NBC's Lauer Presses Chris Christie: Isn't Obama Class Warfare Really About 'Unfairness'?
In an effort to once again run defense for Barack Obama, NBC's Today co-host Matt Lauer on Wednesday pushed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to agree that the President's sustained effort to pit economic classes against one another is just a matter of fairness: "Talk to me about that word 'envy.' Because I asked Governor Romney about this last week as well....why is it envy as opposed to unfairness?"
As Lauer mentioned, he did ask Mitt Romney an almost identical question on the January 11 broadcast: "Do you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country is envious? Is it about jealousy or is it about fairness?"
On Wednesday, Christie defended use of the word "envy": "Well this is what the President is setting up. What he's trying to say is the American pie is finite. If you don't like the size of the piece you have, only government can take more pie away from somebody else and give you a little bit and government keeps the rest."
Lauer went so far as to try to put words in Christie's mouth: "So if people raise questions about Wall Street and financial institutions and their practices and the division of power and money in this country, you do not think it's about envy, you think it's about fairness?"
Later, talking to Christie about compromise in governing, Lauer seemed surprised by the suggestion Obama has not compromised: "You don't think President Obama has tried to compromise?" Christie replied: "Listen, I don't think the President has shown the type of leadership....that's the tough part of leadership. Giving speeches in the Oval Office is the easy part."
Read the complete transcript of the January 18 interview.
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Comments
Actually Matt may have a point here
Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 6:42pm.
Isn't it patently unfair that an idiot like Matt gets paid so much for doing something totally non-productive?
What is unfair
Submitted by Bodini on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 6:44pm.
What is "unfair" is that Marxist-media talking heads and their co-equal Hollywood and Music Industry idiots make millions for such little talent and intellect. How smart do you have to be to read a teleprompter and spew White-house talking points on class-warfare? Stick that in your crack-pipe and smoke it ... Matt!
Levy a heavy tax on advertisers and listen to the media pigs squeal!
don't they get to write off ad costs?
Submitted by theduck6 on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 7:59am.
Isn't that a monumental loophole for the ad industry?
Oh the horror...the unfairness...THE HUMANITY!!! Arggghhh
My goal would
Submitted by Bodini on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 9:02am.
My goal would be to drive the cost of advertising so high, that real companies would stop paying and the Marxist-media would go belly-up! A head tax for movies and entertainment events and a unit tax for music videos and CDs would help finish off Hollywood and JayZZZZZ and company!
This would all be in the name of "fairness" and would be to help fund "needed Federal programs!"
I understand the emotions
Submitted by Agnostic on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 9:19am.
I understand the emotions behind your response but in essence what you are calling for is to have the federal government choke off the part of the market place. Excessive regulation to the point of putting entire industries out of business.
I've heard some decent proposals that were aimed at the same idea, such as the flat rate company expense write off based on gross, but in the end it is a targeted attack on the market by the government and something we should all be wary of doing more than we do already.
Envy,
Submitted by IdahoJim on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 6:46pm.
No doubt about it. They (the OWS among others) get really upset when people who are smarter, better educated, harder working, and more productive then themselves get ahead in this world. By selling goods and services for a profit, the rich are considered evil. Nonsense!
How do I define Better Educated? Any education that involves learning marketable skills. How many companies hire history majors because knowing history is a productive activity for business? Not many I'll bet.
IdahoJim
http://idahoandy.net
Obama compromise?
Submitted by acaiguana on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 7:17pm.
Only when he loses completely absolutely and soundly.
That's how he compromises.
Other than that, it is his way or the byway, which he takes with impunity.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
MSM Media= Tabloid Reporting, no substance!
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 8:03pm.
Matt Lauer is in no position to ask questions about unfairness. He gets paid millions for sitting on a chair doing interviews, traveling around the world on his stupid "where in the heck is he" program. I have far more respect for people who work in factories, our military, volunteers and the list go on. Nothing these elitists from the MSM media say has meaning, they are paid to blah, blah, blah and pat each other on the back when doing stories about their "master and commander" BO.
I am poor as hell.
Submitted by dmacleo on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 8:25pm.
literally.
I am disabled (vet as well as workplace injuries...multiple) and wife works 2 jobs. we don't take ss/ssi/food stamps....yet..
people ask why?
I say because its not required.
NOBODY owes me a comfortable life.
someone has more $$ then me...they made better life choices.
MY FAULT!!
It's people like you who screw it up for everybody else!
Submitted by CO2Maker on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 8:39am.
You're the guy who wrecked the curve in high school algebra. You're the selfish, oh-so-proud-of-your-persevering-self guy who makes people who use welfare transfers feel like they're responsible for their own mess. Geez. I mean, come on...
You're the young guy at the union steel plant who works so hard the shop steward has to take him aside and tell him to slow down so you don't show up the older guys. (Don't ask me how I know that story.)
Hell, you're just the kind of person that will wreck the Democrats' Big Gummint system of dependency. All your self-congratulation amounts to is a way to stigmatize others who made legitimate lifestyle choices not to work as hard as possible. You're an enabler for the 1%.You're no better than a food-stamp bully, someone who disses the work of Rev. Jesse Hymietown Jackson, Rev. Tawana Sharpyton, and their high-albedo plantation overseers, Nancy Pirogi and Hairy Pomegranate.
-----
Disclaimer for the subtlety challenged: This is irony and sarcasm, not a slam on Dave.
HA :)
Submitted by dmacleo on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 12:42pm.
I never did play well with others...hehe I am a food stamp bully, thats awesome :)
Matt, please explain the "unfair" part...
Submitted by krendler on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 9:16pm.
...i.e., what's inherently "unfair" about person X having more than person Y.
The onus is on you, Matt, along with the other ObamaBots: Give SPECIFIC examples of situations that are "unfair." Maybe those examples will be valid. Maybe they won't. But quit broad-brushing / stereo-typing / demagogue-ing it, otherwise, YES, the motivation for relentlessly disparaging "The Rich" IS NOTHING BUT ENVY / SOUR GRAPS and YES, that DOES constitute class-warfare.
These people - Obama included - are flat-out socialists. I'm not even sure why they deny it, as what they're advocating describes socialism to a T.
If you're serious about fairness, Matt
Submitted by CO2Maker on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 8:48am.
Then demand that the camera crews, stage hands, make-up techs, and others working on the set with you get a more equal share—a fair share—of the payroll. That means you will have to give up half of yours to fund the pay raises for the crew. The crew. You know, the worker bees, the other people,
He can also be fair
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 12:22pm.
He can also be "fair" by giving up his co-host position twice a week to some other media personality, like, oh, I don't know, Rush Limbaugh? Think Matt would go for it?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Unfairness? The world is not fair, Matt Liar.
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 9:44pm.
For the nearly four decades I have bee practicing medicine, the first thing that become obvious was the world is not a fair place. It is not a zero sum game, but it is not designed to be intrinsically fair as humans define that rather dubious word. It is not "fair" that some patients with no overt risk factors develop serious cardiovascular illnesses, while some of those who display every known risk factor live for two standard deviations beyond their usual lifespan and die on the operating table from a surgical accident. It is also not "fair" that a child's "mother" shops pediatricians, family practitioners and neuropsychiatrists so she can hang an ADHD diagnosis on the kid because she thinks a Schedule II narcotic will turn her otherwise normal child into a genius. It is also not "fair" that liberal sob sisters have made it difficult to get untreated schizophrenics who commit crimes into mandatory treatment programs.
The constitution did NOT guarantee success, only the right to pursue it.
THIS ^^
Submitted by dmacleo on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 9:47pm.
The constitution did NOT guarantee success, only the right to pursue it.
bingo.
"Do you suggest that anyone
Submitted by ckc1227 on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 10:02pm.
"Do you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country is envious? Is it about jealousy or is it about fairness?"
If that's the question, then it's about ignorance. Wealth and power isn't distributed.
(Applause)
Submitted by ant on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 11:40am.
Very good. Sort of funny...one realm where power is supposed to be 'distributed' is across the executive. legislative, and judicial branches. "Power" that is actually authorized by the People. Yet the Executive in the form of Obama, and the judicial branches, in particular, seem to be against that kind of distribution. and are more than happy to usurp more than the share they've been alotted by law.
I think it is damn unfair
Submitted by jkwtrading on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 10:56pm.
I think it is damn unfair Obama got elected due to the color of his skin.
Hey, Matt! Life's not fair!
Submitted by jpwcpa on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 1:16am.
Live with it.
Now that you mention it
Submitted by Now_I_Want_Change on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 11:29am.
Didn't people GIVE 0bama more votes than McCain? He didn't EARN them in anyway so wouldn't it be FAIR for him to have given some of those votes to the guy who wasn't GIVEN as many?
Hmmmm.... Let's see how this 'fairness' plays out in the next election.
One in the same
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 12:13pm.
Do they even know what "envy" is? It's a "feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another." In other words, it's "unfair," as in not having the same qualities or possessions as another.
In ether case, it's about demanding that others give something of theirs to you simply because they have it and you don't. The best way to describe it would be "childish." That's just what people should do, highlight this childish behavior.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Christie should have turned
Submitted by Kevpot on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 12:43pm.
Christie should have turned to one of the camera operators and asked them how much they made each year. Then contrast that with Lauers insane salary.
"So, Bob, the cameraman, makes 80k per year and you make 10 Million. Do you think Bob is envious of you? Do you think Bob considers that 'fair'?