I know. Next Sunday MEET THE PRESS should invite Cynthia McKinney on

[saltpoint]

to discuss health care reform and Afghanistan.

I think Cynthia could lend some circuit-breaking clarity to both issues.

If there's time she could detail her assertion of genocide on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina.

I'm sure she'd have David Gregory on the edge of his seat.

And what a boost it would be for the Green Party in this country.

[Zodiak]

1. Flamebait

unrecced

[Fumesucker]

19. You and I generally agree but we disagree on McKinney..

After I heard Neal Boortz trash talk Cynthia for a long time I decided she must be doing something right to get Boortz to hate her as much as he obviously does.

She's a whack job but a very entertaining one and I think she does say things that need to be said and that almost no one else has the intestinal fortitude to utter.

[jonnyblitz]

22. I used to like her in the 90's. sadly in the current issue of

the Intelligence Report from The Southern Poverty Law Center there is an article about her engaging in anti-semitic conspiracy theories and hanging out with holocaust deniers. I stuck up for her here at DU when i first started posting but she has gone off the deep end ,i hate to say. i really liked her in the 90's. oh well.

here's the article if you want to look at it or not:

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=1100

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I'd probably actually watch that show

I gave up Sunday morning TV. But I would probably watch McKinney on MTP.

[xchrom]

3. You should have a pizza.nt

[saltpoint]

4. Yep. It does seem that MEET THE PRESS needs to shake up the

mix a bit.

Too often Senate and administrative folks are on. And the public just doesn't get to hear far Left voices like McKinney's often at all.

I would personally suggest that Gregory invite McKinney on no less frequently than twice every three months, on a panel that might also include Ron Paul. Now that would enliven public discourse, wouldn't it? Gregory would really have to be on his toes for that one.

[Bluebear]

5. Truthfully, it sounds like it would be a good show!

:)

[saltpoint]

6. And who knows, Bluebear -- I might even be making a point or

two. I do that from time to time, just to stay in the game.

:hi:

[mmonk]

7. The issues aren't about the Greens.

[saltpoint]

9. I'm not so sure about that, mmonk.

I think a very strong case could be made they are.

Hence the post.

[mmonk]

10. It would be interesting.

Similar views could be expressed by some members of the Democratic Party that are never invited to speak as well. But I'm speaking of the current power games going on.

[saltpoint]

13. Ok, I follow.

The issue can (but doesn't always) come down to a hinge of power. For some -- like Mitt Romney -- it's all about the power. He wants power, he has the money to employ in pursuit of the power he wants. It didn't come together for him in 2008 but the field will be different this time out and his craving for power likely is the same or greater. He's in a power narrative from the word go and the lust for that power crackles in his voice when he talks.

I believe the power game of politics runs the course from poisoning princes and popes to strangling infant heirs in their cribs to going on FOX News to propagandize. On some days the last of those examples is the most treasonous offense against humanity.

The other side of the hinge is power for influence, and this is where the flame wars begin in cyberspace. The mechanism that gave Gore New Hampshire and not Bradley is superficially the same mechanism that gave Hart New Hampshire and not Mondale, but ideologically, it seems as if the mechanism itself is unreliable, inconsistent, not true to itself, unstable. That isn't the day-to-day impression of any institution, but the election outcomes are "clearly unclear." That mechanism includes all the components of power for power's sake and power for the sake of influencing national life. We can say, "The fix is on," regarding the media, but the media these last several years have become fish in a barrel. They're corrupt and unprofessional, and it's easy to spot. In 2004, Ted Koppel, then still at ABC News, ridiculed Carol Mosely-Braun and Dennis Kucinich on national television. It was cheap work by Koppel but it re-enforced the marginality of the more liberal voice against the far more conservative society. To play either side of the power hinge you at least have to be on the teeter-totter.

The third hinge (does that sound cosmic, or what?) is the desire not for power but its absence. This involves examples like Buddha and St. Francis who both renounced worldly comforts to experience the suffering of the multitudes, the experience of the unknown, and the dissolution of self. Buddhist monks sat passively while Chinese soldiers ran them over in the siege of Tibet. Francis of Assisi did confront the Pope -- in the post-Nixon era that would be "speaking truth to power" -- but the power grid remained firmly in place. Their examples prompt inspired comment and genuine awe but they are on the cosmic hinge and not the power grid. They aren't on the teeter-totter and they aren't even in the park. If I had the caliber of mind those Buddhists had, I'd join them on the third hinge.

The assault on Obama on this site has been careless at best and debasing otherwise. It is the property and domain of the administrators to allow what they wish on the site but they do seem a bit disconnected from the larger, longer arc.

[WeDidIt]

8. Wouldn't the name have to be changed to MEET THE NUTBALL ? n/t

[charlie]

11. Anything to throw a wrench into that self-absorbed circle jerk

Hell, they should be forced to reserve a seat for the WWE every week, inject some honesty into the show. A 'roided meatslab who knows he's a bullshitter would put an end to their high-minded flackery with a glare.

For being scribblers of the lurid and banal, and perverting a noble profession, they deserve no less.

[MuseRider]

12. She has as much right

as anyone else does to air her viewpoints and ideas. She held a national office, there are people on that show who have not. As far as I see there is no room for limiting discussion. Even what you might consider "nutball" might just send someone else into a workable plan. Why silence her or anyone else?

Hey saltpoint! Still mightily disagree with you but want to say hello to you friend. :-)

[saltpoint]

16. Hey there, MuseRider.

We're pals, no question.

I may not have made the points I was trying to make as well as others here could have but I am in no way attempting to silence anyone.

I find McKinney reckless and careless with the facts and with the perspective necessary for the role the Greens asked her to play.

I opposed ABC's (and other broadcast media) concerted effort to exclude her.

[MuseRider]

23. I should have posted

to amend my comments because I know that you would not silence anyone, not your style. You seemed to say that though and that is why I posted. I truly feel that no matter what anyone thinks of her, or anyone else for that matter, they have an important voice. I listen to Obama but I do not trust a thing he says and I also do not like the job he is doing but he has points to consider. We all do. We should never throw the baby out with the bathwater ;-). No matter how wacky some might think others are the very fact that they put their thoughts out for others to hear and contemplate will sway things, even if in a small way or even in a way not intended by the person who made the statement. I happen to like her. Do I agree with her entirely? Nope, but what she says is as important to me as anyone's. Even someone you think is reckless and careless has a point to make. Facts can be checked, that is where we all tend to fall short. Her opinions are valid however and I see that you agree with at least her right to voice them.

Hope you are tucked in tightly and that the snow is not getting you too badly. We had our share but were lucky so far that we just missed the huge amounts by a few miles. We are expecting much ice and freezing rain ending with snow right before Christmas. I think we will luck out again since the temps should be too high to really have it hurt too much. Have a wonderful holiday my friend. I hope it exceeds your need for happiness and comfort and peace. :hug:

[saltpoint]

25. If I had herds and herds of horses, woman, you would be the person

I'd most want to care for them.

I won't argue with you on what you like about Cynthia McKinney. Over a period of some years I've not found much to my liking in her public personality. I do feel that strategically, the Green Party made a colossal mistake nominating her. If the Left is going to build a sturdy treehouse it will need better carpenters.

Whatever you and yours are cooking up for this weekend I return your wishes with equally strong ones for the best possible set of outcomes, with the best of company, good eats, and some serious year-end affirmation.

Take an hour or two and book a play weekend in New York. Them folks back east shor do put on good plays.

:hi: :thumbsup: :hug:

[classysassy]

14. Why do they hate her?

could it she tell it like it is,and most americans can't handle the truth?

[saltpoint]

17. In my opinion, no. It's because she has made a number of

unsupportable claims in the public forum and because she appears unable to control the public relations angle of being a national figure.

Her vote totals on her 2008 campaign tell the whole story. It was a disastrous nomination by the Greens, and they deserved everything they got with McKinney.

[Fumesucker]

20. We know where [the weapons of mass destruction] are.

They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

That was an unsupportable statement, in fact it was a bald faced lie and yet it didn't get Rumsferatu banned from the Sabbath gasbag shows..

[saltpoint]

21. It might have been that dangerous stockpiles of Christ knows what

were in once-verifiable locations in or around Iraq's cities because our country sold them said stockpiles.

What transpired between their receipt of those stockpiles and the inspections undertaking of the early period before the first bombs fell is anyone's guess.

But very likely someone knows the details and it might very well be Mr. Rumsfeld.

McKinney was not in the Bush administration and was not involve in the inspections process at any level.

- - -

Don't know if you like Scahill's writing and journalism or not, but he offers this analysis / reporting:

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0802-01.htm

and

I am unfamiliar with the Iran Chamber Society completely but find a chronology of events involving Schultz/Rumsfeld/Reagan/etc useful. In any actual journalism each specific of this chronology would require independent validation and preferably a second source. "Material provisions" were supplied by U.S. officials, which appear to have included the Secretary of State and our pal Don Rumsfeld.

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php

[MuseRider]

24. "Sabbath gasbag shows"

May I use that? LOL, a long and good laugh here at my house over that one. :)

Edit...could not spell gasbag correctly, laughing too hard

[LastNaturalist]

15. I prefer Stephen Colbert for political humor.

[saltpoint]

18. I don't really know what Colbert makes for a living, but it likely isn't

enough to match his talent and range.