Obama “explains” his Reagan quote (video) by — wait for it — ratifying Republican framing:

He leads off:

Well, I think that, keep in mind Ronald Reagan came in during the 1980s, at a time when, I think, Democrats still dominated Congress, when the view was that we were going to solve our problems, oftentimes, by expanding government programs, and he challenged many of those ideas.

He proceeds to criticize Reagan’s policies and then says:

When Bill Clinton said “the era of small government is over,” he was echoing some of the shifts that had taken place.  Read more 

Oh wait, wasn’t that supposed to be the rap on Bill Clinton? George Stephanopoulos was supposed to be the true liberal believer, the progressive conscience of the administration, the last honest kid, or so he conjured himself in his book about his Clinton years.

The particular Sunday Gas Baggery which is emitted each week from ABC is almost worth imbibing to watch the spectacle of Lil’ George displaying his bad conscience. Oh, I know, he’s a journalist now. If only! Okay, maybe like Zelig, he is. Perhaps I’m being hard on the kid, but if anyone can supply me with evidence that George Stephanopoulos shows any sign of ever having believed deeply in anything beyond his own career advancement, about any aspect of politics, governance, or even journalism, I will be happy to reconsider.

Here’s the short version of this particular Sunday: Joe Biden was terrific, Richard Lugar, awful, pathetically so, Rep. Duncan Hunter was awful, but brilliantly so, no pathos there, thank-you, and don’t ever accuse ABC or George of not being receptive to the truest of rightwing believers, the Roundtable was awful in your basic every Sunday sense of being awful. And then there’s the truly awful Green Room, an on-line phenomenon I’ve ignored until this week’s This Week.  Read more