Posted on 11/10/2006 6:53:15 PM PST by Phsstpok
Preview and Analysis of the Weekend Talk Shows for November 11 and 12, 2006
This election is best described as the triumph of the inanities. Let their gloating begin!
The most cynical and dishonest campaign in the history of our country has triumphed, IMNSHO. But what has it gained them?
Rather than offering a positive set of ideas for their voters to vote for the Democrats spent their time and money convincing primarily conservative voters, particularly Christian conservatives, that they should stay home and not vote, or that those who think of themselves as "moderates" should vote for pseudo conservatives in Democrat clothing as a "message" to those nasty Republicans. They were aided in this campaign by their faithful myrmidons in old media but also by a cadre of self appointed "leaders" on the right who got it into their heads that "sending a message" and punishing the Republicans for not being perfect was their mission in life. Most of these talking heads were Buchannanites, Perotistas, or the dreaded losertarians. As to getting out their own base, the Democrats offered a combination of virulent hatred for George W. Bush and retread feel good 60s anti-war slogans, never mind that "giving peace a chance" 4 million people died at the hands of the peace loving Communists.. Well, folks, you got what you wanted. May God have mercy on us now, because Nancy, Harry, Hugo and Osama surely won't.
But then there's also this funny dynamic about what the Democrats did to win. In order to hide the nature of their leadership and the core values of the Dhimmicrat party they sent their leaders into news media exile and recruited centrist or even conservative candidates to run in otherwise natural Republican districts. These would be candidates identified as acceptable to the "disgusted conservative voters" that their campaign, particularly their media propagandists' efforts, was designed to manufacture. We have to assume that many of the ones who got elected are wolves in sheep's clothing, as Harold "pro God and pro gun" Ford would have been, but some of them may be genuine conservatives. The Reagan Democrats are back! Now, can George W. Bush forge alliances with them?
NBC Meet The Press has perhaps the most interesting lineup as they've got both McCain and Lieberman on for interviews. It seems clear to me that they are trying to play down the more freakish inclinations of the nutroots who claim this victory is their doing. By the way, much of that freakishness is being pushed by Lil Timmah's colleagues in the DBM, particularly the likes of Chris Matthews, who struggled mightily to get Howard Dean to commit to an immediate pull out from Iraq, Jack Cafferty who is pushing for impeachment, or Keith Olbermann, who apparently wants the President either tried for war crimes or committed to an institution for the criminally insane. If Lil Timmah wants to push this "the Democrat win / Republican loss is all about centrism" mantra he might want to get his fellow travelers to shut the hell up for at least a little while. I will be interested to hear what Lieberman has to say, as well as what agenda driven questions Lil Timmah tries to get him to answer. With John McClame I'm certain that Russert is intent on reviving his front runner status as the DBM's "anointed one" amongst the Republicans. Dare I suggest that Lil Timmah will try to set in motion a joint McCain/Lieberman "unity ticket" for the '08 election? Of course, my entire theory of NBC trying to portray the election as being all about moderates and rejecting the extremes may just fall apart based on the inclusion of MoDo and David Gregory in the political roundtable on MTP.
CBS Face The Nation has somehow managed to find Dingy Harry, who has been in the proverbial undisclosed secure location (no doubt with Nancy Pelosi) for weeks, and they also serve up one of two sacrificial White House representatives being trotted out this week, in this case Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. Expect reverential questions about how Harry is going to clean up the mess that the Republicans have made, particularly the universal Republican culture corruption™, but not even a hint about Harry's land deal shenanigans. Bolten will be asked about his palace coup and winning out over the ogre, Rumsfeld. No doubt they will be expecting him to give a timetable for both the Vice President's resignation and the inevitable complete pull out from Iraq.
Fox News Sunday gives us the screaming one, Doctor-Governor Howard Dean, and the other sacrificial White House representative, Presidential Council Dan Bartlett. Doctor Dean is conducting his victory tour in about the fashion one would expect, having his friends allies in the DBM say that this election win is all about him, declaring that all of his most radical ideas were fully embraced by the voters and all of the Bush administration ideas were not only rejected but declared to be war crimes. He's even making a point of addressing his natural constituency, Canadian liberals. Bartlett will be expected to come up with a line at least as good as "the President is eating a little crow" in exchange for this face time.
ABC This Week gives Josh Bolten a second chance to grovel and apologize while bringing on Joe Biden and Carl Levin to speak wisely about how they will rule the little people. This show will probably be the most overtly enthusiastic about the moonbat wishes for the new Congress, particularly the notion of draconian investigations and even impeachment of the evil Bushies. I expect lots of commentary on just how bad Rumsfeld was and promises that he won't "escape justice" by resigning. Will, Roberts, Donaldson and Steponallofus will no doubt have a fine time denigrating all things Bush during the roundtable this week.
CNN Late Edition generously gives Josh Bolten yet another chance to grovel and apologize for being both a Republican and breathing. They then bring in Pakistan's Prime Minister to ask him just how badly his country screwed up by daring to side with Bush and company. The also offer up the man of the hour, Chucky Schumer, whose genius knows no bounds. Obviously he will be directed all federal budget expenditures previously targeted at areas with Republican representation to areas with Democrat representation, primarily the glorious state of New York. He and Charlie Rangel share a common disdain for anyplace that isn't New York, particularly anyplace in the South. They also have a couple of Clintonista DOD types in Cohen and retired general Joulwan, along with the ever credible New York Times "chief military expert," Mikey Gordon. And then they grace us the the wisdom of Snarlin' Arlen Specter. Oh goody. Note: CNN was the last to post their lineup for this week by about five hours. I think they were scrambling to set up their Clintonista friendly guests and they had to wait to see if anyone else would preempt them.
The Saturday shows follow their normal pattern, with Mort and Fred giving the conventional wisdom from inside the beltway (and gloating about being right for a change), Fox News Watch defending all journalists, everywhere, from any hostile scrutiny and the Journal Editorial Report providing reasoned and reasonable analysis of what's really going on out there. I'll be interested to hear their analysis of why the Republicans lost and the interview with John Shadegg, potential number 2 in a revamped Republican leadership. I have dropped MTP from my listings of the Saturday shows as MSNBC has stopped including it in the MTP web pages. They don't care, I don't care.
So, the 2006 elections are over and the Dhimmicrat's won. Now the battle to define that result is well and truly joined. The DBM meme is multi faceted, first concentrating on their contention that they were right all along with their predictions, so we should kindly ignore the last dozen years of them being wrong and stop suggesting that they somehow caused this outcome with their blatantly biased reporting. They also want it to be known that this is a triumph for resurgent liberalism and the permanent death knell of all things conservative. Oh, and everything will be fine now if we just run away from Iraq and raise taxes, as any right thinking person must admit. Those with a closer association with reality will be trying to get out the word that both parties have now shifted to the right, with most of the casualties being RINOs and most of the victors being DINOs. The glory days of Pelosi, Reid and company may be short lived and the internal battles within the Dhimmicrat party could get quite bloody. We must make it a priority to go over the statements and promises made by the victorious individual Democrats in this election and constantly remind them of that they said they would do, particularly if they stray too far towards the dark side. For those FReepers living in districts where Democrats won, particularly where they defeated incumbent Republicans, can you please search for statements made and promises given? That will be a very important contribution to the next two years in our country. I personally don't care if the Republicans or Democrats are "in charge" in Washington so long as the right things get done.
This will be cross posted to my blog at Wizards.townhall.com. This post exists primarily as a heads up for who is on the weekend talks shows, what they've been invited on to push (based on their recent pronouncements) and the spin (meme) the DBM is likely trying to push based on that information. All of this is prep work for the weekly Sunday Morning Talk Show thread posted by Alas Babylon!. That thread provides a live commentary and analysis of the Sunday talking head shows, with rare insight and exceptional fact checking. we are the Jedi Council of FreeRepublic, at least in regards to these DBM gabfests. You wanna know what was said and what it meant, as well as where they messed up? Read that thread!
I will post a link to Mark Kilmer's excellent preview over at Redstate.COM when it is up. If CNN will get CNN finally got their act together and posted their lineup anytime soon I might even so I can get this posted Friday night instead of after his post on Saturday. I've never liked CNN. Now they're conspiring against me personally! <g>
Below are the topics and guests announced for these programs, along with my take on the "memes" that the shows are trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
The Beltway Boys (Mort Kondrake, Fred Barnes)
Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page
Below are the topics and guests announced for this program, along with my take on the "memes" that the show is trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
Below are the topics and guests announced for this program, along with my take on the "memes" that the show is trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
Below are the topics and guests announced for this program, along with my take on the "memes" that the show is trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
Below are the topics and guests announced for this program, along with my take on the "memes" that the show is trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
Below are the topics and guests announced for this program, along with my take on the "memes" that the show is trying to push. With each guest's name are a series of links that I found in a web search that helped me get a handle on who they are and what their likely positions will be when they are interviewed.
The Weekend Talk Show Preview Thread is up
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It will be cross posted to my blog at
See the initial post for my "usual witty commentary." Some excerpts:
This election is best described as the triumph of the inanities. Let their gloating begin!
The most cynical and dishonest campaign in the history of our country has triumphed, IMNSHO. But what has it gained them? ...
... May God have mercy on us now, because Nancy, Harry, Hugo and Osama surely won't...
So, the 2006 elections are over and the Dhimmicrat's won. Now the battle to define that result is well and truly joined...
Thank you so much. I read this every Friday/Saturday.
Sigh, my FRiend. We live in interesting times.
I have some ideas, which I'll discuss on Sunday. It involves taking on the DBM.
Oh yeah!
I'm game. I'll be looking for your post. Please include me in the ping on it. I hope to have more energy and time to participate this week than the last couple of weeks. Being home for more than 24 hours will help and having taken today off and looking forward to Monday off I think I'll be much more relaxed. <g>
Also remember that it was largely RINOs who lost and DINOs who won. This could get really interesting.
Thanks Phsstpok! I am looking forward to seeing the posturing that's going to happen this weekend. Although, I'm sure we'll see a bunch of "I told you do" comments.
Well, Alas, the media were relentless barnstormers for the dems and they were successful. In fact, they have been quite successful over the last six years painting the President as both evil and brain dead. Lots of people still believe them and take their cues from them. I am most interested in hearing your ideas about what might be done about it.
AND A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR VETERANS. Without you there wouldn't be a republic.
I hope that you will be discussing them on the Sunday talk show thread. I'm done watching any of these shows and will only be checking your thread from now on. I hope to see you there.
Thanks for the ping Phsstpok. I think I will forgo the Sunday Shows for a bit and look for the positives in this election. I'm sure there are some and maybe '08 will turn out well for "real" conservatives, not the "pseudo" conservatives we have been putting up with.
Does anyone notice when the Dems are in power the conversations are all about bi-partisanship and working together to "solve" all the problems. Yet when the Reps were in power no viler language could be found anywhere than from nearly all Dems about dumb, foolish, won't work, not good for the country, wrong war, wrong time, terrorism not a real threat, impeachment, filibustering everyone, blah, blah, blah. Only the Dems apparently have "good working" ideas with a "firm" grasp on reality.
I like the first words from Representative-elect Heath Shuler's mouth when he gave his thank you speech. "First of all I want to thank God and my faith", or words to that effect. I bet this went over well with all the Democrats who believe any faith or belief in God is bad for the country.
***...and DINOs who won. This could get really interesting.***
Possibly, but my bet is that "DINO" carries absolutely no weight with the hierarchical structure of the Dem party. The Union Boss model will prevail.
Also campaign promises are treated as ephemera, not real. Freshman senators and reps will toe the line or get offices in closets and committee assignments that stink.
He started off by mentioning that "tomorrow is an extremely important day for America," and the crowd went wild, thinking he was talking about taking power. But of course, he launched into his praise of the Marine Corps, and the crowd cheered a little less loudly. Then he thanked all the brave veterans and brave men still fighting, and the crowd cheered a little less loudly again. Then he mentioned that he received a call from Sen. Allen, and the crowd went nuts again. Then he mentioned how pleasant and dignified Allen was, and the crowd grew quiet. Then he said he was having lunch next week with Allen — and the crowd was dead silent. Finally he told the audience that they should all thank Sen./Gov. Allen for his many years of dedicated service to the people of Virginia — and you could almost hear the people gathered looking at each other asking, "What the $#@! did we just do?" It was priceless.
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