"Morning in America" is a phrase that for most politically conscious people who grew up in the Reagan era, means one of two things. If you're a conservative, you may have taken quite literally, and embraced as a mantra. For others, it's a reminder of how it could be argued that under President Reagan's leadership, the Republican Party ensured that only a privileged few saw the beauty of the dawn.
But what about now? Can that term be reclaimed, at least in spirit, not just by the now-officially rebooted Obama campaign -- but by the facts themselves? Is our economy bringing back the sun, so to speak? Melissa will lead off today's show by asking those questions of Daniel Gross, who examined the topic in his new book.
Also on the bright side, Melissa will welcome the groundbreaking ballerina Misty Copeland to #nerdland to speak to her about the value (and politics) of the arts. Copeland was a late bloomer by the standards of the industry -- she didn't start dancing until she was 13 -- but she became the first black soloist for the American Ballet Theatre in decades. (See a short profile of her here.) As you can see above, she also became a muse of the one and only Prince, dancing for him on tour and in performances in 2009. To boot, we'll also profile some young dancers at Harlem's Uptown Dance Academy who are seeking to follow the trail Copeland is blazing.
Melissa will also delve into the Marissa Alexander case, which we profiled here on the blog earlier this week. Alexander faces 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into her own kitchen ceiling to ward off her abusive husband. Thing is, she lives in Florida, which has become (in)famous for its "Stand Your Ground" castle-doctrine law. Why doesn't the law apply to her? Melissa will break down that question with Brooklyn Law School professor Liz Schneider and Good magazine associate editor Nona Willis Aronowitz. Melissa will also speak with Kim Dadou, a domestic violence survivor who served 17 years in a New York state prison for shooting her abusive boyfriend to death -- and is now with the Correctional Association of New York, fighting for a new bill to help incarcerated survivors of domestic violence.
Additionally, we'll look into President Obama's upcoming fundraiser with George Clooney, guns at the Republican convention, and the need for black studies in our colleges. Our guests will include:
- Perry Bacon, Jr., MSNBC contributor and political editor for theGrio.com.
- Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin soloist and member of the Ritz Chamber Players.
- Alice Stewart, former press secretary for the Rick Santorum presidential campaign.
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.
As always, folks -- be sure to interact with us during the show on Facebook and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. We look forward to having you join us at 10am ET!
Leave a Comment:
Melissa, I LOVE your show, LOVE your discussions and "most" of your guests. I look at your show (along with C. Hayes' show and R. Maddow's show ) as an opportunity to learn and grow. I do NOT however get why liberals/progressives/left wingers (whatever one chooses to call themselves when not in line with goose stepping wingnuts) need to invite people with no credibility to be a part of the show. This woman, Alice Stewart, by virtue of choosing to work for Santorum and M. Bachman has no place in this discourse. Simply memorizing and spouting FOX talking points does not add to the conversation. She sounds as ignorant as those she represents.
Anyway, I do love your show. But I will never understand MSNBC's need to give blatant ignorance and bigotry a seat at the table.
So if a person works for, lets say Rick Santorum, they have no rights? have no right to speak their minds?
Just a little one-way don't you think?
She has rights. The problem is that she doesn't even listen to the situation that is presented to her with a half ounce of common sense. She repeats "Obama's failed policies". I would ask are they Obama's failed policies, or is it a Congress that won't allow his policies to be introduced to the floor for a vote?
Congress is both the house and the senate..
The last budget obama sent to the house got zero votes. That means the democrats in the house did not like obama's budget as well as the republicans.
Now lets look at the senate, there are 31 bills from the house just sitting there collecting dust, as Reid and the liberals will not debate them.
So stop blaming the republicans for this obstruction, when it is the demcorats in the senate that are doing nothing, like over 1000 days no budget..
Jjc2012,
I’m
so with you on this! I was saying to myself, is this
"The View"? Why don't you just invite Elisabeth Hasselbeck on!
I was
soo ready to throw something at the TV. MHP needs
to give some serious thought to her direction.. Sorry Melissa, you're no Rachel
Maddow, you need to set a different goal.
BTW,
start dressing the part and grow some sleeves! Case
in point:
Any
female on Fox
Andrea
Mitchell, Tamron Hall, and last but certainly the
biggest violator is Mika B....
Huff
Post must have stock in the Morning Joe Show. They
are highlighted almost every single day. Don’t even start me on Joe….
send you a link??? what because MSMBC did not say it so it's not true?
go to the U.S House of Representatives house.gov
the truth will set you free.
Alice Stewart does not actually participate in the discussion. All she does is repeat the same old talking points. For example , when Mr. Gross asserted that businesses are not talking about health insurance, she ignored what he said and returned to her robotic repetition of her talking points. There are folks on the 'other' side who have the ability to actually have a lucid conversation. Please find them and dis-invite this robot.
Yes, please get another conservative who will address the issues with some semblance of objectivity. Stewart just repeats talking points. Makes me nuts. They get plenty of coverage of talking points on their own platforms. Let's not give them one more.
When you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them.
Next no gun law has ever stop a person from blowing another person away with a gun.
But leave it to the liberals to attack the constitution.
Alice Stewart doesn't have to agree with everything said. But could she please open her mouth without trashing Obama and spewing regressive talking points? She presents no facts and contributes nothing to an intelligent discussion.
Why is it that Republican guests on your show are not held to account for statements they make? Alice Stewar's statement that many small business are straining under Pres. Obama's healthcare law is BS and she should be asked to back that statement with hard facts. Also her appearance on your show seemed to be nothing more than Obama bashing and a Romney advertisement. Why not ask her for Romney's ideas on how he will get things done? statements like he was a successful businessman (which is questionable in itself) are totally meaningless as to how he would solve the jobs problems, the economic situation and on and on.
Obama care will down in flames come June.
And maybe you should listen to the CEO's of the land and not some leftwingnut TV host.
hey stupidta your name says it all. what else is there to see but that you are a right wing troll with zero to add to any conversation.
Nice point of view. And what did you just add to the conversation? other than call me a troll??
I think that when people comment and feel the need to call names and make sweeping statements about an ideological group, i.e., "liberals.. attack the constitution"; this aptly illustrates why Alice Stewart and stupid is as stupid does aren't really participating in a conversation. When you choose to talk past what we are saying or to engage in ad hominem attacks, you forfeit your right to attract our attention.
Good Morning,
I would just like to share that I salute Misty Copeland. I also am a ballerina and have been dancing and teaching for many, many years. I took a 22 year break from dancing in order to raise my three children. I was fortunate enough to begin training again when my youngest daughter went to college and begin performing again in 2000. Since that time I have been teaching, performing, and choreographing ballet as well as other genres at the high school and now college level. In 2004, I was able to participate in a teacher's workshop given by ABT here in California. I have written curriculum for classical ballet that was granted credit by the UC System here in California. I currently live in an area where all the arts have been cut from the Community College curriculum including a 33 year old Performing Arts Department.
Since I am still dancing, training and choreographing, I would like to write a text book for ballet as well as other dance genres since no text exists to date. I happen to be an African American woman who is nearly 67 years old.
Thank you for bringing this subject out and sharing it on a national level. How would classical ballet be instituted into the Boys and Girls Clubs here in the Central Valley?
Yours Sincerely,
LP
Thank you letting the world know that that this person whoever he is,does not want ETHNIC STUDIES to be taught.Does this person have a book coming out and is seeking publicity? Usually that is the case. Keep your viewers informed.
Love your show.
With all due respect to Misty Copeland, she does not look like the majority of black girls. She may even be willing to admit that, meeting white standards of beauty, may have made her acceptable to ABT (they can congratulate themselves on diversity while not actually having to look at someone starkly 'different'). Also, I seem to recall that the Paris ballet not only has/had a black ballerina but that she is a "prima" ballerina (a soloist).
Suggestion: How about having pop-in-your mouth fruit, like grapes, on the table for your guests? No one wants to be caught on camera stuffing pastry into her/his face.
The problem is not having a corporate/Republican mouthpiece like Alice Stewart sit at the table. The problem is that when she spouts her blatant lies, no one else at the table challenges her on them.
When she said that Obama is responsible for the entire 15 trillion dollar national debt, no one mentioned that almost all of that debt had been run up under Reagan and the two Bushes.
When she said that Obama's jobs record was dismal, no one mentioned that it was Republican policies that killed job growth, that Republicans have eliminated thousands of government jobs, that Republican policies have simply been a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy and corporations. And that Republican policies have decimated our economy.
Is this how it is supposed to work? Is there some written agreement when Republican shills appear on your shows; others are not allowed to answer their lies with any rational, truthful statements? This has been the way of the media for the last forty years. Republican lies become accepted because no one objects to them. Those who are supposed to be objective reporters and those who are supposed to speak for liberal, progressive, rational, populist viewpoints are told to shut up and let the corporate reps speak.
That is how is has appeared to me for far too long. How sad this even holds true in Nerdland.
so exactly how did Bush and Regan run up the deficit- I thought under the constitution that only congress can orginate and approve spending revenue bills?
also exactly what Republican polices killed job growth? You see these talking points on this and other blogs- but never any specifics as to what policy and exactly how that policy impacted jobs or whatever
A prime example of standard Republican talking points:
The first standard argument is that, well, if a Democrat is president, then that Democrat is totally and completely responsible for deficits or anything else, and the Republicans running Congress have no responsibility. But if a Republican is president, and the Republicans running Congress follow his lead, approve his policies, and sign off on his budgets, then he has no responsibility for the resulting deficits at all.
Does that sound at all reasonable to you? If so, you must be a Republican.
As to the specifics of jobs policies. Again, by asking the impossible, you can pretend you win the argument. Let it be stated simply: In the 8 years of the Clinton administration, 26 million jobs were created in the US economy. In the 8 years of the Bush administration, all of the 6 million jobs created in the first six years were lost in the 2 years of the economic catastrophe. Since then, the weak measures Obama was been able to force through Congress despite Republican objections have resulted in job growth every month.
If Obama were allowed to implement his infrastructure programs, jobs and the economy would surely be stronger. Not just because of the direct hiring involved in building roads, bridges, rail, etc., but from the economic growth the existence of infrastructure generates. I have no doubt that concept isn't "specific" enough for you, but it is solid economics.
The economy grows if people have enough money to spend. When the wealthy get more money, they don't really have a need to spend it, and the economy shrinks. Money isn't a piece of paper, in a wallet or a bank. Money is the act of buying something. If we let the middle class keep their jobs, we are all better off. If all we take care of (and that is what Republican policies do) is the wealthy, we all -- including the wealthy -- suffer.
Alice Stewart . . . I can appreciate an outreach effort to help marginalized discourse have a chance for some sunshine. Ms. Stewart, however, could have been replaced by a coin-operated talking-point machine. She cherry picked the only right wing factoids that weren't already under water and mentioned the reprehensible practice of cut/paste sound bite manipulation - without indicating the Romney campaign's displayed expertise of the technique.
Chris Hayes' ideology-ologists would be good to have in the mix with Alice Stewart if you want to have her back at the table.
Misty Copeland in the clips is a beautiful dancer, but regarding African Americans at New York City Ballet, she has not done her homework. Arthur Mitchell was a principal dancer (and star!) of NYCB from 1950's to late 1960's when he left to found Dance Theater of Harlem. Since then, there was Albert Evans, now retired and currently two men. (There have been others, but I list major players.) Curiously more African American male dancers than women have joined NYCB and I would love to see more, but the company really does hire and promote based on talent and time spent training at their School of American Ballet to learn the style.
Melissa, I love your show. The music you play after each segment leads me to believe you love music as I do. Your show is informative, and very, very hip. Keep up the great work.
Stupid(ita),
I have several questions and comments for you. Don't worry, I don't seriously expect you to answer any of them, but I'd like to throw them out there anyway.
1. Where did Jjc2012 even (in your wildest imagination) suggest that Ms. Stewart should "have no rights"? Where was it even suggest that Ms. Stewart should "have no right to speak her mind"?
I'll agree the Jjc2012 offered a poor rationale' for excluding Ms. Stewart from the panel (e.g. "by virtue of choosing to work for Santorum and M. Bachmann), if you will acknowledge that all Jjc2012 was suggesting was that a show (like MHP) should be able to attract a better quality representative for "Right Wing views" than Ms. Stewart.
2. A correction is in order for your "Obama Budget" comment. It is incorrect to say "The last budget obama sent to the house got zero votes." The vote was actually on an "Alternative Budget" which the House requested. The Alternative Budget was little more than a list of proposed spending, without any of the explanation of "how it would be paid for" or "what cuts would be made in other areas to offset the spending." Of course the Democrats voted against it, they would have been committing "Political suicide" if they hadn't.
3. Where did you get that there were "31 bills from the house" that were simply "sitting in the Senate" that "Reid and the liberals will not debate"? Is this from independent research you've conducted? Or, is this one of the recent "Republican talking points" that you're simply parroting?
From my (admittedly) casual search, I find that there are "currently" 136 "Bills" which have been passed by the House, which are awaiting action in the Senate. Again, it was a casual search, so I can't say how many are "In Committee" or how many are "awaiting scheduling" for a vote, or how many are "being held up (by Democrats OR Republicans)", but I find it difficult to see how you could "make the claim" that 31 Bills are stalled because "Reid and the Democrats" refuse to debate them.
By ALL means, feel free to list the specific Bills. I'd be very interested in researching them myself.
BTW: Just a side note; You DO UNDERSTAND that if there really are (only) 31 Bills being "stalled" by the Democrats (at this point in the Session), THAT WOULD BE A HISTORICALLY LOW NUMBER, don't you?
4. "When you outlaw guns (I find I've always had to assume (tho' I'm loathe to do so) that what you really mean is "firearms", as "guns" really only describes, one, very specific type of "firearm"), only outlaws will have them."
This is one of my favorite "bumper sticker" slogans from the NRA supporters, partly because NO ONE has EVER answered even the simplest questions I've asked relevant to it.
WHO (name one prominent Democratic Politician/Supporter) is trying to "outlaw guns"?
WHAT is the rationale' of the statement? Are you really suggesting that a Country (like the USA) would make ALL GUNS "ILLEGAL"? Are you suggesting that we would take guns out of the hands of our LAW ENFORCEMENT? Are you saying that making any gun "illegal", would have the "effect" of making ownership only available to those with "criminal intent"? WHAT DOES THIS STATEMENT ACTUALLY MEAN?
5. "Next no gun law has ever stop a person from blowing another person away with a gun."
Seriously?
This one definitely would lead me to believe that your moniker is WELL EARNED.
Are you actually going to solicit support for gun ownership on the basis that "it can not be proved that, because someone "followed the law", someone else was NOT SHOT"???
Seriously?
6. "But leave it to the liberals to attack the constitution."
What PART of the Constitution (ALWAYS CAPITALIZED; you would think a "Patriot" would KNOW THAT) are "liberals" attacking?
HOW are they attacking it?
Is there some little know clause that states that "any attempt to regulate firearms is "anti-Constitutional"?
I think I must have MISSED THAT.
If you have any answers to my questions or comments, PLEASE, feel free to post them.
Melissa, I look forward to your show every weekend. I particularly looked forward to hearing your guest Kathleen Hall Jamieson and her comments based on research, experience and findings of the Annenberg organization. My draw to your show is knowing that there will be guests with differing opinions. This morning, however, I was very disappointed in Alice Stewart's contribution. In my opinion there was little thoughtful discourse in what she had to say. Would it be possible to ask your guests to discuss issues and opinions without the "talking points" or platitudes of their party? I appreciated that you did attempt to elicit substantive thoughts from her.
Your segment on the importance of the arts was very welcome and Kelly Hall Tompkins in particular is a splendid spokesperson. But if you really want to explore the social benefits of the arts you should present a piece on El Systema and especially the work that Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic are do in in Los Angeles.
stupidita
I never said Ms. Stewart had no rights......to an opinion. She can go on to FOX or to any street corner or to any gathering and spout her ignorance to her heart's content. Ms Stewart's show is a not a government funded forum. It depends on attracting viewers. I doubt her show would fail without losing the miniscule few, like you, who decide to tune in to find what they can criticize rather than to open their minds and learn.
I realize in this forum my words to the effect of " has no place in the discourse" might be translated by those on the right in an ignorant way to make a point, but most people get the difference between "having a right to voice an opinion as defined by the constitution" and "has no place in the discourse" (as defined on a public display of ignorance from her and those who employed her). Truly if you do not get the difference, go do some research and learn.
Jyc it is really not worth trying to have a conversation with someone who basically admits to being stupid. Stupidta is most probably a paid right wing troll.
I would like to add to the comments regarding representation of African American ballerinas. The Joffrey Ballet has always had a good number of dancers of color. The Joffrey doesn't have a star system like ABT. Company members audition for principal roles. However I do agree with the point that Misty makes regarding the number of African American ballerinas in major companies. The Joffrey has only two.
My daughter is a pre-professional student at the Joffrey Academy. She is the only African American in the program. The tuition cost, prices most people out, and scholarships are rarely awarded. There is need based financial aid. We happen to fall in the range where our family income is too high to qualify but not high enough to lessen the tuition burden. Paying tuition remains a struggle, but we prioritize financially because my husband and I support my daughter's dream of becoming a principle in a major ballet company.
If we want to see more African American women in ballet, there needs to be some type of scholarship or grant, to allow African American women access to high quality ballet training. Because the greatest barrier to entry is cost [tuition and materials (average cost of point shoes is $55 - and for an advanced level student a new pair is needed about every 5 weeks)].