[Speed Gibson,
Sunday September 11, 2005 at 11:08pm]
Ember Reichgott-Junge
I heard David Strom rant a little yesterday morning on Taxpayers League Live (9am-noon Saturdays on AM 1280) about Ted Mondale on Almanac. I haven't had a chance to watch it on tape yet, but I did see "At Issue" this morning, with the Face Off segment at the end between Ember Reichgott-Junge (attorney and former DFL Senator) and Dave Thompson of KSTP-AM 1500, now on Sundays from 4pm-7pm.
I don't like these cross-fire style segments on any network. They're predictable and pointless. If it gets idiotic, as in James Carville, Joe Biden, Pat Buchanan, or Arlen Specter, I hit fast forward or quit watching. But I like Tom Hauser and his weekly "At Issue" program, and it is good therapy to see Ember Reichgott-Junge whipped soundly as she was recently by David Strom - and she knew it.
Ember is DFL all the way, regardless of the facts. To be fair, she is correct maybe five times a year, but the rest of time her convoluted charges and weak defenses are often humorous. Not so this time, with rescue efforts still ongoing in New Orleans and elsewhere.
To say that tax cuts and lack of attention to domestic priorities were factors in this tragedy is absurd. Even Tom Hauser couldn't stay silent when she talked of how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reached New Orleans before FEMA, pointing out that that even the Canadians would need an OK from some level of goverment to enter New Orleans, probably FEMA in fact.
This kind of rhetoric based on zero accountability of state and local officials (who happen to be members of your political party) gets people killed, either in this disaster or the next. The Federal government cannot be expected to expertly plan for the thousands of possible natural disasters, let alone terrorist attacks. It certainly cannot be expected to immediately take up the slack when local officials like the New Orleans Mayor and Police Chief refuse to follow their own stated plans.
To value your political party's success over the lives of disaster victims, well, it's just not the American way as the millions of dollars raised across all demographics in private charity demonstrate. I think it's time Tom Hauser send Ember to the Penalty Box until she decides to conduct herself in a more civilized manner.
I don't like these cross-fire style segments on any network. They're predictable and pointless. If it gets idiotic, as in James Carville, Joe Biden, Pat Buchanan, or Arlen Specter, I hit fast forward or quit watching. But I like Tom Hauser and his weekly "At Issue" program, and it is good therapy to see Ember Reichgott-Junge whipped soundly as she was recently by David Strom - and she knew it.
Ember is DFL all the way, regardless of the facts. To be fair, she is correct maybe five times a year, but the rest of time her convoluted charges and weak defenses are often humorous. Not so this time, with rescue efforts still ongoing in New Orleans and elsewhere.
To say that tax cuts and lack of attention to domestic priorities were factors in this tragedy is absurd. Even Tom Hauser couldn't stay silent when she talked of how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reached New Orleans before FEMA, pointing out that that even the Canadians would need an OK from some level of goverment to enter New Orleans, probably FEMA in fact.
This kind of rhetoric based on zero accountability of state and local officials (who happen to be members of your political party) gets people killed, either in this disaster or the next. The Federal government cannot be expected to expertly plan for the thousands of possible natural disasters, let alone terrorist attacks. It certainly cannot be expected to immediately take up the slack when local officials like the New Orleans Mayor and Police Chief refuse to follow their own stated plans.
To value your political party's success over the lives of disaster victims, well, it's just not the American way as the millions of dollars raised across all demographics in private charity demonstrate. I think it's time Tom Hauser send Ember to the Penalty Box until she decides to conduct herself in a more civilized manner.