My google search traffic is up +602% today (and it's not yet noon) due almost entirely to Kevin James...
Search for “kevin james” = 196
Search for “”kevin james“” = 12
Search for “kevin james conservative” = 9
Search for “kevin james radio” = 8
Search for “kevin james embarrassed” = 2
Ouch!
UPDATE II: At least Kevin James is becoming a world famous YouTube celebrity...
Much has already been made about the horror show performance of ABC News moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos who spent the first 42 minutes of last night's democratic debate pummeling Obama “entirely on specious and gossipy trivia”. The two alleged newsmen spent half the debate on such pressing issues as Obama's “bitter” comment, the patriotism of Obama's pastor, Obama serving on a board with a member of the Weather Underground and Obama's decision not to wear a flag lapel pin.
With the above absurdity in mind, it was particularly refreshing to see Obama refuse to attack Clinton for her sniper fire lies despite being baited repeatedly by Stephanopoulos:
“I think Senator Clinton deserves the right to make some errors once in a while”
Refreshing that is unless you are a member of the mainstream media which clearly takes offense to Obama's above the fray tactics. For evidence of this one need not look any further than Chris Matthews, Chuck Todd and Bob Herbert's inanity on Hardball this afternoon.
One hopes that Obama learns a lesson here and next time slams Clinton or McCain or whoever for completely superficial non-issues in order to please our media whores!
In a promo airing on MSNBC Chris Matthews states that “politics at its best is a battle of ideas where one person with some guts and belief takes on someone else with some guts and belief and those who watch get to decide who is right”.
Unfortunately, those who watch the January 15th Democratic debate in Las Vegas will not see one of the gutsiest candidates since NBC recently revamped its own rules in order to kick Congressman Dennis Kucinich out of the debate. One can't help but wonder if this is because of some of Kucinich's ideas - bring the troops home now and vehemently anti-war - are anathema to NBC's parent company, General Electric (GE), which is also a large military defense contractor.
At a minimum, the exclusion of Kucinich certainly makes Matthews a hypocrite. As he says, “those who watch get to decide who is right”, not those who run media conglomerates. Should one feel inclined to ask Matthews to stand by his words and let the people decide, his email is hardball@msnbc.com.
Chris Matthews takes his job of representing the establishment elite very seriously. That's why he was up in arms over the New York Times piece exonerating his boy, Rudy G., of any wrongdoing regarding the accounting in the Judith Nathan trysts matter. Matthews believes that the one-week long story might have cost Rudy 10 points in the polls and may ruin his chances at the presidency.
But, Matthews fails to exhibit any remorse when it comes to his eight years of propaganda filled coverage of Al Gore dating back to his presidential campaign against another Matthews favorite, George W. Bush. Throughout that campaign Matthews was quick to spread the ridiculous propaganda about Gore being a constant fibber and a prolific exaggerator.
As this mashup evidences, that entire line of propaganda pushed by Matthews and others was bullshit from the start and despite numerous articles proving such, Matthews has continued to promulgate his lies about Gore eight years after the fact. No where does Matthews show concern for contributing to Gore's loss in 2000 and the subsequent harm his antics caused the country via the Bush presidency.
But one should not expect anything more from the rank propagandist, outright liar and ultimate hack that is Matthews.
This is a much watch video. Elizabeth Edwards, who is truly the epitome of “good people”, calls up Chris Matthews on the air to politely ask his guest, Ann Coulter, to stop personally attacking her opponents. Coulter's endless list of grossly distasteful and inappropriate attacks include calling John Edwards a “faggot” and, I kid you not, stating that Edwards made campaign bumper stickers that said, “Ask me about my son's death in a horrific car accident”. There are no words that can adequately describe the level of distaste involved in Coulter even mentioning the tragedy that took the life of the , never mind the unfathomable context of her quote. Reprehensible, disgusting, revolting and beyond the pale all fail to convey the hate, spite and hurt of her words on their target and the damage such vitriol does to society.
And one should not underestimate the damage that Coulter does to society. It is because of people like her, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh that hate speech which would have been condemned 10 to 15 years ago is now part of the daily Republican lexicon. This hurts political discourse (which is the main point) and divides the country (also the point) so that the open debate necessary to make democracy work vanishes. This enables government's to carry out policies that benefit corporations at the expense of the people and still win reelection by demonizing their opponents. Red state America might be struggling like never before with fewer, lower paying jobs, expensive healthcare and rising energy and education costs, but will that matter when they are faced with voting for a “faggot” for president?
Now, while everything I've written thus far is certainly true, it is misplaced. This isn't really about Ann Coulter. Maybe someone doesn't know the story about Coulter and the bumper stickers but we all certainly know that Ann Coulter has made a living off of unconscionable hate speech. A quick google search turns up site after site after site after site evidencing Coulter's endless transgressions. Thus, the real question we should be asking is why is she being given a public forum to espouse her hate. Elizabeth Edwards is correct to confront the hate but she really should be directing it at Chris Matthews and MSNBC. He should be ashamed of himself, booed, picketed and avoided until he stops giving voice to such hatemongers like Coulter. Yes, this also means that Fox 'News' should be boycotted altogether irrespective of the fact that it is a right wing propaganda machine.
Simply put, we should be outraged with Chris Matthews for enabling Coulter by giving her a microphone. He gave voice to outrageous and unacceptable hate speech that he knew had often caused harm in the past and was likely to do so again. And since Matthews was in a position to prevent this harm and chose not to, he should be held accountable.
Matthews position is akin to that of a bartender. We rely on bartenders to stop serving highly inebriated patrons in order to protect society from harm often caused by very drunk people. History tells us that as people get drunker the likelihood for accidents, fights and drunk driving increase, all of which take a toll on society. Thus, bartenders can and should be held liable when they fail to act responsibly and harm ensues. And the same should be true for Matthews.
And Elizabeth's husband on Iraq. Not quite as inspirational as his wife, the former Senator still deserves credit for continuously giving far more detailed and complete answers on Iraq and every other subject than any other candidate from either party.
SUBSCRIBE
By subscribing to the blog you can get updates delivered to your desktop, web browser or email without visiting the hotpotatomash website.
