Veteran Moulitsas Versus Tom Tancredo as Moral Tale

New media progressives were giddy this weekend after a segment about health care reform aired on The Ed Show this Friday. Air America joined the celebration, too. No new ground was covered. Yet here I am writing about it five days later. Why? Because while the dust-up may have made good theater, it was bad for progressive politics.

David Shuster hosted the discussion between Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas and the former representative from Colorado's 6th District, and sometime presidential candidate, hate-monger extraordinaire, Tom Tancredo. The conversation got hot a few times, and then boiled over when the three discussed veteran health care. It was the political media equivalent of pro-wrestling, Fox News painted blue: unintelligent, argumentative, and pointless.

The trouble started when Shuster asked Tancredo if the Veterans Administration--a single-payer system--is "a threat to our freedom." A loaded question for sure, given that the service members affected by the shooting at Fort Hood (the day before) had all received care there. Tancredo claimed that he had never met a service member who didn't think that the Veterans Administration was "a bureaucratically run program that didn't meet their needs." He went on to say they would all prefer a voucher system.

Okay. It was a laughable statement. So, on cue, Moulitsas laughed in that gleeful, "OMG you're so dumb" way that only he can muster. Fair enough. That stupid, ideological lament, tawdry little nothing of a lie that Tancredo was trying to sell the audience was after all a joke.

Fast-forward. Markos said something that bears saying often in the hothouse of tea-baggers, Astro-Turf activism, and race-baiting populism that emerged after President Obama was sworn in.

People want a more effective VA. That's more money....This is a threat to Republicans. They've built an entire ideology predicated on telling people that government does not work. They are terrified of government programs that work, because then people will realize that government is not the enemy, and they're going to vote Democratic because Democrats are the party who realize that people need help, and government can sometimes offer solutions.

It was a good thing to say, and Markos said it well, between the barks of an unhinged political manqué, but it did not merit FireDogLake's proclamation that, "Markos Moulitsas Destroys Tom Tancredo on MSNBC." We missed something when I fast-forwarded to the above statement. Tom Tancredo did not leave the set because big government works. So, what did Moulitsas say?

He said: "I'm a veteran."

Fair enough. You might expect him next to say that he has been the recipient of fantastic medical care at the Veterans Administration, but he doesn't say this at all. He does not cite a single instance of the VA in action. Instead, he defames with an ugly air of superiority that undoes whatever persuasion might have worked its way into the minds of the conservatives (and independents) who were "out there" eavesdropping on those liberal crazies over at MSNBC.

Tom. I am a veteran. I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight in a war that I supported in Vietnam. I'm a veteran.

Tancredo is best known for being a xenophobic hater of people of color--or at least someone who abhors their presence in the United States of America. (People like Moulitsas, whose family hails from Ecuador.) He was lauded in the past by white power folks for keeping America safe from illegal immigrants even if it cost the nation $200 billion. He even called out Sonia Sotomayor for being a member of the National Council of La Raza, which he dubbed "a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses."

Tom Tancredo is not a difficult person to debate. As a matter of fact, you merely need to let him talk to defeat him. So why on earth, in a conversation about health care, would you deride a man for not serving his country because of a debilitating illness that, by the way, affects 8 to 12 percent of the population? Would he also attack people with schizophrenia? Partial blindness?

For a person with as much pull in influential circles as Markos Moulitsas to engage in a pissing match, and a petty one at that, with a man who does not deserve a minute of his time is to belittle the importance of the work that actually needs to be accomplished, or to vastly underestimate his potential influence on debates that matter, such as the one around health care reform.

When Crashing the Gate was published however many years ago, I remember thinking that Jerome Armstrong and Moulitsas were 100% correct in their assessment of what ailed the Democratic Party. There was no cohesion of message and purpose. No unity. No sense of mission and professionalism. Single-payer could get no traction because there wasn't a committee in Washington that could have had a civil conversation about its merits. That's a sign of a sick party.

Getting back to Moulitsas and Tancredo on The Ed Show, they did not have a civil conversation because they were not supposed to have one. That's a media problem as well as a message problem. But the fact remains, there is victory in dignity, and it is time we started lauding instances of the bad guys getting short-circuited not by a public drubbing, but by a sound argument. We can behave like the gold standard for logic has changed, but it hasn't. The slap fight anti-intellectualism of essentially South Park-like discourse is great at a cocktail party--and it has a place in the realm of politics--but it cannot safely replace thoughtful debate, or we will see the completion of Roger Ailes' political vision: the country club edition of The Lord of the Flies. It's a dangerous world where childish memes and raw bullying can change the law.

First things first. An expanded Medicare will do for now. And while the Stupak amendment is a sharp slap in the face for what most of us on the left deem an acceptable outcome, there is the fact that we're seeing legislative movement for the first time in years on the issue of health care reform in America. And Tom Tancredo can say whatever he wants about vouchers. I'm still hearing, "Latino KKK."

When people think about Markos Moulitsas, it would be great if they thought about what he had to say regarding government programs and the GOP, but they won't, because you could barely hear him over Tancredo's cross-talking. What most people will remember is the second quote where he stoops to conquer and winds up sounding just as mean and derisive as a Republican. Maybe that's necessary. Maybe we need a few more Carvilles running around being fast and furious with the truth, but we also need to cut through the noise and hysteria sometimes.

Markos Moulitsas is a million times better than that. We're better than that. The below video isn't the best example of something better, but it's recent and one of many.

First published by Air America

 

Follow Beau Friedlander on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BeauFriedlander

Comments

[twolusky]

I must agree with the majority here. Markos did the right thing, not the wrong thing, when he called Tancredo out as a hypocrite. Sure, he could have countered Tancredo with the fact that the largest single health care provider with hundreds of clinics, hospitals, and staff with the highest ratings in patient satisfaction happens to be the VA system, a public system that is operating at a lower cost than the private systems with better results. However, it is more important when dealing with people as fact-free in perspective as Tom Tancredo to confront them unflinchingly when they dissemble, pontificate and slander. Bullies must be publicly humiliated, especially when they insult the military and its health care system to make a cheap point. Why is it draft dodgers like Tancredo and Cheney are so shameless in thumping their chests and starting wars, but hide when it comes time to actually serve? We just need to airdrop these fools into the wars they start so their friends can make profits on no bid contracts. Parachutes optional.

[MajorKong]

He was too depressed to go to war?

Heck, I was really depressed when I was at war.

[Charles Ruhe]

I suspect there were lots of people with clinical depression who didn't have the connections to use it as justification for a deferment, back in the Vietnam era. I'm willing to bet a bunch of 'em ended up as names on The Wall, and even more had their postwar lives destroyed by what we now call PTSD.

Markos exposed Tancredo's hypocrisy with a single, elegant riposte. I think you missed the mark, Mr. Friedlander.

[littleolwinemakerme]

Yes, nit-picking badly. But like you said, all Kos had to do was let Tancredo rant on.

[bigfated]

I see absolutely NO reason NOT to call out these phony, draft-dodging chickenhawks.
A little more "calling out" of thugs like the worlds most famous unindicted war criminals and draft dodging yellow-bellied former president and vice president BEFORE so many thousands died and suffered needlessly when they invented reasons to invade a soverign nation. could have saved massive grief.
Gutless punks like Tancredo would be more than happy to see YOUR kid or MY kid go to war....but they're usually "too busy!" I agree that mocking depression is foolish --- but cowardice is another matter. And there is NO WAY that Tancredo has any credibility when it comes to explaining what our vets want, need, or expect. thank God we now have a president who REALLY cares about our brave military people-----and their families.

[worldtravelerall7]

I have to completely disagree with you here.
To be clear, I am not a progressive, nor am I a fan of The Ed Show. But I am a veteran, and i saw this video, and I cannot stand it when chickenhawks speak for veterans.
Why is it that those who claim to support veterans are those most likely to impede legislation to support them? Why is it that those who wouldn't serve are those who are most willing to send our servicemen and women into war? And why is it that those who are willing to risk nothing, most eagerly discard the Geneva Convention put in place to protect our soldiers?
I am sick and tired of people like Dick (draft-deferring) Cheney and, God forbid, Liz (I-have-no­-idea-what­-I'm-talki­ng-about) Cheney, and Tom (i-have-no­-respect-f­or-the-con­tributions­-of-immigr­ants) Tancredo, speaking on behalf of veterans.
Honestly, the only thing that could have made Moulitsas' response any better would have been if he had literally stepped into Tancredo's video box and kicked him in the...oh, is that why you all keep deleting my comment repeatedly? Aww..nuts!

[TopJack]

This is the soft, kumbaya liberal nonsense that sets progressive causes back years.

Tancredo is a chicken hawk who has no problem sending young men into useless wars where they could per!sh. Markos is a veteran who voluntarily served his country. Yet Tancredo hypocritically claims to know the needs of veterans better between spewing his messages of h*ate.

So Markos called out his hypocricy. How is this a bad thing?

You're quite out of touch, Beau, if you believe that people will naturally see through the facade of the Tancredos of the world. The teabaggers are living, fire-breathing proof. Approaching an enemy with rose in hand is a naive concept in this day and age.

We need more people who will vocalize hypocrisies and force these phonies to do exactly what Tancredo did: retreat.

Bravo, Markos.

[minerva117]

I, too, agree that it is absurd that the chickenhawks are always out in front trying to set policy for the military and veterans. Tancredo may be the worst of the lot, I can't stand to look at his arrogant face. He demonstrated his arrogance by demanding an apology....for what? Shining the light of truth under his rock? All I can say is BWWWWWAHAHAHAHA!!

[WinterParkMom]

Markos did not get to make the point that the va works because tancredo walked out.

I'm a vet, I can't afford private insurance and my employer is too small to get insurance for us, or even afford it. My VA clinic takes excellent care of me. Tancredo's rant that vets would prefer vouchers is laughable. If anything vets want more access to va care. Point is, markos wasn't allowed to make that point because tancredo had a hissy.

[blizb]

Tancredo was disrepectful by walking out. He is a man and has chosen issues to be in the public eye.

He only showed he can dish it out but he can't take it and then had the nerve to show disrepect to someone he disagrees with when the veteran issue came up.

If he truly had character and conviction to believe in his viewpoint he should be man enough to listen and respond with his views.

They were going to be fair enough to him to allow him to voice his views but he declined.

[littleolwinemakerme]

And this chicken-hawk wants to run for Gov. in Colorado! LOL

[worldtravelerall7]

Hey Moulitsas,
Great response

[swift goat pet for truth]

Tancredo does not walk out, no one pays attention to what Kos says.

Beau criticises Kos ONLY because Tancredo walks out.

The hissy fit works for Tancredo.

[ydrittmann]

Wow! that's like 11 to one for Kos. Count me in. Chickenhawks, by definition, can dish it out, but they can't take it. However, as a health care professional and person with bipolar disorder I can assure you that depression is much more than being sad. Sad people don't kill themselves.

[bayman]

You completely missed the point, Beau. If Tancredo's depression were so debilitating, how did he see himself as qualified to be commander-in-chief?

Markos exposed Tancredo for what he is...a chickenhawk who merrily approves of any war, as long as it's someone else doing the dying.

[lpeggy]

Thank you Markos! Tancredo is a hater of many things, and for once somebody shut him up. Now he knows how minorities feel when he spews his hate on TV.

[Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm afraid this veteran would have said much the same thing. Tancredo's a poltroon. I don't minimize depression but what the hell was he depressed so badly about that he couldn't stand military service? He's spent his entire career trying to disestablish the VA. He and his cohorts in the GOP have worked hard to gut the agency that Markos and I depend on -- me more than him, to be sure.

Tell me how Tancredo has earned a right to not be called out for being a chickenhawk. What has he done for veterans lately?

[jeaton]

I'm a Vietnam era combat vet and Matt Osborne nails it. Tancredo deserves to be called on his Bravo Sierra! Repeatedly.

[faith]

Hold on Mr. Friedlander, why should Tancredo get a free ride for his macho pro war, health benefit stance because he suffers from depression and could not serve in Viet Nam? I personally recognize the names of at least twenty on that Viet Nam wall, half of whom did not want to serve, nor should they have served. They served and they died in a war that later President Johnson, as well as General MacNamara confessed later that they didn't know how to get out of the mess, so they sent more troops.

If Tancredo wants to hold public office and represent the people, he takes everything that attaches to those responsibilities. I say good for Marcos for his statement- he's a vet . It gives him credibility.

I am sick of officious republicans who want to appear macho and heroic. ,They beat their chests, and brag they are ready to kick butt, but they are mean spirited and the first to find a way to avoid danger.
.

[measie]

I have listened to Tancredo's loud, abusive rages for too long. He subjects others to verbal lies and attacks on every talk show where he appears and those people do not have the luxury of running from him. The one time that he was confronted with the truth about himself, he could not handle nor defend it, so he chose the cowards way out and ran away.