MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
Jul 20, 2011 at 12:41pm
I'm sorry, but this is hilarious. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer was fighting with Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) about whether the stimulus preserved the country from going into a depression. The best part of the exchange:
Brewer: Do you have a degree in economics?
Brooks: Yes, ma'am, I do. Highest honors.
Turns out he graduated from Duke in three years with a double major in the dismal science and political science. He went on to law school at the University of Alabama.
Brewer, for her part, has a degree in broadcast journalism.
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Comments :
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Dee-lightful.
Jul '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Classic! Always a treat to watch a know-it-all get shot down by their own snarkiness.
Jun '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
She is a stammering idiot.
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
You know, I have a degree in economics. And I'm very glad to have one. Very few journalists do. However, I can't imagine a scenario I would ever use my background studying economics to belittle someone else. What was she, without benefit of that background, even, thinking?
Also, some of the people I know who studied economics are actually much less educated on economics than people who didn't formally study it.
Just all around a bad approach for a broadcaster to take.
Aug '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
I believe the Broadcast Journalism degree trumps all other degrees because to earn it, you're required to know absolutely everything, or at least think you do.
May '11
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
First rule of lawyering (and broadcast journalism) Don't ask a question when you don't know what the other person's answer will be.
May '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Don't get me started... Contessa wasn't hired for her brain, I can assure you that. She once confused Al Sharpton with Jesse Jackson. She lamented on a radio show that the Times Square Bomber had Islamic ties because it reinforces bigotry. (Don't let the facts get in the way...)
And she's constantly surprised by the opinions of her guests and that's a sign of talent too vapid to do any of their own research. She probably relies way too much on her producers who may not be any brighter than she is.
And I'd stake my broadcast journalism degree on it.
Sep '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
A good example of argument from authority, assuming he did not have a degree he would then need to shut up and leave it to experts, which of course she can selectively quote to her or her producer's liking.
We are similarly stymied on global warming. Since few of us are climatologist we are required (says the left) to listen and agree with experts who know what is good for us.
And lastly, very few economists would agree that raising the minimum wage is a good thing, some might argue it does little harm, but very few would say the effects are helpful to the broad population. But strangely here the appeal to authority is abandoned in favor of feel good ignorance.
And......the pressure has relieved to its normal level.
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 1:27pmAug '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Even a college track for broadcast journalism should have warned her away from trying appeal to authority argumentation. And when her setup failed, she still tried to invoke Ben Bernanke's status as Fed Chairman as a trump card!
"Gotcha" journalism may be the most inane, but it also has the most wonderful backfires.
Sep '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Me, too, EJ! (Actually a minor, but ...) When I was a beat reporter/feature writer at the Sun/Herald in Biloxi, the city editor would not let me be a judge in the local shelter's yearly ugly dog contest because (rightly) it would blur the line between reporter and sources and so, risk my credibility. Of course, that was back in the early 1980s. Since then, journalism itself has become an ugly dog contest!
Aug '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Shadenfreude!
Apr '11
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
I have a degree in econ and can tell you with 100% certainty that ANYONE who tells you that they knew for sure that the country was going into another Great Depression is talking out of that part of your body that rarely sees the Sun!!
It is impossible to prove something that did not happen (hello Aristotle).
Apr '11
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Oh, another thing that Ms. Brewer and other libs conveniently forget. Let's assume that she's correct and that Obama parted the waters and saved the country from a repeat of '32 and beyond, by Obama's own admission, those spending increases were required AND TEMPORARY to stop another Great Depression. Why is the budget now at that higher baseline? If the Great Depression was averted, why do we need to continue the spending hikes? What is Obama trying to stop now? Maybe she can interview Bernanke to enlighten us so we'll know with certainty what won't happen in the Bizarro alternate universe of Liberalastan.
May '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
I'm going to store this up for the day a reporter asks me on camera, "Okay, so, do you have a degree in theology?"
I'll say, "Yes, I do. High honors."
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 1:49pmJun '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Mollie, that was just too good. I only wish I could see what she said next. Do you have a link to the whole segment by chance?
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 2:02pmApr '11
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Whole link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZXzvRvTykU
An amazing 7 min exchange. Her constant defense of Obama is so blatant that it induces nausea. I need a good stiff drink!
Jul '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
I'm just surprised by how many of us have Econ degrees. We were always outnumbered when I was in school, and we were almost like a secret society.
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 2:13pmMay '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Here lies the problem with "broadcast journalism." You have to choose either broadcasting or journalism because you can't have both. Once you step in front of that camera you become a "personality." That in and of itself creates a situation where you become equal to the story. That is why most of the real digging for shows like 60 Minutes is done by the producers and not the "correspondents," who usually parachute in for the big interview.
The terrible thing about network and cable news is that it's local news on steroids.
Dec '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
Well, in her defense, those two ARE more or less interchangeable.
The only major differences are their hair and which words they butcher most severely.
Aug '10
Re: MSNBC Attempt To Discredit GOP Congressman Backfires
I remember a few years ago Columbia added more social science and statistics to it's j-school degree so the journalists would be able to understand policy experts. I can't remember if they actually did this and if so if it was mandatory.