Open Thread Tuesday
Today's starter topic: The partial government shutdown has begun and the world has not ended. Gallup also has an interesting look at how past budget standoffs have not really affecting polling that much. One interesting note, however, is that the president has higher polling numbers than the Congress and therefore has more to lose in the event of a continued lack of compromise.
Politico's Roger Simon: 'Extreme Right-Wing' Is Taking the GOP 'Hostag
On CNN Tuesday, Politico's Roger Simon slammed the "extreme right-wing" for using "food as a political weapon," for taking the GOP "hostage," and for denying "health care to 11 million people" in favor of a shutdown.
"The extreme right-wing of the Republican Party has taken that party hostage, at least in the House of Representatives," Simon ranted. He summarized their current position on…
Big Three Networks Mostly Mum About ObamaCare Setbacks
With the ObamaCare exchanges set to take effect today, and polls showing the President’s health care law as unpopular as ever (a September 25 poll from CBS News/New York Times found 51% “somewhat” or “strongly” disapproved of the law), the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) news networks have been reluctant to report the multiple fiascos surrounding its implementation:
■ On July 2 and 3, all three…
Chris Matthews: ‘Ted Cruz Is Brilliant…The President’s Met His M
Chris Matthews just can’t make up his mind about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.).
After telling MSNBC’s Morning Joe crew last week that the Texas Tea Partier is “a problem for our republic,” Matthews on Tuesday said, “I think Ted Cruz is brilliant. I think the President’s met his match in this guy” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Media's Doom and Gloom Predictions Wrong Again, Markets Shrug Off Gove
For weeks Americans have been told that if Congress and the White House didn't agree to a Continuing Resolution to fund the government when the new fiscal year started on October 1, an economic calamity would befall the nation.
Well, the government officially shut down at midnight Monday, and markets all around the world don't seem to care.
The Toilet Paper: New York Daily News Mocks Boehner As Leading a 'Hous
Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty tweeted on Tuesday morning: “Once again, NY Daily News (Remember “Cry Baby”?) goes for the iconic #shutdown cover.” As in 1995, the Daily News is mudslinging at a GOP House Speaker during a shutdown.
“HOUSE OF TURDS,” said the cover, as Speaker John Boehner seems to sit in Abe’s chair at the Lincoln Memorial with something dark dripping from his hands.…
'Morning Joe' Tempers Flare Over Obamacare
Seems the shutdown is already frazzling folks. Though some of it might have been for show, tempers seemed to truly flare on today's Morning Joe. An on-air spat broke out, with Joe Scarborough in one corner, and Mika Brzezinski and the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson in the other.
Fed up with what he described as a "paid advertisement for Obamacare" by Brzezinski and Robinson,…
A 'Soldier Stands' for 'Aiding the Youngest': WashPost Honors Inflexib
Monday’s Style section of the Washington Post is stuck on its Glorify Liberals setting. At the top it reads, “Forty years after founding the Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman is unbending on aiding the youngest." The large headline below is “A soldier stands her ground.”
Edelman and CDF are holding a biggest Kennedy Center fundraising event honoring Hillary Clinton, although…
AP Finally Fact-Checks 'Slippery Claims' on Obamacare, But Buries Obam
Calvin Woodward finally got around to "fact-checking" Obamacare's "slippery claims" this morning, 3-1/2 years after the Affordable Care Act became law and the day before open enrollment in its state insurance exchanges was to begin. Way to be there when it matters, Cal.
Woodward's report (also saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes) also mixed in budget showdown…
CBS’s Schieffer Frets ‘Ultra-Conservatives’ Blocking Congress fr
Resurrecting an ideological tag from the 1980s media era, on Monday’s CBS Evening News, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, Bob Schieffer, fretted over how “ultra-conservatives” in the House – a label he used twice – are making a mess of things.
NYT Bemoans August Al Qaeda Plot Leak After Blowing Open Bush Admin Fi
Isn't this rich? The New York Times, in a Sunday story placed on the front page of Monday's print edition, took shots at another news organization for leaking sensitive intelligence. The Old Grey Lady must think we all have short memories.
Unfortunately, Dylan Byers at the Politico does have a short memory — either that, or he's protecting the sacred Times and its history-challenged reporters…
Brit Hume: People Think Republicans to Blame for Shutdowns Because Med
"One reason people think Republicans are to blame for government shutdowns is that so much of the media keep telling them that that's the case."
So marvelously stated Brit Hume on Fox News's Special Report Monday (video follows with transcript and absolutely no need for additional commentary):
CBS Lets Sebelius' Former Adviser at HHS Spin For ObamaCare
CBS This Morning did its best over two days to put the most positive spin on the rollout of the ObamaCare insurance exchanges. On Saturday, the newscast turned to Bloomberg's Peter Gosselin, who likened the exchanges to "shopping for anything online on Amazon". However, the program failed to point out that Gosselin once worked in the Obama administration, and advised HHS Secretary Kathleen…
NBC: 'Article of Faith' (Not Fact) That GOP 'Paid at the Polls' After
On Monday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie acknowledged the liberal spin that congressional Republicans were punished electorally after the 1995 government shutdown was more a matter of faith than fact: "I mean, for 17 years it's been an article of faith that Republicans paid at the polls after the shutdown in the 90s. But these new House Republicans aren't so sure that's true." [Listen to…
