'Meet the Press' funnier than 'SNL'
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
Some days I should simply know better.
Like this past Sunday when I sat down to watch “Meet the Press,” NBC’s humorous Talking Heads program devoted to the progressive, liberal cause of all things political.
For an instant or two, I thought I might be watching another NBC comedy show, but no, this was “Meet the Press,” not “Saturday Night Live.”
“MTP” host David Gregory was talking with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the state of affair within the Egyptian government. After six or seven questions and an equal number of non- answers, Gregory ended the interview with this hardball inquiry:
“Before you go, are Americans in danger in Egypt?”
A simple yes or no question, right? One would think...
To which Secretary Clinton replied: “We’re working closely with the Egyptian government to ensure the safety of American citizens. We have authorized a voluntary departure. We’re reaching out to American citizens. As I’m speaking to you at this point, thankfully, we do not have any reports of any American citizens killed or injured. We want to keep it that way. So we are just working triple-time here at the State Department to ensure the safety of our Americans.”
Gregory’s follow-up was as follows:
“Secretary Clinton, thank you.”
No pointing out the obvious, i.e., Clinton failed to answer the question about Americans’ safety in Egypt.
A few moments later, the liberal lapdog interviewed Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and asked about the possibility of a federal government shutdown. Not liking the senator’s response, Gregory asked the question again and again. Apparently, Clinton’s non-answer was acceptable, but McConnell’s was not.
Here’s the interview:
Gregory: “Is the prospect of a government shutdown over any potential fight over spending, is that an option in your mind?”
McConnell: “We have two opportunities coming up. We have the continuing resolution on March 4, and then the president has asked us to raise the debt ceiling. So we have two opportunities here to do something important for this country on the issue of spending and debt. We ought not to lose that opportunity. The president ought to work with us on both those occasions to address this important issue.”
Gregory: “Is a government shutdown a viable alternative in your mind?”
McConnell: “As I said, we have two opportunities…”
Gregory: “But you won’t take shutdown off the table if it comes to that?”
As someone said online this week, Gregory sounds like the whining little brat who keeps asking his parents for a cookie before supper and keeps getting the same answer. Poor boy.
Whatever happened to Huntley and Brinkley?
* * *
Meanwhile, what is the official Obama administration stance on the Egypt situation?
On Sunday, the secretary of state stopped short of saying American lives were in danger. But by Tuesday, the U.S. State Department had ordered “non-essential” U.S. government personnel and their families to leave the country.
In between, on Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “We’re not picking between those on the street and those in the government.”
Gibbs’ comments, however, seem to contradict earlier statements by Vice President Biden, who said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should not step down and downplayed the protests in Cairo. Biden said the political chaos was “middle-class folks” looking for “a little more access and a little more opportunity.”
So, let’s recap. According to the Obama administration:
• Americans in Egypt are not necessarily in danger, but are ordered to leave.
• The U.S. is not “picking sides” between the Egyptian people and President Mubarak.
• The U.S. supports President Mubarak, who is “not a dictator,” according to Biden.
• Obama insists freedom of expression is essential and violence is not the answer, whatever that means.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry, meanwhile, calls on Mubarak to resign.
Former Minnesota Gov. and possible 2012 presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty summed up the Obama administration’s comments on Egypt as follows:
“The early statements by Secretary Clinton, Vice President Biden and the president seemed inconsistent, bordering on incoherent if you put them all together. I guess I would say their statements taken as a whole look like they were caught off guard and surprised and confused.”
Ya think?
No wonder so many are comparing Obama and Egypt to Iran and Jimmy Carter.
* * *
Lastly, and on a much more positive note, at least someone in a public office seems to have a clue about something.
Judge Roger Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida gets the HCP’s Public Servant of the Week Award for being the second federal judge to rule that Obamacare’s medical insurance mandate is unconstitutional.
In his decision this week, the Reagan appointed judge wrote: “It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be ‘difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power’ and we would have a Constitution in name only.”
Judge Vinson joined Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in ruling that Section 1501 of the medical insurance law, which forces all Americans to buy government-approved health insurance policies, “falls outside the boundary of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority and cannot be reconciled with a limited government of enumerated powers.”
Vinson concluded: “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void.”
Good riddance. (If it were only that simple.)
Ultimately, we’ll have to let the U.S. Supreme Court decide the matter. But at least this much is becoming clearer: Other than Obama, Pelosi and Reid, the majority of Americans and at least two federal judges realize the bill is unconstitutional.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Like this past Sunday when I sat down to watch “Meet the Press,” NBC’s humorous Talking Heads program devoted to the progressive, liberal cause of all things political.
For an instant or two, I thought I might be watching another NBC comedy show, but no, this was “Meet the Press,” not “Saturday Night Live.”
“MTP” host David Gregory was talking with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the state of affair within the Egyptian government. After six or seven questions and an equal number of non- answers, Gregory ended the interview with this hardball inquiry:
“Before you go, are Americans in danger in Egypt?”
A simple yes or no question, right? One would think...
To which Secretary Clinton replied: “We’re working closely with the Egyptian government to ensure the safety of American citizens. We have authorized a voluntary departure. We’re reaching out to American citizens. As I’m speaking to you at this point, thankfully, we do not have any reports of any American citizens killed or injured. We want to keep it that way. So we are just working triple-time here at the State Department to ensure the safety of our Americans.”
Gregory’s follow-up was as follows:
“Secretary Clinton, thank you.”
No pointing out the obvious, i.e., Clinton failed to answer the question about Americans’ safety in Egypt.
A few moments later, the liberal lapdog interviewed Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and asked about the possibility of a federal government shutdown. Not liking the senator’s response, Gregory asked the question again and again. Apparently, Clinton’s non-answer was acceptable, but McConnell’s was not.
Here’s the interview:
Gregory: “Is the prospect of a government shutdown over any potential fight over spending, is that an option in your mind?”
McConnell: “We have two opportunities coming up. We have the continuing resolution on March 4, and then the president has asked us to raise the debt ceiling. So we have two opportunities here to do something important for this country on the issue of spending and debt. We ought not to lose that opportunity. The president ought to work with us on both those occasions to address this important issue.”
Gregory: “Is a government shutdown a viable alternative in your mind?”
McConnell: “As I said, we have two opportunities…”
Gregory: “But you won’t take shutdown off the table if it comes to that?”
As someone said online this week, Gregory sounds like the whining little brat who keeps asking his parents for a cookie before supper and keeps getting the same answer. Poor boy.
Whatever happened to Huntley and Brinkley?
* * *
Meanwhile, what is the official Obama administration stance on the Egypt situation?
On Sunday, the secretary of state stopped short of saying American lives were in danger. But by Tuesday, the U.S. State Department had ordered “non-essential” U.S. government personnel and their families to leave the country.
In between, on Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “We’re not picking between those on the street and those in the government.”
Gibbs’ comments, however, seem to contradict earlier statements by Vice President Biden, who said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should not step down and downplayed the protests in Cairo. Biden said the political chaos was “middle-class folks” looking for “a little more access and a little more opportunity.”
So, let’s recap. According to the Obama administration:
• Americans in Egypt are not necessarily in danger, but are ordered to leave.
• The U.S. is not “picking sides” between the Egyptian people and President Mubarak.
• The U.S. supports President Mubarak, who is “not a dictator,” according to Biden.
• Obama insists freedom of expression is essential and violence is not the answer, whatever that means.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry, meanwhile, calls on Mubarak to resign.
Former Minnesota Gov. and possible 2012 presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty summed up the Obama administration’s comments on Egypt as follows:
“The early statements by Secretary Clinton, Vice President Biden and the president seemed inconsistent, bordering on incoherent if you put them all together. I guess I would say their statements taken as a whole look like they were caught off guard and surprised and confused.”
Ya think?
No wonder so many are comparing Obama and Egypt to Iran and Jimmy Carter.
* * *
Lastly, and on a much more positive note, at least someone in a public office seems to have a clue about something.
Judge Roger Vinson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida gets the HCP’s Public Servant of the Week Award for being the second federal judge to rule that Obamacare’s medical insurance mandate is unconstitutional.
In his decision this week, the Reagan appointed judge wrote: “It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. If Congress can penalize a passive individual for failing to engage in commerce, the enumeration of powers in the Constitution would have been in vain for it would be ‘difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power’ and we would have a Constitution in name only.”
Judge Vinson joined Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in ruling that Section 1501 of the medical insurance law, which forces all Americans to buy government-approved health insurance policies, “falls outside the boundary of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority and cannot be reconciled with a limited government of enumerated powers.”
Vinson concluded: “Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void.”
Good riddance. (If it were only that simple.)
Ultimately, we’ll have to let the U.S. Supreme Court decide the matter. But at least this much is becoming clearer: Other than Obama, Pelosi and Reid, the majority of Americans and at least two federal judges realize the bill is unconstitutional.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]