Time's Joe Klein: GOP Is An 'Extremist' 'Regional Southern Party'

Photo of Noel Sheppard.
  • Bookmark and Share

The Republicans may have won huge victories in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday, but Time's Joe Klein still thinks the GOP is "an extremist shard of a party that is essentially a regional southern party in the country."

I guess the 66 and 60 percent of independents who voted for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Virginia and New Jersey respectively on Tuesday are also part of this extremist regional southern party.

Alas, such facts didn't enter into the discussion on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" when Klein showed how one's political biases can easily trump logic (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, relevant section at 4:18, file photo):

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: All right. Joe Klein, political reporters love elections; it's part of what we do. But did this motley collection of races really have the huge national implications that some of these commentators were suggesting?

JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: I mean, it was a sign, but actually, I was out of the country on Tuesday. That's how important I thought it was.

But I think that, you know, to go back to what Michael Medved just said, you know, it's not hard to keep all of your party in line when your party has become an extremist shard of a party that is essentially a regional southern party in the country and doesn't have broad appeal to the mass of Americans. And I think that that's...

KURTZ: But Joe, come back to the point...

KLEIN: And I think that that's the problem that Republicans are facing going forward. You know, you had two governors' races where you had Republicans who ran as moderates against dreary Democratic candidates, surprised they won. Up in New York, in that congressional race, you had an extremist attempt to take over the party there. And that extremist lost.

Well, at least Klein was honest about being out of the country Tuesday, as that quite explains how errant his opinions were five days later.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

"...but actually, I was out of the country on Tuesday."

And you have been out of your mind for years

You know, I am getting just a little tired of these northeastern lefty elitist snobs referring to those of us who support the principles this nation was founded upon as being extremists.

They, along with their Dear Leader Obama, claim they want to return this country to "what it once was," but the America they refer to has never actually existed.

This nation was not founded on the principals of Marxism, and will not long survive should it adopt too many more of them. 

-Dave

Our elected representatives have failed us.  

"Extremist" That's one of

"Extremist"

That's one of those descriptions that never gets challenged and no one is ever asked to define it.  It's as if everyone "knows" what it means. So it must be a code word.

A code word for pro-life, pro-Constitution Republicans. Along with the code word "southern" which clearly means racist Klansmen, in spirit if not in fact.  You know, the ones who, according to Charlie Rangel don't say "nigger" or "spic."  Instead, they say "Let's cut taxes" which apparently is also code.

mb,

I would love to load Klein into a time machine and fire his ignorant behind back to July 03, 1776, and watch him call our nation's founders extremists to their faces.

Those extremists are the reason he has his little cush writing gig, and is able to live in whatever bubble he resides in and write a steady stream of stupid BS, and then go on TV shows that nobody watches and spew even more BS.

Imagine if he had to get a real job? 

 
It's just too bad Klein's ancestors didn't flee America with the Loyalists, as he would now be somewhere up in the Great White North, freezing his little-bitty nads off while covering a junior hockey team for some obscure newspaper only read by Eskimos and then is shat upon by penguins. 

Speaking of the race baiters, we had an incident here in Atlanta about ten years ago when some local college professor said that teaching black students linear logic was actually racist.

Ever since that time, I no-longer pay the charge of racism any attention, as that word has been over-used to the point it has no meaning to me. 

-Dave

Our elected representatives have failed us.  

It Takes Extreme

It takes extreme measures to repair the damage done by Communist Liberals in America! Mr. KKKlein, the voters in New Jersey and Virginia took EXTREME measures to stop your Tele-Prez Messiah's move to Socialize aka Communize America! By the way, is New Jersey part of the south Komrade Klein? Not!

Klein in a bottle

Now, ain't that just peachy (as in Jawja peach)? The extremist, out-of-touch, conservative Republican party is like . . . Southerners. You know, those rubes, those yahoos, those rednecks, those trailer-dwellers, those retrogrades. And how is a Aryan white supremacist portrayed on Law n Order? With a Southern accent. How is a venal, corrupt, hypocritical televangelist portrayed? As a Southerner. Which regional sit-com stereotype is the stupidest, most inbred, most Luddite? Southerners. 

Geez, Joe, don't you have a midtown taxi to catch? 

C02... It does get

C02...

It does get stale...and the nit-wit elitists don't get why they can't win in the South most of the time.

Thank God for the South!

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

MrAnonymous is a one man

MrAnonymous is a one man comedy show.

So was most of Howie's show today as far as I was concerned....and CNN doesn't care if they stay at the bottom of the barrel.

Amusing...not.

Irritating...yes.

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

You remember!

That Joe Anonymous was the author of "Primary Colors" ... and was severely chastised when he denied being the author after the success of the book and movie. Eventually, the true identity of the author came out, and the other members of the BTM (Big Time Media) dumped all kinds of scorn on him for "lying" when he denied being the author. 

Let's see: The author's name is Anonymous. Who is Anonymous? The public has a right to know. [Translation, you have to tell me what I want to know and be the first to break the news.] So, Joe, are you Anonymous? No? Okay. Hey. You are Anonymous. I don't care if "anonymous" means "unknown name," you did lie to us, which is contempt of correspondent. You are in deep kimchi now, buster.

Again, Klein is simply a moron

Just reread his 11/12/06 column: the realists take charge.....
And after less than 3 years, the "realists" have added 4 trillion in federal debt?  Right?
4.6% has become 10.2, that's real!
Why worry about Klein?  =   Mor  and  On
End of story.......

Yet another media moron...

Sigh!

→ Says Joe Klein

Anybody read Primary Colors?

Klein played a little racism of his own against a certain Presidential candidate in that one.  Had the main character (rhymes with Mill Flinton) buying off a pregnant black woman.

LYDSEXICS UNTIE!

Right you are CA...and a

Right you are CA...and a few of us here have...posted above.

...but hey, that's always ok if the left boycott or chastise one of their own...Sy Hersch comes to mind also, when he wrote his book about the Kennedy's and Camelot (which I read, just can't think of the correct title at the moment)  he was banned...disdained etc etc...now he is back in the fold, has been for years now..they do their penance, bow~ kiss arse and they are one of them again...invite list/air kisses are open to them again. ...and they're satisfied.

What shallow people...how void can one get of self?

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

Yeah, but Klown did it

Yeah, but Klown did it anonymously, so it's OK.  I think.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."  -George Best

He reached some really surprising conclusions. Not!!!

Let's show this commie-pinko-symp how wrong he is in 2010, 2012, etc.

Stop federal judges from foisting their notions of "fairness" on the States.  Amend the 14th Amendment! - tim413

Time Magazine Home of Red Diaper Babies.

<p>If the Democrat Party had not become the playground of Stalin;s Red Diaper babies the contrast with the Republicans would not look so stark. </p> <p> The Verona intercepts have been declassified since 1995 but I do not think that Time has appologized for being completely wrong on Joe McCarthy and that Joe was completely right.   I can  not blame them for not drawing attention to their hireing enemy intelligence officers during the Vietnam War.  After all who wants to say "Hey our stupidity got three million people killed" but they did.  </p>

RADICALS

The Democratic party is nothing but elitist marxist radicals.

Joe Klein has a low IQ

It is too bad we always yell names at each rather than debate ideas but the left seems to always have the need to insult rather than defend their ideas or offer sensible criticism of their opponents.

Why does being opposed to massive debt , expanding incompetant, wasteful government and a philosophy based in Marxism seem so extreme to them?

With all that said , I heard Joe Klein on Morning Joe one day laughing about how stupid and backward Repubs are and he cited the Grand Canyon as his proof of evolution. I thought to myself , that is erosion , Joe , not evolution. I began to listen to him and realized this guy is just dull-witted.  I guess Joe is an example of dim-witted Dems.

Joe Shihtzu

What is it about this little (minded) elitist snob that reminds me of an angry shaved shihtzu in a suit?

He and Paul Krugman came from the same litter of puppies. Liberals in their 60's with short beards and good jobs writing poisonous articles are the second most dangerous people, next to Mike Malloy.

Awake the sleeping giant...and that giant is WE THE PEOPLE!

Hummmm

Someone needs to give Joe a map and show him how New Jersey is not in the South.

Jack

"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart.  If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains."   Sir Winston Churchill

"Someone needs to give Joe a

"Someone needs to give Joe a map and show him how New Jersey is not in the South."

Except it's just a lie; trying to get people to believe it. He doesn't even think it himself.

Facts don't impress the liar.

___________________________________________________________
Graphical conservative commentary - animations & pictures for posting on forums: http://ubama.org/chu...

I guess Joe forgot about

I guess Joe forgot about the democrats having the south from 1795 to oh about mid 1980's..

 

he forgot the south being all democrat for slaves.  I guess his democrat masters forgot to enlighten him.. 

Took the words out of my mind...

Guess Joe forgot that the Democrat Party was an extremist, regional Southern Party that owned slaves. Now it has moved up to the big cities, still enslaving blacks economically.

Why is Joe considered an expert on anything? Is it because he happened to occupy the right space at the right time?

Somebody Give Joe a Wake-up Call

Weren't these the White House Talking Points from a week and a half ago? 

 

JMHO, you understand.

If Saul Alinsky owned a news channel it would be MSNBC.  ----  Me

southern shard

I'm a "southern shard" and proud of it-- Mr Klein is paying me a compliment without realizing it-- what he also does not realize, is that any position relative to his extreme, arrogant, oligarchist one, appears as "southern", "conservative", "independent" etc-- keep spewing that sort of rhetoric, Mr. Klein, it's very entertaining! And, I didn't even require the dictionary for use of the word "oligarchist"-- I learned it from some great Southern English teachers--

Joe Klein is...

Joe Klein is a shard of a reporter that couldn't find his ass with both hands.

This isn't even about writing an objective article or being objective generally. Klein's purpose is to write whatever he wishes the world to be according to his uber-liberal view attempting to shape the views of others. Regardless of how little truth is actually contained in what he writes or says.

He's pretty much nothing more than a liberal hack. His goal is to re-report the news much the same as in the book, 1984. If he says it enough and writes it enough it therefore becomes the truth regardless of how much or little truth is in what he says or writes.

He believes that he has more stature in the industry than others and no matter how wrong it is, his words will carry more influence because he is who he is and who he works for. A liberal rag that's going down the tubes along with the rest.

People, once in a great while, would like to be told the truth. Politicians lie (our current President at the top of the liars list) to advance an agenda that, in many cases, is not good for their constituents. The press, historically, has been there to expose the lies. But, in todays world, finding the truth in the vast majority of what's being published is even harder than finding truth in what Politicians are saying.

Klein couldn't find his ass or an objective viewpoint with both hands.

 

actually it would be more

actually it would be more accurate to show liberalsim and specifically the Democrat party as a regional extremist party.

THe party covers the east and west coasts and a couple of inland sanctuaries like Detroit that are slowly dying.

THe GOP owns the rest of the country and probably 75% of the land mass so therefore it cannot by definition be regional.

Yep the regional southern

Yep the regional southern extremists won in NJ. Go figure...

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

Yeah, we get it

I don't even think I am a Republican--but I know I don't trust this snooty, posturing, namby-pamby president. Today, our bud Paul Krugman is all over the GOP again, making poor deluded Americans turn against their own interests, mean, conniving, whatever. He, of course, as a Nobel laureate with a nice secure job (sorta, newspaper), knows it all.

snooty---

"---snooty, posturing, namby-pamby president."

A description that fits so well, unfortunately, because it is so true.

MD

"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress."

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

TIME?

An 'extremist' regional tabloid.

These Leftist media sycophants are clueless. Truly clueless.

http://locomotivebre...

Joe who?

Joe who?

The proper spelling is JOKE

The proper spelling is JOKE LINE

Joe Klien???? The NYT???? On CNN????

A triple threat if I have ever seen one! 

Hey Joe, why don't you bring your NYT eletist ass down here to where I live and let me introduce you to some real men and women who love their country and see protesting as one of their many rights thats found in this little thing called the Constitution.  Read it sometime Joe you might learn something.

Liberalism: The haunting feeling that someone, somewhere, can help themselves.

How embarassing....

Lets not forget: Democrat Bill Owens victory Tuesday in the 23rd Congressional district of New York won in a landslide in spite of the Sarah affect..a huge victory that had national ripplings..how could that happen?  ..after all she showed up as did Cliffy from cheers.

 

"I loved his movie(Reagan) with the chimp!"  ~ Mikhail Gorbachev  

A landslide?  Owens won by

A landslide?  Owens won by 4% (an election he was expected to win until two days before when Scuzzbag finally dropped out) with less than a majority supporting him and a "Republican" taking votes away from Hoffman.  Owens is going to be one of the most vulnerable "Blue Dogs" next year, and his "victory" is a better result for Republicans in the district than a Scuzzbag "victory" would have been...at least now, they can run a real Republican to defeat Owens next year rather than having support Scuzzbag's massive dead weight.

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."  -George Best

Alas, fitz.....it's liberal math

You know, where one vote = Bipartisanship.

I hope he fails, too.

 

 

Revisionist

I believe Klein has deliberately twisted history....it was the Democrat Party that was an extremist Southern Party; they were pro-slavery;  the members of KKK were Democrat party members for the most part.

 What the Repbublcians have failed to realize is that since Clinton or earlier, the Democrat party has an organized propaganda wing. Because they arent dealing with that, they are getting beat.

Joe Klein

BobPDX

Joe I am a moderate.

Understand that the more names you call us, the more lies and distortions you make the stronger we get.

You and Mathews are so outdated it's no wonder no one watches your diatribes.

Use to watch you guys, now you make me and many others sick to our stomachs with your transparent hoaxes.

It's too late for you, but not for us.

Stand by