Rachel Maddow had a great segment on her show the night after the election. It concerned Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who is currently being bashed in a diary on the rec list here at Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The offending quote:
MURRAY: Well, here's where we are, our country has a tremendous debt and deficit problem. We also have a challenge in making sure that we educate our work force. We need to make sure we care for our veterans who need that care today. We need to have research. And we need to be able to compete in a global marketplace, those investments are important.
Katrina vanden Heuval then tried to create a false equivalence between this statement and the GOP's call for austerity. But that association just isn't there. Murray is just stating the obvious, and calling for higher taxes on the wealthy in order to pay for jobs and education. It's right there in the quote. Vanden Heuval is disagreeing with her and then agreeing with her at the same time.
Perhaps this partial transcript from Rachel Maddow's show can provide a little perspective:
MADDOW: So there was this job that nobody wanted in the United States
Senate. They literally could not fill the job, because there was no way a
person could succeed in that job, and if you`re in the U.S. Senate, you
want to succeed. So nobody would take -- nobody would take the job.
Well, today the poor woman who they finally suckered into taking that
job is a super genius hero of the year. That amazing story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MADDOW: In the fall of 2010, the Democratic Party needed to appoint
somebody to run the part of the party that is responsible for electing
Democrats to the U.S. Senate. Harry Reid offered the job to Virginia
Senator Mark Warner. Mark Warner said, no.
Harry Reid offered the job to Minnesota Senator Al Franken. Al
Franken said, no.
He then offered the job to New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Chuck
Schumer said, no. Nobody wanted this job.
Finally, on his fourth try, he convinced someone to take this
terrible, terrible job. Poor Patty Murray, the senator from Washington
state. Look at this. Democrats beseech Murray to take the job. Nobody
wants to be set up for failure. Nobody wants to take on a job at which
they are almost guaranteed to fail.
And in 2010, the job of trying to secure Democratic Party control of
the Senate in this year`s election, seemed like a completely impossible
prospect.
Look at this. "Democrats face an extremely tough map in 2012." "The
Democrats must defend 23 seats while just 10 Republicans are up for re-
election."
No way, right? Odds totally stacked against the Democrats. No way
Democrats could hold the Senate under those circumstances. That is how it
looked when poor Patty Murray had to be beseeched into taking that job.
It`s not how it turned out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: When Harry asked me to take this
on, there was not one -- and I mean, no one who gave us a chance of keeping
the majority. We played offense every day and we never let up and now Joe
Donnelly and Tammy Baldwin and Tim Kaine --
(APPLAUSE)
Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Mazie Hirono, they`re all coming to
join us in the Senate. And along, of course, Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey
and Bill Nelson, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Joe Manchin, Debbie
Stabenow, Bob Menendez, Sheldon Whitehouse, Bernie Sanders, Maria Cantwell,
Dianne Feinstein -- we have delivered to you a great caucus, Mr. Leader.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Not only did every Democratic incumbent in the Senate win
their race last night, every single one, but Democrats actually picked up
two seats. Elizabeth Warren defeated Republican incumbent Scott Brown in
Massachusetts. Joe Donnelly defeated Tea Party favorite, Richard Mourdock,
in Indiana. It should have been impossible.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
We just gained seats in the Senate, and Sen. Patty Murray is one of the key architects of this victory. It's appalling that some here at Kos are bashing her for stating the obvious: our country has a tremendous debt and deficit problem. To say otherwise is to practice the same delusional behavior of the FOX News crowd.
If you want to focus on Sen. Murray's quote of the day, try this one:
Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week" Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), a member of the Democratic leadership, telegraphed her party's intentions if Republicans refuse to accept a tax increase on the wealthy.
"[T]o solve this problem, the wealthiest Americans have to pay their fair share too," she said. "If the Republicans will not agree with that, we will reach a point at the end of this year where all the tax cuts expire and we'll start over next year, and whatever we do will be a tax cut for whatever package we put together. That may be the way to get past this."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
ps - Thanks for the rec list props!