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Maddow Responds to Bush Sr. - And 9 of 10 Republicans Fear Her
Rachel Maddow invites Republican officials to appear on her show "every day," the popular MSNBC anchor said Saturday, but only about one out of ten take up her offer.
Those numbers suggest Congressional Republicans are especially wary of a Maddow interrogation, since most politicians jump at the chance to appear on prime time news shows with good ratings. The "incentives" to appear differ for elected officials and operatives, she said, and the show draws more conservative "lobbyists and P.R. guys," who are paid to push their clients anywhere they can. (See Phillips, Tim.)
Maddow's comments came during an appearance at The New Yorker Festival on Saturday, in a sold-out session moderated by staff writer Ariel Levy.
The forum also presented an opportunity for Maddow to respond to an unusual attack from George H.W. Bush.
On Friday, the former President said Maddow and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann were "sick puppies" who dished out "horrible" treatment to their ideological opponents -- and to George W. Bush. "When our son was president, they just hammered him mercilessly and I think obscenely a lot of the time," he told CBS Radio.
Maddow said she was "flattered" by the response. She said that the comments also drew a one-line note from her father, who asked if the barb meant that the former President watched the show.
Maddow also discussed the book she is writing, which analyzes why the American foreign policy consensus supports a kind of perpetual war, but warned that the release date is still "anybody's guess." Queried about the superficial pressures of a television career, she volunteered that it was a "great relief" that her appearance does not define her career. "I don't feel like my job depends on my looks," she said, noting as an aside that few would mistake her for a "Fox Business anchor."
And in response to the last question from the audience, Maddow said if she dresses up for Halloween this year, she will be a modified "man in the moon" -- with a black eye -- to mark NASA's recent program bombing the moon.
46 Comments so far
Show All“Obscene;” Telling the truth about a republican.
Not “Obscene;” Torture, Illegal Wars of Aggression, White Phosphorus, the Collective Punishment of Fallujah , Depleted Uranium Munitions, Mercenaries, Napalm, Regime Change,...
The Democrats were in full compliance.
The Republicans are cowards who fear a truth teller like Rachel Maddow. Maddow rocks !
But I keep telling you ...
The Democrats have a filibuster proof majority! They can pass anything they want. Why all this fixation and angst over a party with a 25% approval rating? Why not foucus on the party in control? Could it be We the People are being duped, again?
Obama had very high ratings in January and now, for good reason, they are much lower. But recently, the furor about, Oh my God! Republicans! has had the effect of raising Obama's approval ratings. "We must support Obama! not complain about him! Otherwise, the Republicans will win!" Here we go again.
Polls show the majority of the American people are quite progressive. Check it out. But the Democrats are blowing it! Nothing new here. It's all by design. And once again, the people are snookered.
Hmmmm. 9 out of 10 Republicans refuse to come on her show, sounds like the antidote to the miasma of the sick puppies on Fox News!
Faux Noise shot all their puppies a few years back, these are the only things left on that channel:
http://www.headinjurytheater.com/mturd%20dogma.jpg
spewing hate, bullshit, and ignorance 24/7
Rush Limbaugh (defended on Faux Noise this weekend) is also this type of creature
Poor GHW Bush. Just can't stand it when people hold shit heads like you and your idiot bastard son accountable for your own actions, can you? Well, too GD BAD! Those of us out here in the REAL world have to put up with the things that you and your scummy son have done to us, why the hell can't we even speak out and call you on it? Gee, silly me, I thought that we were SUPPOSED to do that!
Keep it up, Rachel. Kick their asses every day. Point out to the world just what they have done to us over the last 30 GD years. And if they don't like it, turn up the volume DOUBLE.
Part of taking actions, GHW, is taking RESPONSIBILITY for them. You remember that word, don't you? You crammed it down OUR throats every time you opened that idiot mouth of yours. I for one am sick to DEATH of idiot politicians who demand things of US that they aren't willing to do in their OWN lives.
How about if you go away FOREVER, and take that idiot bastard son of yours with you. You were a crappy president, a sell out as vice president, and the thing that cost us all the country, an OBVIOUSLY shitty father. You've done FAR more than enough damage for one man and you family has wreaked havoc on this country. Haven't you screwed us ENOUGH, YET? STFU and leave the rest of us alone, IDIOT!
Jeb Bush for President in 2012! Watch for it.
It certainly is gratifying to see Ms. Maddow respond to Bush Sr.'s belief that his warmonger of a son was supposedly criticized too harshly by Keith Olbermann and herself. Now if only she would reach an epiphany regarding the plight of the Palestinians as she has defended the Israelis for slaughtering the people of Gaza when the Israelis attacked Gaza last November.
I agree, Erroll!
Don't get me wrong - I can't help it, but I LIKE Rachel. My sense is that she would like to take her coverage and commentary further left to where her heart lies, but recognizes the constraints imposed by her corporate (MSNBC-NBC-GE) bosses. I think she's decided that the airwaves are better served with at least a smattering of liberal tripe then with none at all. My dear is that, over time, the perspectives she is forced into by said constraints will take their toll.
But when it comes to Israel-Palestine, you're absolutely right. My head just wants to explode. One hundred years from now, people will lok back and ask, in utter incredulity, how the world was capable of sitting back and doing nothing at all about the human rights abuse/genocide program of our time. And there will be much for which Rachel will have to answer.
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
Kgarry
The irony is that another Rachel showed more courage, honesty and integrity than Ms. Maddow will ever know and that person was Rachel Corrie. She paid for her beliefs and her desire to help the Palestinians with her life while Rachel Maddow, like so many other talking heads on television, takes the easy way out by rarely, if ever, saying anything critical of Israel and their treatment of the people of Gaza. She remains mute regarding the atrocities suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis. Has the word gotten out to all the television hosts [including Olbermann] to treat Israel with kid gloves?
Although I also wish that Maddow would open her mouth about Israeli war crimes, I'm not going to throw her under the bus because of one issue when she is one the few left-leaning voices remaining in the corporate media who covers so many other issues well.
Your posting continues the practice by right-wing drones of trying to disparage well-known and respected figures on this site.
Suggesting that a journalist's weakness on any issue compormises that journalist's credibility on all issues is an attempt to avoid issues.
If Maddow scares the shit out of republican pols then I'm going to watch her.
Why don't you save your objection for a thread on the subject about which you complain Maddow ignores or make a relevant comment in this one?
q
You say: "If Maddow scares the shit out of republican pols then I'm going to watch her."
What I want to know is does she also scare the shit out of Democratic Party polls? Because, guess what! Democrats have a triple majority! What's going on is their doing. It doesn't matter about Republicans anymore! They're in the minority. Democrats can pass any dammed thing they please. For example, over 80% of Democrats favor a single payer health care system, a majority of Americans in general. Yet, the Dems are giving the insurance corporations a huge subsidy and will fine us if we don't comply! Have you heard this on Rachel Maddow? Just curious.
Republicans' approval ratings are historically low, in the toilet!
Ask yourselves: Why would Rachel Maddow be fixated on a party with a 25% approval rating? It's the Democrats with the filibuster proof majority she should be focused on. Dems will quickly blow that because, after all, it's uncomfortable for them to continue the Bush agenda when they don't actually have an excuse anymore, other than the money, for doing so. They are fixing things right now so that they don't have a majority next election. Clinton did that too. They need their Republican excuse.
If Maddow hasn't taken on the massacre in Gaza - I didn't know that about her - then I would say, straight away, she definitely has major limits. A massacre - blatant war crime, killing 1400 innocent people, including 400 children (7 Israelis killed, to be fair) - it isn't a little thing. Israel is in violation of 65 UN resolutions. Palestinians, none. Israel is the main reason for an attack on Iran. Not a little thing at all.
You do know that our government has psyops, right? They can credit the corporate media for their accomplishments. They are smart people, they know how to do it so you're not even aware of the procedure. Suddenly, we find ourselves supporting a candidate who went along with war crimes and not even knowing how we came to it.
Try this: watch Maddow and count the number of times she raises fear over 1)Republicans, the minority 2) Democrats, the majority 3) or We the People*
*Opinion polls show We the People are far more progressive than even Rachel Maddow would admit. 70% think global warming is a threat, the majority wants single payer, the majority wants an end to the wars of empire, the majority is against the bailouts. If Maddow isn't addressing these things, you're being scammed. Report back. I'm standing by.
Oh, please, don't propagate the fiction that NASA bombed the moon.
There were no explosives involved. A spent rocket stage was used, essentially recycling it, rather than have it orbit the moon as space junk.
Take a look at the moon through binoculars or a telescope. See all the craters and pock marks? As we learned in grade school, they were made through millions of years of "bombardment" by asteroids, comets and various chunks of rock and ice. No different, really, from that spent rocket.
Which left an almost imperceptible mark . . .
I fell for the hype that we would be able to see something from Earth and dragged out my 17.5" telescope to check it out. I saw nothing, naga, zero, zip. Although it is always neat to look at the moon.
I object to this based on principle alone. Look at the state of our planet today. Centuries of bombardment, paving and environmental destruction. Then we go into space to explore new worlds and we end up pile driving crap into the moon. If that doesn't wreck your buzz, nothing will. Our high minded goals of planetary exploration reduced to multi-million dollar crash cup derbies with the moon. The children over at NASA were claiming they would know almost immediately after the crash if there was water on the moon. After the crash, they were telling us to come back in a year or two after they have analyzed the data. Sounds like a load of crap to me. To try and justify this childish destructive behavior is absurd.
The impact utterly failed to produce the expected 10km high dust plume for analysis.
So NASA went into it's typical CYA mode to deflect the wasting of multiple millions of tax payer dollars on a cosmic wet fart.
I commented on this epic fail on another site I am on, and was soundly flamed for being critical of this continued pie-in-the-sky fantasy that we will get off this rockball.
We only have one home. So we had better start looking after it.
"I commented on this epic fail on another site I am on, and was soundly flamed for being critical of this continued pie-in-the-sky fantasy that we will get off this rockball."
Too many Star Trek episodes? What gives?
"We only have one home. So we had better start looking after it."
I suspect you are correct on this point.
So, Georgie sr. thinks his son was hard done by by the media...
Poor biscuit, if I had my way his idiot son would be in front of a warcrimes trial at the Hague. I guarantee that they'd be saying much worse things about the idiot boy george than Maddow has been saying.
What can you expect from a bunch of traitors like the bush family, too bad tarring and feathering has gone out of style.
Not only does Obama not think that Bush's war crimes are important enough to prosecute, he perpetrates war crimes himself! Do you wish he too would be hauled off to a "war crimes trial at the Hague?"
As to Bush's war crimes, Obama voted for them! How is that different? Obama: "You want to perpetrate war crimes, killing 1.5 million people? OK, here's a bunch of money. Go do it!"
I tell you this because twice during the campaign, two separate Obama volunteers insisted that, 1) He voted against the war in Iraq! 2) He never voted to fund the Iraq war.
Don't these Democrats study up before making phone calls to people? Of course, I had to do a mini-lesson on the spot. How embarrassing it must have been for them, their peace candidate complicit in war crimes.
I actually agree with Chomsky, if the presidents of the usa had been held to the standards of those prosecuted at Nuremberg after the Second World War, they'd all have been hanged.
Which president (including the first George W. from the 18th century) has not launched an invasion or attack against one country or another during his time in office?
If George Herbert Wanker Bush wants to talk about "sick puppies", he should talk about that homicidal and degenerate son of his, George Wanker Bush. Except Wanker, Junior is no puppy but the throat ripping junk yard dog of American politics. If there were any justice in this absurd world, George Wanker Bush would be pushing up daisies after his trial and execution by a war crimes court. Kevin Phillips called the Bush family "a bunch of well connected mediocrities". And George Wanker Bush is the most mediocre of all. Hell awaits all you bastards!
How shameful that a mainstream, corporate, faux-progressive 'news' show tries to pass itself off as 'serious.' And even more shameful that this site regurgitates such non-controversies.
You should be ashamed for trying to shame others. Shame on you!
And no, her program is not a recitation of the daily news. You can find news anchors doing that at any of a number of other stations. Her show is not that and is not meant to be.
I never trust anyone who uses "shame" twice in one post.
Shameful, I know.
Love ya Rachel!
Wait, you just stated that the myth that Republicans perpetrate evil is the reason for evil itself. You exonerated them from any wrongdoing and blame their reputation as the real cause of evil, or am I confused? I feel like the banana of the Republican party just slipped its skin.
For your information, Rachel Maddow is tough on the Democrats as well. You would know that if you watched her with any regularity. Her righteous anger has descended on their heads quite often.
It's easy for them to falsely attack Maddow when they don't watch. He's just another Republican pretending to be a third party goer.
So what WAS her response? It's not in the article. Huh?
Hamster: From what I saw of the show, Maddow began her show by inviting Olbermann to respond. He did, and while he was doing so, Ms. Maddow had her famous I-know-better smile plastered on her face.
they 'll tell the truth as far as the money leach will allow.
bill maher as well! its pseudo media for "progressives".
their version of fixed news. i get a chuckle out of it.
sometimes they really give a tidbit or two. keith with
the insurance rant last week was great but cd and other
online outlets do a better and more left wing no barney
"bullshit" franks lies and scam here!
Thank God for truth-tellers like Rachel Maddow, I only wish that she had been at MSNBC while the Bush regime was in power. But MSNBC even kicked out Phil Donahue because he was antiwar. The day will never come when Republicans will be as important to the common good as the Democrats are. The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican, where serving the people is concerned, and if there are enough ignorant people to reelect Republicans to the White House and congress, then we will suffer the consequences (and they will be severe). I am sick of people complaining about Obama being too slow, he is facing the worst problems any President ever had to face, and if you can't support him, then at least keep your mouth shut!
"I am sick of people complaining about Obama being too slow, he is facing the worst problems any President ever had to face, and if you can't support him, then at least keep your mouth shut!"
Thanks, Rahm, we needed that. Last I knew we still have (sort of) free speech in this country.
"The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican, where serving the people is concerned, ... "
Exactly. That is the reason that we can totally forgive the democrats for always voting to continue funding for illegal occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They also voted funding for seven large military bases in Colombia to support the coming invasion of "leftist" Venezuela, not because they have oil mind you, but because we must be sure that we spread democracy to South America, just like we spread democracy to Iran by overthrowing the democratically elected government and installing our favorite dictator.
I am sick of people complaining about Obama being too slow, he is facing the worst problems any President ever had to face, and if you can't support him, then at least keep your mouth shut!
----------------
I'm sick of those who voted for Obama going AWOL when he needs to be held accountable.
Unless you agree with defense budgets larger than anything Bush produced, running terrorist operations in Iran, drone bombings in Pakistan, squashing justice in Gaza, endorsing Patriot Act renewal, proposing Military Commissions, using 'State Secrets' to kill lawsuits, standing idly by while the the congress edits out a pure public option, gives all the Bush war criminals a free pass, gives torturers a free pass, allows massive illegal wiretapping to continue, signals unwillingness for Copenhagen climate conference, continues to build on the Unitary Executive, appoints a FCC head opposed to a Fairness Doctrine and media breakup, opposes real bank reform, abandoned homeowners who are victims of subprime crimes etc. etc. etc.
I will keep my mouth shut if I see the 60 million knuckleheads who voted for Obama clean up his mess.
Let me know when that is scheduled to happen.
A much more eloquent and detailed response than mine. Thank you.
I considered replying..."No, YOU shut-up!", and then sticking out my tongue.
But what would that have accomplished?
"The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican"
You may be very young, which could be the reason for your ignorant statement here. To progressives, Richard Nixon was evil incarnate back in his day. Just like Bush is today. But compared to Obama and the current Dems, Nixon was a progressive, in many ways to the left of Obama. They have moved it all to the what would have been the far right and here you are, asking for more. I gotta hand it to them. Brilliant! ("you can fool some of the people all of the time ..")
So yes, by all means ....
Just because children are being blown to bits by Obama's trillion dollar wars, it's no reason to complain. And don't look at any of the photos either of the dead or maimed, the armless children, the skin burned right off their little bodies. I don't know any of them. Praise be to Obama!
And certainly don't complain, as so many of us did when we called our Congress - 100 to 1 - against the bailouts for the richest among us, when at the same time Obama was busy twisting arms to get it passed. Oh, blessed be his Name!
Don't complain about the Patriot Act, or ..
Corporate mandated health insurance profiteering, even though the majority of Americans prefer a system more like the one in Canada and the one Obama promised. Just "Shut up!" and go along. Yeah, that's the solution.
Torture! Don't complain. Who cares? (read, "We Still Torture," Harper's magazine, 7/2009)
Shushhh! Obama is ramping up No Child Left Behind. That's right, "keep your mouth shut!" like obedient boys and girls. Or .........
The increase in mountain top removal, or the lack of serious attention to global warming because it might hurt the richest oily-garchs? Not a peep! or ......
You get my drift: March along like a good little soldier. And never give up your celebrity worship. It's just the ticket! All the rage!
Don't complain! Turn off your brain!
REAL journalists have no friends.
There are no Truth Tellers on MSNBCABCCBSNBCCNNFOX... There are only infotainers and propagandists...
Wake the HELL UP PEOPLE!
86thefed has it correct. If you watch the whore corporate media you are being either being dumbed down or brainwashed! Just follow the $$$ folks!Almost all the major newspapers and T.V. channels rely on millions of $ from their corporate sponsors, so if you are an employee for any of these corporate whores you know the parameters and what is expected of you if you want to keep your paychecks rolling in, just like in any company, if you want to keep your income you know not to make waves. Like someone said if you want freedom of the press you need to own one!
How quickly we forget. It was only a short while Commondreams reported on the deal between Fox and MSNBC to stop a reportage war. The parent corps, News Limited and GE didn't like the content.
mordechai as usual speaks truth. To know the real father of the evil one read FAMILY of SECRETS. OH , by the by GHWB where were you on 11/22/63 ? Don't remember... you lying sack. I'm sure that beautiful mind of Barb continues to be concerned about the war dead, people of New Orleans etc. From Prescott to the Wanker what a legacy of evil and corruption and greed.
Rush and Hannity get the Democrats to do what they want, at least according to many on these forums. maddow needs to up her game a bit.
Media prostitutes like Maddow and Olbermann do a great disservice to the working class by selling us the illusion that we have two distinct parties in the US and Democrats are somehow preferable. The amount of whoring they did for Obama during the campaign was nauseating, something of course one would expect from two GE mouthpieces.
These useless journalists are still going after the Republican boogieman when Democrats are the ones in charge, with the power for real change but doing absolutely squat, in fact expanding and enhancing Bush's policies as Mr. Nader and Ms. McKinney had predicted.
Every time I see the smirking Maddow on TV trying her best to sound incredibly arrogant and superior to the fascists on the right (it's easy to beat worms like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck), when in fact she's nothing but an intellectual midget and a dishonest professional herself, I have to quickly reach for the remote and tune her out.