So I’m having Super Tuesday Super Fun, watching The Coverage on NBC and they have Howard Dean in the satellite box.
Olbermann asks all the wrong questions, trying to work some gossipy angle about the Kennedy endorsement. Howard doesn’t bite and starts with the litany of policy issues to get his point in.
Then Tweety Matthews steps in to ask Howard a question. Out of nowhere, something they haven’t even mentioned before, Chris starts reading off “demographics” from exit polls that say most Dem voters have college degrees.
His point, which he stated explicitly,
“the Democratic party used to be the party of Unions, the working class, but now it’s all.. gentrified, isn’t it? What do you think about this gentrification of the Democratic party?”
What Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee should have said at this point is
“What the fuck are you talking about, Chris? You’re asking me to respond to some demographic stats you just pulled out of your ass? What the fuck, you lecherous freak! Ask me a real question about the Primaries. How about that?”
But instead Howard took the bait. Said something about how
“it’s a sign some Republicans are switching over. It’s good to have smart people voting for you.”
Nooo! Dude! Where is your media training? Don’t you know better than to try to honestly address a question from Chris fucking Matthews? Didn’t you realize Tweety was using you to make some stupid point about the Democratic party being all about Liberal
Elites? It’s a decades-old Right-Wing narrative. Argh.
Keep your eye on Tweety tonight. Matthews and Olbermann sharing the Anchor spot. Media criticism is a contact sport.
Front page
Matthews is flailing and lost bec he's not allowed to bash Hill
anymore, so he doesn’t have anything to talk about at all—he was all Clinton all the time.
And he’s second banana to Olbermann, and 4th banana behind Russert and Brokaw tonight too.
He needs to retire—let Rachel have his slot.
(i think he’s sad that Clinton’s doing well, too)
i lurv me some Howie
and it’s because he is real, unpolished and not savvy with shit like that. but i’m also sorry that it’s a skill set he hasn’t really developed over his terms as chief. for exactly this reason.
yes, shy, it’s rather pathetic. republicans long ago learned to put pretty faces good at spouting talking points in front of cameras. dems keep picking the very worst public faces. like the dem gov who gave the response to the SOTU. like a grandmother lecturing children on the need to read their bibles. snore….
Actually Dean did call him out on his reasoning...
Dean first started by saying that Matthews was quoting numbers from Massachuttes exit polls and he said Mass. had one of the highest educated populaces in the country, so not indicative of the nation as a whole, and then an open Dem primary allowed many independents and dissatisfied Republicans to vote, skewing the numbers even more so.
While it would be nice for Dean to just call him a dick, after his so-called “scream” and press bashing in 04 you can’t blame him for not wanting to give the press and opportunity to label him as angry.
I notice Dean is always very careful when speaking with Press these days (for good reasons).
Dean should have said.
He should have said educated people vote democratic. Uneducated people do not know better.
mike in slo: good point, but
lemme run this by ya:
teevee bobblehead: Sen. McCain, it’s been rumored that you fathered a black love child some years ago and…
slams table, gruff jowl rumbing
mccain: How dare you!! I can’t believe this. /rips off mike, storms off stage, bobblehead shamed and fired/
and this:
teevee bobblehead: Sen. Clinton, what do you have to say to those critics who claim you killed Vince Foster in a jealous lesbian rage?
clinton: well, i’d like to talk about the issues, and how we can all work together…
which happens more often or more closely approximates reality?
the point i’m trying to make is that it really is a completely unbalanced playground, and for the worst of reasons. rethugs know what they don’t have to stand for, don’t have to take. dems, even the ’good’ ones, seem to enjoy regular humiliation and giving over framing power to their proven enemies in the media.
how can there ever be “winning” for our side when such habits/rules apply? unless and until a dem is brave enough to take on media bias for real, it’s a lose lose situation for “our” leaderz.
oh, and this discussion is enriched by anyone who has a youtube/complete transcript. thanks.
Digby was watching Tweety last night too
here: