This may be one of the best hours of television I’ve watched in a while, so here is the opening clip of the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell tonight:
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Keith who?
It’s so nice hearing people use the words “liar” and “racist” and “vulgar” to describe liars and racist and vulgar frauds like Donald Trump. It’s refreshing to have someone point out the impact that this sort of disgraceful bullshit has on African-Americans all across the country. It’s so nice to see someone not give a shit about the delicate feelings of our he-said, she-said, both sides do it hacks in the media. Notice, O’Donnell didn’t even feel the need to do a weak “Gotcha” and count how many stories there were about the birther controversy.
And if he keep bringing the heat like that, I imagine he’ll be following KO’s time slot at his new job.
Gin & Tonic
When I see Trump I can’t help thinking of the times you drive in to, say, the artichoke capital of the US, and the town put up a 60-foot-tall “sculpture” of an artichoke. He’s the human version of that artichoke — comically disproportionate, vaguely similar, but nobody will ever confuse him for the real thing.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: An artichoke?
That’s where you’re going with this?
JPL
O’Donnell knew he was right on this issue. They can fire him if they want but it doesn’t change the fact. Earlier I mentioned that the network news gave a fair analysis of the situation but they never ate crow.
Fred
Right after this segment he chastized Oily Taintz and then threw her off his show. It was awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ba9KRIIik&feature=player_embedded
Judas Escargot
I’ll be able to say “I saw O’Donnell scream at Orly, live.” Very cathartic.
To be fair, Tweety’s been on the side of the angels on the birther/Trump issues too, also.
ABL
@Fred: that was glorious.
kerFuFFler
Great clip!
Omnes Omnibus
@Fred: Watching it now… Good god.
Violet
@Gin & Tonic:
He’s like a giant rutabaga that got mixed up in a bird’s nest.
Fred
@Judas Escargot: Tweety is on our side today. Tomorrow or next week he will get on the Prez’s case. That’s the game they play. Trying to be on both sides of the fence.
RosiesDad
Keith is back on June 20 on CurrentTV. With LOD calling out NBC for creating a monster on a nightly basis, it might make a good hedge to bet that he might be on CurrentTV in the 9 or 10 o’clock spot after the new Countdown show hits the air. And if that happens, don’t be surprised to see Rachel over there before too long, too.
PeakVT
One of the more constructive results of Slate’s contrarian shtick is this comparison of Trump and Richard Branson.
Will
I’m confused. Is Larry going somewhere?
Mr Furious
Nicely done, Mr O’Donnell. Since NBC Entertainment won’t be putting together the press release you demand before going home today, you need to open your show like this every night until:
a.) they do
b.) you resign in protest
c.) NBC News fires you
Sorry. But when you lay down the gauntlet like that, you gotta stick with it.
Omnes Omnibus
Odd woman? Understatement of the day by Barney Frank.
Blogreeder
You guys sure toss around the word racist a lot.
MikeJ
@Will:
If he keeps telling the truth about NBC while on NBC’s payroll, there’s a good chance.
I have issues with Baltimore
God bless, Obama. I genuinely didn’t realize “bemusement” meant “confusion.” I’m being sincere about this.
Also, is anybody else seeing that freaky-ass “Skincare Miracle” ad on the right with the picture of the blue lady with blood dripping down her face?
Comrade Mary
Yeah, they described the competitive reality show Branson ran a few years ago that only lasted one season, but it was surprisingly fair and likeable. Even my reality-show hating ex- liked it. (The runner up was the woman who sells Spanx; the winner was some guy I can’t remember — oh yeah, his company went chapter 11 in 2006. The old reality show runner-up blessing, winner curse strikes again).
I don’t think the tv execs jumped right to it and issued any press releases. Gosh, maybe they’ll get to it tomorrow.
General Stuck
I swear, I just can’t get over the naggy feeling that we are being spoofed by a giant clown God in the sky. At least for politics in this crazy ass land. Especially with Trump, who is a soul less asshole, but not a dumb one. I mean he is checking off a list of wingnuttery to skit, one by one, like a shopping list for punking marks. But who is/are the marks. I ain’t exactly sure, to tell the twoof.
Fred
@Blogreeder: That is because we don’t need to use code words and dog whistles on this side of the fence. You wouldn’t understand since you spend all your time on that side.
TheOtherWA
I need to start smoking again so I can have a cigarette. That was sooooo good.
Judas Escargot
@Fred:
Quite possible. But he won’t be talking about birth certficates.
Shades of grey and all that.
trollhattan
Ouch. That was schweeet. Well done, mister Larry.
Sarah Proud and Tall
Jesus. After watching those two videos, I’d offer to have Larry’s babies if only my ovaries still worked.
Fred
@Comrade Mary: I liked that show. Branson obviously liked that guy from day one. He failed one of Bransons ingenious tests where he dressed up as the taxi driver to pick them up at the airport and the guy treated him like crap. Branson never got rid of him so he obviously liked him.
The problem with that show was not the format. It was Bransons personality. He’s kind of a quiet laid back guy. Likeable but not the sort of personality for a reality show.
Studly Pantload, Vibrant Trollbot for Obama
Watching Bernie Sanders on TRMS on the DVR right now. He’s talking about how even the tea baggers don’t like the whole “destroy Medicare to save it” proposal from the Ryan camp. I think this highlights a helluva right-wing battle brewing. On the populist side, you’ve got the ‘baggers giving political oxygen to race baiters like Trump and hollering about freezing the debt limit. On the $$ side, you’ve got the gazillionaires advocating for destroying Medicare and quashing any attempt to freeze the debt ceiling.
Popcorn, meet butter.
Strandedvandal
I love the way he basically laid a roadmap for “journalists” on how to get the answer to tRumps Presidential aspirations.
John D.
<a href="http://www.explosm.net/comics/111/">Old, but still appropriate Donald Trump take.
OzoneR
@Will:
Is Donald Trump purposely race-baiting and fear mongering and being disrespectful to the President in a desperate attempt to to save his show and do NBC entertainment executives know he is doing it, and perhaps did they suggest he do it?
John D.
Old, yet appropriate Donald Trump take.
60th Street
I’m pretty much convinced that Orly Taitz is Peggy Noonan after 2pm.
a birth certificate would be nice…
Blogreeder
@Fred:
How do you know where I spend all my time? Sounds to me like YOU’RE the racist. Still, you guys toss around the word racists a lot. Now in Trump’s situation, you know he’s a media whore. Won’t he say anything to get attention? That’s what Larry said too. So isn’t it just possible that Trump is saying all this birther stuff just for attention? To call him a racist cheapens the word. Save it for real racists like DougJ.
Strandedvandal
@Blogreeder: You spelled reader incorrectly. Does that make me racist as well?
Punchy
OT: Cole, are you in a tornado warning? Looks like parts of S. WV in a warning. Take heed little buddeh.
TheOtherWA
Oh, Lawrence. You tried to have a rational conversation with Orly Taitz. “Go play with Donald Trump.” I love you, man.
Blogreeder
@Strandedvandal:
When did I spell reader wrong?
James E. Powell
O’Donnell’s rant was on par with many of Olberman’s re GWB. I assume it will have the same effects on the national political discourse.
danimal
Who has more courage: Paul Ryan or Lawrence O’Donnell?
asiangrrlMN
Oh. Mah. Gawd. That cold opening was brilliant. It was so delicious, I will have to watch it again after I’m done watching the rest of the episode. And, his throwing Orly Taintz off the show was downright orgasm-inducing.
“Do not yell at me! People do not yell at each other!” It was the only thing O’Donnell could do to shut her the fuck up.
@danimal: In the real world, O’Donnell. In bizarro Republico world, Eddie Munster.
Kane
Just in case you haven’t seen it already, I want to share this powerful and heartfelt YouTube response to the birther circus from The Onion’s Baratunde Thurston. It truly is must see.
General Stuck
I’ve been a Tweety watcher for a decade now, and the dude is a mixed bag of pandering, horny toad, and true libtardism.
He can say the stupid brown nosing wingnut clap trap one minute, and the next talk like the Peace Corp guy he once was. But all things being unequal, I like the guy, and when he’s not bootlicking people pleasing wingnuts on his show, he is a solid liberal, or even leftist. Part of the neurosis comes from his coming from a wingnut family, I think.
Trainrunner
We should remember that it was LOD in 2004 who called the Swiftboat cretins “liars” to their faces, over and over again, on MSNBC.
Omnes Omnibus
@danimal: Ryan is certainly more serious.
Kane
Just in case you haven’t seen it already, I want to share this powerful and heartfelt YouTube response to the birther circus from The Onion’s Baratunde Thurston. It truly is must see.
here
Bob Loblaw
@OzoneR:
How far up does the racist conspiracy go? It’s all Comcast’s doing isn’t it? Or is it Jeffrey Immelt? And what of the right-wing Jews who control the world’s media?
Nick…I mean, OzoneR’s right. Inquiring minds want to know.
TooManyJens
@Blogreeder:
Well, people do racist shit a lot. Especially with a black man in the White House. Go fucking figure.
El Cid
It’s not exactly difficult to treat Orly Taitz as an unworthy lunatic.
She pretty much ended her TV appearance career with her “LET ME– LET ME FINISH– LET ME SPEAK” crazy googly eyes interview.
El Cid
Daffy Duck: “This is a closeup?”
TooManyJens
I also think “This is not where you come to do your madness!” would make an excellent rotating tagline. Or meme. Whichever.
Bret
You guys seen this? They’ve already “proven” that the long form is a “forgery.” I’m sure they just matched up the kerning.
Link here
Mark S.
Paul Ryan’s seriousness goes up to 11.
Blogreeder
@TooManyJens:
The conservatives called it the moment President Obama was elected. Any criticism would be called racist by your side. You know that too. I think it’s ridiculous calling Trump racist when he’s clearly a media whore.
El Cid
So now they’re pissed at Hugo Chavez because he captured and arrested a FARC rebel liason to Europe — because he didn’t check with Sweden first given that the guy is Swedish.
Colombia already declared the guy a major FARC operative in Europe. So Venezuela handed over the captured guerrilla liason to Colombia.
Sweden actually didn’t say much when rocket grenades it old to Venezuela before Chavez were captured by the FARC and suddenly it was Hugo Chavez’ fault.
Yet when a Swedish citizen pre-announced by major US ally Colombia as a known member of FARC is captured by evil Hugo Chavez, suddenly it’s a diplomatic issue.
So now what? Chavez is being too helpful in his pursuit of Colombian guerrillas?
El Cid
@Mark S.: We need to privatize birth certificate centers, if any public ones remain.
Fred
@Blogreeder: Fail! Trump is either one of them or just intentionally speaking to them. Either way he is a piece of garbage!
http://www.theonion.com/articles/trump-unable-to-produce-certificate-proving-hes-no,20250/
TooManyJens
@Blogreeder: And what vehicle does Trump use for his media whoring? Racist tropes about Obama being an outsider and illegitimate and just not as smart as white people. He didn’t pick birtherism and demanding to see the transcripts at random, you know.
Studly Pantload, Vibrant Trollbot for Obama
@Trainrunner:
LOD also out front denouncing (most forcefully, as can be his style) the cynicism of John Edwards (on HuffPo) during ’08 primaries. As an Edwards backer at that time, I’d thought LOD had lost it. Turns out he was just wicked observant.
asiangrrlMN
@El Cid: Dude. Get your Communialist(TM) ready ‘coz you just got me all revved up. And, seriously, for my first laugh of the day–thanks.
hamletta
Don’t forget that LOD probably knows the cats in Burbank he was addressing. I’m pretty sure he was a consultant on “The West Wing.”
That was personal.
handy
@Bret:
Dood. They shoulda merged the layers and rasterized before exporting to PDF OH NOES the jig is up!!
Janeane The Acerbic Goblin
@Fred:
As much as I would like to think Larry has seen the light, I don’t.
O’Donnell is only trashing Orly and the birthers/Orly/Donald Trump is because of President Obama.
Obama laid down the law today, proving (as if there was any doubt) that he was born in this country. The MSM kept this BS story going, indulging and enabling birthers like Orly and Trump, and letting Republicans get away with indulging the birthers as well.
O’Donnell is simply covering his tracks by acting outraged at Trump and the whole birther movement. O’Donnell could have easily gotten outraged a few years back when the birther thingy started, but why do that when there are ratings to get out of exploiting ignorant and crazy people?
It wouldn’t surprise me if O’Donnell had planned to throw Orly off the show. Not because they worked it out ahead of time (like an Andy Kaufman stunt), but because he knew she would go insane with this news and Larry could look like a “responsible” journalist by throwing her off the program. He’s just trying to get some credibility back instead of acknowledging the MSM’s role in keeping this birther controversy alive.
Glenad
To me this was a very sad day. Even PBS Newshour went the Inside Edition route with this Trump nonsense, it was their first story. They even gave further publicity to the grade request stunt. I watched Baratude’s video at the Onion site, like this clip from Lawrence O’Donnell, it is a must see. You will understand the pain from all this as you listen to him.
Kane
This could have all been nipped in the bud three years ago if the media and responsible politicians had all told the VP candidate of the republican party in no uncertain terms that her racist innuendo and Islamophobia would not be tolerated or accepted in the campaign. Instead, they gave her a pass, and in doing so, gave her flock permission to repeat the hateful rhetoric.
Blogreeder
@TooManyJens:
Just because you call someone an outsider doesn’t mean you’re racist. Just because you call someone dumb doesn’t mean you’re a racist. Isn’t the only reason you’re calling Trump a racist is because he’s white and President Obama is black?
WaterGirl
Seriously? You’ve got to be kidding. Or trolling. Or something. O’Donnell completely acknowledged his own network NBC as completely complicit in what Donald Trump is doing, and called them on it on national TV.
Edit: Funny how there are new names on BJ tonight, out of the blue, defending and excusing racist behavior.
freelancer
I had to go for a smoke after the Orly Taitz segment.
hamletta
@Kane: That’s really sad.
It never occurred to me that anyone could take it that seriously. The racism, yeah. But Donald Trump? This is a revelation.
I spent the ’80s with my nose buried in SPY magazine. I guess that’s a generation ago, so there are young people who don’t know Trump as a mere “short-fingered vulgarian.”
hamletta
@Janeane The Acerbic Goblin: Please loosen your hat. The tinfoil has something to say to you.
freelancer
@hamletta:
He wasn’t just a consultant and a producer on the show, O’Donnell played Jed Bartlett’s Dad.
stuckinred
Tornado sirens blowin big time!
James E Powell
@freelancer:
I took a shower.
freelancer
@El Cid:
A CLOSEUP YA JERK! A CLOSEUP!
General Stuck
@stuckinred:
Duck and Cover
Blogreeder
@Fred:
Good Onion piece. Trump is still a media whore. I don’t think being a birther is racist. I think it’s xenophobic.
WaterGirl
@hamletta: The perfect response. That may just be one of the funniest things I’ve read. Ever. It certainly deserves to be a rotating tagline.
stuckinred
@General Stuck: No shit, it looks like we are ok but this shit is coming down just south. One dog is sleeping and the other is nervous as a cat!
WaterGirl
@stuckinred: I love thunderstorms, but I hate tornadoes, they make me nervous. In a tornado, I have nowhere to go but the bathroom. Stay safe.
Blogreeder
@stuckinred:
Hope it misses you. You’d have to change your tag to stuckintree.
stuckinred
The Dragon Lady died!
SIA
@stuckinred: I was just wondering about you Athens folks. They just showed a tornado in Monticello, so stay safe.
stuckinred
@Blogreeder: It was horrible in Alabama and I fear what the sunrise will bring here. Semi’s are getting blown off 75.
WaterGirl
@RosiesDad: I just looked up Current TV and discovered that Comcast doesn’t carry it in my area. That sucks.
The whole time I was watching O’Donnell I kept thinking “special comment”. I bet Keith wishes he had an outlet for that tonight, but I hope he was proud of Larry O.
TooManyJens
@Blogreeder: Whatever. There are ways to appeal to racism other than wearing white sheets and yelling “segregation forever!” They’ve had to get a little less overt about it.
I really don’t get why people on the right don’t seem to acknowledge or understand context. Well, that’s not really true — if those studies are correct and conservatism is correlated with an intolerance for ambiguity, that would certainly explain it. But it’s still frustrating as hell.
gwangung
@Blogreeder:
Weeeeeeeeeaaaak.
I can puke a better conservative retort than that.
Uriel
You know, people dump on Larry- what with the whole ‘OMG, can you get any more villager than that?’ And I get understand that pointnof view. But I have to say, I always liked the guy. Sure, 80% of the time he’s doing the ‘he said she said blah de blah de blah, then we turn ourselves around, that’s what it’s all about’ thing.
But when he’s got his druthers up about something, and he’s finally decided to channel the little Atticus Finch that lives in everyone of us- well, you just want to back away slowly and hope his righteous indignation doesn’t fall anywhere near your sorry ass.
Shame he’ll never work on broadcast TV again.
WaterGirl
@Uriel: You really think they will fire him?
@gwangung: You and hamletta are both really on tonight!
@Kane: Really great. Thanks for the link.
Blogreeder
@stuckinred:
I saw those pictures from Tuscaloosa. Frighting.
TooManyJens
@stuckinred: Crossing my fingers!
Anya
@Kane: I actually cried when I watched that earlier today.
Blogreeder
@gwangung:
Well, let’s see it then. Go on, puke! :) It’s just annoying, did Trump actually say anything racist? You guys just like to toss that word around. Like tossing your cookies.
Villago Delenda Est
@Fred:
In essence, not an asshole.
Which explains Donald Trump right there.
Uriel
@Blogreeder:
Yup! You caught us, you clever devil! That is the very, onlyest reason! Much the same way we all call Clay Atkins a racist because he’s white and Obama’s black! Or Sam Waters! Or, hell, let’s face it- Lawrence O’Donnell!
Darn it, foiled again!
Blogreeder
@TooManyJens:
That’s interesting that there’s been studies. But I think a lot of people on the left like to speak for people that don’t necessarily need to be spoken for. Going too far the other way. Maybe there’s a middle ground somewhere.
Uriel
@WaterGirl: No- I think he’ll be encouraged to explore options more in line with his career goals. As forcibly as possible.
gwangung
@Blogreeder: Like I said, weak.
Try again. Don’t insult our intelligence.
hamletta
Stay safe, y’all!
Anya
@hamletta: I think it’s the fact that a ” mere short-fingered vulgarian” was given a platform to disrespect the PUTUS with the full support of the MSM. It’s the fact that they had a split screen showing the vulgarian in one side, while waiting for the President. It’s the realization that the only reason the President is disrespected this way is because he’s an African American and deep down we’re still a racist country.
Blogreeder
@gwangung:
But there’s no intelligence to insult. It’s hard commenting here because I have to talk down to you guys so much. So here; your big witty rejoinder is “weak”? See? I wish you would save your empathy and compassion for a conservative trying to reason with liberals. It’s hard.
Villago Delenda Est
As O’Donnell graphically demonstrated with the Taitz woman, the instant you produce the document they’ve been demanding, they move on to something else and ignore that document.
It will never end with these people. All the documentation of Obama’s birth in Hawaii on 4 August 1961 will never change the fact that he is NEAR.
Which is the true issue that these disgusting racist pricks have with Barack Obama.
SIA
@Kane: Thanks for that.
You Don't Say
@Judas Escargot: Exactly. He tore apart a couple tea parties in the prior hour.
Fred
@Blogreeder: Blah blah yada yada. Go tell it to your brain dead friends…if you have any.
Fred
@Blogreeder: LOL! Back to troll school. You’re not ready.
Jesse
@Blogreeder: It’s your fault your “argument” is so weak.
Trump’s comments drip with the assumption that Obama couldn’t possibly have gotten where he is on his own merits. Trump assumes, passim, that Obama got some sort of special treatment in his academic career. You want to call that “xenophobia”- but Obama’s an American! He’s just not the right *kind* of American for Trump. For some reason, Obama just seems unqualified, says Trump, to be in the position he’s in. It’s nothing specific, just a vague feeling the man (who happens to be black) doesn’t fit in, doesn’t belong, isn’t right.
We have a name for that.
It’s called racism.
I don’t know what’s in Donald Trump’s heart. I don’t know if he’s “a racist.” I do know he’s made a series of escalating racist statements. I know he should be ashamed of himself.
You should too.
Midnight Marauder
@Blogreeder:
Ooooohhhhh! So close…yet so far away…
Mnemosyne
No, no, Blogreeder’s right — clearly there’s absolutely nothing racist about claiming that US-born Obama isn’t a natural-born American citizen because his father was African. Especially coming from the party that wanted to amend the Constitution so naturalized citizen Arnold Schwarzenegger could run for president.
I don’t get why you guys think it’s racist to treat immigrants from Kenya and Austria differently. I mean, just look at ’em, amirite?
hamletta
@Anya: Good point.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne:
I saw what you did there. :)
bago
@John D.: Learn your html.
Elements and attributes. The anchor tag is an element, the href is an attribute of that element, allowing the text wrapped in the element definition to be hyperlinked to the url in the href attribute of the element.
Seriously, w3schools rocks. Go check it out.
bago
@Blogreeder: Race comes in, race goes out. Never a miscommunication.
bago
@Jesse: After the wives, bankruptcies, inheritance, and tagline of unemployment, with a dash of reality show to season it all, it’s like the guy is buying real estate on the event horizon of the wingularity.
Lysana
@Mnemosyne:
But he has “Scwharzen” in his name! Arnie’s black, too! So it must be the big ears.
Triassic Sands
“Liar.” “Racist.” “Vulgar Fraud.”
Why so nice? I think “Shameless Piece of Shit” ought to be included, even if it fails to do this egomaniac justice.
Ordinarily, I’d use POS instead of the actual words, but in Trump’s case he really deserves the full honor of being called what he is — a “Shameless Piece of Shit.”
The media people who follow this SPOS around and pretend to cover a pretend presidential candidate should be ashamed of themselves. They are part of the problem.
Pretend candidate? Even if Trump decides to run for president, it would be a fake campaign for a fake office. If he won the election, he’d be a fake president. The only thing that would be real would be the castastrophic ruin he would bring to this country.
gex
To no one in particular:
We’ve had presidents with a foreign born parent. John McCain was definitively not born on American soil. And the GOP flirted with removing the natural born citizen requirement hoping it would open a path for Schwarzenegger to run. So the fact that there has been a two year quest to absolutely prove that Obama can not be president when we know his mother was American and he was born in America seems to boil down *only* to the fact that Obama is black.
Therefore, many of us conclude that the birther meme is racist. But that’s only if you look beyond the specific issue at hand consider context. Sure, if you put your blinders on, you can continue to insist that birtherism isn’t racist. But you look stupid with blinders on.
alwhite
I heard a clip from last nights CBS Evening News, Bob friggin Schiefert called the birther crap “racist” – using that exact word! In public! He also said it explained a lot of the attacks on Obama!
If they have lost Bobo and Broaders love child at CBS we may yet have an honest discussion of the brain-dead politics yet.
JPL
stuckinred, Are you awake? It’s still dark outside but I don’t think I have any wind damage. At least eleven people died in the northwest corner of the state and there appears to be wide spread damage.
What will Pat Robinson say?
Gravenstone
Saw this comment elsewhere and thought it did a nice job of nailing down the inherent contradictions (i.e. racist bullshit foundations) of the birther “argument”.
“why is it that so many of the right-wing in this country are worried about illegal immigrants coming over the border and dropping babies who will automatically have American citizenship, while when someone is born in the US to a US citizen and a legal resident, they’ll claim he’s somehow not a US citizen?”
abo gato
Kane, thank you so much for that link. That was beautiful in a very sad way.
Bobby Thomson
@Blogreeder:
Some people think you’re really fucking stupid. I think you’re just a knowingly dishonest piece of shit.
Trump called Obama stupid and said he didn’t belong at Harvard Law because even Fred Trump’s money couldn’t get the Combover into Harvard.
That criticism doesn’t pass the laugh out loud test because Obama graduated magna cum laude. Magna cum laude is an award that, by definition, means you graduated in the top 10 percent of your class. HLS has blind grading, in which exams are graded by exam number and not name. That’s without even getting into all the other indicia of merit-based success, such as being elected head of Law Review and — oh yeah — President of the United Fucking States.
There is no reason for anyone to suggest that Obama is too stupid to have gone to Harvard law. Not unless you want to play to well known racist themes, or are too stupid to be allowed outside without adult supervision. Doesn’t matter if in his heart of hearts, Trump doesn’t believe that whites are racially superior, because the effect is the same. The behavior is racist, and we are defined by our actions.
debit
@Kane: That was amazing. Thank you for sharing it.
@ thread: I would love to know why anyone would ever take Trump seriously after he whored himself out to Pizza Hut.
SnarkyShark
I am a white southern male. When I get around other southern white males they assume I am one of them and they discuss the problem in frank and stark terms and the problem is this..
nigger, nigger, porch monkey, nigger, spearchucker, nigger
Then they sit around and smirk at how clever they are.
That’s your fellow travelers and no whining about unfair LIBS is gonna change that.
SFAW
Which raises a philosophical question of sorts: was George Wallace, when he adopted racism as a political tactic, a bigger racist than the KKK members? I don’t know the answer (if there is one). And it’s (redundantly) past history.
But replace “George Wallace” with “Donald Trump”, and we gots current events. And I don’t know if Trump is racist in his “heart of hearts” [sic], but he’s doing a good job playing one in front of the news cameras.
Nemesis
Well, if you thought LOD hit his stride with his rant against donald, then you must do yourself a favor and watch LOD terminate with extreme prejudice the one and only Orly Taits. I soiled myself with glee.
SFAW
They use those terms because the Lieberals MAKE them use them!
rikryah
it was so righteous, I felt like I was in church. the Taitz smackdown is an instant Youtube classic.
he was like…’ bitch, bye’
BWA HA HA HA AH HA
Exurban Mom
@Blogreeder: Sigh. What makes The Donald a racist, AND a media whore, is his insistence that the president wasn’t born in America, when he had already released his birth certificate three years ago, followed by his insistence that Obama wasn’t qualified to attend Columbia or Yale.
Trump is a racist asshole who lives in a white bubble in Manhattan. His “friends” whose kids don’t get into Yale are white, overprivileged rich kids who have the world as their oyster, and have to suffer through Cornell instead of Yale, or Oberlin instead of Harvard.
If Trump was calling out Obama’s policies on Libya, or arguing for a different tax plan, none of us would be calling him a racist. Obama’s policies are fair game. Questioning Obama’s very American-ness? That’s racist.
SFAW
No, it’s racist of you to suggest that the questioning is racist. It’s also racist to suggest that Teabaggers talking about nigras (or however preciously they word it) is racist.
As every good wingnut knows – projection, Projection, PROJECTION!
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@Will: Hopefully he is moving to Canada – we need someone like him up here, especially in Toronto, with Tommy Boy as the mayor
joes527
meh-
I couldn’t get through it.
Calling Trump an idiot, or a liar, or a racist, or an all around shithead is all well and good. But the hook that he was using: “Donald MUST declare his intentions NOW!!!” is stupid.
The problem isn’t that Donald is somehow doing something wrong by not declaring whether he will run. I haven’t declared whether I will run yet (I’m still weighing my options)
The problem is that the press is following him around like so many puppies
reporting ontaking dictation from the Donald.The real fix for this problem has nothing to do with Trump.
debit
@joes527: His point was that once Trump announces he won’t run, the press will abandon him in favor of the next freak show. So yes, the real fix has everything to do with Trump. (Actually, to the real fix has to do with having an actual press interested in reporting actual news, but that ship sailed a long time ago.)
Paul in KY
@Blogreeder: Like the poor & downtrodden?
Paul in KY
@alwhite: Wow! Bob Schiefert? Man, are pigs flying or ducks mating with cats?
Paul in KY
@SFAW: I think he was bigger, due to the cynical nature of it & his ability to be in a position of real power (governor of Alabama & then kingmaker to wife Lurleen).
joes527
@debit: So, the Donald must save the press from its own stupidity?
…and this is reported on a news channel?
Irony — she is dead.
satby
@joes527: No, the point O’Donnell made very clearly is that the NBC execs know whether or not Trump is coming back for a next season, and by not releasing the renewal/cancellation of Trump’s show the NBC execs are somewhat complicit in Trump’s obnoxious road show. And I agree. I think they were hoping for a ratings bump, but what has been happening instead is that people are turned off and tuning out. Serves NBC right.
zach
This is a little overdone… why doesn’t he just ask them to fire Donald and continue to do so every night until they either fire Donald or fire him? Have a feature every week or so highlighting one of Trump’s many bankruptcies to show how he’s the biggest welfare queen in America.
joes527
@satby: All it would take to end the Trump-mentum is for reporters to actually report on actual news.
Taking the shine off Trump so that the press can go off and chase the next shiny object really doesn’t improve anything.
The press (MSNBC) pretending that the problem is someone else’s fault (Trump or even NBC Entertainment) is a form of denial. They need to move on … at least to anger. (maybe even to bargaining or depression)
pk
@Blogreeder:
Are you seriously this stupid or just looking to provoke. Is a person racist only if they say the N word or wear white sheets. You seriously think Trump was going to say ” I think the foreign Muslim black guy is too dumb to get into Harvard”. Yeah its Fucking racist to say Obama did not get the grades to get into Harvard. How the hell would Trump know anything about Obama’s grades and why does it matter 2yrs into the Presidency. Yes Trump is racist and yes republican birthers are racists and yes this whole thing is about race and hatred of blacks. And if you don’t get that you need to have chat with your shrink.
jinxtigr
People are talking about LOD being fired.
What? Spare me.
The corporate response to his outburst (personally, I liked it, but it was in the form of a couple outbursts) is actually just like what Orly Taitz did.
Taitz: Yes but this document- let me speak, let me answer your question by flat-out reciting the talking points I have as if I’m a robot not able to think, let me get that shit out there on television for second after second, Imma let you speak but about this Selective Service document…
NBC corporate offices: Yes but look at the ratings, look at how people are watching that clip on Youtube, we have this guy under contract and just look at the attention!
Note: not a moment of engagement with the moral center that LOD claims to be trying to reach. It’s a human tendency to assume he’s speaking to/about somebody else. I bet all of those guys just went wow- what great television!
Note: LOD is addressing them as if they have the power. I think it’s this that took out Olbermann- I don’t think it’s his very telegenic political noisemaking, I think Olbermann’s a diva, making extraordinary demands of the network and throwing tantrums. This does not change the truth of his assertions and moral compass w.r.t politics, but it means one thing.
If LOD produces just as incendiary TV as KO, but does not throw tantrums over ketchup packets or demand unusual compensation and consideration- if he’s just as much of a firebrand but even a bit more down to earth and humble behind the scenes- they will love him and he’s got airtime as long as he wants it, perhaps even in a good timeslot.
I swear, it’s just business. LOD can call out the management’s handling of Trump all he wants as long as he’s not unmanageable behind the scenes. Did he say, “If they don’t release this information by tomorrow, I will quit my show” thus causing major problems to the workings of the network? No, he didn’t say anything like that? Well then.
As long as he works and isn’t squeezing them for benefits, it’s all TV. They don’t care what he says as long as people are watching and the buzz is happening. There’s no such thing as bad publicity- and the company owns both Trump and LOD. Siding with LOD is also siding with the company he’s supposedly calling out…
Jane2
Good Lord. Regardless of O’Donnell’s opinion with which I agree, he’s a blithering blowhard who just cannot STFU soon enough. On and on and on and on and on. Same point over and over and over and over and over. He’ll do well in KO’s former spot…he’s KOx10.
sacman701
@120: Correct on all counts. If Obama were white, anyone suggesting he was unqualified to get into Harvard would get no traction even with the tinfoil-hat crowd. blogreeder is a typical passive-aggressive troll, and not even a good one at that.
The Populist
@Blogreeder:
(Sigh) Racists refer to black folks as “the blacks”. Racists use imagery that implies blacks are lazy do nothings like “if he would get off that BASKETBALL court” and racists hint that colored folk from poor areas of the country have no business at Harvard.
Sorry bud, maybe he isn’t a racist, he’s a bigot but regardless, he’s not making it easy on himself to come off as anything BUT one of those two definitions.
The Populist
@jinxtigr: This. NBC LOVES Rachel Maddow solely because she’s easy to work with. LOD is supposedly this very humble guy so if he lives up to his billing, he should be there for as long as his ratings are good.
The Populist
@joes527: LOD’s point is that this is all about ratings for the Apprentice and getting a renewal. Trump clearly cannot afford to run since we’d all see his tax filings and know what many have said for years…he isn’t as rich as he claims. He likes being the contrarian. He likes to stand there lecturing people. THIS is the real Donald. The problem LOD has with NBC is dead on…either he declares or he STFU. Last week I caught a few minutes of that craptastic show and his opening line was asking how the celebs would feel if he ran for President (since these are filmed way in advance). Some raised their hands timidly and one guy looked down (Lil Jon the rapper) with a fuck that vibe on his face.
Fact: Apprentice ratings dropped last week. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0411/Trumps_ratings_sagging.html
Ratings were already dragging when the new season started. Funny yet, even the sponsorships seem down. When tasks have been handed out in previous seasons, we’d see the likes of Dicks Sporting Goods, Best Buy, etc sponsoring tasks. This year from what I’ve seen we’ve had a sun cream company and Subway I believe and mostly Trump related businesses in between.
Buh bye Donald. A smart man you do not appear to be by running off your big, uninformed mouth.
Julie
Perhaps I am missing something, but why did LOD have Orley Taitz on his show in the first place? I think it would have been better to just ignore that waste of space and oxygen. Ignore her and maybe she will go away.
SFAW
Yes, because if Teh Left and other rational humans ignore her, then the wingnuts will most certainly do likewise.
Plus, we’ll always have Pammy Geller to keep us amused.
Blogreeder
@Midnight Marauder:
I guess if you’re OK with calling Juan Williams a racist name; that’s all that matters.
joes527
@The Populist: OK. I didn’t follow that at all. Everything you talked about there would be entirely appropriate material for Entertainment Tonight “Shitty fake reality show is shitty (and fake).”
What does that have to do with MSNBC, LOD, the presidential race, or anything really? Is LOD covering the entertainment beat these days? Should Mary Hart be watching her back?
And how do you get from “Trump is a cheap huckster doing everything he can to push his shitty fake reality show” (which is undeniably true) to “Trump needs to declare or STFU?” Why? Are you going be making demands of Earl Scheib next? (Bad luck. Google says he is dead. OK then Cal Worthington?)
The problem isn’t Trump. He is just an asshole and a racist and a lousy businessman. The problem is that the press are treating him like a serious candidate. Blowing Trump out of the water would alleviate the symptom, but the press would just be off looking for the next equally stupid non-story to report. This would not be an improvement.
The Populist
@joes527:
Joe, seriously? Trump is using his fame to make a fake run at the Presidential nom for the GOP. O’Donnell like all tv pundits is calling out a guy who should stick to talking up his lame pink ties and his not so fabulous buildings.
I don’t know why you can’t see this? He is using his “pulpit” to run, getting attention and using it to add more bullshit to the President’s already crowded plate.
sistermoon
@Blogreeder:
If the shoe fits…
Hedges Ahead
Wow, the very next night and already we have Chris Hayes sitting in for Lawrence. I wonder why he wouldn’t be on his own show, following last night’s performance?
Ronzoni
@gex: Geoge Romney? Born somewheres in CHINA. But IOKIYAR