Thanks for the nice intro TRex…I’m really a sweetheart though underneath.

Cliff… love the way you stick it to the spinners on television. Keep it up!

Hit refresh. The YouTube didn’t load the first time.

Welcome, Cliff!

Why don’t you tell the nice folks about your book?

Dover Bitch @ 1

Cliff… love the way you stick it to the spinners on television. Keep it up!

Thanks so much…it works well for me too, as it fills a kind of cathartic need :)..But I also realize that so many on our side for some reason can’t bring themselves to have a spine.

And I get tired of the right wing bs. So it will be my pleasure to continue going up against them.

Welcome back to the Lake, Cliff. We need more like you. Thanks for taking the fight right to ‘em.

Well I am taking a look at the flip flopping man of mystery (actually not really) that is John McCain. And showing how he has never consistently supported anything, betrays the people who think he is a “maverick” on issues of war and peace, corporate control, privacy denied, etc.

Finally, and most importantly, it’s that John McCain simply changes who he is every time he runs for president.

RBG @ 4

Welcome back to the Lake, Cliff. We need more like you. Thanks for taking the fight right to ‘em.

Thanks RBG, my pleasure to be back and my pleasure to keep being a jerk on tv.

Cliff, from this side of the television, it looks as if too many people have internalized this nonsense from the “serious” people with the prime real estate in the grey ladies that we need to be civil all the time and pretend like hate speech from the right is reasonable.

I’m sick of it, I think millions of people are sick of it, and I find it refreshing when people like you use their opportunities on television to call them on their bullshit. Bravo!

Dover Bitch @ 8

Cliff, from this side of the television, it looks as if too many people have internalized this nonsense from the “serious” people with the prime real estate in the grey ladies that we need to be civil all the time and pretend like hate speech from the right is reasonable.

I’m sick of it, I think millions of people are sick of it, and I find it refreshing when people like you use their opportunities on television to call them on their bullshit. Bravo!

Hear, hear!!

So, Cliff, what do you do before you go on camera? Sip espressos and chew exploding cigars? Who has been the most personally satisfying takedown?

TRex @ 8

Dover Bitch @ 8

Cliff, from this side of the television, it looks as if too many people have internalized this nonsense from the “serious” people with the prime real estate in the grey ladies that we need to be civil all the time and pretend like hate speech from the right is reasonable.

I’m sick of it, I think millions of people are sick of it, and I find it refreshing when people like you use their opportunities on television to call them on their bullshit. Bravo!

Hear, hear!!

I couldn’t agree more. Too many progressives have internalized that we need to be nice. And I just dont’ believe in putting up with their crap. Of some of these wimps on our side would try and stand up for what they believe in, they might even find it’s kind of fun…

My un-favorite is when the Rightards start blasting TeeVee Dems for “waging class warfare” and the TeeVee Dems crumple up. As if we hadn’t had class warfare waged at us for every day of both Bush/Reagan/Cheney Maladministrations! I’m tired of the class warfare canard — the liberal answer oughta be “Damn straight we’re waging Middle Class Warfare on the Gotbux’s Asses!”

Taxcuts for the wealthiest = class warfare
Katrina = class warfare
The volunteer Army = class warfare
Our fucked-up healthcare nonsystem = class warfare
Collateralized interest-only mortgages bursting = class warfare
Stock options craziness = class warfare
Bankruptcy reform = class warfare

cliff:

how’s the new baby sleep deprivation? Do you feel like you’ve got a head injury?

“Welcome, Cliff!

Why don’t you tell the nice folks about your book?”

and please, should McCain become irrelevent will the new blog morph into another watchful topic?

I’ve got a question for ya. Occasionally, some video leaks out of someone like Chris Matthews talking smack about John Kerry with Tom Delay during a commercial break. Or Bob Dole actually being honest when a video was rolling and his mic was “off.”

How much banter goes on during the commercial breaks? I always wonder if the most interesting parts of the shows happen in between what goes over the airwaves.

TRex @ 9

So, Cliff, what do you do before you go on camera? Sip espressos and chew exploding cigars? Who has been the most personally satisfying takedown?

Exploding cigars…interesting..hmm.

No coffee before I go on. That is a rule because I am already so amped up I might pull a Ozzy Osbourne on their head if I had any caffeine in me.

I usually just read a few lines over I really want to get out there. And make sure I am staying on message. I also try and think up ways to throw them off balance, with an attack or a sarcastic hit.

Then I just try to relax and think about something else until showtime.

Hmmm…best takedown. I did enjoy telling that Cleta women a few months back that her party was “the party of criminals and pedophiles.”

As for people you may have heard of I called Kellyanne Conway the dimwitted blond pollster that maybe she was angry because her husband hadn’t looked at pictures of Bill Clinton’s privates that morning (her husband was one of the lawyers who fed Ken Starr garbage).

I have also had the pleasure of calling Sean Hannity a liar and a flip flopper, and arguing with him non-stop until they finally played the music over me.

Cliff — as painful as it is to watch Cleta, this is a great clip of you smacking down her cotton-candy spin. I respect your knowledge, gravitas and striking force, and will make a point of looking for more of your commentary, even if it requires watching more televised news.

A warm welcome to you and your strong teeth. Congratulations on the book and the website.

TeddySanFran @ 11

My un-favorite is when the Rightards start blasting TeeVee Dems for “waging class warfare” and the TeeVee Dems crumple up. As if we hadn’t had class warfare waged at us for every day of both Bush/Reagan/Cheney Maladministrations! I’m tired of the class warfare canard — the liberal answer oughta be “Damn straight we’re waging Middle Class Warfare on the Gotbux’s Asses!”

Taxcuts for the wealthiest = class warfare
Katrina = class warfare
The volunteer Army = class warfare
Our fucked-up healthcare nonsystem = class warfare
Collateralized interest-only mortgages bursting = class warfare
Stock options craziness = class warfare
Bankruptcy reform = class warfare

You could not be more right. When they start the name calling, I get sarcastic and say something like my cell phone is ringing, answer it and then say it’s Francisco Franco for you.

not lois @ 16

Cliff — as painful as it is to watch Cleta, this is a great clip of you smacking down her cotton-candy spin. I respect your knowledge, gravitas and striking force, and will make a point of looking for more of your commentary, even if it requires watching more televised news.

A warm welcome to you and your strong teeth. Congratulations on the book and the website.

Thanks so much. I was on Al Jazeera today but sadly not broadcast here. Will try and let more folks know (well you can always go to my blog at cliffschecter.com) to catch my recent MSNBC, Fox, CNN or PBS stuff. I also post the audio from my weekly segment called “Republican Sexcapades” on The Young Turks, making fun of GOP sexual hypocrites.

Hi Cliff,

The tone for this post by Trex is a pet peeve of mine.

The last 12 years, the Democrats, stereotyped as the “Mommy Party” have acted like the classic enabling woman in an obviously abusive relationship with the “Mean Drunken Daddy Party”,

“Oh, he acts that way because he had a tough childhood, oh if I just keep the house cleaner by sweeping up his messes, everything will be OK….

My attitude towards a “Mean Drunken Daddy Party”, like the ReThuglicans is that they will stop beating ‘Mom’ and the kids when you stop them, NOT by intelligently, politely, accommodatingly deferring to them like, well, an abused enabling wife, which is the Democrat’s MO it would seem.

There is a time and place for manners, now is not that time. Period

The “Mean Drunken Daddy Party” needs a dose of it’s own medicine.

It needs to be thrown down the political staircase, face first.

Do you believe in the new modified Golden Rule:

Do Unto Others as They Do Unto You?

Can’t wait to see the real flip-flops fly at the GOP debates, like the wingnuts threw them around at John Kerry! With McCain, Romney, and Giuiliani fine-tuning their pre-general election messages to get the nomination, I salivate at the prospect that Brownback, Hunter, or Tancredo will call them unprincipled opportunists.

.

Cliff, how do you get booked? Can we help get you booked more often? Why aren’t more articulate and angry lefties booked?

.
And who names their baby girl Cleta?

I would completely disregard civility at this point and for one reason: the Republicans will never adopt civility. The Republican style is pitchforks and torches. Fear and anger fuel the Republican engine.

The Republicans created this environment, mostly during the Clinton years, because civil, substantive debate on public policies did not serve their purposes. This remains true today. You cannot get a right-winger to discuss anything in an analytical, fact-based, dispassionate manner.

Disagree with Bush on Iraq? You are a traitor, you are weak, you hate America.

Taking a stand on constitutional rights? You are coddling terrorists.

You can’t even discuss things like income distribution, the environment, employment, health care, education or any other issue of importance without having names and labels thrown in your face.

This is the world the Republicans made, the one they wanted. Civility in this world serves no useful purpose but to signal to the audience that you just don’t care.

lina @ 12

cliff:

how’s the new baby sleep deprivation? Do you feel like you’ve got a head injury?

Great question. I love this kid more than my life. Let me make that clear. He is just the most adorable little guy (on my lap as I type making cooing noises).

But it can be hard. Writing all day, trying to do tv and radio and splitting time with my wife taking care of him.

But all I have to do to motivate msyelf is think of what this world will be like for him if we are not successful.

But yes, it can feel like a head injury at times (not as often as Oxycontin deprivation does for Rush though).

Cliff Schecter @ 19

I was on Al Jazeera today but sadly not broadcast here.

Do you know if there is any way for us to see Al Jazeera? I’ve tried prowling through the toobz but haven’t had any luck. As I recall their male anchor is an honest old-timey newsman (senior moment, can’t recall his name) who I respect. Do they put stuff up on the web?

TeddySanFran @ 11

The sanctimonius blathering of GWB’s Sanctity of Life is another great example of the class warfare if you don’t believe as W does. Helping people in need = class warfare too. Too many apoligists for the righturds.

Could we get Cliff in as a replacement for Mark Sheilds, at least when Sheilds takes a vacation. Brooks needs a dose of humility. (among other things)

Who was that blonde twerp you were on CNN with a couple of months ago? She looked like she wanted to castrate you at the end when she didn’t get the last word.
So, I took a personal power course last year where the bottom line was that there is a passive-agressive spectrum from one to 10 and to be truly effective, you want to be at around 7. That’s assertive but not abrasive. But once the other party goes up the scale, you have to go up the scale as well or come off like a wimp. So often I see moderate/liberal people not doing this and they get creamed. Why haven’t they learned these lessons? Also, how do you counteract the next move the wingers make: insisting on greater civility?

Dover Bitch @ 14

I’ve got a question for ya. Occasionally, some video leaks out of someone like Chris Matthews talking smack about John Kerry with Tom Delay during a commercial break. Or Bob Dole actually being honest when a video was rolling and his mic was “off.”

How much banter goes on during the commercial breaks? I always wonder if the most interesting parts of the shows happen in between what goes over the airwaves.

Great question. It depends. If the host is in a different city, you will usually be in your own room, so you might only chat with the producers during the commercials. Although some of those conversations can be pretty funny–I have had some producers say things like “wow you kicked his ass.”

CNN, alone among the major networks, at least in DC, sits the two people right next to each other who are debating. So I have had some interesting conversations, or arguments with the one and only Lanny Davis.

Cliff, can you comment on the gender differences in commentary? It seems there’s lots that right-wing women get away with that our liberal ladies are called shrill, shrewish, calculating (etc., etc.)when they act the same way. All things being equal, would you rather take on a Cleta or an Ollie?

And, wow, aljazeera — you DO love the terrorists!

Always a pleasure to watch you put the boot into these lying, embezzling, sanctimonious, church-going, pedophile, Republican…YES, REPUBLICAN SCUM!

I LOOK FORWARD TO EACH TIME YOU GET A CHANCE TO SLAP THEM SILLY!

Whew…got a little carried away there. But…

Seriously, keep stuffing THEIR FOUL LIES DOWN THEIR THROATS UNTIL THEY GAG ON THEM!

Sheesh…time fer my meds.

I’ll be rooting you on Cliff!

Did you have a counterpoint person on Aljazeera? What was the topic? What did you say?

goldberry 27

The ReThuglicans won’t give you your jacket boots until you pass their ‘personal power course’

TeddySanFran @
12

My un-favorite is when the Rightards start blasting TeeVee Dems for “waging class warfare” and the TeeVee Dems crumple up. As if we hadn’t had class warfare waged at us for every day of both Bush/Reagan/Cheney Maladministrations! I’m tired of the class warfare canard — the liberal answer oughta be “Damn straight we’re waging Middle Class Warfare on the Gotbux’s Asses!”

Taxcuts for the wealthiest = class warfare
Katrina = class warfare
The volunteer Army = class warfare
Our fucked-up healthcare nonsystem = class warfare
Collateralized interest-only mortgages bursting = class warfare
Stock options craziness = class warfare
Bankruptcy reform = class warfare

Yay Teddy! I’ll use those, thanks.

Gentleman Jim @ 19

Hi Cliff,

The tone for this post by Trex is a pet peeve of mine.

The last 12 years, the Democrats, stereotyped as the “Mommy Party” have acted like the classic enabling woman in an obviously abusive relationship with the “Mean Drunken Daddy Party”,

“Oh, he acts that way because he had a tough childhood, oh if I just keep the house cleaner by sweeping up his messes, everything will be OK….

My attitude towards a “Mean Drunken Daddy Party”, like the ReThuglicans is that they will stop beating ‘Mom’ and the kids when you stop them, NOT by intelligently, politely, accommodatingly deferring to them like, well, an abused enabling wife, which is the Democrat’s MO it would seem.

There is a time and place for manners, now is not that time. Period

The “Mean Drunken Daddy Party” needs a dose of it’s own medicine.

It needs to be thrown down the political staircase, face first.

Do you believe in the new modified Golden Rule:

Do Unto Others as They Do Unto You?

Yeah I am a golden rule guy. I didn’t start out this way. They made me this way. I wanted to shout at my television 100 times like the rest of you. So when I got the chance to go on, I decided the only way to make these miscreants stop was by hitting back and hitting hard…it is amazing how the bullies sulk when you do that.

TeddySanFran @ 29

Cliff, can you comment on the gender differences in commentary? It seems there’s lots that right-wing women get away with that our liberal ladies are called shrill, shrewish, calculating (etc., etc.)when they act the same way. All things being equal, would you rather take on a Cleta or an Ollie?

And, wow, aljazeera — you DO love the terrorists!

I’ll take a guess at this. I think it is because it is socially unacceptable to verbally assault a female. The Rovian psyops team took advantage of our natural instincts to go easier on the fairer sex. (I’m not saying we *are* fairer or that this is right. It just happens to be the truth.) A man who goes after a woman on TV just comes off looking like a bully to some people. The wingers use social judo against you. But I think they can get away with it for sonly so long. Coulter pushed the envelope and made it acceptable to hit back.

TeddySanFran @ 20

Can’t wait to see the real flip-flops fly at the GOP debates, like the wingnuts threw them around at John Kerry! With McCain, Romney, and Giuiliani fine-tuning their pre-general election messages to get the nomination, I salivate at the prospect that Brownback, Hunter, or Tancredo will call them unprincipled opportunists.

.

Cliff, how do you get booked? Can we help get you booked more often? Why aren’t more articulate and angry lefties booked?

.
And who names their baby girl Cleta?

I don’t know who the hell names their kid Cleta. As for getting booked, they call or you can try and pitch them ideas once you get to know them (or before, but that almost never works).

As for getting me on more what we are doing right here works. If you write diaries at Kos or comment here or at Huffpost, let people know you want people like me on (and others who do the same).

I have a pitch for a tv show in the works. And I may ask you all at some point, if you’re willing, to send emails to some stations to let them know how many people will watch so they can’t ignore the YouTubes with 125,000 page views already out there.

Gentleman Jim @ 32

goldberry 27

The ReThuglicans won’t give you your jacket boots until you pass their ‘personal power course’

LOL! So true. I was one of a handful of scientists in a room fullof hyper aggressive sales people, all Republican. I learned a lot like how to keep the IS assholes in their place.

goldberry @ 34

TeddySanFran @ 29

Cliff, can you comment on the gender differences in commentary? It seems there’s lots that right-wing women get away with that our liberal ladies are called shrill, shrewish, calculating (etc., etc.)when they act the same way. All things being equal, would you rather take on a Cleta or an Ollie?

And, wow, aljazeera — you DO love the terrorists!

I’ll take a guess at this. I think it is because it is socially unacceptable to verbally assault a female. The Rovian psyops team took advantage of our natural instincts to go easier on the fairer sex. (I’m not saying we *are* fairer or that this is right. It just happens to be the truth.) A man who goes after a woman on TV just comes off looking like a bully to some people. The wingers use social judo against you. But I think they can get away with it for sonly so long. Coulter pushed the envelope and made it acceptable to hit back.

Yeah, I definitely take more flack when I go after women I debate. As for liberal women being called names, that is just more of the right wing bs, it is a way they can label anything that challenges them out of the mainstream.

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team. You and me and, I dunno, Jane and Lindsay from Majikthise against Melanie Morgan, Dan Riehl, Jonah Goldberg (You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!) and Charles Krauthammer.

We would eat their hearts.

Marion in Savannah @ 23

Cliff Schecter @ 19

I was on Al Jazeera today but sadly not broadcast here.

Do you know if there is any way for us to see Al Jazeera? I’ve tried prowling through the toobz but haven’t had any luck. As I recall their male anchor is an honest old-timey newsman (senior moment, can’t recall his name) who I respect. Do they put stuff up on the web?

I don’t think there is yet. I will have a link online to the segment (cliffschecter.com) later tonight. But no way to just watch right now.

James E. Powell @ 21

I would completely disregard civility at this point and for one reason: the Republicans will never adopt civility. The Republican style is pitchforks and torches. Fear and anger fuel the Republican engine.

The Republicans created this environment, mostly during the Clinton years, because civil, substantive debate on public policies did not serve their purposes. This remains true today. You cannot get a right-winger to discuss anything in an analytical, fact-based, dispassionate manner.

Disagree with Bush on Iraq? You are a traitor, you are weak, you hate America.

Taking a stand on constitutional rights? You are coddling terrorists.

You can’t even discuss things like income distribution, the environment, employment, health care, education or any other issue of importance without having names and labels thrown in your face.

This is the world the Republicans made, the one they wanted. Civility in this world serves no useful purpose but to signal to the audience that you just don’t care.

Until our opponents are willing to be civil there is nothing to be gained by it. We just get smacked around.

hello cliff, good to see u here on my fave blog - also love u on the young turks! its so refreshing to see and hear u opine without equivocating as most mushy dem spokespeople do - please keep it up!!

njr @ 13

“Welcome, Cliff!

Why don’t you tell the nice folks about your book?”

and please, should McCain become irrelevent will the new blog morph into another watchful topic?

Yeah, I am looking into Romney and Giuliani for the book too. So book/blog can change if necessary and will.

Hey Cliff,

Ever find yourself frothing over Democrat positions? Do youwant to kick in the TeeVee like I do?

….making fun of GOP sexual hypocrites.

Speaking of sexual hypocrites, are the Fox personnel as sexually high strung behind the scenes as they appear to be on the box?

I’ve enjoyed your work wherever I have found it. Thanks.

Eureka Springs, AR @ 25

Could we get Cliff in as a replacement for Mark Sheilds, at least when Sheilds takes a vacation. Brooks needs a dose of humility. (among other things)

Yes please do help me with that. Oh how I would love a shot at Brooks!

TRex @ 39

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team. You and me and, I dunno, Jane and Lindsay from Majikthise against Melanie Morgan, Dan Riehl, Jonah Goldberg (You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!) and Charles Krauthammer.

We would eat their hearts.

Put it on Pay-Per-View!

juslin @ 41

hello cliff, good to see u here on my fave blog - also love u on the young turks! its so refreshing to see and hear u opine without equivocating as most mushy dem spokespeople do - please keep it up!!

Thanks so much juslin. I promise to continue my friend.

Nice work, Cliff, keep up the good work.

Anybody doubting that the Republican Party is corrupt through and through should have sat in on a conversation I had this weekend with a former campaign manager for a state-level Democratic candidate. One of the two Republicans against whom the candidate ran has documented evidence showing he is currently having affairs with two women (he is married), and I am told there are photos of this same guy having sex with a bartender in his car in the parking lot of the bar he frequents. Same Repug offered up money and resources to the Dem candidate after he lost in the primary; it smelled like a set up, so the offer was rejected.

Now this same Repug is a local party chair.

What a skeezy skank. This is the best they can do for local leadership, down here in the weeds? Ugh. The Republican Party is corrupt all the way through.

Stay on them, Cliff.

goldberry @ 26

Who was that blonde twerp you were on CNN with a couple of months ago? She looked like she wanted to castrate you at the end when she didn’t get the last word.
So, I took a personal power course last year where the bottom line was that there is a passive-agressive spectrum from one to 10 and to be truly effective, you want to be at around 7. That’s assertive but not abrasive. But once the other party goes up the scale, you have to go up the scale as well or come off like a wimp. So often I see moderate/liberal people not doing this and they get creamed. Why haven’t they learned these lessons? Also, how do you counteract the next move the wingers make: insisting on greater civility?

uggghhh…That was Karen Hanretty. Complete moron.

We’d call ourselves the Anti-War Thugs. Or the Jane Hamshers of teh Left. The Sexually Permissive Traitors.

TRex @ 39

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team. You and me and, I dunno, Jane and Lindsay from Majikthise against Melanie Morgan, Dan Riehl, Jonah Goldberg (You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!) and Charles Krauthammer.

We would eat their hearts.

;) I would love to see you all debate.

goldberry @ 26

Who was that blonde twerp you were on CNN with a couple of months ago? She looked like she wanted to castrate you at the end when she didn’t get the last word.
So, I took a personal power course last year where the bottom line was that there is a passive-agressive spectrum from one to 10 and to be truly effective, you want to be at around 7. That’s assertive but not abrasive. But once the other party goes up the scale, you have to go up the scale as well or come off like a wimp. So often I see moderate/liberal people not doing this and they get creamed. Why haven’t they learned these lessons? Also, how do you counteract the next move the wingers make: insisting on greater civility?

On the civility point, I make sure to keep a few of their comments around and remind them when they call for grater civility. So when GWB says he wants bipartisanship after we whip his ass in 2006, I just said I’ll believe it when I see it.

TRex @ 39

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team.
We would eat their hearts.

Starvation diet here… they have no hearts.

Cliff Schecter @
38

goldberry @ 34

TeddySanFran @ 29

As a liberal woman–well, as an American in a truly fucked-up time–I’ll just come out and say: the facts are on our side, and you don’t have to be comfortable with cruelty in order to be tough. If you were protecting the life of a loved one, how far would you go? That’s what’s at stake here. We have to be as tough as our stances are, or the smaller voices will be ridiculed. I’m sick of being bullied by liars, and my discourse has changed to reflect that. I’m still a compassionate person.

TRex (39) — NOOOOOOO!!! No Repug heart eating!!!

Haven’t you ever heard of Mad Cow disease???

A. Citizen @ 29

Always a pleasure to watch you put the boot into these lying, embezzling, sanctimonious, church-going, pedophile, Republican…YES, REPUBLICAN SCUM!

I LOOK FORWARD TO EACH TIME YOU GET A CHANCE TO SLAP THEM SILLY!

Whew…got a little carried away there. But…

Seriously, keep stuffing THEIR FOUL LIES DOWN THEIR THROATS UNTIL THEY GAG ON THEM!

Sheesh…time fer my meds.

I’ll be rooting you on Cliff!

Thanks A. Citizen. I promise to do my best to make you proud :)

Ah Ha!

I knew it, Al Jazeera!

Wait till I let Clita know about this.

-GSD

*Just kidding.

Eureka Springs, AR @ 26

Could we get Cliff in as a replacement for Mark Sheilds, at least when Sheilds takes a vacation. Brooks needs a dose of humility. (among other things)

The impression here is that you (ES) and most of the commenters here could tie Brooks into knots.

TRex @ 39

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team. You and me and, I dunno, Jane and Lindsay from Majikthise against Melanie Morgan, Dan Riehl, Jonah Goldberg (You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!) and Charles Krauthammer.

We would eat their hearts.

How indelicate Trex, eat their hearts out.

The ancient Sythian Warriors of the Russian Steppes always celebrated their victories by drinking wine from the skull of their opponent.

Cliff, I LOVE it when you are on the teevee. The first time I saw you, I laughed out loud. Some wingnut was doing their usual interrupting, bullying crap and you just called them on it. “Nice try” with that grinning contempt on your face.

Beautiful.

You can tell the wingers don’t really believe what they are saying — otherwise they wouldn’t have to talk over, interrupt, and yell to keep people from hearing the other guy’s point. They are afraid — and you take such glee in pointing that fact out.

I luv ya, man.

I’m multitasking so apologies in advance if this is already mentioned above,

Cliff - what’s your sense of the daylight that can be cast on the appearance of Bush using the firing of US Attorneys to shut down investigations getting too close to the GOP kitchen (Lam/Cunningham–>Wilkes/Foggo et al) ?

A retrospective pattern is emerging:

“WASHINGTON — A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.”

http://www.boston.com/news/nat.....stigation/

Talk about making Republicans squirm

Cliff Schecter @
50

goldberry @ 26

Who was that blonde twerp you were on CNN with a couple of months ago? She looked like she wanted to castrate you at the end when she didn’t get the last word.
So, I took a personal power course last year where the bottom line was that there is a passive-agressive spectrum from one to 10 and to be truly effective, you want to be at around 7. That’s assertive but not abrasive. But once the other party goes up the scale, you have to go up the scale as well or come off like a wimp. So often I see moderate/liberal people not doing this and they get creamed. Why haven’t they learned these lessons? Also, how do you counteract the next move the wingers make: insisting on greater civility?

uggghhh…That was Karen Hanretty. Complete moron.

How do you remember them all? Do you notch your bedpost?
Well, I can see her idiocy, but she seems to be like a lot of other wingers on TV. What made her, er, special?

lina @ 30

Did you have a counterpoint person on Aljazeera? What was the topic? What did you say?

No I was booked as an analyst. I actually try to be more fair when I am alone. But fair doesn’t mean I don’t tell the truth. I still called Bush stubborn, said he was failing and that the Iraq plan was a disaster waiting to happen.

I just take a bit of a nicer tone when I deliver the bad news.

oh and BTW u’d be great on matthews’ sunday morning show where its a bit more looser!

I’m a liberal. Want to fight about it!?

We need more of this. MUCH more.

Thank you.

TRex @ 38

You’ve got to help me get some of these gigs, Cliff.

I think we should form a debate team. You and me and, I dunno, Jane and Lindsay from Majikthise against Melanie Morgan, Dan Riehl, Jonah Goldberg (You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!) and Charles Krauthammer.

We would eat their hearts.

Sounds good to me TRex. I have already helped a few of our strong voices get on. As long as I am convinced someone will be tough, and with you I have no doubt, I am happy to help people get on.

Cliff Schecter @ 6

Well I am taking a look at the flip flopping man of mystery (actually not really) that is John McCain. And showing how he has never consistently supported anything, betrays the people who think he is a “maverick” on issues of war and peace, corporate control, privacy denied, etc.

Finally, and most importantly, it’s that John McCain simply changes who he is every time he runs for president.

Ah, yes. John “Keating Five” McCain, yet more proof that there is nothing a right-winger can do that will get him/her banned from public life.

I’m sickened that somebody like Sandy Berger — who helped foil the Goddamn Millenium Plot for God’s sake! — is now a pariah for making and then getting rid of copies of his own notes made while he was getting ready to go in front of the 9/11 Commission, yet people like McCain and Pat Buchanan and Charles “Bell Curve” Murray and Joe “Primary Colors” Klein are given respect and newspaper columns and book contracts.

Cliff,

Is there anyway you and Barney Frank can put together a series of seminars on how to slap the gooey shit out of the rightwing gasbags that permeate the MSM?

You are both so effective and fun to watch.

Also, if you ever bump into Susan Estrich or Alan Colmes can you smack them with a sock full pudding for being willing dupes.

-GSD

just played the utube - Jeez, give the lady a break. She looked like Dan Quayle on country road at midnite! (Oh, and the Menendez thing did amount to nothing.)

Love to see you defending the Dem point of view. Just watching you do it is empowering.

My martial arts instructor says that the first article of defense is to realize you are being attacked. He also says that in a crisis situation people will most likely react as they have been trained to. His advice is to make sure your training is good. ;)

Most Dems I see attacked act like the little old lady who is slammed into the wall when she gets off the bus, purse *gone* in a flash. She is totally stunned and usually can’t even give a description.

Now, most of us have the same thing happen with Rep friends, family, co-workers — just not on TV. Is there anything you recommend that we can do to train for our ‘fights’?

Sonoma Rus @ 43

Hey Cliff,

Ever find yourself frothing over Democrat positions? Do youwant to kick in the TeeVee like I do?

Yes and Yes…There is this guy who used to be a democrat named Joe…

1,414 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..

Citizen Schecter:

Hit ‘er again Cliff, she’s still breathin’!!

Notice that even when confronted with convictions and prison sentences, the fascists go on the attack and try and grow legs for innuendo and rumor. There will be no rational political discourse on corporate television until we drive a stake thru the heart of this in carnation of American fascism masquerading as the Republican Party.

Go get ‘em Cliff…take no fuckin’ prisoners!!

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, SOME OF ‘EM ARE STILL MOVIN’!!!

More power to him. Why wasn’t he featured on Air-America?

rumi @ 44

….making fun of GOP sexual hypocrites.

Speaking of sexual hypocrites, are the Fox personnel as sexually high strung behind the scenes as they appear to be on the box?

I’ve enjoyed your work wherever I have found it. Thanks.

Behind the scenes the bookers are actually a pretty nice group. Many are actually Dems. It’s just a job. As for the personalities, I don’t know any of them that well, which is not really a bad thing :)

As long as I am convinced someone will be tough, and with you I have no doubt,

rrraaaaaaaAAHHHHHRRRRrrrrr!! CHOMP!! CHOMP!!

LindaR @ 60

Cliff, I LOVE it when you are on the teevee. The first time I saw you, I laughed out loud. Some wingnut was doing their usual interrupting, bullying crap and you just called them on it. “Nice try” with that grinning contempt on your face.

Beautiful.

You can tell the wingers don’t really believe what they are saying — otherwise they wouldn’t have to talk over, interrupt, and yell to keep people from hearing the other guy’s point. They are afraid — and you take such glee in pointing that fact out.

I luv ya, man.

Thanks so much Linda. That is part of the fun. Pointing out to them that they are full of crap and watching them try and defend the indefensible. I know I get that evil grin because it is just too much fun.

Are you slummin’ Cliff? TRex, watch out for him, he’s slippery……

Bibi Netanyahu says the west (we) needs to stop Iran. Care to comment?

NorskeFlamethrower @ 73

1,414 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..

Citizen Schecter:

Hit ‘er again Cliff, she’s still breathin’!!

Notice that even when confronted with convictions and prison sentences, the fascists go on the attack and try and grow legs for innuendo and rumor. There will be no rational political discourse on corporate television until we drive a stake thru the heart of this in carnation of American fascism masquerading as the Republican Party.

Go get ‘em Cliff…take no fuckin’ prisoners!!

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, SOME OF ‘EM ARE STILL MOVIN’!!!

Thanks my friend. I will do my best!

Ah, civility . . .

I’m all for standing up against wingnuts, but sometimes the counterattacks cause the whole exchange to end up like a couple of ten year olds:

Uh-huh!
Nu-uh!!
Uhhhh-huuuuh!
Nuuuhhhhhh-huuuuuhhh!!

End result - lots of folks turn off, thinking “a plague on both your houses.” Ties like that are a win for the status quo, which means a net loss for those of us trying to stand up for the constitution.

Cliff, what do you do on your end to keep your cool, while the wingnuts are losing theirs?

Cliff, would you mind smacking Bill Kristol around a bit as a personal favor to FDL’ers?

We’d be ever so grateful and gratified.

Oklahoma kiddo @
80

Bibi Netanyahu says the west (we) needs to stop Iran. Care to comment?

Yes, “Fight your own damn battles.”

John Amato @ 78

Are you slummin’ Cliff? TRex, watch out for him, he’s slippery……

Oh crap, you guys allow that video blogger in here, John Amato! The one who says he is going to post all of my stuff like every week and then ignores me and hurts my feelings!

TRex @ 77

As long as I am convinced someone will be tough, and with you I have no doubt,

rrraaaaaaaAAHHHHHRRRRrrrrr!! CHOMP!! CHOMP!!

i luuuuurv it when our theropod talks dirty

Sir;
regarding being more “fair” when you’re on as an analyst, I think you are always fair. Being well informed and throwing it in their lying ass faces is fair and long overdue. Thanks!!! I enjoy every appearance you make.

Hey Cliff, just stopped over so you’d have a friendly face, but it looks like they’ve pulled up the couch, fixed you drinks and are giving you a foot massage!!!

Well earned!

On the getting on teevee bit, I think we should all set up mini-studios in our homes and offer ourselves up to pound the Rethugs down. I’ll take anyone on except Buchanan.

Cliff Schecter @ 73

Sonoma Rus @ 43

Hey Cliff,

Ever find yourself frothing over Democrat positions? Do youwant to kick in the TeeVee like I do?

Yes and Yes…There is this guy who used to be a democrat named Joe…

My exact thought :)

Cliff

Would the way you handle yourself on air be adaptable to say, a dinner party with some NeoCon practitioners?

No brassknuckle stuff, but how about short, witty, pithy paper cut retorts?

HotFlash @ 71

Love to see you defending the Dem point of view. Just watching you do it is empowering.

My martial arts instructor says that the first article of defense is to realize you are being attacked. He also says that in a crisis situation people will most likely react as they have been trained to. His advice is to make sure your training is good. ;)

Most Dems I see attacked act like the little old lady who is slammed into the wall when she gets off the bus, purse *gone* in a flash. She is totally stunned and usually can’t even give a description.

Now, most of us have the same thing happen with Rep friends, family, co-workers — just not on TV. Is there anything you recommend that we can do to train for our ‘fights’?

I am trying to do some media training on this score. Easier to do in person, but in general, always expect the worst from them. Once you know what they are going to say, and many people we know are quite predictably, have a few lines prepared to make fools of them. Always remain confident, you are right they are wrong, there is no room for self doubt.

Gentleman Jim @ 90

Cliff

Would the way you handle yourself on air be adaptable to say, a dinner party with some NeoCon practitioners?

No brassknuckle stuff, but how about short, witty, pithy paper cut retorts?

Say, “YOU actaully believe that Fox news stuff?” Laugh mockingly, sip your drink and move away while rolling your eyes.
No need to engage them in dialogue. They’re intractable anyway.

Muzzy @ 61

I’m multitasking so apologies in advance if this is already mentioned above,

Cliff - what’s your sense of the daylight that can be cast on the appearance of Bush using the firing of US Attorneys to shut down investigations getting too close to the GOP kitchen (Lam/Cunningham–>Wilkes/Foggo et al) ?

A retrospective pattern is emerging:

“WASHINGTON — A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.”

http://www.boston.com/news/nat.....stigation/

Talk about making Republicans squirm

I think some of our top blogger are getting on this. Amato you out there? Also, I try to mention it on tv, radio, when blogging. We just need to make sure to keep the pressure on, and it eventually breaks through (think of now many Bush scandals have gone that way).

GSD @ 69

Cliff,

Is there anyway you and Barney Frank can put together a series of seminars on how to slap the gooey shit out of the rightwing gasbags that permeate the MSM?

You are both so effective and fun to watch.

Also, if you ever bump into Susan Estrich or Alan Colmes can you smack them with a sock full pudding for being willing dupes.

-GSD

I can’t stand Estrich. Yeah Colmes deserves a smack too. I am going to do some of this type of training at YearlyKos it seems. Would love it if Barney Frank wanted to be a part. But I promise I’ll be there.