I don’t know what’s worse, Bob Scheiffer and Reince Preibus laughing about Preibus’ comparison of President Obama to the Captain of the Costa Concordia (17 dead, 16 missing), or Bob Scheiffer’s bewildered old man face before he gets the joke. Isn’t it about time for one of Scheiffer’s kids to take over that show?
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SenyorDave
Since he opened the door, it would be unreasonable not to speculate what horrible crimes Reince Preibus has committed against humanity. What was he doing during the planning of 9/11?
Linda Featheringill
Actually, the Prez can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Of course, a joke you have to explain is not a successful joke.
MattF
Right. The joke, Bob, is that your job depends on maintaining the ‘both sides do it’ meme through the general election. Ha ha.
Donut
Almost as good as child molestation analogies!
MattF
@Linda Featheringill: My understanding is that the original LBJ version was ‘fart and chew gum at the same time’.
Anya
Reince Preibus sounds like he’s still in puberty. He’s such a light weight. Also, too, I am surprised that Bob Scheiffer didn’t say anything because he’s always blathering on about decorum and such.
Maude
Preibus must think he’s so clever. It fell flat.
I must be in a bad mood because I find this insult over the top. Oh, and Obama isn’t Italian.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I can’t watch the video at work, so I’m wondering when they think Obama abandoned the ship?
Suffern ACE
@belafon – because he’s not in Washington and has taken the unusual step of campaigning for the office he’s running for.
Mark B
What, a sitting president campaigning for office? This is an outrage. This hasn’t happened since … what … 2004?
Anya
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Via, Crooks and Liars:
Linda Featheringill
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Complaining about an incumbent campaigning for office, presumably neglecting his duties in order to do so.
losgatosca
If his kids aren’t interested Luke Russert is ready. He’s worked his way up from the top in just a couple if years.
Waynski
Their constant efforts to characterize Obama as a person he so clearly is not reminds me of the SNL skit in 2008 when John McCain was talking to his imaginary friend Joe the Plumber. They really are pathetic.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Anya: Thanks.
There are many counters to this:
“At least he knows the difference between running the country and campaigning.”
“He’s probably gone to look for the captain who ran it into ground.”
“He’s still trying to save the passengers. Just because all of you fuckers piled into the same lifeboat doesn’t magically make it a ship.
Comrade Javamanphil
@Maude: Oh sure, but who ever heard of a Kenyan boat captain, amirite?
Villago Delenda Est
This guy is supposed to be an IMPROVEMENT in comparison to Steele?
Are there any non-shitstain Republicans left at the national level? Just one?
Amir Khalid
@Anya:
That’s a wrong and despicable comparison. Even if they don’t like what he’s doing, who in America believes that Obama has abandoned ship?
Elizabelle
More evidence that my decision years ago to not watch any more network Sunday morning “public affairs” shows was the correct one.
Juvenile.
flukebucket
It is always fun to see what line up of Republicans Face the Nation is going to serve up after CBS Sunday Morning. John McCain? Lindsay Graham? Donald Trump? Bob Dole? Haley Barbour? All of the above? I think Schultz was the only Democrat in a 6 person line up yesterday. The liberal media is destroying this country!
Steve
I wanted to ask Osama bin Laden if he thinks Obama has been neglecting his duties, but he hasn’t returned my call.
Mike E
Any. Idea. Is as good as any other to a movement conservative.
Are you expecting anything but derivative thinking from these assholes?
Downpuppy
Well, you can neglect your job for a campaign.
The last Governor of Massachusetts (don’t recall his name)went campaigning for preznit & barely set foot in the state for the last 2 years of his term.
amk
wasn’t scheiffer bitching and moaning just two days back on how the present day politics (aka rethugs) is so demeaning the presidency ?
Anya
@Amir Khalid: I know. These people are despicable. They throw everything at the President and see what sticks. I don’t think this type of an attack will go anywhere though.
P.S. Jake Tapper is not amused.
jibeaux
It’s a much more accurate analogy if you replace “Obama” with “Congress”….
Anyway, two things about the Costa Concordia:
1. I read that the captain admitted to prosecutors that he left in a powered boat and that he might have possibly run over some people’s heads as they bobbed in the water. WTDoubleF?
2. I have looked at those pictures and read the stories and I cannot for the life of me figure out how they are going to move that thing. I would have thought somebody would have written about that by now but I haven’t seen it. Does anyone know?
JPL
On the same show Debbie Wasserman Schultz called Mitt extreme so best side do it. cbsnews
JPL
@amk: I saw that also. Wonder where the repubs got the horses head to put in his bed.
Mike E
@Donut:
Brought to you by the folks who think Ned Beatty getting raped in Deliverance is to laugh…
Soonergrunt
@Villago Delenda Est:
No. SATSQ.
RalfW
Let CBS know how you feel.
This is what the wingers do – I’m sure they have a fleet of old crabby people in hoverrounds calling and e-mailing CBS and the other networks over every perceived slight.
[email protected]
General phone (202) 457-4481
Viewer call in line (202) 457-4484
If you really want to be an old crank, send a paper letter (yes, people still do that)
“Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer”
2020 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Soonergrunt: Makes me think of Sodom and Gomorrah.
maya
That all… Depends.
Soonergrunt
Now queuing up in the lobby, the emoprogs, who just can’t wait to tell us all that
dmsilev
@jibeaux:
It’s doable, albeit tedious. You weld enough patches over the holes that the pumps can keep up with the leaks. You then move water around inside the ship to balance out the weight and bring the thing back upright (a technique called counter flooding). Pump out as much of the remaining water as possible, and tow the ship to the nearest large drydock.
Not easy, and not cheap, but doable.
Linda Featheringill
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t think anyone believes that. He certainly shows up for work more often than Congress does.
Soonergrunt
@maya: I see what you did there.
kc
BUSH never campaigned when he was in office!
Judas Escargot
What was that German word for someone with a punchable face?
I suggest “Preibus” as a possible synonym…
redshirt
@kc: Gosh, I recall Bush taking potshots at Howard Dean in the SOTU only to have Dean lose and render all the potshots irrelevant. But that must just be my LIEberal mind lying.
wasabi gasp
Freebird!
RalfW
My note to CBS:
I find it totally unacceptable for a veteran journalist such as Bob Scheiffer to have laughed at Reince Preibus’ “joke” that Obama is like Captain Schettino.
In no way has the President abandoned the ship of state. In no way has President Obama recklessly endangered our citizens the way that captain recklessly endangered – and killed – his passengers.
I live in Minnesota. The only two still-missing American passengers from the Concordia are from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and I find it very rude of Mr. Preibus to have made that comment. He is making a cheap and tawdry shot at the expense of families still sitting in anguish right here in my community. For shame.
But it is the height of unprofessionalism for Mr. Scheiffer to have laughed along. Watching the video, I’m just shocked at Mr. Scheiffer’s laugh. There was nothing, nothing funny about what Mr. Preibus said.
I expect a full apology to the American people and especially those greiveing, on air, from Mr. Scheiffer.
Sincerely,
Ralf
jibeaux
@dmsilev: What do you tow it with, an aircraft carrier? I appreciate the answer, though, that gets me thinking about it on the right track.
dmsilev
@jibeaux: Ocean-going towing ships. Think ‘harbor tug’ but larger. They’re certainly capable of towing a load like this; normal usage for tows of this sort include moving deep-sea drilling platforms around, and those are quite a bit heavier and less streamlined than even a crippled cruise liner.
jackmac
@Linda Featheringill:Obama also shows up for work more often that George W. Bush did!
Redshift
On top of everything else, if I was a Republican official, I wouldn’t be reminding people of a president running the country onto the rocks. For most people, I don’t think Obama would be the one that comes to mind.
Rathskeller
@RalfW: thanks, I launched a similar spitball against CBS. At a minimum, they may notice that their host is 2-3 steps behind his guests.
Deb T
I always had a soft spot for Bob Schieffer since the Watergate days. When Dan Rather got all mushy about Nixon resigning, Schieffer hung in there. No sentimentality, nothing but straight reporting.
But now, he reminds me of my folks, who became more and more conservative and afraid as they aged. They’d always been conservative but they were moderates. I used to think of Schieffer as even handed and insightful, but much as I have admired him, I think it’s time for him to retire.
Rathskeller
@dmsilev: Here’s a well-written article about retrieving half-sunken ships. Scary as hell.
Shalimar
@Amir Khalid:
It isn’t like Obama was unavailable for comment during an emergency because he was on a 3 hour bike ride in the middle of a weekday.
redshirt
Projection, thy name is “Republican”
rlrr
@dmsilev:
Consider this: Most of the ships sunk at Pearl Harbor saw action later in the war.
dswagz
I think we should all ask to see Reince Preibus’ birth certificate.
Brian
I see people missing the point here. Yes I don’t agree with the analogy of Obama abandoning ship, but since when is it ok to make a joke about the death of 30+ people?
I guess about the same time it became ok to joke about shooting a sitting president.
balconesfault
@kc: BUSH never campaigned when he was in office!
Nor did any of his high level agency political appointees take extended leaves of absence to campaign for him in 2004.
GregB
CNN just ran this clip and Dana Loesch said that it may have been over the top because “President Obama hasn’t killed anyone to my knowledge.”
Yeah, Shcieffer looked like an old and out of if fool and Priebus looks like the smarmiest little pud I have seen in a long time.
balconesfault
@Brian: I guess about the same time it became ok to joke about shooting a sitting president
But some British filmmaker made a fictionalized drama about the reaction to George W Bush getting assassinated. Both sides … oh, you know the drill …
Ken
SCHIEFFER: (LAUGHTER) Well, thank you for your analysis, Reince. (TURNS TO CAMERA) After the break we have Governor Sarah Palin to share her insights.
Amir Khalid
@Judas Escargot:
Backpfeifengesicht. Although for this guy, Arschgesicht (buttface) works too.
Ben Cisco
In my mind the president is more like the Coastie that told Schettino to get his ass back on his boat. Projectionism strikes again!
__
And the true horror of the comparison is that people DIED on that ship – they’re still pulling bodies from it – and this jackass thinks it’s cool to joke about it. Unbelievable!
Rathskeller
@Ken: Jesus, so they segue directly from Reince to Sarah? Now I know my emailed complaint about this will go straight to the top.
Amir Khalid
@Ken:
Should have been this:
redshirt
@Amir Khalid: LOL! Good one!
I hate these people so much.
El Tiburon
Oh my. Oh dear. Heavens to Betsy, did another mean old Republican say a naughty against President Obama? My my my. For shame. That is terrible.
Oh, bye way, did you catch this Leon Panetta interview? Panetta is the head of the CIA, a democrat, and appointed by Obama. Panetta has some truly scary things to say about indefinite detention and US assassination an the like.
Maybe it’s just me, but I am more disturbed by what the head of the CIA has to say than some Republican jerk off. But you know, whatever.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/30/leon_panettas_explicitly_authoritarian_decree/
AxelFoley
@Steve:
ROFL
GregB
@El Tiburon:
He’s the Defense Secretary.
RalfW
@GregB:
Sometimes I find myself agreeing with the conservative analysis that says the entertainment industry is immoral and corrupting our culture.
The problem is, most conservatives point to Hollywood films and episodic TV. I have very little problem with that. It’s fiction posing as fiction.
I point to jackals like Dana Loesch and really, the whole entertainment industry that has replaced TV news. Fiction posing as news and information.
Applejinx
Gosh. “President Obama hasn’t killed anyone to my knowledge.” Um, except for Osama Bin Laden?
I think the wingnut evilness is beginning to kind of implode- you have to remember that even to dumb people, this kind of cattiness doesn’t always appeal. Any schmoe who likes to be witty and thinks up the zing, “except for Bin Laden”, is accidentally siding against these bozos and reminding themselves how capable Obama is, just by that comeback.
I guess you can get off the elevator at any floor, and this sort of thing is a setup for the right wing to lose even right wingers.
amk
@El Tiburon: They’re coming after you. Go hide under the bed.
AxelFoley
@El Tiburon:
Fuck off, bitch.
General Stuck
@GregB:
That’s not the point. The point is an excuse to link to Greenwald, for gawd noes what dubious design.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©
@El Tiburon:
Here at Opologist Central, all you can expect in reply is “you emoproggie Hillary-lover blah blah POOP!”
~
lamh35
OT, but I’m gonna post his where ever I can, cause when Fox News getsh PWNED by the freakin’ Muppets it should be seen by every one!
Miss Piggy: Fox News Is Not News
Please watch the video. It will make you smile if not laugh out loud like I did.
amk
@General Stuck: Think cole will start navel gazing on that gg ‘piece’ (persumably it’s gg. I’m not about to click a salon kink stet)
General Stuck
@amk:
I think like El Tibs, he just can’t control himself
Elizabelle
@Redshift:
Late to the party, but that is weapons grade projectionism.
May it come back and bite Priebus and a lotta other Republicans in the ass.
gnomedad
Much if not most anti-Obama crap from wingnuts is unrelated to facts or even lies; it’s just fill-in-the-blank insults, images, and recycled “jokes”. It’s just noise. And a Major News Personality just laughs?
amused
Didn’t I see something recently about Preibus being linked to the Abramoff scandal? Why didn’t Bobby ask about that?
BTW, can we do a pre-emptive ban on that whiney-ass thunder dude? He’s been ruining the best comedy blogs around with his dead kid pic fetish. It’s pretty sick the way he slobbers over them.
El Tiburon
@General Stuck:
It was a twofer, no doubt. Nice to contrast all the bed wetting over here because of what a Prince said about our King. Also, nice to see all the Nancy’s get their titties all twisted by the mere thought of the dreaded Dreaded Double G, the Name That Can’t be Mentioned.
But on a scale of Who Gives a Fuck, I rate what what PB said right above whatever Limbaugh has to say. Seriously, these fuckstix say this shit all the time, 24-7.
Yet, you have the Head of the FBI, er, Secretary of Defense saying some pretty scary and radical shit. And this is someone of a bit more importance than Micheal fucking Steele’s replacement. But you know, whatever.
General Stuck
You just mentioned it. And nobody cares. I know I don’t
Steve
I do think we had a President who left a bunch of people to drown, but it wasn’t this President.
One can only imagine the deranged right-wing rhetoric that would have been unleashed if 9/11 and Katrina had happened with a Democrat in the White House. They’d show the same class and discretion about blaming those deaths on Obama that they show when they hold him personally responsible for putting all those people on food stamps.
Chyron HR
@El Tiburon:
Oh, look. It’s one of those guys who responds to any and all criticism of the GOP by whining about Obama.
You know, a
RepublicanTrue Greenwaldian Progressive Firepup I Swear.amk
@El Tiburon:
Projection much ? Or is it CD ?
Yutsano
@Chyron HR: Well it’s not like they can just come out and admit they got nothin’…
El Tiburon
@Chyron HR:
My post was more of a critique of many of the yahoos over here pounding their pigeon chests in outrage over what some right-wing hack said to BOb Scieffer? Really? Oh the outrage if a winger ever compares Obama to Hitler or calls him a Kenyan Sociiaist! When will the madness ever end!?
I
Gin & Tonic
@jibeaux:
Coming in pretty late, but the salvage contract was assigned to Smit Salvage, a Danish company and one of the world’s leading salvors, within a day or two. Their web site is pretty good about their various projects, although I think this one will be very good for their revenue this year.
geg6
@GregB:
Well, who cares what his job is if this give me the opportunity to scream about how Obama is the evilest of evils and we are all just sheeples who can’t recognize the brilliance that is the love child of Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. Also too, Hilary bitchez!
Canuckistani Tom
Marine salvagers and dockyards can do miracles with shipwrecks. Canadian author Farley Mowat wrote two great books about a Halifax salvage company, “Grey Seas Under” and “The Serpent’s Coil”
It’s been said elsewhere that most of the ships at Pearl harbour were repaired to fight again. Only the Arizona and the Utah were not raised and repaired (Oklahoma was raised, but not repaired)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_ships_present_at_Pearl_Harbor,_December_7,_1941
slag
@lamh35: Perfect!
kideni
@amused: I don’t know about Abramoff, but he’s definitely been implicated in the Walkergate scandal we have brewing here in the Badger State (Preibus was chair of the Wisc. Republican Party before he went national). Thus far, he’s only on the periphery, but investigations are ongoing, and more charges and arrests are likely to come.
amused
@kideni: Thanks! That may be what I was thinking of. Either way, the guy’s dirty.
different-church-lady
THAT guy is in charge of the RNC?
Every muscle in my body just relaxed.
IM
@Judas Escargot:
Backpfeifengesicht, Ohrfeigengesicht.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
how dare the sitting president campaign for re-election!
the nerve of that one!
i think the dog whistle works backwards, if you believe already that obama is “abandoning ship” or something similar, however that bit was installed, or what ever the notion that potus is irresponsible resonates,then you might hear captain schettino, and associate him with what obama is doing.
Frankensteinbeck
@El Tiburon:
Ah, Greenwald. The same old tired excuses from Obama apologists. Yes, like ‘It was approved by a federal judge’. He’s so sweet pretending that there’s no such thing as case law. Really a great lawyer, huh?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@RalfW: I stole much of what you wrote for mine:
I find it totally unacceptable for a veteran journalist such as Bob Schieffer to have laughed at the purported “joke” Reince Priebus made asserting that President Obama is like Captain Schettino. The comment itself was out of bounds, for a number of reasons. In no way has the President abandoned the ship of state. In no way has President Obama recklessly endangered our citizens the way that captain recklessly endangered – and killed – his passengers.
There are bodies still being recovered. Mr. Priebus took a cheap and tawdry shot at the President at the expense of families worldwide who are grieving – or still sitting in anguish that their loved ones are missing – including families here in the United States. It is beyond tasteless. I find it hard to believe a professional spokesman lacks the judgment to understand that it is inappropriate to joke about accidents in which people lost their lives. Mr. Priebus should be forced from his position for such graceless cruelty in furtherance of political points.
But it is the height of unprofessionalism for Mr. Schieffer to have laughed along. Watching the video, I was simply shocked at Mr. Scheiffer’s laugh. There was nothing in the least bit funny about what Mr. Priebus said.
Perhaps Mr. Schieffer’s tenure on the air has should be reconsidered in light of his apparently diminished cognitive capacity. I expect a full public apology, from Mr. Schieffer on the air. It should address the American and worldwide audience, and note that people from many countries are grieving. Until that apology, I will encourage everyone I know to boycott the sponsors of Face the Nation, and indeed other CBS offerings should the apology be not be forthcoming with the next two days. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Bella Q
Tripod
Once they add up the salvage and refurbishment costs, breaking her up in place will be the likely result.
sherparick
@El Tiburon: Mr. Panetta was formerly head of the CIA. He is now Secretary of Defense. The bill you are referring to oringinated in the Tea Party controled House and received votes from all Republicans but Rand Paul in the Senate.
I disagree with the President on these things. I disagree with Greenwald about our late friends in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan who appear to me be on the field of battle (and the definition of that is where we lawyers can start fighting) and enaged in actively attacking, or planning attacks, on the United States and on Americans, be it on land or sea. An insurgency is by definition is armed conflict that has gone beyond something that the civil authorities can respond to adequately and requires military force. Our actions and blunders inspired a world wide insurgency against us starting in the late nineties. We certainly should do what we can to tamp down the inspiration (closing out the wars, withdrawing from the middle east, developing independence from foreigl oil.
Laertes
This is new: I’m getting virus blocked messages when I bring up this page. Anyone else getting that? One of the ads, maybe?
feebog
The whole thing was lame from beginning to end. First, what does it say when the worse charge Preibus can come up with is that the President is campainging for office? And then to compare it to abandoning ship? Lame.To.The.Max.
And of course ole’ Bob, who seemed to be drifting off to sleep at that point, didn’t get the “joke”. Then when it was painstakingly explained to him, his reaction was completely inappropriate. Until you consider he is a hard right winger disguised as a pundit. But the lamest part is the last, when Preibus tells ole’ Bob that he just thought that one up because of the ship in the background. BS, you know Preibus had been working on that line for a week.
Mnemosyne
So El Tib is not entirely sure who Panetta is, but he’s totally outraged about what Panetta said?
Yeah, that’s pretty much par for the course.
El Tiburon
@Mnemosyne:
So, it would be much better to know exactly who Panetta is but not so much what he says?
If that doesn’t encapsulate a good percentage of the BJ commentariat, I’m not sure what does.
Fox News weeps at your absevnce.
different-church-lady
@El Tiburon: Oh for fuck’s sake, just who is it you think you’re fooling around here?
Gust Avrakotos
Why are you posting that pathetic clip? It’s cringeworthy but not for ANY of the reasons you mention.
Ken
@Rathskeller: No, sorry, they didn’t go to Palin – I just thought that would have been perfect. I intended to put in a remark to that effect, but somewhere in my cut-and-paste of Priebus’ comment I overwrote it.
r€nato
My mother and I know who Capt. Schettino is, only because we are Italian, we know Giglio well, and we watch RAI International a lot, where coverage of the Costa Concordia incident has surpassed even the news regarding Italy’s credit troubles and austerity-caused recession.
FWIW, she’s a diehard Republican and even she thinks Priebus is an effing idiot. What’s more, even though she can’t bring herself to vote for Obama, she thinks the choice of Newt or Mitt is a lousy one indeed. So do several other Republicans whom I’ve canvassed.
I am *so* looking forward to teabagger heads exploding when Obama wins in a landslide. There is just no enthusiasm whatsoever for the Republican candidate yet to be named.
r€nato
@jibeaux: There was a story on NPR late last week about that:
1) patch the hull, pump out the water, right it (using barges or tugboats or such) and tow it to the nearest port able to handle such a ship.
2) cut it up in place and haul off the pieces.
In either case, the ship is a total loss. I have heard reports in Italian media that the ship is OK staying where it is for up to a year… so long as inclement weather and waves/tides don’t push it farther out, where there is a step that descends to 70 meters, which would greatly complicate efforts to remove the wreck. There’s also the complicated matter of removing the fuel. As the fuel is pumped out, the weight distribution changes. I think the plan is to pump in water elsewhere as fuel is removed so that it doesn’t shift too much.
I would think they would like to have the hulk removed by late spring, for tourist season. Nobody goes to Giglio outside the warm weather months. I’ve actually swam not very far from where the ship is, it’s a fabulous place and I had a very memorable time there.
OzoneR
@El Tiburon:
what he said is unfortunately not radical at all, thats the problem
Larkspur
@El Tiburon: I can’t believe you are yammering about Leon Panetta when East Africa is suffering one of its worst droughts in 60 years and 11.3 million East Africans are facing famine.