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Since ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is so willing to take directions from hosts on rival networks, Keith Olbermann offers some helpful hints for questions to ask Republican presidential candidate John McCain when he appears on This Week this Sunday. After all, these are questions the public deserves to have answered to better understand the candidate, right?
Your continuing association with radicals from the 1970’s. A man who tried to destroy the two-party electoral system and subvert Democracy, and to this day remains utterly unapologetic, saying only that he wishes he’d done more of it, and better? As recently as November 8th of 2007, you had a public conversation with G. Gordon Liddy, not merely a criminal, but an unrepentant enemy of the U-S constitution who is now in radio.
Why do you hate the Constitution, sir?
Full transcripts below the fold
As we reported yesterday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos defended the questions in Wednesday’s debate, saying all they did was throw at Democrats what the Right eventually will.
In our third story tonight: Sunday, Mr. Stephanopoulos will interview John McCain. Raising the question, is he now obligated to throw at McCain, what the Left eventually will?
Of course, some on the left forswear such partisan side issues. An aide to then-Governor Clinton claiming during the 19-92 campaign, that Americans care about more important things.
Still, since 2008, Stephanopoulos felt it appropriate to ask questions on behalf of Sean Hannity this week, we want to lend him a hand with his McCain interview.
So George, if you want to test Senator McCain’s response to hostile distractions, you can pretend McCain’s a Democrat and ask any of these questions.
Taking notes?
1. In your book you mention visiting burlesque houses, and you say that in Rio you indulged in, quote “the vices sailors are infamous for.”
Exactly how many times have you employed prostitutes? Or were you just referring to public drunkeness?
2. On your association with shady characters…
As a member of the Keating Five, you helped delay regulators from going after a savings and loan that ripped off elderly investors of their life savings… and cost taxpayers more than two billion dollars.
Why do you hate the elderly?
And taxpayers?
3. Your continuing association with radicals from the 1970’s. A man who tried to destroy the two-party electoral system and subvert Democracy, and to this day remains utterly unapologetic, saying only that he wishes he’d done more of it, and better? As recently as November 8th of 2007, you had a public conversation with G. Gordon Liddy, not merely a criminal, but an unrepentant enemy of the U-S constitution who is now in radio.
Why do you hate the Constitution, sir?
4. After first calling Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance,” you took that back and began praising the man, despite the fact that he blamed America for 9/11.
Why in six years have you not repudiated Mr. Falwell’s damning of this country? Why do you still symbolically share the same pew?
5. You proudly accepted the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee who wants the U-S to start a nuclear war as part of the Apocalypse; who called Catholicism “the great whore” and said Katrina was God’s punishment of New Orleans for holding, quote, “a homosexual parade.”
Senator McCain, does Pastor Hagee love Catholics, Muslims, New Orleans, gay people, parades and life on Earth as we know it, as much as you do?
6. Senator, why did you commit adultery?
Not that lobbyist stuff. I mean, with your wife back in the ’70s while you were still married to your first wife?
7. Last year, you admitted lying to voters when you said South Carolina’s confederate flag was strictly a state issue, when you knew it wasn’t, when you knew it was offensive to many Americans, presumably, those who wanted America to win the Civil War.
Why did you lie to protect a racist symbol of terrorists who wanted to destroy this country when you could have, um, not?
8. Finally, sir, a lot of Americans judge their politicians entirely by simple symbols. Flag lapel pins, where your hands are during the pledge of allegiance. Wouldn’t you agree, Senator McCain, that perhaps the most potent simple symbol of loving America, is whether or not you chose to be born in America?
Senator McCain: why did you choose to be born in Panama? How can voters be sure that this kind of elitisim doesn’t mean that you won’t owe your allegiance to Panama and the Panamian Way?
Filed Under: Countdown/Keith Olbermann, John McCain, This Week/George Stephanopoulos
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Don’t know what’s the best part of Olbermann - his bitingly humorous, dogged pursuit of hypocritical things rightward, or the snarky offstage laughter when he’s slapping down a good point. Does m’ heart good to believe that Falafel man REALLY hates that part of Countdown - when the unseen chortle at his expense.
It seems that Religious Rightists can get away with rhetoric a Religious Leftist would lose their pastorship or priesthood for. McCain should be asked this, indeed.
Well done KO, but good luck getting these
propagandistsjournalists to actually ask these questions.OK .. i know this is off-topic (or maybe not!) .. but it’s just too rich not to share .. and open thread won’t be here for hours ..
From MSNBC’s FIRST READ: The First Place For Key Political News And Analysis :
CHELSEA STOPS TRAFFIC ON GAY BAR CRAWL
Wow. Maestro! Master of the Fame~!
Pardon my language, but this is the reason why Keith Oblermann is on DIck Cheney’s “shit” lists, as well as many other people I presume. lol
Keith is one of the few, the rare, and the proud journalists that will use his privileged platform to say the things that most folks have itching to come off the tip of our tongues. And do do it so artfully and masterfully is awesome. He is well-deserving and worthy of praise!
Great Job Keith! I hope to see John, and fellow caliber Bloggers join Keith one day fora nice televised sit around. Good Idea, heh? John, why not pitch it to Keith?
Keep it up Boys! Great Job
Funny how those who come to Stuffinenvelopes’ defence say that ABC’s debate had the highest ratings of all debates so far . So this is what democracy is all about, ratings and ad revenue.
Though I will not be watching George dry-hump McCain tomorrow, I’ll guarantee he laughs off the debate debacle, if he mentions it at all .
ABC= Disney= Corporate fascism
perfect!
Mcmuffburgercain and Mr. snuffleoffthebus- Why care America? Why,indeed?
I like it, but good luck with that…
iraqhusseinconcilable @ 6:
And most Americans believe that “the US stopped Fascism in World War Two” ..
Conveniently forgetting that it was the American Fascists - the very people in power here in the US today - who backed Hitler, sent him anti-semitic propaganda from the pen of our very own Henry Ford, managed Hitler’s finances, owned shares in the iron-and-coal fields that Hitler siezed from Poland to start World War Two, and took home bundles of cash after the War because they - thanks to GW’s great grandfather George Herbert Walker - had mastered the art of international money laundering.
And yet the PROPAGANDA we have been fed in our elementary schools, high schools, colleges, universities, churches, synagogues, the American News Media and BOTH major political parties omits all mention of this FACT.
The Fascists WON World War Two.
But you won’t hear that in your American History Class.
Priceless! In addition to McCain on Snuffleoffthebus or Shoveanappleupyourass as someone else called him, Hillary Clinton will have a one hour interview on Larry King Monday night, the eve of the PA primary. I wonder if King will treat her with kid gloves and outdo ABC in allowing her to throw a last minute bomb at Obama without him being there to defend himself?
BTW how did the protest go at Disney/ABC yesterday? I can’t find any report. My gut tells me ABC got wind of it and the employees went home before the protestors showed up or that they went out another door.
iraqhusseinconcilable @ 6:
Actually, McCain will laugh it off too, as well as this roasting from Olbermann. See, they’re all in on the joke. Seriously.
This is the New Normal. Outrageously partisan debate ‘moderators,’ free passes for all republican candidates, torture, secret prisons, spying on Americans, trial by Star Chamber, endless war, tanking economy. It’s all a kind of post-modern performance art to these people.
Thats pinkish makeup must be standard these days. Or Keith is suffering from High Blood pressure now. Which I can fully understand.
How’s Senilator Mcmuffburgercain and Mr. Snuffleupsomepus ?
iraqhusseinconcilable @ 6:
I like the word play. How about Snuffleupagus?
MountainMan23 @ 10:
You exaggerate, a little. Bush’s family certainly has Hitlerian connections. But the Soviets trained the Wehrmacht for years, and then the Wehrmacht came in and slaughtered millions of Soviets. Nearly every country before 1939 in the West had some dealings with Hitler.
And Bush’s regime bears a few structural resemblances to fascism, but the conservatives as a whole lack more than a few key traits of movement fascism, let alone the regime in power. Don’t get me wrong, Bushism certainly has commonalities with fascism. But to state that Bush’s regime is fascist is a smear on the Holocaust and Soviet victims of the Hitler regime.
Structural and some philosophical commonalities and similarities, yes. The full-blown thing, no.
Sorry for being slightly OT, but Gene Weingarten, The Washington Post’s Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and self-described liberal recently called Olbermann a “sputtering” lunatic, comparing him (unfavorably) to Rush Limbaugh, who is “funny and mock-heroic.” On the other hand Olbermann has more in common with Michael Savage and Bill O’REilly. Really! Here’s what she said:
“I only barely knew what Olbermann was up to, but he was as over the top as anyone else in the opposite direction. He was busy calling George Bush a fascist and comparing his stance on this relatively minor issue to the Alien and Sedition Act. He was simply a sputtering lunatic, and I hadn’t been ready to expect that.”
The relatively minor issue: The president’s veto of the FISA bill!
http://www.onthemedia.org/tran.....8/04/11/06
( blue 4 ) Panama red , ah the good old days ( q 8 )
some more good questions might be on how it is that Barack &Michelle,who have just recently paid off their student loans thru’ book sales, are ‘elitists’ when your wife’s beer distributorship brings in $100 million a year and you own EIGHT houses? Housing crisis…whats that? ..and now Dr. Mcbomb analyzes the problems of America’s housing crisis,economic crash ..etc. quit worrying! it will be solved by knocking off 18 cents off gas(do it quickly as its jumping that much as we speak..or soon) so we can afford to dump more pollution in the air and drive to places we cant afford to be..WORRY NOT! ‘it is all “..psychological” that takes a load off…courtesy of ThinkProgress….. . CAVUTO: I think you know, Senator, we’ve been in and out another all time high for oil and gas prices today. Oil hovering around 113, 114 dollars a barrel. Many are sort of jumping on your proposal to nix the federal gas tax — a little north of 18 cents — throughout the summer. Are you afraid though, by the time we get to the summer, we’ll be up that much and more in gas prices?
MCCAIN: I’m very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it’s been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically — and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological — the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost.
Let’s have some straight talk, it’s not a huge amount of money. But it might be nice to be able to save a few bucks and maybe buy something else the next time that they have to fill up their gas tank and say, “You know I’m going to be able to afford that little expense now.” A little psychological boost. That’s what I think it would help. But we also, I think, we need to stop competing for a limited supply, as far as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is concerned. Let’s just stop buying that as well. But it might be a nice thing to happen.
Keith kind of reminds me of a modern day Emmanuel Goldstein. Only he hasn’t had to go on the run yet.
Which is surprising after the way he scorched Bush at the at Correspondent’s Dinner which was by far Keiths crowning achievement.
Senator, when you scratch your crotch, do you then sniff your fingers?
ronnie mitchell @ 19:
We need to get off oil, period. The best thing would be a synthetic substitute like the Nazis invented in the 1940s when the Soviets had made them use up most of their supply. Make this synthetic compound capable of doing the vital things petroleum can do, and industrial civilization lasts another few hundred years. Let the oil companies keep on doing their stuff, BAM! The shit hits the fan.
General_Rennenkampf @ 22:
Exactly. Like I was saying earlier, technically we should be paying $6 to $8 a gal with oil being $117 per barrel.
With one gallon of crude going for $7 go figure!
L.A. Confidential @ 20:
I thought that was Colbert. ???
Nice work, Keith.
“Hero” John McCain as Phony and Collaborator: What Really Happened When He Was a POW?
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn04192008.html
iraqhusseinconcilable @ 6:
It’s a sad reflection of the education system (or at least how it served some people) that so many people confuse quality with popularity.
For the record, the debate’s ratings don’t make it “good”, Britney Spears’ past CD sales don’t make her talented, and the proliferation of McDonald’s franchises doesn’t make the Big Mac haute cuisine.
I know there are few readers at this site who have to be told any of that. I just had to say it.
CafeenMan @ 24:
Oh your right. Thanks. Whatever happened to Colbert. He get fitted with cement shoes?
He forgot:
Why do you hate Martin Luther King?
And black people?
Crybaby Keith
Last night on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC host spent part of his broadcast condemning ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson for their role in Wednesday’s Democratic debate. For Olbermann to sit in judgment of accomplished news journalists is comical.
For the unaware, Olbermann was a decent cohost (with Dan Patrick) of ESPN’s SportsCenter during the 1990s. This was followed by a stint on FOX Sports, before landing his position as host of his current MSNBC program. (Previously, he spent some time on MSNBC, but left out of disgust because he tired of covering the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
Olbermann does excel at some things; he knows quite a lot about baseball, for instance. Unfortunately, his wisdom does not extend to serious journalism, or to matters of policy. Instead of original insight or thoughtful commentary, Olbermann offers a nightly digest of left-wing blogosphere clichés.
From time to time, Olbermann enriches his anemic program with a “Special Comment,” segment during which, furrow-browed, he lashes out — usually at the Bush administration — for as long as ten minutes at a time. It is riveting in its own way: haughty and self-righteous, melodramatic, overwritten, sputtering with rage, banalities, and quotations from Bartlett’s. It turns out that the mad utterings of a cable-news host can command an audience (though not a particularly large audience).
Like the band player who longs to be the high-school sports star, Olbermann covets the life of the serious journalist, and aspires to be the next Edward R. Murrow. But he is neither. He is not even Bob Ley.
Lately, Olbermann has become one of cable television’s most vociferous Obama cheerleaders. He eagerly waves palm branches for Obama, and criticizes anyone who dares to question the Man of Hope — hence his criticisms of Stephanopoulos and Gibson for merely asking the candidate about his relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers. These days Olbermann will often interview MSNBC contributors whose dispositions toward Obama range from love to reverence to worship. On his program, this qualifies as balance.
NBC News has a great history and it includes some of the best journalists working today, including Tim Russert and Brian Williams. But NBC News also has Keith Olbermann, and so long as it does, its reputation as a serious news organization will suffer. The esteemed among NBC’s journalists deserve better, as does the American news-consuming public.
—Peter Wehner
Stephanopoulis hardly qualifies as a serious journalist. He merely stepped from a political career to talking head.
Charlie Gibson is essentially a teleprompter reader, no Peter Jennings.
A sports reporter is still a reporter whether it was circumstances or choices to lead him to that field first.
Afterall, rash limpballs is nothing but a failed radio dj
And boosh a failed businessman.
dennis @ 29:
Good old dennis. Can’t stand Keith. And snow falls in Buffulo. Yawn
Here’s my question:
Sir. During Vietnam you surrendered to the Viet Cong. What makes us think you won’t surrender America to the terrorists?
ysbaddaden @ 30:
He hosts “This Week’, ysby. How did he get that gig if he was a right-wing water-carrier? And why haven’t you or the left-wing blogs spoken up much about him before for his bias or unprofessionalism? Why just now?
[Deleted. No need to be rude-Sitemonitor]
Why does dennis get to troll here?
[Because he’s not abusive to other commenters and/or the bloggers, and he mostly stays on topic. Simple dissent is not a reason that we use to ban commenters. But yours was a question worth asking. Thank you. Site Monitor]
David Hawes@31-
Thanks Dave. I loved the Bartlett’s quotations reference.
I was mad at myself for not picking up on that a long time ago.
I would think the left-wing is delighted that the right thinks so ill of Keith. You guys have so many people on the right that drive you crazy; Keith’s about the only one in the media anyone pays attention to in conservative circles.
General_Rennenkampf @ 2:
Exactly so! The media jumps all over the Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama, yet gives McCain and Rev. Hagee (though why anyone would Revere a bigot like Hagee, I’ll never know) a free pass. Come on, MSM, do your job FOR A CHANGE.