Sunday Talk Show Has Strange Guest -- A Poor Person!

Very early Sunday morning, Nicole Belle publishes Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread at my favorite political site, Crooks & Liars, listing all the luminaries who will be appearing that day on the political talk shows.

For years I watched several of those shows, especially the flagship Meet The Press, on NBC. (I used to like the late Tim Russert, whom I thought was one of the more courageous interviewers; today's David Gregory, not so much.) I thought I was staying well-informed by watching the latest political controversies being debated by prominent, influential people.

Eventually I got so tired of seeing the same fat cats telling the same lies, without any pushback from the same compliant hosts, I couldn't stand it any more; I haven't watched a Sunday talk show for a long time.

Speaking of fat cats, several years ago I was watching an episode of Fox & Friends (I know, I know) when guest Geraldo Rivera was discussing a proposed tax bill that would only affect those with an income of more than $400,000 a year, an amount that seemed pretty damned high to me. Said Rivera to Doocy, Kilmeade and whoever that blonde is: "Let's face it, all of us make a lot more than $400,000 a year."

I nearly fell out of my chair. Like it or not, whether he deserves it or not, Geraldo Rivera has been a controversial (notorious?) media star for years, and learning that he made "a lot more than $400,000 a year" did not come as a surprise -- but those third-rate hacks on the Fox couch? Outrageous!

But I digress: back to Nicole Belle and the Bobblehead Thread. The latest stellar lineup from ABC's "This Week," NBC's "Meet The Press" and "The Chris Matthews Show," CBS's "Face The Nation," CNN's "State of the Union," "Fareed Zakaria's GPS," and "Reliable Sources," and "Fox News Sunday" show the following guests:

Senators: John McCain, R-Ariz. (appearing on a Sunday talk show for the 10th time this year and urging -- as he always does -- dropping bombs somewhere new); Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; former Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe. (What, the unctuous, self-righteous, light-in-the-loafers Lindsey Graham was sick today?)

House Representatives: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Linda Sanchez, D-Calif.; Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash; Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii; Mike Rogers, R-Mich.; Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Rep.-elect Mark Sanford, R-S.C.; former Rep Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).

TV Talking Heads: ABC News’ George Will (twice); ABC Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl (twice); the BBC’s Katty Kay; S. E. Cupp, MSNBC Host of "The Cycle"; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent; Bloomberg View columnist Margaret Carlson; Juan Williams, Fox News Political Analyst.

Spooks and agency guys: Gen. James Cartwright (USMC, Ret.), former Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden; former CIA Counter-terrorism chief Robert Grenier.

The Dead Tree Bunch: Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus; New York Times columnist David Brooks; Joe Klein, TIME Magazine; The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty, Paul Farhi of the Washington Post; Jim Warren of The New York Daily News; Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Connie Schultz; The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member Kimberley Strassel; the National Review’s Jim Geraghty; Bloody Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard.

Former diplomat Thomas Pickering, who helped lead the State Department's review of the attack against the U.S. in Benghazi, Libya. (Three times, because -- Benghazi!)

Web denizens: Howard Fineman, The Huffington Post; The Hill’s Bob Cusack; popular culture commentator (!) Lola Ogunnaike.

Democratic consultants: Donna Brazile and Mo Elleithee.

Republican consultants: Alex Castellanos and (sometimes apostate) Matthew Dowd.

Authors Wes Moore and Maya Angelou.

I've left off MSNBC shows "UP with Steve Kornacki" and "Melissa Harris-Perry"; MSNBC, good lefties that they are, have a number of guests that don't fit the pattern: homeless advocates, et cetera. In fact, Melissa Harris-Perry had on her program -- Drum Roll! Shock! Gasp! -- A Poor Person! Imagine that! What a concept! Listen to the views and opinions of a person who is actually feeling the effects of the policies the pundits and politicians so airily discuss.

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The Poor Person's name is Tianna Gaines-Turner. She and her husband, who have three children, were driven into poverty and homelessness by the chronic illness of one of their very young children.

Melissa Harris-Perry frequently speaks out as an advocate for the poor. In a post from September 2012, Nicole Belle (Crooks & Liars) tells of an Harris-Perry's outburst on hearing a wealthy conservative guest whining that the top income brackets must be rewarded for the risks they take:

“What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously! What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. I live in a neighborhood where people have to figure out how to get their kid into school because maybe it will be a good school and maybe it won’t. I am sick of the idea that being wealthy is risky. No. There is a huge safety net that whenever you fail will catch you and catch you and catch you. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people. And when we won’t, because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness.