Sunday, August 30, 2015

Most Ridiculous Moment - August 30, 2015


It was an amazing day on the Sunday talk shows, if only because Donald Trump was nowhere to be found. Presumably he was busy with Bible Study.

This left room for other Presidential candidates you may or may not have heard of.

On ABC, Martha Raddatz grilled Bernie Sanders about foreign policy. Martha is worried Sanders opposed one of our most popular wars, the first Persian Gulf War, and may be reluctant to use force, asking, “is that only when we're attacked? Is that only when we're attacked? Because if you look at your record, you supported the invasion into Afghanistan after we were attacked.”

And “Can you imagine Iran or Russia signing some sort of agreement in the future given your record,” and “they may look at you and say Bernie Sanders wouldn't do anything about this.”

Martha also got to talk Bobby Jindal, getting right to the point, saying “Governor Jindal, your campaign does not seem to be catching fire at all.”

Jindal spent most his time smearing Clinton and her staff, saying “if a private in the military had done what they're accused of doing, there would be real consequences,” and “if any other government official, had handled classified information the way she is said to have handled classified information, there would have been a court martial,” and “She’s literally one e-mail away from going to jail”

He also said “immigration without integration is not immigration; it’s invasion,” and “Secure the border first, and then we can have the discussion about the folks that are here,” and quote “we can get this done in six months. Then we can have the conversation about folks that are here illegally.”

Jindal also complained, “I think we need to move away from hyphenated Americans. We’re not African-Americans or Asian-Americans” or “rich or poor Americans; we’re all Americans. After whining “we're not African-Americans,” he also moaned “We don’t make people come here.”

On Hurricane Katrina, he was asked quote “What would you have done differently than President George W. Bush did?” Jindal replied, “There's no point in looking back.”

Raddatz also spoke with Senator Amy Klobuchar and her panel of Cokie Roberts and Newt Gingrich, where the conversation was all about how mean Jorge Ramos is and Clinton's e-mails and why voters are so concerned about it.

On Meet the Press, Scott Walker showed up to dodge some more basic questions. Asked why President Obama more popular in Wisconsin than he is, Walker argued that ACT scores are up.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker again declined to clarify his position on birthright citizenship, arguing that it's necessary to secure the border and enforce immigration laws before addressing the issue.
Todd said there was some confusion on his position on the 14th Amendment, can I get a final statement on the issue, Walker said no, his position is quote “pretty clear” and you've quote heard me say this 1,000 times.”

Walker's clear position? “Until we secure the border and enforce the laws, we shouldn't be talking about any other issue out there.”

He also said building a wall across the length of the Canada is quote “a legitimate issue”
But the most absurd moments during a discussion of whether the people of New Orleans were better for having their city destroyed by a hurricane and faulty levees.

Todd started off by asking, “So the massive destruction of a city, that was dysfunctional in many ways, has raised a provocative question. Did New Orleans need to be destroyed in order to be saved?” and “Did we destroy the village in order to save it? Is that what Katrina did? Have we saved New Orleans?”

Malcolm Gladwell agreed, citing an alleged reformed drug dealer who supposedly said “I hate to say it, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got a fresh start.”

Gladwell also cited New Orleans schools, admitting quote “the gains seem very modest. But I think that's because it's too soon,” and “I mean my suspicion is that, in the long term, we will look at this as a success,” and of the city, “And I am still optimistic that, in the long run, we will have changed it for the better.”

Melissa Harris-Perry disagreed, saying “if you are a Ninth Ward resident, whose home was destroyed, whose community was not rebuilt, and whose home was destroyed, importantly, as you point out, not by Katrina, but rather, by the federal levees that failed in the context of Katrina, then no, it simply is not better off.”

So no one knows it, but Bobby Jindal is very popular; Scott Walker's position on the 14th amendment is very clear – he refuses to answer; and New Orleans was dysfunctional, so the best thing for the people, really, was for faulty levees to fail drown the city in an apocalyptic flood that killed over 1,000, left half a million homeless, wrecked whole neighborhoods and permanently displaced hundreds of thousands of black Americans.

And that's the most ridiculous thing that happened this Sunday.

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