At the end of Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS, host Bob Schieffer denounced South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson: "The irony of a congressman trying to heckle a President in the midst of a speech that was, among other things, about the need for civility, is just one ugly sign of the mindless meanness that has settled over our politics."
Apparently Schieffer forgot this passage of President Obama’s speech last Wednesday: "Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim...that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple." Calling your critics liars hardly sounds like a call for "civility."
Schieffer began his rant by claiming: "And when that congressman hollered ‘you lie’ at the President, we did get a snapshot of the nation’s state and it was not a pretty picture. The country is in an angry mood." He went on to portray all health care reform protestors as extremists: "Congressman being shouted down at town hall meetings, where constituents sometimes show up with guns. And at rallies like the one yesterday in Washington where people carried signs such as ‘Bury Health Care With Kennedy.’"
He went on to call for unity over health care reform similar to that after the 9/11 attacks: "How different it was in the aftermath of a far more difficult time, those days after 9/11...I remember watching then not far from where that congressman hurled his insult as senate Republican Leader Trent Lott put his hand on the shoulder of his Democratic counterpart Tom Daschle to announce the Senate had passed a $40 billion emergency appropriations bill and passed it unanimously." Schieffer concluded: "Put aside, for the moment, who’s right and who’s wrong in the current debate and ask yourself, can anyone really be proud of the side of America this argument is bringing out?"
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Exam Schieffer's
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:45 ET by buddycExam Schieffer's "reporting" over the past 20 years if you want to see what "ugly" is. The anger and frustration is caused by media bias. Non one is contributing more to this anger than people like Schieffer.
Another lib journalist with "selective memory loss"!
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:52 ET by goldenthroat"The irony of a congressman trying to heckle a President in the midst of a speech that was, among other things, about the need for civility, is just one ugly sign of the mindless meanness that has settled over our politics."
Really, Bob? I don't recall you saying that when Democrats, in toto, heckled President Bush during the SOU address a few years ago!
Oh, but they were just expressing their opinions, weren't they, Bob, because libs are allowed to do that and not conservatives, right?
I dare you to tell that to the one million plus people who converged on D.C. over the weekend - you wouldn't have the guts!
You freakin' piece of left-coast, bleeding-heart, 'do as I say, not as I do', yellow journalistic hypocrisy...
"Inferior people should not be employed." - Nick Danger, Third Eye
Yeah...
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:56 ET by boomerconWhat HE said!
Way to go, GT!
hey now!
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 17:29 ET by UndercoverConservativeI'm offended, lumping in all us CA dwellers in with the trash! I demand an apology...and ammunition. Unlike most "offendees" I don't want your money...send .223 and .45ACP in reloadable brass thx:)
Some of us gotta stay here and hold back the freaks. it's like Iraq...as long as libs have enemies here on the coasts, they aren't as likely to attack internally. We're doing you a favor:P
(all of the above tongue-in-cheek, but if you truly feel guilty and want to support the common-sense insurgency, I won't dissuade ya!) :)
WWW.GS2AC.COM. 2nd Amendment Grass Roots Action in the Bay Area, CA. We're not all "Breakfast Cereal" folks here! :)
I think Schieffer has a point....
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:48 ET by pantryman"Put aside, for the moment, who’s right and who’s wrong in the current debate and ask yourself, can anyone really be proud of the side of America this argument is bringing out?"
No one can be proud of the liberal bias being demonstrated by the media in its 'reporting'...
I'm white and friggin-A straight proud of it !
Let's talk this out - no!
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:51 ET by KC MulvilleI've come to the conclusion that the talking-out is worse than saying nothing. No one is being persuaded. Let's just shut up and vote.
I believe we crossed a Rubicon when the Democrats tried to pass a huge, expensive, wide-reaching bill ... without having read it. And they openly admitted that they didn't read it. So when they showed up trying to insist that we had to pass the bill, they had no credibility whatsoever.
Then they had the audacity to insult the people who came to the town halls. They, who hadn't read the bill, claimed that their opponents were trumping up phony criticisms. How would they know? They didn't have a bill to begin with, then they tried to rush one, and now they're claiming that they treasure rational discussion.
Nah -- stop discussing. Talking is making it worse. Just vote.
Good point, KC
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:06 ET by Indiana JoeVote, yea or nay. Then accept the responsibility.
Quit holding your finger to the wind. Quit trying to find someone else to blame when it either doesn't pass or doesn't work. Quit trying to flim-flam everyone about it. Quit begging for approval.
Just friggin' shut up and VOTE!
"Four legs good... two legs better!" - George Orwell
Accept the responsibility
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:10 ET by KC MulvilleNegotiations just aren't working. Vote and live with it. And if Obama and the Democrats win? Fine. We'll try again after 2010. There's no such thing as settled politics.
And this from a group
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:01 ET by Indiana JoeAnd this from a group that wrote the book on "mindless meanness."
Yes, Americans came together in the days after the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen.
What has that to do with socialized health care?
"Four legs good... two legs better!" - George Orwell
Oh, Bob. It must be
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:04 ET by Chris NormanOh, Bob. It must be terribly frustrating to realize that no one really cares what an old mediasaur like you says anymore. Through your own liberal bias, you've lost all credibility and relevance with most people - you've also lost the respect you could have enjoyed in the final years of your career.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:24 ET by jessieHCBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, not one cares about the lies obama is telling. They just want to condem the ones that don't accept those lies......................Traitors, every last one of them.
Rather Blather
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:33 ET by Anneke9Sounds like Schieffer has been taking rhetoric lessons from Dan Rather.
Camouflage conservative in Baghdad-by-the-Bay
Aw, let it go awreddy
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:36 ET by StarAZI saw Wilson on Wallace and he seemed like a serious enough fellow and is not about to grovel any further--come what may. My impression is that he will stick with that. Should he have yelled out? No. Was what he said wrong? No. Now walk away, America, this is over. Certainly no one needs to be schooled by news people. They are not supposed to school people--just give them the facts.
Should he have yelled out?
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:08 ET by Dan The Man 2Should he have yelled out? No
He is the little boy who yelled out "The emperor has no clothes" and rightly so. It was right because it was in a public venue and on national TV which means the message got through.
Just look at the controversy and conversations he stirred up and the outcomes are that the bill is going to be changed. That would not have happened unless Wilson took a brave step and yelled around the world, well around the USA at least.
Bob Shieffer on lying
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:39 ET by katainkentBob Shieffer on lying politicians.
Now I already had my say on what Joe Wilson did. It was definately a deep fried twinkie moment. For about 2 seconds it was sweet but then reality sets in you knew it was probably not the correct choice and that there will be consequences.
But someone eventually had to say it. Joe Wilson is the author of this years attempt at Congressional Pay Reform. I would wager he was already used to being unpopular.
Healthcare INSURANCE reform is not about people 'dying in the streets'. As much as they'd like to say it is. No hospital can turn down someone in an emergency. This is not about a lack of compassion. If it was then the US GOVT would be the last place to place that trust. Its not about a lack of funding or we wouldn't be putting the most inept beurocrats in the country in charge of it.
No, its about control and power. If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until its free.
Health Care Reform
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 12:57 ET by jdlybrandMaybe they should include a provision for 'End of Rational Thought' counseling for people like Schieffer, Shuster, Matthews, Williams, Kouric, Gibson, Olbermann, Maddow, Friedman, O'Dowd, etc., etc.
"What a revoltin' development this is!"
Chester Riley
When a left wing media
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 13:36 ET by celatorWhen a left wing media bagman like Scheiffer uses words like: ‘Ugly Sign of Mindless Meanness’, I assume he is referring to himself and his little friends?
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Finally someone stands up
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 14:02 ET by kengieFinally someone stands up against the fringe..
+Republican-leaning group claims health care legislation could lead to 300,000 deaths from breast cancer, but uses old statistics, faulty logic and false insinuations.
+A notorious analysis of the House health care bill contains 48 claims. Twenty-six of them are false and the rest mostly misleading. Only four are true.
+Republicans' rundown is a mix of false, true and misleading claims.
For those of you right wingers that can read, just go to fact check. It's fun to know the REAL truth instead of Rusty Limbaugh..
Kengie, these lies were from
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:11 ET by Dan The Man 2Kengie, these lies were from teh same person who lied about taxing only those who make over 250K.
→ Kenny Gee
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:15 ET by Cool ArrowDo they play your music in the King's Elevator?
aka The Royal Shaft?
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
Remember, you're still on double-secret probation, Kengie
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 16:21 ET by SickofLibsThree words in, and it's another obvious Kengie-n-paste job. How did I arrive at this conclusion? All three words were spelled correctly.
Are you EVER going to come up with an original thought, as scary as that might seem to others here?
Keng. Dude.
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 18:11 ET by katainkentstop visiting media matters, dude. Its rotting your brain.
I have not seen the figures nor the add but it is very apparent that the inevitable health care rationing brought on by the socialisation of our medical system will lead to substandard medical care. Right now the survivability for breast cancer is the best, right here in the USA.
I've seen the 'fact check' that has been performed. If, in the bill it does not specifically state that something exists then it is declared false. They discount entirely that if there is no provision preventing it, it may still occur. In the news most recently, the dispute regarding illegals getting care. And the dispute regarding public funding for abortion. But! If even four of the claims are true, the bill should be reworked. Instead there is still the rallying cry of "pass the bill".
So, which claims are true? Will they end in the death of someone? The neglect of basic care for another? Do we consider that perhaps the creation of an even more monstrously unsustainable bureaucratic machine is not the wisest choice to fix the errors of two existing unsustainable bureaucratic machines?
Or do we put our heads in the sand. What say you Kengie.
Hacked off
Wed, 10/07/2009 - 21:33 ET by nadadhimmiScheiffer is an old party hack. He has been an incredibly biased presstitute for decades. Rather like Rather.