I finally got to watch Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine as it came out on DVD this week. You know how sometimes you watch movies or read books and something resonates with you but you can't quite put your finger on why? The movie is set in my hometown of San Francisco, but it wasn't the San Francisco I know. So it wasn't the setting. Certainly, I've known my share of Junior Leaguer socialite types like Jasmine, but this character was so aggressively narcissistic that she didn't remind me of anyone specific. The first epiphany hit me in the middle of night when I realized that I had essentially watched a modern adaptation of "A Streetcar Named Desire". But still there was a niggling recognition of something else that remained frustratingly out of reach.
And then when I started prepping for this post, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Jasmine is exactly like the Beltway Bubble: privileged, entitled, judgmental, disdainful and ultimately, delusional and destructive to everyone around her. Though she ostensibly came from the same upbringing as her sister Ginger, she sneers at her sister's blue collar surroundings and implies in every aside, every false smile or backhanded compliment, that she thinks Ginger is a loser and deserves every bad thing that happened to her. Whereas, Jasmine believes herself entitled to fly first class even when she has no money. Other people have to grapple with being lied to, used and stolen from. In Jasmine's mind, she's the real victim, for having to endure people beneath her. Like I said: she *is* the Beltway Bubble.
ABC's "This Week" - Jay Carney, White House press secretary; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. Panel: ABC News’ Cokie Roberts, Yahoo News national political columnist Matt Bai, CNN “Crossfire” co-host Van Jones, Patriot Voices chair and former Sen. Rick Santorum, and Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren. Filmmaker Greg Whiteley.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff'; Edward Snowden's legal advisor, Jesselyn Radack; Billie Jean King. Roundtable: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA); former FCC Chairman, now President and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Michael Powell; Republican Strategist Mike Murphy; New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Carolyn Ryan; and NBC's Chuck Todd.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Billie Jean King and Brian Boitano, U.S. Olympic delegates. Panel: Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal, Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and President Obama's former Chief of Staff and CBS News Contributor Bill Daley.
MSNBC's "UP with Steve Kornacki" - David Mello, city council member, Hoboken, public school teacher; Elizabeth Mason, city council member, Hoboken; Andrea Bernstein, Metro Editor, WNYC News radio; Brian Murphy, Baruch College; Jim McQueeny, fmr. Chief of Staff/spokesman for Sen. Frank Lautenberg, fmr. Comm. Dir., for NJ General Assembly; Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ); Brian Wice, criminal defense attorney; Paul Butler, fmr. Federal prosecutor, professor, Georgetown University; Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post; Katrina Vanden-Heuvel, The Nation; Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times.
MSNBC's " - Melissa Harris-Perry" - Laura Flanders, Author of “Blue Grit”; Jonathan Capehart, The Washington Post; Kelly Ditmar, Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers; Beth Fouhy, Senior Editor at MSNBC.com; Jelani Cobb, Associate Professor at UConn; John McWhorter, Professor at Columbia University / Columnist for The New Republic; Kevin Walsh, Associate Director of Fair Share Housing Center; Frank Argote-Freyre, Latino Action Network; James Perry, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center; Carlos Sandoval, Co-Producer and Co-Director of “The State of Arizona”; Catherine Tambini, Co-Producer and Co-Director of “The State of Arizona”.
MSNBC's "Disrupt with Karen Finney" - Jamelle Bouie, The Daily Beast; Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino; Krystal Ball, Co-host of MSNBC’s “The Cycle”; Fmr. Rep. Marjorie Margolies (D-PA); Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD); Reid Wilson, Washington Post; Perry Bacon, TheGrio.com.
CNN's "State of the Union" - Dan Pfeiffer, White House senior adviser; Paul; Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Tom Cole, R-Okla.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Egypt's interim prime minister, Hazem El Beblawi.
"Fox News Sunday" - Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Pfeiffer. Panel: Brit Hume, Julie Pace, White House Correspondent for The Associated Press, George Will, Evan Bayh, Former Democratic Senator from Indiana.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
