Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread

By Nicole Belle — March 11, 2012

Cliff Schecter/Mark Williams on Russia Today, November, 2011

My eighth grader is working on a team project in her social studies class. Her teacher listed what she thought were the biggest problems facing us today. The students broke into teams to research and brainstorm possible solutions to the following problems:

Global Warming
Education
Foreign Policy
Economy

When my kid came home to talk about this project, I couldn't help myself from saying, "You know how you solve these problems? Stop electing Republicans." Seriously. Problems solved.

But upon reflection, I think it's even simpler than that: We need to stop listening to Republicans. We need to stop letting them dominate the conversation. Look at my buddy, Cliff Schecter, in the video above. He's one of the few progressives who gets booked and is consistently able to dominate over the patented Luntz-crafted Republican talking points. He absolutely devours the opposition and leaves them sputtering. That's what we need so very much more of. We need to see Cliff--we need a hundred Cliffs--taking charge of the conversation, so that we can render all of the Republican Party as ineffectual as their solutions are.

ABC's "This Week" — The economy; job growth; Iran: SyriaSens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Panel: Jake Tapper, Austan Goolsbee, Mary Matalin, Eliot Spitzer; Nicolle Wallace.

NBC's "Meet the Press" — GOP presidential race: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum; Govs. Bob McDonnell, R-Va., and Martin O'Malley, D-Md.; Panel: Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.); Peggy Noonan; EJ Dionne; Rev. Al Sharpton.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" -- Topics: What The Obama Team Worries About for the Next Eight Months. Rush Limbaugh, will he help or hurt the GOP with moderates? Panel: Kathleen Parker, Bob Woodward, Major Garrett, Becky Quick.

MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" - The relationship between Israel, Palestine and the U.S.. Panel: Rula Jebreal, Leila Hilal; Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi; Jeremy Ben-Ami. Guests: Ruth Dayan, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi; Zev Chafets.

MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" - Southern strategy, redistricting, Syria, girls’ body image and bullying, making billions off women. Panel: Katon Dawson, Andrea Mitchell. Guest: Margaret Cho

CBS' "Face the Nation" — GOP presidential race: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; President Obama's re-election campaign: Robert Gibbs, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Panel: Norah O'Donnell; John Dickerson.

CNN's "State of the Union" — State of the Union Democratic agenda in Congress; 2012 election: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Presidential race: Former Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.); Steve Forbes. Panel: Dan Balz; Stephen Moore; former OMB director Alice Rivlin.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Russia under Putin rule, negotiating with Iran, and the GOP’s presidential candidates with Henry Kissinger. Panel: Elliott Abrams; Rula Jabreal; Daniel Levy; Bret Stephens.

CNN's "Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz" -- Danny Strong and Jay Roach on "Game Change"; Michael Medved and Stephanie Miller on Rush Limbaugh; Erin McPike, Eleanor Clift and Ramesh Ponnuru on the GOP presidential race.

"Fox News Sunday" — Republican presidential race: Gingrich; Syria: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Panel: Dana Perino; Liz Marlantes; Chip Saltsman; former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)