Lawrence O'Donnell: 'I’m Not Policing Thought - I Encourage Thought'
For many years I've been saying it takes a lot of rationalizations to be a liberal these days.
As additional evidence, I offer the following statement by Lawrence O'Donnell published in the June issue of Playboy:
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, MSNBC: The trouble with approaching government from the standpoint of “I hate government” is that you are extremely unlikely to find a better way for government to do anything at all. You are also extremely unlikely to be the persuasive person on the matter of what the government should no longer do. And it’s even worse because of a horrible dynamic that doesn’t allow a Republican to veer from the right, no matter what he or she thinks. Occasionally a Republican would realize Rush Limbaugh had gone way too far and said something absolutely unconscionable and indefensible, and that Republican would say so, and then Rush would immediately discipline that Republican on the radio, and that Republican would apologize, all within a 12-hour news cycle. That policing system is flawless. And when you have a policing system like that on thought, thought stops.
PLAYBOY: If the media are complicit, and Limbaugh and others are the biggest offenders on the right, you have to be included in the list of the biggest offenders on the left.
O’DONNELL: I’m not policing thought. The opposite. I encourage thought. I want thoughtfulness. I want people to understand the complexity of the issues. Otherwise nothing meaningful will ever change. I want debate. I want people to be educated enough to have a conversation.
Got that? One of the most divisive people in the so-called news industry today thinks he encourages thought and wants thoughtfulness.
Here are some recent examples of O'Donnell encouraging thought:
- Lawrence O'Donnell Goes Ballistic On Birther Orly Taitz, Cuts Off Her Camera
- Condi Rice Tells Lawrence O'Donnell 'You Have a Bad Habit With Your Guests - You Never Let Them Answer a Question'
- Lawrence O'Donnell Attacks Ann Coulter for Saying Liberals Give Less to Charity Than Conservatives
- Lawrence O'Donnell Yells at Arizona Congressman for Not Agreeing With Him on Gun Control
- Lawrence O'Donnell: 'Michele Bachmann Voters Are Ignorant - Her District Is 92% White'
- Lawrence O'Donnell Calls GOP Congressman a 'Tax Criminal' for Sleeping in His Office
- MSNBC's O'Donnell Slams Limbaugh As Biblically Ignorant; Contorts Scripture to Paint Jesus As Socialist
- Lawrence O'Donnell: 'Stunningly Ignorant' Cantor Would Fail Citizenship Test
- Lawrence O'Donnell: Bill O'Reilly is 'Bullying Nuts' and 'Freaks' Like Palin 'Off GOP Stage'
- Lawrence O'Donnell Worries 'We Are So Free Ann Coulter Can Joke About Jailing Journalists'
Some thought encourager, huh?
(H/T TVNewser)
Readers are advised that a link to the Playboy article was not provided for what should be obvious reasons.
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Comments
Memo To Lawrence
Submitted by Bourbeau on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 8:42pm.
Watch the vidio tape of your shows and turn the volume up and then tell us you encourage thought. What an self-serving idiot.
That will be....
Submitted by Samaritan01 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:24pm.
O'Donnell's punishment in hell..........
Yeah, Stalin, Mao, Uncle Ho and Castro...
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 8:50pm.
...(all of whom are no doubt are at the very top of O'Donnell's all time list of personal heroes) encouraged thought, too.
Just as long as that thought agreed with them.
And BTW, comrade O'Donnell, people who love true freedom and liberty (two concepts that you know less than nothing about) do not like or trust government, as we recognize it as a necessary evil that must be kept on a short leash at all times.
A very short leash.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave,
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 12:32am.
"And BTW, comrade O'Donnell..."
Hey, show the man the respect he has earned. That's Comrade O'Donnell...
Spot on, Dave
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 10:00am.
O'Donnell encourages right-thinking -- thoughts that he finds acceptible because they conform with his worldview and goals.
Folks who disagree with O'Donnell are engaged in wrong-thinking -- thoughts which are dismissed out of hand and ridiculed because they challenge the assumptions and principals of the right-thinker.
He reminds me of the dictators who declare that democracy thrives under their regimes -- as long as citizens go along with the right-thinking government agenda, they are free to "re-elect" the government in perpetuity.
Larry O'Donnell
Submitted by Boudin on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:09pm.
Is flat bat sh!t crazy.
Encouraging Thought
Submitted by Dave81 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:30pm.
O'Donnell encourages thought...he encourages his viewers to think more liberally. "Turn away from your evil conservative ways and think exactly like me! Free Kool-Aid!!"
What do you expect?
Submitted by ironhead4099 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:45pm.
What would you expect from someone who graduated for the Joseph Goebbels school of journalism! Probably cum laude!
Larry, I've got some bad news
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:50pm.
Larry, I've got some bad news for you.............about 99% of ANYBODY couldn't care LESS about whether you police thought or encourage it..................you, like the rest of your narcissisic and self-absorbed cronies, heros, and idols.......are legends in your own minds, and not much else.
Please
Submitted by grammajane on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 9:56pm.
He claims he is educated? Sounds like he never even earned a GED. He tried to compare himself to Rush?? Give me a break. Rush is a champ and this bag of garbage couldn't entertain if he tried. Aren't he,schultz, tingles and madcow all running last on TV evening viewers.
O'Donnel sez: "I don't
Submitted by Slyrr on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 10:11pm.
O'Donnel sez: "I don't police thought! I encourage thought! It's just that if you don't agree with what I think, I'll KILL you!!!'
the man forgets where he came from
Submitted by agingcynic on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 10:23pm.
In one generation this family went from a Boston cop who became a lawyer to a pampered narcissist who attended a fancy prep school and Harvard on Dad's work as a race-baiting criminal attorney. This isn't the first kid from Boston that Harvard turned into a self-avowed socialist and he won't be the last. He is, however, a singular waste of skin.
O’DONNELL: I’m not policing thought.
Submitted by OxyCon on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 10:50pm.
Lawrence O’Donnell insists parent company NBC consider firing Donald Trump
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/07/lawrence-odonnell-insists-parent-compa...
Trump fired?
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 10:55pm.
Well this should be interesting, if, as Trump says, he has the highest rated show on NBC. How much money can NBC afford to bleed out in defense of Obama?
Playboy is still solvent?
Submitted by RR GOP on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 11:01pm.
Playboy is still solvent? Huh. Well, hopefully they airbrushed the pics of Larry so their few readers wouldn't experience ED while thumbing through the pages looking for the good stuff.
"Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism it's just the opposite."
"All that Communism needs to make it successful is for someone to feed and clothe it."
Lawrence O'Donnell
Submitted by well99 on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 11:50pm.
It is amazing how he can lie like that with a straight face.
Someday soon...
Submitted by bobdog on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 2:00am.
O'Donnell: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my show?
Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
O'Donnell: It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
O'Donnell: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
Odonellism-
Submitted by johnsonl on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 7:46am.
"Thoughtiness is good, but only liberal thoughtiness."
He's not policing thought.
Submitted by Morganfrost on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 9:16am.
Because, in order to "police" something, one must have some authority, or at least be taken seriously by the folks one wishes to police.
Indeed, not only does O'Donnell not "police" thought, I'm not sure that there's any evidence that he has any serious interaction with thought at all.
Noel, in regard to liberals
Submitted by Beukeboom on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 10:23am.
Noel, in regard to liberals you may call it "rationalizations" but I call it "prevaricatory delusions." :-)
Yep...as long as it's
Submitted by Patriot II on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 11:19am.
his lame and embecilic thought..then its ok...!