Martin Bashir Exposes The Great Republican Hoax
Martin Bashir may be the most underrated show host on cable television. His show is consistently smart, loaded with facts and good discussion without the incessant screaming and fireworks of other cable news shows. His interview of Rep. Joe Walsh was masterful and yet, polite. Which is why when Bashir closes his Thursday show with a three-minute comment where he's clearly a bit angry, it gets my attention.
Mr. Bashir is frustrated with the constant drumbeat from Republicans about President Obama allegedly turning the US government into a "European-style government" and so he delivers an excellent argument for why they are wrong, and why the ones who are trying to point the United States in the direction of European-style governance are...Republicans.
Bashir targets the Republican fetish for austerity and spending cuts as evidence that they, not Democrats, are trying to transform the United States. At the end, he offers the results of Republican-style austerity measures in Europe, and what they haven't accomplished.
Well done, Mr. Bashir.
Transcript below the fold.
BASHIR: And if the Republican candidates carry on with their usual practice, then tonight at the CNN debate, they will continue to peddle a massive hoax, an incredible myth upon the American people. And what is that myth? That President Obama wants to transform America into Europe.
(BEGIN CLIP)
ROMNEY: President Obama has been building a European-style welfare state.
GINGRICH: Give the American people a chance to decide permanently whether we want to remain the historic America or whether, in fact, we prefer to become a brand-new secular European style bureaucratic socialist state.
(END CLIP)
BASHIR: Now, it may be that since I was born in Europe I'm a little more sensitive to these things, but in reality this is a massive hoax. Or to use Newt Gingrich's favorite word, the biggest pile of baloney that's ever been served.
Because far from the President wanting to follow Europe, it's actually the Republicans, both those running for President and those already elected to the House who desperately want to follow that continent.
How so? Well, as we know, the global recession which began in 2008, has forced countries to respond in different ways. The President has attempted to stimulate the economy. But others, particularly European nations, have stuck firmly to their believe that austerity is the way to go. And so, they've set about cutting services, demolishing government, reducing the safety net.
And it's this model, as practiced by several European nations, that Republicans like John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney want America to follow.
(BEGIN CLIP)
ROMNEY: As President, I will cut spending --
GINGRICH: -- cut spending -
BOEHNER: -- They elected us to cut spending...
ROMNEY: -- cut spending --
(END CLIP)BASHIR: So, just to be clear, Republicans accuse the President of wanting to copy Europe, when in fact it's the Republicans that want to follow the European lead in terms of the economy.
So now that we've put the facts straight, how's it all going in Europe with those pro-Republican approaches to austerity?
Well, in Ireland, they responded to their debt with a savage series of austerity measures and unemployment is now at 14 percent.
Across the Irish Sea in Britain, the latest figures are out for economic activity. Unfortunately, there wasn't any. The economy didn't grow at all. It shrank, by naught point two percent for the last three months of last year.
And in Spain, where a series of brutal austerity measures were applied, youth unemployment is getting ever closer to fifty -- yes, fifty -- percent.
These are the indisputable facts. It's one thing for Republicans to misrepresent the President. We expect that. But it's completely shameless in the very next breath to support those nations that they've accused the President of following.
No wonder people say Republicans have problems with irony.
Oh, fuck not Europe. Who wants to be like those bastards?
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
"Bless me father for i have sinned. Those crimes that i committed, well, i did 'em again. Empty my soul to empower yours. Lead me blind down the path to salvation's doors."
..since DirecTV is offering HBO for free this weekend, I saw Bashir on Bill Maher's show last night.
Between the insane ramblings of a washed-up wingnut named Dana Rohrabacher & ex-MTV space cadet Kennedy, Bashir was not allowed to say a thing.
Of course, Maher got into a shouting match with Rohrabacher. (Word to Bill: When you get in a shouting match with a right wing lunatic, the right wing lunatic has won), parsed words with the airhead Kennedy, yet Bashir --the only intelligent person on the panel--was all but ignored.
If I was Bashir, I would tweet what an asshole Bill Maher is, & that Bill Maher is no longer welcomed on any show hosted by Martin Bashir.
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
I don't know. Bill was trying to get Kennedy to shut the fuck up and allow Martin to talk. Kennedy seemed to be trying to protect Congressman Rohrabacher from actually having to saying something factual (Congressman Rohrabacher kept claiming that President Obama and the Democrats are trying to gut the U.S. military). My ears are still bleeding from the sound of that vapid Kennedy's shrill voice. My only complaint of Bill for last night's show was the fact that Congressman Rohrabacher and Kennedy were even on it.
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.phoenixjustice.com
..I agree that if Maher wants his panel discussion to be taken half way seriously, he cannot invite onto it unhinged nuts like Kennedy & Dana Rohrabacher.
On the other hand, if Bill is aware he has at least one intelligent person on his panel, it's up to Bill as panel traffic cop to tell the nutjobs to STFU so the person who doesn't live on Mars can speak.
When Bill began yelling at Rohrabacher, "I've got facts!" ...that's when the whole thing was tossed into the clown car column.
Because Dana Rohrabacher is as interested in facts as Mitt Romney is in poor people.
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
Bill, just because he's from nearby OC doesn't mean he's a local...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Maher likes to "stunt cast" his panels, i.e. books guests he knows will give him "good copy" (aka lie and make outrageous statements). Coulter was a regular for a long time on Politically Incorrect. Rohrabacher is a right wing nut job who makes "good copy".
I like Maher, but if he really wants to have an intellectual, intelligent, measured panel, start booking smart, intelligent, thoughtful, respectful guests and not right wing crazies who thrive on not being civil. Maher should know how these GOPers behave by now.
I think Bill actually likes to cast his panels with babes/she-males he'd like to bang. I didn't even know Kennedy was still alive (career and life-wise), let alone thinking she would have anything to add to a political discussion.
I don't mind seeing a prick like rohrbacher have to defend himself and get booed for trying to side with the audience, but I definitely feel stupider for having watched Kennedy.
...kinda cute, but adds nothing to the show.
I looked at the guest panel, three republicans and a dem. Hmm, not for me.
Haven't seen/heard Kennedy in ages. That's a good thing. There's someone from the 90's I didn't miss.
By far the worse, headache inducing "Real Time" thus far. Rohrahacher was an unrelenting, strident fool, Kennedy was a shrill shill, Maher just kept yelling that he had the facts (though I don't believe he actually produced one), and the one guy on the panel who I actually wanted to hear, Martin Bashir, couldn't get a word in edgewise. Just an awful shouting match that must have had poor Bashir scratching his head (not to mention covering his ears).
I agree with you that Maher is a jerk. He's very smart and comes up with some good insights now and then, but that doesn't make up for the fact that he lacks civility and self-control, and appears closer to the insane right-wing than the reasonable left at times.
Also, I love your signature. I think Sinclair Lewis would approve of your modifications for the current era.
--
Corporations are not people.
...she needed a dose of STFU.
That's unfair though; I only saw the interchange over the military budget and so I'll limit my criticism of ms. kennedy's demeanor to that segment only. Maybe she wow'd the crowd the rest of the show, I don't know yet.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
.
TFR
I've been toying with the idea of writing about the "Austerity Stupidity" in Europe and the folly of copying their mistake here, but DAMN if this video doesn't already nail it!
I may still write more with stats & figures in the future, but I'm glad this is out there.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
That's the way it goes. I start to write something for my own blog and then someone goes and writes it better than I could.
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.phoenixjustice.com
Thanks! We have all been exposing The Great Republican Hoax. Fact is that Conservatism is an ugly lie. Want more Proof? All the proof you need is to look at the destruction of the global economy brought on by a criminal conservative (Austerity) agenda.
Again Why I am the ONLY one pointing out the fact that Bush (no one doubts he was a complete idiot) implemented the perfect conservative agenda for 8 long years which led to the collapse and destruction of the global economy. It is so easy to see why The Conservative Agenda is a Hoax, it is built on an evil foundation of Power, Greed and Bigotry.
Free market BS, 'no new taxes', 'smaller government' are just phony slogans made up to conceal that republicans are robbing us blind.
"Maher is a jerk...."
He's William F. freaking BUCKLEY compared to what you'll find in the likes of Limbaugh or Hannity.
The GOP has done the IMPOSSIBLE....
They've MANAGED to get the entire nation to DESPISE them.
Obama 2012
We need more people to expose the hoaxes of this nation, especially of the last decade or so. Diebold is one of the great Republican hoaxes that I can think of that needs more exposing. Hopefully this trend of Mr. Bashir continues.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
news. Mr Bashir explains himself well and doesn't treat his viewers as idiots. Between Mr Bashir and Castro Valleys own Rachel Maddox there is some real decent news TV. And I like having someone that says it as a progressive.
Although with ACTA we can all be subject to a European Style Court.
Yea Obama! Because we don't have anyone better. :^(
good and informative shows. I see Martin Bashir on some afternoon, especially when the weather is cold an crappy, and he is well informed and thoughtful...and low-key, which is a nice change.
He is followed, at 4 p.m., by Dylan Ratigan - who sometimes talks too much and too fast, but he has a very interesting take on the economic issues in particular, and usually pretty good guests. The other day he had
Eliot Spitzer on and it was a great discussion.
And, Chris Hayes new show 'Up' on Sat/Sun mornings is excellent. He is very bright and has really erudite guests whom you will not see on the other shows.
Too bad more Reich-wing types don't watch MSNBC - they could learn something, if they wanted to.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
I like Bashir , he's straight up , is refreshing listening to him , he's not the robot or the tool you see on CNN day after day and night after night . As for news and politics I don't watch anything else but MSNBC . Fox and the Reich hate MSNBC like we hate Fox and the Reich , that's good , that's very good .
...I see a glimmer of what Keith Olbermann used to do. He could wind himself up about these issues as well, albeit with a little more theatrics. But expect Olbermann to be so livid as well...
I wonder how long it will be before the corporate media drops Brashir down a memory hole.
Europe. Socialism. Boooo!
Yeah, because I would rather live in some backward ass redneck shit hole state down south, where the median income is barely enough to have half a set of teeth, to some place like Sweden or Denmark, or Germany, or France, or........................................
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
.....When he talks.
I'm sure none of these clowns are even aware how bad Europe is right now.
Obama doesn't have any policies that are close to what Europe is doing. Not even the so-called socialist stuff.
He is just continuing the same old programs the US has been doing for 50 years.
Finally somebody called these idiots on their lies.
Elbow From the Sky
Maddow...Neither seem to be suffering the constraints of limited interest...Are well versed on a multitude of issues and put it to the liars!
The repubs know full well that they are lying and diverting attention away because the truth points the arrow at their hearts!
Thank you for standing up to the fools..whether they are willfully or ignorantly deluding the PEOPLE!!
"Obama doesn't have any policies that are close to what Europe is doing. Not even the so-called socialist stuff.
He is just continuing the same old programs the US has been doing for 50 years."
Sorry to bust up the MSNBC "fake-liberal" love fest, but Obama is not continuing the same programs of the last 50 years!
Have any of you heard the words "Glass-Steagall" come out of his face?
Like Naomi Klein suggested in the "Shock Doctrine", Capitalist lay around waiting for a time of crisis only to be reintroduces old ideas when they think the people are off balance. Obama dragged out an old Republican idea dreamed up in the halls of the Heritage Foundation ("Pay Roll Tax Holiday") to defund Social Security and did not even bother to change the name? This is a fact! You will never hear Martin Bashir, Rachel Maddow, or any of the MSNBC "dog and pony shows" mention this.
Nothing plays as well as the oldies.
Look at how corporate org-charts emulate European aristocracy and reveal how much conservatives worship and adore the high-birth / low-birth model.
Every day after reading yet another Republican peddling their lies (and worse, Progressives repeating them) I think about writing a blog that would run every day that would expose and debunk each and every myth they espoused that day. Only, i get overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and don't even know where to start, so i keep hoping someone else will do it. Also, does anyone remember that cheer that cheerleaders used to do all the time? "Be aggressive, be be aggressive!". Thats what we need to be.
Brave Lady Liberty who carries her forever-lit torch of enlightenment, freedom, and hope. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me."
We needs pamphlets, flyers, tweets, emails....we need to use every available option to counter them.
Brave Lady Liberty who carries her forever-lit torch of enlightenment, freedom, and hope. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me."
Swiss style.
"Every day after reading yet another Republican peddling their lies (and worse, Progressives repeating them) I think about writing a blog that would run every day that would expose and debunk each and every myth they espoused that day"
I guess if one does not want to face "inconvenient truths" about their MSNBC heroes you can label the messenger Republican.
I am not a Republican, nor am I a Democrat. What I stated above about Obama's "Pay Roll Tax Holiday" being originally a Heritage Foundation idea to defund Social Security if a FACT! No one on MSNBC dared to bring this to light; most of the MSNBC talking heads go out of their way to sell us Obama's Tax Holiday, just as they did with ObamaCare.
Please respond to the issue.
First of all MSNBC is the only news outlet that ever exposes the bs from the right on several of their shows, and please explain how a tax holiday would defund SS??? I think know one has said anything about this because it's crap? If we made a level playing field of the tax system, got 10-15 million people back to work paying taxes, eliminate the Bush tax cut's and do something about the trade nightmare with China this country would be in great shape. Things could be done to help the big three also but that's another subject. At any rate I think your way wrong. Just one thing off the top of my head would be to remove the cap on SS and stop people that don't need SS for retirement from collecting SS would be fine for several decades. The biggest problem is not enough income from payroll and corporate taxes, which could be fixed in the least by getting A LOT of people back to work. Pretty simple really.
There's an obvious disconnect between the two groups of posters here. "Old" Europe is socialist. "New (very!)" Europe is pure Teaparty. Obviously Barack Obama is neither. The Repuglies are just plain confused! I say we keep it that way.
"please explain how a tax holiday would defund SS???"
The Pay Roll Tax Holiday was Dreamed up by the HERITAGE FOUNDATION in the 90's as a back door way to turn Social Security into a "entitlement" to make it unpopular and easier to kill!
Connect the freaking dots! Obama tried twice to put social security on the negotiating table; and appointing Alan (Cat food) Simpson to a commission to cut SS it should not be surprising that an old "off the shelf" trick from the Heritage Foundation should be pulled out.
Obama will never re-negotiate NAFTA; this means that we will never compete with the Fox Conn (35 cents/hour) slave labor in China! Wages have been flat for 30 years; GreenSpan and his buddies were not about to increase wages, so the decided to turn our homes into ATM machine to put a little cash in our pockets so we could buy their stuff. You know how that worked out.
Now, Obama is pulling the same trick; take our retirement money, spend it on I-pads, and stuff (wages remain flat) and fake economic improvement to allow him a second term.
Are we really that thick???
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