Rep. Ron Paul struck back at real estate mogul Donald Trump during an interview Sunday on Fox & Friends Weekend. When asked by F&FW co-anchor Alisyn Camerota for a response to Trump’s scoffing, “Look, we all know Ron Paul can never win,” (Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference) ” Paul derisively laughed, “I don’t know whether anybody who’s never run a race or won a race is going to be the judge of whether or not an individual can win.*
GOP Presidential polemics: the fun has begun!
Fox & Friends Weekend – 02/13/11 (@ 9:05 a.m. ET)
*Camerota actually paraphrased Trump’s saying, “By the way, Ron Paul cannot get elected, I’m sorry to tell you….Honestly, he has just zero chance of getting elected. You have to win an election.”
Update: Ron Paul repeated his slam of Trump again today on American Morning in an interview with AM co-host Kiran Chetry. When Chetry asked Paul about Trump’s slam at CPAC, he replied, “I’ve won eleven times….I don’t know whether he has earned the right…to criticize somebody for not winning an election when I don’t know how many elections he’s won himself.” (Vid via Mediaite.)
Christine O’Donnell: Still scary? American Morning co-anchor Kiran Chetry seems to think so. Four days after Halloween and two days after the elections, Kiran still appears to be haunted by the specter of Delaware’s failed GOP Senatorial candidate. Today, when introducing an AM segment entitled “Dreaming of a ‘Black Christmas'” (with author/comedian Lewis Black), a relieved Kiran remarked, “Finally, we’re all getting a break from the mid-term election madness. There are no more town halls, no more attack ads, robocalls, or Tea Party upstarts [pause] who dabbled in witchcraft.”* Co-anchor John Roberts looked at Kiran, smiled knowingly, and chuckled to himself.
With friends, family, and a cottage in Delaware, Kiran has seemed almost obsessed with that state’s possible new Senator. As Kiran has reported on the campaign, Kiran has consistently mentioned her as an example of Tea Party candidates “mired in these culturally conservative issues.” Yesterday, when the election was over, Kiran finally got her chance to meet the woman via satellite and ask her about her views, her failed run, and her future.
Interestingly, Kiran began her colloquy asking about O’Donnell’s future political plans: Appearing almost fearful that she might run again, Kiran asked O’Donnell if her concession-speech-statement that “This is the beginning” meant a new campaign. When O’Donnell demurred, Kiran queried whether her “conservative views [were] perhaps, a few shades too conservative to get elected on a national level. After O’Donnell adamantly denied that they did, Kiran cited O’Donnell’s “dabbling in witchcraft” admission indirectly, asking whether her loss was attributable to GOP establishment resistance or something “more personal” (citing the Bill Maher tapes). Then, when she had posed on last question to O’Donnell (about Karl Rove‘s summary dismissal of her candidacy), Kiran stepped down from the stage. As she did, Kiran tripped, gasped, and caught herself—with a smile aimed at the camera.*
O’Donnell’s black magic? That wicked witch!
*American Morning – 11/04/10 (@8:31 a.m. ET)
**American Morning – 11/03/10 (@7:11 a.m. ET)
Update: O’Donnell interview via Mediaite.com. (N.B. As to Kiran’s tripping, it occurs approximately ten to fifteen seconds after Mediaite.com’s vid ends: Kiran’s stumble can be seen in the background as John begins a new segment.)
Stewart: “Busted, O’Reilly! Who’s the pinhead now?” Deja vu? Ironically, on this the very night that the Bill O’Reilly aired the Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s comical, acerbic critique (of O’Reilly for his erroneous Andy Griffith Show trivia), O’Reilly dished out equally unreliable political facts to his audience. However, when he did it this time in front of Republican power player Sarah Palin tonight, he got a welcome reprieve from his Fox News colleague.
During his post-Tuesday primaries interview with the former Alaska governor, O’Reilly praised the Palin and the Tea Party for their influence and mentioned that their candidate had won in New Hampshire.* While Palin looked on with a slight hint of a smile, O’Reilly remarked, “I can’t even say his name. What’s his name up there?” When Palin stayed silent, O’Reilly continued, “What his name in New Hampshire? Tell me in my ear [to producers]. Some guy up there won the primary. And, you endorsed him, Governor.” As Palin still said nothing and continued to stare at him blankly, O’Reilly stammered, “Um. Alright, nobody knows. He’s got a long name. He won. Tea Party guy won in New Hampshire. Okay.”
Unfortunately for O’Reilly, he was wrong–doubly wrong. First, the “Tea Party guy” with “the long name,” Ovide Lamontagne lost. Second, he lost to the Republican establishment’s candidate, Kelly Ayotte, the very choice of Sarah Palin.
Later, making matters all the worse for himself, O’Reilly adventitiously ran the Stewart footage mocking him (for his erroneous Andy Griffith assertion that Thelma Lou was Andy’s girl). In the clip, after Stewart points out that Thelma Lou was actually Barnie Fife’s beau, Stewart exclaimed, “Busted O’Reilly! Who’s the pinhead now?” Check your facts, old man, ’cause we’re holding your feet to the fire.” Facetiously, he added, “I expect a full retraction on air–otherwise, I might never trust Fox again.”
After that vid, O’Reilly declared, “Well, the problem with Mr. Stewart’s analysis is that shortly after I made the Thelma Lou mistake I corrected it on the air! Somehow, old Jon didn’t mention that. So, who’s the pinhead now?” Then he added, “By the way, Stewart will be on the Factor next Wednesday. That should be interesting.”
What should be interesting is if O’Reilly shortly corrects his Palin mistake on air. And, if he does not give a “full retraction,” will viewers such as Stewart ever trust Fox again? Tune in to see–especially, Wednesday.
A possible successor to embattled RNC Chair Michael Steele? According to FNC contributor Cal Thomas, another African American, Ken Blackwell, who is “very, very intelligent, and articulate, and smart, and as Joe Biden would say, ‘clean.'”
During an America’s News HQ segment Saturday, co-anchor Rick Folbaum asked the conservative columnist whether Steele should stay at his GOP post after his controversial comments about the Afghan war. After saying that he “was an early supporter of Michael Steele…because he represented a different face for the party” and had a compelling life story, Thomas answered, “But, he’s not the only African-American in the party. One of those who ran against him for the chairmanship, Ken Blackwell, former Secretary of state of Ohio, very, very intelligent, articulate, and smart, and as Joe Biden would say, ‘clean’ candidate.”* After smiling at his peculiar homage to the Veep, he continued, “If he’s still out there and still wants the job, I think…he might be a good candidate for it.”
As the reader may recall, Biden apologized for similar remarks about then Senator Barack Obama, his then Democratic primary opponent during the 2008 election season. (Biden characterized Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”) To the author, it seemed strange at best that Thomas would intentionally happily echo what many consider to be a racially-charged “compliment” for another charismatic black candidate. Perhaps, he was tippling before his holiday weekend appearance on the America’s News HQ: It might help explain his racially rasping remark but it certainly does not excuse it.
Alisyn Camerota, America’s Newsroom guest co-anchor, had to do some fancy footwork this morning. In a debate of Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson’s amendment to prohibit federal subsidization of abortions between Dem pundit Bob Beckel and GOP politico Kate Obenshain, Aly asked, “Hey, Kate, I have a question for you….If there is no federal money used to subsidize abortions for low-income women, doesn’t that mean there will be more low-income babies? And, do any of these amendments talk about the health care for them, then?”*
Incredulous, Obenshain stuttered, “For, well, there, I don’t, do you mean because more children will be born because the government won’t pay to have them terminated? Apparently realizing her faux pas, Aly artfully answered, “No, meaning that low-income women do rely on subsidies often for abortion.”
Aly’s misstep was an unusual one this morning on the conservative network. Generally, Aly deftly sidesteps controversial issues on FNC but today she seemed to posit the principle that pro-life proponents claim that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger embraced. However, apparently, realizing her mistake almost immediately, she wisely withdrew that terrible thought from the table.
The O’Reilly Factor Sarah Palin segment: Mr. “Looking Out for You” traded his No Spin Zone for the Twilight Zone tonight. In the debate segment on Sarah Palin’s recent return to the spotlight (viz., her interview with Internet reporter John Ziegler), O’Reilly introduced pro-Palin Rick Santorum as “former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania” and anti-Palin Danielle Crittenden merely as “conservative author.” Santorum has a well established reputation as a strong social conservative but Crittenden is not as well known.
It seemed odd that O’Reilly failed to identify Ms. Crittenden further. After Googling her, the author learned that she is a Canadian and a Huffington Post columnist married to David Frum (another vociferous Palin critic), former George W. Bush speechwriter and Canadian journalist. Crittenden questioned the credentials of Palin but her own credentials were not fully disclosed.
Ladies and gents, Election Day is finally here! After the endless commercials, media coverage, and politicking, it’s your turn to be finally heard. Whether you are for Libertarian Bob Barr, Republican John McCain, Independent Ralph Nader, Democrat Barack Obama, or another presidential candidate, get out there and pull the proverbial lever. Let’s keep our nation’s democracy strong and vibrant!
Please feel free to post your vote and your opinion. Even though your posts will not be pre-moderated, please do not be racist, sexist, or uncivil. I know that the vast majority, if not all, of Carpe Diem readers will pen appropriately. Thanks.
P.S. You may have noticed that this blog has been testing a non pre-moderated approach. With your help, it can work.
At a Jacksonville, FL, rally of supporters on election eve, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama “saluted” his Republican opponent John McCain for his hard-fought campaign. As Obama spoke of McCain, he rubbed the left side of his face with his right hand’s forefinger and then his middle finger in a possible road rage gesture.* One is transported in time to Raleigh, N.C., where Obama gave a similar gesticulation when touching the right side of his face as he criticized his primary foe Hillary Clinton to a receptive audience.
Perhaps, Obama should stick to the old basketball “rattling of the keys” as a way of saying goodbye to his political opponents.
Ironically, American Morning’s John Roberts and Kiran Chetry had politically incorrect lusty laughs after a segment entitled, “America Divided: Concern about GOP Tactic.” Beforehand, Roberts and Kiran had interviewed Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan’s 1984 National Campaign Director and current CNN contributor, about questionable tactics by GOP candidates that seemed to draw a conservative America/liberal un-America divide and about the divisive Pennsylvania presidential race. At the close of the segment, Roberts jokingly asked Rollins, “How did you screw up on Minnesota?” (In 1984 Rollins helped Reagan win all the U.S. states except Minnesota.)
In answer to Roberts unexpected query, Rollins ad libbed, “They voted a lot of dead Indians along the border: 1620 votes. I’m not bitter.” Roberts and Kiran joined Rollins in a genial guffaw.
“America Divided”: Still Cowboys and “Indians” (Native Americans)?
The lyrics of Tina Turner, leggy queen of Southern soul, seem to echo in the minds of McCain’s Republican faithful now. Once again another GOP American war hero is playing second fiddle to his more youthful, charming, and charismatic Dem counterpart. Like World War II veteran Bob Dole, Bill Clinton’s 1996 presidential opponent, John McCain seems to have left his fighting spirit on the battlefield: perhaps, soon he’ll be happy making copious appearances on the talk show circuit and singing the praises of Viagra, too!
American Morning co-host Kiran Chetry gave conservative TownHall.com’s national political reporter Amanda Carpenter the “last word.” Or did she? In today’s debate segment between Hilary Rose (lib Huffington Post’s Political Director and Dem strategist) and Amanda, Kiran appeared to take it back to a degree.
In Kiran’s last question to Rose, she asked how Hillary Clinton could counter Sarah Palin’s star power without attacking her? Rose said that Hillary would go after Palin on the issues and decried Palin as a “kind of protege of Phyllis Schlafly and the right wing, the government making decisions for women and their families.” Kiran asked, “Amanda, last word?”
When Carpenter began to laud Palin as to her reformer status, her energy policy, and her fight against corruption in the Republican party, Kiran interjected an interrogatory on Palin-accepted earmarks (as mayor) that Rose had not even raised. In light of Rose’s immediately prior slam on Palin’s pro-life views, Kiran’s query seemed to echo a perceived CNN bias against the pro-life Alaskan governor and GOP vice-presidential nominee. Hopefully, not.
Today American Morning’s Kiran Chetry was good cop to John Roberts’ very bad one. Kiran defended Palin and other mothers’ rights to pursue higher office and a career in general vis-a-vis Roberts’ earlier incendiary and insidious indicting of Sarah Palin’s decision to accept the historic GOP nomination as vice presidential nominee. Roberts had questioned whether Palin could provide appropriate care to a Down’s Syndrome child and be Vice President of the United State of America at the same time: He failed to mention that Palin’s husband is a stay-at-home dad and did not wonder aloud whether the Dem male presidential nominee Barack Obama could provide adequate care for his two young daughters. Nursing mother and professional journalist Kiran Chetry took Sally Quinn to task for posing a similar query in her troglodyte column as to whether the Alaskan Athena could wage war and spin the distaff at the same time.
Carpe Diem 