They really shouldn't call that 5 pm show "Hardball" on MSNBC when Obama spokesmen appear. Perhaps they could have an announcer intone that "Tonight's 'Hardball' has been canceled for a special edition tonight of 'Softball.' Hardball will return tomorrow."
On Tuesday night, substitute host Michael Smerconish invited in White House press secretary Jay Carney to spew talking points, and his three questions were so gentle he should have just said, "Go."
SMERCONISH: Jay, from the president's singling out of Mitt Romney, am I to conclude that the White House has concluded he's the nominee?
JAY CARNEY: Well, I can tell you that we, you know, watch what you guys report and read what your colleagues report, and it certainly seems like he could well be. But the point the president was making was that all of the Republican presidential contenders, those who would hold this office come 2013, have endorsed and support the Ryan Republican budget.
So you know, regardless of who emerges as the Republican nominee, it is -- this is not -- the Ryan Republican budget and the sort of radical vision that it represents, as the president said, is not something that only a faction of the Republican Party supports. It`s not something that, you know, the mainstream of the Republican Party rejects. It is the Republican budget. It has been embraced by every Republican leader there is, from Governor Romney on down.
So what the -- the case the president was making today was that there are two competing visions of America`s future that are very stark and that can be easily contrasted. And one is embodied in the Ryan Republican budget, and it basically embodies the -- like, doubling down on the same policies that got us into the worst financial and economic crisis we`ve had in 70 years.
It was nice of Smerconish to move along to Paul Ryan's response, even if it was perfunctory. But Carney went on to say Ryan doesn't use any mathematics, unlike Obama, who backed up his many promises with a firm grip on facts. Smerconish then allowed that junk to float away like a garbage barge:
SMERCONISH: You say "radical." The president earlier today said "Trojan horse" and also said it was thinly veiled social Darwinism. Let me show you how Paul Ryan responded.
Quote, "Like his reckless budgets, today's speech by President Obama is as revealing as it is disappointing. While others lead by offering real solutions, he has chosen to distort the truth and divide Americans in order to distract from his failed record. His empty promises are quickly becoming broken promises, and the American people will hold him accountable for this violation of their trust." Your response, the White House response to Congressman Paul Ryan?
CARNEY: Well, what I`d like you to do is contrast that brief bit of boilerplate from Congress Ryan to the substantive, fact-filled presentation the president gave today. What`s lacking from Congressman Ryan and what is lacking in his budget are any of the statistics and facts and numbers and math to back up his promises.
What we know is that in order to pay for substantial new tax cuts for the wealthy, the money has to come from somewhere. And it`s going to come from non-defense discretionary spending only and from entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
So what it means is more tax cuts for the wealthy, in order to -- and in order to pay for them, the middle class and seniors get stuck with the bill. That -- there is -- you know, what I would like to hear from Congressman Ryan, what the president would like to see from Congressman Ryan, is a fact-filled critique and not a lot of boilerplate...
SMERCONISH: The final...
CARNEY: ... because the facts speak to the fact that the president has put forward a balanced approach, as you know, and the Ryan budget is doubling down on a theory that we tested a decade ago.
SMERCONISH: Jay, final question...
CARNEY: And it led to the slowest -- slowest growth we`ve had in a long time, and it led to the middle class being put under great stress while the wealthiest Americans saw their incomes rise.
The "final question" really wasn't much of a question either, but it was amusing to watch Carney sidestep the reality of Obama's hyperaggressive spending and trillion-dollar deficits to insist that when he was a reporter for Time magazine, he could tell you about political courage. It came from Democrats who told the unions to pound sand. Whoops, no, it meant Republicans who would hike taxes on the rich:
SMERCONISH: Final question, if I might. Tomorrow on the radio, when I get the inevitable call from someone who says Congressman Paul Ryan is reining in reckless federal spending, the response is what?
CARNEY: Here's what I would tell you. When I was a reporter, political courage was when someone from one party was willing to take on the invested, embedded special interests in their party. Show me anything in the Republican Ryan budget that asks anything of the wealthiest supporters, the wealthiest corporations that support the Republican Party. It does not.
It is not courageous for a Republican to say he wants to give tax cuts to the wealthy while he asks seniors and the middle class to pay for it. That`s not new. We've seen it before. And I think the American people recognize that.
Smerconish proved that it's not always true that "politics ain't bean-bag." Sometimes it's practically tea time with a Mrs. Beasley doll. Smerconish does have a slight resemblance:
