Chris Matthews Battles Nancy Pfotenhauer Over Economic Fundamentals (VIDEO)

Thanks to the heroic collapse of the world financial markets, no one on teevee felt compelled to spend fifty-six minutes out of every hour today debating whether the phrase "lipstick on a pig" was busy installing a glass ceiling. Here's an example of what went down today, with Hardball's Chris Matthews doing battle with McCain flack Nancy Pfotenhauer. It goes about as well as one can expect, with Pfotenhauer changing the subject just as fast as she can and Matthews attempting to wield "statistics," which everyone knows are totally in the tank for Obama. The whole tete-a-tete might have ended up being scored a draw were it not for Pfotenhauer's bizarre decision to debate middle-class economics while dressed in the aristocratic weeds of the Baroness Dierdre Von Goldencollar.

[WATCH.]

Comments

[Deparis]

Can't stand her!

[UnknownSoldier]

30 Years of ReagaNOMICS I think we can now say IT DOES NOT WORK, so can we let it go now. DEFICT SPENDING is BAD. Overspending on the Military is BAD, Deregulation of Financial Companies is BAD.

ReagaNOMICS leads to BANK FAILURES i.e. S&L Crisis in the late 80's and early 90's, and now the new Banking Crisis with the BushONOMIC philosophy, which is just the ReagaNOMICS philosophy warmed over.

For those people dying for Reagan to be on the 10 Dollar Bill, I have a better place for his image. CREDIT CARDS


ENOUGH!!!!

[themiddleway]

This is probably the fourth or fifth time I have seen Mathews let a McCain surrogate get a way with saying that Obama will raise taxes, while McCain will lower them. Unless his program is only focused on those who make more than $200,000, in which case he need not even make any correction because McCain surrogates are quite right in that case.

[irv]

obama's choice of raising the capital gains tax will not affect 95% of the population most of the middle class money is in retirement acounts, ira"s, 401 k's or annuities.. any one with brains knows that money comes out as "ordinary income" & is not subject to a capital gains tax. how come all the great political


& economic analysts fail to report this vital fact. the rich will be the ones that are affected by this change!

[DrDemon]

Chris was:

--- > P*H*E*N*O*M*E*N*A*L

Now this was an interview and a half!

[Jeff7772]

Chris was his usual rude, bullying self, muttering under his breath while she tried to get a word in edgewise. He and Olbermann have made a laughing stock out of NBC.

[labrook]

A little cutting and pasting re Nancy:
The first president of Americans for Prosperity was Nancy Pfotenhauer, who left and in 2007 joined the John McCain campaign. Pfotenhauer was simultaneously the president of the Independent Women’s Forum. From 1996 to 2001, Pfotenhauer was the director of the Washington office of Koch Industries.
AFP was established in 2003 with money from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.
During 2008, Americans for Prosperity is running the Hot Air Tour campaign, a hot air balloon cross-country tour with the slogan, "Global Warming Alarmism: Lost Jobs, Higher Taxes, Less Freedom." According the the Hot Air Tour website, "Climate alarmists have bombarded citizens with apocalyptic scenarios and pressured them into environmental political correctness. It’s time to tell the other side of the story. Americans for Prosperity is working hard to bring you the missing half of the global warming debate. What will the impacts of reactionary legislation be for you, your family and our economy?"
The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an anti-feminist organization predominately funded by conservative U.S. foundations. On its website it describes its mission as being "to rebuild civil society by advancing economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom. IWF builds support for a greater respect for limited government, equality under the law, property rights, free markets, strong families, and a powerful and effective national defense and foreign policy."
Founded in 1992, the IWF grew out of the ad hoc group, Women for Judge Thomas.

[middle of the road]

THought it was interesting that she said that 21 out of 29 economists would back McCain's plan. Yet in a poll that came out today, 66% of 525 economist polled were voting for Obama. Let me check my math here, but I'm pretty sure her facts are wrong.

[BrickSykes]

It's what she Didn't say: The 29 "economists" were likely screened and briefed before the survey was made. That is the way they operate. You've seen expert witnesses in court, right? Many marginally qualified people are more than happy to sell you their allegiance, and 'credibility', if the price is right....

Brick

[longislandlol]

Lovin Chris more and more-- lovin keith more and more-- lovin tom brokaw more and more-- it's a lovefest at MSNBC!

[ABCD]

Don't forget Rachel!

[DrDemon]

I miss Dan the man!

[chandolyn]

Be careful about loving anybody too much at MSNBC, especially Brokaw. Remember, he went crying to the top brass at NBC about Olbermann and Matthews. Said they are not professional enough, cost them reporting time when election night comes. MSNBC should apologize to Keith and Chris for violating their freedom of speech.

[jadeba]

Great job, Chris. Nice to know someone is stating the obvious - they've been in charge, they got us into this mess now they want us to believe it will all be different. No change here - other than their candidate's constantly changing positions on everything.

[Busterdawg]

It was a terrible job by Chris. He was carrying the Obama Campaign's water.

He seemed more irritated that McCain has somehow managed to run against his own party, the party in power, while at the same time running against Obama.

Why do I get the feeling that if a democrat pulled it off he would be getting a tingly feeling up his back while proclaiming it "brilliant".

[bigbingtheory]

Thank you for admitting that facts and statistics are on the side of Barack Obama.

[BaltimoreSteve]

Pfotenhauer is a surrogate for Koch Industries, the largest private, and under the radar oil company in the U.S. Check her out on Wikipedia.
Write the MSM about her bosses.

[Busterdawg]

Seriously, what's your point?

[BaltimoreSteve]

Oil Lobbyist in the McCain camp. Look up Koch and see the smears against the Dems they've funded in the past.

[CocteausTwin]

Where does McCain find all of these ET looking women? They look like they are from "Mars Attacks".

[tschlak]

THAT'S where I recognized her from!!! It was driving me nuts!!!

http://pserve.club.fr/Mars_Attacks1.jpg

[CocteausTwin]

Where does McCain find all of these ET looking women. They look like they are from "Mars Attacks".

[Busterdawg]

"dressed in the aristocratic weeds of the Baroness Dierdre Von Goldencollar."

heheh... now that was funny.

[toochie50]

I despise this woman on any show you see her on with that constant uptight, smurkey smile - where she is always shown smiling but shaking her head no. Can't stand her.

[mazees]

Actually, I think you would like her in this Daily Show video:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=184082

It is one of the funniest things I have seen in a very long time.

[InLosAngeles]

As the Republicans around me say, if you want to blame Bush/Republican congress for 911happenning on their watch, then you have to blame the Democrats for the economy going into the tank over the last two years on their watch. I find both views equally silly and easily defensible.

The truth is always somewhere in between and Chris could not seem to find it from either of these partisans. I guess we are reduced to getting the same talking points from the spokespeople spit at us from now until November. Nothing to see until the debates.

[Unrepentant]

Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, is directly responsible for the present credit crisis, liquidity crisis, and investment houses going bankrupt! Gramm was the primary architect of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. The purpose of the repeal was to allow commercial and investment banks to consolidate. That consolidation and the deregulation of the industry is what led to the banking crisis we are now in the midst of. McCain today repeated that what we need to get ourselves out of this crisis is more deregulation!

[InLosAngeles]

Agreed that Phil Gramm did in fact push for deregulation which repealed GS. However as we all know, the concessions which required participants in mergers to allocate greater sums to be lent to areas based on need, versus the ability to meet appropriate lending standards, as precondtion for these mergers to close is directly responsible for these historic rates of default.

Once again, the truth lies in the middle. Our party (Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer) saw the need to give more people opportunity to access cash, and in so doing forced the industry to discard normal standards which in fact FORCED banks to lend into a much greater risk pool. Their party's deregulatory effort (Phil Gramm) gave the new breed of Wall Street the opportunity to create new products (derivatives to which they got addicted-Lehman, Bear Stearns, Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Indymac, Countrywide, etc) that catered to this new risk pool to which unsophisticated, profit driven mortgage brokers pushed unsuitable financing schemes to the extreme on people who never stood a chance of either understanding or repaying.

[InLosAngeles]

Once again, the truth lies in the middle. Our party (Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer) saw the need to give more people opportunity to access cash, and in so doing forced the industry to discard normal standards which in fact FORCED banks to lend into a much greater risk pool. Their party's deregulatory effort (Phil Gramm) gave the new breed of Wall Street the opportunity to create new products (derivatives to which they got addicted-Lehman, Bear Stearns, Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Indymac, Countrywide, etc) that catered to this new risk pool to which unsophisticated, profit driven mortgage brokers pushed unsuitable financing schemes to the extreme on people who never stood a chance of either understanding or repaying

[cariintexas]

Last night on Rachel's show, they were saying if Mc Cain wins, Phil Gramm will be his treasury sec. Phil Gramm has to shoulder a LOT of blame for what's happening now, as well as the " loophole" he created for Enron.

[twiggy2]

would deregulation have anything to do with the housing market crash?
so they just took the caps off and allowed anyone to be financed based on these special mortgages such as interest only etc... is that correct? so the peole with interest only loans can't afford the actual note once the interest and principle both have to be paid, right ? and the same for the adjustable rate mortgages- there rates are subject to fluctuate depending on inflation correct? so their rates increase making it impssible to pay, based on the same income coming in; but rising cost on everything else.so now big banks are losing money trying to buy all these properties that have been forclosed? am i correct on this?

[Johnagain]

If controlling the Whitehouse and Congress for 61/2 years does not lay a good part of the responsibility for our current economic state on the Republicans, what does? If deregulating everything in sight, just as they did with the S&Ls (McCain being a major player in that theft from the taxpayers), didn't cause this mess, what did?

This meltdown would not be happening if not for the Republican mismanagement of the entire financial sector. Trying to pass this off on Democrats, who do not have a veto-proof majority in the Senate is laughable. It won't work.

The truth is not somewhere in between this time. The fault lies with the Republicans, period.

[coryco]

Newsflash: Bush president on 9/11/01 and 9/15/08. Don't try it.

[bmaggiemay]

This is the fouled mouth McCain adviser who called Senator Obama a mere 'WATERBOY. She throws out racist words like "waterboy" Iike she grewup with them...perhapes she did. It is usally what you pick up as a child that plants the seed of bigotry. Wolf Blitzer didn't correct her on the situation room so I'm wondering if the term WATERBOY was alright with him as well.....you learn a lot of people during an elecion cycle....right Wolf? Right Nancy?