draper and titled The Making (and Remaking and Remaking) of the Candidate, will highlight "a growing weariness within a campaign that seems more interested in tactical victories and the next compelling narratives than an overarching strategy." It sounds interesting, but it's been pretty damn obvious to me for a while.

Excerpts:
"Having interviewed several of the Senator's chief aides, Draper details the process by which McCain ultimately chose his running mate (New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was surprisingly high on the list). And the decision may have been even more impulsive than initially thought. Gov. Sarah Palin, who had never been on the VP shortlist, was advanced at the last minute by Schmidt and Rick Davis, and was picked after a chat with McCain at his ranch in Arizona."

"From there, Draper tracks the campaign through Palin's widely praised convention speech, the roaring early campaign events, and then the first glimmer of doubts. There are additional, juicy nuggets that he uncovers earlier and along the way. These include the birth of the Obama-as-celebrity attack line -- the campaign felt it was on the wrong track, its pollster described their situation as "third and nine," and Schmidt "blurted out the epiphany concerning Obama. 'Face it, gentlemen,' he said. 'He's being treated like a celebrity.'"

Reports like that confirm a great many of my suspicions. The ironic thing is that everybody I know in Washington (I used to work for a Senator on Capitol Hill) tells me that John McCain has the ultimate celebrity ego. Supposedly, in addition to an early film about his time in Vietnam, he expects a full-feature film spanning his Senate years one day. If it's true, than Obama's rise to fame - at his expense - must be leaving him feeling pretty sore.

I'm a big believer that "the fish rots from the head down." It's not a pretty saying, but it sums up my belief that the top dog creates the "personality" of any organization - based on who he draws into it.

It's pretty obvious that McCain attracts awful people that don't function well together. Think about it, there have been rumors since the primaries about the infighting. That's a pretty damn good reason to vote against him right there. Just think about his potential White House. Scary!

John McCain is a negative person who surrounds himself with negative people. Unfortunately, the fruits of his labor are beginning to rot, and the stench is getting out. It's interesting to watch. I'll bet they're all pretty sick of each other at this point. I suggest we all just sit back and watch the fireworks. If it continues in the same way, there should be a pretty good finale.

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

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Bailout Plan Failure

The defeat of the bailout bill today in Congress was pretty much expected by yours truly. You can not dump $700 Billion on the backs of the American people and expect both parties to come to any consensus on it on the first round. Nancy Pelosi threw this bill to the floor without knowing if she had enough votes to pass it and that is shear incompetence. She trusted Republican leadershipt to get the votes needed on his side of the aisle and then she lambasted the bipartisanship effort by blaming Republican’s at the last minute in a floor speech before the vote?

Politics is a funny business and I’m thinking that the Democrats did not like the merits of the bill and this was not going to be a Republican slam dunk and it was possibly scuttled for political reasons. Pelosi delivered exactly 140 votes from Democrats to this bill which is what she promised the Republican leadership in the Congress. Republicans bailed on the bill once the vote started.

One of the reasons that both parties are not voting for this bill is the lack of judicial review and an omnipotence given to the Treasury Secretary. Our nation can not hand out $700 Billion for discretionary spending without knowing where the money is really going. Our government leaders should not back any blank check written out to Wall Street without being able to legally prosecute wrong doing if thing does go south!

Politically, this looks really bad for the Republican Party and John McCain who claimed he was “Suspending his campaign” to fix this issue. Then he prematurely injected into the media that the bill passed in a statement early today before the vote happened. You can’t fight the media on that point or for that matter John McCain himself. Politics is what it is and Republicans all over the media are bashing McCain and President Bush and their leadership faster than Democrats can. Representative Darrell Issa R-CA, on Chris Matthews Hardball slammed McCain and President Bush over and over again. Congressman Issa thinks there are better ways to do this and there probably is. The question has to be asked, what, how, and how soon?

Video Link



This situation will be fixed by the Congress, it just needs to be worded differently and more palatable to the members of Congress that have to get re-elected in five weeks. That is the politics of this situation in the nutshell. Holding your seat in the Congress is far more important than bailing out Wall Street and the American economy. A philosophy that more Republicans backed on this vote today than Democrats.

Anyone want to buy a used apple cart that my grandmother owned? It was only used once during the Great Depression. New tires, spinner hubcaps, new apples, updated with a GPS system that tells you how screwed you really are and where you are.

Papamoka

McCain Lipstick on a Pig Ad

Be forewarned that if you use the term Lipstick on a Pig in any conversation or speech the Republican Party is going to call you on it because it is a direct reference to Sarah Palin whom apparently invented Lipstick. In the latest Republican smoke and mirrors smear campaign, Barrack Obama called a pig with lipstick still a pig when comparing the positions of George Bush that John McCain still supports 90% of the time. Warning to Revlon and Maybeline, McCain is watching you and you better watch your lipstick commercial comments closely.

Typical Rovian bait and switch election tactics to keep the media from talking about the real issues which is something McCain can not offer much in comparison to Obama.

As for the Lipstick on a Pig comment, it's okay for Republicans to use the phrase over and over again when bashing Democrat programs but if you happen to be a Democrat that uses it, it is a sexist comment against Sarah Palin? John McCain has used this phrase over and over again himself and if he approved the advertisement then he himself is a hypocrite and a sexist. If it was okay for John McCain to use the phrase, have a senior campaign official that authored a book titled "Lipstick on a Pig" then it is okay to use the advice from that book in political debate if you are a Democrat! This is getting close to the debate of an Irishman can call another Irishman a Mick, but don't you dare use the phrase "Mick" if you are an Englishman? What really comes off in this issue when you honestly think about it is the fact that John McCain is racist against Obama if he approved any advertisement using this as an issue.

Over at MSNBC they have this from Chris Matthews...

Video Link



Can we be grown ups and get to the issues rather than the Bush style nanny tattle tale politics of McCain? Kudos go to Chris Matthews for telling the truth and calling the Republican's on the carpet for playing games instead of facing the issues America needs to face.

Papamoka

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Tim Russert, the Gold Standard of Journalism

With the sudden passing of Tim Russert I find myself in the same company of many of the friends he worked so closely with. His presence on our nations televisions was that of the friendly and jovial uncle that just loved politics simply because it was a competition of the best available candidates for our times. His style and grace when confronting political figures called them to task where others would have given them a pass. Honestly, I feel like my brother or my closest Uncle has died. His passing is very personal to me and I’m just a political blogger.

Tim brought to journalism what no other person could in today’s media hubbub, the truth. Politicians love to hide behind the real story and yet he alone called them to task and dared to ask the questions that nobody else could find the guts to even think of asking. His secret was a relentless pursuit of the truth in politics and for that I thank him from the bottom of my heart. If you were a guest of Tim Russert on Meet the Press then there would be no softball pitches coming across the plate. That kind of journalism he left to the people dreaming of being a real political reporter that found themselves swooned by the politician.

Tim Russert was not about fluff pieces and feeling the love to anyone that dared to sit in the hot seat of Meet the Press. What perplexes the media institution that he built is the fact that anyone wanting an interview with him had better be ready to face all the facts no matter how ugly they were. And yet, politician after politician would seek him out knowing the gauntlet they would have to face. Facts do not lie, Tim never hid those facts from his guest and in the long run the truth or an inkling of it was established during his broadcast of Meet the Press.

One of the things I admired most about Tim Russert was his devotion to friends in the business. He never forgot his friends during the bad times they each faced. From Mike Barnicle during his alleged plagiarism debacle at the Boston Globe to Don Imus and his Rutgers girls basketball disgrace. While the rest of the press, politicians, and people that were supposed to befriends were running fast and furious, Tim stood by his friends, backed them and supported them. In the media business friends are for the most part there only as long as you shine, Tim was there during the dark days lighting a candle of light for a friend who thought the world had forsaken them. That was just who he was. His friends were for life, his love of people unquestionable, and his deeds quietly done because he was at the heart of his being just a man that loved people.

On many occasions while listening to Imus in the Morning over the years Tim would be on and dog the I Man on how his little boy was doing in between talking about political issues of the day. Tim was never impressed with the fact that Imus in the Morning was listened to by millions of people, that wasn’t the important part of the friendship. The Imus family little boy that looked up to his mom and dad was the key figure in the relationship. In every friendship that Tim had, the kids were the ones that made many of them call him simply Uncle Tim.

When he wrote of his hard working father in Big Russ and Me, it reminded me of the many trials my own family had faced over the years. No family is perfect and here was the moderator of one of the longest running news broadcast in our nations history telling the story of his dad. It inspired millions in more ways than he will ever know. Evidenced by the follow up book from many of the people that read about his life with Big Russ. In my mind, Tim gave the fathers of this nation and many others something to live up to with actions as a dad rather than just words. The old saying of anyone can be a father but it takes hard work and faith to be a dad was the Russert credo.

It’s a dark day for political reporting just knowing that the extreme grasp that Tim Russert had on politics is lost. There is not in my mind anyone that can fill his shoes and do what he did with the shear simplicity that he was able to do so effortlessly. His broadcast seemed almost like watching a figure skating routine and the scores garnished depended on how the person in the hot seat replied. The more squirming the higher the score.

My personal condolences to the Russert family and to all of his many friends including his viewers on many of the broadcasts he participated in. His quick wit and sharp mind will be missed.

God bless and keep you close Tim Russert. We can only hope to carry on with the same integrity that you brought to journalism.

Papamoka

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