John Stewart Unloads on Cramer

John Stewart had another extremely honest moment this week. The previous one is when he unloaded on the hosts of crossfire several years ago.

His newest honest moment came this week while interviewing Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money on CNBC. It really was an honest moment. There are three parts. Parts 2 and 3 are the best. Here's part 2

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Part 1 and 3 are here.

Needless to say, Cramer did not come for a real debate. I think Cramer was thinking it would be like all the other John Stewart interviews: cordial and funny. Cramer didn't get that. What he got was brutally honest and real. Stewart did an excellent job of taking complex financial problems and making them simple. Stewart then stood in the difficult position and really did hold Cramers feet to the fire for participating in those problems. I feel that expression is often over used or not used correctly but this was one of those moments. Stewart filled the position of a jerk because no one has been willing to be one. While he was not a jerk, (our society's leaders prefer if you don't make them answer for crap they have done and if you do you are a jerk.) it was unfortunate that Cramer had to be the whipping boy. Because lets be honest, if you have a news show you won't get any interviews with big names if you are constantly holding people accountable for their sins. So, I think over time the media chooses access over substance. Access gets more viewers, more viewers means better ratings and that means more ad dollars.

At the end of the day, rewatching Stewart on Crossfire and then the Cramer interview, I feel Stewart has stepped into a new role. He is now the "old style hard news" spokesperson. He has complained about the media's inability to really go after failing politician or othe media. Stewart expects a level of professionalism but is unwilling to take any major steps to change things. Yes, his comedy show is not for that. What he needs to do is start a new show, either hosting or producing, that does just that. Show the media how its done.

Steele Is Toast

If you are not up to date about Steele, it is kind of a joke. He's the newly elected chairman of the RNC. He was elected about 6 weeks ago and has done everything he can to stick his foot in his mouth.

First, he went after senate repubs saying he won't help them if they don't fall in line. Then, he went after Limbaugh and had to apologized two days later. He's also tried to seem "hip" with using hip hop jargon.

Now, in an interview with GQ that transpired back in february, he has really jumped ship on two of the biggest issues to repubs: Abortion and Homosexuality.

On abortion:

How much of your pro-life stance, for you, is informed not just by your Catholic faith but by the fact that you were adopted?
Oh, a lot. Absolutely. I see the power of life in that—I mean, and the power of choice! The thing to keep in mind about it… Uh, you know, I think as a country we get off on these misguided conversations that throw around terms that really misrepresent truth.

Explain that.
The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a case for one or the other.

About Homosexuality

Do you think homosexuality is a choice?
Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.”

So, basically the new RNC chairman says that women have a choice and gays are born the way they are. Steele could also have run for the DNC chair position that was vacated by Dean.

Obama's War Room

Obama realizes he has a lot of fights in the future with the right. Health Care, EFCA (employee free choice act) and many other items on his agenda are going to be attacked. Learning from Clinton's struggles, Obama's friends have started a war room pushing the White House's agenda. 

From The Plum Line:

"The Center for American Progress — which has emerged as perhaps Washington’s most influential idea factory in the age of Obama — is launching a major new war room, to be staffed by nearly a dozen people, that will focus on driving the White House’s message and agenda, I’m told."

I love the fight gearing up. I hope that in one year we can look back on things as to how we have progressed.

Good Scenarios For Sen Arlen Specter to Become Dem

Kos has a good rundown on possible scenarios for Arlen Specter. His biggest problem is that he's likely to lose a GOP primary. However, he could do very well as a dem in the blue state of Penn. Markos says:

Specter votes for EFCA, and becomes a Democrat

Following his vote for EFCA, still as a Republican (giving Obama his desperately needed "bipartisanship"), the reaction from the Limbaugh crowd would be fierce. Heck, we know that they'd be screaming for his head. So Specter could look sad and forlorn, bemoan the lack of tolerance in the GOP, say that "I didn't leave the GOP, the GOP left me", and ride that wave of hate and invective straight to the other side of the aisle. Presto! 60 seats.

With the unions behind him and Rendel putting the machine to work in his favor, it's hard to see an opening for a real Democrat in a primary. Then again, like every other party switcher before him, Specter would quickly move left to establish his bona fides in his new party. We saw that with Sen. Jim Jeffords earlier this decade, and he was supposedly just an independent, and we certainly saw it with the likes of Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Dixiecrats like Sen. Richard Shelby who switched the other direction. Running for reelection as a Democrat, Specter would easily dispatch Toomey in the general election. But as a possible bonus, conservatives could drop some serious coin into this hopeless race in their effort to exact revenge.

Coleman Doesn't Want to Win

Time has an article out about the Minnesota recount. It talks about the strategies of both sides, but something interesting is this article.

"Elections law experts say that Coleman has been laying the groundwork for an appeal ever since that mid-February ruling. Indeed, it's not rare these days to hear Coleman's attorneys claim the ruling violated the equal protections clause of the U.S. Constitution."

So, it appears that Coleman doesn't give a crap about Minnesota... just himself.

Conservative Finally Making Some Sense

Conservatives/repubs should take some friendly advice from Conrad Black. He is saying that all these attempts by the right to say world war II  got us out of the depression and not FDR.

"It is, to say the least, unrigorous for current spokespeople of the intelligent Right to claim that Roosevelt’s peacetime elimination of unemployment was a failure, that war-mongering was his real antidote to economic depression, and that the grateful electors of the most successful politician in the country’s history were hoodwinked, as FDR would have said, “again and again and again.” Instead of trying to debunk FDR, Amity Shlaes, Holman Jenkins, and even Jim Powell should complete his liberation from leftist kidnappers and claim him for themselves. He was a reformer, and also one of the very greatest conservatives in American history."

He makes sense. Now the right needs to listen.

Specter's Best Bet...Become a Dem

Arlen Specter, the senior senator from Pennsylvania, will probably not be reelected as a repub. The Hill is reporting that he will most likely get a primary opponent. For moderate repubs this is death.

If you haven't noticed, moderate repubs have been dropping like flies for the past 4 years. Two reasons for this. The electorate has moved solidly left, knocking off repub moderates from all of the U.S. The second is that with so many voters moving dem, there are only the crazies left in the repub base. In order to get reelected during the primary, a repub candidate must be able to do the crazy shuffle to appease the base.

This leaves only extremist repubs the opportunity to get elected at the primary stage. Then they go into a general election and get trounced because they are so extreme.

So where does that leave moderate Specter? Change to the dem party. He was once a dem so why not just change back? It will be the only way in which he can win relection.

Why Doesn't Obama Like Howard Dean?

I have been wondering for quite some time why Obama hasn't shown any kind regards for the pioneer of the 50 state strategy that put the dems where they are now.

Back in '04-'05, I recall the battles between the Clintons and Dean about how the dem party should move forward. Clintons wanted surgical type efforts by focusing resources into a smaller number of areas trying to just beat the GOP. Dean fought them and, capatilizing on the discontent with the GOP/Bush, he started opening dem offices in the heart of GOP land all over the U.S. While it probably didn't yield huge results, it was the foundation of what Obama used to start his presidency.

There was also Dean's groundbreaking methods for raising online funds. While Dean's presidential ambitions did turn out as he liked, he did surprise a lot of people with his online money machine. The same machine Obama needed/used during his presidential campaign.

With knowing all that, my question is why doesn't Obama like Dean?

I've heard Rahm Emmanuel doesn't like him but I don't know more than that. How about you?