Lewis Black
And so the real fight begins.
To be honest, I was not all that nervous on Tuesday. I looked at the people willing to wait in line to early vote for seven, eight, nine hours and knew that it wasn't nearly as close as the media kept portraying it. But for as confident as I was, I didn't for one minute believe that the battle was over with President Obama winning re-election. No, now is the time for the real fight, the fight to push policies (and the President) as far to the left as we can.
We're up against some pretty strong forces. Those same media outlets who kept telling us that the presidential election was neck and neck are now demanding that the President negotiate some sort of "grand bargain" to get the debt and deficit down. Amazing that this wasn't a concern once during the Bush administration, but we all know that the expectations don't matter when you're a Republican. I'm all for exercising fiscal responsibility, but not at the expense of the social safety net or through austerity measures that we can already see are not working in Europe.
And so therefore, it is now that the real fight begins and I'm look to all of you to join me in the battle for progressive values.
Are you ready to fight?
ABC's "This Week" -- Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Reps. Donna Edwards, D-Md. Panel: Fox News anchor Greta van Susteren, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., The Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot, and The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel.
NBC's "Meet the Press" -- Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Andrea Mitchell; Jim Cramer; Roundtable: Rep.-elect Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt; presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, and NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" -- Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post; Bob Woodward, The Washington Post; Helene Cooper, The New York Times; David Ignatius, The Washington Post.
CBS' "Face the Nation" -- David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Roundtable: Vanity Fair's Dee Dee Myers, Harvard University's David Gergen, The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan and CBS News Political Director John Dickerson.
MSNBC's "UP with Chris Hayes" -- Edward Conard, Managing Director at Bain Capital, LLC from 1993 until 2007, author of “Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy is Wrong”; Hakeem Jeffries, newly elected Congressman representing the 8th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York State Assemblyman;Teresa Ghilarducci, labor economist and Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School
MSNBC's "Melissa Harris Perry" -- Richard Kim, Executive Editor, The Nation; Maya Wiley, Founder and President, Center for Social Inclusion; Lizz Winstead, Author of “Lizz Free or Die,” Political Satirist and Co-Creator of “The Daily Show”. John Podesta, Ken Duberstein, and David Gergen; New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg.
CNN's "State of the Union" -- Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif.; former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah; former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; Gary Bauer, president of American Values.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Jeffrey Sachs and TIME’s Bryan Walsh; John Podesta, Ken Duberstein, and David Gergen.
CNN's "Reliable Sources" -- Jackie Kucinich of USA Today, Peter Baker of The New York Times, and Fred Francis, former correspondent for NBC News;
"Fox News Sunday" _ Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Republicans Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA). Panel -- Bill Kristol,The Weekly Standard/Fox News Contributor; Evan Bayh,Fox News Contributor//Former Democratic Senator from Indiana; Laura Ingraham, The Laura Ingraham Show / Fox News Contributor; Kirsten Powers, Daily Beast Columnist, Fox News Contributor
So what's catching your eye this morning?
