As I wrote earlier this week, I heard mostly what Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney didn't say at the NAACP convention last week: nothing about his party's assault on voting rights, for instance. On the surface, that's understandable, given that had he stuck to the GOP party line on that, he might've seen a head of lettuce and some tomatoes come his way.
Still, he didn't have to go Full GOP Monty to make the speech into a kind of "Rawhide" scene from "The Blues Brothers" -- whereupon entering an environment not terribly receptive to what you offer, you win them over by playing their song, so to speak. (The demographics, of course, are reversed from what you see above.) People rushing to give him credit for speaking at all need to have a seat, but perhaps the only bit of credit he earned was by sticking to his stump speech in front of a crowd likely to disagree with him.
But when he came out looking like a mark when he said all that stuff about the "free stuff." Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone spit hot fire about the free stuff folks like Romney get:
As far as free lunches go, we of course just witnessed the biggest government handout in history, one that Romney himself endorsed. Four and a half trillion dollars in bailout money already disbursed, trillions more still at risk in guarantees and loans, sixteen trillion dollars in emergency lending from the Federal Reserve, two trillion in quantitative easing, etc. etc. All of this money went to Romney’s pals in the Wall Street banks that for years helped Romney take over companies with mountains of borrowed cash. Now, after these banks crashed, executives at those same firms used those public funds to pay themselves massive salaries, which is exactly the opposite of “helping those who need help,” if you’re keeping score.
Melissa today will offer her take on the speech in an extended conversation, and let me tell you that you do not want to miss her introduction at the top of the show. (I work here; I've read it, so trust.) We'll also go in-depth on inequities in public transportation, and how that affects the working class. (Interestingly, Melissa got on the bus with the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday; we'll show a few clips of that today, also.)
You might recall that the song that followed "Rawhide" in "The Blues Brothers" was "Stand By Your Man," and that's precisely what Melissa will tell timid Democrats to do for President Obama. After that discussion, Melissa will talk to Olympic champion gymnast Dominique Dawes about her work with First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. We'll welcome a coterie of comics to talk about the controversy surrounding a rape joke made by a Comedy Central host; check out our guest Jessica Valenti's piece in The Nation before she joins us today. And as always, Melissa has a powerful Footnote ready to close the show.
Including Dawes and Valenti, our guests today include:
- Bob Franken, Emmy-award winning reporter and syndicated columnist.
- Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
- Jamie Kilstein, comedian and co-host of Citizen Radio.
- Joy Reid, managing editor of theGrio, and an MSNBC contributor.
- Elon James White, comedian and founder/host of "This Week in Blackness."
- Maya Wiley, founder and president of the Center for Social Inclusion.
- Lizz Winstead, political satirist, co-creator of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and author of "Lizz Free or Die."
We hope that you interact with us during the show here in the comments of this post, on Facebook, and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland -- and encourage others to do the same. We look forward to having you join us at 10am ET on msnbc!
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Mellisa. If you are going to discuss Romney please ask the question of why any American would believe that Romney had no input into Bain decisions between 1999-2002 (when he was still compensated as CEO) if it directly affected the value of Bain and possible made him liable for any investments made during that period. If he was really not involved he would have been the worst CEO ever.
FREE STUFF? Seems to me the White, wealthy and well-connected are getting most of the free stuff. Bush/Cheney was an orgy of Welfare for the rich...
Republicans/Mitt Romney have insulted the Black and Latino communities in the worst way I can think of (short of a b**** slap) They slandered your leaders and hero's... WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Destroy the Republican Corporate Ho Party by VOTING AGAINST THEM!
By the way, Melissa spoke of out of style Black sayings... Even YOU have to admit that Black people were lured into the world of style and fashion like a good bunch of consumers. Gangsta rap was like red meat for the Conservative wackos AGAINST the Black community. GET OUT THE VOTE ***********
I am somebody spoact.blogspot.com
i was once a democrat but thanks to people like you and msnbc and the president who i voted for ive changed my political opinions.im an independent.when are we gona focus in on the isues at hand jobs etc.stop the class warfare.stop the socialist agenda the dems are aspousing.we cannot afford to keep spending money we dont have.im a puertorican who is very upset with the dems.and by the way most of my latino friends are upset with the dems and the president also.stop the class warefare msnbc,and admit that you are about socialism.i respect people who admit what there agenda is really about.you are gona loose the latino vote.keep up your attacks on capitalizm,and you will loose the election.
1st Let me ask a question to all that are reading this to ask yourself a question...If you were the sole owner, CEO, chairman of the board , sole stock holder and legally responsible of a company would you not check in periodically to make sure people were handling your investments properly....I was born @ night but it wasn't last night!
2nd.."FREE STUFF"...If I am not mistaken Romneys dad was quite wealthy...and Mitt got all of his dads "STUFF FREE"....must be like the difference between outsourcing and offshoring. I love when Mitt makes a statement which spurs your interest then you wait for an explanation and you wait and you wait and wait and wait and wait and then I fall asleep....wake up still wondering what the difference is.
Mr. W. Mitt Romney, in his capacity as sole shareholder, sole
director, Chief Executive Officer and President of Bain Investors VI, Bain
Capital, Brookside Investors Inc. and Sankaty Investors II and in his capacity
as sole shareholder, a director and President of Sankaty Ltd may be deemed to
share voting and dispositive power with respect to the shares held by CLEC
members. The filing of this statement by Mr. W. Mitt Romney shall not be
construed as an admission that he is, for the purpose of Section 13(d) of the
Exchange Act, the beneficial owner of such shares based on their pro-rata share
of membership interests in CLEC.
The 13d.
sec.gov
How about that over 8% unemployment for over 41 months in a row?
How about the over 49 million people on food stamps?
How about the over 12 million Americans out of work?
If you think that is all good and the way to go, then vote obama.
cost of extended unemployment benefits - $44 billion/year
cost of food stamps - $78 Billion/year
Total - $122 Billion/year
Wall Street Bailout - $2 trillion
So lets see, for the cost of the wall street bailout (that helped a few thousand people once) we can pay for 16 years of food stamps and unemployment benefits that helps 80 million people per year.
And that doesn't even count all the other "corporate stimulus" that has been dumped into the economy since 2008.
So who's getting "free stuff" again?
Ho, yer' engaging in magical thinking. False correlations are all the rave on the right. You lack intellect but you can keep pretending if you like to. You apparently have yourself all faked out, just the way you like it.
The TARP (wall street bail out) has all been paid back. And only a few banks needed it in the 1st place, but the Fed force all of them to "take the money".
So a mute point don't you think?
TARP was paid back by letting the banks borrow at 0% interest from the fed to pay it back. Meanwhile, the stated purpose of the TARP funds, to allow banks to unwind the mortgage backed junk bonds, never happened.
But that's rather beside the point. If you want to compare dollars and cents of who gets the benefits (so called "free stuff") from government, then let's start counting. GE qualifies for so many "tax credits" that they pay no taxes. Oil company subsidies, the farm bill for agri-corp, and on and on. Any ONE of which would pay for the annual cost of food stamps.
So I repeat, who gets free stuff again?
No bank borrowed money to pay back the TARP.
People on foods stamps do not own companies and put other people to work.
TARP was not to unwind anything, it was to show to the public the banks have money in them and thus stop a run on the banks.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
Go here and read.
federalreserve.gov
I can read just fine, thanks. And I prefer my sources to be unbiased ones.
I notice you didn't address the point, that you seem to think corporate welfare is just fine, but human welfare is not.
Just so you know, the term is MOOT point, not mute.
Show me any company that is getting welfare.
Exxon/Mobil, Shell, and Chevron, just to name just a few.
Are you really that dense?
How many jobs do Exxon Mobile, Shell, and Chevron create ? Also, how many tax dollars do their employees and products create ?
Here's a thought on public-transportation issue to wrestle with...formula to follow:
The Dems are for the rich
The Reps are for the rich...
The rich will always dance while the poor pay the band... regardless of race !
Sorry MSNBC CNN FOX NEWS :(
And Henny Penny says the sky is falling also. All is doom and despair, huh cj?
is the truth now called doom and gloom?
Dems work for the rich.
Repubs work for the rich.
Nobody for the poor and middle... ( regardless of race).
Public transit just brings the rich into town for their good jobs and sporting events. Nobody uses it to leave town to go to work.
You can argue it on tv, but I have seen it in action... not for the poor... SORRY?
Everytime I hear a pundit like Wade Henderson exclaim the Administration's failure to get it's message out, I think corporate shill. The media is in charge of informing America and the media is bought and paid for in the largest part. 80% of Americans know "The Media" is incompetent. Many know the media is bought off by corporate sponsors. "The Media" always blame the Obama Administration for all and every problem, even to the extent of blaming the Dems. and President Obama for "The Media's" abject incompetence in "getting the message out."
Good point! Although I do not believe Wade Henderson is a corporate shill. MSNBC is the only media outlet, that I can think of, which has been very good at explaining the healthcare bill throughout the process.
When Democrats are in trouble, Democrats just tend to run the other way," said Joy Reid from her egotistical high horse, as Joy Reid took a swan dive into the incompetence bin of blithering bobbleheads." On behalf o' Democrats everywhere Joy Reid, let me say, kiss my butt. MHP is morphing into a Democrat bashing corporate liberal with Democrat bashing corporo-liberal panelists. Wade Henderson is a perfect all knowing narcissist, yuck! Spare us the egotism of all knowing pundits from perfectville. Yuck! Even Lizz Winstead took a header off the cliff this am. Wade Henderson is a complete waste of time and space. Period! Bob Franken has it right about some Democratic rats who deserted ship, and he is surrounded by them this am. Wow, I used to really like Lizz Winstead. Joy Reid and Wade Henderson are about enough to make me swear off MHP. Wade Henderson is a schmuck and rarely have I been so offended in any circumstance, in any situation as I am this am by Wade Henderson. I honestly feel revulsion for the man, absolute revulsion! Throw him back to whatever pit he came from.
Throughout all that rage and hate, you never really explained exactly why you feel the way you do. You just threw out a load of hyperbole and vitriol.
Change the channel and shut up!
I believe the Democrat "rats" are Mike Ross, Dan Boren, Larry Kissell, and Mike McIntyre. Mark Pryor sits on the fence sometimes. Blanche Lincoln was a rat also but we got rid of her. Too bad it cost Democrats a seat to do so, but she had to go. She is one of the reasons that we had no public option or single payer program in healthcare reform.
Y'all far left perfectionist neurotics blow chunks. If I wanted to see Obama bashers I'd watch Fox, not MSNBC, Kiss my hiney low volt. Take your hate and vitriol comment and stick it where the sun don't shine.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand." We were warned and yet we fail to acknowledge the lessons of history. Niki or Sonia told us once to "beware the wounded elephant,"but of course then we were beginning to get crumbs from "our" slice of the pie. Malcolm,MLK and a host of others made the demands and spoke truth to power and we took our gains and ran willy-nilly to Woolworths to eat stale hamburgers and forgot about how good Miss Leona fried chicken was. What happened to Viva La Raza and Jauqin Murietta? Satisfied with meager outcomes (street names and California subdivisions)they named us equal and our best and brightest ran to the suburbs and were co-pted with the need to fit in. All the while the sham of eqaility was reduced by creating a consumer nation. So as evidenced by the program today many strides were made but we are still running in place!
"See Democrats, there's no reason to be afraid, you can stand by your President," said MHP. Gee thanks MHP, tell your panelists. Lizz Winstead, as reflected in her expressions knows she let herself get involved in a train wreck this am. Wade Henderson tried to back off his Dem. bashing by getting in a slight comment about folks who are supposed to inform folks who are not succceeding in their mission. Hopefully he was talking about the media even though he didn't have the necessary courage to say "the media" from his "courageous" Democrat bashing saddle on his high horse. Wanna' see a Democrat, look at Jim Clyburn, he's the genuine article, Pundits tend to be the clown circus, and MHP is gettin' on her red nose and big shiny red shoes. I quit watching after Jim Clyburn's "on the bus"comments. I ended on the high note of James Clyburn, which was in clear contrast to the preceeding political components of MHP this am. I honestly found the combo of Henderson and Reid to be distinctly unpalatable, perhaps enough so that I won't continue watching MHP. .If Henderson is on I definetely won't watch. Joy Reid is on my "avoid" list. But then what do I know, I'm just a Democrat. It's shows like this that are sinking the richly anticipated MHP program, and deservedly so. Gobama!
While my reaction isn't as extreme as yours, I do find it a little distressing that Melissa's almost always defensive, including some form of 'sit down and shut up' in her responses, whenever democrats, liberals, progressives, etc. are critical and/or not overly devoted toward the President.
Mind you, in practically the same breath, she loves to stress the thought that the President can't fix the country alone, that he needs a movement at his back, pushing him along, too.
The two thoughts aren't mutually exclusive, of course, but the latter one isn't helped by Obama and his supports minimizing some folks' concerns, telling them to "stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop whining".
The far far left is pathologically neurotic.
A formula offered as the last, best hope for small towns, their citizens and the world they are trapped in: A + B = C when A stands for INDUSTRIAL HEMP PRODUCTION, B stands for RESTORED PASSENGER RAIL SYSTEM, giving result C: realizable INDEPENDENCE FROM FOSSIL-FUEL 'ENSLAVEMENT' and authentic COMMITMENT TO THE COMMON GOOD.
A has thousands of uses as documented, would involve no pesticide/herbicide application, would save land and trees, could be harvested primarily for animal feed and biofuel(!). Processing would provide jobs...and a significant boost for land reform and small-farming if approached properly. B is key to unlocking auto/air travel domination nationwide and reestablishing mobility essential to true democratic practice in the country. Thousands of temporary/permanent construction, manufacturing, service jobs would revive gutted small rural communities and bind the nation together in a shared economy. No over-hyped fast-train setup necessary or advisable (60mph good enough; those willing to risk high-casualty mass accidents can continue to fly). C then follows.
Great points! I believe the hemp that would be grown for such applications is not the marijuana that gets people really high, so there would be no need to secure the growing areas. It could become a regular part of any farmer's crop rotation.
Hemp? how is hemp manufactured into a fuel?
Two words here, natural gas.
That is the fuel that is going to take us out of the need to import oil.
Not hemp.
Next a train that will only go 60 mhp will have no passengers.
Natural gas extraction through fracking destroys drinking water sources and produces toxic waste. It is just another dirty, neocon, pipe-dream, fossil fuel.
Don't believe it is so? I would offer to send you a sample of my drinking water but I don't believe the post office would allow me to ship liquid pollutants through their system.
Ah, come on now Henny...
MHP is crashing and burning. It's a darn shame.
Good news/bad news. Good news: Sunday's show was great on Tosh. I've referred several people to it as the best media discussion of this issue.
Bad news: not a one of those people sitting around the table in Saturday's discussion of "children" being disciplined in schools could survive a year teaching in an inner city school. These putatively "misunderstood" students are not children. They are adolescent males who threaten teachers, assault girls, injure innocent others, terrorize gays, and bully everyone within reach. Where is the sympathy for the other students and the exhausted teachers who have to put up with this behavior daily?
These students need to be put in alternative schools.
Gotta admit something to Melissa: I haven't been watching the show that much even though I am a fan and I love it when you appear on other shows.
I just happen to watch today's entire show and I am now hooked. You have polished this show to a fine art, and today's selection of guests were the perfect match, especially Bob Franken, Wade Henderson, Joy Reid and Lizz Winstead. I'd love to see this panel again!
Keep up the great work, Melissa. See you next weekend.
Luv ya!
I was unable to watch the entirity of the show, but what I saw was very interesting and thought provoking.
Yes, we have made many strides forward regarding our Social Growth - our Civil Rights. But we weakened our strides when we bought into the very flawed System(s), and became comfortable within them.
Malevolent Capitalism (Narcissistic Me, Me, Me - forget Comapassionately Generous Me/We, Me/We, Me/We) is a corrosive and destructive force to any and all Socieities.
Benevolent Capitalism, which considers the Common Good Benefits Everyone.
When we choose to create Capitalistic Systems which reward those who Lie, Cheat and Steal, and provide them bought and paid for legal manuals, and tax loopholes which teach them how to do so, and escape the consequences of their own and other destructive actions, then how can we expect to maintain a healthy Culture - a truly satisfyingly productive and just Society ?
Mr. Romney, bless his little pea pickin' heart, is the perfect example of everything that is wrong in our Capitalistic Culture. He is the Poster Boy, and Bain Vulture Capital is the Dark Bird he flew in on.
It is important that he, and his business practices, be juxtaposed against what the middle class, the poor, the 99% need to survive and live well.
It is important that we are all discussing what it really means "to be Successful". To have Life, Liberty, Freedom and the ability to pursue Happiness (as Individuals and Collectively) in our Communities and Worldwide.
We're living in times when a dollar's worth more than Truth or Justice or our Neighbors next door. It's time to re-evaluate our Evaluations, and begin to transform into our Higher Selves and develop Higher World Systemic Orders. Time to shed the old Systemic Skins, and Creatively embrace our new Systemic Skins.
This Sunday's discussion on Tosh was some of the most one sided journalism I've seen in a long time. Having 5 people sit around the table and pontificate from the same point of view is not only boring, it's irresponsible. There was no counter point, only "I agree, and it was bad for this additional reason"
Poor journalism. It's New York city, you could have gotten any number of comedians who would have provided a sound argument on Tosh's behalf, I could have done it easily. Not having one must have been deliberate.
So wait? You're talking at length about and thoroughly condemn a joke or a situation that no one saw? WTF?
Also, how is it not a freedom of speech issue? Are you not specifically talking about a larger social restriction to speech and specifically in a place where the speech is usually considered extremely free?
And yeah, if all the comedians supposedly supported Tosh, why did you only have comedians who were against him?
I agree with Josh, this was MSNBC and MHP at it's worst. This is the quasiliberal equivalent of Fox News: Pure propaganda instead of honest, open-minded discussion.
And BTW could you please stop saying "talk to me about"? Say "tell me about", "could you illuminate the issue of", etc. Don't say "talk to me about". It sounds like you don't really care about what meaning they're trying to convey. It's like saying "fill this air time for a while" and when you respond to it, it sort of implies that you already knew what they were saying and reduces the discussion to a mere charade.
Now, if you've pre-agreed on it, I applaud your half-hearted honesty to admitting creating propaganda and pushing a message. If, on the other hand, you're trying to have a proper discussion or get at a deeper understanding of an issue, you shouldn't make the interviewee seem like a sock puppet. It's incredibly rude towards the person and very grating for the viewers.