| | | | MEDIA WINNER:
Jonathan Hoenig Fox Business regular Jonathan Hoenig had what you might call an unexpected moment on Monday, when he confronted FBN's bread & butter, Lou Dobbs, over President Trump.
In fact, did not just confront Dobbs with an unexpected question, but actually used a comparison to former President Barack Obama to make his point. For Dobbs, insult to injury.
The panel was discussing impeachment, of course, and Dobbs argued that the whole thing is "a farce designed by none other than Adam Schiff, and that Americans are broadly opposed to it.
Schiff's "screenplay is unfolding before our eyes," said Dobbs, "and it will evaporate like all bad products in Hollywood."
Hoenig said he agrees Speaker Nancy Pelosi has "overplayed her hand" before dropping the "net net" question about whether Dobbs would be singing the same tune were it Obama in the big chair.
There was no explosion, no fireworks ensued. But Hoenig still has a strong media moment here for going onto Dobbs's turf and challenging the most basic premise of his out-loud Trumpism. Gutsy. 6.5.0 |
|
|
| | MEDIA LOSER:
Alan Dershowitz Law professor and quasi-Trump legal team member Alan Dershowitz had, along with Ken Starr, Robert Ray, Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, had a rough roll-out of the new line-up on Friday. But for Dershowitz the weekend and a fresh Monday morning were no cure for the blues.
On Sunday, CNN put out nearly-forgotten video of the Harvard professor emeritus from back during the impeachment of Bill Clinton, which put 2020 Dershowitz and 1998 Dershowitz seemingly at odds.
So on Monday Dershowitz had to attempt to bridge the gap between what was and what is, which he did on Twitter. That, too, was less than well-received.
Add to that the Washington Post op-ed from fellow Harvard law prof Laurence Tribe, published Monday, tearing into Dershowitz's argument, and Fox's own Chris Wallace being underwhelmed, and things were not going along swimmingly.
Oh and let's not forget the over-the-top remarks from Joe Scarborough describing Trump's team as being "associated with a pedophile" (Jeffrey Epstein), and it worked out to a pretty bad media day for the big name lawyer. 6.5.0 |
|
|
|
| Invoking Dr. King
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, and that not only means remembrances and tributes, but plenty of ham-handed attempts to invoke and capitalize on the civil rights icon's name.
Kellyanne Conway, for example, said that impeaching Donald Trump doesn't fit with the Rev. Dr. King's vision for our country.
No seriously, that's a thing she said. "I don’t think it was within Dr. King’s vision to have Americans dragged through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office," she began, in a statement you really should hear for yourself or read in full here.
And then there was the FBI
Over the last few years it has variously been en vogue to put the integrity of the FBI and those within its walls above reproach as patriots, or condemn them as incompetents, depending on the particular political person at odds with the agency on a particular day.
Today it was the FBI honoring Martin Luther King Jr. that provoked a new round of outrage, over the agency's surveillance of and actions against the civil rights leader half a century ago.
"How dare you?" said one thirty-something Twitter user. "Sit the f*** down," said a white millennial NYT contributor. And there were others.
Adventures in (NBC) Gun Rally reporting
Monday saw the enormous pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment rally in Virginia, which included many hundreds of men and women carrying weapons and decked out in various degrees of hunting and para military gear. Debates raged on social media whether this was meant to intimidate others or as a defense of a constitutional freedom.
The press often have their own idea of what they'll see at such an event, and come prepared to report on it. And supporters of the rally have their own ideas about what and how the media will report on things, and why, and come prepared to be outraged by it. The confluence of those factors resulted in two NBC moments involving reporter Gabe Gutierrez.
For one thing, Gutierrez was heckled, complete with an f-bomb, while live on the air.
Gutierrez was also heckled at length and in great numbers on Twitter, after sharing a video from the rally with an inflammatory caption that did not match the audio. Whether it was on purpose or not is unclear, but it was not a good look.
New York Times endorsement-gate
After a week that ended on a high note thanks to their impressive interviews with the Democratic primary candidates, the Gray Lady angered just about everyone over the weekend with their double take take.
They were clobbered for it, actually. Though not all that came from it was bad. |
|
|
| Democrats Are Conservatives
She's no longer the "new' face of the liberal left, she's just the face. We're talking about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of course, who through social media savvy and her grasp of the issues that young people pay attention to, and how to talk to them about it, has taken front and center for the progressive left. To the chagrin of some of her party's elders.
All of which is what makes this video such a must-see, as AOC herself enunciates that exact proposition, when she said during a discussion at MLK Now 2020 on Monday that there is no "left" political party in the U.S.
“We can’t even get a floor vote on Medicare For All. Not even a floor vote that gets voted down. We can’t even get a vote on it. So this is not a left party,” she said. And more.
Everyone who isn't Nancy Pelosi can watch here. For everyone who is Nancy Pelosi, count to ten first. |
|
|
|
|
|
