Randi, Ron, Republicans and Remarkable Reporting

Progressive Town Hall Forum in Seattle.  Premiere Networks syndicated talk host Randi Rhodes (center) was one of eight panelists who took part in “Showdown 2012: Recapturing Democracy,” a progressive town hall forum presented by Seattle’s Progressive Talk AM1090 (CBS Radio’s KPTK) at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on Saturday, July 21.  Rhodes appeared on a panel focused on the evolving role citizens play in the political and public policy process, including strategies to protect our role in democracy and to build a better future for everyone.  Panelists in this picture are (from l-r): Congressman Jim McDermott, WYD Media talk host Thom Hartmann,  talk host Mike Papantonio, Compass Media Networks talk host Norman Goldman, Rhodes, talk host Sam Seder, talk host Ron Reagan, and panel moderator David Postman, former chief political reporter for the Seattle Times.

Congressional Republicans are again organizing efforts to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR is hiring the lobbying firm Navigators Global to help shut that down.  The Hill reports NPR spokesperson Dana Rehm says that the organization is a content provider but is also a trade organization representing member stations.  “It is part of our mission to represent the interests of NPR member stations to Congress, executive, regulatory and judicial bodies.  At a time when the federal government is running a large deficit, every program and function of the government deserves to be scrutinized, and a review of federal funding to public broadcasting is fair and to be expected.”  Rehm says the firm’s job is to explain “how the federal investment in public radio stations and larger public broadcasting system provides one of the most effective returns of any program authorized by Congress.”

Talk Radio Rises to the Occasion in Covering Aurora Massacre Aftermath.  The natural progression of the analysis and coverage of the killing of 12 and wounding of dozens of others at the Aurora, Colorado premiere of “Dark Knight Rises” continues and talk radio is rising to the occasion to serve its listeners with compelling and responsible discussion.  Examples of talk outlets rising to a high level of performance through the use of experts in the fields of psychology, law enforcement, media violence, gun control and more are being reported to TALKERS from all over the country.  Here two examples of similar coverage:  Compass Media Networks nationally syndicated talk host Todd Schnitt featured an interview with shooting victim Pierce O’Farrill, who was hit three times by bullets from the shooter’s gun.  O’Farrill described live on the air the chilling events at the theater, his perspective on the gunman, the death penalty, and his visit with President Obama.   

XtreMedia president Kevin McCullough tells TALKERS several of his company’s programs – his own Kevin McCullough show, the Saturday evening “Baldwin/McCullough LIVE” broadcast  and the Sunday night Dani Johnson show spent the bulk of their collective platforms allowing hurting, confused and stunned listeners to respond to the attacks.  Actor Stephen Baldwin took time out from a publicity tour in neighboring Cheyenne, Wyoming (90 minutes from Aurora) to meet with those in Aurora whose lives have been touched by the shootings.  While there, CNN‘s Don Lemon asked Baldwin (see photo above) to weigh in on his perspective of the events.  Baldwin told CNN, “It may be time for those of us in the Hollywood community to re-examine how we advance violence through films, television, and video games.  It also blows my mind that someone could purchase 6,000 rounds of ammo in 45 days.  I’m a gun enthusiast but a red flag should’ve gone off somewhere.”

Comments

[T-S]

There are no red flags. The color is green - the color of money. That is what rules this country. Most people want gun control. The NRA is a small percentage of our population. But Congress is in the pockets of a few people with money.

That's where we're at.

Even talk radio is manipulated and maneuvered to the right by money. So a few people are responding to our latest mass killing. I'm not impressed. It won't last.

I hope someone proves me wrong . . .

[T-S]

Wish I'd known Seder was there. I'd have made plans to go. What an intelligent group of great liberals.

[casual observer]

You knew Sam Seder was starting to believe his own hype when he began wearing bow ties.

[T-S]

Hmm. Maybe he's trying to find his own style. Who is the rightwinger with the bow ties? Runs the Daily Caller? Can't think of his name.

Sam, please stay your serious, articulate very humble self.

[Puget Sound Blathers]

Wish I'd known Seder was there. I'd have made plans to go. What an intelligent group of great liberals.

Posted by: T-S | July 24, 2012 at 07:25 PM

yeah, what no mike malloy? he still doing that bit where he calls up 'satan' to talk to a deceased republican?

seder going with the bow tie is so passe. hell, tucker carlson ditched that ten years ago. no ONE looks good in a bow tie. it's just a lame attempt to stand out as 'that guy with the bow tie'

too bad you didn't drive down there randi could have led the folks on a pub crawl. the curbs over there are not as high...btw, is she still looking for the republican activist who pushed her. didn't she say it was an 'assassination attempt' or some such drivel. didn't she call it an attempt by 'blackwater' to take her out. or was that her fill in host.

why ron reagan jr would want to hang out with that bunch is a mystery. he no doubt got in his car and headed back to mercer island as soon as the show was over.

[Walt]

We can always count on Puget Sound's classy observations. You're missing out on a great career with the National Enquirer.

[Walt]

Ron Reagan lives in Magnolia,

[Coiler]

Yes, classy like Lee Atwater.

[KS]

Mike Walker, a reporter for the National Enquirer is one of the best in the business today, FYI. I do not read it much at all, but check out Walker's reports periodically. He draws some from TMZ and does his own investigating reports.

[Sparky]

Wow. Romney says Obama doesn't understand or appreciate America's "Anglo Saxon" heritage. That oughta get him the African American vote!

[Coiler]

Anglo Saxon, the Klan threw that term around a lot.

[KS]

Obama is half-white ya know - he smacks of racism, playing the race card at every turn because he has no credible argument. I believe Romney also made a similar statement about the heritage of black Americans while speaking to the NAACP a few weeks ago.

The Klan used Anglo Saxon a lot - yeah right.
Do you know that from previous Klan experience ?

[sparky]

"Obama is half-white ya know"

Apparently Romney doesnt.

Ed Schultz just called in to his show, which has been hosted by Mike Papintonio and others, in Ed's absence. Ed broke down just a little as he explained that his wife had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had surgery yesterday. He said he isn't sure when he will return to the air, as it will depend on his wife's health. Here's wishing her a complete and speedy recovery.

[Coiler]

"Obama is half-white ya know"

Do you know that from previous Klan experience ?

[Jack White]

Obama’s maternal grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham, had English ancestry (among others), and some genealogists trace him back to the Earl of Norwich, who was a surety baron of the Magna Carta. Moreover, Stanley Dunham served in the US military in London and then on the continent during World War II, and was involved in saving Britain from Nazi Germany. You’d think that would be a basis for pretty warm feelings. And remember, it was Stanley Dunham who actually raised Barack Obama; he did not know his father.

In contrast, the Romney clan’s only practical relationship to Britain aside from ancestry was trying to convince Scots in Edinburgh in the 1920s to give up alcohol and caffeine and become Mormons. Aside from explosive mirth, I don’t know what other emotion that record might evoke among English Anglicans of the sort Romney appears to want to rub up against, but it certainly would not be warmth.

[T-S]

Thom Hartmann is an education fast-tracked. He is so smart. He usually gets right-wing adversaries from various right-wing groups and when he defeats their points, they change the subject. Today he had a talk show host - I don't remember his name - who kept changing the topic and when Thom rebutted, he finally said to Thom, "you sure got the facts." He wasn't a happy camper at that point but at least he gave Thom some cred.

Usually these guys get mad and end up shouting at him.

[KS]

Don't be silly, Sparky - here's the real story that you didn't vet properly.

"LONDON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is distancing himself from an unnamed adviser quoted in British media as suggesting that President Barack Obama doesn't understand the "Anglo-Saxon" heritage shared by Britain and the U.S.

Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said Wednesday that if an adviser did say that, the adviser wasn't reflecting Romney's views."

One of Romney's advisors said this to the British media, not Romney himself. A stupid slip though...

I see that Mr. Obama is running away as fast as he can from the "You didn't build that by yourself" - that he said it on tape, echoing fellow statist - Elizabeth "Fauxohontas" Warren.

However, if you heard that we all know what he really said and his actions to support that speaks louder than any of his attempts to deny or walk back that rant in Roanoake, VA

[T-S]

Are you saying that Obama
's words were NOT taken out of context?

[Hedge Fund Hal]

Rush pointed outthis morning that he spoke of roads and bridges directly preceding the main line in contention."roads" and "bridges" in plural. He went on after that to say "if you have a business, you didn't build that."..... "that". He didn't say "those" or "those things" as in "those roads and bridges". he said "that" as in "that business".

[Hedge Fund Hal]

low information voter Tom Leykis, as fodder fro his anti-Romney rant, mentioned the bogus NBC/WSJ polljust now the anomalous poll among all of them , that today shows Obama wiht a 6 point lead against Romney. NBC's poll is notorious for oversampling Dems at a ridiculous rate. Rasmussen has Romney tracking two points ahead of Obama and last thursdays cbs/nytimes poll had Romney edging obama by one point for the first time. Leykis reminds me of a modern day Archie Bunker on the left, SITTING IN HIS ARMCHAIR WITH HIS OSSIFIED SET OF RULES AND OPINIONS WHICH HE REPEATS OVER AND OVER again, ad nauseum.

[T-S]

"Somebody gave you help that enabled you to thrive."

"If you are successful, somebody along the line gave you some help . . . somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that, somebody made it happen."

So, you think his words by themselves say a person didn't build a business. Then why all the examples of what other people built preceding these words and all the examples subsequent to them?

And you think a smart person is going to build a business where there are no roads, electricity or services?

I think you're smarter than that and I think you know very well that it is a corrupt use of his words.

In fact, the guy who was used in that ad came back in another interview and admitted that "of course he didn't do it on his own" and that he had used "government loans to stay in business."

BTW, HFH, context isn't just the preceding sentence. It is the subject matter and all the words having to do with that topic.

Any good writer knows that.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

hahaa "corrupt use of his words"......if Obama was talking about roads and bridges, not the business he had just immediatley referred to, he is articulate and smart enout to say "that infrastructure' or "those things" or "htose roads and bridges". It's still possible he just phrased the whole thing very poorly, and he was really talking about roads and bridges after all. The problem is , that we will really never know now what Obama actually meant with his words because it is still unclear in general, but leaning to the side of "that" referring to the "business" not roads and bridges. I believe most people, despite Obama's protestations and new"rebuttal ad", still think he was talking about the hypothetical business, not roads and bridges. If Obama actually meant something else, he phrased the whole thing too poorly to convey his meaning clearly. He'll have to now live with the mess that he and he alone has created.

[T-S]

This dispute isn't worth the words you and I are giving it. Your history of bias with this guy is obvious.

Discounting the subject matter of this part of his speech and all the examples he gave supporting the topic isn't very reasonable and speaks for itself. I have no doubt what he meant but then I'm not looking for something with which to smear him. I don't do that on either side.

[T-S]

One more thing: Obama has been talking without notes. I watched Romney the other day and he couldn't get away from his notes. He kept looking down to stay on message.

Obama said all he needed to say with supported evidence. He can't do it much better than that.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

I don't take thinking instructions from Rush. I weigh his inout, with plenty of other input, and use my own intuition and insight as well. you see bias, T-S, beacause you apparently cant imagine Obama saying "YOU DIDNT BUILD THAT BUSINESS". i can imagine him saying that- it really doesnt seem a stretch at all, after observing him for four years plus. The reality could be either way. i don't think you're being intellectually honest, if you can't admit that. Right now i'm siding with the "business" interpretation.

[T-S]

cant imagine Obama saying "YOU DIDNT BUILD THAT BUSINESS".

I didn't say that. See, that's what I'm talking about. You change words and meaning to fit what you want to believe.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

the main reason i side wih the "business" interpretation is somethign else that preceded his sentence in question. Before he mentioned the roads and bridges he had ridiculed the idea of "hard work" as the reason for having a successful business. It was really quite stunning. He actually was sneering and contemptuous as he discredited "hard work" as a main factor, explaining that sll sorts of "folks" work really, really hard. So yes i do take context and preceeding comments into consideration. These particular preceeding comments seem to logically support my particular interpretation of "you didn't build that". You have your context and preceeding comments- i have mine, T-S. That's why is say its just a huge, muddled mess, that he has no one to blame for but himself.

[Mike D]

Any intelligent, reasonable person would know what Obama was saying after listening to the full quote. End of story.

Feel free to keep running with it if you want to piss off more independents. :)

[Hedge Fund Hal]

hahaah how you all wish like Hell it was clear as a bell and unambiguous, but wishing and hoping just won't make it so, Mike D.. First Dude has really dug himself into a craphole on this one. hahahahahahaahahh

[T-S]

No, he didn't discredit hard work. That, too, is your interpretation. He said that lots of people work hard, really really hard.

Do you disagree with that? You work hard on writing. You haven't been published. It takes more than hard work. Talent, the right publisher, the timing. The last two may be out of your control. No contempt. Just facts.

I get it. Too bad you so dislike him you listen but you don't hear.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

hahaah "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".. T-S, you just can't get over trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the handful of letters i sent out during one of the worst times of the book busienss ,still fairly close to 911, didnt meet with a bite from an agent, when everyone in the business knows it usually takes scores of inquiries for an unknown, at a minimum, to met with any success.. The Harry Potter woman queried over 100 agents. Give it a rest. you have no idea whether the book is "up to snuff" or not. Unless you have a copy of the manuscript which you don't you're just talking out of your hind end, which is nothing new. When i do choose to edit and revise the particular things in the first chapter that i already know was giving agents the wrong impression, and give it an actual fair try with agents and publishers , i will do so, and it won't be a date all that far from now. And yes he did "discredit" hard work. He sneered at it. His implication was that the "folks" with successful business were just "lucky" , since all these other "folks" out there work really really hard, "just as hard" too. What other interpretation is there. none.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

were giving the agents the wrong impression....not "was'

[T-S]

"queried over 100 agents"

Exactly. It takes more than hard work. Persistence perhaps?

I made no judgment of your book. Another example of changing meaning to match your beliefs. And look at the classless retorts to which you resort.

[Puget Sound Blathers]

One more thing: Obama has been talking without notes. I watched Romney the other day and he couldn't get away from his notes. He kept looking down to stay on message.

Obama said all he needed to say with supported evidence. He can't do it much better than that.

Posted by: T-S | July 25, 2012 at 04:11 PM

Poor T-S, still hasn't figured out he is using a prompter...LMAO

[T-S]

Right. He carries his personal teleprompter out on the campaign trail. No wait, they're hooked up all over the building and sky and that's why he keeps looking in different directions rapidly making eye contact with each teleprompter. Forget the people.

Keep trying...

[Puget Sound Blathers]

er, you are the only one who doesn't realize pres obama does indeed bring a number of prompters with him

[Hedge Fund Hal]

yes, i dislike him T-S. very perceptive. I find him eminently dislikeable. But, no, despite this fact ,i am still able to listen Obama's speech and hear what was actually said and what was not said. First Dude messed up in this speech, either way you interpret his words, bigtime. The public has already spoken, and their consensus is the same conclusion as mine. haha T-S......... p.s. First Dude will not be allowed to uses teleprompters in any of the debates. They are not allowed. I can't wait until the first debate.teleprompters

[T-S]

Being stubborn isn't the same as being right.

Connect the dots, PS. At least give it a try.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

PS , she doesnt know that he carries teleprompters with him to events out "in the field", whether its the campaign trail, or whatever, outside of Wahington and the indoor seting. She thought you were joking. I vaguely remember thre was some sort of Obama appearance at an extremely rural, or similarly odd occaision some time back in his first term, where he had the teleprompters with him even there, and it was a source of extreme amusement and amazement in the media and among the general public.

[T-S]

From The Hill:

"President Obama is weaning himself off his teleprompter.

At recent campaign events in Pennsylvania, Virginia and again Monday in Ohio, Obama spoke to crowds in high school gymnasiums and at crowded outdoor events without his teleprompter, instead using written notes.

The difference is dramatic. Instead of turning in his characteristic manner from right to left and back again, reading from the two sloping, clear-plastic planes of his teleprompter, Obama has glanced down at pages in a binder on his podium.

Team Obama thinks the switch, or partial switch — the president is not giving up the teleprompter entirely — will help him better connect with voters."

Now it is notes. Does that make a big difference to you guys?

[T-S]

Hal is right. I didn't know he carried teleprompters everywhere. That's never been important to me.

It is words that matter. Not the tool used to remember them. I'm sorry you're so hung up on that.

Maybe that's why I accuse you of not being able to connect the dots. Words on a paper vs. words on a screen? No big deal to me. It is the content that is important. I'll have to give the same to Romney.

[KS]

PSB and HFH - T-S only wants you to connect the dots the way she wants them connected. Let logic and common sense be damned - its all about the Democratics not looking bad. Sorry that T-S so hung up on that.

I'll give it to whoever that Owebama was off prompter when he delivered his harangue of "You didn't build that business by yourself..." , but we saw a window to his soul then - he was speaking his heart, showing is red side, if you will. It is fair game for Romney to make light of this and it works both ways as anyone following this gutteral campaign has seen.
For Axelrod and the Prez to deny they said what was on video is disingenuous and a damn lie and then they try to accuse then Romney campaign of lieing, like a bunch of petulant anarchists. That is the main reason I dislike the Prez.

Actions speak louder than words. Both candidates probably ought to not stray away from the 'prompter, or they can just dump it at their own peril. Before Owebama, teleprompters were not a consideration - wonder why that was ?

[Hedge Fund Hal]

Watch and learn, T-S....this evening i demonstrated to you the difference between being a fairminded observer and strictly a partisan ideologue. I'm willing to admit the real possibility that Obama was actually referring to roads and bridges in the disputed sentence of his speech. Forget that he's climing this now- of course he would claim this, as damage control. You, as a partisan ideologue, T-S ,are not willing whatsoever to admit that it's a real possibility that Obama was talking abou the "business" when he said "you didn't build that". There is predicate and context to support both interpretations of the now infamous sentence, in the preceeding portion of the speech . It's just not as clear as you would like to think it is, or are kidding yourself that it is. Not clear at all- just a huge, muddled up mess of a speech.

[T-S]

There is predicate and context to support both interpretations of the now infamous sentence,...

No, sorry, but not true. If yours were true there would be no need for all the examples he gave: teachers, American system to thrive, roads, bridges, internet.

It's pretty clear to those of us who come to politics looking for truth instead of brand. I'm no Obama fan but this is not a difficult call.

"Partisan ideologue" - why do you resort to name calling? You have demonstrated nothing.

[T-S]

Cenk is on again. You should check out the studio fight in an Egyptian TV studio when the guest thought he was actually being aired on an Israeli TV. He got mad! You have to see it to believe it.

[KS]

If you believe Obama at his word denying what he said in context, I have a piece of swampland in near Ebey Slough ready to sell you.

Not a difficult call, indeed.

I"t's pretty clear to those of us who come to politics looking for truth instead of brand. "

T-S Nice try, but there's no way I'd buy that - first off, politics is the last place to look for truth - sad and true. You are taking the tongue in cheek to new levels here.

[T-S]

Then don't buy it. I don't care.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

If YOURS were true, T-S, then why did Obama go out of his way to sneer at and ridicule the small business owners conviction that his or her extremely hard work was a key, integral element to the success of their business. The contemptuous sneering at "hard work" part of his speech is what destroys the logic of your premise and contentions. It's out of left field and makes no sense, unless Obama's position is that he's telling the symbolic successful businessman that he's just a lucky bastard, a winner of life's lottery. If things were as simple and straightforward as you claim, in the disputed speech, he would have lauded the hypothetical business person for their hard work and then said something like "but along with your hard, hard work, unquestionably an essential for any business success, you also benefitted from the roads and bridges, the infrastructure that only government can provide." That's not what he said. not at all. point , set and match, T-S. The speech was just weird. And didn't really make sense. I concur with KS that First Dude slipped up, went off prompter for a brief moment and revealed this weird "red" side of him. haha T-S.

[T-S]

The contemptuous sneering at "hard work" part...

Your interpretation. You hear what you want to hear. Obama was talking to regular people. People who work hard. He emphasized it for effect and it's true. People do work hard. Really, really hard. I do so I didn't see it as contempt. I don't understand how telling people they work really, really hard could be interpreted as contempt. Sometime I don't understand your point of view. That's true.

So be it.

[Hedge Fund Hal]

Also T-S your analogy between a startup businessman and a person in the arts (writer in my case, and the spefic case you commented on) really doesn't work. Sorry . The businessperson pretty much just has to amass enough money to open a storefront or website and start presenting his or her goods and services to the general public. A writer, actor or artist has many more vagaries and politics to deal with, on their road to finaly getting public exposure.