Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?

[jefferson_dem]

:wtf: headline.

Kroft to Obama: Are you punch-drunk?
By CRAIG GORDON | 3/22/09 7:40 PM EDT



President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, touching off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”

His remarks came in a “60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by an incredulous Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.

“You're sitting here. And you're— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money—’ How do you deal with— I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asks at one point.

“Are you punch-drunk?” Kroft says.

“No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day,” Obama says, with a laugh.

The interview is Obama’s most detailed explanation yet of his view of the world economic crisis, and he makes clear that he’s afraid the nation hasn’t seen the worst of it – even invoking the possibility of a “depression” if a series of financial institutions collapse all at once.

He is quick to add that he’s “optimistic about that not happening. Because I think we did learn lessons from the Great Depression.”

<SNIP>

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20339.html

[Phoonzang]

1. I was about to post this. The Politico is amazing.

I wish I could make a list of their daily headlines since Obama became President. I'd bet 90 percent of them were mocking or negative.

[TTUBatfan2008]

4. That's because it's a right wing rag...

Just read the comments on every article or blog post. 90% of the comments are from right wingers.

[valerief]

8. Duh. nt

[Zenlitened]

2. Um, didn't the talking heads criticize him last time...

... for being too gloomy? :crazy:

[tishaLA]

9. The press is Little Red Riding Hood

he's too gloomy. He's not gloomy enough. But when will his gloom be *just right*?

[boppers]

19. ITYM Goldilocks?

...3 Bears, not Grandma and the Big Bad Wolf?

[tishaLA]

21. You're right

That's what I get for not having kids.

[Berry Cool]

20. Don't you mean Goldilocks?

It is funny...how whatever Cheney says is OK but whatever he does is under a microscope.

[Lex]

11. yes

he gets sh*t from the media no matter what

[FLyellowdog]

3. Kroft doesn't appear to be on his game in this.

:shrug:

[FSogol]

6. Kroft is afraid that his bonus will get taxed because he makes over $250k. n/t

[FLyellowdog]

5. There is was!!! He handled the punch drunk comment well.n/t

[uponit7771]

7. WTF!?!? Anyone remember if politico was this petty with Bush?

[TTUBatfan2008]

10. Politico is a right wing rag...

so why would you expect them to be fair to Obama?

[Thrill]

12. Of course not, Its a RW Rag

[babylonsister]

14. No, they sucked up. Mike Allen, Jim vander Hai, they were tools. nt

[stillcool]

24. Who funds and runs the Politico?

Glenn Greenwald
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/04/politico_funding/

Friday May 4, 2007 13:08 EDT
Who funds and runs the Politico?
UPDATE: The Politico's primary (perhaps sole) funding source is the Allbritton Company, of which Frederick Ryan is an employee. The Allbritton family's leader, Joe, was CEO of Riggs Bank when Riggs pleaded guilty to a series of illegal financial transactions with right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his brutal military that took place throughout the 1990s and into 2001.
---------------------------
According to this account, it is Joseph Allbritton's 37-year-old son, Robert, who is financing The Politico. And the presence of his father obviously looms large:

Allbritton has been studying the Washington media market from his perch as head of Allbritton Communications, a family-owned string of TV stations that includes Washington's ABC affiliate, WJLA. The initials stand for Joseph L. Allbritton, the current CEO's dad. . . .
-----------------

UPDATE II: When Joe Allbritton was CEO of Riggs Bank, Riggs, in 1997, purchased the company owned by President George W. Bush's uncle, Jonathan Bush, and Jonathan Bush then became a top Riggs official serving alongside Joe Allbritton (h/t sysprog). That was discovered when, in 2004, Riggs agreed to "pay a record $25 million in civil fines for violations of law intended to thwart money laundering," apparently allowing Saudi money, among others, to be laundered through its bank while both Allbritton and Jonathan Bush were its top executives.



UPDATE III: In addition to his long-time Reagan connections, Politico CEO Frederick Ryan was also (along with Jonathan Bush and Joseph Allbritton) himself a Board Member of Riggs Bank (h/t EJ). And Ryan, in addition to serving as Politico CEO, is also President of Allbritton Communications (a subsidiary of Allbritton Group, Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of "Perpetual Corporation").

To take a step back, the picture that emerges from all of this is both clear and familiar. As became evident when Augusto Pinochet died, support for Pinochet was one of those true clarifying issues dividing left from right throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Supporting Pinochet was a major plank in the Reagan foreign policy, and opposition to Pinochet was a major left-wing cause (which is why Fred Hiatt's praise of Pinochet's dictatorship was so revealing).

Like most billionaires with diverse business interests, Joe Allbritton had political relationships of all sorts. But the coterie around him -- and those who created the Politico, including the Politico's current CEO -- are plainly firmly entrenched in the right-wing political movement, with overlapping business and other ties to the Bushes, all kinds of international financial interactions with the Saudis and various right-wing governments, and long-standing ties of many kinds to the Reagan circle.

[Jennicut]

28. yeah, I have read that before. Its obvious right wingers run Politico

Thanks for posting that again.

[Aloha Spirit]

13. He was laughing at the ridiculous idea of promoting an auto bailout that has 19% approval

with the public.

I just saw it.

[valerief]

15. He was laughing at Kroft's grim, ugly face. He still is. I know I am. nt

[ErinBerin84]

16. oh fuck Politico

Figures that they would take this away. Obama started laughing because Kroft was like "Nobody likes your bank plan. Warren Buffet doesn't like it. Wall Street doesn't like it. Congress doesn't want to keep putting money into these banks. And to top it all off, nobody wants to give the auto companies money either". It was a "Yes, I know, we have an incredible amount of things on our plate" type of laugh. Politico is the one who tries to create a make believe left wing conspiracy last week.

[MarjorieG]

17. So punch drunk the takeaway for all media, like Special Olympics, magnified, for great Tonight Show?

[jefferson_dem]

18. Sludge is already running with it.

His scummy minions have their Monday talking points now.

[jenmito]

22. But that's something KROFT should be criticized for-not Obama. If this headline hurts

anyone, it's Kroft. Obama handled it very well, like always.

[ErinBerin84]

23. I posted this in the other forum

But it seemed to me more an issue of what Rachel Maddow said when she interviewed Obama, that he seems to project CALM, which is really what most people say when they interview Obama. It was apparent if you listened to him that Obama wasn't being flippant or laughing off the questions.

[Uzybone]

25. Media to Bush: Are you drunk?

Psyche! Never happened.

[Captain Hilts]

26. Same jerk that asked HillaryC FOUR times if Obama was a Muslim. FOUR. nt

[sfam]

27. Its amazing to me that the MSM is trying to make an issue of his laugh

Both the ridiculous commentary on this and the Leno show just really shows how bereft of actual thought the MSM has right now. Give me a break - if Obama doesn't have a serious scowl on at all times than he somehow doesn't take these issues seriously???

Obama is still human, and its a credit to all of us that he still acts like it.