This Is the Way You Expose Liars.
Read Time:1 Minute, 3 Second
I have long been against name calling. Although I won’t stop saying “Tea Baggers” because I won’t allow a bunch of misinformed paranoid racists highjack one of the most important acts of civil disobedience in American history. -Sorry, the Boston Tea Party does not belong to them.
I still won’t call Republicans anything other than Republicans, (their current distance from their own core ideals and the party of Lincoln not-with-standing.)
It is not rude to tell someone that you know they are lying. Embarrassing maybe, but not rude or unfair. Which brings me to what Rachel Maddow, who does not have the resources of the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, or Newsweek et al. did last night.
Rachel Maddow exposed Republican politicians (who have obstructed every initiative not proposed by themselves) as liars. Maddow did it with incontrovertible facts. The hypocrisy exposed in this segment should be front page news, it should be the biggest embarrassment since the Bush administration’s claims about Weapons of Mass Destruction, but it’s not.
Watch:
Angry at the mainstream media yet for ignoring this en masse?
Copy and embed this video EVERYWHERE you can, on your blog, on your pet dog’s photo blog. Send it to your friends.
-SJ
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
“Sorry, the Boston Tea Party does not belong to them.”
I’m with you…
Rachel is always on top of things. She is the one person I think that the politicians fear most in terms of confrontation. Thanks for the post SJ.
@Oso,
It was a horrible bill in some respects (but a necessary action in principle overall) but the GOP didn’t even try to whip it into shape, -they just said no to it in lockstep to defy the opposing party.
If the pork and not-so-hidden trade-offs were the issue, the Republicans should not now be doing photo ops with giant checks and taking credit for slowing job loses.
Hypocrisy and lying this obvious should be costly in the next election cycle. I hope to see it turn up in political commercials.
-SJ
@all,
thanks for spreading this around, keep doing it, maybe it’ll gain some traction with the general public somehow.
Facts are facts, the GOP opposed the Stimulus, still puts it down as a mistake every chance they get, then goes home and takes credit for how it’s working out at every turn.
-SJ
In some cases Republican misunderstanding may truly be stupidity.Or to be charitable ignorance of basic economic theory.
In other cases it is purely ideological. One thing the Republicans are correct about it that the Stimulus was pork-ridden.That’s a fact, and the reason it was pork ridden is that 1/3 of it is tax cuts which were put there because “tax cut” is the magic phrase to the GOP.
tax cuts have far less of “bang for the buck” than direct fiscal stimulus-a check.
Also catering to the Republicans is the emphasis on funding existing private sector projects due to their phobia about govt jobs not really being jobs.Were we to fund direct job creation-one guy digs a hole and another fills it in-we could put a huge number of people back to work.I exaggerate for effect.
The reason it was too small is the models the Congressional Budget Office uses never had a crisis of this proportion. So it’s about 1/4 of what it should be. Never intended to fix the problem but rather to ease the pain.
Fiscal policy is the only thing which can stimulate aggregate demand, get people to buy stuff. With the private sector not spending-too heavily in debt-govt is all we got.
OK off my soapbox now other than to add-if you oppose the Stimulus you are either an idiot or an ideologue and either way you are essentially a traitor.
MM cross-posted this at my blog.
THANK YOU!
Rachel rocks.
🙂
Huzzah, I posted that one over on my site, too. Let’s send this baby viral.
During the Bush years, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Congressional Democrats were scared to oppose Bush on anything for fear of being called “soft on terror.” or sissies or unAmerican. Their cowardice helped Bush and hs crowd sink our Nation into two invasions and occupations seemingly without end.
I see a parallel between Congressional Democrat cowardice and amin stream media cowardice. The MSM is scared to death of being labled as “liberal.” Like so many Democrats that still have yet to figure this out, the republicans are liars just as Rachel Maddow exposes. They will use their outlets like FOX News to name call and negatively propagandize anything or one they perceive as an enemy of their agenda.
Walter Cronkite stood up years ago and came out against the Vietnam War. We need MSM people to do the same only this time expose FOX and it’s allies for the slimy propaganda spreaders they truly are.
I’m posting it along with some info about her credentials.
@Holte,
thanks for the reminder, sorry it’s easy to get apocalyptic and hysterical about the state of journalism. So now that I’ve caught my breath, there’s…. there’s…
-There’s certainly Olberman, Schultz, (even Matthews surprises sometimes) and others with guts on TV.
In print there’s the guys at The Nation, like Eric Alterman, the fine writers at Mother Jones, and I should mention the Atlantic and Harper’s is still kicking much ass.
Thank God there’s now Ezra Klein at the Washington Post, -he’s a little “egg-heady” for most readers but I think anybody on this blog will like him just fine.
But I have to say again that the ability to colorfully pound an issue into the ground with nothing but facts, -no speculation, just recorded inarguable fact is not a common skill or posture.
Maddow is increasingly masterful at beating up liars with the truth.
-SJ
@ Sue, Gwen,
agreed. Rachel Maddow does the work of all the outlets I mentioned without the budget or support of a single 1 of them.
@Monique,
exactly. I’ve been telling Republicans (the real ones, not the reactionary nuts who just do what the people THEY elected in turn tell THEM to do) to take their party back from these unprincipled hypocrites.
Take the html code of this video and embed it everywhere you feel it will be seen.
Forward the youtube link in emails, make sure it’s heard by all.
-SJ
SJ – Rachel Maddow is not quite a lone voice, but pretty damn close to being one. I posted it over at my place. This is compulsory viewing.
Just got off the phone with my repub sister about this. Even as a Repub she was almost speechless w/ anger when I told her about it. This kind of information needs to be covered more and in every venue possible so the people en masse will recognize the truth. Most people just have time to hear snippets here and there, but miss the big picture.
And she does it every time! Great post SJ. I consider her my professor of politic. She teaches … well. I think her resources have grown aplenty… if you check out the expansion of her staff in the last year. Though, you are right, she can’t compare in numbers to the resources of so many. She makes up for it in real edgy, hip, erudite, well informed geeks and scholars who care about the job they do. It’s not a profession, it’s a vocation. Ya know? 🙂
Rachel is the best thing to happen to night time TV viewing in ages! She is thorough, honest, and the best damn investigative journalist of her generation. GO RACHEL!!!
I agree with you SJ. Word for word. These folks need to pay for their fecklessness.
@Mad Mike,
I know man, and it’s time to spread some sanity for a change. People have to get real vocal about this.
-Off topic, I just heard Captain Phil Harris of the FV Cornelia Marie (Deadliest Catch) just passed away. I’m too sad for words.
-SJ
@Four Dinners,
agreed on your first point: Maddow is a treasure, one of the last TV journalists worthy of watching constantly, with dedication and respect. She’s one of the few who possess Edward R. Murrow’s dignity and integrity.
On point two, I have to differ with you.
-This is not business as usual, not here in America, not in your United Kingdom either.
Remember, The Republicans all voted, almost without exception against the Stimulus bill, it passed without them, they stood up and applauded themselves for not helping the economy along and pointlessly “defying” their colleagues across the aisle.
-EVER since the Stimulus went into effect?
-They have been taking credit for it, even doing photo ops.
They have to be made to pay for their lies and hypocrisy.
-SJ
1) Rachel Maddow is – as you Americans say – Awesome!!!!
2) The rest is – as we all say – politics. Politicians rarely give a shit about us – the little people – unless it’s election time.
That’s democracy for you!
Excellent. You go Rachel.
But don’t hold your breath waiting for the mainstream “media” to expose this. Their job is to keep the public mesmerized with an endless flow of celebutante gossip.
Rachel is right in her last statement. The Republicans aren’t going to change. It’s time for the Democrats to “grow up” as she put it, and just do what they have to do.
@Tom Harper,
You’re right of course, but I still hope this goes viral.
This is the way it’s done, -not with selective videotaping stunts at ACORN offices, and attempts at wiretapping like some 24-year-old-asshole-pretend-journalist, but just with the bare facts.
The GOP are liars.
They have no position or point except bringing the entire United States to a halt.
Spread the truth around friends. To everybody who still has ears to hear it.
-SJ
@MadMike,
No attributions necessary my friend, nobody owns the truth. -Just ask Truth 101.
That’s a public service Rachel Maddow did last night.
She did it for everybody still talking up their bipartisanship fantasies, as well as whatever actual fiscal conservatives remain in America who sincerely oppose the stimulus and think that the Republicans oppose it too…
Republicans don’t oppose the stimulus, they are in fact trying to take credit for it.
They are liars.
Let everybody know the facts.
-SJ
I posted this video with attribution to you here and at the four sites on which I blog from time to time. This freaking enraged me. I also sent the link to my entire address book. I agree we need to get this out.