Up With Chris Hayes is the Anti-Meet the Press. Chris Hayes is what David Gregory would be in a media world that provided rational, intelligent discussion instead of warmed over CW, right wing or phony centrist propaganda and a platform for bizarre characters like Newt Gingrich and Liz Cheney.
Below are just some of the reasons why it's a can't miss show for us here at Daily Kos.
1. Chris Hayes is brilliant: His complete command of the issues is obvious just by watching the show for a few minutes.
2. His panels are excellent and fair: This was his panel last week on the filibuster:
Alan Frumin, former Senate Parliamentarian and author of “Riddicks Senate Procedure.”
Akhil Amar, Yale Law School professor and author of “America’s Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By.”
Victoria DeFrancesco Soto MSNBC contributor, senior analyst at Latino Decisions and fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.
Richard Arenberg co-author of “Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Hmm. The Senate f-ing parliamentarian! The guy who wrote the filibuster book! Just slightly better than Cokie Roberts, George Will and John McCain.
And it did not disappoint. I was very impressed with Merkely who, being a very smart and articulate Democrat, of course is invisible later on Sunday morning.
3. His panels are ideologically diverse: For example, he has had Ed Conrad on twice -- Conrad is the Bain partner whose book Unintended Consequences unashamedly defends GOP policies on the basis of growth, notwithstanding inequality. Of course I strongly disagree with Conrad, as does Hayes. But Conrad is not an idiot or blowhard -- that is, he's not O'Reilly, Hannity or Scarborough. His exchanges with Hayes and the others on the panels have been informative and entertaining.
He also had a great discussion about Lincoln, with its screenwriter, Tony Kushner.
4. Anything Can Happen: On Sunday, one of the guests was Veronique de Rugy, one of the stable of right wing shills teaching at George Mason University. After she tried to argue against the need for a tax increase, Bartlett had had enough: "Your ideas are so goddamn dogmatic," he said and continued:
You're living in a fantasy world where you're going to balance the budget by abolishing medicare and other ludicrous ideas.
Clip is below the fold.
5. He is unfailingly polite: Note that the over the top comment above was made not by Hayes, but by his Republican guest. Hayes would never speak like that to a guest.
6. He is passionate: His heartfelt extended comments about, e.g., his brother's work on the Obama campaign, have been quite moving.
I record it every Saturday and Sunday (sorry, not getting up at 8:00 am on weekends, even for Chris) and watch segments throughout the weekend and during the week.
Here's a video feed.
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