Lawrence O'Donnell: Political News Media Lives 'In Denial' (VIDEO)

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell tore into the political news media on his show Monday night for what he referred to as "living in denial" during presidential campaign seasons.

O'Donnell played a clip of GOP candidate Newt Gingrich, who he referred to as "one brave truth-teller," who told the press that, as President of the United States, it was "constitutionally impossible to govern without Congress." Gingrich was responding to a recent report that President Obama was planning a "go-it-alone approach" in response to a difficult relationship with Congress.

O'Donnell said that presidential candidates never mention having to work with Congress while campaigning, and usually spew simple, declarative sentences about what they would to do in office "as though they are running for king or queen." O'Donnell said that the press repeatedly allows candidates to "get away" with living in this "fantasy land of governing."

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Comments

[FatFeline]

04:06 AM on 01/05/2012

MSNBC = More Slanted News By Communists.

Lawrence is to be credited for admitting on Morning Joe that he is Communist. Most of the others or more covert.

[Rubinwitz12]

08:32 PM on 01/04/2012

O'Donnell is a fraud enjoyed by leftists

[beardown]

03:50 PM on 01/04/2012

O'Donnell is the untruthful one!

[SantaMonican]

02:29 PM on 01/04/2012

Funny how alot of these posts don't deal with the subject. The media, in general, do not question false statements by candidates.

Newt likes to tout the balanced budget while he was speaker. No one in the media has pointed out that every republican in congress, including Newt, voted AGAINST Clintons economic plan. It barely passed the Senate, with Gore casting the tie breaking vote, as republicans predicted doom and recession, if it passed. Some republicans even deny Clinton produced a surplus.

But who cares about facts?

[alw2080]

06:07 PM on 01/04/2012

SantaMonican
You know the GOP will never tell the truth about anything.

[marcchagal]

11:35 AM on 01/04/2012

This is one thing that drives me nuts about the republicans aside from their sheer stupidity. They think this country is a Christian theocracy, not a democracy that was founded on separation of church and state. No single president has the power to repeal, to enact, to push any legislation through to Congress without them. The office of the president is not a dictatorship or a monarchy as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out. One of the reasons LBJ had accomplished so much in five and a half years of his presidency was due to the fact that Congress was reeling from the loss of JFK. In many ways LBJ's Great Society was simply an implementation of many of JFK's hopes and dreams. He continually challenged Congress to push through a record landmark 134 bills including the Civil Rights bill of 1964 and the Voter Rights Act of 1965.

Are we supposed to believe that the republican field of candidates and their supporters are this naive? This is full blown denial.

[SlammoFandango]

07:32 PM on 01/04/2012

You're right about the Theocracy but you've gotta be kidding me about the Johnson part...Johnson exploded the size of government in a way that was unprecedented up until the time of George W. Bush. He bargained for 'The Great Society' by trading for the Viet Nam War! We got more welfare for the exchange of more warfare...That was no unilateral accomplishment - the hawks in congress got everything they wanted in exchange. Geeze, talk about revisionist history. We were then in fact left with massive debt which forced the country's subsequent abandonment of the gold standard and left us in a long lasting recession and we’re still using debt-based money based upon a runaway fractional system of debt monetization that creates nothing for us but creates huge profits for elite issuers of proprietary currency.

[xhawk2]

11:34 AM on 01/04/2012

Oh, the irony of an MSNBC anchor to whine about political news media.

[alw2080]

06:09 PM on 01/04/2012

xhawk2
Don't talk about whining this is what they do over at fox no news and lie after they havr done the old whine.

[frappe]

11:01 AM on 01/04/2012

Barney Frank summed it up best when, referring to Republican extremists in Congress, he said, "We're not perfect, but they're nuts."

Great bumper sticker slogan.

[marcchagal]

11:37 AM on 01/04/2012

I was very sad to hear Frank announce his retirement. He's brilliant and brutally honest. He represents all that's great in the Democratic party.

[alw2080]

06:12 PM on 01/04/2012

marcchagal
So sorry that will not be there .But we will do just fine because he was here.

[alicetilden]

12:47 PM on 01/04/2012

That is my favorite political comment of this election so far. I laughed so hard when I heard it. It does say it all and it would make a great bumper sticker.

[jtabs]

09:55 AM on 01/04/2012

What political news media?

[jperez6002]

09:27 AM on 01/04/2012

Everytime I see this guy he looks angry--He really needs to get laided.

[nativemama]

10:49 AM on 01/04/2012

He just does not smile all the time like politicians do....fake like, that is. ('cause they get laid all the time?) : - )
Yes he is many times angry....so much to be angry about!....but his humor is VERY dry and I am one of the people who cannot get enough of what he says. As I said "I", meaning we all like what we like, I suppose.

[jperez6002]

10:59 AM on 01/04/2012

Well everyone has their likes and dislikes.

[rockinroll]

09:09 AM on 01/04/2012

Too bad we have a Congress that refuses to work with the President. We should be voting to rid our Government of this Congress. I think we can all agree on that!

[alicetilden]

12:50 PM on 01/04/2012

I agree. The 2010 Tea Party people need to go so that this Congress can be productive.

[alw2080]

06:13 PM on 01/04/2012

rockinroll
AMEN to that .I hope after in 2012 no more sticking repubs. at all

[booker52]

09:08 AM on 01/04/2012

I have heard Bachmann, Santorum, Romeny and others running for office say they will on the first day in office repeal the Affortable Care Act. yeah, not. Perry says he will do away with 3 departments (just as soon as he can remember which ones) Paul says he will do away with five. All lies and the media never calls them out on it.

[larco849]

09:28 AM on 01/04/2012

Just like the lie that they will get a consttutional amendment to BLah blah.without saying that the last amendment took almost 11 years to get through congress and the states.

[Elderlady]

08:31 AM on 01/04/2012

Ran across this ..... this morning on "Buzzflash". Seems like a good place to share it:

Satire: "Here is why I am writing to you today: on Tuesday, you will go to your caucuses and choose from among a field of Republican presidential candidates. And let me tell you, the idea of any of these people getting nuclear weapons scares the shit out of me. This is just one of many differences between your country and mine. In North Korea, we lock up the criminally insane. In America, you let them debate on TV."

More truth than poetry there.

[Rhonnybay]

08:16 AM on 01/04/2012

good deal. The president still works with the congress.

Presidents can't just make these promises and then they can keep them. I think we've seen that with Obama.

[therealone]

03:37 PM on 01/04/2012

I saw a lot of filibusters with Obama.

[beardown]

04:52 AM on 01/04/2012

MSNBC is all option. Opinion that doesn't matter!

[fenderbender1]

09:56 AM on 01/04/2012

When someone that has an opinion, that opinions dont matter, and freely states that opinion on a blog, does that mean his opinion doesnt matter?

[SMK1414]

02:33 AM on 01/04/2012

It sounds like he is critizing all political news - it is frustrating to watch many so-called pundits and political news anchors/hosts sit back and let politicians corrupt their very own journalistic integrity.