Rather shocked to hear Lawrence O’Donnell make such disparaging remarks last night against voters and John Edwards on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. No, not that he hasn’t been displayed his condescending, nasty, mean and arrogant persona before, I just didn’t expect him to do it on TV.
I know he’s been pushing for Senator Obama for over a year. I remember hearing him first declare that when he had a somewhat regular spot on Al Franken’s show. But of late, this other character I had not seen previously has been coming to the surface. Is this the all too familiar character trait we can come to expect from his supporters?
We all know O’Donnell has been a political pundit for years, having experience in Washington himself and then turned more infamous writer for West Wing. He has been reaching out quite a bit to be a voice for Obama. He went overboard in his recent article written for Huffington Post, "John Edwards is a Loser" A mighty strange way to go about trying to get support for his candidate.
But on his appearance last night on Countdown, I cannot figure if he was invited as an Obama supporter, or as a political pundit. My guess is that he was supposed to be more neutral as a pundit, being they didn’t have another spokesperson to represent an Edwards position. But O’Donnell allowed his bias to come out when he was asked by Keith Olbermann if it was to Senator Obama’s credit or discredit to see Reagan as an agent of sea change, or that he didn’t see him as man whose change rolling back as much of liberal America as he could in 8 years?
Obama:
"
I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."
...Really, most of us remember the Reagan years quite differently.
That was when O’Donnell gave his first projecting slam who is heralding Reagan (keep in mind this is the man that started screaming LIAR when on TV with Swift boater’s O’Neil) and said "only on the John Edwards’ side of the Democratic Party would you feel comfortable condemning him, as John Edwards is, but John Edwards is not a factor in any of these races coming up" (really?) Obviously he is upset that his nasty article hasn’t worked, and now it may be all for not to have stooped so low. Then, O’Donnell shares with us that maybe Obama is really just trying to pander to those Republican supporters that can cross over and vote for him (gee, none of us would have ever thought that). But the fact is, for him [Obama] to slam fellow Democrats and having no problem to herald a Republican who did so much damage to our country and what Democrats hold of value, does not make it better. That wasn’t enough for O’Donnell. He must have gotten upset when Keith questions his frame of thought, that we are talking UNIONS, a man, President, who busted Unions, Air Traffic Controllers, etc, before the Nevada caucus where he just received those Union endorsements, so Lawrence O’Donnell reached further down and said [OF THE VOTERS] "I don’t think they’re that sharp". WHAT? The Union workers are supposed to be that stupid not to know what Reagan really stood for, but we are hoping the Republicans who do know better will rally around Obama as some message that he will be the same? WHAT? Nice confidence you are displaying in voters Mr. O’Donnell.
He goes on then to take another shot at Edwards and voters. Apparently only voters that are supposed to remember what Reagan did and stood for, is from the "real left of the Democratic Party" "you have to look at the demographics of the union and their age group, people under 40 aren’t going to be all that sharp about exactly where Ronal Reagan was"(oh, just get the shovel, O’Donnell) . Mr. O’Donnell believes that it was an other (good?) example of pointing out the Republican agenda that Reagan put forth and the tax cuts he gave. Oh, I don’t, now about you all, but telling me Senator Obama wants to be associated with this policy is quite frightening. And again, he keeps talking about the happy REPUBLICANS with this policy and being the "real leader of the Republican Party". Does O’Donnell forget, Obama has to get through the DEMOCRATIC Primary before he can show us how Conservative he actually will be? Keith Olbermann, apparently still in shock says "And you like this for Obama if he gets the nomination"?
John Edwards speaks for me:
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When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people, to the middle class to the working people," said Edwards.
"He was openly - openly - intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment."
"I can promise you this: this president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change.
"
Well, Mr. O’Donnell, you can take that "Republican Vision" and place where else you get you swill that you spew, because us REAL Democrats are sharp enough to know the difference and what matters to the PEOPLE and hard workers of this country. And I will start using that voice right now, when I make my contribution to John Edwards for America!
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