Hour One Guest: Prof. Marvin Ammori – no one understands the real-world consequences of mergers like NBC/Comcast and overall media concentration better than Prof. Ammori.
Hour Two Guest: Dep. White House Press Secretary Bill Burton on President Obama’s speech and the planned GOP responses.
It’s State of the Union address night! Get your popcorn ready. Or tea, as the case may be. In laying out his plans, Obama will draw a sharp distinction between himself and the Republicans. But then just the fact that he’s laying out plans does that. No doubt, President Obama will at some point list the challenges facing this nation. One challenge he won’t mention will be sitting right behind him. It’ll be hard to see President Obama with John Boehner sitting there without feeling an urge to yell “look out behind you!” But then if we yell, we all become Joe Wilson. The fun part will be trying to pick John Boehner’s face out from the wood panel background. It’s like a Lemon Pledge version of Where’s Waldo. In previous SOTU addresses, Nancy Pelosi blinked like she was trying to send Morse code signals. John Boehner doesn’t have to blink. His eyes are watered by frequent crying jags.
Congress is more sharply divided than ever. But at least tonight Congress won’t be literally divided. For the first time, members won’t be seated by party affiliation. Members have been arranging who to sit next to like a bunch of high school seniors trying to arrange prom dates. If kind of like a game of musical chairs… with very discordant music.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked to give the Republican response, but declined. I guess there was no buffet. I just can’t imagine Chris Christie saying no to anything. But then I’m thinking of dessert.
This year the Republican response will come from Congressman Paul Ryan. And then Michele Bachmann is giving her own address. If Ryan has the Republican response, I guess Bachmann has the extreme Republican response. Maybe they can follow her ups with some random tea partier just yelling “He’s a Muslim!” for eight or nine minutes. Paul Ryan isn’t conservative enough for the GOP wingnuts? If we go along with Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future, then future roadmaps of America won’t show any paved road. Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann are both hardcore conservatives, but they have different styles. Ryan is wonky. Bachmann is wacky. She’ll be giving her rebuttal from the Tea Party Express website. Express? That’s appropriate. This promises to be a real train wreck.
Today’s Homework | Discuss
Stephen Colbert first assumes then rejects Keith Olbermann’s power on last night’s Colbert Report…
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stephen Rejects Keith Olbermann's Power | ||||
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