Maddow Tells Leno Total Nonsense About Wisconsin, Unions and Tea Party
By Noel Sheppard | February 23, 2011 | 11:49
Last Monday, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman ironically asked his readers why voters are so ill-informed.
Eight days later, MSNBC's resident Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow, while chatting with the "Tonight Show's" Jay Leno about what's going on in Wisconsin, demonstrated perfectly why so many in our country have little factual knowledge of current events (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JAY LENO, HOST: Here’s my question. If the Democrats came back and they voted, well, would they lose?
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: Yes.
LENO: Okay, well if that's the will of the people of Wisconsin, to be devil's advocate, I mean if, if they voted this man in, this is what he wanted, the majority of the people want this…
MADDOW: What they're, what they're saying is the thing that, the reason that they have left is because it is a reasonable demand, no matter how big your majority is, it is a reasonable demand to say, "We want to renegotiate the contracts under which people who work for the state work." It is not a reasonable demand to say, "You will never be negotiated with again and we are taking away your rights."
Absolute nonsense. Let's first understand that public employee unions were largely illegal in this country until the 1950s. The first state to allow such unions was Wisconsin in 1959.
Taking this further, 21 states currently restrict partially or completely collective bargaining by public sector employees. Two such states are Virginia and Texas.
For Maddow to tell Leno and his large television audience it is not reasonable for Wisconsin to limit its public employees' ability to collectively bargain is totally false. States indeed do have such authority whether Rachel and her ilk like it or not.
Furthermore, Gov. Walker's plan does not eliminate workers' rights to bargain. It would just limit such rights to wages. But that wasn't the end of Maddow's idiocy:
MADDOW: For the government to say, I mean, it’s kind of amazing. For the government to say, "We the government know best. And you guys want to be in a union? We're taking away your rights to be in a union, we're taking away that choice from you, because the government needs to do what it wants and you guys are getting in the way."
Nonsense. Wisconsin is not trying to take away the right of its public employees to be in a union. It is instead quite legally trying to reduce what its employees have the right to negotiate under collective bargaining.
This is a distinction that press members like Maddow have been missing and misrepresenting for almost a week.
But there was still more idiocy to come:
MADDOW: For the Tea Partiers to come in and say, “You know what? Government does know best. The people ought to lose this right, because government needs something here." When did that become a conservative idea? I mean, talk about a big government. So to see the Tea Partiers here taking the side of the government taking away the people's rights, I think calls into question the whole idea of conservatism.
Staggering idiocy.
What Maddow and the rest of her ignorant ilk don't understand about the Tea Party and conservatism is that such folk believe they are the government.
As the Preamble to the Constitution states, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
One of the core principles of Tea Partiers and conservatives is to reduce government spending. As governments operate exclusively with our money, and public sector unions exist to appropriate more of our money for themselves and their employees, it is very much in the interest of Tea Partiers and conservatives to limit the collective bargaining power of people that de facto work for us, as their ability to do so takes money away from us.
Beyond this, we the people find it very displeasing that our employees have better health insurance and pension plans than we do, and don't want to contribute more of our money to balance state budgets allowing this condition to continue.
There are currently 22 million people in the public sector. This compares to 108 million in the private sector.
This means there's five times as many people in the private sector than the public sector, and as it is our tax money paying the salaries and wages of those working for the various governments around this great nation, we should certainly have a say in how it is spent.
As such, Tea Partiers and conservatives support what Walker is doing because it should prevent taxes from being raised in Wisconsin thereby establishing a similar precedent in other states hopefully saving all right-thinking people money across the fruited plain.
That Maddow doesn't get this is by no means surprising despite her Ph.D. in politics.
When she utters these half-truths to her million sycophantic devotees on MSNBC, that's one thing. But when she goes on the "Tonight Show," a comedy program with about four million viewers, and spreads this kind of nonsense without any counter-balance of facts available for the unsuspecting observer, it adds to the public's ignorance of current events.
And Krugman wonders why voters are so ill-informed.
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Comments
It's the Union's Insurance Scam at stake here, NS
Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 11:57am.
This article lays it out as neat as can be.
Interesting how the Union is so quick to throw their own members under the bus, but are fighting tooth and nail for collective bargaining for benefits administration. Oh hell yeah, the gravy train is about to stop.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 138 (and Counting)
I am beginning to think that
Submitted by Van Halen on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 11:59am.
I am beginning to think that the best thing we can do is let Rachel "The Snarl" Maddow speak. She's dropping erroneous nonsense at a speed second only to Matthews now and her credibility keeps suffering. Remember, she's supposed to be the smart one up at MSDNC. So let her talk. She does more damage to herself than we could.
I'm really worried about poor
Submitted by Miss_Me_Yet on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:00pm.
I'm really worried about poor Rachel.
I believe Maddow appears lost and heading for a total meltdown without her Olbermann around.
She, all of a sudden, found herself with no one to bounce her nightly rants off of before she goes on the air and falls flat on her face.
She reminds me a lot of Jon Stewart during the writers strike. He was about 3 weeks away from swallowing the barrel when luckily, for him, the strike ended.
Liberals ... we can't live with them, they couldn't survive without us ...
Keeping it real.
Submitted by Ashrak on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:06pm.
Maddow speaks nonsense to everyone 24/7.
On this point, in this context, Leno is as much to blame for viewers getting an errant message. He should be ashamed of himself for that.
Hmmmmm.
Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:08pm.
I find it "very interesting" (to quote Arte Johnson) that when Health Care is being discussed Mr. Maddow thinks big government is the answer, but not when it comes to dealing with unions demanding more of the taxpayers money.
I miss Arte, too...but you
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 4:12pm.
I miss Arte, too...but you forgot the rest of his tag line: "Verrrrrrrrrrry EEEEEnnteresting....but, STUPID!"
Just plug in 'ObamaCare' in this statment.
Submitted by kg on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 7:29pm.
"We the government know best. And you guys want to be in a union? We're taking away your rights to be in a union, we're taking away that choice from you, because the government needs to do what it wants and you guys are getting in the way."
"DumbAssity of Dope"
Exactly
Submitted by ant on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 7:31pm.
According to the likes of Maddow, you are a fool if you are against big government because they only exist to help us and love us for our own good. So if they are so trustworthy, no union is necessary, certainly Maddow's lovable, teddy-bear government would never take advantage of these workers, right?
@aLMOST
Submitted by Samshile on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 8:54pm.
Both positions separate the tax payer from their money.
She never talked about Obamacare like that.
Submitted by NeoKong on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:08pm.
Did she have a problem when millions were demonstrating against Obamacare...? She did in fact but it was with the protesters whom she tried to portray as Timothy McVeigh clones. She didn't seem to have a problem then when Democrats shoved the biggest govt. takeover this country has ever seen down our throats.
Of course not
Submitted by Conservator on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 4:00pm.
MSNBCer's and the rest of the leftist MSM are the only people who know how BIG GOVERNMENT must help Americans and thus, should have the power to shove their agenda upon all of us.Her problem is with corporate funded propaganda, not working cla
Submitted by evets11 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 11:06pm.
Her problem is with corporate funded propaganda, not working class people. When the Koch funded Tea-Partiers protested, she correctly called it astro-turfing.
Fun fact: Govenor Walker wanted shove his bill down the throats of the Wisconsinites in four days. Obama-care took 9 months of vigorous debates and over 100 Republican amendments before it became law.
Next fun fact: for those who actually read the bill, there is a surprise give away. Govenor Walker, if it passed, could circumvent normal public oversite and sell of critical state owned utilities at any price he wanted. Guess what business the Koch brothers are in?
One more fun fact the author seems to have missed: Virginia and Texas are only beaten by South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia in having the lowest SAT scores in the country, who also have adversarial relationships with teacher's unions.
steve, I mean evets
Submitted by Radical1979 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 11:17pm.
Where do you find any proof Tea Partiers being funded by the Koch Brothers? 'Cause they're not, at least not mine.
Obviously the bill wouldn't stand up to debate since the dems chose to run away rather than debate it.
Why is that an adversarial relationship leads to poor test scores? If they were professionals they would do a good job no matter what. Shouldn't teachers be doing a better job to prove they deserve more?
By the way, you sure put a lot of words in Maddow's mouth that I didn't hear coming out of hers.
Rad---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 12:17am.
somewhat of a trollish odor in evets posts.A somewhat polite one anyway,
Submitted by ant on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 12:57am.
A somewhat polite one anyway, md, at least he/she called the Obama-care debacle "vigorous debates", I seem to remember them being referred to as "angry, dangerous mobs" threatening saintly Congress-people at town-hall events.
ant,
Submitted by Dave. on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 1:12am.
LOL - Yeah, they always start out being polite.
I'm thinking retread here, based on it's SN (which is not a little familiar) and my gut. I get it wrong occasionally when it comes to trolls and plants, but I'm usually right 49 times out of 50.
We'll see what we have here in due time.
Probably by tomorrow evening. :-)
-Dave
Dave
Submitted by Denny Crane on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 11:09pm.
It's the sick offspring of NWAHS and Steve05.
But it looks like it gradumated from TU, at least it can use the shift key. Much better than it's retarded parents.
We Are The 53%
Sniff, sniff. Yeah, I thought I detected the malodorous air
Submitted by Dave. on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 1:07am.
...of a plant.
Tread carefully, my fellow NBers, as this one positively reeks of foul foliage.
-Dave
"i will continue to ask for cookies"
Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:09pm.
never mind how the cookies got into the jar-never mind all the cookies are gone.
how dare you ask me to help reload the cookie jar.
if i'm the Gov-break the cookie jar.
bake your own cookies.
"...and spreads this kind of
Submitted by DanOinOhio on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:10pm.
"...and spreads this kind of nonsense without any counter-balance of facts available..."
I wonder how Ms. Ph.D would feel about the fairness doctrine, that her side is always pouting about, in this instance.
Oh, I forgot. One-sided-ness is okay for them.
Collective Bargaining?
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:14pm.
I don't think this has anything to do with collective bargaining. It has everything to do with making union membership optional. The Dems want every single public employee of the state of Wisconsin to continue to contribute to their campaign funds. Optional membership would cripple the union.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Kingfish17,
Submitted by Ashrak on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:41pm.
The only time progressives agree with freedom of choice is when everyone is bound to make the same choices they themselves approve of.
Jeans and sneakers. Nice that
Submitted by Ed Gregory on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:20pm.
Jeans and sneakers. Nice that she dressed up for the occasion. What, were her overalls at the cleaners?
It is a she, right?
Ray-Ray is hooking up with Rosie O...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 4:45pm.
...after the show to go out and pick up chicks.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
I actually thought..
Submitted by theprofessor on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:22pm.
...that with Olbermann gone, there was perhaps a chance that MSNBC would come around to making some sort of improvement in their professionalism. Quite the contrary -- especially with Maddow. She's gone off the rails, into the weeds, smoked some of them and is heading over the cliff. Her ranting the other night about the coconut bra and vodka drinking off the butt guys was insanely incoherent. I think she knows the end of her employment is on the way.
What a waste of space.
This is how they operate...
Submitted by Fenwick on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:27pm.
Maddow and the Left are trying to create their own Reality Distortion Field to blur and muddy the truth when it suits their agenda. She is not uninformed - she is being purposely deceitful.
Along those lines...
Submitted by falcon on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:54pm.
...one would wish they would invent their own Infinite Improbability Drive and use it to turn into a daisy, then warp into intergalactic space. Maybe they and the Vogons can get together.
(With apologies to Douglas Adams.)
“I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership, that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose.” – Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980.
Let us be clear
Submitted by octavioj on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:40pm.
The issue at hand is voluntary unionization. If the liberals lose that financial base for political activities then they are doomed to be the disgruntled 20% of the population. The issue is a simple as that.
Spot On
Submitted by IrateNate on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 9:46pm.
You are absolutely correct. Sometimes, simple is best.
Rhodes "Scholar"???
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:43pm.
Where did this ignorant person get the designation "Rhodes Scholar"?---maybe from Randi Rhodes? Ironically, it is the "teachers" who are leaders of the lawless crowds in Wisconsin. Maddow is a prime example of the failure of our educational system. Just as with so many other "scholarships", her designation was most likely political ( affirmative action for a "minority"). "Liberals" are pathetically immature,illogical,and ignorant people---yet so often designated "brilliant" by their lefty pals. In reality, they are quite below average and quite shallow in their thinking. Any true scholar could tear her "argument" to pieces in five minutes. How sad.
BTW---Where's Barry? Silent on Egypt, Libya, et.al. Silent on Wisconsin. But he's out getting the communities "organized" so he can be re-elected. Just as is Maddow (and Bill Clinton for that matter) the boy is a total fraud. We are in deep soup, folks. Keep fighting--please.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
He's been anything but silent on Wisconsin
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:50pm.
He's even deployed his own personal community organizer army to help out.
Sickoflibs...
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:04pm.
Right on. As usual,the skunk working behind the scene. He loves this chaos. PUKE!
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
Oh, no, Barry waded right into the middle of Wisconsin
Submitted by falcon on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 10:01pm.
He's the one who said he hadn't seen Gov. Walker's budget but considered it an "assault" on unions. He also said he didn't know the facts of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., but said he thought the police officer "acted stupidly."
Facts are anathema to Obama. But crises can't go to waste, y'know. Unless they're in Egypt or Libya.
“I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership, that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose.” – Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980.
Overalls
Submitted by huskergramps on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:43pm.
Ed Gregory asked if Ms. Maddows' overalls were at the cleaners. This is an insult to the many working men I know that wear overalls. I would much rather spend an afternoon chatting with these folks than any amount of time listening to her and her ilk.
I meant no ill will toward
Submitted by Ed Gregory on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:09pm.
I meant no ill will toward those who wear overalls. Not at all. Only pointing out that she is undignified to the point of wearing inappropriately casual clothing on a traditionally classy show. I suppose we should all be thankful that she didn't wear shorts.
What's wrong
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 4:57pm.
with shorts? I'm sure her legions of fans would love to see those uncommonly hairy legs.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
>snore< the lezbeeeyan jokes are so old
Submitted by abeautifulperson on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 5:21pm.
hockeykid, how old are you anyway? does your mommy limit your time on the 'puter?
sorry i don't have more than that for now, there is real political discussion going on elsewhere in the world.
Well, thanks for stopping
Submitted by ant on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 7:37pm.
Well, thanks for stopping by!
With the exception of Palin's every move, I think the Wisconsin Union story is the longest I've ever seen liberals keep their attention on one subject. Lucky nothing shiny rolled by.
Why all the outrage?
Submitted by totsotvaitn on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:46pm.
Finally, the curtain is being pulled back to reveal the true hidden crap and agenda of the Democratic Party and the hilarious part is that it is being revealed by the Democrats themselves.
Collective bargaining has become our Country's worst nightmare and the most costly.
huskergramps...
Submitted by iveseenitall on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:03pm.
Hear! Hear! The (rich) lefties are hypocrites of the first order. I remember when the workers of America worked --quite hard. And they needed to unionize to protect themselves. Now it's all changed. The old-time Democrats and union workers, hard-working people, have been entrapped and are now terrorized by ultra-left thugs from Washington to Main Street. It's lying, dictatorial communism, plain and simple. Can anyone say Animal Farm, Fidel Castro, The Red Army, etc. The few controlling the many, as they protest all the way to the bank. I've heard Maddow drives a red pick-up on her travels-- to her stock broker.Corrupt hypocrites--all of them!
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
Liberals always refer to
Submitted by rayrush on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 12:58pm.
Liberals always refer to Unions or Democrats as "The People" ignoring the fact that both unions and Democrats are not a majority, but to them they the only ones who should count
And taking that a step further...
Submitted by retrocon on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 6:20pm.
and taking this a step further, the libs equate public sector jobs with private sector jobs...
Considering that it takes dozens of private sector workers to fund a single state job, and little value is attained from the state employees that could not be had from private employees outside of regulators, which cost the private sector even more, where's the value?
Even ignoring that, consider that we tax payers, through stimulus and DoEd, DoT, etc are sending our tax dollars to states to pay public sector wages, which in turn has a large chunk taken by the unions, which exclusively support democrats in elections, well... taxpayers are directly contributing to Obama's reelection fund, now aren't we?
That guy Maddow almost always
Submitted by MightyMouth on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:12pm.
That guy Maddow almost always has his facts wrong. MSNBC is a perfect 'fit' for him. And don't expect the likes of Leno, Letterman or Stewart to have the facts either. They are too busy boinking interns to care about those pesky facts and truths!
She has a what...?
Submitted by Iron Tigers Vet on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:15pm.
A Ph. D in politics? What does that mean... a Post hole Digger? It sure seems that way. Everytime she opens her piehole, she digs deeper and deeper into the pothole of ignorance commonly known as liberalism.
The new Carnac?
Submitted by tominhouston on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:26pm.
It wouldn't do for Jay Leno to try and emulate Johnny Carson doing Carnac so I suppose the next best thing is to bring on Rachel Maddow. I wonder if she keeps her information in a mayonase jar too.
By the way, when she got to that part about "big government telling people what to do" she almost sounded like a tea partier..obviously the concept of big government being considered from two perspectives was over her head like a 747.
Maddow
Submitted by nw_pa on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 1:55pm.
There's no end to my man crush.Heh, the Rhodes sholarship just dropped another notch
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 2:19pm.
...on the elitist's totem pole.
LOL - I wonder what the cringe factor is at Oxford these days, because even as far out as they are over there, they have to be embarrassed by the mindless drivel constantly spewed by this twit.
-Dave
You must not
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 4:59pm.
have watched a BBC newscast lately. They're so puppy in love with Obysmal it's sickening. Rick Maddow would fit right in.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Right?
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 8:25am.
Since the Constitution was brought up, let's take it a step further - where in the Bill Of Rights is there a right to collective bargain or renegotiate contracts? I can't seem to find it in my copy. Maybe it's in a Rhodes version? And Dear little Rachel should get out from under her political Ph.D. and try some basic math. She can start with Kalifornia and see what the public sector unions have done, and continue to do, to the state's budget. The info should be relatively easy for such an intellectual to find. State income through taxes and such vs. outlays for union benefits and salaries. Let's see if the sum is red or black. THEN she can explain how not limiting union power to collective bargain for further benefits and retirements is still a good thing.
Lastly, I am gratified to see several references to the lefty hypocrisy about government. It's all well and good for the government to direct things onto the public that Madcow and her ilk like and agree with, but God forbid that same big government attempt to touch unions or social entitlement programs.
Home medication
Submitted by Bobbygn on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 3:21pm.
Watching Rachel Maddow for 10 minutes or so will work to neutralize a Viagra overdose.
Neutralize?!
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 5:00pm.
It'll flat-out reverse it. Yecccch.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Great post, Noel
Submitted by Jack Coleman on Wed, 02/23/2011 - 3:31pm.
Devastating critique of this dishonest propagandist
Sounds like Leno was given a talking to
Submitted by gopcongress on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 12:45am.
Sounds like Leno was given a talking to by his bosses whom are trying keep MSNBC afloat at all costs. There would be no way the NBC brass would allow Leno to have a conservative on his show (Limbaugh was on the 10:00 show, not Tonight show), otherwise they'd know Maddow, their prime time host, out of the water.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
"Dr." Maddow would fit right in here in Europe...
Submitted by uhohshortsonthehighway on Thu, 02/24/2011 - 5:09am.
...with her phony-baloney doctorate degree, she would really enjoy being called "Frau Doktor Maddow." Non-medical doctors here in Germany are the biggest patronizing, egotistical blowhards you will ever meet-right up her alley.
MADDOW: For the government to say, I mean, it’s kind of amazing. For the government to say, "We the government know best. And you guys want to be in a union? We're taking away your rights to be in a union, we're taking away that choice from you, because the government needs to do what it wants and you guys are getting in the way."
Why is that liberals slobberingly believe in the government knowing best only when the government happens to agree with them at that moment? As soon they disagree, they turn into pseudo-conservatives, railing against government interference.