Friedman on Meet the Press

[ErikJ]

I was very pleasantly surprised when I heard Thomas Friedman say this on Meet the Press this morn on the Round Table.

MR. GINGRICH: Well, I’m-- you know, I was part of a number of big deals in the early 1980s. We got a third of the Democrats to vote with us in the House because Tip O’Neill was speaker. None of them involved tax increases. Let me just-- just give you one example. We did an entire morning--what they had called Newt University, on energy. And we actually had Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough come to be students which was a hoot. The next day I did their show and they both said on the air that the briefing they got from Harold Hamm who developed North Dakota changed their entire understanding of American energy policy. That they were blown away by the data. Now, why is that important? The number one item on the Romney plan for the middle class is a North American energy independence which includes Canada and Mexico. And if you look at the jump in North Dakota from 150 million barrels to 24 billion barrels of reserve, you look at the fact the North Dakota is now the number two pro-- oil producing state in the United States. They just announced that-- that they have 42 times, not 42 percent, 42 hundred percent as much natural gas in Ohio as they thought they did a year ago. I mean, just the drive of the energy sector under a Romney administration generates in royalties, and in taxes on new jobs and taxes on profits a major step towards the balanced budget. Now you’ve got to control spending. Paul Ryan would be about as good a vice president as you could get if you wanted to have somebody-- I mean, he will know more about the budget than the director of the budget.

GREGORY: Let me-- quick comment, Tom and then I’ve got to go to a break.

MR. FRIEDMAN: I’m-- I’m all for exploiting our-- our natural gas. It’s incredible bounty. But if we don’t do it as a bridge to a cleaner energy future, we’re going to burn up, choke up, heat up, smoke up and melt up this planet okay, far faster than even Al Gore predicts.

GREGORY: All right. We’re going to take a break here. I want to come back and talk a little bit about a big issue here as we go into the Democratic Convention.

[winstars]

1. Of course Stretch has to "leave it there" because he is such a DICK! Friedman finally says something

pertinent and boom, commercial time. But he lets Newt speak (lie) endlessly... WTF???

[WCGreen]

2. Why is Newt even talking on any show....

He is a irrelevant and a joke to anyone outside the beltway.

[Hamlette]

5. they really do need to deep six him. He seems like a joke to me.

But they let him speak at the convention and I'm sure he's more than happy to go on shows like that. And I'm sure Romney is happy to have Newt on those shows because no one takes him seriously. If you have a GOP spokesperson on those shows and in the rare case where the Romney spokesperson is asked "real" questions, you are stuck with their answers. If it's Newt, you can laugh it off saying "we don't agree with Newt". Romney playing it safe. Sending someone in to derail and reasonable discussion with BS instead of talking about how Mitt plans to create 12 million jobs.

[Hamlette]

3. Friedman was good on abortion too, in fact he was good the whole show however. . .

I wish people would call bullshit on Newt. His way is to just continue to throw out BS until someone stops him then he changes to subject. But on abortion, he keep saying the democratic position is the true minority position on abortion in the US because we believe in an absolute right to abortion throughout the 3rd trimester. Which is not true. Democrats support 3rd term abortions due to the health of the mother and not as a matter of choice. Yes, there are a few people out there, maybe even the 20% Newt claimed it was, who support abortion at any time for any reason but that is not the position of a majority of democrats or the position of the president or the party.

(I don't support late term abortions except for health of mother or child because of what I imagine would be a psychic drain on the staff performing the abortion. Do you kill the kid if it is able to survive and has no problems? Too many moral questions for me. I agree with Roe v Wade, some limitations in 3rd trimester are fine. Newt spouts off as though all democrats are fine with killing the viable kid in allowing an abortion up to the day before delivery. I don't...except health of mother or some horrid birth defect in child.)

[tomm2thumbs]

6. yes, he was very strong on that too

Newt is in a fantasy land because his wife appears to be built of fairy dust

[Jack Sprat]

4. So Newt is implying what...

that the budget can be balanced because the owners of those natural gas companies are going to GIVE their profits to the US Treasury???


YAHOOOO


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