Melissa Harris-Lacewell, usually a contributor for Countdown with Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow Show, pops up on Morning Joe. Apparently she ran into Morning Joe folks on the plane down and that is how she ended up as a guest. She is an excellent advocate for African American and Urban issues. She does point out that the Obama Administration has sent many department heads (Department of Education, HUD, Homeland Security) to New Orleans. Even though President Obama only made one visit, he has competent and diligent cabinet members who are actually qualified to do their jobs.

Tancredo is a classic “its OK when I do it, but un-American when you do it” chicken hawk. When Moulitsas reminds everyone he is actually a veteran and calls Tancredo on his deferment from Vietnam, he actually is so offended he walks off the set. He couldn’t take the “real talk”.

As a Republican student activist, Tancredo spoke out in favor of the Vietnam War. After graduating from the University of Northern Colorado in June 1969, he became eligible to serve in Vietnam. Tancredo said he went for his physical, telling doctors he’d been treated for depression, and eventually got a “1-Y” deferment.

via Firebrand Tancredo puts policy over party line – The Denver Post.

Tancredo is one of these people who are just hypocrites and David Schuster points out a key issue after Tancredo charges of the set: if you feel the Federal government doesn’t work, than why is your entire purpose to be in a position of power in the Federal government in some way shape or form?

“From my perspective, we won last night. We had one race that we were engaged in — it was in northern New York. It was a race where a Republican has held a seat since the Civil War, and we won that seat. So from our standpoint, no. We had a candidate that was victorious who supports the health-care reform… So from our standpoint, we picked up voted last night, one in California [CA-10] and one in New York.”

via Pelosi: ‘We won’ – First Read – msnbc.com.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is making a simple and logical point: in a typical election the House Democrats would reasonably expect to come out of these races losing the very red NY-23 and winning the very blue CA-10. Instead, Democrats held the CA-10 effortlessly and in NY-23 Palin, Pawlenty and Teabaggers nominated a carpetbagging far right candidate. Both house elections went Blue. Getting majority vote on climate change, education reform, health care, extending unemployment benefits, and repealing don’t ask don’t tell became a bit easier for Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn. The DCCC, the political arm of the House fought one race with funding and man power, that was NY-23 and they won. That is the “we” in her statement. Mitchell, a long time reporter, analyst and pundit, and former US Representative Scarborough know the intelligent and honest way to talk about this in context.

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd seems to understand that “five straight special elections in swing Republican districts that Democrats have won” is a “helpful governing tool for Pelosi”.

Now let’s actually look how Joe Scarborough decided to frame her statement:

Mika Brezinski: Going back to Nancy Pelosi, and you’re really good at this [looking at Scarborough], when you’ve lost something, you’ve lost something. I don’t understand how she can say ‘the Democrats won’ last night. You had Mark Warner who said very plainly said ‘we got walloped’. Why can’t they just… Why can’t ya just say it?[..]And Tim Kaine was spinning.

The last 5 House special elections have meant more votes for Pelosi. Why can’t she just say “we lost”? Because she won.

US Senator Mark Warner, former Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia should say “We”. We being the Democratic Party of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Along with current Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who also happens to be DNC chair, they have to determine how a state which has elected two Democratic governors, went overwhelmingly for Obama a year ago went to someone as far right as McDonnell. They should start with the Virginia gubernatorial primary in which Terry McAuliffe carpetbagged his way into the race and resulted in the nomination of Creigh Deeds. Deeds was not a supporter of the President’s popular initiatives for health care reform and he

Tim Kaine, as DNC chair, also needs to look to the blue state of New Jersey where Jon Corzine lost his Governership to Chris Christie. Corzine let the race devolve along the standard New Jersey line: darkly tinted, sinister voice over, attack ads. The Democratic machine in NJ waited to long to wheel out Christie’s crooked political past and let him say he was going to clean up New Jersey.

That same DNC chair needs to question President Obama, who decided not to stump for NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson versus Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The same Mayor Bloomberg that endorsed George W. Bush for a second term before leaving the GOP for political expediency, won his bid for NYC Mayor, after getting City Council to circumvent the will of the citizens by throwing out Mayoral term limits, won the election with only 50.6% of the vote.

That same soon to be former Virginia Governor and civil rights attorney also needs to question where the election of the far right McDonnell leave incarceration in Virginia? Virginia spends more than most states on corrections because of inflexible sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenders, Tim Kaine’s measures were rejected and probably won’t be adopted by McDonnell.

HALL: No, I didn’t. The reason I left was in part because they’ve had less debates than they used to. It is a fair point to say how much debate is there on MSNBC? How many Republican strategists? We have a bifurcation of the media.

The proof doesn’t support Hall’s beliefs.

MSNBC hosts three hours of Joe Scarborough’s Morning Joe every morning where his regular guests include right wing political analysts Pat Buchanan, Peggy Noonan, Dan Senor, Mike Murphy, Tucker Carlson and Liz Cheney. Chris Matthews regularly hosts a variety of conservative commentators on the Hardball with Chris Matthews political round table. These repeat panelists have included Dick Armey, Tom Delay and Bill Donahue. Ed Schultz has Tom Tancredo and other conservatives on his show regularly and Rachel Maddow has hosted right wing figures such as Tom Ridge, Rick Berman and Tim Phillips to come on her show, one on one and debate issues. This doesn’t even go into MSNBC News live where conservatives are always invited on to discuss their point of view.

When Jane Hall regularly appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s, The O’Reilly Factor, it was usually opposite O’Reilly and conservative author Bernard Goldberg.

McChrystal’s view — that a strategy employing fewer resources, in pursuit of more limited goals, would be “short-sighted” — is something the White House needs to hear. He is, after all, the man Obama put in charge in Afghanistan, and it would be absurd not to take his analysis of the situation into account. But McChrystal is out of line in trying to sell his position publicly, as he did last week in a speech in London.

via Eugene Robinson – Gen. McChrystal’s War of Words – washingtonpost.com.

IWF head Michelle Bernard

MSNBC Contributor, Michelle Bernard has always been rabidly anti-union, but apparently the Independent Women’s Forum that she runs is a right wing “astroturf” group who opposes health care reform:

Originally formed in 1991 as “Women for Clarence Thomas” in an effort to secure the nominee a seat on the Supreme Court. Just what the Independent Women’s Forum is independent from is unclear — it certainly cannot claim independence from the White House with Vice-Presidential wife Lynne Cheney as Director Emeritus and ultra-conservative pundit and Bush advisor Larry Kudlow as a board member. IWF has even been awarded a grant as part of the US Department of State’s $10 million Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative to help a group of Iraqi women leaders define their role in Iraq’s government.

via MSNBC Misses the Astroturf in its own Building « his vorpal sword.

Funny, right wingers know how to get money from the big government they “hate”.

Maria Bartiromo wants to know why Congressman Weiner didn't march up to Lyndon Johnson and demand his Medicare card, right after Truman

On MSNBC Live, Carlos Watson leads a panel on health care with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, Washington Post’s Ezra Klein and Congressman Anthony Weiner. Bartiromo proves she has no business debating health care with anyone as she doesn’t even know the basics about the health care systems we have in place in this country.

Watson doesn’t intercede and mention that the 44 year old congressman is not eligible for Medicare. Thankfully, Weiner and Ezra Klein (not in this clip) both make that point during the segment.

Updated: I have appended this post with the an additional clip from MSNBC.com

Shortly after, Phil Griffin, the MSNBC president, said in a daily conference call with producers that he wanted the channel’s other programs to follow Mr. Olbermann’s lead and restrain from criticizing Fox directly, according to two employees. At Fox News, some staff members were told to “be fair” to G.E.

via Fox and G.E. Reach Deal to End O’Reilly-Olbermann Feud – NYTimes.com.

This apology is long overdue as Rep. Clyburn rightfully points out the US Senate has issued apologies to Native Americans, Hawaiians and the Japanese Americans interned during World War II.