Jennifer Granholm

Meet the Press: Dick Armey Slams Alan Greenspan's View of Bush Tax Cuts
By Noel Sheppard | August 22, 2010 | 6:04 PM EDT

David Gregory on Sunday finally got an answer to his question about extending the Bush tax cuts, but it certainly wasn't what he was expecting.

For those that have been watching "Meet the Press" this month, the host has been grilling his conservative guests about this issue ever since former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told him on August 1 that tax cuts don't pay for themselves.

Having badgered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about this earlier in the program with no success, Gregory broached the subject with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey in a subsequent segment.

With a hanging curveball coming into his wheelhouse, Armey whacked a long drive that still hasn't landed (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Dem to 'Lefty' Chris Matthews: 'You Should Run for Office!'
By Geoffrey Dickens | December 8, 2009 | 5:50 PM EST

Inspired by Chris Matthews complaining about all the money spent on defense, instead of upgrading America's rail system, Michigan Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm endorsed the MSNBC host, on Tuesday's Hardball as she exclaimed: "You should run for office!"

During a discussion about how federal money should be spent on essentially make-work jobs, Matthews cited his own children's love of high-speed trains in Europe, "My kids talk about getting through the Chunnel...in a couple of minutes," and (pun intended) railed, "Why can't the federal government use the power of the workforce...and build a train system...so we can – and this sounds so pathetic – catch up to Europe and Japan!"

Matthews then went further as he targeted defense spending and exclaimed: "I hate to sound like a lefty but the fact is we're spending all this money on our defense programs - McDonnell-Douglas, Boeing...Why can't we do what other major powers do? Build a modern society! Instead of fighting all the wars supposedly for everybody else," to which both his Democratic guests responded with their pleas for him to run for office. [audio available here]

The following exchanges were aired on the December 8, Hardball:

Obama Economic 'Summit' Features Tax-hiking Governors
By Ken Shepherd | October 21, 2008 | 3:29 PM EDT

Covering a "sober summit" held in Lake Worth, Florida that "focused on boosting jobs and capping the rising costs of healthcare," Miami Herald's Lesley Clark noted that Sen. Barack Obama was joined on stage by the Democratic governors of the swing states of Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, and Ohio:

''A crisis like this calls for the best ideas, the brightest minds, the most innovative solutions from every corner of this country,'' said Obama, who invited the Democratic governors of four key election states to share a stage with him, along with a small business owner from Miami, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and the CEO of Internet giant Google.

Yet the 2008 Fiscal Policy Report Card by the libertarian Cato Institute found a C-average among those Democratic governors. By contrast McCain supporter Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) earned an "A." Michigan's Gov. Jennifer Granholm -- who portrayed Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in Sen. Joe Biden's debate prep -- and Colorado's Gov. Bill Ritter were assigned "D"s for their advocacy of tax hikes (emphasis mine):

Matthews: Granholm is a 'Genius', So Can She Play Palin?
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 30, 2008 | 6:31 PM EDT

On Tuesday night's "Hardball," Chris Matthews wondered if Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, "an Ivy League grad" and "genius," was really a good choice to play the role of Sarah Palin in Joe Biden's debate prep. During a segment with Democratic consultant Nancy Skinner, who is prepping Granholm, the "Hardball" host implied the "Harvard Law" graduate may not be the best "fit" to play the Republican vice presidential nominee:

She's a genius. You think she is, in, in her manner, in her background and she's born in Canada. How does she sort of fit the role of Sarah Palin? Why is she a good sparring partner to play that role?

A little later in the segment Matthews painted Palin as empty-headed as he worried the "neo-conservatives" would "home-school" her in the "ideology of the right," like they did to Dan Quayle and George W. Bush.

The following exchanges occurred on the September 30 edition of "Hardball":