Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the Democrats in the Senate have enough power to block President Donald Trump nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Schumer said, “They need 60 votes. And I believe — if Gorsuch keeps it up he’ll have a rough road to hoe to get those 60 on votes.” When asked about the Democrats power, he added, “We have enough to block to Gorsuch … People ask, do the Democrats have power? Are we in charge? No which means we can’t set the agenda, McConnell can do that but we can block a lot of things. Like for instance, the Affordable Care Act which originally everyone wanted to get rid of it. Now when they see what they are getting, 20 million people covered, pre-existing conditions — a mom or dad has a kid with cancer the insurance companies said we’re not going to cover your kid has cancer. “And they watch their kid suffer— all these things people want. And so, now, people —because no Democrat has cooperated with the Republicans from the most liberal like Bernie Sanders to
Author: Pam Key
Limbaugh: The First Amendment Doesn’t Give the Press ‘Immunity from Criticism’
Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh said the reaction of the media to President Donald Trump‘s tweet labeling them an “enemy of the American people” was because some journalists believe the First Amendment gives them “immunity from criticism.” The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017 Partial transcript as follows: I want to thank F. Chuck Todd of NBC for opening my eyes to this. For the longest time I’ve been genuinely curious why it is that media people think that they cannot be criticized. And they really do. They really think they can go out and research people and they can dig up dirt from anybody they want, their pasts, and they can broadcast it all over. And if somebody’s life, somebody’s marriage, somebody’s relationship, somebody’s kid gets destroyed or ruined, fine and dandy. They can do all of that they want, but you turn it around and you start investigating your favorite journalist to find out how many illegitimate kids he or she might have had in college or how many
Rep Cleaver: Dems ‘Making a Very, Very Serious Mistake’ by Taking African-Americans for Granted
Monday on MSNBC while evaluating President Donald Trump’s election victory over Hillary Clinton, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said Democrats are making a “very very serious mistake” taking the African-American vote “for granted.” Discussing losing voters who normally vote for Democrats, Cleaver said, “Look, you know, Democrats, even those that either were pushed out or slipped out of our ranks in the last election, this past November, are people with whom we have common values. I think some of them were not inspired. We didn’t have an inspirational or aspirational election. With African-Americans, the Democrats are making a very very serious mistake. And many of us have told them over and over again when we say, ‘you take African-Americans for granted.’ And they do, and I think that’s going to come back to hurt us in the long run.” (h/t Grabien) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
Glenn Greenwald: Dems ‘Suddenly Love Leaks,’ But Attacked Them Under Obama
Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” Glenn Greenwald said Democrats who “suddenly love leaks” about President Donald Trump’s administration thought people who leaked to the media during the Obama administration were “villains,” “traitors,” and “they ought to go to prison.” Greenwald said, “The problem is if you look at the last eight years, there has been a very concerted war on not just sources and whistleblowers, but also journalists, implemented by not Donald Trump but by the Obama administration. More sources prosecuted under the 1917 Espionage Act than in all previous administrations combined. Journalists such as James Rosen at Fox News and Jim Risen at The New York Times and those of us who worked on the Snowden reporting constantly threatened with prosecution or having our phone records subpoenaed and the like.” “And Democratic officeholders in D.C. were virtually unanimous in the idea that people who leak information that’s classified are villains, they’re traitors, they ought to go to prison,” he continued. “This framework has been created both rhetorical and legal over the last eight years that says that people who leak classified information regardless of how important that information is ought to be punished. That’s the rhetoric and framework that Donald
Priebus: Take Trump Seriously When he Calls Media ‘The Enemy’
Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said to take President Donald Trump seriously when he tweeted the media is the “enemy of the American people.” Priebus said, “Well, I think you should take it seriously. I think that the problem we’ve got is that we’re talking about bogus stories like the one in The New York Times, that we’ve had constant contact with Russian officials. The next day, The Wall Street Journal had a story that the intel community was not giving the president a full intelligence briefing. Both stories grossly inaccurate, overstated, overblown, and it’s total garbage.” He added, “I do think it’s a problem. And I think that the media needs to, in some cases — not every case, John — but in some cases really needs to get its act together.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
David Brooks: I Fear the Trump Administration Is Anarchy
Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks said he fears the Trump administration was “anarchy.” Brooks said, “Enemy of the people, I’m an enemy of the people. You know what? My fear of the administration as it’s shaken out so far is not that it’s incipient fascism it is that it is anarchy. There are 696 appointed jobs that require senate confirmation and the Trump administration hasn’t named 692 of them. So there is nobody home in the government.” “The civil service has basically opted out because they’ve been offended by Trump,” he added. “and The court system has given themselves permission to block every Trump initiative because they have been attacked by Trump. The intelligence community is disarray or disaffection. To lead, you need a government. The government has gone AWOL.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
Woodward: I Don’t Think Trump Really Believes the Press Is the Enemy of the People
Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” discussing President Donald Trump‘s tweet labeling the press an “enemy” of the American people, Washington Post veteran Bob Woodward said, “I don’t think he really believes that the press is the enemy of the people.” Woodward said, “We don’t want in the media to set ourselves up as the opposition. I know Trump a little bit. I don’t think he really believes that the press is the enemy of the people, frankly. And we have to do our reporting in a very aggressive, careful way ten months ago with Bob Costa, we interviewed Trump and it was tough and he came out and he said, well, it was fair and accurate. So I think you can be tough and fair and accurate.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
CNN’s Stelter: Trump’s Attacks on the Press Are the ‘Verbal Form of Poison’
Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Brian Stelter said President Donald Trump‘s tweet labeling the press an “enemy” of the American people was “a verbal form of poison.” Stelter said, “Poison. that’s what it is. It’s a verbal form of poison meant to affect your view of the media world. Meant to harm news organizations. Notice what Trump was doing with this tweet. The famous tweet from Friday. It says the fake news media, failing New York Times, NBC, CBS, CNN is not my enemy. It’s the enemy of the American people.” “He was signaling out specific news outlets as enemies,” he continued. “He wasn’t talking about the entire press. He was talking about those five. He wasn’t saying they are his enemy but your enemy. Maybe trying to drive another wedge between the sources he likes and the sources he dislikes. Maybe he was trying to distract us.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
Rand Paul on McCain’s Criticisms Of Trump: ‘We’re Very Lucky John McCain Is Not in Charge’
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) addressed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) criticism of the Trump administration. Partial transcript as follows: KARL: And I think it’s fair to say that you are second to none in the Senate when it comes to fighting for civil liberties. So let me ask you about specifically what he’s saying about the press. He is saying now that the news media is the enemy of the American people. Do you agree with that? PAUL: It’s not something that I would say. I would say that there is bias. And I think it’s fair to point out that there is bias in the media on both sides, both right and left. And that it’s very hard to find objective news because we have gotten, particularly as you watch cable news, it’s so dominated by opinion. And we are more polarized. And some of that comes from the people and some of that comes from the media. But I would say that I don’t see in his criticism, somehow, people think that the separation of powers means that the president can’t criticize the judiciary. No, it has nothing to do with that. That’s more
Jon Karl Hits Back at Trump’s Media Attacks — Free Press Is ‘a Big Part of What Makes America Great’
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” guest host Jon Karl addressed President Donald Trump‘s tweet calling the press the “enemy” of the American people. Karl said, “There’s been no shortage of outrage over the president’s statements on the press. But I’d like to close with a little perspective. There is nothing new about a President of the United States criticizing or even vilifying the press. Even Thomas Jefferson, the same Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence and who, ten years after that, wrote, “Our liberty depends on freedom of the press” — even Thomas Jefferson, when he was a few years into his own presidency, was so upset about what was being written about his administration that he flatly declared, “Nothing can now be believed that is seen in a newspaper.” Teddy Roosevelt, who now is next to Jefferson on Mt. Rushmore, once wrote, “To announce there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand with the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile but is morally treasonable to the American public.” I couldn’t agree more. But I also know that T.R. wrote that nearly a decade after he left office.