Seems like the liberals are being shown the door these days. Keith Olbermann had to sign off last night. I did not see the last segment live, but maybe that is OK since KO was one of my favorite pundits and I think this loss would have affected me personally.
Geez, even Rachel Maddow is likely to have to tone it down. All we have left these days is Bill Maher.
I missed watching Keith Olbermann last night in his discussion about the public option many of us want. Here's the clip of Keith talking to Markos:
(courtesy of Daily Kos TV).
Keith and Markos are spot on. Don't shelve this part of the legislation.
Bill Moyers, another grown up, makes it crystal, we don't get legislation by just being nice.
From the transcript:
Come on, Mr. President. Show us America is more than a circus or a market. Remind us of our greatness as a democracy. When you speak to Congress next week, just come out and say it. We thought we heard you say during the campaign last year that you want a government run insurance plan alongside private insurance — mostly premium-based, with subsidies for low-and-moderate income people. Open to all individuals and employees who want to join and with everyone free to choose the doctors we want. We thought you said Uncle Sam would sign on as our tough, cost-minded negotiator standing up to the cartel of drug and insurance companies and Wall Street investors whose only interest is a company's share price and profits.
Here's a suggestion, Mr. President: ask Josh Marshall to draft your speech. Josh is the founder of the website talkingpointsmemo.com . He's a journalist and historian, not a politician. He doesn't split things down the middle and call it a victory for the masses. He's offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan; one that essentially asks people: would you like the option — the voluntary option — of buying into Medicare before you're 65? Check it out, Mr. President.
This health care thing is make or break for your leadership, but for us, it's life and death. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. President. We need a fighter.
I missed Keith Olbermann's show last night, but apparently his "special comment" resonated with many bloggers.
Here's the link from YT:
Here's a link to the transcript, courtesy of JedL at the Daily Kos.
He spoke for many of us and reminded me of what JRE and/or EE said on the campaign trail about the special interests. You cannot bring them to a table without them stealing all of the food.
Keith Olbermann said in an interview with the New York News Magazine that Elizabeth Edwards should be the next president. I presume he means that after Obama or McCain.
I can buy that.
Hope he gets to see her at the New Yorker festival.
Facebook Friend Rachel Maddow Gets Own Show on MSNBC
Rachel is highly credentialed to be a pundit and the host of her own show. I had suggested privately that I wouldn't mind seeing her as guest host of MTP, but this is good.
Congrats to Rachel and to MSNBC. You're bringing us a long way, baby!
John Edwards was on Keith Olbermann's show tonight to talk about Blackwater and the problems with private contractors. Bush and his ilk gave away big contracts as "no bid" to Blackwater, Kellogg Root and Brown, etc, all corporate welfare recipients.
I also like it that John Edwards tells the truth about the polls: it's too early for primaries. Folks are just beginning to look at the races, which from talking to Iowans, he's right.
And good ol' Keith--asking JRE to say hello to Elizabeth. Keith and EE are kindred spirits in many ways.
Oh, for a good round up of JRE news today, go here.
Keith Olbermann has come a long way from the days of being sportscaster at ESPN. Since 2005, he has been doing a number of special comments, directly directed at the Bush Administration. They are thoughtful, but very deliberate. His show is now highly rated and has surpassed Bill-O's Spin Zone of spew.
Tonight's special comment took me a little by surprise. I knew that he was going to say something about Bush and his act to commute Scooter Libby's sentence. I knew it would not be pretty, but it would be forceful. I had thought it would be something about impeachment. Instead, it was this:
It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them—or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them—we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.
We of this time—and our leaders in Congress, of both parties—must now live up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate, impeach—get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our Democracy, away from its helm.
For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.
Resign.
Wow. Keith speaks.
Click on the link to read and watch. Amazing commentary.
This blog is for my friends and acquaintances who were formerly with the John Edwards campaign, which had the most progressive agenda. I am a progressive liberal, musing about politics and life.
