Reason's Nick Gillespie Schools Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher on Fast and Furious

News Buster.org ^ | June 23, 2012 | Noel Sheppard

[Kaslin]

One of the finest examples of how liberal media members really don't know what they're talking about occurred on HBO's Real Time Friday when Reason's Nick Gillespie gave a much-needed education to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and host Bill Maher on the issue of Fast and Furious.

In the end, Maddow and Maher embarrassed themselves in a fashion that should have both of their respective networks seriously concerned about their qualifications to disseminate information to the public (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Reason's Nick Gillespie Schools Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher on Fast and Furious

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: I think it is, you know, if you believe that Shirley Sherrod was a horrible reverse racist at the Department of Agriculture...

BILL MAHER, HOST: [Laughs] Yes.

MADDOW: ...and if you believe a guy in a pimp suit exposed Planned Parenthood as sex slavers, then yeah, this is the kind of thing that the mainstream media ought to be following Fox too as well. It is based on a crazy conspiracy theory that the Bush, the Obama administration is fomenting gun violence in Mexico in order to make Americans anti-gun…

NICK GILLESPIE, REASON: No.

MADDOW: …so that they can rescind the second amendment.

BILL MAHER, HOST: Right. It’s kind of the, it's the Right's... GILLESPIE: No, wait, wait, wait, wait. The scandal is that the ATF, which, you know, their high watermark before this was the Waco standoff, where instead of being disbanded they got to be in charge of explosives as well as alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. They were running an organization, an operation where they were not even telling the Mexican government as in past things where this kind of operation...

MAHER: Started under Bush, right?

GILLESPIE: That was a different operation.

MADDOW: Same ideas.

GILLESPIE: Yeah, but they were also in cahoots with the actual Mexican authorities, whoever those might be. But, so you have Eric Holder saying, “No, this wasn’t going on.” Then it’s, “Oh yes, it is going on.” This is, this is a massive screw up, and there is something worth checking out here. It’s not about whether or not Obama’s going to take away the second amendment or anything like that. Eric Holder doesn’t know what’s going on in the organizations that he runs, just like he says, “We’re not waging war on medical marijuana dispensaries in California,” where they’ve made more raids in three years than Bush managed to do in eight or Clinton managed to do.

MAHER: Should he be held in contempt though? Is it…

GILLESPIE: Yeah, well…

MAHER: Really?

GILLESPIE: If he’s not playing by the rules of Congress, and this is not a straight executive power thing because the ATF is a, is a joint Congress and executive branch thing.

Exactly.

It's quite clear Maddow, knowing the show, the host, and the audience, believed she was going to be able to just speak Democrat talking points and Maher would back her up.

Unfortunately for the two of them - but quite beneficial for viewers at home! - Gillespie was there to counter the propaganda.

In so doing, Gillespie exposed Maher as a total nincompoop without any understanding of what he's talking about.

NewsBusters readers know full well I've been exposing that for years.

But far more important, Gillespie showed Maddow to also be a shameless shill lacking the facts on this matter but willing to present the administration's side regardless of the truth.

As Maher is just a comedian with a television show on HBO, him being outed as an idiot is really just sauce for the goose. I demonstrate Maher's deplorably low intellectual capacity so often it's become a sport.

Maddow on the other hand is an unjustifiably well-respected anchor on a so-called cable news network.

That she could be so easily exposed as devoid of the facts in a friendly environment with a supportive host and an adoring audience should seriously concern folks at NBC and MSNBC about the woman they've propped up as the brightest in their organization.

If Maddow really is the best NBC News has to offer, there's no wonder it's "struggling," "slipping," and "adrift" in the ratings war.

[mylife]

Amazing that Maher and Maddow are try to paint this as a Reichstag fire planned by the Republicans LOL!

Typical Lib transference

[RichardMoore]

Once again we see evidence of the idiocy and evil of TV. Can we just cut these folks off at the knees and stop funding them. Is that really too much to ask?

[TigersEye]

The Department of Justice ’ s Operation Fast and Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents

(above) Four ATF field agents testify under oath that they "never even heard of intentionally letting guns "walk" before F&F."

‘Wide Receiver’ CI: ‘It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ’

New Documents Highlight Differences in Bush-Era, Obama-Era Gunrunner Investigations

Operation Wide Receiver vs. Operation Fast and Furious

Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth

[Mach9]

Amazing. Gillespie doesn’t know a whole lot more than they do. And his argument was as full of commissions as omissions. Someone ought to send him Andrew McCarthy’s 5-page NR article (posted on FR today) or at least refer him to Holder’s two (possibly three) “misstatements” to Congress. Good grief, Roger Clemens almost got 5 yrs. for “misstating” to Congress, and the investigation of his case didn’t involve directly traceable deaths! Not to mention that the Executive Privilege invoked by the Prez would, other than in the Obama world of Oz, imply if not prove that Obama not only knew about F&F, but long before any date he’s “erroneously” cited.

[ozzymandus]

Maher and Maddow’s (false)talking point: Bush did it! They need a new lie, and the race card won't cut it this time. This is a perfect opportunity for the RINOs to show some guts in an election year. I pray they won't completely blow it.

[Tex-Con-Man]

Some Dem congressional staffer slipped Maddow some talking points and she smarmingly read them to her audience, who in turn, posted them on DU.

They are in for a big surprise, but don't know it. Issa has meticulously laid a solid foundation and Maddow’s idiot followers are about a year behind on F&F information. Imagine their surprise.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Rush said there was a 2 YEAR SPAN between the time the Bush operation closed down and F and F started. There is NO WAY this can be blamed on Bush.

[Kaslin]

[Kaslin]

Of course not. Operation Wide Receiver ended in 2007 and Fast and Furious began in October 2009, that was in the 10th month after that lazy, lying pos’ inauguration

[homegroan]

They probably can’t fire her because she is of a protected special class of “folks”- the gays. It would be a “hate” firing, discriminatory and homophobic.

The LGBTQetc community is so driven with trying to be accepted as normal,they don’t seem to be able to even peek out of the window once they are out of the closet.

They can’t stand to face or see normal, because it reminds them of how abnormal THEY are!...Their brains seem to be committed full time to proving us “breeders” are wrong about everything... it literally takes over their entire view of the world. What’s sad is they really DO want to be normal and get married, have kids, a house etc.But their perversion takes presidence over everything; it is the voice they choose to obey.

So, to compensate, they live in their own world complete with their own news and she is their Walter Cronkite...and no matter what we do, we will always be the enemy,always be wrong, always be a Bible thumping clinger,always be the scapegoat because they live as children and will never take responsibilty for their own actions.

I would like to see them really DO something positive for this country that has given them so much; instead, the best they can muster is making movies which are completely false about conservatives as bad people and liberals as good people, or offer up more of the same snarkiness that they never seem to run out of....why not do something good for a change?

[True Republican Patriot]

Was it only a Democrat Assault on the 2nd Amendment? which is horrific in and of itself!
Or is Fast & Furious even worse? A Massive Payoff and Blackmail paid to the Drug Cartels??? We know how dirty Obama & Co. are and all that is hidden in Obama’s Past and Others!
Didn’t more than $ 50 Million and maybe up to $100 Million get spent on Fast & Furious? Yet only 2000 Assault Weapons changed hands! At a generous $2000 per Weapon, that only accounts for $ 4 Million of Taxpayer funds!And now we know the Agencies were ordered to stand down and no tracing or investigative expenses!! Where did the Money GO???

[True Republican Patriot]

P.S! We know the Gun Runners PAID FOR THEIR WEAPONS WITH CASH!! so forget the $ 4 Million I wrongly stated that the American Taxpayer would normally be charged for these Weapons! If in fact FAST and FURIOUS!! was actually Legitimate and Honest!!

[DAC21]

I'm not sure where that Wide Receiver data came from, but the total guns involved and total arrests are WAY high from all the other stories I have read.

I have read UP TO 500 guns, and as low of a number as 11 indictments.

[Former Proud Canadian]

So why do I only hear this from Rush and on FR? Can we get the facts out? They get the lies out pretty quickly.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Thank you.

[True Republican Patriot]

Pray tell your unnamed sources?
Thought sooooooooooooo!!

[jwalsh07]

Well, in all honesty, Gillespie could do with a bit of schooling himself. It is simply because Maddow and Maher are so dim that Gillespie comes off as knowledgeable.

[Kaslin]

Tom Blumer of PJ Media has reported about this many times and the articles have been posted here by several FReepers and myself

[Cyber Liberty]

Hi Chick,

People around here wonder why conservatives go on these moonbat liberal shows. This why.