Video courtesy of our very own BlueGal.
There's a dangerously short memory span in our country. People can barely remember past two or three news cycles. Last year? Not so much. Five years ago? Fuhgeddaboudit. Generational reference? Listen to the wind whistling by. And that makes life frustrating to those of us engaged enough to remember these things. I can't figure out if it's just a collective congenital defect or the byproduct of our media. Maybe it's a "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" kind of question. But I do know the media sure isn't helping matters any.
A perfect example is this week with the bobbleheads. Now you would think that after the SOTU and that nice little smackdown by Obama to the Republican congressmembers, that we might have some measure of cognitive reasoning on the part of the press to perhaps ask their Republican guests why deficits are so concerning now, when they were adding to it like madmen in the previous administration. Or why their definition of "bipartisanship" is "do it our way or we'll not work with you". Or why they have threatened to filibuster more legislation than any other congress in the history of the country. But no. With the memories of all past historical actions wiped conveniently off the slate, the bobbleheads approach each issue as if there are two (and only two) equally valid sides to present as "balance." Meanwhile, they continually feed and enable these short memory spans for Americans, who then expect results as quickly as possible, or else.
This Week (with whatever guest host) has Senator-elect Scott Brown on. Expect much fawning over Cosmo Boy. What's more egregious to me is the inclusion of Roger Ailes on their roundtable. Excuse me? What justification could TW have in bringing on the president of a rival network and avowed partisan? WH Senior Adviser David Axelrod goes on before Rep. John "The Great Pumpkin" Boehner on Meet the Press. Expect Boehner to whine about the GOP humiliation this week being televised. And Mitch "Mr. Obstruction" McConnell will be on State of the Union, undoubtedly with a whole new slew of bald-faced lies that the media won't remember to fact check.
ABC's "This Week" - Sen.-elect Scott Brown, R-Mass.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Govs. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., Ed Rendell, D-Pa., and Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - White House senior adviser David Axelrod; House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Kelly O'Donnell, Jim Cramer, Katie Connolly, Andrew Sullivan. Topics: President Obama's Pivot to Jobs: Can It Create Jobs and Political Traction? The Power of Tea Partiers: Do They Prevent Any Republican Compromise with President Obama? Meter Questions: If unemployment remains near 10%, can President Obama still get some credit for a jobs push? YES: 1 NO: 11;
Can Dems Neutralize the Throw-the-Bums-Out Attitude by November? YES: 4 No: 8.
CNN's "State of the Union" - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Granholm; AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Larry Summers, Obama's economic advisor, for a candid interview covering everything from the bailout to Bernanke. Plus, in a highly unusual interview, Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki defends --in English-- the disputed presidential election and the precipitating violence.
CNN's "Amanpour" - Education in Haiti: Less than half of Haiti's school-age children were being educated before the earthquake and there was no real standardized curriculum. Can Haiti now fix its broken school system? David Cameron: Polls sugget Britain's Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, could defeat Gordon Brown in this year's election.Christiane asks him about Britain's role in rebuilding Haiti, his views on Afghanistan, Iraq and his plan for dealing with UK economic woes.
"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Reps. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
