Sunday Morning Talk Shows
Posted at 8:24am on Jun. 7, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: a preview
By Mark Kilmer
For Sunday, June 8, 2008
FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace chats with potential veeps: Governors Tim Pawlenty (R-Minnesota) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia).
This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos has Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) on the air as surrogates to argue about the Presidential election, then Senator Dianne Feinstein will talk about the historic secret summit between Clinton (Hillary) and Obama.
Meet the Press (NBC): Host Tim Russert has a roundtable with a bunch of NBC News reporters: Ron Allen, Lee Cowan, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O'Donnell, and Chuck Todd.
Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer has Hillary's mouthpiece Howard Wolfson, then turns to Representative Chuck Rangel (D-New York) and Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia).
Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer will interview Senators Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and Bobby Casey (D-Pennsylvania), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Feinstein, and his usual cast of thousands.
= = = = =
The Senate's two "dumb guys" are on display this week in Jim Webb (FTN) and Junior Casey (LE), a sure contributor to the morning's mirth. The surrogate thing is going on again.
DiFi's not going to spill the beans on that irrelevant get-together between Barry and Hillary at her DC home, one which I mockingly call "historic" merely because it has caught the scorned media's imagination.
And Russert continues his painful habit of interviewing official pundits and unofficial pundits (reporters). At least we'll know what the Washington Press Corp thinks, but I do not understand how he talk to NBC News folks with including their two brightest stars: Chris Matthews and the sportscaster Keith Olbermann.
I'll be by early tomorrow afternoon (ET) with a review of these shows, and I should be in a better mood by then.
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Posted at 1:04pm on May 25, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
The world begins and ends with the "RFK gaffe."
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, May 25, 2008
PREFACE:
On FOX News Sunday, Hillary campaign manager Terence McAuliffe said that the Clinton campaign wants all the delegates to be seated. On Friday, the Dem convention’s rules committee will decide what to do about Florida and Michigan, he said, at which time the Clinton campaign will decide what it must do next.
Next on FNS, NRCC chairman Tom Cole argued that the Republicans want to spend less than the Democrats but that he had personally voted for the costly farm bill because he felt it was the “best time” to get a deal done. Evoking images of Nazi collaborated during WWII, DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen accused the nation’s telephone companies of “collaborating” with the Bush Administration in regards to telephone records.
Over on ABC’s This Week, Obama strategist David Axelrod argued that it would take “tortured math and tortured logic” to argue that Hillary held the lead in the popular vote for the Dem Presidential nomination, but that the popular vote was meaningless anyway because “this isn’t American Idol.” (Was he comparing McAuliffe to Sanjaya?)
Next up on TW, FOX News political analyst Karl Rove pointed out that Obama has done nothing in his three years in the Senate and so must do something in his campaign to show his leadership skills.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Russert had another of his panel discussions, this one with six people speaking at once. Most of the time was taken by Jon Meacham of some weekly glossy magazine. The best expression came from CBN’s David Brody, who said that Hillary was hoping for Barry to have a “Bill Buckner moment.”
On CBS’s Face the Nation, Hillary’s head mouthpiece, Howard Wolfson, would not rule out a scenario in which Hillary would force multiple votes at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He did say, though, that he thought she would win before then. Next on FTN, Lindsey Graham noted that Barack Obama had not been to Iraq to speak to General Petraeus and Prime Minister Maliki since 2006, since which time much had changed for the better. Dick Durbin said that more important than all of this was Jim Webb’s little political gimmick/bill.
On CNN’s Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer spoke to Jane Harman and David Dreier. A Hillary supporter, Harman said that she will support whomever is top of the Dem ticket because of “because of Iraq, Katrina, and, specific to McCain, ‘three words: the Supreme Court.’” Dreier said that Barry’s class warfare rhetoric is a non-starter, while McCain is pro-growth and wants to reduce the size of government.
Read below-the-fold for what happened on this morning’s talk shows. …
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Posted at 12:15pm on Apr. 27, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
More of the Same.
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, April 27, 2008
PREFACE:
Candidate Obama gave a rather bland interview with FNS host Chris Wallace. It wasn't hard-hitting, no tough questions were asked, and Obama was not challenged. Said Barry: "I've worn flag pins in the past; I will wear them in the future."
On TW, George Stephanopoulos spoke with four standard-issue surrogates, two from each campaign. White, working class Democrats in Pennsylvania are racist, according to the host, and Hillary will cut gasoline taxes and help our pocketbooks, argued Sheila Jackson Lee and Evan Bayh.
On MTP, DNC boss Howard Dean showed why he is still relevant to today's political discussion. Not really. He said that Michigan and Florida did not play by the rules and if they were permitted in the process, they would be cutting in line and there would be a riot. He said, though, that it was all up to the Dems' Rules Committee. He later said that he would seat their delegations and that President Bush was not interested in capturing Osama bin Laden.
On FTN, Obama strategist David Axelrod called certain things said by Bill Clinton, "regrettable," but excused him for saying things to get his wife elected. Hillary's mouthpiece Howard Wolfson argued that this ongoing fight has been great for the Democratic Party as it has driven Democrats to the polls.
On LE, Dianne Feinstein and Pete Hoekstra blamed Bush. A lot.
Read the Review of the Shows beneath the fold…
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Posted at 8:37am on Apr. 26, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows - preview
More on the Dem division.
By Mark Kilmer
For Sunday, April 27, 2008
FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace sits down, after dares and double-dares, with 2008 Democratic Presidential nominee-to-be Barack Obama.
This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos sits down Senator Evan Bayh, former Senator Tomster Daschle, and Representatives Artur Davis of Alaska and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas to argue about the Dem nomination: Hillary vs. Obama? Evan and Sheila are Hillary supporters, while Davis and Daschle are pro-Barry.
Meet the Press (NBC): Host Tim Russert will talk to DNC boss Howard Dean. "YEAAARRRRGH!"
Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer grills Obama strategist David Axelrod and Hillary's mouthpiece Howard Wolfson.
Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks about the Norks with Dianne Feinstein and Pete Hoekstra, then he sidles up to two foreign policy advisors: Hillary's Jamie Rubin and Obama's Susan Rice.
= = = = =
Except for Blitzer's usual foreign policy detour, this week's Sunday Shows will be about the Democrat's divide. We have the surrogates: TW, FTN, LE. We have one of the chief facilitators of the division: Dean on MTP. We have the divider-in-chief: Obama on FNS.
It could be like this for a long time.
I'll watch the shows and report back tomorrow afternoon.
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Posted at 12:32pm on Apr. 13, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, April 13, 2008
INTRODUCTION:
Host Chris Wallace opened FOX News Sunday by having Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (Hillary surrogate) argue with Tom Daschle (Obama surrogate) mainly about Obama's comments in San Francisco. Nutter agued that Obama's comments were untrue of Pennsylvanians. Obama accused Nutter of being out-of-touch with his constituents, adding sarcastically: "If things are so rosy, why change? Why not have a third Bush Administration?"
Next on FNS, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said that it was simple for some countries to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and feel they've done all they need to do: "That's a cop out."
Olympic Gold Medalist Joey Cheek of Team Darfur was next on FNS, complained that "quiet diplomacy is taking place while people are being slaughtered" in Darfur.
On ABC's This Week, Jimmy Carter offhandedly claimed to have overthrown the monarchy in Nepal. He insisted that the State Department hadn't asked him not to speak with the leader of the terrorist gang Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, unless they had asked when he wasn't paying attention. He further promised that he will have cured the Guinea Worm Disease by the end of next year.
Next up on TW, National Security Advisor Hadley stated that the President would go to the Olympics, but he pointedly refused to say whether or not the President would skip the Opening Ceremonies.
On NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert again hosted a roundtable with James Carville, Mary Matalin, Mike Murphy, and Bob Shrum. If you saw and wish to discuss, you can do it in the comments beneath this post.
On CBS' Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer expressed confusion to Secretary of Defense Bob Gates about when we would get out of Iraq. He wanted a time. Gates explained that General Petraeus wants to look at the "battlefield calculus" after we've withdrawn the surge brigades, to examine the stability.
Next for Schieff, Nancy Pelosi declared that we must leave Iraq to restore our reputation for world security. On politics, she speculated that Bill Clinton might have drawn Hillary's sniper-fire-in-Bosnia gaffe back into the news because of a "late night, adult moment."
On CNN's Late Edition, host Wolf Blitzer established a consensus with Dick Lugar and Joe Biden that we have no idea what we're doing in Iraq. (Lugar suggested that it was a proxy war with Iran and that we had no definition of victory. Biden doesn't like Bush or Maliki.) On politics, Biden refuses to endorse because he is afraid people will think he wants a job. Dick Lugar reminded Republicans that they too can vote in the State's May 6 Dem primary.
The Show-by-show review is below the fold. …
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Posted at 1:42pm on Feb. 3, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows - The Review
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, February 3, 2008
On FNS, John McCain said that he hopes he can wrap up the GOP nomination on Tuesday but cannot be certain. He expressed hope that his "conservative record" can united the Republican Party once the nomination is secured but he acknowledged that he has "some work to do" in that regard.
Next on FNS, Hillary said that everyone will know that Bill is not running her White House and that she will not create a "government of advisors."
On TW, Hillary Clinton pledged to "do almost anything to achieve" universal health care. Running as an old shoe, Hillary assured us that she had no "new surprises" and had been "vetted."
On TW, Mitt Romney attacked John McCain in an attempt to dissuade potential McCain voters. He pointed out that McCain and he now agree on Iraq.
On MTP, host Tim Russert had another of his dread roundtable discussions. He said: "This is it! It's Christmas, kids!" Heresy.
On FTN, McCain made the case that his record was more conservative than that of Mitt Romney. He called for tax cuts, reduced spending, and lower corporate taxes.
On FTN, expressed delight that Bill Clinton's negative campaigning had backfired in South Carolina, saying that he is "pleased to see the voters of South Carolina push away the politics of the past."
On LE, Mitt Romney attacked John McCain, ridiculed "reaching across the aisle" to achieve legislative success, attacked McCain some more, and compared himself to Ronald Reagan.
Read More for the show-by-show review...
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Posted at 1:59pm on Jan. 27, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
And Rudy says that he'll win on Tuesday.
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, January 27, 2008
On FNS, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the American people have "got to be pleased" with the bipartisanship with which he and Nancy got their scheme together involving government checks to stem a recession which he acknowledged does not exist in an economy which he insisted is still growing. He praised the bipartisanship, calling it a case of R's and D's putting the country's economic interests over their own political interests, when he just admitted that we don't need the scheme and we know that it is candy for the voters in an election year.
Mike Huckabee was next on FNS, defending himself against attacks from Mitt Romney, talking about Romney's "secret timetable" for getting out of Iraq. He declared that he is coming in 2nd in national polls and that this was a "national election." (Both the primary system then the Electoral College are proof otherwise, but there we have it.) Huckabee spoke of the mutual respect he and Senator McCain share.
On TW, South Carolina's Dem winner Barry Obama said that his campaign proved that you could rise about racial politics in South Carolina, but Bill Clinton played racial politics. He said that Ronald Reagan transformed the political agenda for twenty years, and he averred that Democrats now have the opportunity to do the same.
On MTP, McCain backed his assertion that Mitt Romney had called for a timetable for leaving Iraq. The former Commerce Committee chairman defended himself against Romney's charge that he is clueless on the economy. He wasn't sure how to defend himself against Thad Cochran's assertion that he's losing-control nuts. Oh, and he claimed that he, Lindsey Graham, and the President concocted the idea for the Surge.
On FTN, Rudy Giuliani stressed his record as a tax cutter and predicted a win in the Florida Republican primary. He said that his strategy to ignore the early States while concentrating on Florida was the right one, given the "assets and resources" he had.
Next on FTN, Hillary agreed with Representative Jim Clyburn that the results in South Carolina should change the tenor of the Democrats' debate; in fact, she claimed this notion as her own. She blamed Clinton's over-the-top South Carolina behavior on enthusiasm for his spouse and "sleep deprivation."
On LE, Mitt Romney repeated as a mantra that John McCain does not understand the economy. He said that John McCain was a liar for telling people that Romney had advocated a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq when speaking to Robin Roberts on ABC News' Good Morning America last April. He said that the economy was in his genes, and that he was all about the future. He would apply "Reagan principles" to the economy. He did not mention his own "stimulus" proposal.
Read On for the show-by-show review. …
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Posted at 1:23pm on Jan. 20, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows - The Review
(the art of weaving tangled webs)
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Rudy Giuliani was first up on ABC's This Week, talking about tax cuts and reductions in federal spending. He declared himself the "strongest fiscal conservative in the race." He is still making the same assertions as he did when he was called "front runner" by various media outlets.
Next up on TW, Chuck Rangel said that Nancy and the Dems were way out in front of the GOP in creating a bi-partisan stimulus package for that as-yet-hypothetical recession.
Over on FOX News Sunday, Rudy Giuliani Mitt Romney talked about the importance of investing taxpayers' money on alternative fuels. He said that he had promised this, not a federal bailout of the automotive industry. He also said that he did not "understand the ways of Washington" but was "intimately familiar" with the private sector economy, and thus could best spend taxpayers' money to create jobs.
Next up on FNS, Chuckie Schumer declared that "fighting and dickering" would make whatever recession we do eventually have worse. He said that the President's stimulus package, at $145-billion (1% of GDP), was the right size, but D's and R's had only to fight and dicker over how the $145-billion would be spent.
On MTP, Tim Russert had his panel of political experts: former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, whose latest gig was pimping the 1960s; Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose last book I can remember dealt with the Lincoln Administration; Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek magazine, who invents religions and takes Michael Isikoff at his word; Peggy Noonan, who needs no introduction; and Michele Norris of NPR.
On FTN, host Bob Schieffer asked John Edwards, through a series of questions, basically: "So when are you going to quit?" Edwards was cheerful – "in it for the long haul" – and feels that he is best suited to run against John McCain. (He's evidently selected the Republican nominee before Super Tuesday, and here we were concerned about what could happen at a brokered convention.)
Next on FTN, Schieffer talked to David Axelrod for Barry and Howard Wolfson for Hillary. Each accused the other campaign of nastiness. Schieffer asked Wolfson what they were going to do about Bill, and Wolfson said he should keep doing what he's doing. Axelrod said that Bill was being the Bad Cop. ("Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?")
First on LE, host Wolf Blitzer spoke to John Edwards. Edwards said he got his "butt kicked" in Nevada because Hillary and Barry outspent him, but he hopes that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
Next up on LE was a quick interview with Mitt Romney, who said that he will do well in the South but what really matters is who can win the "swing States" like "Michigan and Nevada." He said that he has proposed a larger stimulus package than the President's because his experience in the private sector has taught him that that what they do in Washington – like creating jobs – affects the economy.
Read the show-by-show review beneath the fold. ...
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Posted at 2:55pm on Nov. 11, 2007 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows - The Review
By Mark Kilmer
Sunday, November 11, 2007
On FNS, Democrat Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson demanded that the United States cut off all aid to Pakistan. Richardson based the necessity for his Iraq "plan" – run away – on the words of retired General Ricardo Sanchez. When host Chris Wallace pointed out that Sanchez had been removed from Iraq in June of 2004 following the Abu Ghraib incident, Richardson proclaimed that Sanchez had been "on the ground" and thus would know that the surge had failed.
Later on FNS, Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain stated that he is the only Republican frontrunner with any foreign policy experience. McCain also offered, as a matter of fact: "I will win New Hampshire."
When asked about his inexperience by host Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press, Dem Presidential hopeful Barack Obama proclaimed: "There is no real training for the Presidency than the Presidency." I assume Hillary agrees.
On ABC's This Week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had some kind things to say about Pakistani President/dictator Pervez Musharraf, all the while clarifying that the United States supports democratic principles in Pakistan rather than Musharraf, whom she had described as the democratic principal.
Also on TW, Chris Dodd whined and griped.
On CBS' Face the Nation, GOP Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, when asked by host Bob Schieffer if he would run as Rudy's veep, answered that he hopes to do well enough in Iowa and New Hampshire to take the nomination.
Next on FTN, GOP Presidential hopeful Ron Paul said that his giant fundraising day of last week was orchestrated by someone he's never met, not his campaign. He said it is all about the power of the message, not about him. As for his chances of winning the nomination, Ron Paul said that he knows it's not likely, but his name is on the ballot and his supporters do not believe that it is not possible.
On LE, Dem Presidential hopeful Joe Biden talked of his recent telephone conversation with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and dismissed Rudy Giuliani as something of a flake.
Read More for the show-by-show review.
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