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Sunday show roundup: Obama braces for impact

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:45:00 +0000

In clearest sign yet that President Obama has abandoned hope of averting the so-called fiscal cliff in the next 48 hours, he used a rare-Sunday show appearance to come out swinging at Republicans, something he’s so far avoided doing so as to not poison relations with his negotiating partners.

On “Meet the Press” today, all pretense was gone and diplomacy jettisoned as Obama placed the blame for a potential cliff dive squarely on Republican intransigence. “The only thing I would caution against, David, is I think this notion of, ‘Well, both sides are just kind of unwilling to cooperate.’ And that's just not true,” Obama told host David Gregory.

“I mean if you look at the facts, what you have is a situation here where the Democratic Party, warts and all, and certainly me, warts and all, have consistently done our best to try to put country first,” he added, paraphrasing John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign slogan. The clear implication: Republicans have not put country first, prioritizing ideology instead.

Sunday show roundup: LaPierre wants you to call him crazy

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 16:40:00 +0000

NRA head Wayne LaPierre finally had his chance to “Meet the Press” after refusing to take questions at his Friday press conference, and he used the opportunity to invite the world to call him crazy. "If it's crazy to call for armed officers in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy,” he told the NBC show’s host David Gregory. The conservative New York Post had no problem going there, slapping LaPierre on its cover Saturday under the blaring headline, “GUN NUT! NRA loon in bizarre rant over Newtown.”

“It's the one thing that would keep people safe,” LaPierre continued of his plan, “I said what I honestly thought and...what hundreds of millions of people all over this country believe will actually make a difference." All the evidence available suggests putting armed guns in school is actually not a particularly effective idea (there was an armed Sheriff’s deputy in Columbine High School on the day of the shooting, for instance).

Hack List No. 4: The Sunday Shows

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 17:15:00 +0000

This year, my annual list of the worst of political media highlights not just individuals, but the institutions that enable those individuals. The 2012 Hack List will be counting down the 10 media outlets that are hurting America over the next two days -- stay tuned! (Previous Hack List entries here, here and here.)

Every Sunday morning, the big four broadcast networks all air their FCC-mandated "public affairs" programming, which consists of a host (a white guy) interviewing the same dozen lawmakers, journalists and pundits in a rotating order. The lawmakers are usually not the most powerful members of Congress -- often they're somewhat marginal figures in terms of influence, in fact -- and the pundits and journalists all generally share the same, or very similar, worldviews. The only people I actually know who watch these things do so out of professional obligation.

Sunday show roundup: Gun defenders mum

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:40:00 +0000

David Gregory, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," told viewers Sunday morning that not a single pro-gun rights senator accepted an invitation to appear on the show following the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday.

"A note here this morning: We reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights senators in the new Congress to invite them on the program to share their views on the subject this morning," he said. "We had no takers."

Since Adam Lanza shot 20 children and 6 adults dead with a semiautomatic, few defenders of gun rights have spoken publicly as cries for greater gun control have amplified. On Sunday, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was the lone pro-gun voice to grace the talk show circuit. He said on "Fox News Sunday" that Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung should have been armed:

"I wish to god she had had an m-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out ... and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids," Gohmert said.

Watch Gohmert's comments, via Fox News:

Pelosi: Fiscal cliff deal must include tax hikes for rich

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 16:30:00 +0000

Nancy Pelosi, who this week announced she would stay on as Democratic House leader, told ABC's "This Week" that a fiscal cliff deal will have to include tax hikes for the rich.

“Just to close loopholes is far too little money,” Pelosi said in the interview. “If it’s going to bring in revenue, the president has been very clear that the higher income people have to pay their fair share.”

Sunday show roundup

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 17:16:00 +0000

On this week's Sunday shows, politicians and pundits addressed the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, as well as the looming showdown over the federal budget. Here are the highlights:

On Petraeus:

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., was confused as to why the the FBI didn't alert President Obama to the affair until just last week. “The FBI should have had an obligation to tell the president,” King said on CNN's "State of the Union." “It just doesn’t add up.”

But Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also on CNN, said everything about the FBI's handling of the revelations appears proper: “I don’t see a conspiracy behind every curtain as some of my colleagues do."

On the budget negotiations in Congress:

Bill Kristol argued that the GOP should not "fall on its sword" defending lower taxes for millionaires. "Don't scream and yell when one person says, 'you know what, it won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires.' It really won't, I don't think," he said on Fox News Sunday.

Sunday best: Marco Rubio blasts the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:10:00 +0000

A day before the third and final presidential debate, scheduled to center on foreign policy concerns, the Sunday shows shed no light on genuine issues and differences in that realm, and instead mostly featured more partisan mud-slinging over Libya as well as some new and disturbing GOP saber-rattling on Iran.

Against the backdrop of a New York Times story about the U.S. opening direct talks with Iran on nuclear issues, denied by both the White House and Iranian officials, Republicans mostly ducked the topic (except to accuse the Obama administration of another foreign policy "leak"). But on Fox News Sunday the supposedly centrist statesman Sen. Lindsey Graham attacked the White House over the story, declaring that when it comes to Iran, "the time for talking is over.” That would seem to indicate the time for warring has commenced, and we'll find out Monday night if Mitt Romney agrees.

Sunday best: Colbert unmasked

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:05:00 +0000

As Salon's own Alex Pareene can tell you, the Sunday morning political talk shows can be a wasteland of Simpson-Bowles fetishism and beltway conventional wisdomhood. Today, for example, on ABC’s “This Week,” we got a full-panel analysis of whether Joe Biden’s facial expressions in last week’s debate was “counterproductive.” And that's why, as Joan Walsh explained in our first installment last week, Salon is bringing you Sunday Best: Our choice of the best moment on the top Sunday shows.

There were a few good contenders today that deserve honorable mention, starting with what’s hard to classify as anything but a lie through the teeth from a top Romney surrogate. Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who has been playing the role of President Obama in Mitt Romney’s debate preparations, appeared on “This Week” to preview the upcoming debate and defend Paul Ryan’s erroneous suggestion in the vice presidential debate that unemployment is higher now than it was when Obama took office. “Unemployment is going down, as a factual matter. Why would Congressman Ryan, in defiance of facts, suggest otherwise?” host Jake Tapper asked. Portman replied, matter of factly, “I think that what he was saying was the truth: unemployment is higher today than when the president took office. Unfortunately, in the meantime, we’ve created net zero jobs, Jake.”

Sunday show round up

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:50:00 +0000

The subject of Wednesday's presidential debate came up numerous times on Sunday morning's political talk shows. A roster of guests across the network spread included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, GOP V.P. candidate Paul Ryan and White House adviser, David Plouffe. The sum total of their predictions for Wednesday gave viewers little to go on.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Christie suggested that the debate could be a game-changer: "Wednesday night, Mitt Romney's going to be standing on the same stage as the president of the United States. And I am telling you... come Thursday morning, the entire narrative of this race is going to change."

White House adviser Plouffe, also appearing on "Meet the Press," predicted a strong performance from Romney. "Challengers tend to benefit from debates. We had expected all along that Governor Romney will have a good night. He's prepared more than any candidate in history," he said.

Meanwhile, Paul Ryan said pretty much the exact opposite of Christie's point, telling "Fox News Sunday", "I don't think one event will make or break this campaign."

Watch Plouffe's debate expectations, via "Meet the Press," NBC:

Christie: GOP should not support Akin

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:56:00 +0000

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stood by his earlier remark that Rep. Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comments were "reprehensible."

A slew of Republican leaders, including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, came out this week in support of Akin, who is attempting to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill. When asked on "This Week" whether he believed the whole party should rally around Akin, Christie's response was plain: "No."

Watch the clip below (via Aol):

Paul Ryan doesn’t have time to explain tax plan to you

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:59:00 +0000

"Fox News Sunday" viewers will just have to take Paul Ryan at his word on GOP tax cuts, because he doesn't have time to go over the math.

On Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace pushed the V.P. hopeful to detail how the GOP would cover the cost of a promised 20 percent tax cut. Ryan insisted that estimates suggesting the tax cut would cost $5 trillion over 10 years are "not in the least bit true," but refused to elaborate on how the Republicans would achieve a revenue neutral massive tax cut (beyond a passing reference to closing loopholes and broadening the tax base).

"You still haven't given me the math," Wallace prodded.

"I don't have the time, it would take me too long to go through all the math," responded Ryan.

Later in the segment, Ryan told Wallace, "We're going to win this race." Perhaps he didn't have time to go over the math on that one either.

Watch the clip below, via Think Progress' YouTube channel:

Sunday show roundup

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:48:00 +0000

With fewer than 7 weeks until the election, pols and pundits made a show of force on the Sunday talk shows:

On "Face the Nation," conservative op-ed writer and Romney critic Peggy Noonan said Republicans thanked her for her critical column in private:"I will tell you, Bob, it was very interesting. There was a lot of formal official and public blowback from the Romney campaign, from Romney surrogates, et cetera. What was interesting to me, however, was that privately, the constant communication I got was, thank you for saying that they need help at the Romney campaign, they need to be woken up, they need to raise their game."