The Dems Are Getting Beat Up By The Cable News Channels Talking Heads.....

[global1]

Why is it that the Repugs always seem to outsmart the Dems?

I keep hearing that if this was the Obama Administration facing Congressional Testimony that this would all play out differently. I'm gonna scream if I hear that one more time.

Over the last 2 1/2 years we've watched this all go down in real time and know that this administration and the Repugs are as guilty as sin. We've seen them break laws right in front of us. However, when we hear opening statements like the one that Lewandowski gave today - it comes off as being credible. And the questioning by the Repugs of Lewandowski supports his credibility. It seems apparent that this has all been strategized and pre-arranged. The Repugs and Lewandowski came in prepared. Prepared to obstruct and obfuscate.

The Repugs always pull off an 'Eddie Haskell' and claim innocence when being confronted by Mrs. Cleaver (the Dems).

I feel so helpless when i watch this going on and wonder why we're not as adept as the Repugs when dealing with such situations? We should have Trump and the Repugs 'dead to rights' on their 'obstruction' and 'collusion' and the continuing obstruction to their original obstruction.

It's no wonder why the 'deplorables' believe them.

I'm tired of hearing that the Dems don't resort to the same tactics as the Repugs - because we're better than that.

Well look where being better than that is getting us.

[Sherman A1]

1. Simple solution

turn the Cable Noise off.

[tableturner]

2. Simple solution

Democrats bringing a knife to a knife fight!

[lame54]

25. Knife to a knife fight...

Draw the law in the sand

Shut them down

Don't take their crap

These arent answers or strategies

Everybody rips the dems but then offer no real solutions

How do they deal with these guys when their in lock-step

Trump has the presidency the courts the DOJ the senate

Dems are a small piece of this pie

Help them out by giving them a detailed plan

Everybody seems to know how to get it done don't bother to share their sure fire plan

[KPN]

42. They (tRump and the GOP) have all that -- the WH,

the courts, DOJ and the Senate — because they stole it/them. We play by the rules?

[sharedvalues]

60. Detailed plan: use House sergeant at arms to enforce subpoenas

[global1]

7. That's Not The Answer.....

put your head in the sand - just turn it off. Nothing will ever be accomplished if we just sit back and take the lies and obstruction by the Repugs and just turn the 'cable noise' off so we don't have to deal with it or confront it.

[Sherman A1]

18. Don't confuse Cable Noise

with either reality or journalism as it is neither.

The purpose of the talking heads is to fill airtime between ads for drugs we never knew we needed.

You can "enjoy" it and be as "engaged and informed" as you wish by them, but my blood pressure is much better and amazingly I still keep up with what is going on in the world.

[apnu]

29. This one gets it

Cable "News" is designed to keep eyeballs on the screen so they can see ads. That's the primary goal of each and every TV channel. 24 hours News channels are no different.

Also the talking heads are at the mercy of whatever producers are calling the shots behind the scenes. They live and die by their bosses. The producers, in turn are beholden to ownership in some media conglomerate or some 1% person who's majority share holder. They lean on the producers for a certain product, producers lean on talking heads for a certain product.

Doesn't matter if the viewer politically agrees with the show or not, all talking heads, including Rachel Maddow, are first and foremost there to entertain you enough to hang around through the commercials.

[hunter]

67. Did that more than a decade ago.

Broadcast television too.

Television news and opinion is worthless.

Once you quit traditional television it soon becomes utterly intolerable, most especially the talking news heads and commercials.

It's possible that nobody but old people watch traditional television anymore. My adult children don't. My nephews and nieces don't. They don't have cable or satellite or antennas in their homes.

[Sherman A1]

68. I do watch PBS Newshour, DW, BBC America and HKN

not every night but when I do have a chance. Beyond that it is mostly news from the internet or NPR when driving.

[hlthe2b]

3. I think I need to skip watching until maybe Rachel or Laurence...

I am pinning today's hopes on the possibility that Netanyahu is defeated. That might make it bearable.

[Bonx]

13. Rachel always makes me feel like we're winning.

[Saint PeLSU]

50. Winning or Waning?

I mean she goes into detail just how much Trump and republiclans get away with, while we play tiddly winks. I'll be honest I think this country is pretty much done. Even if we took control of the house, white house, and the senate every last department in government has been compromised and will take decades to fix

[Laurian]

4. Frankly, they deserve it.

I just called and left a message at Nadler’s office telling him how irritated and disappointed I am. He needs to use all the power he has and not be such a whimp.

[ConnorMarc]

9. I agree.

They need to step up to the plate or get lost.

[lame54]

26. And do what?...

Please somebody tell me

Everybody seems to know exactly what to do for a sure win

Why keep it secret?

[tableturner]

33. Use ALL of their powers, like the GOP would!

Big monetary fines, use inherent contempt to lock them up, filing the lawsuits as soon as possible instead of going slowly.....simply put, they should fight with all the weapons they have, and they should do that as intensely as is legally allowed!

Why do we just let them beat us? They have been rolling over us. They totally beat the hell out of us with their Mueller Report fraudulent rollout. They almost always do.

How about this: Reverse the roles of the two parties. Think about what the GOP would do, then follow that formula, minus any outright illegalities.

PAST TIME TO FIGHT!

[lame54]

34. Are they allowed to lock them up or...

Is that just a myth that everybody wants to believe

Can't recall a time when that's happened

[triron]

35. SCOTUS ruled in 1821 (?) that congress has the power to arrest and detain.

It was last used around 1930.

[lame54]

37. Then they need to make an example

[tableturner]

38. Yes....it's been a while, but they absolutely DO have that power.

It's not just that.....we need in general to fight furiously to save our democracy! When they found one minor crime unrelated to governing by a Democratic president they were ferociously attacking over almost nothing. They were foaming at the mouth to ferociously attack when they were hoping to find just one little illegal act by Hillary.

But here we are, with democracy at stake, with massive criminality and graft, and we are fighting according to Marques of Queensbury rules! Heck, we let Reagan and Bush get away with Iran/Contra, but they went after Clinton over sex.

Why, why, why?

Edit: changed a colloquialism.

[StarfishSaver]

61. And that was a different procedure and a different type of case

She refused to appear before the grand jury and the judge ordered her jailed.

[evertonfc]

5. stop watching

Stop watching. 99% of America isn't. Work, school, soccer, watching paint dry.... Don't let this shit consume you

[global1]

10. Again - Not The Answer.....

this is why we're being outsmarted and outplayed by the Repugs - if you don't like the answers - just turn it off.

[Sherman A1]

21. +1000

It really isn't news, it is Noise.

[unblock]

6. first and foremost, the media is not fair in this respect.

they are not objective and they make minimal efforts to be grounded in reality or norms. the only "facts" they care about is "this person *said* that". that lets them pretend they have no responsibility to vet the truth of the statement itself, because they vetted that the person *said* it.

cases such as this, they're giving republicans (at least) equal standing and credibility, turning it (as with most controversies) into sports matches, into he said, she said.

little mention of the blatant irony of having an uncooperative witness in an obstruction case.


in terms of planning, note that it's *vastly* more difficult to build a criminal case, or even a compelling lay case, against someone, than it is to evade responsibility and come up with excuses, especially if the media won't challenge you.

every 5-year old kid is adept at evading responsibility and making up excuses. it takes much more to build a case.

[global1]

12. So If The Media Won't Take On That Responsibility To Fact Check - Then.....

the next Dem up to do the questioning should take the initiative to state the facts and set the record straight when these Repugs are trying to be cute by twisting the truth.

[unblock]

14. easy to say, but it's hard

first, you have to be extremely knowledgeable and fluent in the facts.

second, you decides whether you want to devote some of your limited time to fact-checking these incessant liars instead of pressing forward with your agenda.

all in an environment where the witness, your republican colleagues, and the media are at best not helping you and mostly are actively opposing you.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Democrats have only been in power for 9 months

since January - it hasn't been 2 1/2 years.

still, Nadler is an idiot if he didn't know what Lewandowski was going to do. He should have been prepared to lock the guy up

[Laura PourMeADrink]

27. That's what strikes me too. There's an element of

Naivety. They sounded so proud that they got Lewandowski before the hearing. Yet between his boasting about how great trump is and repukes ranting about "why the hell are we going over this again?"...what good would a savvy person think we'd get? Although someone said we have to get this all in the public record?

[Cirque du So-What]

11. If I had nothing to do all day except watch talking heads on teevee

I would lose my fucking mind.

[Hortensis]

15. Global1, you were the target, and sounds like you've

been shot down in hostile territory. Best wishes finding your way back.

Everyone needs to take a lesson. We shouldn’t be losing people like this.

[malaise]

16. The professional questioners are coming up shortly

hang on.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

30. Thanks M...was wondering...thought we had changed rules

In that. Are they on break?

[FBaggins]

52. He was definitely better... but he didn't score many hits

He extracted a couple of tacit admissions that Lewandowski lied to reporters once or twice.

[malaise]

53. Scored on immunity as well

Nailed him from his own book

[chowder66]

17. Ignore the manufactured drama...

Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
Ignore the manufactured drama in the #Lewandowski hearing and focus on him confirming, as the Mueller report established, that President Trump asked him to tell the Attorney General to rein in the Russia probe.

Link to tweet

[JaneQPublic]

19. The Dems always play by the Marquess of Queensberry Rules...

...while GOPers are dirty streetfighters who believe no rules apply to them.

Just a reminder of how well Lewandowski follows rules of civility and etiquette, NYT article from 2016, "Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump’s Campaign Manager, Is Charged With Battery":

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/us/politics/trump-campaign-manager-corey-lewandowski.html

Remember what Bill Clinton said: "When people are insecure, they'd rather have somebody who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right." Guess which one the Dems are.

[StarfishSaver]

24. This

Thanks for the clear-eyed take on this

[Laura PourMeADrink]

31. Glad Swallwell pressed him on what I thought

was deliberate! They DO NOT want to read anything. It creates a sound bite. Much more effective if he (and Mueller too) would read. And he gave it away when he said " you let Mueller do it". In fact, if you notice, he says, "if that's what the report says." It's a way to subtly distance himself.

Thanks Rep Swallwell!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. + he's a particularly smug dude. Strikes me he would

never betray trump. But then Cohen did. So there's that. Hope they hold him in contempt.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

47. You are so right. There was a time there were a couple

reasoned voices. They didn't pile on but you could tell they honestly wanted to get the truth.

[rockfordfile]

22. Of course they're going to obstruct. Democrats knew that. Republicans are losing

"And the questioning by the Repugs of Lewandowski supports his credibility" No it doesn't. How? Right-wingers questioning another right-winger?

Lewandowski has never had any credibility. Americans see the crooks and the more they obstruct the worst for the un-American Republicans.

[StarfishSaver]

23. So, House Republicans and a Trump flunky collude to obstruct a committee investigation

and everyone beats up on the Democrats.

Nice.

[BumRushDaShow]

28. It establishes the GOP's participation in a coverup

[Laura PourMeADrink]

32. Funny how the chair always gets blamed huh.

[Skittles]

39. honestly, Democrats are treated like women

they have to be twice as good to be considered half as good

[elocs]

40. Republicans fight a street fight to win and laugh at Democrats

who insist they will fight by Marquess of Queensberry rules and get their asses handed to them.
This is why Republicans view Democrats with contempt.

[Grasswire2]

41. also getting beaten up by sympathetic, like-minded people on twitter.

People who want very badly for Dems to succeed in protecting the Constitution and holding Republicans accountable.

Dems should have been prepared for Lewandowski to be a thug.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. They may get Lewandowski on perjury

and further obstruction by withholding documents from Mueller. - info discovered by Ted Lieu this afternoon.. all while the keyboard warriors were having vapors.

[FBaggins]

56. Barr isn't going to prosecute him for perjury

They might vote to make a criminal referral... but it isn't going anywhere.

[BumRushDaShow]

59. We know Barr will do nothing

But it's something that can be presented to the courts - and notably with respect to gaining access to those other documents that were apparently created that weren't turned over to Mueller. And if he destroyed them then... more obstruction due to the destruction of "official documents" in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

[FBaggins]

62. Perjury isn't contempt

They can go straight to the courts on civil contempt charges... but perjury is a crime and has to be prosecuted by the DOJ.

[BumRushDaShow]

63. 5 year statue of limitations means

that if Democrats take back the WH, then...

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. Yup Twitter universe has been extremely vocal about

the whole Impeachment thing. The impatience is palpable. Time for some out-of-the-box thinking.

[yaesu]

48. taking the high road leads to 4 more years of tRump. nt

[BlueMTexpat]

49. So what else is new?

This is the corporate media, after all, and they LOVE Republicans, no matter what.

[guillaumeb]

51. The conservatives control the media,

and insist that the media has a liberal bias.

[Kurt V.]

55. we should in fact be using tactics that repubs have been using. at least short term

[Mr.Bill]

58. Remember, on a busy night

the highest rated cable news channel is being watched by less than 1% of the population.

[MadDAsHell]

64. How many politicians can you name that have faced an actual legal penalty for lying?

Let's be real: ethics aside (and most politicians care FAR more about their own careers and livelihood than anything as silly as ethics), why WOULDN'T you lie if there's a 99.99% chance there is no penalty?

And that's what history tells us: as a politician, whether during campaigns or under oath, there is a 99.99% chance your lies have no consequences for you whatsoever.

Plus, there isn't much a leg to stand on with Lois Lerner and Eric Holder defying subpoenas just a few years ago, similarly with no consequences.

[SharonClark]

65. "Cable News Channels Talking Heads"

Care to provide some meaningful information?
What cable channels?
What talking heads?

[pansypoo53219]

66. gnewz protecting their monster ratings maker just like 2016. screw democracy. screw the gnewz.

[dansolo]

69. You indicated the real problem

Why are you blaming the Democrats when the media is the problem here. If everything is so obvious, then the question should be why is the media not pointing it out?