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July 19: 7 Best Moments From Sunday Talk
John Glenn remembers Walter Cronkite, Senators Leahy and Sessions go toe-to-toe on Sotomayor, and one pundit declares herself a “wise white woman.” That and more in our Sunday roundup
Will Abortion Be a Poison Pill for Health Reform?
On Fox News Sunday, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag says he can’t rule out taxpayer-funded abortions as part of a government health-insurance plan. This may be a deal-breaker that 19 House Democrats have already expressed opposition to in a letter last month to Nancy Pelosi, and an issue which fellow Fox guest Sen. Judd Gregg also can see posing a problem down the road.
Sen. Mitch McConnell: A Party of ‘No’
On Meet the Press, Sen. Mitch McConnell shot down not only the president’s plans for a health-care overhaul, claiming that it’s not good for the country, but also his pick for Supreme Court justice. McConnell says that as much as he admires Sonia Sotomayor as a person, he will not be voting for her confirmation because she lacks “objectivity.”
Monica Crowley Declares Herself a “Wise White Woman”
We thought Pat Buchanan would go furthest in denouncing Sonia Sotomayor—hard to beat his recent appearance on Maddow, after all. But give credit where it’s due: Monica Crowley, invoking her authority as a “wise white woman,” slams Sotomayor for having once face before her nomination, and for trying to be “Alexander Hamilton in drag” after it.
Howard Kurtz Shocked, Shocked That Reporters Suck Up to Sanford
Juicy stuff here, at least at first glance. A number of prominent reporters, including ABC’s Jake Tapper and Fox News’s Griff Jenkins, in attempting to get interviews with Mark Sanford, sent emails to Sanford hinting at favorable coverage in exchange for an appearance. Awful stuff, right? Maybe. It does not, of course, follow that an ingratiating interview request will be mean an ingratiating interview. In fact, sending that sort of email, or making that sort of call in order to land a big “get,” is one of the dirty secrets of journalism. What ends up on the air or in an article—that’s much more fair game for critique.
Leahy and Sessions: Still Sparring Over Race Politics
After a fairly mild confirmation hearing, leaders on both sides of the Senate got into a much more heated debate Sunday on State of the Union. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy accuses the GOP of conducting unfair “racial politics” with Sonia Sotomayor, including calling her a “bigot” and the equivalent of a leader of the KKK before the hearings had even begun.
Fareed Zakaria to president of Rwanda: Why Is Africa So Screwed Up?
Give credit to Fareed Zakaria: Sometimes the question everyone wants to ask isn’t easy. But he puts this rather impolite one to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda: Why give international aid when African is so screwed up? Kagame—who viewers may know best from Philip Gourevitch’s brilliant New Yorker profile—gives a characteristically measured response: Foremost, history has doomed his continent, but he would like to see his country be free of foreign aid one day, perhaps before the end of his presidency.
Walter Cronkite, Star Reporter
There have been many tributes to Walter Cronkite over the past few days, each seemingly more desperate to canonize the news legend than the other. So it was bit refreshing to see former astronaut-turned-Senator John Glenn share a simple, heartfelt anecdote about his friend, whom Glenn described was eager to someday report from the stars.
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John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
November 22: 8 Best Moments from Sunday Talk
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Meet the Press is more like Meet the Oppressors...!
That's what I call it...!
Care to expound on this, or just leave it as snappy saying with not substance?
...!
People that sit home and watch this garbage should get outside more. It's SUNDAY
Amen!!!
I find it hypocritical for people in the GOP to claim that Sotomayor lacks the "objectivity" to serve on the high court when they support people like Scalia who claim to be originalist and strict constructionist but then fail to apply those philosophies when it suits them (Eldred case, anyone?)
P.S. I <3 Fareed
Republicans are terrible, their ideas are stupid, and they are hypocritical, racist, and sexually frustrated.
And worse than any of these sins, is the fact that they assume there is some silent majority out there in America backing them up. But there isn't. There is only the circular echo chamber of radio, TV, and magazines, in which a person can create a world where all media they consume tells them what they want to hear.
The majority of media is unarguably very left leaning and you listen to them. What does that say about you?
Says the man who probably watches Fox News and reads the Drudge Report almost exclusivly...
But yes, it would be natural for an organization, body of people, who depend on the freedom of speech to do business to favor a political party who's dogma allows for less restriction on that freedom of speech. Wouldn't it?
Monica Crowley may be "white" but "wise?"
Yeah, but I'd still do her. And Palin, too.
(Take that, reasoned political discourse!)
Mitch Mcconnell is an absolute fool who is so out of touch with what the American people need. How embarrassing it must be to have to admit he represents your state!
Hey Rustafur, I'm sure you are glued to the Schultz,Matthews, Olberman, Maddow network aren't you. Talk about an echo chamber. I'm sorry, I'll let you get back to HuffPo....and then Salon.
xbainx: I know you are, but what am I?...... c'mon, name calling?... Seriously?
Luckily, I have decided that no matter what I think or what I do, it will make zero difference. So far I have not seen the "change" I thought I could believe in, therefore I no longer care and as mentioned in an earlier post, I now have my sunday mornings and some primetime free to live my life.
Thank you.
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