Skip to main content

Random thoughts...

Earlier I commented on Wolf Blitzer's really poor performance on an interview with Sen. Christopher Dodd that occurred on CNN last week. Later the same day, I saw Sheppard Smith, on Fox News, interviewing U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney confronted with a similar situation. His response was an example for all interviewers.

Representative Maloney started to say that the Bailout meeting last week blew up because of Sen. John McCain. Sheppard Smith immediately interjected saying "Wait a minute..." Mr. Smith went on, in a polite fashion, to say that Fox News reports suggested that Sen. McCain was quiet at the meetings, that it was the House Republicans who objected, which led to Sen. Harry Reid blowing up. Mr. Smith then, in a non-confrontational way (e.g. not as a "Gotcha") asked Rep. Maloney if she could confirm or deny those reports.

This caused Rep. Maloney to state that she was not in the meeting and really couldn't say what happened.

That's good interviewing -- don't let people spin stories that are not true.

When Sen. McCain said he was stopping his campaign and going to Washington to help with the Bailout, Sen. McCain said the deal was in trouble and he needed to help. Sen. Harry Reid (Democrat Majority Leader) accused McCain of flying in to take credit.

Within a day, we found who knew his hat from a hole in the ground and who didn't, when the Bailout blew up at a leadership meeting with President Bush that occurred at the suggestion of John McCain. Sen. McCain was in touch with all members of his party, while Sen. Reid who was closer to the deal physically had not been talking to all the caucuses.

Why did Sen. Obama want to debate on Friday? Because Sen. Obama had no influence over what was going on with the Bailout. So Sen. Obama had nothing more important to do and could only lose if he allowed Sen. McCain to stay in DC and play an influential role.

Be well until next time.

Ken

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Biden Administration blew it on Covid

 It's about a year now since Joe Biden was sworn in as President and we can see the Biden Administration has handled the Coronavirus situation horribly.  The Administration had a fantastic opportunity to declare victory early in 2021 and put this behind us.  But they chose not to do that.  The Biden Administration dropped the ball on pursuing the things America needs to put Covid in the rear view mirror while offering a message of fear and dictatorial mandates, and wedding themselves to a bureaucrat who declared that he is the science.  The result was more Covid 19 deaths in 2021 than in 2020, strong disagreement and a loss of public confidence in the measures promoted by the Biden Administration, none of which is good for America. But it didn't have to be this way.  The Biden Administration took office with three different vaccines available to issue to the public and almost 1 million people getting the jab every day.  Shortly after taking office, Congress passed a Covid relie

Republicans shouldn't get cocky

Is there anyone who doesn't think the Republicans will retake control of both the U.S. House and Senate this year?  Probably not - and that's the problem.    All the polls we see are generic.  They are asking questions about how people feel about the parties.  The pollsters are asking would a generic Republican defeat a generic Democrat.  Other polls are gauging people's feelings toward President Biden.  Every indication is the Republicans will win big in both Houses of Congress.  What could go wrong? Elections are not generic.  Incumbents are not easy to unseat.  Furthermore, elections involve Candidate A running against Candidate B in specific districts on specific issues.  Candidates and parties also need money to run campaigns. Republicans can be facing an uphill fight on some or all of these points. Take incumbency - in Georgia a recent poll showed Herschel Walker running only a couple of points ahead of Democrat incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock.  These poll results a

Inflation stays until Biden and the Democrats go

We won't put inflation behind us as long as Joe Biden is President and Democrats control one or both Houses of Congress.  There was going to be some level of inflation after the shutdowns of 2020, but the policies adopted by the Biden Administration and the spending bills passed by the Democrat Congress have elevated inflation to levels they have not been at in many years.  As long as Joe Biden is in the White House or Democrats control one House of Congress they will be able to prevent undoing the policies that have put us where we are. Starting on day one, the Biden Administration began adopting policies that fueled the growth of inflation.  Despite it being obvious for months that inflation was running hotter than expected the Biden Administration was in denial, saying inflation was transitory.   Supply chain issues were initially caused by other factors but the Biden Administration has talked about addressing this but none of their policies have been successful.   On the other