Today Show Blames Palin & Bachmann for Ending Civility, Ignored Democrat Comparing GOP to Nazis
NBC's Today show never covered Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen comparing Republicans to Nazis, but on Friday co-anchor Meredith Vieira determined Sarah Palin's mocking of Barack Obama's Winning the Future slogan as the precise moment when the new era of "civility" in Washington, came to an end. After Vieira opened this morning's show announcing: "End of civility? Sarah Palin takes a shot at President Obama's call for winning the future...is the new tone of togetherness in Washington already over?" she brought on MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell to chastise Palin and Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann:
"[Palin] really struggles with that sounding presidential thing. It's a real challenge for her. And you know, look it's, it's as weird as it gets. But really if you are looking for a lack of civility or the argumentative stuff...this week you really have to go to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. No one else is doing it."
In a segment entitled "Remember Civility? Why Are Palin & GOP Stepping Up Criticism?" O'Donnell and Vieira took turns bashing the former Alaska Governor and Minnesota Congresswoman as seen in the follow January 28 exchange:
(video, audio and transcript after the jump)
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Okay I want to move on to Sarah Palin. As Savannah mentioned, she's been going around basically bad mouthing the President. She said the acronym for his stated goal of Winning The Future, W.T.F, actually stands for "What the?" and you can fill in the blank there.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Are you gonna finish that? Because I-
VIEIRA: I'm not gonna finish it. I'm something - you know I was scared to even bring it up.
(Laughter in the studio)
O'DONNELL: We, yeah we're not allowed to finish that on MSNBC. So, okay. She's- yeah.
VIEIRA: No we're not allowed to here either. But you know what it, what it stands for.
O'DONNELL: Yeah.
VIEIRA: What does she accomplish by saying something like this? What's she trying to do?
O'DONNELL: She is - really struggles with that sounding presidential thing. It's a real challenge for her. And you know, look it's, it's as weird as it gets. But really if you are looking for a lack of civility or the argumentative stuff, you, this week you really have to go to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. No one else is doing it. And, in fact, yesterday in the Senate the bipartisan agreement about how to make things work a little bit more smoothly in the Senate. And so those two are out of tune with what everyone else is doing, at least for now.
VIEIRA: You bring up Michele Bachmann. On your show you had on John McCain's daughter, Megan McCain and she went after Bachmann saying that she is, quote, "No better than a poor man's Sarah Palin." But you know her dad ran with Palin for the presidency. So now she's bringing up Bachmann and Palin. What's going on there?
O'DONNELL: Megan's been on my show three times. And it's interesting to watch her progress. She is moving much more in the direction of being critical of these people. And- but she's not the only one. David Frum, former speech writer for George Bush. Palin now, criticizing Palin has now become a mainstream view within the Republican Party. You don't get criticized, as a Republican, for criticizing Sarah Palin.
VIEIRA: Why not?
O'DONNELL: Once that happens it's, it's a dangerous time for Palin. Her stock cannot go up. And we've seen it in polls lately. She keeps going, going down and down and down. This W.T.F week is not gonna help.
VIEIRA: Not good for her.
Incidentally, before the Palin and Bachmann criticisms, both Vieira and O'Donnell warmed up by trashing the Tea Party as already irrelevant in Washington:
VIEIRA: There's been a lot of talk about the Tea Party. Yesterday the Tea Party caucus, Senate Tea Party caucus held its first meeting without three key senators who came to office, in large part, because of that movement. Are they in trouble if they start to lose some of their rising stars so early?
O'DONNELL: Yeah they are. I mean they - half of them were no-shows. And, and one of them who didn't show up said, "You know I really don't want to coopt the Tea Party. It's a, it's a Main Street movement, you know, not a Washington movement." Well by that theory zero senators should have shown up. That would have been a successful Tea Party meeting in the Senate. So it was very disappointing and they tried to cover that up.
—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here
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Comments
Deliberate lying
Submitted by KC Mulville on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 1:56pm.
They adamantly refuse to tell the whole story. To dwell on Palin's WTF, after saying nothing about the remarks from Congress' Cohen and Moran, can only be a deliberate and calculated move. This isn't bias clouding a political perspective. They know exactly what they're doing. This is a lie, pure and simple.
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot
Submitted by BuffNBone on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:13pm.
And here after all these years I thought W.T.F. stood for "What's the frequency?"
KC
Submitted by well99 on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 5:39pm.
Maybe they can get Morning Joe to translate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SJUwn6eSNo
Then again Viera might need to watch her language.
http://www.gossipcop.com/meredith-vieira-swears-curses-swearing-cursing-...
They are making a big whoop to do to take the heat off Cohen.
Oh yes least we forget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwLYprautw4
Ending civility?!? The libs
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:00pm.
Ending civility?!? The libs never stopped being uncivil.
so criticism = end of
Submitted by 4rcane on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:08pm.
so criticism = end of civility? Can't we criticse the president anymore?
Anymore?
Submitted by GregE on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 9:00pm.
Didnt know we ever actually could.
...well, not without being called racist, bigot, etc.
Winning the Future
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:24pm.
A stupid bumper-sticker slogan that means nothing.
It reminds me of Gerald Ford's "W.I.N. -- Whip Inflation Now" buttons. Silly marketing crap.
Inspires no one, has no effect, and quickly becomes a joke.
WIN = NIM
Submitted by Clutch1956 on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 10:05am.
I remember that some would flip those WIN buttons over so that they read NIM "No Immediate Miracles". A little more realistic than WIN was.
NBC same as MSNBC
Submitted by JoeA101010 on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:30pm.
NBC might want to try to pawn itself off as different than MSNBC, but they are one and the same. Let's just hope whoever it is that wastes their time watching this trash realizes that Vieira, Lauer and whatever other morons are on that show are overt leftists, with no pretension of being objective.
More Popcorn Please
Submitted by donabernathy on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:38pm.
Since I wasn't on the Titantic... I always wanted to see what the scurry'n rats and other brainless creatures looked like as the ship went under.
roflmao
This whole premise of
Submitted by talkradio55 on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 2:40pm.
This whole premise of "civility in politics" is a fraud. We've never had civility in American politics. Just remember, there was a time when we had duels to settle political differences. And in other countries, legislators break out into fist-fights on the floor of Parliament. So, it's actually quite tame here, we only have liberal reprobates calling for assassination of their detractors. The only thing to keep in mind, civility = censorship.
How long is the generral public going to keep buying
Submitted by Lipton on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 3:13pm.
the MSM bologna? I say it is far past its' expiration date.
NO SURPRISES HERE.......
Submitted by Herbster on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 3:21pm.
Isn't this what we expect from the state run media.....especially the morning moron shows?
Meredith, Mika, Matt, etc., are all cut from the same cloth and groupthink. Whatever are the marching orders from the White House, "Goebbel's Room for State Run Media," is what they will parrot until new orders are received from headquarters. Did anyone really expect that the Cohen comments would be reported.....or yesterday's and today's bad economic news? How about foreign affairs? Egypt? White House was quoted as saying "Events are moving too fast for us." That gives us confidence---not, Our fearless leader is an incompetent....and foreign governments know this and roll him like a bowling ball. If I were President, my #1 concern regarding the Egyptian/Tunisian situations would be the security of the waterways in the area...Suez canal, Straits of Hormuz, etc. Time to send a fleet in and EXERT SOME POWER. ( Dare I say that?) Does anyone not believe that the fine hand of Iran is involved with these "Spontaneous" uprisings? We MUST make sure that the waterways bringing us oil stay open. Oh well, our fearless leader is still talking about high speed trains and green energy. (Like the mercury filled light bulbs!) I was going to refer to a bullet train, but caught myself just in time.
In '12 Bolton/Bachmann? Trump/Christie?
PRAY FOR OUR NATION.
Enough of this nonsense!
Submitted by ProudAmerican58 on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 3:44pm.
Besides, this call for civility is a ruse (and a poorly disguised one at that) to silence the other side. Ain't gonna happen. I personally hope for more "incivility" i.e., fighting back!
Own Sister Network
Submitted by libBuster on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:02pm.
I guess the folks at the Today Show don't watch their own sister network, MSNBC. Matthews is a rude, snarky, uncivil boor to anyone who disagrees with his half baked thoughts. The recently fired Olbermann was of course over the top. Lauer himself can be obnoxious when questioning Republicans. Ann Curry --- well Ann Curry is just a vapid liberal.
Vieira
Submitted by grammajane on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:07pm.
Viera isn't one fourth the woman Palin is. Palin became popular in a couple years with millions of American's. Vieira has been around many years and still can't get a audience. Palin speaks from her heart while Vieira speaks from telepromters, and words from her bosses. No class, just following the bias and radical-hate from the left. These "host/hostesses" on msnbc are so jealous and can't face the fact they have been around for years and no one cares what they say.
LIKE THE SUPER BOWL.......
Submitted by Herbster on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:14pm.
In politics as in football, the best defense is a good offense. Wake up, "Republicans," and stop reacting......start initiating.......and stop "Distancing" yourselves from the Tea Party. Are you worried, like the RINO McCain, of not being invited on the Sunday (Propaganda) shows - only to be insulted, interrupted and generally demeaned? MAN UP! SPEAK UP! Stand for something besides standing for re-election! Obviously, we need more new blood (Can I say that?) in congress. Too many wimps, too many forgetting who brought them to the dance. Sitting together (To water down the showing of the large republican majority) at the SOTU and wearing the obligatory ribbon pin is not governing. These were democrat ideas and the Repubs fell into the trap - as usual. Repubs will continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It looks, feels, sounds and appears that the democrats are still in control. They are setting the agenda. getting out there to push their agenda while we have people like Rubio "Distancing" himself from the Tea Party. If it wasn't for the Tea Party and Jim DeMint, Rubio would be working as a clown at Disney World.
GO STEELERS!
GO PACKERS! [Frankly, I
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:37pm.
GO PACKERS!
[Frankly, I like both teams so whoever wins is good with me.]
The end of the era of civility?
Submitted by ant on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 4:30pm.
When was the beginning? The media actually believes that because they or a few political hacks (the same thing I know) say something,the entire public snaps to attention. They are still greatly deluded about their own influence.
And what's with the 'Win The Future' BS. I barely had time to enjoy 'Together We Thrive'. We got 'Change You Can Believe In", "Yes We Can", "Rock the Vote", "Let's Move","Hope and Change","We are The Ones We've Been Waiting For". Selling a progressive socialist agenda must be a lot harder than selling a bag of Doritos or a breakfast sandwich because they are constantly changing their stupid slogans
Laughing at the infants
Submitted by vote24 on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 5:18pm.
OK...I've reached a point where I simply laugh out loud with ridicule at the pervasive bias of the MFM. And now i've taken to LOL ridicule of anyone supporting the MFM views. This type of dismissive ridicule really bothers the self-image/ultra-cool lefties more than anything else. They simply can't take being laughed at. This is just another way we can erode their blind support. Palin 2012
This just in...........
Submitted by Tomorama on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 5:37pm.
Sheila Jackson Lee said that the Republicans who are repealing Health care are KILLING AMERICANS.
Nah, that's civil.
Bacchman said what that even compares to that?
Palin mocks the WTF and that isn't civil or Presidential, where was this "oooooow, that was a nasty thing to say" when the ACTUAL Vice President in front of the world actually said Fudge.................?
My bad, that was just Joe being Joe, ha, ha, ha,
Cohen or Moran or Lee, NBC even report ANY OF THESE?
A few “teabaggers” too many for Comcast
Submitted by politicalpaw on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 6:56pm.
Larry: "we're not allowed to finish that on MSNBC"...we're limited to our host's scrotum banter http://tinyurl.com/4qhvctp
Civility never mattered until BHO
Submitted by cestes on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 7:28pm.
In an effort to understand the liberal mind (what an oxymoron as if they had one), it's helpful to look at Alinsky's teachings about ridicule. He stated it's the most potent weapon to use on the enemy. We need to be cognizant of their weaknesses on this very topic and use it against them. They tend to be shallow, vain and small, so taunt those in the "establishment" media as being "factophobes" as the truth seems to frighten them. These characters can't dispute with FACTS Palin or Bachmann, the #s don't lie, these jokers have lost control and are in PANIC mode, it's almost comical.
Oh please
Submitted by your mama on Sun, 01/30/2011 - 8:28pm.
Here today gone tomorrow hopefuly,with this same old boring one way reporting on the low rated alphabet fake news and morning show biased networks.
I'm surprised any one still watches this nonsense.