Democratic Ideas Struggle to Be Heard by a Very Lazy Media

[Bob Geiger]

The Today show had as its lead segment Thursday morning, the subject of the Iraq war, terrorism and the midterm elections and host Matt Lauer fired an opening question at Democratic pundit James Carville that was straight out of a Republican National Committee (RNC) sound-bites book.

After saying that "the Democrats can't get their act together," Lauer went on to say this to Carville: "On this issue of can we make you safer and win the war on terror, why haven't the Democrats come up with a better answer than 'that's not a fair comment'?"

Aside from how embarrassingly uninformed Lauer's question was, Carville bungled an opportunity he should have jumped on like a pit-bull on a poodle. Just the day before, S.Amdt. 4936, a comprehensive security bill by Senate Democrats, based on their "Real Security" plan for America, was killed by the GOP leadership by a 41-57 vote that went almost straight down party lines.

"Today is another example of Republicans talking tough about national security, but then failing to do what it takes to keep America safe," said Reid after Wednesday's vote on his Real Security Act of 2006. "Our country is not as safe as it can and should be five years after 9/11, and votes like this in the Republican Congress are a reason why."

Reid continued: "The Bush White House and its Do-Nothing Congress have left our ports, borders, chemical plants and mass transit systems vulnerable. It is time this Congress finally learn the lessons of 9/11. Politics won't protect the American people. Only a serious commitment and tough and smart strategies, like the Democrats Real Security Act, will."

The bill, which was designed "to provide real national security, restore United States leadership, and implement tough and smart policies to win the war on terror," never stood a chance, despite covering in detail the following key areas -- to which the Republicans have paid almost zero attention -- and giving the Democratic ideas for executing their plan:

• Implement all 41 recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, including providing adequate resources for first responders, distributing homeland security funding based on risk, improving intelligence oversight, bolstering Congressional oversight of homeland security, strengthening public diplomacy and improving tracking of nuclear weapons material.

• Equip the intelligence community to fight against terrorists by passing the Intelligence authorization bill, giving the CIA the resources to conduct aggressive and effective intelligence gathering. For the first time in 28 years, the Republican-controlled Congress has failed to pass the bill providing these desperately-needed resources.

• Invest additional money to secure America's ports, rails, roads, airports, chemical and nuclear plants and mass transit systems by improving and increasing screenings and increasing security of containers and radiation screenings.

• Refocus America on the real war on terror by making sure the U.S. continues to pursue Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice and increase levels of Special Operations forces to kill and capture the terrorists where they are and to better protect Americans at home.

• Provide updated tools, consistent with true American values, so we can bring terrorists to justice, while also following the law and the Constitution and work to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as needed to ensure intelligence agencies have the tools needed to defeat the terrorists.

• Begin a new era of sensibly dealing with the quagmire that is the U.S.'s occupation of Iraq. Democrats would begin redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq to face terrorist threats around the world, including the new countries hosting Al-Qaeda since the Iraq war began. It also provides for real Congressional oversight to avoid further big-money losses to crooked defense contractors, accustomed to no-bid contracts and a tolerance for fraud and abuse.

For my money, those all sound a hell of a lot like ideas.

"Five years after September 11th, America is still not as safe as it should be. Despite years of tough talk and rhetoric, the Bush Administration and Washington Republicans have failed to learn the lessons of September 11th that rhetoric alone will not get the job done," says a press release announcing the Real Security plan. "Democrats are determined to provide the tools we need to develop the tough and smart policies that provide the Real Security that the American people deserve."

But that's the problem Democrats have faced in being the minority party at the same time that we're stuck with a corporate media that, when not overtly pushing right-wing spin, is simply ignorant about what new ideas actually exist for those curious enough to listen.

Do I think Matt Lauer is a closet right-winger? Not at all. I just think he's either intellectually lazy or has a research staff that is truly not doing him any favors.

While I don’t expect that Lauer could reasonably have the time to read all 528 pages of, yes, ideas, contained in the Real Security Act of 2006, it would have been nice if his fact-checkers had done a fraction of the job obviously being done by the dapper Lauer's wardrobe person.

Maybe then, he would not have asked such a patently stupid question, on national television, and displayed that he didn’t know that a major package of Democratic ideas, on the very subject of his show's lead segment, had been killed in a partisan political hit less than 24 hours before.

It's high time for the media to stop parroting RNC talking points about a mythical lack of ideas from the Democrats and start focusing on, as journalists, how lazy and embarrassing they have become.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

[bigdarryl]

1. I've been saying this for a week the media wants the repubs to win

It is so blatant listening to this so called liberal media what there up to. there talking nothing about TERROR TERROR!! which is the GOP strongest issue. i didn't even see that many stories on the terrorist attack in Iraq on those US Soldiers that was killed.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. One huge flaw in Geiger's view is that it ISN'T LAZINESS!!!!!!!!

To call the complicity between BushCo and the major media outlets in America laziness is to miss the mark entirely. Geiger is seeing the trees instead of the forest here. It isn't laziness, ignorance nor is it ratings. The gargantuan corporations that own the ten major media companies in America have KNNOWINGLY aided and abetted this regime in exchange for all manner of legislative and regulatory benefits elsewhere in their operations. It is Mussolini's "corporatism" plan and simple. In short, vast swaths of American media are now simply PR platforms for BushCO and the GOP. They are not lazy. It takes a great deal of energy to put lipstick on this pig of an administration each and every day.

[IChing]

4. Absolutely Right

That it isn't laziness or incompetence just plain complicity as shown in "press for truth on 911" the editors hid the story.

[acmejack]

3. The media has been picking our spokesmen for us.

Why aren't we picking our own spokespeople? Carville, Begala, Brazile. Why not Sirota, Hartmann, and you, Bob? I'm tired of these old lamers who have been letting these people walk over them for years continue to "represent" our viewpoints!

Who annointed these people?

[gratuitous]

9. In one sense, they annointed themselves

Carville makes sure his name and phone number is in Lauer's producer's Rolodex, and he makes sure that every time Lauer's producer calls, he's available. That's how Carville gets on the Today show (or any other show). Lauer's producer is comfortable getting Carville, and Carville is more than happy to get himself on the air, even if he doesn't have a thing to say. Carville's stock-in-trade is Carville, and more people will want to hire him if he's on the teevee.

As for Lauer, he's paid a lot of money to pretend to be a journalist, but he's not smart enough to come up with Republican talking points all on his own. No, they're spoon fed to him and his preparers every morning courtesy of the Republican National Committee fax machine, which spews out this junk as reliably as Lauer's flunky brings him his morning coffee and bagel.

Fortunately, we have a tool that we can use, too. Email the Today show. Tell them what we'd like to hear them say. Don't embellish, don't hyperventilate, don't bully or condescend. Just repeat what they said in error, then point out to them where they screwed up and how they can fix it. In this case, the Democrats don't have a plan (yawn, don't they ever get tired of that one?). Point them toward the just-defeated Senate bill, and opine that that certainly looks like a plan. Why didn't the Republicans like it, seeing as how they don't have a plan of their own?

Hit them with this like the GOP has been doing, relentlessly and without fail, and you'll see the tenor of the coverage change. Even better than sending corrections is to send out our own talking points so that emptyheads like Lauer will have something to say besides what his handlers tell him just spewed out of the RNC fax machine.

[wisteria]

5. Carvelle needs to go- he isn't a good Democrat, he is never up

on the issues that are so important to us and he treats everything like a joke. The only reason the networks keep hiring him as a Democratic representative is because he makes us look obnoxious and goofy.

[Straight Shooter]

6. I agree. How in hell was he ever chosen as a spokesperson to begin with?

He isn't informed, he has no idea how to frame the issues, he falls for strawmen arguments, he's weak and ineffective, and I personally will never get over that episode where he smashed an egg on his head. It was childish and pathetic.

As for Matt Lauer, what the hell happened, eh? I guess someone took him out to the woodshed after his interview with Little Boots, and told him, "Never, ever, ever make the GOP look bad again."

[rrasile]

7. Need real spokes people

How can he be and be married to that bitch of his. I can't see the two of them having breakfast together. Reid is no better, he looked like a beginner on PBSs News Hour.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

16. Carvelle should go...

As far as Carville AND Begala goes, I partly blame these two talking heads for our '04 failure. On shows like Cross-fire, they were the face and voice of Democrats. I don't know how many times I found myself yelling at the television, 'WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS, WHEN THEY SAID THAT!'.

[ClintonTyree]

8. When you come upon a method........

for stopping the media, "parroting RNC talking points about a mythical lack of ideas from the Democrats", please.....P-L-E-A-S-E let me know! Until there is a free and fair media in this country we're screwed, plain and simple. When we can't get our message out before the people they'll never even know we HAVE a message, as is evidenced by the, "Today Show's", total ignorance of the Democratic Party's platform.

Matt Lauer? A useful idiot (along with 95% of ALL corporate media stooges) for the Corporate power trust that actually runs this country. There's no need to fear creeping fascism in our country, it's already here. It's alive and well in the Republican power structure (and some of the Democratic power structure as well: ie. Lieberman et al) and I'll be damned if I know HOW THE HELL we're going to rid ourselves of it. If someone has a plan, some inkling, as to how we can give the power in this country back to the PEOPLE please let me know. I'm all ears. Until then...... :banghead:

[Cameron27]

14. Exactly

I'd like to know that plan myself...AND I'd like to know why the Dem. leadership isn't pushing for real television spokespeople.


We're just not going to get a fair shake from the media, but is there a way to get a change in the Democratic counterpunch on these shows?

Can we use Bob's post as the basis of a petition to H. Dean to put some pressure on the networks for better Dem voices??

Anything, can we do anything. I'm frustrated at being frustrated ALL THE TIME.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

18. What if Democrats...

...taped every news show 24/7, and anytime a talking head says something slanderous and untrue about dems, we bring them up on charges. If they do it too often, they have to show an icon on the screen labeling their bias.

We have to demand accountability. And when the repukes say "liberal" outlets slander them constantly, we'll ask them to prove us wrong.

As long as were always truthful, we'll have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[wisteria]

31. Why not write the show and specifically note that you know the

Democrats have ideas- name one or two- and ask why a newsman like Lauer is reporting the news accurately. It sometimes changes things for a while, especially when more than one person takes the time to write. If they think we aren't watching and they think we don't care, they will continue to do it.

[janetle]

10. It is not just Matt Lauer

Even John Stewart, though I love his show and watch it regularly, accuses the Democrats of being scattered and disorganized. He talked about this last night with Ed G. And the same goes for Bill Maher. Then, of course, Meredith Viera, Chris Matthews, Tim Russert etc. etc.--I have heard them all refer to the Democrats in just the last few days as having no message, no spokesperson, no plan, whiners and on and on.

Yet right under their noses are many strong Democrats with great consistent ideas. The MSM is not allowing us to counter this image. I do not know what we do about it.

[Chico Man]

12. It's true. There is no message

We are relying on television personalities to say what needs to be said. The democrats are cowering and scared to say anything truly meaningful. If this were not the case, the greates page would be full of Democratic candidates giving the speech of their lives daily. Instead, it's just the same old tired boring crap. In other words, not worth a single vote here on DU. If we cannot be inspired, how can we expect the rest of the country?

[Freedom_from_Chains]

40. The democrats are cowering and scared to say anything

Bingo and right on the money and until they are ready to get over their fear and speak the truth we will continue to get what we've been getting.

[sendero]

15. His accusation is correct..

... and anyone who is looking at the situation we're in with an ounce of objectivity would agree.

Dems are sitting on their hands, hoping Repukes lose rather than engaging in a plan of action to WIN.

It might work, the county is pretty sick and tired of the Repubs, but then again it might not. I refuse to get my hopes too far up.

[acmejack]

36. Sadly you are correct.

It is the Dems race to lose & they are doing their damnedest to do so! I coould runa better campaign! Wimpy message, slow response, it is just sad. "We can do better?" Christ on a crutch!

[Awsi Dooger]

30. Ask some people on the street what Democrats stand for

I do it all the time. Not out of the blue but with strangers I'm talking to here in Las Vegas. Admittedly it's easy to meet people from all over the country in a city like this. Inevitably it's a blank stare then they either can't come up with anything or say, "they hate Bush." I'm dead serious. That's how we're perceived. Sometimes I'll hear, "raise my taxes."

The past year should have been spent building up Democratic favorables via memorable quck sound bytes and themes. Bush's approval numbers were already in the tank. Now we're completely reliant on vote-against and running out the clock, and that's extremely flimsy.

[janetle]

38. I think you are right!

"The past year should have been spent building up Democratic favorables via memorable quck sound bytes and themes."

[Chico Man]

11. I don't think it's entirely the media's fault

I look at the Greatest Page here on DU daily. Stephen Colbert, John Stewart, and Keith Olbermann are frequently seen near the top. Even Skinner sent a reminder to every DU member to spread Olbermann's message far and wide.

Wouldn't it have been nice if Olbermann were instead, say.. Howard Dean? What if it were Howard Dean who gave the speech? Or John Kerry? Or the next, up and coming true democratic leader?

If this election is so important, where are the leaders of the democratic party? They should be tirelessly inspiring the masses. Their speeches should be so incredible that they are inspiring enough to get bumped to a five star rating.

Frankly, all I've seen is more of the same, tired old crappy flat message that John Kerry so tirelessly clung to in 2004.

Colbert, Stewart, and Olbermann have a great influence and I'm glad they have the energy and passion to do what they do so well. However, they do not swing the senate or congressional majority. Our heroes should not be television personalities. Rather, our heroes should be our canidates running in 2006 an our already elected democratic representation. Where are they? What are they talking about? How are they taking stands? Why are they not taking the stan that we want them to? They are too busy walking the tighrope of political correctness and scared to death of the Rovian attack machine to actually say anything worth-while. This is not any way to win an election. Trying to point the blame at the media is not going to help one bit.

[FrenchieCat]

17. The leaders of the Democratic party have been arranged in a

circle here at DU and are done in via the circular firing squad, that's what!

Meanwhile, in the real world.....Democrats have had "plans for Iraq" since election 2004.....but it is said that Democrats have no plan.

But when they say "Democrats can't get their "stuff" together"...then in essence, are they saying that Democrats have too many plans, and only need one?

I think that the media is guilty of not providing the Democrats with a fair shake.

On the other hand, I think that Democrats are guilty of allowing themselves to be called weak by not exhibiting much in the manner of Offensive maneuvering on the political field. Bush can bring up Hitler's name......and Democrats say little. Durbin brings the name up, and the GOP operatives and mediawhores jump on him and so he apologizes.

Democrats make a commercial that show Flag Draped Coffin, there is an outrage, and the ad is taken down.

Democrats need more outrage, more moxie and more mouth.....

and more than that, we need real journalists instead of pundits that can't seem to shut up about election 2008!

[madrchsod]

13. lazy?

they report what they are told by the corporation's that have no interest in the truth

[McCamy Taylor]

19. Only Stephen Colbert has the balls to attack the Media. Olbermann ,Stewart

try too hard to play "nice" with their fellow journalists/entertainers. Olberman will take on Fox for laughs, and Stewart will politely lampoon anyone. But Colbert is the only one who will make everybody tremble in their boots. And we all saw what happened at the WH Press dinner. They acted like he did something unfair.

Professional courtesy is a problem in every profession. The members all want to bask in the rosy glow of their guild's glory so they buff each other up, ganging up on the worst members for the greater good of the whole but linking arms whenever one of their mediocre members is chastised for making bad.

The only way to overecome this natural tendency is to use natural enemies to police each other. Print journalists scrutinize TV journalists. The internet rakes print journalists over the coals. This is just like the movie industy used to mock TV while writers used to mock movies.

Re: the Dems not having a platform, we are getting creative. We have YouTube.

[civildisoBDence]

20. What's next for Matt Lauer if he's intellectually lazy, depends on

a research staff instead of his own knowledge and analyses, toes the corporate line, and has great abs?

That's easy--a job in the anchor chair. Charles "Charlie" Gibson and Katie Couric were both promoted from morning fluff to evening news anchor.

It's show biz--journalism has been relegated to print and the Internet.

Newsprism

[skip fox]

21. We need a coherent and intelligent and honest message to get through.

While the White House and its minions (as on Fox News) push the War on Terror as a way of framing (i.e., "hiding") the Iraq issue for the election, we need people to bring it out of hiding.

Here's one basic approach (I'm sure there are many others):

"Republicans and the administration don't want to run on the mess they made in Iraq, so like a magician they try to distract our attention by covering it under the umbrella of 'A War on Terror,' thereby hiding their blunders from the conception to the execution of the war, from WMD's and Sadam-terrorist's links to the civil war which is now in full progress. It's a GIANT SHELL GAME dreamed up by Rove. We need solutions, not PR tricks or a magician's slight of hand. They dress up the pig and then they want us to marry it."

Why can't we frame a message simply and compellingly in order to bounce these jokers. Almost all of the important facts are on our side, especially since the Republicians and the administration has been such an obvious failure by almost all standards?

[Chico Man]

23. It's purely lack of leadership

We need new Democratic leadership... leadership almost divinely inspired. It needs to happen now. Someone better than Bill Clinton.. we need the best leader the Democratic Party has ever seen... someone that can get us out of this mess with a smile on their face.

It seems so simple.. navigating and responding to the obvious spin of the media pundits and Republican seems like such an easy task given the fact that, as you say, "all the important facts" are on our side..

It is amazing and frankly appalling that this leader has not yet risen from the ashes of the democratic party. Not in 2000, not in 2002, 2004, and 2006 looks like a repeat all over again. As far as I'm concerned, if we don't find our savior by 2008, we can kiss this party goodbye.

[paparush]

22. Media - If it bleeds, it leads.

War, for the media (just like other corporations), is SO much more profitable than peace.

[PuppyBismark]

24. We Have Not Gotten Out Any Understandable Message

Say what you want about Matt Lauer and James Carville, the truth is there is no understandable Democratic Message. All we hear is look how bad Bush is had vote for us. That will just not work! The DNC MUST wake up and start telling the country what they will do to fix National Security and Iraq. They MUST convince the voters that they will be safer with them in power.

Until that time, it will be more of the GOP, who may not know how to govern, but they sure know how to get out a message.

I am starting to get very discouraged and can see that the 2006 election will just be more of the same. We need a spokesman like KO to start speaking. What he said the other night about 9/11 was what the Dem's should have been saying for the past three years, if not past five years. Our party has lost its way.

[wattaworld]

28. One Voice, Singular Messages, New Talent would help

meet the problems many of us seem to identify. The faces are those of losers and fresh ones would help. They should be positive and precise. The GOP message got a lot of attention and, when you star thearing new words from Republican mouths, you can bet those SAME words will soon come again and again from different sources. We need to do that, too. And what we talk about should not be the divisive goals, but the common ones shared by most Americans. Like homeland security. And we simply cannot ignore the other elephant in the closet...immigration. It' a very hot button throughout the country and I honestly don't think our stand is acceptable to most voters, who view it as a threat to our security amd our job security as well. I live near the border and last month Border Patrol caught a guy who swam the Rio Grande; he was not Mexican, but from Afghanistan. Those facts, while not reported nationally, are happening daily in these border areas. We also need to take an aggressive stand and REFUTE some of these Republican claims. It took eight years for the World Trade Center #1 attack to be replcated on 9/ll, so isn't it time to point out that five years without a repeat DOESN't necessarily indicate we are safer? Or does that mean that the Democratic White House was almost twice as effective as the current one? We dont' say that often enough, and with the same voide. And what about the increase in terrorist attacks in other countries? THEY HAVE INCREASED. So prove to America that we are "safer." And as for the economy, how many of the "jobs created" have been government jobs?PROVE your tax cuts nurtured the economic growth and that it is not the product of the billions spent BY GOVERNMENT rather than the private sector. Ever seen an economy decline when an additional "off budget" addition of billions per year are dumped into it? I'd like us to start demanding proof for some of these claims. And since most of America's wealth is not earned by the wealthy but is instead inherited,, PROVE to us why the wealthy deserve estate tax breaks AS WELL AS annual income tax cuts. I don't think it's the media; We've done a lousy job of putting these things on the carpet and demanding some proof. The world knows Bush has done a lousy job; we cannot let them wonder if we'll be any better. I do think we ought to back up our goals with some solid proposals and challenge the other side to prove their claims. I also think one good "mantra" migbt be Can we really trust anything they tell us unless they CAN prove it. Last, but not least, I think Gary Hart is an excellent spokesperson for change. He and Warren Ruddman (sp?) headed one of the earliest terror investigative commissions held. He's just written a book and once was considered a shoo in for the presidency until he pulled a Clintonesque boo with a young lady. But that was years ago and he's intelligent, knows govt., has been in private business, retained his wife. If America can elect a drunk, they sure ought to be able to listen to someone like Hart, who has redeemed himself pretty well.

[CarlVK]

33. A-fucking-men on the "new talent" part.

But then again I've been banging the drum on this one for years.

[Tellurian]

35. You want TALENT...It's right here under your noses!

Just read this article fresh off the press yesterday.
This man has a delivery talent like JFK because he believes in what he saying!

He is a Rhode Islander and a perfect segue for an invite on the TODAY SHOW
seeing new face Meredith Viera is also from R.I.

Read this link and the article completely..and tell me this man doesn't walk the walk and speak
Truth to POWER! You're looking for talent...he's here: SHELDON WHITEHOUSE!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2512469

[illinoisprogressive]

25. Harry Reid has asked for equal air time and they won't

The problem is that the media is constantly putting on people who are not exactly in the loop on the Democrats. They have become talking heads and really don't know what's going on.
At the same time I don't really see someone like Reid, Pelosi, Durbin and once in awhile a Murtha, or Biden. But, for Democrats they overwhelmingly put on people like Shrum or Carvelle who just aren't saying what is going on.
I see on Cspan at least once a week the Dems holding press conferences talking about issues, ideas, ect. This is never shown on the MSM news.
If they got people who spoke for the Democrats and were actively there and involved they couldn't make the claim (the ones that really hurt us) that the party has no ideas, no plans, ect. And then there is the old saw of we are coming apart at the seems. fighting and disorganized.
The MSM is lazy, buys the gop party line and believes these old 1970 claims about today's democratic party. I know they have complained to no avail. They've sent letters to the major media channels and nothing.
Maybe it's time for us to raise a bit of hell over this.

[CarlVK]

26. Rethugs work for big media moguls - why wouldn't they?

Thanks to the ever so socially conscious GOP, big media was able to shut down competition and monopolize to a degree never seen before.

And you ask why they want the Bush Stain to continue in power?

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Maybe if the Democrats would talk about Celebrity babies, missing blondes

in Aruba, or JonBenet Ramsey, the press would listen!

[dorktv]

29. I like the books that Carville puts out but honestly, he eats his own

and that is unforgivable.

[blondeatlast]

32. It IS laziness, I've said it for months, maybe years now.

They can't be bothered to pick up the phone and ask for a left wing viewpoint.

The RNC, the Heriatage Fund, PNAC, etc all have their own fucking press rooms, where they essentially write the stories and spoon feed lazy "journalists."

We've got to expose it and soon.

[nam78_two]

34. Matt Lauer should stick to humping the legs of paedophiles

why must these people pretend to be journalists? Matt Lauer, Howard Kurtz and on the even more egregious list John Stossel, Mike Fumento etc.?

yuck....

[wordpix2]

37. Laurer is better at interviewing beautiful female teachers who rape 14 y.o

[AX10]

39. The media is in the hands of the GOP.

[IWantAChange]

41. where are the DNC's talking points?

a centralized, concerted effort to discredit outlandish statements from the Repugs echoed by the media (see above) and make poignant FACTUAL statements as to what Democrats would do and have proposed doing in Congress - only to die in GOP controlled committee's time and again - hammering away again and again creates PERCEPTION - imagine what it can mean when it's actually factual and represents the truth!!

[ooglymoogly]

42. to call it laziness is just what the press is hoping for

it is planned and executed at the top to use every nuance, every turn of phrase, get democrat guests like leiberman who have lost touch. they will craft orwellian words and frazes...it is a disgrace...the media which is part and parcel of the gop and has to much to lose and they are going to sabotage every move the dems make with crooked poles, lies, propaganda, swiftboating and whatever it takes and if that fails...good golly miss molly, mashed potatoes with gravy and cranberry sause...then watch out for an october surprise rivaling 9/11 i don't believe they will stop at anything...they are facing treason.

[bluedog]

43. hard to put on a minute sound-bite

theres just so much that this administration has wrecked havoc on......no one can put it in the few minutes the Democrats get to rebuttal the GOP speaker....

as you well know they are always cut off in mid sentence.......
Blame the media.......

[Leo 9]

44. Someone needs to refer Carville to DU, and to this thread.

James Carville

James Carville, along with Paul Begala, serves as a political contributor and Democratic strategist on CNN's The Situation Room.

Carville was formerly co-host of Crossfire, CNN's political debate program.

Carville, an outspoken Democratic political strategist and commentator emerged onto the national political scene after his consulting firm, Carville & Begala, helped elect President Bill Clinton in 1992. For his work on the Clinton campaign, the American Association of Political Consultants named him Campaign Manager of the Year in 1993. He went on to serve as a senior political adviser to the president.

Carville & Begala's other well-known electoral successes include the 1991 Senate victory of Harris Wofford in Pennsylvania, the 1990 gubernatorial victories of Georgia's Zell Miller and Pennsylvania's Robert P. Casey and the 1998 re-election of Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. In 1997, Carville co-founded the international consulting firm of Gould Greenberg Carville NOP.

snip

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/carville.james.html