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C&L: Halperin: 'It Paints Such a Different Picture' if Obama's Standing With Republicans When Announcing Afghan Policy

By Heather Friday Nov 13, 2009 10:00am

Oh isn't this lovely? More Villager group think from the cast of Morning Joe. After Scarborough doing his some water-carrying for Dick Cheney and ranting about Obama delaying his decision on troop levels in Afghanistan, Scarborough and Mark Halperin both agree on one thing. Obama just needs to kiss more Republican ass to be taken seriously—because we know in the world of the Scarborough’s and Halperin’s out there, only Republicans have any credibility on national security.

Halperin: Imagine two scenarios—he announces it standing there by himself, or with Democrats (gasp!) when he makes this decision, or imagine him standing there with John McCain, or other prominent Republicans on national security. It paints such a different picture if he’s with the Republicans.

Yeah, that’s just what he need Halperin. Obama and Mr. Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran standing hand in hand announcing his Afghanistan policy. News flash to Halperin—McCain lost the election. And Obama needs to be listening to his base, not McCain.

Benen: PRESIDENT GINGRICH ON 'MTP'...

So, I was perusing the guest lists for the Sunday morning shows, wondering which channel would feature John McCain. (For the record, he hasn't been booked for any of the shows -- yet.) The line-up for "Meet the Press" stood out.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be on, which certainly makes sense, given her recent traveling. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be on, which also makes sense, given new education proposals unveiled this week.

And then, there are the other two guests.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton have been touring the country -- visiting classrooms and talking with students -- to highlight education issues and rally support for their proposed education reforms. We'll join them on the road this week, then sit down with them Sunday morning for a live interview to discuss their plans to improve the quality of education in this country.

Seriously? Do the producers just not like us?

I have no idea why Gingrich and Sharpton -- the original odd couple -- are in a position to talk about education reform. The Secretary of Education? Sure. These two? Not so much.

This will, by the way, be Newt Gingrich's fourth appearance on "Meet the Press" this year. The guy was run out of Congress by members of his own party more than a decade ago; he's held no positions of influence or authority since; but he's been a featured guest on "Meet the Press" every other month this year since March.

Sigh.

digby: Low Point

I've been watching Chris Matthews talk about the Stupak Amendment all week while banging my head against the wall so it's been hard to document the atrociousness of his arguments. Jamison Foser soldiered on through the headache so I didn't have to:

If you want an illustration of how conservative framing dominates media coverage of politics and policy, you need only watch Chris Matthews talk about abortion each night on Hardball. Since early summer, the Hardball host has been hyping anti-abortion complaints about proposed health care reform, even though the proposals would have done nothing to expand abortion rights. In doing so, he has trafficked in falsehoods, embraced flawed and illogical conservative talking points, and portrayed pro-choice advocates who have already compromised as rigid, unyielding ideologues.

[...]

(Matthews' comments about abortion and health care reform have by no means been unique; I focus on him here because he has addressed the subject regularly over the past several months, and because it serves as yet another reminder that, despite conventional wisdom, neither Matthews nor MSNBC is really "liberal.")

That really can't be pointed out often enough. It's really worth reading the whole column for a full rundown 0f Matthews' frustrating misinformation and ill-informed opinions on this subject.

Whenever this subject has come up this week, I can't help but recall this post from last spring:
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