I love Lawrence O'Donnell! He's talking about "the most successful evacuation from a war that....

[George II]

...America has ever lost", and then he goes on bashing the Washington Post. Further, "Has anyone seen any way that is better than what we're seeing now? Never." And he's going on with the Vietnam evacuation comparison.

I wish I was prepared for this and could recount this better. Well worth looking up tomorrow - it started at 20 minutes into his show.

[PortTack]

1. Thx for posting..think look it up tomorrow

[msongs]

2. successful...for now nt

[elleng]

3. Doing well.

HOPE no repug governors ever, as history including this MUST be taught.

[tulipsandroses]

4. Watching. Debacle compared to what?

Love him! I’ve had my gripes with the media in the past , but the coverage here has been so over the top ridiculous. Richard Engel has been the most disappointing. At one point he was pointing out how much trash was on the ground at the airport. This should be orderly and spotlessly clean.

[madaboutharry]

9. What is wrong with Engel?

Last edited Mon Aug 23, 2021, 11:38 PM - Edit history (1)

The army is working to get people on planes so they can escape the Taliban. I would think janitorial duties are not even on their radar. As if a soldier working to evacuate should instead be cleaning the street.

These reporters have lost it.

Good thing Clarissa Ward is back home in Paris. Her reports devolved quickly into what looked like an on air personal crisis.

[George II]

11. That's what I thought about Ward, it became all about her, not the reporting. Right down to her....

....posing for the camera on the plane out of Afghanistan.

I see she got out, but she's griping about how lousy a job we're doing.

This whole evacuation has opened my eyes about a number of things, most significantly the cable news reporting and obsession with finding fault.

[NH Ethylene]

16. Same here about the eye opening.

I've never before recognized such a display of media-driven news.

When I hear a reporter saying that 'some are criticizing the way this has been handled' I am realizing that it is the media who are criticizing it, via a focus on certain types of stories and teary-eyed editorializing, then reporting on the 'criticism!'

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. What other President could do this?

None, without his confidence that this was the right thing to do,

[onetexan]

21. exactly. MoJoe's ability to remain calm during the storm amazes me everyday. The media continually

paints the picture that ending the Afghan war and what they frame as a "disastrous evac" will be his legacy and dooming his presidency. I don't think so.

[dflprincess]

6. O'Donnell is always good

But he has been great through this.

[GoodRaisin]

14. +1

[JI7]

17. What I like about Lawrence and RAchel is they always have context . We learn history and other

things. While most others just present what we see without any background info on things leading up to it.

[LisaM]

7. The initial reports were so biased...

I wondered if there'd be a slow drift to the actual facts. Which seems to be happening.

[Srkdqltr]

8. I remember our exit from Vietnam.

That was not pretty at all. All those people climbing up to the helicopter was a real mess. Wasn't there a plane load of children that went down killing all? Not pretty.
At least this time we are getting folks out. I doubt Trump had any plan at all. Some have said we should use other airports after Trump had decommissioned them.

[BannonsLiver]

15. Trump couldn't even arrange buses for his followers during the campaign.

Many were stranded in fields. That’s how we know he wouldn’t have been able to get it done. That and a bunch of other reasons.

What was missed last week including by some here, is that no matter how orderly the end was there was always going to be a last week, a last day, a last hour and a last flight and that’s going to always be a chaotic scene. And I expect that will be the case again. But the end result is what counts the most. And going by the numbers that’s shaping up pretty well. We can only hope it continues because if it does it will be quite a triumph.

[FakeNoose]

10. I loved that segment - it was well done and informative

Many of us are old enough to remember the end of the Vietnam War, a subject Lawrence touched on last week. There's no comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam - it was much, much worse in Vietnam. For example our American casualties for one week in Vietnam equaled all the American casualties for 20 years in Afghanistan.

Tonight he made the convincing points about the Kabul evacuation. Our military has learned from errors made in Vietnam and elsewhere. They're doing a great job and getting many more people out of the country - including Americans and Afghans. It has been efficient and swift, and so far the Taliban have held back and allowed us to leave.

[UTUSN]

12. K&R

[SheltieLover]

13. K&R!

[Greybnk48]

18. Thanks for the heads up. I always record Lawrence

and really enjoyed his show tonight.

[Jon King]

19. CNN is the worst, now Biden and Dems will be destroyed by Covid in midterms

CNN has gone full crazy. Their coverage of Afghanistan is a disaster in misplaced blame and focusing on every negative angle they can find. Now their talking point is how Biden and the Dems will get crushed in the midterms if the pandemic is not under control by then.

The headline on their website is literally how Fauci says the pandemic may not be under control until next Spring...and that means 'disaster' for Biden.

So the guy fighting against the daily misinformation of the right wing media must be held responsible? That is some bizarro world, up is down, down is up, thinking there.

[rockfordfile]

22. Covid is another republican mess. Americans know the only way out of that is no republicans

Way to much blah from people on here watching CNN.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Here's the video for those who missed it:

Lawrence On What Is 'Realistically Possible' In An Evacuation From Afghanistan - The Last Word -MSNBC
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017676549

[George II]

23. Thanks. There was so much packed into that segment and I was in such awe that I'm sure....

....I misquoted quite a bit.

One of the best commentaries I've seen in a long time, especially in light of how the media it treating Biden.