Video and transcript below the fold.
Midterms are upon us once more, but before we discuss the midterm elections, I wanted to remind you guys of this person I once knew. He was an idealistic young politician with big dreams of how the world worked.
BARACK OBAMA (7/27/2004): There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America.
OBAMA (3/5/2009): We are going to do everything that we can to work with all of you, Democrat and Republican.
OBAMA (3/4/2009): Step back for a moment, remind ourselves that we have things in common: family, friends, laughter.
Uh, peristalsis, we're all astounded by water, fire, air, and dirt. Fucking magnets, how do they work? Really? Insane Clown Posse fans, all right.
Anyway, that nice young man went on to become President of the United States of America, and finally had an opportunity to bridge the deep partisan divide that had paralyzed our nation's government. How'd that go for him?
OBAMA (9/8/2010): The easiest thing for the other side to do is to ride this fear and anger to Election Day. ... Most of the Republicans in Congress have said no to just about every policy I've proposed since taking office. ... No to infrastructure. ... There were no new policies from Mr. Boehner. ... There were no new ideas. ... Politics, pure and simple. ... I fail, they win.
That may be as close as any President in the United States has ever come to saying, "So fuck all y'all". But hey, at least we all still have laughter. As in, "Oh my God, remember that guy that believed we would work with him? Hahahahahahaha!!!!! HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
So the President, out on the campaign trail making his case that you should vote for Democrats because a) that'll keep that sweet, sweet stimulus coming, and b) it turns out that Republicans are kind of assholes to deal with. Clearly, this man is in mid-season midterm election form. But of course, he's just one man in a gymnasium in Ohio. It's not a matter of what he says as much as what we're told that he says. Will the cable networks be able to shake off their summer of the killer mosque cobwebs and dive in? Fox?
9/8/2010:
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: His speech today, like the policies he's advocating, look like desperation.
FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Bottom line, this was the president in campaign mode.
ERIC BOLLING: He blamed Bush, he blamed the GOP, he blamed Boehner.
KARL ROVE: The president, he was a class warrior today
STUART VARNEY: Class warfare is back.
NICOLE PETALLIDES(?): It wasn't what, I think, Ohio wanted.
FOX NEWS WOMAN: Is the President's message too little, too late?
KARL ROVE: I think it was too much, too early.
You know, bravo. Bravo. You had me at "He sucks". Clearly MSNBC is going to have their work cut out for them.
9/8/2010:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let's start with the President's speech in Ohio today, what a humdinger it was.
KEITH OLBERMANN: He looked, to use his phrase, fired up.
DYLAN RATIGAN: His rhetoric can be incredibly compelling, he understands how to draw the narrative.
BOB SHRUM: I think he got his voice back.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL: ... speaking with passion and empathy ...
ARIANA HUFFINGTON: This was definitely the best speech we've gotten from him since he's been in the White House.
(in Ariana Huffington accent) Darling, I mean it was fantastic. He was absolutely fantastic. I cannot wait to see what Jamie Lee Curtis and the lead singer of Right Said Fred blog about it on my website. I can't believe I'm even here with you.
I don't know what accent that was.
Of course, praise to be expected from the liberal counterweight....
TINA BROWN: ... but ...
DYLAN RATIGAN: ... but ...
CHRIS JANSING: ... but ...
KEITH OLBERMANN: ... but ...
ARIANA HUFFINGTON: ... but ...
But...?
ARIANA HUFFINGTON: But as you know, one speech does not change the narrative.
DYLAN RATIGAN: But the fact that there is a gap in what the President says and does, that's a huge risk for him.
What are you doing??? Do you know nothing of your obligation to shape the news towards your desired electoral goal? There is no "but" in journalism! Have you learned nothing from Fox? You pick your narrative and you stick with it, and if the news doesn't fit your narrative, CHANGE YOUR FUCKING NEWS!!!
For God's sake, people, you don't change your narrative! Watch how the masters do it.
SEAN HANNITY (9/8/2010): Now the President did have a rare moment of honesty during his speech, and I hope voters around the country are watching this.
OBAMA: Taxes are scheduled to go up substantially next year, for everybody.
All right, that's right, I know The Anointed One will make sure that that happens.
Wow! I can't believe the President of the United States would just blurt out everybody's taxes are going to go up substantially. Probably because he wouldn't do that. Here's the slightly less abridged version.
OBAMA: Under the tax plan passed by the last administration, taxes are scheduled to go up substantially next year, for everybody. By the way, this was by design. [(not played on TV) When they passed these tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, they didn't want everybody to know what it would do to our deficit, so they pretended like they were going to end, even though now they say they don't.]
See? MSNBC? Amateurs! Starting clips later and cutting them off before the speaker can finish the thought's full construction can be a useful tool in helping your audience understand what you want them to think. It's a fun and easy way to make people you disagree with say things that make them unelectable. Not that the Republicans need any help making themselves unelectable. Listen. This is Minority Leader John Boehner, announcing the Republicans' new jobs plan in a moment of candor.
JOHN BOEHNER (4/19/2009): We're going to ship millions of American jobs overseas.
What?? Why would you do that? You must really hate the working man. I bet if we played that clip out, it would end with Boehner throwing monkey shit at an American flag. By the way, that's speculation, I don't know, I'm just sayin'. It's a shame we don't have time to actually look at the full clip.
So, Fox, MSNBC, it's so difficult to watch coverage on these hyper-partisan networks. Let's see what CNN's response to the speech was.
RICK SANCHEZ (9/8/2010): Welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez, guess what? Moments ago, the Republican Minority Leader John Boehner sent me a tweet, personally.
Dude, you're a fucking newsman, not a 13-year-old girl who just won a Meet Justin Bieber radio contest!
SANCHEZ: See, @ricksanchezcnn, he sent it to us...
Ooooh, if you get that excited at tweets that go directly to you, perhaps I could have my audience send some Rick Sanchez tweets, c/o Send a Twit a Tweet. Oh, that's not fair. Rick, I'm kidding. Obviously, you're not just some total meathead.
SANCHEZ: And by the way, I said the President was in Columbus, he was actually closer to Cleveland today. I'm thinking Columbus, 'cause I'm all fired up about that University of Miami-Ohio State game that's coming up this weekend.
(in meathead voice) Sanchez like football. Football always on Sanchez mind. Sanchez yesterday refer to Hillary Clinton as Fran Tarkenton. I apologize.
Ah, Jon, doing the media's job that they can't seem to do. :-)