Don't Trust Government? Maddow Guest Blames . . . Mr. T!
Are you one of them small-gubmint conservative weirdos? A critter who cringes when someone tells you they're from the government and there to help you? Well, answer this: are you, or have you ever been . . . a fan of The A-Team?
Because, yes: one of Rachel Maddow's guests has, with a straight face, advanced the argument that Mr. T and company were complicit in undermining Americans' belief in the benign powers of government. David Sirota made an appearance with Maddow on her MSNBC show this evening to promote his book that advances the A-Team-as-enemy-of-government-love theory.
View video after the jump.
Watch the clip, break out those gold chains--and at least consider getting a Mr. T do.
RACHEL MADDOW: On that reference you just made to The A-Team: I can tell you, I was born in 1973 and you're a little younger than me, and I can tell you that every reference in the book is something that I emotionally get. I can tell you that I watched every single second of The A-Team that was ever put on television. I was absolutely obsessed with The A-Team. Can you explain to me how that warped my mind?
DAVID SIROTA: Yeah, well you were you like many young people. The A-Team was one of the top-rated shows among pre-teens in the mid-1980s. It had a big effect on people. And think about what the story of The A-Team is, right? The government unduly incarcerates our heroes. They escape, because the government can't even keep them incarcerated. And they solve the problems that the government refuses to solve. In fact, they're solving problems while the government is trying to apprehend them for solving society's problems. Obviously we can see the analogue now. This is how our political culture talks about government. That you can't rely on the government. You have to rely on outsiders, you have to rely on the Blackwaters, the Halliburtons, to solve our society's problems.
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Comments
What?!
Submitted by Dave81 on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 11:52pm.
I pitty Maddow!!!
After watching the video of
Submitted by JPTSO3 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 1:00am.
After watching the video of the culture dope ( not Madcow, the other dope)... I had an 80s flashback...
frying egg "... this is your mind on dope..."
Proof Positive
Submitted by Injest on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 4:34am.
And the name of his book is “Proof Positive, I have wayyyyyyyyyyy too much time on my hands”
Richard Maddow
Submitted by johnsonl on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 5:22am.
is circling the drain. I wonder if he wears boxers?
Both Named Companies Contracted by US Government
Submitted by scottyusmc on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 6:44am.
"... you can't rely on the government. You have to rely on outsiders, you have to rely on the Blackwaters, the Halliburtons, to solve our society's problems."
Doesn't our own government contract these orgnaizations and pay them billions to do what government can't do - i.e. solve problems? Kind of defeats the arguement. Government just adds the incompetence to the mix!
Maddow....
Submitted by adamsmith on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 7:05am.
I watched her for the two minutes I could stand her stupidity and all I can say is as she ages, she looks more and more like the kid from Star Trek.....
Her question
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 7:29am.
Her question was "Can you explain to me how that warped my mind?"
If the A-Team was one of the top rated shows, wouldn't there be more "warped minds?" Nah, the answer is real obvious, you got dropped on your head, Rachel. Plus you are supposedly a Rhodes scholar yet you've said some really dumb@ss things in the past. Way too many to blame just one show on your "mind warp."
Now if you had the IQ of Peter Griffin of Family Guy where they had one episode that had them emulating the A-Team, yeah, I can see that happening, but then you wouldn't have your own TV show......oh wait, that doesn't explain Eddie Schultzie...nevermind.
-Jon
Rhodes Scholarship
Submitted by misterbee241 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 12:39pm.
A Rhodes Scholarship is a sign of knowledge, not intelligence or wisdom. Intelligence and wisdom is knowing how to use that acquired knowledge wisely.
So Now is the A-Teams Fault!
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 7:50am.
For the Liberals, having an anti-governent attitude is wrong for as long as the other party is running the country. In the Liberals book, everyone and anyone is to blame for the ills of our country, except themselves. These A-Team comment is why anyone who takes what they (MSM) say seriosly needs a mental evaluation and a reality check.
Your right,
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 8:51am.
It would had been far more believable had they just blamed Bush. /sarc
Why didn’t I see it before!!!
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 8:15am.
Sirota is a genius! I always thought that it was “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” that was the source of all our problems!
Why didn’t I see it before now? Oh, I have been so wrong…for so long… how sad!
P.s.: My barf meter is now officially pegged!
Chief... Max..
Submitted by JPTSO3 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 11:30am.
This guy’s a dope and clearly doesn’t know his TV– Everyone knows disenchantment with government started with Get Smart. Black Ops has its genesis with Max and the Cone-of-Silence.
And, didn’t this guy notice that when Marcus Welby MD went off the air medical costs started to rise? Coincidence… I don’t think so…
You are absolutely correct!
Submitted by Grumpy in Arizona on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 11:49am.
And what about those "Tea-party” rubes… “The Beverly Hillbilly’s” invading a sacred leftist enclave (?)… I mean they weren’t even ‘undocumented aliens’ or other good people like that!
:o)
How does crap like this get on national TV
Submitted by no tingly legs on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 8:34am.
and what is wrong with Comcast that they allow it? This should have been broadcast tomorrow (April Fool's Day).
Desperate
Submitted by John21 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 8:45am.
Madcow and her fellow Regressive liberals are really digging deep to use this lame an excuse for Americans not liking their big brother government. They can’t even admit to themselves in private that big government means oppression, their ego’s are much to fragile to contemplate that.
The A Team? Tea Party Members? Who knew?
Submitted by Red Jeep on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 8:49am.
The A Team was ahead of it's time. Someone should ask Mr. T if he is a member of the Tea Party.
Sirota:This is how our(?) political culture talks about government. That you can't rely on the government. You have to rely on outsiders, you have to rely on the Blackwaters, the Halliburtons, to solve our society's problems. (I think he misspoke I think he meant to say their not our.)
Yeah, agree with you David. Government is not the solution to our problems and I think most Tea Party Members would agree.
Thanx for the viewing suggestion David. I'll look the show up on Hulu.
Overhead at a Liberal Dinner Party
Submitted by HockeyKid on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 9:09am.
60s Radical: "Don't trust The Man!!" [shakes fist]
Other Guest: "Dude, we ARE The Man."
6R: "Oh, yeah. Uh...Don't trust people who don't trust The Man!!"
OG: "Right on!"
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
So they didn't mock Mr. T for being heavily invested in gold?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 9:23am.
Wow, that was a missed opportunity. The conservative/Fox/Goldline conspiracy is one of their favorites.
→ Maddow's a racist
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 9:32am.
Couldn't possibly single out one of the whiteys on the A-Team, could she?
Or.....
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 9:45am.
I wonder if she thinks the T in Mr. T stands for Tom, as in Uncle.
-Jon
I wonder if Sirota is going
Submitted by Ken Shepherd on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:18am.
I wonder if Sirota is going to write a sequel in a few years complaining about shows like "Human Target," which I'm a fan of and which has something of a libertarian bent to it.
I never got that message from
Submitted by ricklail on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 11:00am.
I never got that message from the A-team. My skepticism of gubmint came from Ronald Reagan and William Proxmire's Golden Fleece Award. Proxmire was a Democrat but he was no where near the Democrats of today. He did take a lot of flack over NASA.
conflicted youth - was he "abused"?
Submitted by Rackie on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 11:32am.
David was 8 when the A-Team started and 12 when it ended. There is more going on here than meets the eye. He has "issues" that have nothing to do with the A-TEAM.
OK, I was an adult...
Submitted by gopcongress on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 12:14pm.
...but for some perverse reason, I LIKED the A-Team. But geez, to me it was an adult CARTOON, not an implication of how society acted. More people died on the Seinfeld than during the A-Team, for instance, despite more ammunition being expended than most small wars, as well as more cars being flipped than most NASCAR dirt tracks on a particularly moonshiney day.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
And that Jessica
Submitted by misterbee241 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 12:42pm.
And that Jessica whats-her-name on Murder She Wrote. Every time she left home somebody died.
Murder followed Jessica where ever she went!
Submitted by Red Jeep on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 1:12pm.
We kept hoping she would never appear in our town.
I PITY THE FOOL!
Submitted by brutony1 on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 12:28pm.
Who be dissing the A Team! Hey, Mad-cow, I reject your challenge, cause there aint no challenge-youre nothing but a has-been! You had your day, now give me mine! I only got one prediction fo yo-PAINNNN-thats right!
When will liberals WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! -Me
Did he even watch the A-Team?
Submitted by CobraMan on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 4:36pm.
Did this guy even watch the A-Team? They were a bunch of mercenaries, offering their services to the highest bidder! Yes, they may have been "dissed" by the Government originally, but they STILL were mercenaries, which is not what most people rely upon solve problems, government help or not. It how most rely upon to CREATE problems. I pity the fool who thinks otherwise.
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.