IS Douglas Holzt-Eakin just another lying political hack?

Photo Credit: Petersen Institute

By l.t. Dravis

MSNBC NEWS – Friday, October 24, 2008 – Here we go again . . . another day, another hour, another minute, and another talking head comes on the air to ‘answer’ questions asked by a cable news host.

In this case, we’re watching ‘Race to the White House’ hosted by David Gregory on MSNBC.

By way of full disclosure, I am an avid MSNBC and CNN watcher, often flipping between both channels at a frantic rate, trying to catch as much of Wolf Blitzer, Jack Cafferty, Chris Matthews, and David Gregory as I can.

So let me ask you (again), are you as sick of listening to lying political hacks as I am?

If so, let’s take a listen to Senior Economic Advisor, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, ‘answering’ David Gregory’s questions.

Who is the real Douglas Holtz-Eakin?

Though he’s an incredibly bright guy (Senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Senior Staff Economist for President George H.W. Bush, etc.), he’s probably best known for having imputed the creation of the BlackBerry to John McCain.

Hmmm.

In any case, we need to know . . . Is Douglas Holtz-Eakin just another lying political hack?

Let’s see how he did in an interview with David Gregory this afternoon.

David Gregory: “I want to welcome Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Senior Economic Advisor to the McCain campaign who joins us this evening. Doug, it’s good to see you.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “Good to see you, Dave.”

David Gregory: “L-let me follow on this point, this ad that the McCain campaign is running in the context of an international crisis. Let me ask you the question in terms of an economic crisis, you’ve seen the polls, I don’t have to remind you of those . . . the advantages of taxes and the economy goes (sic) to Barack Obama. That’s in our poll. So if it comes to a test, what to you point to, to show the voters, the undecided voters, that John McCain has passed and that Senator Obama has not?”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “I think there are three or four key points here. The first is that Barack Obama is firmly aligned with the Bush administration in not getting it that the key to this financial crisis is taking care of the housing market. Keeping people in their homes will help stabilize the real economy, help keep unemployment from going up, keep consumers spending. Stabilizing the housing market will take care of the banking sector and the idea that you just want to throw the cash at banks is really, uh, uh, uh, an incomplete and mistaken policy. I think the second major point is on the substance, Barack Obama is bad news for the economy. The kinds of things he wants to do, misplaced tax policies that hurt small businesses, trade policies that are protectionist, bad health policies are all going to hurt jobs and John McCain is not going to turn this recession into a depression like Barack Obama is.

“Third key point is, you know, Barack Obama’s got more money. He gave up the, uh, the pledge for public financing in the general election. He’s trying to buy this election by running misleading ads about all this and, and the question is, can he get away with it?”

AND THE ANSWER WAS . . . NO ANSWER. Holtz-Eakin failed to answer David Gregory’s question . . . which was, ‘What do you point to, to show the voters, the undecided voters, that John McCain has passed the test and Senator Obama has not?’ Holtz-Eakin threw out some unsubstantiated stuff about Barack Obama being ‘firmly aligned with the Bush Administration’. He lectures on the obvious benefits of stabilizing the housing market and he gives us a few more unsubstantiated claims, says Obama will turn the recession into a depression (again, without substantiation) and complains that Barack Obama has raised more money and is running misleading ads. Translation: Who put a gun to the McCain campaign’s head to force them to take public financing and the limitations thereof? And, is Holtz-Eakin calling the kettle black when he accuses the Obama campaign of running ‘misleading ads’?

David Gregory: “Let me ask you the question about tax policy and the debate that’s being framed here in the, in the, closing days. Explain to me why this pitch about Joe the plumber and about tax cuts is anything more than a play for non-college educated, working class voters in a state like Pennsylvania which is key on the electoral map for the McCain campaign.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “People tried for months to get Barack Obama to reveal, A, the details about what he really plans to do and, B, what exactly was the philosophy that somehow underpinned it. Without success . . . I mean, you still cannot get the Obama campaign to tell you what is the definition of a small business that gets the differential tax treatment. They, they, refuse to actually come clean.

“Joe the plumber in Ohio got Barack Obama in a moment of losing his verbal eloquence to actually lay it out. What he believed. And the American people don’t like his agenda. Ah, that’s not, ah, ah, a judgment made by this campaign. It’s a judgment made by the American people. And all we’ve done is see it exposed.”

AND THE ANSWER WAS . . . NO ANSWER. Again, Holtz-Eakin failed to answer David Gregory’s question . . . which was, ‘Explain to me why this pitch about Joe the plumber and about tax cuts is anything more than a play for non-college educated, working class voters in a state like Pennsylvania which is key on the electoral map for the McCain campaign?’ Holtz-Eakin opened with a vague criticism about Obama’s alleged refusal to reveal something about ‘what he really plans to do’. He expresses a concern about the definition a small business, criticizes Obama’s loss of ‘verbal eloquence’, and closes with a blatant lie when he says the ‘American people don’t like his (Obama’s) agenda’.

David Gregory: (interrupting): “. . . Are you saying they don’t like his agenda on taxes? On general handling of the economy, Barack Obama gets the higher ratings. The polls show that . . . “

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: (Interrupting) “ . . . Barack Obama has gotten, B-Barack Obama has gotten the higher rating but this election is not over. If you look at the only poll, the only poll that called the 2004 election right, Investor’s Business Daily, this is a 2 point race. And we shall see whether Barack Obama, uh, by revealing exactly what he’s up to, which is, let’s spend a lot of money, let’s raise taxes to, to pay for and let’s not worry about economic growth, let’s not worry about prosperity that’s generated by ss . . . having a jobs, saving for college, saving for retirement, uh, we’ll see if that plays so well.”

AND THE ANSWER WAS . . . NO ANSWER. For the third time, Holtz-Eakin did not answer the question . . . which was, ‘Are you saying they don’t like his agenda on taxes? On general handling of the economy, Barack Obama gets the higher ratings.’ Holtz-Eakin tells us the obvious – the election is not over – and then dismisses every other poll in the nation by claiming that the only accurate poll is the ‘Investor’s Business Daily’ poll because it happened to call the 2004 election right (unsubstantiated). Holtz-Eakin then makes a few more unsubstantiated claims about a secret Obama agenda to spend a lot of money, raise taxes, not worry about economic growth, not worry about prosperity generated by having jobs, saving for college, or saving for retirement.

David Gregory: “Right . . . you know, I-I was asked by, uh, uh, a voter the other day, uh, w-who was not necessarily coming from, from the other side of the aisle, but who said, look, ‘cause I-I often will say in covering the, the Bush White House that I can remember well John McCain bucking President Bush and bucking the Republican party, uh, but the facts are also clear I remember covering John McCain when he did talk about voting with the Bush Administration ninety percent of the time. So, how do you reconcile that . . . in our polling that shows nearly six in ten voters think that McCain would be more Bush at a time when you’re saying that the Bush Administration doesn’t get it. You’re going for separation pretty late in the game.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “Well, I mean, the reality is it’s not the number of votes, it’s, it’s what votes matter. Uh, a-at key moments, John McCain has in fact done the right things standing up to the Bush Administration. He’s done the right thing at times in standing up to the Republican party, uh, and he, he will continue to do that for the American people. That’s the key moment. The leadership moments. That’s what the ad was about today.

“Barack Obama has never displayed one moment of leadership . . . when he said that his party or his political backers, ‘no I won’t do that for you because there’s an important issue that the American people need for me to deliver on’. He’s never shown any, uh, uh, ability to do that and without that, he is truly untested and dangerous.”

AND THE ANSWER WAS . . . NO ANSWER. Once again, he failed to answer the question . . . which was, ‘You’re going for separation (from the Bush Administration) pretty late in the game (aren’t you)?’ Rather than answer the question, Holtz-Eakin talks about John McCain’s ‘maverick’ image and refers to an unknown ad. He then goes on to criticize Barack Obama for never having displayed even ‘one moment of leadership’ and he warns us that Obama is untested and, moreover, dangerous.

David Gregory: “Al right, we’re going to leave it there. Senior Advisor on the economy, uh, Doug Holtz-Eakin. Doug, uh, good to see you. Thank you for being here.”

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: “Thank you.”

Though David Gregory, an experienced, well-respected journalist asked a series of insightful questions, Holtz-Eakin didn’t answer even one of them.

If Holtz-Eakin was hired by John McCain to give folks like you and me reasons to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin, he didn’t earn a dime’s worth of his pay today . . . unless bad-mouthing Barack Obama works for the McCain campaign.

But I’m curious . . . why on earth wouldn’t Douglas Holtz-Eakin take this opportunity to tell hundreds of thousands of MSNBC viewers why they should vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin?

Why would he waste your time, my time, David Gregory’s time and his time by leveling a bunch of unsubstantiated attacks on Barack Obama?

Could it be that Douglas Holtz-Eakin is just another lying political hack?

Good question . . . what do you think?

P.S. Doug . . . take a shave, willya?

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