Cokie "kookie" Roberts and David Gergen "warn" Democrats:

[AX10]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/29/182919/292

"Hmm. Hey, yeah."
by Kagro X

"On the Stephanopoulos bobble head roundtable this morning, Cokie Roberts raised the baton and started the drumbeat: the Democrats risk moving waaaaay too far to the left and that is going to be a biiiiig problem for them "just like it was in Vietnam." Yes, she said it out loud. And David Gergen agreed whole heartedly.

Does anyone recall these gasbags saying that Bush was moving so far to the right with his monarchic, fundamentalist, shock and awe presidency that it was going to be a biiiig problem for them? I must have missed all those warnings. Now that he's at 28% and the conservatives are on the run after having proven that there really is a limit to how far the crazed radical wingnuts can go, they are still warning about the Democrats moving too far to the left. These people have not had an original thought in 40 years.

Gergen, meanwhile said that the people yearn for a strong sensible president that isn't reckless like this president is. Again, I don't remember a lot of bloviators warning the American people about how "reckless" Bush was being. In fact, they were cheering him on for being "bold" and "resolute". So, now we want a "sensible" "serious" president, who will, presumably, be just as "sensible" and "serious" as they told us Bush and the grown-ups were until the moment he finally hit a threshold of unpopularity that even they couldn't ignore. Indeed, whomever they approve is always appropriately "sensible" as compared to the dirty hippie he's running against."

The article speaks for itself.

[cynatnite]

1. What I always remember about Roberts...

Is some years ago she was in a studio, put on a coat and held up an umbrella like she was outside, but wasn't. She got called on it and was completely raked over the coals for it.

I've never forgotten that. If she's willing to stand there and lie about something like that...she'd lie about anything.

[Cha]

15. Not surprised...I was already

asking myself why the Dems should listen to kook roberts and david gergin on anything?

[cynatnite]

19. I can tolerate Gergen...

Don't mind what he has to say and sometimes I agree with it. Roberts...no way. I never cared for her even before she was caught perfoming like she was some actress rather being a real reporter at the time. That pretty much confirmed what I thought of her.

[brentspeak]

2. D.C. cocktail-party circuit media whores

[EFerrari]

35. On skates. n/t

[Supersedeas]

38. shills, lines, and pills

[stevedeshazer]

3. The circle jerk of Washington pundits is sickening

They are so far off the views of average Americans.

What a joke.

[AX10]

7. Even "moderate" Gergen is towing the line now.

:puke:

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. Gergen is a certified centrist

He started out as a staunch Republican working for Reagan and Bush, and actually joined Clinton's team when Pepublican's veered too far right. So it does not surprise me to hear him tout the center as where it is at. At least he showed the courage of his centrist convictions once by turning against the Republicans for becoming too extreme also.

[AX10]

11. But he still is warning the Democrats not to "move to the left".

Moving to the left at this point in time is moving the country back to the center.
These pundits identify the "center" as being to the "right". Therefore, according to Cokie & Co, the "center" is like the "center left" and the "left" is an extremist position, but being a right winger is not extreme.

Gergen gets it right, but he still gets it wrong many times too. I share the frustration of the poster. No such criticism is being leveled at the GOP candidates who have all gone off the deep end (except for Paul).

[Cha]

20. I far as I can see..

gergen is a tool and I don't like him or the prattlers he rattles on with.

They're against people and for their corporatemeisters.

When you think about it..who the hell do these freaks think they are that we should take their "warnings"?

Slimeballs? Oh yeah!

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Paul was BORN off the deep end.

He's right about the war & about pot. Other than that' he's as crazy as any other libertarian.

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. Of course you are right, and the frustration is warrented

Maybe it's just me but I tend to cut Gergen a little slack because I think the guy is more or less honest. He tends to really think the things he says, right or wrong as they may be, rather than always spinning for someone else. I almost always find Roberts to be despicable.

But the "move the center to the right" game has been going on for a long time now, and media pundits rarely if ever get called on it, nor has there been any real call for the Republicans to "moderate" over the last ten to fifteen years.

[amandabeech]

30. I agree with you on Gergen.

He's a centrist and generally identifies with TPTB. That said, he's very experienced and really smart. I listen to what he has to say and figure that he's the best spokesperson for that general viewpoint. Sometimes he says interesting things, even if I don't agree.

Roberts. Yuck. Go back to La. and take that idiot husband with you.

[AX10]

32. I credit Gergen for not being an extremist.

But, I still don't excuse he agreement with Kookie Robbers.

[cynatnite]

28. I've never understood this 'they're moving to the far left'...

I haven't a clue what that is. I don't expect everyone to think like me and there are some complete RW nutjobs in this country. I understand conservative, centrist, liberal, and lefty...

But far left? What's that? Socialism.

:shrug:

[BlooInBloo]

16. lol! Sheep are oh-so happy to let the media dictate what words mean.

[Captain Hilts]

4. That panel reminded me of the SNL skit "men discuss women's problems." NO DEMS!!!! nt

[OzarkDem]

5. What do they actually do for a living?

How do they earn their paychecks? Who pays them? What kind of jobs do they have, besides media gasbags & beltway punditry? Just wondering.

[BlooInBloo]

6. Like Digby says - it's all about the tribe.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. The chances of the Democrats moving "too far left" are equal to the chances of Bush growing a brain.

The Democrats are, at best, a centrist party. Always have been, still are, and are unlikely to move any more left than the corporations allow them to.

[ProSense]

9. Cokie prior to Dems taking back both Houses of Congress

August 2006:

ABC's Roberts: "Disaster" for party if Democrats nominate candidate who agrees with Americans on Iraq

Out of Date, Out of Touch


Cokie must have gotten the meme: The Village Bipartisan Block Party...Somewhere a new well of stupidity has been opened

[ConsAreLiars]

12. Gergen and Roberts always speak for the Ruling Powers.

They are warning the Dems not to side with the people against the True Powers, or they will see the Corpulent Media turn on them and their money dry up. It is not a political analysis so much as a threat.

(edit for clarity?)

[thunder rising]

13. But what is center?

Stay the course without a surge?
Reduce but not eliminate voter caging?
Wag your finger at Abu Gonzales (like Spectre the ghost, the LAST REPUBLICAN to defend NIXON)
Only spy on your political enemies and not everybody?

Would somebody please just state the position of the center.

I'm sure my politics have not changed ... and I used to be moderate. Now I'm a radical ranting left wing blogger.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. Yeah, they warned us about Dean as DNC chair also. n/t

[sandnsea]

17. Depends on the media

If we get just a few people willing to tell the truth just 25% of the time, we'll be okay. If the media does what they did in 2000 & 2004, then yes, moving too far left can be a huge problem.

Unless we elect someone who knows how to organize block by block so we don't need the damn media anymore.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Their concern is noted.

[Bluebear]

22. I'm sure Carville agrees too. nt

[spindrifter]

24. Where does Cokie Roberts come up with

this viewpoint? The elected Democratic congresspeople work for us, and that means they should reflect the way we think--not the way she thinks.

[Hamlette]

25. sort of misleading not to give credit to the author of the piece, digby. n/t

[Bitwit1234]

26. Cokehead Roberts, refresh my memory.

What expertise and degree in politics does she haave.

[mitchum]

29. Why...she has inherited expertise (her father was a congressman)...

Cokie Roberts; nepotism at its finest

[barb162]

31. I don't know anyone who pays attention to her.

Gergen is another story. People (and Presidents) do pay attention to what he has to say.

[mitchum]

27. Uh...Cokie, wasn't the problem that the Dem Party DIDN'T move far...

enough to the left on Vietnam in 68? And that's why Humphrey lost?
Cokie, I was only 8 years old when that happened, but you were SIGNIFICANTLY OLDER. Seems like you would able to remember those events as well as I do.

[yardwork]

36. Yeah, I'm remembering it that way, too.

Maybe us eight year olds got it totally wrong in 1968? Hmmmm... seems like things haven't worked out the way that the grownups said that things would, though....hmmmmm....

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

33. cokie 2000 - "it will be refreshing to have a c-student as president."

[tom_paine]

34. Concern Trolls. n/t

[butterfly77]

37. I was screaming at the television through the whole thing..

I watched as Fareed(I can't remember his name)kept coming back on them and they were acting as if they were about to jump out of their seats. They hate to hear the truth, he was telling them that they didn't know what in the hell they were talking about.

They want us to go along with all of their old talking points as they have done in all elections. These people don't know what the people want, they are speaking for only a certain segment of the population not realizing that the country has changed.