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The cable networks were all over promoting Michael Steele's speech to the RNC yesterday. (d-day asked if they ever televised Howard Dean's speeches to the DNC when he was elected, but I digress.) They gave Steele unfettered access to our airwaves and allowed him to give a partisan attack speech for almost thirty minutes to a man who is the laughingstock of the GOP and needs all the support he can get.

Giving him free, unpaid airtime to make a lengthy statement denigrating President Obama devoid of ideas, I guess, seemed like a good thing for Steele, but if they really wanted to show us what the RNC is all about, why didn't they televise the debate they had about their resolution which would have branded the Democratic Party the “Democrat Socialist Party"?

This would have been a much clearer window into the minds and hearts of the Republican Party, which has been the party of know-nothings and do-nothings and extremist rhetoric since the day Obama took office.

In the video above, you can get a glimpse of this internal debate: Neil Cavuto on Sunday absolutely castigated Republican National Committeewoman Cathie Adams for proposing the resolution.

Well, it looks like they are toning it down somewhat:

Members of the Republican National Committee appear to have reached a compromise that would let GOP leaders avoid a possible dispute over a controversial resolution that calls on Democrats to re-name their party the "Democrat Socialist party."

Steele has come out against the resolution, calling it "not an appropriate way to express our views on the issues of the day." One of Steele's allies on the committee, Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer, told CNN the resolution is "stupid" and "ridiculous."

However, New Jersey committeeman David Norcross, one of the sponsors of the resolution, told CNN the language is being massaged so that Steele and others on the committee will be more receptive. "The language is being changed so that the proposers and chairman Steele are on the same page," Norcross said.

He said that as of Tuesday afternoon, the chairman of the RNC Standing Committee on Resolutions had changed the language to "condemn the Democrats' march to socialism" instead of "talking about the 'Democrat Socialist' party."

The change was made, Norcross said, so that members "wouldn't have to fight about it, and I think everybody agreed."

Steele figures that just calling Obama and the Democratic party socialists all day long in print and on TV is good enough because the talking heads will not call them out on it. Why go to the effort when their media enablers are happy to handle the chore?

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Bill O'Reilly's hatred of NBC really has no limits. Including the most crass hypocrisy.

Last night on his Fox News show, O'Reilly featured some audio from Jesse Watters' invasion of the GE shareholders meeting -- which he described as a "stockholders' revolt."

Though there was some applause for Watters' histrionics (gee, now there's a surprise; right-wingers at a shareholders meeting), there was no actual "stockholders revolt." Just Jesse, doin' his shameless-partisan-attack-hack schtick.

But what was actually noteworthy about the segment was its overarching theme, as in the announced topic: "Will General Electric get paid for supporting President Obama?"

It concludes with this capper:

O'Reilly: Now think about this, ladies and gentlemen: A failing corporation, General Electric, might reap billions of dollars if the feds OK the carbon deal. By the way, GE is already getting taxpayer bailout money for its financial unit. So it's not a stretch to assume [GE CEO Jeffrey] Immelt would want to help President Obama as much as possible.

Now, we've asked Mr. Immelt a number of times to appear here on the Factor, but he will not, and that's why we sent Jesse out to see him.

This is obviously a major story -- when a powerful corporation which controls a major part of the American media may be using its power and the airwaves to influence politics in order to make money from government contracts. That kind of corruption would make Watergate look small. We hope it is not true.

This funny, coming from the lead personality at a network owned by Rupert Murdoch, who has essentially carved out his niche in America by helping to promote Republicans, who turned about and enabled him to make billions of dollars in this country by rewriting the longstanding rules of ownership. This was first noticed back in 1995, and continued for as long as Republicans held Congress and the White House.

I just love that chryon: "When a major company uses its power to influence politics and make money, it's a big story."

Really. An Bill O'Reilly has been around politics how long now?

And this wasn't a "big story" when Rupert Murdoch did it?

Brit Hume: Second City TV

Digby reminded me of this segment on Brit Hume yesterday. C&L got a little inside information.

Tom: Brit, in a way I'm so happy that I got indicted. This way I can yell at all the democrats at the top of my lungs and nobody will mind.

Brit: Yes Tom, that will work really well. The left is famous for conspiracy theories so have a little fun.

Tom: How many times should I say partisan attack, liberal and fanatic you think?

Brit: The more the merrier.

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Tom: I'll say I was extorted by Earle too and throw in a runaway jury for good measure. Everybody remembers the runaway bride story.

Brit: Yea, she was kinda cute. I'll be the lawyer, judge and jury and you can fill in the blanks since I won't have any of the evidence that Ronnie Earle does.

Delay: What about all the democrats he prosecuted?

Brit: Just say they were democratic enemies, that way it'll cover all the bases.

Tom: That's real good Brit, I'll laugh and joke and make believe I didn't know anything. I have a really nice smile you know.

Brit: I know Tom, you are real photogenic when you want to be. Don't forget to make the uniter-divider reference.

Tom: I'm the hammer-Brit.

Brit: Then we'll shake hands to seal the deal. I'm Brit Hume after all; the most fair and balanced of them all.

We've received a lot of mail questioning why Stewart didn't do it on all the other shows that he has been a guest on.

My guess would be that he had to have the forum where both parties were represented so it didn't look like a partisan attack and that it would be live. Stewart did appear on Hannity and Colmes and The O'Reilly Factor, but do you think Roger Ailes would have let that run? I don' t think so. Also, he needed more time than is usually afforded guests on most talk shows to make his point. Paul Begala was smart and pretty much let Stewart do his thing while Tucker Carlson kept digging himself deeper. View the show here