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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Carolyn who wrote (69016)	2/23/2014 12:42:59 PM
From: greatplains_guy	Respond to of 71588

Jimmy Fallon, Democrat Political Asset Brent Bozell Feb 21, 2014 The Obamas have had few more obsequious media allies than NBC's Jimmy Fallon. Now that he's taking over the hallowed ground of "The Tonight Show," Fallon's proven ability to spread his reach into viral videos on YouTube promises to become even more politically potent. Fallon's Obama-friendly sketches and interviews have become immediate "news" grist for the Comcast corps at NBC and MSNBC. The same sensation happens when Fallon is ripping into a Republican. Just as NBC and MSNBC were tearing Gov. Chris Christie apart over "Bridgegate," Fallon joined this political crusade by bringing on liberal rock star Bruce Springsteen for a jokey version of the hit "Born to Run." Fallon and Springsteen sang clumsy lyrics that Christie was "killing the working man who is stuck in Governor Chris Christie's Fort Lee, New Jersey traffic jam." The YouTube video went viral, while the media played it up as another nail in the coffin they were building for Christie's career. The NBC press agents are trying to paper over Fallon's political tilt. A Parade Magazine profile on Feb. 16 oozed that Fallon "persuaded Brad Pitt to yodel, President Obama and Mitt Romney to 'slow jam the news,' and Tom Cruise to crack raw eggs on his noggin." But why pretend? In 2012, Fallon's "slow jam" with Obama featured the president trying to sell his allegedly wonderful plans for college loans, and Fallon followed up by uttering in a low voice, "Awww yeah. You should listen to the president. Or as I like to call him, the Preezy of the United Steezy." After Obama trotted out campaign attacks against Republicans, accusing them for raising interest rates on students to keep taxes low for billionaires, Fallon added: "Mmm, mmm, mmm. The Barack Ness Monster ain't buying it." Singer Tariq Trotter then sang in tribute: "He's the POTUS with the mostest!" Fallon ended this spectacle later by stating the ridiculous: "We don't take sides politically on this show." It's worse than that. Obama invited himself. Fallon excitedly described on "Today" afterward how "the White House called us" about doing the skit. Matt Lauer asked: "He booked himself on your show?" Fallon gushed: "The president booked himself." Try to imagine a conservative Republican attempting to pull this off. Fallon has been especially eager to help Michelle Obama promote her image. On Feb. 7, 2012, he aired a "Let's Move" video in the East Room of the White House, featuring a slow-motion potato sack race with the first lady to the soundtrack of "Chariots of Fire." (She won, of course.) On Feb. 22, 2013, Fallon dressed as a woman to dance with Michelle and illustrate "The Evolution of Mom Dancing." That video went viral. During that show, Fallon even asked if Michelle would run with Hillary Clinton for president: "Can I ask you another thing to think about -- I said it here first - Dream Team, Michelle and Hillary '16." That suggestion actually isn't new. As the Democratic convention closed in 2012, he performed a James Taylor impression on his show, singing the hit "Fire and Rain" with the joke title "Romney and Bain." The Huffington Post boasted: "It's also a pretty explicit endorsement of the Obama campaign, with the lyric, 'So I'll prob'ly vote Obama again,' right there in the refrain." Not only that, but Fallon sang that in 2016, he'd vote for "the Dream Team, Michelle and Hillary." When Romney appeared to "slow jam the news" a few weeks ago, Fallon just "had" to make fun of his gaffes. Romney explained: "I'm not running again. There are a lot of great candidates for 2016, and I'll be supporting the Republican nominee 100 percent." Fallon shot back: "Don't you mean 47 percent?" Romney replied, "That's a low blow -- but it's pretty funny." Fallon said, "I had to do it." He's right. That's what comedians do. So why can't he do likewise with Obama? Romney's response was classy and brings up the obvious point just made in a New York magazine interview by longtime "Saturday Night Live" boss Lorne Michaels, who is helping to run both the Fallon show and the new Seth Meyers show after him on NBC. When asked about the rules for political satire, Michaels replied: "Republicans are easier for us than Democrats. Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it's funny." Republicans can laugh at themselves, even when they're being mocked. Not Democrats. They have thin skin because they expect every comedian to fall at their feet -- like Fallon does with the Obamas. townhall.com

To: Carolyn who wrote (69016)	3/4/2014 11:48:33 PM
From: greatplains_guy	Respond to of 71588

Whatever Its Faults, the Tea Party Identified the Right Target A look back on its development over the last five years. Gene Healy March 4, 2014 It's been five years since Rick Santelli's CNBC "rant that shook the world" helped give rise to the Tea Party movement. The first wave of anti-big-government protests began in the cities, and they were "about as libertarian as it gets," as political number-cruncher Nate Silver put it at the time: light on moralism, heavy on "fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets," per the "Tea Party Patriots" founding credo. At the massive Sept. 12, 2009, Tea Party rally in Washington, Ron Paul's kids mixed with graying Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers; I snapped pictures of "What Would Mises Do?" signs and an erudite codger with a placard blaring: "Austrian Business Cycle Theory!" Could it be—some of us dared hope—that we were witnessing the birth of that unlikeliest of creatures: a libertarian mass-movement? Half a decade later, that looks like a classic case of "irrational exuberance." No doubt there's a lot to be said for a movement that drives genial establishmentarians like Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to paroxysms of rage: "These people are not conservatives!" Hatch howled on NPR in 2012, "they're radical libertarians and I'm doggone offended by it. I despise these people!" (Doggone!) Still, I can relate to the fellow at Thursday's Capitol Hill Tea Party Patriots anniversary event, a former Ron Paul volunteer who volunteered to the Washington Post that he was "so frustrated talking to these neocons," he needed a pre-noon shot of Jameson. Early on, Beltway hawks were terrified that the movement would exercise "the scariest kind of influence" on American foreign policy, shrinking defense budgets and ending America's globocop role. Yet "Tea Party Republicans hold about the same views as non-Tea Party Republicans about America's role in solving world problems," according to the Pew Research Center. And when polls show that "tea party supporters, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, declared significant cuts to Social Security 'unacceptable,'" we're not talking about a particularly "radical" form of libertarianism. More frustrating still, as Conor Friedersdorf has pointed out, too often, Tea Partiers have been suckers for "some of the most obviously irresponsible charlatans in American life." If you're a GOP pol who lacks the chops to become president of the U.S., Michael Brendan Dougherty observes, you may have "enough talent to become President of Conservatism." The responsibilities are minimal and the speaking fees are sweet. Alas, these are the sorts of talents Tea Partiers swooned for in the 2012 primaries: Herman Cain, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich—even Rick Santorum, a self-proclaimed enemy of libertarianism who was the opposite of everything the Tea Party was supposed to stand for. Herman Cain, who's gone from the "9-9-9 plan" to promoting erectile dysfunction supplements, didn't have what it takes to become "President of Conservatism." But that title may go to new Tea Party fave Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Cruz has some Iowa trips planned, but his debate-camp-honed charisma had the Weekly Standard's Andy Ferguson wondering, during a car ride with Cruz, how many vertebrae he'd crack if he jumped out of the car and did "a tuck-and-roll onto the passing pavement." The Tea Partiers' poor choice of banner carriers helps explain why their brand has suffered, and libertarian identification with the movement has waned over time. According to a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, "a majority of libertarians (61 percent) say they do not consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement." Still whatever errors they've made along the way, the Tea Partiers identified the right target: our profligate political class. That class will continue to reign, unless and until they're confronted with a citizen movement that marries passion with sound judgment. This column originally appeared in the Washington Examiner. reason.com