Tuesday night, President Obama appeared before a joint session of Congress to report on the State of the Union.
In his address, the president made the case for economic fairness—outlining plans for a system in which it'd take Mitt Romney more than a few hours to earn the US median income.
Responses to the speech were divided, with some critics claiming that Obama is blinded by envy, while others complained that the vision he laid out isn't grandiose enough.
Why, they wondered, couldn't he have been more Kennedy-esque and chosen to colonize the moon. Or, at the very least, Cuba.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN); Obama Senior Campaign Strategist David Axelrod; Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); Roundtable: Joe Scarborough (MSNBC), Presidential Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Chuck Todd (NBC News).Face the Nation: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); DNC Chair/Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL); RNC Chair Reince Priebus; Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); Megalomaniac Donald Trump; Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL); Rep. Allen West (R-FL); Humorist Dave Barry; Roundtable: Marc Caputo (Miami Herald), Scott Conroy (Real Clear Politics) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH); Roundtable: Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Former Obama Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee and Radio Host Laura Ingraham.
Fox News Sunday: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI); Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), A.B. Stoddard (The Hill), Paul Gigot (Wall Street Journal) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R); Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Former Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D); Reliable Sources: Mark Barabak (Los Angeles Times); Jackie Kucinich (USA Today); Jeff Greenfield (PBS); Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune); Kathleen Parker (Washington Post); American University Associate Professor Jane Hall.
The Chris Matthews Show: Katty Kay (BBC); Michael Duffy (TIME); Andrew Sullivan (Daily Beast); Kathleen Parker (Washington Post).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Niall Ferguson (Newsweek); Wadah Khanfar (Formerly of Al-Jazeera); Singapore University Professor Kishore Mahbubani.
Up with Chris Hayes: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D); Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN); Author/Performer Mike Daisey; Esther Armah (WBAI-FM); Former State Department Speechwriter Elise Jordan; Victoria DeFrancesco Soto (Latino Decisions).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (preview); a report on the hunting of exotic, sometimes endangered, species in the US (preview); and, an interview with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (preview).Virtually Speaking Sundays on Blog Talk Radio will feature: Bloggers Digby and Stuart Zechman highlighting what's been neglected or misrepresented on the Sunday morning broadcasts; Bobblespeak Translations; and, Culture of Truth's "Most Ridiculous Moment" from the Sunday shows.
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart audited the tax returns that Mitt Romney made public this week.
Monday: Lou Dobbs (Fox Business Network)Tuesday: Yale Law Professor Jonathan Macey
Wednesday: Actor Brad Pitt
Thursday: TBA
And Stephen Colbert examined the lay of the land ahead of Florida's GOP presidential primary.
Monday: Harvard Law Professor Laurence TribeTuesday: Musician Bjork
Wednesday: Filmmaker Ameena Matthews
Thursday: Christiane Amanpour (CNN)
Elsewhere...
Oklahoma State Sen. Ralph Shortey (R) introduced a bill to ban the use of delicious aborted human fetusus in food products.
The senator says that his research shows there are companies in the food industry that have used human stem cells to help them research and develop products, including artificial flavorings."I don't know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here," Shortey tells KRMG's Nicole Burgin.
To that end, his proposed statute reads, "No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients."
And in tangentially-related news...
Newt Gingrich—who feeds off of audiences' applause—threatened to withdraw from any future debates in which his fans are silenced.
In an interview with the morning show "Fox and Friends," Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech. In what has become a standard line of attack for his anti-establishment campaign, Mr. Gingrich blamed the media for trying to silence a dissenting point of view."I wish in retrospect I’d protested when Brian Williams took them out of it because I think it’s wrong," Mr. Gingrich said. "And I think he took them out of it because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidates against the media, which is what they’ve done in every debate." [...]
"We’re going to serve notice on future debates," he told Fox. "We’re just not going to allow that to happen. That's wrong. The media doesn’t control free speech. People ought to be allowed to applaud if they want to."
Meanwhile...
Gingrich endorser former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN)—who requires his own shows of approval—questioned whether former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) can still get it up.
"I think it's unfortunate that they go to these elder statesmen of the parties at their stage in life and solicit things like that," he said. "I have my own opinion, I disagree with Bob Dole even though I respect Bob Dole very much."Asked by TPM whether his reference to that "stage in life" suggested Dole was too infirm to render sound judgement, Thompson clarified that he took issue with the Romney campaign’s effort to court the former presidential nominee.
"He's been in bad health, he's had bad legs," Thompson said. "I hate it when people irritate folks like that…you know they shouldn't be bugged and dragged into all this, but if they want to they're plenty capable of making their own decisions."
To infinity, and beyond!
- Trix
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