Lawrence O’Donnell to ‘Taggart’ Romney: Your dad is a liar so ‘take a swing at me’

By David Edwards/Raw Story

After Mitt Romney’s son, Tagg, said recently said that he wanted to punch President Barack Obama for insulting his dad, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday invited the younger Romney to “take a swing at me.”

Following Tuesday’s second 2012 presidential debate, Tagg Romney explained how he wished he could to react when he felt like the president was calling his dad “a liar.”

“Well — jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him,” he told radio host Bill Lumaye. “But you know you can’t do that because, well, first there is a lot of Secret Service between you and him but also because this is the nature of the process, they’re going to do everything they can do to make my dad into someone he is not.”

On Thursday, Ann Romney pointed out that her husband and five sons had not served their country by joining the military because they found “different ways of serving” by going on religious missions in France, England, Australia and Chile as part of their obligation to the Mormon church.

“Serving in war is not against the Romney family religion, but it is against the Romney family tradition of safely and always pursuing self interest,” O’Donnell charged during his Thursday show, noting that the Romney men had refused “to serve in the military while championing every war that comes along and urging us to another one in Iran right now.”

“The flawlessly consistent, intergenerational combat cowardice of Romney men makes today’s threat of physical violence from a Romney man all the more surprising,” the MSNBC host added, referring to Tagg Romney’s desire to deck the president.

O’Donnell then looked into the camera and spoke directly to “Taggart”:

When I hear you talking about taking a swing and taking punches, why do I get the feeling that you’ve never actually taken a punch? Or thrown a punch? I didn’t have that luxury in the part of Boston that I grew up in. But in your rich, suburban Boston life, with your father filling a $100 million trust fund for you, I don’t know, I just get the feeling that things were kind of different for you.

Now, I know you’ve got a lot — a lot to be pissed off at these days, starting with the name Taggart, which you got every right to be wicked pissed off at for every day for the 42 years of your life. So, let me try to help you deal with all this aggression you’re feeling right now.

You’re mad at President Obama for calling your father a liar? Well, let’s get something straight, he didn’t call your father a liar, I did. The president just said that what your father said isn’t true. I’ve been saying all year that your father is a liar, I’ve repeatedly said that your father lies and is trying to lie his way into the White House.

You want to take a swing at someone for calling your old man a liar? Take a swing at me. Come on, come on. And don’t worry, there won’t be any Secret Service involved. Just us. And I’ll make it easy for you, I’ll come to you. Anytime, anywhere.”

“Go ahead, Taggart, take your best shot,” O’Donnell concluded.

Watch this video from MSNBC’s The Last Word, broadcast Oct. 18, 2012.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Lawrence O’Donnell: Nothing more fraudulent than Giuliani as ‘hero of 9/11′

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell ripped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for choosing to put the city’s Emergency Command and Control Center in the World Trade Center despite being advised by professionals in his administration not to place it in an “obvious terrorism target.”

“Rudy Giuliani learned absolutely nothing from the first deadly attack on the World Trade Center,” he said. “As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, most of the media will continue to portray him as one of the heroes of 9/11. Know this. There is no more fraudulent public image in our politics than Rudy Giuliani, hero Of 9/11.”

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:

Lawrence O’Donnell ridicules New York Times for hyping Palin run

By David Edwards

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said Thursday that The New York Times had “jumped the shark” for suggesting that Sarah Palin might run for president in 2012.

O’Donnell has said for months that Palin won’t run because no recent failed vice presidential candidate has ever gone on to become president.

Watch this video from MSNBC’s The Last Word, broadcast May 26, 2011.

Lawrence O’Donnell explains what European socialism is. And isn’t

• By Roxanne Cooper

In a Tuesday night segment on The Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell took Bill O’Reilly to task for his attack on Bill Maher’s definition of socialism, explaining, “socialism doesn’t mean that we’re against making a profit; it just means that government takes over certain things like hospitals, the prisons and the military and schools that shouldn’t be run for profit.”

He also elaborated as to why “socialism hater” Bill O’Reilly is actually a socialist, too.

Watch the full segment, originally uploaded by MSNBC on May 24, 2011, below:

Lawrence O’Donnell and Condi Rice at loggerheads in testy interview

By David Ferguson

On last night’s “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell”, Condoleezza Rice stood firm on the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq. The discussion got quite heated at points with Rice repeatedly threatening to end the interview and O’Donnell accusing her of evading his questions.

Watch the video, from MSNBC, below:

Lawrence O'Donnell vs Birther queen Orly Taitz

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Lawrence O'Donnell Yells At GOP Congressman Tom Graves About Government Shutdown

From Huffy Post

Lawrence O'Donnell got into an angry argument with a Republican congressman over the impending government shutdown.

On his Thursday show, O'Donnell and Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia(R-goat rapist) argued about who was to blame for the shutdown, and O'Donnell pressed Graves about the so-called "riders" in the bill that many say are the sticking point between the Democrats and the Republicans.

The "riders" are policy items attached to the overall budget that try to strip funding from certain programs. It is widely believed that it is these riders, not any argument about spending, that are what is holding up a deal between the two parties. Perhaps the key rider concerns the funding of Planned Parenthood.

O'Donnell asked Graves, "Can you vote for a bill that does not completely defund Planned Parenthood?" Graves was cagey, only saying that he wants to vote for a bill that "maximizes the savings for the American people." O'Donnell asked him repeatedly, but Graves would only say that he did not "intend" to vote for a bill that funded Planned Parenthood.

"You are willing to stop payment for the troops in order to stop any funding for Planned Parenthood," O'Donnell said. Graves objected to this, saying that the House had voted to fund the troops only that day. O'Donnell said the measure in question was nothing but a political ploy, not a serious bill.

O'Donnell then asked Graves about a bill that he said would allow the House to pass measures into law without the approval of the Senate, or even the president. O'Donnell called it an "absurdist, unconstitutional cartoon" and asked Graves how he could have voted for it. Graves said he was glad O'Donnell had mentioned the Constitution, because "nowhere in the Constitution does it say, fund Planned Parenthood." This got O'Donnell really mad. "You should be ashamed of yourself," he shouted. "Your insane bill says that the House of Representatives can pass a bill and it becomes law without the signature of the president."

WATCH:

Steele Can’t Name Minimum Wage, Refuses To Say Whether GOP Is Considering Repealing Or Reducing It

By Alex Seitz-Wald

With the infusion of tea party candidates into the GOP this year have come the reemergence of once-marginalized right-wing ideas, like repealing the federal minimum wage. GOP Senate nominees John Raese of West Virginia, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Joe Miller of Alaska, and Dino Rossi of Washington, along with Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer, have all expressed support for lowering or eliminating the federal minimum wage. Miller even called the policy unconstitutional.

Appearing last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s new show on MSNBC, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was asked about this growing movement among Republican candidates. Instead of denying that the GOP wants to eliminate the minimum wage, Steele dodged the question, giving his familiar excuse, “I don’t do policy.” He was also unable to name the current minimum wage:

O’DONNELL: So Michael, do you want to make a Republican Party commitment to minimum wage workers that you absolutely will not consider repealing or reducing the minimum wage?

STEELE: Nice try, Lawrence. I don’t do policy, I do political, so you need to talk to our legislative leadership and ask them what their position is going to be on the minimum wage.

O’DONNELL: So do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think it’s good politics to reduce the minimum wage?

STEELE: It doesn’t matter to me what I think. What matters is that the effort that we put on the ground to help our candidates win this November–they are taking their messages directly to the people, the people are responding, and they’ll get the final say on November 2 at the ballot box.

O’DONNELL: By the way, what is the minimum wage?

STEELE: [Laughing] You really like the minimum wage, don’t you? I want to talk about a lot more things beside one issue Lawrence.

Watch it (beginning 3:20):

In case Steele hasn’t looked it up by now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. And while Steele doesn’t “do policy,” that’s never stopped him from weighing in on a host of other policy debates, from the Bush tax cuts, to efforts to help small businesses, to the war in Afghanistan.

Steele’s refusal to answer the minimum wage question suggests there may be division within his party on the issue, and thus he is hesitant to publicly come down either way. Of course, attacks on the minimum wage are nothing new for conservatives, and the idea of eliminating the policy has been recently pushed by Fox News, along with a book funded by the right-wing mega donors Charles and David Koch.

It should be noted that despite fear mongering on the right, when the minimum wage went up to its current level in 2009, the higher wage provided “a cushion to the economy when it is most needed,” by quickly boosting consumer spending by $4.9 billion, the Economic Policy Institute found.