Redd!

Christy Hardin Smitz!

Redd, I left a comment at the other site.
Now that I have the hang of it.
My Netscape takes me to the old site, and then when I want to come here I Google and put in Firedoglake.com I get to respond on both sites.
Just saying, in case others are having trouble.
Redd, what a nice job you did today. You were so cool. Careful on the drive home.

Christy, you were great! You came across as empassioned but even-keeled in your arguments, and have a very good camera presence. I hope to see you on the tube fighting for our side again!

saw you this morning and you were great! Post the Cher call-in story if you get it ;)

Thanks again
on a side note, one could visibly see the spine growing in Dick Durbin this morning on Fox.
Amazing.

Christy, I thought you presented your point of view on all the issues very eloquently. I enjoyed the show very much.

Excellent job Christy===thank goodness for Tivo for we West Coasters

Hey Lady– Brilliant. And the best was when that fool kept putting his big foot in his mouth and you shoved it in DEEPER each and every time!
BRAVO billjpa@aol.com

I heard of your blog the first time this morning on C-Span….I was so impressed that I added it to my list of Bookmarks.

Christy, I’m impressed with your intelligence, knowledge of FACTS, ability to express yourself without ranting and raving, and your fairness. It would be nice to see you run for office!

Does anyone have a link to the show?

I don’t see a show on cspan for the 18th. Every other day, just not the 18th.

Searching for her name pulled no hits.

Thanks!

…and the photos of you and Pach are where…?

Sorry for the cluttering BUT help me out PLEASE. Doesn’t a censure proposal naturally go to the standard comittee in order be examined , investigated and then voted on BY THE COMITTEE before going back to the floor for a vote by the full body (if it is voted out of comittee)???????
billjpa@aol.com

Join the campaign for progressive legislation

http://www.boycott-republicans.com

I seek activist volunteers in Speaker Dennis Hastert’s district in Illinois to pass this letter around for a project that will force the speaker to enact progressive legislation. I also seek volunteer activists in Tennessee to do this project to force Senator Frist to enact progressive legislation.

If you want to send me email please place the word PRIVATE in the subject or it will not reach me. Thank you.

Send the following letter to Speaker Hastert and Senator Frist. After you send them email or US mail drop me an email that you sent them email so I can keep track of how many emails and letters they receive, thank you.

Pass this progressive agenda or face a mass boycott of Republican contributors.

I demand that you get the Republican Party to hold a press conference and accede to these demands. Until such a press conference happens and the legislation and/or actions gets passed I will boycott products from Republican contributors Walmart, Wendy’s, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, Curves for women health clubs, GE and Exxon/Mobil.

I demand that congress pass legislation ending the war in Iraq and withdraw the troops and arrange with the United Nations to replace US troops with UN troops to defend Iraq until The Iraqi army can defend Iraq.

I demand that the Republican party end their aggressive and hateful action to end a woman’s right to choose abortion or not.

I demand that the Congress of the United states and the president of the United States enact a law to increase the minimum wage to TEN dollars an hour and also to extend unemployment benefits to a year or more for all people whose unemployment benefits expired after 6 months even though they still seek work.

I demand that the Congress of the United States to not privatize social security benefits in any form including taking a percentage of the social security tax and placing it in private accounts. People can already create their own pensions with money after taxes in the private sector.

I demand that the congress make all of a person’s earned income taxable for social security FICA tax purposes and remove the 88,000 dollar taxable income limit. This will make social security solvent for many years to come.

I demand the congress increase the payroll tax in order to make social security solvent as well.

I demand congress and the president enact a prescription drug benefit under Medicare Part B which covers 80 percent of medication cost, with no extra premium, no extra deductibles, no means test and no coverage gaps, and no penalties for signing up in a succeeding year.

I demand congress repeal the faulty Medicare law HR 1 / S 1 passed by congress in Nov 2003.

I demand congress enact single payer universal health insurance for every citizen as minimum coverage.

I demand that congress and the president enact universal vote by mail throughout the 50 states of the United States of America with paper ballots easy to fill out and difficult to change or invalidate by Republican Party officials. This will prevent Republicans from vote suppression by skin color and political party which happened electronically and in person in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

I demand that congress and the president enact that civil servants on every state payroll keep track of voter registrations and vote counting of mail in votes in each precinct and not companies such as Choicepoint. We need to take the Republican Party out of the business of keeping track of voter registration and counting votes.

I demand that congress and the president ban the secretary of state in each of the 50 states from engaging in politics especially acting as a campaign official for a presidential campaign.

I demand congress enact legislation protecting private pensions from corporations deliberately declaring bankruptcy or ending pensions outright.

I do this in the spirit of peaceful resistance to a congress that refuses to enact this legislation.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Then call your local franchise or store that sells products of companies mentioned for boycott and tell them unless the Republican Party enacts the above demands, you will no longer do business with them, so get the CEO of the parent company to get the GOP to accede to these demands. No company wants thousands of people boycotting them espcially getting thousands of phone calls from citizens demanding a progressive agenda enacted or they lose our business.

Tell others to send this mail and to call these companies local franchises. In the case of General Electric call your local store that sells General Electric products.

Get anti Bush items at

http://www.cafepress.com/revolution09

Site criticism:

Is it really necessary for the firedoglake link span across the ENTIRE header? Isn’t it enough the the href link be focussed only on the logo in the upper left corner?

A gracious and informed presence on C-Span…Thank you for your

genuine & refreshing manner…firedoglake will become a regular

‘resource’ in my ongoing quest for truth.

ShepherdAl
Northfield, MN

You were so great!! So eloquent and in total contral of your message, smart, attractive, all in all a perfect TV presence.
Your foil seemed very respectful but he didn’t hold a candle to you. I guess that’s what happens when the facts aren’t on your side.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of “Redd” on the TV!

buckfush — please stop spamming advertising links in the comments section. Thanks. Just because Jane and I are on the road, it doesn’t mean we aren’t keeping an eye on things. That goes for everyone else as well. Play nice — I don’t want to have to perform a substantial ass-kicking after I spend a few hours on the road.

‘nough said.

I watched most of the interview this morning and thought you were wonderful, Christy. It was a very well-tempered discussion. I thought my head would explode when Mirengoff talked about Libby indicted on a technicality and how this investigation was a blog “fantasy.” Your reply–that impeachment charges were brought against Clinton for the same so-called technicality was quick and sharp. Your composure was commendable! You were also able to talk articulately and calmly (wish I had a prescription for that quality). You showed you know your stuff!!

good stuff redd! made me proud to be a progressive… call in shows are brutal too and you handled it deftly… just guessing, but i bet a fair amount of washington journal viewers lean right or libertarian. and i gotta believe that people who have negative opinions of the left had to come away with some of their views chanllenged by your appearance this morning. well done…

Redd Job well done. Watch c-span everyday. You have a new fan joining this group. We need a change in washington. I hope people won’t get lazy and do nothing. Encourage everyone you know to get out and vote. I don’t know if our country can take another two or three years of mr. Bush . The world will suffer for it. He’s just plain stupid! Have a nice day! J.J.

great job, Redd…you were strong and clear here across the Pacific in JP…made me want to vote for you even if you aren’t running for anything….yet! (okay, so let me dream!)

hey! i think i heard that Cher story somewhere…in fact i think i heard a recording of that call — wasn’t it about visiting hospitalized troops?

Being in the dark here in the state of Washington, in more ways then one … I’d set my inner alarm to wake and watch. My mind went off 10 minutes late…. yet .. it was so very moving for me to watch you on live TV through sleepy eyes.

If the greater content in communication is held in the eyes .. well … you scored an A-plus. Body language .. ? Your smile would launch a thousand ships. I loved you in black with pearls. Your gracious demeanor and the often compassionate glance you sent to your opponent across the table spoke more about political comity and bipartisan dialogue then any editorial written in the Washington Post in the last twenty five year.

I saw some small anxiety in you … which is totally natural … so I would remind you to practice some deep breathing exercises, relax your musculature, remembering to you are supported by your body , spine and mind .. and each and every one of us out here in Television/Blogland who love you.

I was so proud of you.

To Mr. Sheapard in Northfield, MN, welcome to a fellow Minnesotan. I live in grand (small) Buffalo, MN. Used to be a great lake resort, now it is a commuting base to Mpls. About 50 miles west of the cities.

Posted on the other, old, site that Christy was great. And no doubt will be receiving other offers to do interviews. A little more fire on the Iraq situation — you have the Libby stuff nailed as we all knew well before today.

“Does anyone have a link to the show?

“I don’t see a show on cspan for the 18th. Every other day, just not the 18th.

“Searching for her name pulled no hits.”

The C-Span links to a show are usually not posted until a day or two after the broadcast.

It takes a day, probably two days, before a broadcast will be posted on http://www.C-Span.org. Click on Washington Journal on the left, and it will take you to the list of broadcasts.

By March 21, the March 19 broadcast should be listed. Click on that, and you can choose to listen/watch just the broadcast with Christy.

Christy – sorry. Upon reading my last post that sounded quite like, well, a mother would sound. “A little more…” I should just quit the mother-tone. A problem I have at times.

And no amount of anger from anyone could match my anger anyway, so just ignore the mother’s tone. You did great. Did I say that already? Can be said again, and again, and…

How about posting a clip?

Jonesing for some full-on down-and-dirty action.

(That’s political action, minds-in-the-gutter!)

Just in case you missed this on the other thread,
You did good Christy,I was quite impressed.Very unusual to see political disscusion on the idiot box so non combative.No finger pointing,personal attacks assorted B/S.Never make it on fox news like that(god forbid).Two thumbs up!
P.S. Was anyone else amused by the pissed off at Bush republicans that called in.

Sorry, I goofed giving the link to Christy’s March 19 C-Span broadcast.

On March 21 or later:

- Go to http://www.C-Span.org.

- Click on WASHINGTON JOURNAL on the left

- Go down the list of RECENT PROGRAMS, and click on ALL RECENT PROGRAMS. There you can to elect to see just the portion of that day’s Washington Journal during which Christy appeared.

Anyone catch Meet the Press this morning?Russert actually had a Dem on,Jack Murtha,and he rocked!No wishy washy,flip flopping,just stand up telling it like it is.wish my senator(Mikulski)could borrow a page from that book.

Did someone say room service? Great! Redd, so sorry I couldn’t catch your performance, but am dying to catching it online very soon. Love the internets!
Where is everyone? Still jogging round the Lake?
Murtha knocked the socks off of Russert. And that stammering General didn’t instill any confidence, that’s for sure.
Sorry if this has already been posted, but Justin gives us another great big reality sandwich:
http://antiwar.com/justin/
“American Megalomania
Our ‘national security strategy’ is crazed nonsense

The rituals of Empire have their own meaning and structure, and, as we morph from a republic to an imperial hegemon, these are becoming more formalized. Note the proliferation of grandiosely named agencies and other offices, staffed by a multitude of officials with sonorously self-important titles. For example, how many people know that a “Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor” has been created within the State Department, charged with “promoting freedom and democracy and protecting human rights around the world,” because, after all, this ideological mumbo-jumbo is “central to U.S. foreign policy”? As Pat Nixon’s plain Republican cloth coat gives way to the imperial purple, a rococo extravagance replaces the unpretentious modesty of the Old Republic as the Washington style.”

billjpa: Sorry for the cluttering BUT help me out PLEASE. Doesn’t a censure proposal naturally go to the standard comittee in order be examined , investigated and then voted on BY THE COMITTEE before going back to the floor for a vote by the full body (if it is voted out of comittee)???????

Yes, having been introduced, it’s currently in the Judiciary Committee. Frist tried to get it quashed by unanimous consent when it was introduced, but Reid objected, so that failed.

So as I understand it, the senators we’re calling won’t all be voting on it in the next action, but the more public support it has, the more it’ll look like the GOP is rubberstamping again if they kill it in committee. And more important, the more senators support it, the more “illegal wiretapping” gets talked about instead of the phony “terrorist surveillance” talking point.

Unfortunately, Paul continues his misrepresentation of the various investigative findings about the Bush admin’s use of intel before the war. He constantly claims its been looked into and decided no harm done. Not true. The Robb-Silverman report which he cited expressly states that it was prohibitted (in its mandate from the admin) from looking into potential cherry-picking of intel (which Paul’s friend, Paul Pillar complained about)

Wish that could have been brought up in the show, but you can’t be responsible for everything. Nice job.

Mirengoff was a worthy foil. It was so nice to see adults discussing issues without screaming and name calling. Of course, he was wrong about everything, but he will learn in time, once he starts reading FDL. ;)

DMM, I caught part of Murthas’s appearance today. He did rock indeed! Made it worth watching Pumpkinhead.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat from Wisconsin, said the president should be censured for eavesdropping on telephone and computers of—by Americans. Would you support such a censure?

REP. MURTHA: Well, if it were illegal, it, it’s certainly something we have to look at. I, I think there’s—I, I don’t know enough about the issue. Even though we have complete responsibility for, for oversight and, and funding, funding it. I had a briefing the other day, I’m satisfied the safeguards that are in place are significant, but we have to look at whether it’s illegal or not. I, I’m hesitant to say the president ought to be censured before a committee looks at it and really investigates it and comes up with some real conclusions.

Murtha on Meet the Press.

He’s a fuckin DINO- wants and investigation before supporting Russ’s resolution! Can we run someone against him in the primary? When’s the primary?

rw, Murtha did totally screw up on the censure question. I actually yelled at the screen, “you don’t know Jack.” I can’t understand his opinon about this, except that he stills sees himself as a patriot to the office of the presidency. Pffffft. But I did enjoy his harangue against the war.

Meta—I had my tongue in my cheek with that post..

Murtha did a fine job- and it would be silly to try to bring him down because he isn’t supporting the censure resolution- his position is the mainstream position among dems..

The enemies are goopers!

arrrrr, I’ve been snagged!
OK, no more moving targets!

Redshift! — Thanks for the help. It is just what I thought BUT- it therefore presents the following: Both pelosi and murtha stated the following paraphrased comment– ….. before supporting the Feingold censure proposal, they would want to see a thorough investigation and thus, at this time they couldn’t support it! NOW- unless I am completely gone, these two fools don’t realize that the process is what you have clarified and I thought to be correct and as such, the morons aren’t willing to support something that does not need their votes to move on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thus, one more example of why I will no longer support in any way the Dems and the fools that are running this disgraced party!
Not a second of time and not a DIME!
billjpa@aol.com

Did anyone watch Deadeye Dick on Screw the Nation this morning? I really didn’t have the stomach for it.
Just wondering if he got any blowback on any of his horsejuice.

Murtha is in the other legislative body. I think his lack of a stance on Feingold’s censure resolution isn’t the worst thing in the world. In fact, I would imagine that his credibility is improved with people we generally disagree with, if he doesn’t insert his voice into too many White House scandals at one time. I can easily imagine wingnuts looking for any weak justification to attempt to discredit Murtha, and attempt to de-focus him and his message.

On Iraw military policy, Murtha is speaking from his heart and his unassailable knowledge of the subject. He is not a lawyer, and he just doesn’t want to play one on TV, either.

That’s my take.

I meant Iraq. (Iraw? Oh no, there’s another country in the Middle East that starts with i-r-a? We’re doomed! :) )

rwcole,
I usually agree with you 95% of the time but have to respectfully disagree on this one stance you are taking.
Murtha is in the House so he does not have a vote on Feingold’s Censure motion.
You make a good point on the issue if it comes to the Conyer’s motion in the House. I am alarmed like you are, about:
“Need time to study this…”
“It’s being investigated by committee…”
This is tapdancing the issue and it is bs.
If I were a member of the House or Senate, I would know what is going on with my fellow members and formulating a particular position and then letting it hang out there and let the chips fall where they may. At least there are a few who know what is going on but it appears that a LOT of them are not earning their pay. No preview, so here goes.

Apple, I completely agree. My point is, you can’t be a member of Congress and say these things without sounding like a total dodger. Hi, I represent the American people, but I don’t know enough about censuring the President of the United States to have an opinion. C’mon! I’ve lost my patience with that kind of posturing.
On the other hand, I understand the point that Murtha is focused on the war and that is his strong suit.
BUT, we don’t have the luxury of making those kind of choices and distinctions in this dangerous environment! That’s why Feingold appeals to me. He operates from his conscience and address the hard questions head on. So far it doesn’t feel like gaming to me, and I like and admire that.

Redd,

It was so refreshing to hear someone push back when inaccurate facts are expressed by the wingers and when they toe the BushCo line, particularly when you told Mirengoff that the charges against Libby were not just “procedural.

Great job.

Redd,

Great to see you this morning. I’ve been reading the blog since December or so and have been very impressed by your writing and your command of esp. the legal minutiae surrounding Plamegate.

I think you represented us well, especially for a first on-air appearance. Some (I trust) constructive criticism: your answers tended to be a bit long-winded, I thought. You seemed to be trying to fit much of what you might say in a full post into a short verbal answer. In my view, this doesn’t work well on TV, and especially on a show where the viewers do not necessarily have the level of knowledge on the issues to which you have brought us. I would stick with short declarative sentences laying out a position, backed up by crisp recitation of facts, e.g. when the Abramoff scandal came up and Mirengoff tried to represent it as atypical and unrepresentative, I would have made sure to say “Republican culture of corruption” followed by mentioning Ney, Harris, Cunningham etc. Iraq — “failure of leadership”. Neo-con cabal, WHIG, flowers and candy, no planning, civil war. Worse off now than before the unnecessary war into which we were deceived. Etc.

That said, again, you did well, and I hope to be able to watch you on-air many more times. Rock on!

Joe

OT

For fun, check out William Kristol on Faux News.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..html#a7577

He points out that Feingold is talking and accusing, but no one has stepped up to defend Bush on NSA/FISA. It is a very good observation, especially from a Red Mouth.

sorry i missed you redd. i did hear the cher call in, though. maybe a year ago(?) an unidentified caller from florida was talking about her experience visiting soldiers at walter reed, and how their struggles were being ignored. the host asked if she was in the medical profession, she said “no, i’m an entertainer” and you could see it dawn on him who he was talking to. He asked “is this cher?” she said “yes” that’s all i remember. good on ya, cher.

Redd – due to household stuff I missed your morning show but can’t wait to see the stream on C&L or CSPAN. From everything I hear, you were your brilliant and gracious self – Bravo!

Sounds like we have a new media star … and boy do we need one!

Christy -
You definitely did us proud. I join the chorus in admiring your poise & demeanor. I also agree that Paul was a refreshingly coolheaded & respectful counterpoint.

On the censure point – Atrios reminds us that the group MoveOn.com, often accused of radical left wing advocacy, was founded to promote the censure of Bill Clinton.

Hi–Am catching up on FDL after 3 days away from computer. The new format reads much better now. Thank you for including more in what we can see by scrolling down the first page before having to click to get the rest of a post.

Speak truth to Power. Or Powerline. Or both.

Paul Mirengoff is so dumb I don’t know how he passed the bar. They should discredit his law school for passing him. Didn’t you feel sorry for the man? I don’t because he and the Bushites have ruined America and we keep reelecting these crooks.

We must be dumber.
GREEN PARTY
Steve Miller, CT 4th district candidate for US Congress
Grassroots Democracy & Economic Justice

The DC pundit-strategist class has “accepted the finality of Democratic powerlessness.”

The Democratic powerlessness is a result of their decision to keep their corporate bribes rolling in. They are bought and paid for the same as the Republicans so they can’t oppose what they’re taking money to support.

The current Jack Abramoff bribery scandal is a side show diversion away from the institutionalized campaign finance issue that is the façade for unmitigated bribery for Republicans and Democrats and the corporations that bribe them.

“Buying influence†is the term used to mean bribery. American citizens have been brainwashed to accept that the laws now in place used by the official Federal Election Commission to monitor all the complexities of campaign finance make it legal to bribe elected officials. The primary argument used to brainwash citizens to accept this criminal act is free speech protected by the First Amendment of our sacred Constitution.

The First Amendment doesn’t permit bribery. Bribery is a criminal conspiracy. It’s a subtle crime. It begins small like being treated to a dinner or being treated to entertainment. A bank robber who demands money from bank tellers is not protected by the First Amendment. Does this sound silly? If it sounds silly, then “buying influence†should sound silly too. How silly can we get? Reelecting any Republican or Democrat isn’t silly; it’s stupid because they advocate bribery.

The only remedy to cure this problem is to create a rule that only allows campaign finances to be distributed equally by the US Treasury (public campaign finance) to all candidates after those candidates have signed petitions to legitimize their candidacy. It should be unequivocal that no other money can be accepted by any candidate for elected office to the federal government. Each incumbent should be automatically given access to the ballot and to his legitimate share of campaign financing without having to qualify by petition for any office. Thereby an elected Representative can run for the Senate without needing an additional petition.

rededd’s segment is up on c&l if anyone doesn’t know…

Just saw part of your cspan segment on crooksandliars. I thought you did a great job!

Thank you.

Been over to C&L and watched the clip. Had a little trouble at first, I expect the traffic is high. But certainly worth the effort.

You go girl!!! I would have loved to see you in a court room.

Way to come back with that whole Carl Rove is still in the White House and has his security clearance. It was beautiful.

Can’t wait until this two site thing is worked out. Seems like you got the new site just in time! Halo acting all weird and everything.

Christy, As a regular c-span viewer, I was extremely pleased to find you representing our side to eloquently. You came across cool, rational, and factual, unlike your opponent who was graceless enough to say your comments at one point were “Democrat talking points”. I suspect your class will relate to Democrats class in the eyes of the beholder. Good job!! I agree with some of the above contributors that you should consider running for the House.