Posts Tagged ‘morning joe’

And the subject of civilian casualties comes us as it always does whenever the US is involved in a war.

I personally think people have seen too many movies and seem to have the idea that we can magically only hit the bad guys. Generations will pass before that is possible, but something that Lesley Stahl said really bothered me.

She talked about how civilians die in drone attacks and how even at maned checkpoint civilians are accidentally killed. She talked about how it hurts our reputation in the world.

I never forget that she was the person who was questioning General Colin Powell about his supply lines in Iraq

I want to ask that great military tactician Lesley Stahl a serious question:

Since it is necessary to get further troops on the ground and further forward to decrease civilian risks and since such actions are inherently more dangerous lets bottom line it; How large an increase in American casualties (read dead American soldiers) would you be willing to accept Lesley in order to drop accidental civilian casualties by say 10%?

I’d love get an answer on this one.

…I don’t know Elena Kagan personally, never met her, never really followed her. I don’t know if she is a lesbian or not and frankly don’t care. It seems to be an “open secret” but I’ve never really gone for “open secret” stuff. If she wants to declare her sexual preference that’s fine, if not that’s fine too. It’s not true one way or another until she says so and either way it’s not my business.

That being said what is really interesting watching Morning Joe this morning is the number of times the words “4th woman” (over and over) vs the number of times “1st lesbian” (never) is being said.

If this is something “everyone knows” the fact that the media won’t and hasn’t said it is very telling. The media has constantly bombarded us with the proposition that Homosexuality in all its forms should be embraced and even celebrated by society. Yet, if this is true, the historic nature of this nomination the “breakthrough” is not being touched. Not even being alluded to.

Why is this the case? In my opinion three reasons:

1. They are convinced that this will hurt them (the administration) in the elections this year. They are already in rough shape and don’t want to make things worse.

2. If it is discussed they want it to come from a conservative outlet so they can cry “bigotry”.

3. Demographics. If you look at Prop 8 the Black community is not on board with the whole Gay Marriage thing. This year there are an unprecedented amount of black conservatives running on the republican side. Cynthia is on the money here. If the black or Latino community move even slightly toward the R column the game will be over for Democrats for generations.

This I think speaks to the hypocrisy of the media more than anything else.

Of course maybe they think she is another Gregg Kravitz.

Presuming she is the nominee I will likely oppose her based on her judicial philosophy (yes I’m going to use the same standard the left uses for us) , however from what I can see there is no question that she is a qualified candidate and philosophy aside certainly can do the job. If she however wants to use foreign or international law as a precedent for ruling then we have a real problem here, but that problem if it exists wont be with who she is sleeping with.

Update: Interesting. I believe the true expression of media bias is not what the media says but what it doesn’t. Take a look at this Media Matters list of “Myths” about Elena Kagan and note what is not said.

Update 2: Legal Insurrection points out another irony.

Update 3: Camp of the saints calls my reasoning fine but doesn’t answer the real question. I know that in the photo at the bottom of his page I’m the guy on the left, which one of the remaining two are him and which is Robert Stacy?

Update 4 Andrew Sullivan and Hot Air address the question Stacy, Cynthia and I have been talking about this morning. Keep track of the relative times. Sullivan is going to be a very important reference at this blog in about 20 days.

Update: Little Miss Attila has the last and the funniest word on the subject:

I’d love to jump into the fray and demand that Elena Kagan disclose any feelings she might have about women as potential life partners, but I’m searching desperately for my gay agenda. I think I may have left it in the closet . . .

That’s a pretty good line.

Just before the break Mika gave the number with all frowns. I think they didn’t expect this number. After the break the spin began.

For god sake guys this is going on even with a bunch of temp census jobs out there and they are all going nuts over it.

C’mon guys help me out here. Justify my faith in you. I know you are MSNBC but C’MON!

Update: The Captain is with them today but notes that as you sow politically so shall you reap:

On the decline, the Obama administration was able to claim lower numbers by using the unemployment rate and avoiding the issue of discouraged workers. They’ll pay for that on the incline as those workers start looking for jobs again. For the next several months, that unemployment rate may hide good news as it hid the bad news last year.

The difference, the media didn’t call the administration on playing with numbers when it favored them. They will certainly back them up now.

…but getting involved in a Navy Seal event was really cool:

The Navy SEAL Warrior Fund began the day at the New York Stock Exchange, where Vice Admiral Joseph Maguire, USN, rang The Opening Bell at the NYSE. VADM Maguire is the deputy director for Strategic Operational Planning at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Ms. Tracy Tapper, surviving spouse of SOC David Tapper (Killed In Action, Afghanistan, August, 2003) and LT Jason Redman (Wounded In Action, Iraq, September, 2007), accompanied VADM Maguire.

Emotions ran high as dinner hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of the MSNBC Morning Joe Show emceed the evening events and celebrated the heroes in the audience. Not only did they offer uplifting and inspiring comments about the Navy SEALs and their service to this country, but also offered insights as to the impact the Navy SEAL Warrior Fund has on the families and dependents of Navy SEALs. They both thanked the New York City Police Department Honor Guard for presenting colors prior to the start of the dinner.

One of the reason why I like this crew (Joe, Mike, Barnicle and Willie) is they are the most “normal” of the morning people. They could fit in at any local diner around here.

And the timing is pretty good too because:

A Virginia military jury found a Navy SEAL not guilty Thursday on all charges he punched an Iraqi suspected in the 2004 killings of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah.

“I’m really happy right now,” Matthew McCabe, the Navy SEAL, told Fox News shortly after hearing the outcome of the court martial. “It’s an amazing feeling. I’m on cloud nine right now.”

That makes 3 for 3 acquittals for the seals on this. The administration’s decision to go after these guys was in my opinion disgraceful and political.

Glenn put it best:

They were betting on Navy SEALs wimping out. How smart was that? And now we know to regard future charges with skepticism.

Of course the administration thought so, how many actual Navy Seals or serving soldiers do they actually know outside of formal events?

I’ll bet Joe, Mika and particularly Barnicle could have told them these guys wouldn’t fold.