On Rachel now: Rick Berman - the real-life Irwin Mainway...

[Dennis Donovan]

He's behind an astroturf, pro-business "non-profit" org and Rachel is skewering him!

[Feron]

1. This guy is a certifiable slimeball. nt

[CurtEastPoint]

13. Never heard of him till now. He sounds so charming...

From Wikipedia:

Richard Berman is a Washington-based lobbyist. Through his public affairs firm Berman and Company, Berman runs several industry-funded non-profit organizations such as the Center for Consumer Freedomand the Center for Union Facts. Berman's companies have run numerous media campaigns downplaying the dangers of obesity, smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, the minimum wage and other issues. 60 Minutes has called him "the booze and food industries' weapon of mass destruction," and his nickname (from both friends and enemies) is "Dr. Evil", an alias in which he takes pride.

Even his son has disowned him.

[BlooInBloo]

2. "You should have him set it to music" - HAHAHAHAA!!!!! pwned!!

[Dennis Donovan]

5. That was brilliant, wasn't it?

:rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

8. And wow to that Healthcare For America Now! ad.at the commercial break...

Very succinct yet 2x4 clobbery with "it's you against insurance companies" message.

[ErinBerin84]

7. that was GREAT!

ha

[bullwinkle428]

3. KING.OF.SLEAZE.

[baldguy]

4. She just asked him if his tactics were "evil".

:rofl:

[GirlAfire]

6. I Like How...

...when she pointed out the degree from Dartmouth (Music), which I'm sure he would have preferred to stay undisclosed, he immediately changed the subject with "Here's my whole point."

[johnfunk]

25. ... which means he probably studied music with über-liberal Chriatian Woolf

... a friend and colleague of John Cage.

[WeDidIt]

9. Total scumbucket

He's pure evil.

[ErinBerin84]

10. I loved

how he sputtered "Harvard said it! I don't need to say it, Harvard said it!" and she just basically said "Yeah, that reminds me, I wanted to ask you about your campaign to discredit a certain Harvard study you didn't like..."

[NJCher]

11. fits right in with my critical thinking sequences

That I'm teaching writing students at my university right now.

I hope these clips appear at DU or youtube tomorrow so I can show my students.


Cher

[ezgoingrl]

12. Damn she's awesome.

n/t

[bertman]

14. Skewering him??!! Not hardly. That guy is GOOD! He is more than holding his own.

I love Rachel and I was about to start a post on this very topic extolling her virtues as an investigative journalist and a debater. But I was also going to say that Rick Berman is fielding every question she throws at him--and they are substantive and hardballs--and he's giving a good accounting of his companies.

[BlooInBloo]

15. He's doing his best, and he's skilled, but he is in no way "more than holding his own".

[bertman]

20. Your liberal bias is showing. He never got flustered or talked over Rachel, who talked

over him every time he brought something up she didn't agree with.

I thought she was the one who got flustered. But, as always, I love her brilliance and her ability to think on her feet.

[BlooInBloo]

23. It's simply false that she "talked over him every time" - and I agree he didn't get flapped....

But that's not required.

He definitely came on strong at the end (well before your post). On the whole, Maddow took it 6-4 (10 pt total).

EDIT: And when it comes to winning/losing, I have exactly zero bias. Joan Walsh was on O'Reilly awhile back, for example - she completely got her clock cleaned there.

[DainBramaged]

24. Dr. EVIL sidestepped or dodged ALL of her questions, he is a master

and a scumbag. He will die a hated man. I for one, who am usually very sympathetic to the worst among us when they pass, will piss on his grave if I get the opportunity.

[bertman]

26. It was a joke, son! The liberal bias part, I mean.

"Every time" was a bit of an exaggeration, but I was surprised that Rachel talked over him as much as she did. Maybe she was worried about the time factor.

I'd call it a draw. I haven't followed up on checking out any of the sites he set up so I don't know how blatantly bad they are and can't comment on that. He made three comments that I want to look into because they have some resonance with my personal experience. One related to the saturated fats, trans fats. I have been into nutrition all of my adult life starting back in '70 when I lived on a communal farm and we tried to grow everything organically, so it's been educational watching the hype over what's good for us to eat and what's bad for us to eat.

The comment about ACORN's attempt to pay its workers less than minimum wage was interesting. If it's true, it's certainly hypocritical and gives the right fodder for its campaign against ACORN.

As an avid fisherman who likes to eat what he catches I have followed the mercury advisories closely over the last 15 or so years. A while back I was talking to a fellow fisherman who commented that he thought the mercury advisories were b.s. His reason was that the EPA's testing method for determining the content of mercury in a fish was to put the fish in the old Bass-o-Matic and blend it up, then measure the parts of mercury vs. the weight of the fish. Of course, if you do that you are mixing parts of the fish that only contain miniscule mercury residues with parts like the liver and the lateral line that are heavy with residue. So, instead of educating people as to the importance of preparing fish properly and not eating the filter organs, the whole fish is labeled as toxic.

As I say, I don't know if any of those arguments hold water, but if they're true, then they are valid points that need to be brought into the debate.

Also, I thought his retort that liberal advocacy groups use the same methods of hiding their donor lists was a sensible counter to Rachel's implications that his work was underhanded because of that.

P.S. Bill O'Reilly actually cleaned Joan's clock??!! OMG I'm glad I missed that one.

[DainBramaged]

16. He was exposed on 60 minutes a few years ago

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/05/60minutes/main2653020.shtml

Meet Rick Berman, A.K.A. "Dr. Evil"

[ezgoingrl]

17. Is he smoking crack?

$50,000? Not where I live baybee. I'd be living high on the hog with that kind of money.

[DainBramaged]

19. $50K a year is about $740 a week net (TWICE my weekly take-home)

Living large isn't the word...........

[Ian David]

18. Rick Berman is a hard bottom with no limits. He says he wants to go back for more. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

21. Yah - it'll be interesting to what changes Maddow makes at halftime (if any).

[Howler]

22. Rachel cleaned his clock ....... until....

It seemed she was back on her heels the 2nd segment.She let him talk unchallenged too long!!!!
Still she filleted that lizard fuck!!!!
and I'm a vegetarian it was totally cool!!!!!