The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell - General Discussion

[Marathonrunner]

Weasel words - pustule - these are now the most descriptive words for what's going on in our world - to quote you know who "sad" "sad"

I think I learn a bit more from Chris Hayes & his guests but I can't end the evening without LOD's outrage - last night's guest referring to that man's mental health issues was truly unnerving - how is it that so many of us can see this unraveling but not even his family thinks there might be a problem?

The whole segment on Bannon's appearance was interesting - Spicer gets reamed for wearing an ill-fitting suit but this guy looks like a slob & no one bats an eye

As for George Will - not a fan but I agree with kassygreene in that he did have the guts to come out against that man - unlike so many other GOPers who slammed him & then couldn't bend over fast enough to get back in his good graces

[alias1]

For conservative guests who were not Trump supporters, I get a lot more from David Frum and Rick Wilson.  I'm glad Lawrence has them on a lot.  I got a kick out of him calling them the "two Davids" when he had on David Frum and David Corn the other night.  David Corn is another favorite of mine.  He and Rick Wilson never mince words when describing Trump. 

The whole thing with Trump not being fit to serve as president because he's either a pathological liar of delusional makes a lot of sense.  I'm just not sure that Pence has the guts to actually invoke the 25th amendment.

[spiderpig]

OK - where is he?  (Friday night)

[TaurusRose]

15 hours ago, Marathonrunner said:

The whole segment on Bannon's appearance was interesting - Spicer gets reamed for wearing an ill-fitting suit but this guy looks like a slob & no one bats an eye

Bannon isn't ready for primetime or any other time, if you ask me.  Actually, he looks diseased.  Definitely in need of some professional help whether it be styling or medical.  He's just disgusting all the way around.

[alias1]

Because of his show business connection, I thought Lawrence might talk about the Oscars a little more.  Earlier today, on MTP Daily, they showed some of the (really funny) tweets people were doing that compared the wrong best picture being announced to the wrong presidential winner being announced.  I wanted him to show more of those tweets.  I guess he thought the intro with Rachel was enough.  And she looked like she couldn't have cared less about the Oscars, lol.      

[meowmommy]

Such a nice tribute to Bill Paxton.  I'd forgotten that Lawrence played his lawyer on Big Love.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Such a nice tribute to Bill Paxton.  I'd forgotten that Lawrence played his lawyer on Big Love.

Lawrence choked up on his closing line:  "Bill Paxton was 61 years old".

It seems everyone who knew or worked with Bill loved him, and he has a huge fan base who are still in shock.

[Hanahope]

Does anyone know why sometimes MSNBC offers videos of full episodes of their shows on their website and app, but other times, its just certain clips?  I don't usually watch the prime-time shows live, I'll listen/watch the next day or two.  For some reason, Lawrence's Monday show is just a couple of clips on the website, not the whole show.  I notice this sometimes for Rachel and Chris too.

[TaurusRose]

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

Does anyone know why sometimes MSNBC offers videos of full episodes of their shows on their website and app, but other times, its just certain clips?  I don't usually watch the prime-time shows live, I'll listen/watch the next day or two.  For some reason, Lawrence's Monday show is just a couple of clips on the website, not the whole show.  I notice this sometimes for Rachel and Chris too.

Sorry, no.  But it sucks.

[spiderpig]

Lawrence was back for one night, and now they've bumped him two nights in a row???

[Medicine Crow]

13 minutes ago, spiderpig said:

Lawrence was back for one night, and now they've bumped him two nights in a row???

Ya, I like Brian, but this is ridiculous.  Maybe LO isn't well???

[possibilities]

I really am starting to worry about him. They said he'd be back and then he wasn't there. Something is going on, even if they aren't saying what it is. And usually when it's just a vacation or otherwise routine absence, shows will say so. Having him just appear and disappear constantly, there's something wrong.

[spiderpig]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

I really am starting to worry about him. They said he'd be back and then he wasn't there. Something is going on, even if they aren't saying what it is. And usually when it's just a vacation or otherwise routine absence, shows will say so. Having him just appear and disappear constantly, there's something wrong.

Especially when they brought in much of the MSNBC roster to cover last night's speech and Lawrence was conspicuously absent.  Then another special two-hour extravaganza tonight, where even Andrea Mitchell showed up.  Something's up.

[alias1]

I thought the same thing with the conspicuous absences.  I hope he's all right, physically, and I sure hope he's back tonight. 

We MISS YOU, Lawrence!

[spiderpig]

He's b-a-a-a-a-a-a-ck!!!

[Mumbles]

Omg Neera Tanden is the absolute worst. A soulless hack who has parlayed years of brownnosing Hillary Clinton's ass into a Beltway career of never saying anything of any insight or interest. And with that whiny voice. Nice casual humblebrag there, Neera ("I'm the president of a think tank and *I* have never met a Russian ambassador").

Edited March 3, 2017 by Mumbles

[alias1]

As usual, I love Michael Moore.  He sure had a lot of facts about Watergate and how it seemed to have a lot in common with the current administration.  I always love how he tries to get the phone number for Congress in there as they're cutting away from his segment.   

[spiderpig]

Did anybody see Lawrence's last word about deportation on Last Word tonight (Monday)?

I wish I could have captured it to post, not only here, but to my friends.

[possibilities]

Maybe the MSNBC site has the clip?

[Tunia]

12 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Did anybody see Lawrence's last word about deportation on Last Word tonight (Monday)?

I wish I could have captured it to post, not only here, but to my friends.

spiderpig ~ Are you referring to the Frederick Trump letter that LOD read?  If so, here's a reprint of it from Harper's Magazine:   http://harpers.org/archive/2017/03/the-emigrants/ 

And, here's a lengthy, but interesting, report of the backstory of Frederick Trump's family from the Snopes confirmation:  http://www.snopes.com/trumps-grandfather-bavaria-deport/

Irony, eh?

Edited March 7, 2017 by Tunia
to add material

[spiderpig]

24 minutes ago, Tunia said:

spiderpig ~ Are you referring to the Frederick Trump letter that LOD read?  If so, here's a reprint of it from Harper's Magazine:   http://harpers.org/archive/2017/03/the-emigrants/ 

And, here's a lengthy, but interesting, report of the backstory of Frederick Trump's family from the Snopes confirmation:  http://www.snopes.com/trumps-grandfather-bavaria-deport/

Irony, eh?

Thanks, Tunia - that's it!!!  Ironic it is.

[Hanahope]

Yeah, all those republican politicians "offended" by trump's sexual harassment comments, yet they still voted for the creep.  and they don't seem to think there's anything wrong by trump's corruption with russia.

this is why its so hard to respect any of them.  totally party over country.

I liked LOD's report on the healthcare plan, and that "socialism is hard".  Great comment that trump doesn't pay one whit of attention to what he's signing, so whatever the reps can get before him in a bill, trump will probably sign it, even if its not even close to what he promised (not that I believe for one second that trump meant a single promise he made about healthcare).  trump doesn't care.  Its the Trumpdon'tcare health plan.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Hanahope

[spiderpig]

OK.  Where is he? :-(

[Quilt Fairy]

15 hours ago, spiderpig said:

OK.  Where is he? :-(

Yeah, some explanation would be nice.  It becomes The Last Word with Ari Melber, and they don't even say "filling in for LO'D" or "Lawrence is off tonight".

[spiderpig]

13 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Yeah, some explanation would be nice.  It becomes The Last Word with Ari Melber, and they don't even say "filling in for LO'D" or "Lawrence is off tonight".

I want my Lawrence!  If he still has a problem with old broken bones, I'd be happy to be his physical therapist.  But it's just weird that he's on again/off again with no explanation, as you say.  My Conspiracy Theory antennae are tweaking as we speak.

[spiderpig]

Now he's back.  I'm getting whiplash.

[stormy]

So Jonathan Alter shows up Friday and says, that even with a disgusting claim of wiretapping, President Obama remains silent because he still thinks he can be helpful if a crisis occurs because maybe trump will pick up the phone and ask him for help.

I don't buy that.

[alias1]

I found that a little far fetched, too, that Obama would be so willing to help Trump now, or even that Trump would ask for it.

What I did sort of agree with Jonathan Alter on, was when he said he's glad that James Comey is staying mum right now about the wiretapping issue because we don't want him getting fired before he testifies to Congress on the 20th.  I'm guessing that Trump could fire him, right?  I think currently Trump isn't sure if Comey is partisan or not.  He sure played a negative role in Hillary's campaign.     

[3pwood]

9 hours ago, stormy said:

So Jonathan Alter shows up Friday and says, that even with a disgusting claim of wiretapping, President Obama remains silent because he still thinks he can be helpful if a crisis occurs because maybe trump will pick up the phone and ask him for help.

I don't buy that.

I don't buy that Obama cares about being helpful to Trump, but I do accept that he might want to be helpful to us, i.e., the country. Sadly, I doubt that Trump would have the balls to ask anyone for help, especially not Obama.

[navelgazer]

The latest Twitlerian corruption, not the Kushner sweetheart deal with the Chinese on the purchase of that fan-dancy hotel, but Twitler getting a lawyer formerly of FAUX Noise assigned to be the US Attorney of New York, Southern District, elicited nothing more from my mother and I but a mutual eye-roll.  The stink is so bad, Twitler thinks that he can do anything with no consequences.  It's beyond disgusting.  

[Hanahope]

Love and disgusted hearing about trump costing the federal government even more money by donating his salary and getting a tax deduction.

[numbersix]

Oof. The great nothing-burger that is Rachel Maddow's tax story, which was already a bit embarrassing, can probably be used against the media now with David Cay Johnston's aside regarding Melania's alleged porn career. Rachel rebuked him, but now they're open to the Trump attack machine.

[Hanahope]

To some extent, I have to agree with trump that for all the supposed polls of people saying they think trump should release his tax returns, obviously they didn't care enough to stop him from becoming president.

But to the extent that it helps kick trump out, sure, keep following the story.

[Sharpie66]

FYI, this week's episode of the podcast The West Wing Weekly has Lawrence on as guest to discuss the season 2 finale Two Cathedrals, in which he portrays Jed Bartlett's SOB dad in flashbacks.

[alias1]

I find it interesting that Lawrence is the only one focusing on the fact that Devin Nunes went to Paul Ryan first with his news about someone in the Trump campaign being picked up on intelligence intercepts, and then he went to the White House.  I like Steve Brill's interpretation that there was no real information.  Whatever it was could have been leaked directly from the White House in an attempt to justify Trump's wire tapping claim.  Especially since Nunes said he was given the information but no longer has it, so he has nothing to show the rest of his committee.  And I think Paul Ryan went along with it because it created a diversion from the disastrous health care rewrite.  And apparently he told Nunes to downplay Ryan's involvement.  I'll be surprised if there is anything really "there."  Trump would have been shouting from the rooftops that he was vindicated instead of the meek little response he gave to that question.

In another segment, it was refreshing to see Richard Painter with such passion about getting to the bottom of this Russia stuff.  If someone in our government is (or was) colluding with a foreign hostile power they need to be thrown out of our government and maybe even tried for treason.  I'm appalled at all the republicans who are willing to turn a blind eye to protect people in the Trump administration.  They need to have an independent investigation and get to the bottom of all the Russia collaboration instead of stonewalling.   

I was happy to hear Schumer say that he is voting against Gorsuch and he hopes all the Democrats do the same.  Why should they confirm Trump's nominee for the supreme court when when this sitting president is under investigation by the FBI.  This is a much better reason than the republicans gave for not even considering President Obama's nominee. 

[alias1]

While it is a great victory for the American people right now that Republicans were not able to overturn the ACA, both David Corn and Nicholas Kristof were a little cautious about the victory because of Trumps penchant for revenge.  He keeps saying that Obamacare will implode this year and the concern is that he will do everything in his power to actually make that happen.  And he is going to blame the Democrats, of course.  I hope the American people understand that anything that happens to the ACA now is on Trump's watch.

[meowmommy]

The spell checker at MSNBC must have taken the night off.  "Mercedez"?  "Harrassment?"

[Medicine Crow]

A 36-yr-old "Assistant Secretary of State"???  Pfffft!!!

[meowmommy]

Great interview with the former CIA director.  He was so calm and reasoned without any partisanship.  And I really appreciated (not to use LOD's usual closure!) them giving him enough time to talk.  So often the interviews are choppy because they have to get to the next commercial break.  

[alias1]

Well Lawrence posited this crazy theory that Putin was in on Assad's chemical attack and wanted to test Trump's reaction to it.  Putin has to know that Assad still has chemical weapons.  Lawrence thought this theory had a better than zero chance of being true.  It was kind of interesting that his guests wouldn't quite agree with that but they all agreed that Trump is a hypocrite.  He's supposedly upset about those beautiful babies, except he won't let any of those beautiful refugees into the country to get away from the bad man.   Also, the strikes did really nothing. Wouldn't that be considered a failure.  It looked good, but didn't seem to accomplish anything.  Assad's planes were able to take off from that runway the next day. 

[Medicine Crow]

What about all the "beautiful babies" that die in the U.S. because the Repubs think post-natal care isn't really necessary & nutrition for new moms & infants isn't their problem.  Blech!!!

[Hanahope]

And it wasn't just that Putin wanted to test Trump, but possibly also to help trump look good, improve his ratings and get the story off the trump-Russia connection.  And Lawrence is right that we would never even consider these possibilities with any president other than trump and just how despicable that is. 

[possibilities]

On 4/8/2017 at 9:58 PM, Medicine Crow said:

What about all the "beautiful babies" that die in the U.S. because the Repubs think post-natal care isn't really necessary & nutrition for new moms & infants isn't their problem.  Blech!!!

And lead is in the drinking water....

[Hanahope]

LoD reported that 82 companies have made statements of removing their advertising from Billo's show.  82!  That's incredible.  apparently he's down to 1/4 of his ads.

[spiderpig]

Lawrence nailed it tonight with his chocolate cake comments.

[suomi]

One of the guests tonight likened Carter Page to Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects and mentioned Page's physical resemblance to Kevin Spacey.

[car54]

I loved Lawrence's little montage of Last Word babies last night.   He seems to really create a family-like atmosphere with his team--like when someone leaves the staff or when the interns go back to school, he has them on to thank them.    He seems like a genuinely nice person with things like that.

[spiderpig]

18 hours ago, car54 said:

I loved Lawrence's little montage of Last Word babies last night.   He seems to really create a family-like atmosphere with his team--like when someone leaves the staff or when the interns go back to school, he has them on to thank them.    He seems like a genuinely nice person with things like that.

He's really adorable.  I'm showing Mr. pig some serious shade right now.

[Hanahope]

Great comment that trump is stupid to be blamming Obama for Flynn when Obama fired Flynn and the two main bad acts Flynn committed were after her was fired by Obama.  

I love hearing that trump and Ryan are fighting.  That will make sure nothing happens in Washington, the best hope we have.

[spiderpig]

Well, so much for my dream date of sharing a lovely bottle of Cabernet Franc with Lawrence...:-(

If you didn't catch tonight's transition with Rachel, he claimed to know absolutely nothing about wine and has had only a few tastes in his entire life.