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Martha Stewart Calls Sarah Palin 'Boring And Dangerous' (VIDEO)

2009-11-22T16:37:06Z

By now everyone is getting a word in on Sarah Palin, including Martha Stewart, who used some tpigh language to describe Palin. Stewart made it clear to CNN HLN's Showbiz Tonight producer Jenny D'Attoma that she's not a big fan:

"She's very boring to me, very boring. And a very, to me, kind of a dangerous person. I mean, she's dangerous. She speaks, she's, she's so confused. And anyone like that in government is a real problem."

Watch D'Attoma's interview with Stewart:

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

2009-11-22T14:09:48Z

Hello there and welcome to your Sunday Morning Liveblog of the weekly political chatfests, which, like midnight basketball, occupy the time of pundits and newspeople who would inevitably be off doing something dangerous to us or to one another. My name is Jason. Today we begin with a programming note: there will be no liveblog next Sunday. EVERYONE PANIC, I GUESS!

No, seriously, I will be spending my morning staring at a bleak landscape where everyone is an amoral, hellbound jerk and where something bleak and irrational lurks around every turn, but I am referring to the New Jersey Turnpike, which is kind of like MEET THE PRESS if MEET THE PRESS offered you occasional opportunities to stop and have Cinnabon.

What should you do while I am speeding my way...to DELAWARE, LAND OF TOLL BOOTHS? Well, you might consider reconnecting with loved ones, or reconnecting with sleep, or reconnecting with Dilaudid...anything that's not watching Bill Kristol reflect on the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Don't do it. Stay in bed, and be satisfied for once. You followed this recipe to cook your turkey, didn't you? Good. Then you are an American hero.

Anyway, as always, you should feel free to leave a comment, or send an email. You can also take the opportunity to involve yourself somehow in whatever useless stuff I put up on Twitter, because why not!

Okay. Let's get on with it.

FOX NEWS SUNDAY

Today! Woo! Health care! I think I heard something about this. Lamar Alexander and Kit Bond and Debbie Stabenow AND Arlen Specter? Glad this is not a stag film!

Anyway, the Senate voted to allow themselves to talk about the health care bill. Lamar Alexander says he'll "beat the bill" by scaring people with talk of "medical ghettos." He's counting on everyone staying medically gentrified. It is apparently "arrogance" to think we can fix health care "all at once" says Lamar Alexander, who probably wants a LOLSURGE in Afghanistan. Anyway, Stabenow says that "doing nothing is not an option," and that "at the end of the day, we will be together." OH MAYBE THIS IS A STAG FILM. "AARP is with us." LEMON PARTY!

Mammograms! Will people not be allowed to have them? Kit Bond says people should be worried. But they shouldn't! This panel isn't "playing around with excessive government control," they just made recommendations based on scientific findings. Bond continues to say that seniors will die as well.

Wallace wants to bring Arlen Specter into the conversation, to talk about his mammogram, apparently? He points out that the legislation provides for mammograms and pap smears and all sorts of fun tests, none of which a woman ever wants to be in the middle of, look up, and see that Arlen Specter is performing, at that very moment. Specter says, "the one option we don't have is the option of doing nothing." But that's the most public option of all!

Wallace wants Specter to name another Congress that has cut Medicare by such a significant amount. He can't! BURN! Specter says there will be commissions and crap set up so that some other entity will have to face to choice of reining in Medicare costs -- which must be done, anyway.

Wallace kicks it back to Bond, pointing out that the CBO scoring does indicate that the Senate bill will reduce the deficit, to which Bond rattles off two big calls in the game of Beltway Blather Bingo. "I don't think one out of ten Americans believe that" -- which has no bearing on the facts of the matter. Then: "David Broder wrote a great column." Wrong. David Broder never writes great columns. A David Broder column about a Quinnipiac poll is the most awful piece of writing that anyone can imagine. David Broder is long past the day where he should have been shipped off to some lonely tundra to be eaten by ice wolves. Seriously, anyone who respects Broder needs to be trepanned.

Debbie Stabenow is now saying something, about mammograms, and the Stupak amendment, which she wants to see changed. Kit Bond says "Bernie Madoff would envy the fact" that the health care legislation would collect taxes in advance of paying out services. You'll forgive me if I don't find that unusual. People start businesses with lines of credit and take time to start earning a profit all the time. Anyway, I think Bernie Madoff would envy just about anything right now.

Kit Bond and Debbie Stabenow just had a spat over tax credits for small businesses, which Stabenow says are great, and Bond says are a scam. There's something depressing about watching the elderly pretend to get bellicose.

Bond also is mad about Obama for "dithering" on Afghanistan, but he has clearly never read Stanley McChrystal's report, because he thinks it "laid out a strategy" when really what it did was ask for a new strategy to be created. Bond straight up doesn't know what he's talking about. He and his staff of apparent dumbasses should read it. It's not 2,000 pages long.

Ohh, Specter is a little pissed about not getting to talk. "Why Chris, I guess you forgot I was on the program." Then he talks for about a million boring years.

Apparently, Fox is going to talk about the BREAST CANCER DEATH PANELS or something. Dr. Bernadine Healy is here to talk about it, and she says that ladies should start getting screened at age 40 and have it done every year. Ignore the new guidelines! As for the pap smears, the new guidelines are "responsible and reasonable." So, there you have it! NOT AFRAID TO BE SERVICEY!

Shall we commence with the demagoguery? Healy sort of begs off, saying only that the task force involved does public policy modeling and has no experience with "hands on patient care." She says that THIS WILL BE CODIFIED INTO LAW!! Experts! Making guidelines! Like Stalin did! Anyway, you should watch out for the HIDDEN GOVERNMENT RATIONING. It's apparently far more nefarious than the current OUT IN THE OPEN GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE RATIONING, where millions of Americans don't get a ration at all and millions more get a ration until they get sick and really need it.

Panel time, with Ann Kornblut and her Eyes Of Pure Need filling in for Juan Williams. Hume says that Congress is caterwauling about Geithner. He also talks about "calls to audit the Fed." Has he not heard that the Grayson-Paul Amendment passed? Anyway, the panel is very sad, now, that everyone is being mean to Tim Geithner. Liasson says that everyone will be talking about jobs, now. Forever. And the deficits. Kristol reminds us again that health care reform will destroy jobs, forever, and turn the world into a bleak place, like the New Jersey turnpike.

Kornblut says that "we're going to hear nothing but this Jobs Summit for the next few weeks." I guess that's because the Jobs Summit will be releasing it's new book, GOING ROGUE, by the JOBS SUMMIT.

Now Brit Hume is mad about something! That guy!

Mara Liasson is impressed with the fact that health care keeps moving forward, but will eventually have to force women to be pregnant, at all times, and the public option will have to be turned into a memory. In the end, the conference committee will pass a get well card, and insurance companies will make more money, and every single one of these turds will get re-elected, forever.

Ann Kornblut is staring at Bill Kristol, thinking, "I can fix him!" YOU CAN'T, ANN! Hold out for someone who loves you for you.

Now, they will yammer about foreign policy. The trip to Asia? TOTAL FAIL, APPARENTLY. There's this terrible "diminished role of the U.S." because, as Hume believes, Obama is solely responsible for the economic straits we're in, and is too polite. Hume says that we need to be a lot more unreasonable and bellicose so that we can threaten foreign powers into accepting a position of burden on our behalf for nothing in return. Kristol, of course, is apoplectic, and doesn't know why Obama didn't destroy Chinese Communism singlehandedly.

Anyway, Iran, they are intransigent? And that's because Obama wanted to maybe have diplomatic talks with all sorts of nations? But really, we should be dropping our awesome new bunker busting bombs on Iranian dissidents. Hume repeats that we need to be a lot more unreasonable and bellicose to make Iran heel. Liasson says that "at some point you need to move to Plan B."

Anyway, I guess we should be bombing more people? It's hard to say what policy solutions just got advocated. But obviously, the White House should have been able to terraform China into democracy on their first trip.

HA! So, the Club For Growth is the "Power Player of the Week," because they failed to win an election in the 23rd District of New York. It's worth mentioning that they lost for many reasons, not the least of which is they sat around the final week of the election congratulating each other while Bill Owens was running a traditional Get Out The Vote operation. Anyway: POWER PLAYERS.

THIS WEEK, WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

What a great montage of Senators gesticulating! You would almost believe that actual adult democracy happens in this country!

Tom Coburn is on, today? The Senate is literally mounting a Sunday morning charisma offensive. This panel is Marsha Blackburn, Ben "Ralph Wiggum" Nelson, Tom Coburn, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. So, that makes ONE person who thinks all Americans should have health care. Great!

Nelson leads things off: "FIRE IS BURNY AND IT MAKES ME SAD." GS asks about filibustering, and Nelson replies: "SOMETIMES KITTY IS BITEY!"

Tom Coburn decided not to have some poor Senate page read the bill out loud because that would have required the GOP to sit in the chamber all weekend long, reading to each other, while the Democrats retreated to coke-and-masturbation domes to eat kalamata olives off one anothers backs, which is some REAL EYES WIDE SHUT NONSENSE, I can tell you. Your eyes will never unsee that shizz.

Did you know that Coburn is a close personal friend of Obama, for some reason? That friendship sure paid dividends!

Debbie W-S says that the House bill and the Senate bill are similar enough that they will find a way to reconcile themselves to each other, if not make out in the rain for seven consecutive minutes, like Ryan Gosling and Rachael McAdams. Coburn looks on thoughtfully, wondering why he's never even invited to his own party's coke-and-masturbation dome. Marsha Blackburn is blonde and pretty and has a voice that sounds like sloe gin fizz as she lies and fearmongers. She touts the GOP health bill, which is a great great bill if you figure out a way to never get sick or never get old.

And now: LADY FIGHT! Debbie W-S and Blackburn are cold talking over each other. WHERE IS BART STUPAK WHEN YOU NEED SOMEONE TO CALM THIS FEMININE HYSTERIA, WITH INVASIVE LAWS.

Ben Nelson adds: "I HEAR BABIES COME FROM CLOUDS!"

Debbie W-S says, "I don't want to speak for Senator Nelson." And that's good, but it would be nice if she could, after the discussion was over, help the Senator get out of the Newseum. I hear that Nelson has been working very hard at mastering stairs, but he's like, ON THE FOURTH FLOOR!

Coburn says that there are "eleven studies out" that say the health care reform bill will raise premiums, Debbie W-S says, uhm, "Differences of opinion exist." Also: insurance company bureaucrats are getting between patients and doctors, to beat the band.

This discussion is going about as well as I suspected, with everyone yelling at Debbie W-S for daring to suggest that insurance companies aren't awesome.

Marsha Blackburn has actually read the part of the bill that makes her scared about the mammograms. Debbie W-S says, uhm: no, that does not provide for the BOSOMPOCALYPSE, and "for the first time, you are politicizing breast cancer." It does make you wonder why we haven't politicized breast cancer before! Coburn says: these guidelines make sense from a cost standpoint, but not for a patient standpoint, BLAH GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE. I wonder if he thinks the War in Afghanistan makes sense from a "cost standpoint."

Nelson adds: "NOW THE TREES ARE SAD, BECAUSE IT'S WINTER!"

George Stephanopoulos needs to ask Tom Coburn about John Ensign and his sex scandals because they are both roommates in the C Street House for Christian Sexytime, where everyone is having an affair and pleasuring themselves to various Psalms, at all hours, drenching their domicile in the heady scent of musk and desperation. But because George is such an awesome reporter, he APOLOGIZES for having to ask the question. OHH, SORRY SENATOR COBURN, IF THE JOURNALISM CAUSES YOU ANY BOTHER, BUT I HAVE TO ASK YOU A HARD QUESTION NOW, GOD I WISH I DIDN'T! If I were the host of the show, my first question to Coburn would be: "You smell very fresh this morning! What soap do you use, Senator Coburn, to get rid of the stench of Astroglide?"

Anyway, let's panel! With George Will and Robert Reich and Walter Isaacson and Liz Cheney! GS correctly identifies Keep America Safe as a "Republican advocacy organization," which makes Cheney pout that it's a "national security advocacy" organization that wouldn't actually secure anybody.

Tim Geithner is making everyone personally unemployed, with his crapulence. George Will says Geithner "ran into a buzzstorm." WHAT IS A BUZZSTORM? Will touts Ron Paul for getting a bill passed to audit the Fed.

Robert Reich says that Washington is filled with the Men Who Stare At Scapegoats. They, then, get caught in the BUZZSTORM. I get the feeling that no one is bringing their A-Game, the week before Thanksgiving.

Isaacson says Geithner is getting a bad rap, and also that his wife was taking money out of their bank last year, because of bank runs? Liz Cheney, of course, says that the stimulus package emboldened terrorists, and we will all soon die when KSM unleashes his hypnobeams upon New York City. Reich says that the stimulus should have been bigger, better, and not stuffed with useless tax breaks. Will says it's ironic that the White House is touting the success of the stimulus while suggesting that a third one is needed. Reich totally disagrees with Will on the net effect of the stimulus, and GS pulls out some graphic analysis that indicates that there has, at least been a net positive impact. Liz Cheney says we need a "private sector driven stimulus."

Robert Reich attempts to build the case for running high short term deficits, while reforming entitlement programs when the economy is healthy, but now we have to talk about China! Will says that if Bush had gone to China and gotten nothing, "this town would be incandescent." But this town is incadescent over this China trip! And anyway, China owns our ass because of a ton of terrible economic policies. Cheney says that "it's another foreign trip that's style over substance," where, again, "substance" equals "the naive insistence that everyone should do what we want, or else!"

Cheney thrusts her teeny fists vainly heavenward and says, "We are more powerful than China!" This causes my wife to nearly snork scrambled egg through her nasal passages, with laughter. Can we just have George Will and Robert Reich debate things, please? And Walter Isaacson? You are snoozeville! Yes, Liz Cheney! Interrupt Walter Isaacson. I approve of you doing that! KEEP AMERICA SAFE FROM WALTER ISAACSON AND HIS BORING STORIES ABOUT ANDREW JACKSON, GAH.

George Will and Liz Cheney are battling over Afghanistan. Will says, "The danger is that the president is going to be seen as escalating this war, he'll do it half-heartedly, with his heart not in it, he will lose his party, and he'll be supported by Republicans of the stripe of Liz Cheney, and that's not a sustainable path.

Cheney insists that Obama needs to "follow the strategy laid out be General McChrystal." BUT THAT STRATEGY WAS THIS: "Hey! Things are all shithouse here! Could you guys maybe come up with a new strategy? Because DAMN THIS COUNTRY IS BONKERS." General McChrystal is getting precisely what he asked for! Liz Cheney's objection is simply that Obama hasn't sent 80,000 magical troops, ginned out of the ether, and dropped them on the Hindu Kush, to bomb terrorists who all live in Pakistan now.

Here's more on EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT TROOP SURGES WITHOUT ACCOUNTING FOR THE FACT THAT WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE SOLDIERS, WITH WITCHCRAFT, IN ORDER TO DO IT.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

FIRST SARAH PALIN MENTION OF SUNDAY! DRINK. Walter Isaacson is all: I HAVE A BOOK, TOO. A SERIOUS ONE. Why won't anyone buy his dull book? He's such a scintillating raconteur!

MEET THE PRESS

Fun fact! Last night, I led a discussion about what "pony play" is, over drinks, and you really cannot convince me that it would not have garnered higher network ratings than this show, which is now the only thing standing in the way between me having a Thanksgiving break from David Gregory.

The president may be back from the actual Asia, but there's no escaping the awesomeness of this Asia:

I'd rather just pull awesome YouTube videos than subject anyone to this show! You know that Joe Lieberman is on today? JOE LIEBERMAN! Gah. Heaven knows I'm miserable now.

Dr. Nancy is on? OH YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME.

Ugh, so, anyway, MEET THE PRESS.

Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup

2009-11-22T08:55:28Z

Misrepresenting what I said during an appearance on Countdown this week, NewsBusters claims that I'm trying to deny Glenn Beck his "constitutionally protected free speech." Wrong. What I said is that words have tremendous power -- they can inspire and they can incite. There's a reason you can't shout "fire" in a crowded theater. But even though Glenn Beck is shouting "fire" in a crowded, anxious country, I specifically said that the right response to his steady stream of lies, hate, and race-baiting -- all served up with a not-very-subtle undercurrent of violence -- is to put unrelenting pressure on his advertisers and his bosses. Pressure works. CNN dropped Lou Dobbs. I'm actually of two minds when it comes to Beck. Part of me resents spending even a second of my life thinking about him. But part of me recognizes that he's too dangerous to ignore.

Frank Rich: Sarah Palin, The Pit Bull In The China Shop

2009-11-22T06:12:15Z

AT last the American right and left have one issue they unequivocally agree on: You don't actually have to read Sarah Palin's book to have an opinion about it.

Tom Friedman Explains Causes Of America's 'Sub-Optimal Solutions' (VIDEO)

2009-11-22T05:22:12Z

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman is worried that America is producing "sub-optimal solutions" to big problems like global warming, an education system in decline and a weak economy.

The author of Hot, Flat, and Crowded appeared on The Charlie Rose Show on Friday night to discuss President Obama's recent trip to Asia, and more specifically China. Friedman lamented the failure of US governance and the "forces of paralysis" that surround President Obama. He is worried that China's streamlined, one-party system will be in a better place to implement solutions to large global problems more quickly than the US.

Holding us back, Friedman argues, is a political system too closely connected with money and well-funded interests. Gerrymandering on the part of politicians makes it so that our leaders practically pick us, not the other way around. Friedman also thinks cable news television distorts the truth and that the internet (at its worst) can be a terrible thing for our nation's politics. He also says American businesses have gone AWOL, and hover over America, participating only when it suits their industry's needs.

Friedman says that better citizens--not politicians--can solve our nation's problems.

WATCH:

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Glenn Beck As Political Organizer: Fox News Host Sponsoring 7 Conventions

2009-11-22T03:32:11Z

Glenn Beck, the popular and outspoken Fox News host, says he wants to go beyond broadcasting his opinions and start rallying his political base -- formerly known as his audience -- to take action.

David Vines: If It Were Me, I'd Be Embarrassed

2009-11-21T18:50:00Z

It's nice to see that even after the election, conservatives are still playing the "liberal gotcha media" card every time they expose themselves as being shamefully ignorant regarding the issues they care about most.

Last Wednesday, a media firestorm erupted after a seventeen-year-old girl named Jackie was interviewed by MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell while standing in line during Sarah Palin's Michigan book signing. Jackie, wearing a shirt that read, "The US government handed out $700 billion in Wall Street bailouts and all I got was this lousy t-shirt," was caught off-guard when O'Donnell informed her that Sarah Palin was on record as supporting the bailout.

You can see the exchange below:

It didn't take long for Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck to feature this clip on their respective shows and praise Jackie while condemning O'Donnell for her pesky questions backed up by fact-based research. Then, Jackie was given a platform to summarize her side of the story by the blog, Red White & Conservative.

To summarize:

This all started as me, a young 17 year old American going to see a woman I admire and turned into this crazy event hah I'll start at the very beginning.

She had me read my shirt and then proceeded to ask me "Did you know Sarah Palin supported the bailout" to be 100% honest I was like, are you kidding me? She is trying to use my shirt against me. I was so shocked by the craftiness she had that I was truly stumped. I asked her where she got her fact and she read her little note. Then she asked me what I liked about Sarah, and I talked about the Constitution.

In one day I met a role model, and met the liberal media and their crafty schemes. I fell prey to liberal bias, but I'd like to think I did an okay job.

As a fellow high school senior, I feel a strong urge to respond.

This notion that a reporter is being "crafty" and "biased" when they correct factually inaccurate statements is ridiculous. Sure, Jackie might have a point if O'Donnell ran up to her at random and stuck a microphone in her face as she was walking down the street, but that was not the case. This girl was at the book signing of a prominent politician, wore a t-shirt indicating that she had strong political views, agreed to be interviewed, and failed to answer a very simple and straightforward question.

The job of a good reporter is not to ask softball questions or cast everybody they speak to in a positive light. A reporter's job is to collect facts and seek the truth. So, while some may object to O'Donnell's speaking to a seventeen-year-old girl, nobody can accuse her of reporting anything but the facts.

Which brings me to my final point: Jackie is seventeen-years-old, she's not seven.

In her piece for Red White & Conservative, she feels the need to drive home the fact that she's only seventeen four separate times, as if that were some sort of defense.

Now, I understand that much of the electorate is made up of low information voters who don't closely follow politics. That's fine -- it's not ideal, but it's perfectly understandable.

But according to her school profile, Jackie is very politically involved. She is an intern with the Michigan Republican Party and is clearly excited and passionate about what her political "role model," Former-Governor Palin, represents. And yet, when she cannot correctly identify one of Palin's most basic political positions, she plays the victim and blames everybody but herself.

Then, conservative members of the media take the bait and praise her as some sort of Republican hero. They are more than happy to glorify this culture of ignorance and hide behind the veil of "elitism" and "media bias" when anyone approaches them with facts.

All I can say is that if Glenn Beck had heard me express my political views and then assumed that I was a thirteen-year-old, I would not lift the paper bag off my head for quite some time.

Fred Schulte, Senior Reporter For HuffPost Investigative Fund, Talks Digitizing Medical Records On NPR (AUDIO)

2009-11-21T17:56:33Z

Fred Schulte, a senior reporter for the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, talked with NPR's Scott Simon Saturday morning about the overlooked technology companies that stand to make huge profits in the push to digitize the nation's medical records.

"The government's $45 billion plan to jump-start a national shift to electronic medical records has touched off a gold rush among scores of technology firms - even as many experts question whether the benefits of the products are being oversold," Schulte writes in an article on the digitization of medical records, on the Huffington Post Investigative Fund.

"There's a sort of a gold rush going on," Schulte explained on NPR's Weekend Edition. "Some of the biggest companies in the world--Microsoft, Dell, Google--all of these huge tech companies are very interested in the billions of dollars that is going to derive from health care in cyberspace."

"There are cash registers ringing," Schulte said.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund's examination of the medical records business is ongoing. Click here to follow the coverage, and listen to the full interview below.

Bill Moyers Plays LBJ Tapes, Draws Similarities With Obama And Afghanistan War

2009-11-21T17:13:26Z

On Friday night, Bill Moyers played clips from the Lyndon B. Johnson tapes on his PBS television show. Moyers drew correlations between the factors facing President Johnson in his decision to send more troops to Vietnam, and President Obama's conundrum with respect to the war in Afghanistan.

From his closing statement:

Now in a different world, at a different time, and with a different president, we face the prospect of enlarging a different war. But once again we're fighting in remote provinces against an enemy who can bleed us slowly and wait us out, because he will still be there when we are gone.
Once again, we are caught between warring factions in a country where other foreign powers fail before us. Once again, every setback brings a call for more troops, although no one can say how long they will be there or what it means to win. Once again, the government we are trying to help is hopelessly corrupt and incompetent.

And once again, a President pushing for critical change at home is being pressured to stop dithering, be tough, show he's got the guts, by sending young people seven thousand miles from home to fight and die, while their own country is coming apart.

View Moyer's introduction to the tapes below, and visit his website to watch the entire program.

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Chris Matthews Criticizes Obama Using Cheney's "Dithering" Remark (VIDEO)

2009-11-21T03:41:54Z

On Friday night's "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, MSNBC host Matthews took a page out of Dick Cheney's book and accused the president of "dithering" over Afghanistan.

"President Obama has his chin out on just about every hot issue out there. Health care. Terror trials. Job losses." Matthews began. He then launched a series of aggressive questions going after many of the president's recent decisions.

"Is he just too darned intellectual? Too much the egghead? Why did he bow to that Japanese emperor? Why did he pick Tim Geithner to be his economic front-man? Why all this dithering over Afghanistan? And who thought it was a wonderful idea to bring the killers of 9/11 to New York City, the media capital of the world, so they could tell their story?"

The former vice president accused Obama of "dithering while America's armed forces are in danger," in October, to much backlash.

Bill Clinton Blasts Olbermann For Politicizing Health Care Event, Refuses To Go

2009-11-21T03:01:13Z

On Friday, Bill Clinton decided not to attend a health care event organized by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann because Olbermann had "politicized" the event.

He explained his decision to FireDogLake's Eve Gittelso, who ran into Clinton in a gift shop of the Clinton Library in Arkansas:

"Clinton responded that Olbermann was politicizing the clinic, and that it wasn't helpful for Olbermann to do that. He said he did not feel he could show up now, because the event had turned political....Olbermann, who has invited his viewers to contribute to the National Association of Free Clinics in advance of the event, has said on his show that 'I want Sens. (Blanche) Lincoln and (Mark) Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock.' Lincoln has met recently with Joe Biden and President Obama, but has yet to agree to vote for debate on health care to proceed in the Senate."

Mediaite notes that Olbermann began his endorsement of these free clinics on October 8 and that the Arkansas event is just one of six Olbermann had done.

Watch Olbermann's original health care pitch below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bill Moyers Retiring From Weekly Television

2009-11-20T23:28:08Z

Bill Moyers is leaving weekly television.

The New York Times' Elizabeth Jensen reports that the PBS newscaster is retiring from his Friday night program, "Bill Moyers Journal," on April 30, 2010.

"Bill Moyers Journal" launched in April 2007.

Jensen reports that it was Moyers' intention to retire at Christmas this year, but PBS asked him to stay on through April to help raise funds.

"I am 75 years old," Moyers told Jensen. "I feel it's time."

Dominic Carter Found GUILTY Of Attempted Assault On Wife

2009-11-20T23:25:38Z

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Cable television newsman Dominic Carter, an influential reporter on New York politics, was convicted Friday of an attempted assault on his wife.

The Rockland County district attorney's office issued a one-sentence statement Friday saying Carter, 46, was found guilty of third-degree attempted assault.

The maximum sentence is three months in jail.

Carter, who was political anchor on NY1 until the station learned of the accusation, had been accused of the more serious charge of third-degree assault. His wife, Marilyn Carter, called 911 last year from their home in Pomona and claimed he hit her. Photos presented at trial showed the 52-year-old woman's swollen lip, cut ear and bruised arm and leg.

However, she recanted her allegation on the witness stand during Carter's Oct. 29 trial in Suffern, N.Y.

In his decision, Ramapo Town Justice Arnold Etelson said he found Marilyn Carter's revised story "nothing short of preposterous." But he also found that she did not sustain "impairment of physical condition or substantial pain" as required for a conviction on the assault charge.

Defense attorney Martin Gotkin said Dominic Carter "still maintains his innocence, claims he never did this and he's going to continue fighting this case to vindicate himself. His intention right now is to appeal."

NY1 said on the day of the trial that Carter had taken an indefinite leave of absence. On Friday, spokeswoman Nikia Redhead said, "We are in the process of reviewing the court's decision."

Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 14.

Carter's nightly "Inside City Hall" program was must-see TV for those in or interested in New York city and state politics, analysts said. He had interviewed every major politician and moderated many political debates, including one last month between the mayoral candidates.

However, Carter was off the job by Election Day.

His wife's year-old allegations were made public on the eve of the trial. But before the court session, Carter confidently predicted, "I am about to be vindicated. This was all a misunderstanding."

His wife acknowledged on the witness stand that she made the 911 call, but said the real assailant was a day laborer whose name she couldn't remember. She said she told police her husband had beat her because she was angry about an argument they'd had about care for their epileptic son.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Moran protested that her story was unbelievable and suggested she was lying to preserve her marriage and her husband's livelihood.

When the judge said he would reserve decision, Carter complained from the defense table, pleading that unless he was quickly cleared, "My career is over."

On the weekend after the trial, the Carters traveled to Kansas City, Mo., and someone identified as a family member called the hotel, supposedly fearing Carter was considering suicide.

Carter told police he was fine but said his wife was missing. She was found the next day at the Kansas City airport and said she simply wanted to get home early, a police spokesman said.

The Carters, who live in Pomona, have been married 24 years and have a 21-year-old daughter, as well as the 17-year-old son.

In 2007, Carter published a memoir, "No Momma's Boy," describing childhood abuse at the hands of his mentally ill mother while growing up in the Bronx.

In December, Carter bragged about his political connections as he sought a quick dismissal during a hearing in his assault case.

"I covered the state attorney general and chief judge of the court of the state of New York," he told the judge. He said former state Chief Judge Judith Kaye and Manhattan District Attorney Bob Morgenthau were "personal friends."

The judge seemed unimpressed.

"Don't start dropping names," he said. "You know better than that."

Bill Simmons Twitter Suspension: ESPN.com Writer Reportedly Suspended For Two Weeks

2009-11-20T23:23:49Z

ESPN has punished Bill Simmons for writing tweets critical of Boston sports radio station WEEI. ESPN.com editor-in-chief Rob King wrote a blog post to confirm the news, writing that "we've taken appropriate measures."

ESPN Radio and WEEI announced a partnership on October 7, and Simmons has criticized the Boston station on his Twitter account at least twice since then. On October 26, Simmons tweeted: "WEEI's 'The Big Show' was apparently ripping me today. Good to get feedback from 2 washed-up athletes and a 60 yr-old fat guy with no neck."

On November 10, Simmons knocked WEEI once more: "Hey WEEI: You were wrong, I did a Boston interview today. With your competition. Rather give them ratings over deceitful scumbags like you."

While King's post does not specify the terms of the punishment, The Big Lead reports that Simmons told a fan at a book signing that he had been suspended from Twitter for two weeks, with an exception for tweets about his book tour.

Palin Booed By Book Tour Crowd

2009-11-20T21:45:10Z

Unhappy fans of Sarah Palin went rogue on the Alaska Republican during her book tour stop in Noblesville, Indiana on Thursday.

The local Borders outlet had handed out 1,000 wristbands to book purchasers; the wristbands were supposed to procure fans Palin's signature on their hardback copies of "Going Rogue." But several dozen people who had been promised signatures were turned away empty-handed after waiting hours in poor weather, a local news outlet, the Indy Channel, reported.

"We gave up our entire workday, stayed in the cold, my kids were crying," one man was quoted saying. "They went home with my wife. She was out here in the freezing cold all day. I feel like I don't want to support Sarah."

Another woman told Indy Channel, "We bought two books from Borders to have our receipt and our wristband to get it signed tonight. My books are going back to Borders tomorrow."

The angry crowd turned on Palin as she returned to her "Going Rogue" tour bus. Video below shows people booing and shouting at the bus, and shouting "Sign our books Sarah!" as the engine revved up and Palin departed.

DailyKos put together a compilation reel of local news coverage:

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