Gabby speaks: Diane Sawyer previews first Giffords interview
Then, for the first time since the attack, Giffords speaks before the cameras. Watch below.
The interview airs on Monday at 10pm on ABC.
Politics
Maddow slams Cain over sexual harassment
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Thursday night blasted Herman Cain for the way he has handled the ongoing sexual harassment scandal. Cain's lawyer said any woman who is considering coming forward with new allegations against the embattled Republican presidential candidate should "think twice." In addition, Cain's campaign has set up a website attacking one of his four accusers.
Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:
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Bernie Sanders: GOP only represents 'hardcore right-wing extremists'
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday said that the Republican Party did not represent the vast majority of Americans.
"On issue after issue, the Republican ideology represents only a tiny faction of what the American people want," he said during an appearance on MSNBC.
"You go out on Main Street, and you say to the American people, do you believe we should give tax breaks to billionaires at the same time as we cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and people will look at you and say, are you nuts? We don't believe in that."
Sanders added that the Republican Party only represented a "small number of hardcore right-wing extremists, people like the Koch brothers, who ideologically essentially want to undo every single piece of legislation that has benefited working families in the last eighty years."
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:
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Tea party Rep. blames angry outburst on 'too much coffee'
When Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) blew up at a constituent earlier this week, shouting "Don't blame the banks!" when confronted on questions about the economy, it was all because of an "empty stomach" and "too much coffee," he said.
Speaking to WLS-TV, an ABC News affiliate in Chicago, the woman who seemed to trigger the outburst claimed that Walsh had offered an apology later on, but didn't back down from his defense of Wall Street.
The video below is from ABC 7 in Chicago.
(H/T: ThinkProgress.)
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Franken rebukes marriage inequality: Straight people won't suddenly 'become gay'
At hearing Thursday for a bill that would repeal the federal ban on same sex marriage, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) encouraged his Republican colleagues not to worry because "straight people aren't suddenly going to become gay."
"The suffering that [the Defense of Marriage Act] DOMA causes and will cause is very real and it's cruel," Franken told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "DOMA hurts people who love each other and want to make a commitment to each other for life. DOMA hurts people who want to have kids and adopt kids and raise them and take care of them. DOMA hurts people who want to save up money and retire and live the rest of their lives together with some degree of comfort. DOMA hurts familties."
"Mr. Chairman, we need to pass this bill," he added. "And when we do pass it, straight people aren't suddenly going to become gay. Straight people aren't going to stop getting married. We're going to be just fine, really."
Franken concluded: "What will happen is that millions upon millions of lesbian and gay Americans aren't going to suffer the indignity of having their own government tell them that their marriages are no good. What will happen is that it will be easier for those people to start and to protect their families."
Franken and nine other Democrats on the committee voted to pass the bill. All eight Republicans voted against the measure.
The Human Rights Campaign delivered 135,000 petitions to Senate offices Thursday calling for Congress to finally legalize marriage equality. Although 30 Democratic senators are co-sponsoring the repeal of DOMA, it is not expected to pass the pass the full Senate even if it does come up for a vote.
Watch this video from the U.S. Senate, broadcast Nov. 10, 2011.
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GOP Sen. claims equal rights are just too expensive
Why shouldn't same sex couples have equal rights? According to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), it's because equality is just too expensive.
"Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) would actually result in an expansion of federal benefits and spending at a time when we know that federal spending is way out of control and our entitlement programs are unsustainable," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
"Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act would actually increase the cost of Social Security that is already insolvent," he added. "No one has paid into the Social Security system expecting benefits to be paid to same sex partners."
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) later explained that same sex couples, like everyone else, deserved the benefits of the system they had been paying into.
"If you have a same sex couple, both of whom have paid into Social Security, both of whom have fulfilled all the things required, that somehow it would be wrong if they got the same benefits as an opposite sex couple would," he said. "Fair is fair. They paid. They should be allowed. ... I think if you're paying the taxes, you're fulfilling the obligations, you ought to get the same benefits as anybody else."
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) added that a 2004 Congressional Budget Office report found that legalizing same sex marriage would actually slightly decrease the Social Security burden.
In the end, the committee voted 10-8 along party lines for the bill to repeal DOMA. It is not expected to pass the full Senate even if it does comes up for a vote.
Watch this video from the U.S. Senate, broadcast Nov. 10, 2011.
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Perry: 'I stepped in it last night'
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry tried to do a little damage control after his poor debate performance by appearing on as many morning shows as possible Thursday.
At Wednesday night's CNBC debate, the candidate made at least three attempts to remember the three agencies of government that he would abolish and failed every time.
Even prominent Perry supporters suspect that his campaign is now effectively over.
"I stepped in it last night," Perry told Fox News host Gretchen Carlson. "That's for sure. I think I'm no different than a lot of Americans as they are sitting around -- listen, there are some agencies of government I would like to forget and I certainly forgot one last night. ... If anybody's looking for the slickest politician or the slickest debater, I readily admit, I'm not that person."
"Is there a chance in the wake of your debate performance last night that you are going to call it quits?" Fox News host Steve Doocy asked.
"You know what today is?" Perry replied. "It's the two hundred and I believe thirty six birthday of the United States Marine Corps. If there was a day to quit, this isn't it. We're going to continue to work. We're going to go back and talk to people across the country about issues that they're really concerned about, not who's the best debater or who has, you know, forgotten an agency as they were listing out some that they would do away with."
Watch this video from Fox News's Fox & Friends, broadcast Nov. 10, 2011.
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Ron Paul on 'Occupy' protests: I'm all for going after crony capitalism
Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R) on Wednesday suggested he supported some aspects of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement -- at least insofar as the protest was against "crony capitalism."
When asked whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry was a crony capitalist during CNBC's Republican presidential debate, he responded by saying that he did not have enough information to know if that accusation was true.
"But there is a lot of crony capitalism going on in this country, and that has to be distinguished from real capitalism."
Mentioning the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" protesters, he added "if you're going after crony capitalism, I'm all for it."
Paul said crony capitalists were the ones "that benefit from contract from government, benefit from the Federal Reserve, benefit from all the bailouts. They don't deserve compassion. They deserve taxation or they deserve to have all their benefits removed."
"But crony capitalism isn't when someone makes money and they produce a product," he continued. "That is very important. We need to distinguish the two. And unfortunately I think some people mix that."
Watch this video from CNBC, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011, below:
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Perry can't name the 3 agencies he would eliminate
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says he will eliminate three federal agencies if elected president, but he just isn't sure what they are.
At Wednesday night's CNBC Republican presidential debate, the candidate managed to remember the first two agencies but repeatedly failed to name the third.
"I will tell you, it's three agencies when I get there that are gone," Perry said while pointing three fingers at Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).
"Commerce, Education and, uh, what's the third one there?" he wondered to himself.
"You need five," Paul interrupted.
"Commerce, Education and the, um...," Perry tried again.
"The EPA?" former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney volunteered.
"The EPA. There you go," Perry agreed.
"Seriously?" CNBC debate moderator John Harwood asked. "Is EPA the one you were talking about?"
"No, sir. We're talking about the agencies of government -- the EPA needs to be rebuilt," Perry said.
"But you can't name the third one?" Harwood pressed.
"The third agency of government -- I would do away with Education, the, um, Commerce and let's see...," Perry continued, glancing down at the podium. "I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops."
After a commercial break, the candidate recalled that he wanted to also eliminate the Department of Energy.
"I’m glad I have my boots on because I sure stepped in it tonight," Perry was quoted saying after the event ended.
Watch this video from CNBC, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011.
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Glenn Greenwald: Journalists have become servants to power
Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald, a former constitutional rights attorney, said the media's reaction to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement highlighted how mainstream media journalists had become part of the elite class.
"If you look at, say, a host on MSNBC, what you're actually seeing is a very high ranking employee of what was General Electric and now is Comcast, who makes many millions of dollars a year and has a make-up artist sitting in front of their face for an hour applying all sorts of make-up and another person working on their hair."
He said that journalists had traditionally been people outside of power who acted as watchdogs to aid the powerless, but that mainstream journalists now identified with the powerful.
"It has converted them into watchdogs over power into spokespersons and servants to people in power," Greenwald explained in conversation with Salon founder David Talbot.
He noted that at first the media ignored the "Occupy Wall Street" protest in New York City and then portrayed the protesters as misguided or confused.
"Why is the son of the CEO of Chevron and the fiancé of the second highest ranking executive at Citigroup scornful of Wall Street protesters? It's because this is who our media class is, they are integrated fully into the political class."
Watch video, courtesy of Fora.TV, below:
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At GOP debate, Herman Cain says Nancy Pelosi is 'Princess Nancy'
There is at least one woman that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain doesn't have much respect for.
At Wednesday night's CNBC debate, Cain referred to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as "Princess Nancy."
The candidate complained that the legislation to replace President Barack Obama's health care reform law had already been written, but then-Speaker Pelosi wouldn't let it come up for a vote.
"We didn't hear about it in the previous Congress because Princess Nancy sent it to committee and it stayed there," Cain remarked.
At a tele-townhall event last week, Cain responded to a question about sexual harassment allegations by saying that he had "respect for women."
"I have been a professional. I respect women," he said.
Watch this video from CNBC, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011.
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GOP debate audience boos CNBC anchor over sexual harassment question
Throughout the campaign season the audiences at Republican presidential debates haven't been shy about making their opinions known -- and Wednesday's CNBC debate was no exception.
CNBC moderator Maria Bartiromo immediately felt the crowd's wrath as soon as she asked Herman Cain about the sexual harassments allegations against him.
"Mr. Cain, the American people want jobs but they also want leadership, they want character in a president," Bartiromo noted. "Four women have accused you of inappropriate behavior. Here we are focusing on character and judgement."
The moderator was then forced to pause as the audience groaned and booed.
"You know the shareholders are reluctant to hire a CEO where there are character issues," she continued. "Why should the American people hire a president if they feel there are character issues?"
"The American people deserve better than someone being tried better in the court of public opinion based on unfounded accusations," he replied. "And I value my character and my integrity more than anything else and for every one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are probably -- there are thousands who would say, 'None of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain.'"
Other GOP debate audiences have booed a gay soldier and cheered letting a man without insurance die.
Watch this video from CNBC, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011.
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Journalist: Elections show people more progressive than their politicians
John Nichols, the Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine, on Wednesday described the 2011 elections as "very significant" victory for progressives.
Liberals and progressives came out on top in elections across the country, including repealing an Ohio law to limit collective bargaining rights, recalling ultra-conservative Arizona Senate president Russell Pearce, defeating Mississippi's proposed "personhood amendment," and restoring same-day voter registration in Maine.
"The truth of the matter is that on mornings like this, in many years, progressives have to look around for, you know, a thin ray of hope," Nichols told Democracy Now.
"But as you look across the country today, what you find is that in state after state, and in many unexpected places, there really were quite remarkable wins for progressive politics. And I think the important thing to take away from all of those results is that where the people led, where progressive forces led, and the Democratic Party had to fall in behind."
"That’s a powerful lesson that grassroots activists, that the people themselves, are a lot more progressive than the politicians," he added.
"And it ought to be something, one would hope, that people right up to the White House would take note of."
Watch video, courtesy of Democracy Now, below:
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