November 4, 2010 - 4:31pm
Lawrence
"Crazy Larry" O'Donnell was back to his former self during MSNBC's
Election Night coverage Tuesday. During the 9 p.m. EDT hour the MSNBC
anchor claimed that if Rand Paul holds to his "principles" and
filibusters an attempt to raise the debt ceiling, it would destroy the
United States' credit rating and possibly spark a worldwide depression.
O'Donnell also pressed House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on the
matter.
After Cantor refused to give O'Donnell a direct answer to his oddball
question, the frustrated MSNBC host ranted that he didn't want to see
Cantor on MSNBC again.
In the beginning segment, O'Donnell was giving commentary after live
coverage of Rand Paul's victory speech. Paul, he noted, will soon be
pressed to vote on raising the debt ceiling, something which O'Donnell
asserted is vital to the health of the U.S. economy.
The
debt ceiling, he noted, "must be raised on a date certain - at a
particular time on the clock, or the United States government goes into
default."
"If [Paul] filibusters the debt ceiling beyond that point," O'Donnell
added, "he can not only destroy the credit rating of the United States
of America, he can wreak havoc on the world's financial markets, cause a
worldwide depression with one consistent holding to principle which is
his notion of the American government's relation to debt."
O'Donnell then tried to nail Rep. Eric Cantor on that very issue during
the next hour of coverage. Noting that the GOP House leadership will
need to introduce an increase in the debt ceiling, and that the next
Speaker of the House Boehner promised not to let the Tea Party down,
O'Donnell asked Cantor if the Tea Party would feel let down by the
decision.
Cantor wouldn't bite on the loaded question, so O'Donnell pressed him
further. "You want to raise the debt ceiling...or are you going to let
the country crash?"
"We're going to have at least three or four months here to demonstrate
that we are about fiscal discipline," replied Cantor. "And then you're
going to raise the debt ceiling, or let the country crash?" asked
O'Donnell.
Cantor wouldn't give him a direct answer. So after the interview was
finished, Chris Matthews invited Cantor to come on MSNBC again for an
interview.
"Now wait, I don't want him to come back if he's not going to answer
questions," O'Donnell interjected, after Cantor had left. "I mean, this
is ridiculous. A guy like that can run and just spins those talking
points, doesn't answer a single question," O'Donnell self-righteously
thundered.
A transcript of the three segments, which aired on November 2 at 9:13
p.m., 10:23 p.m., and 10:26 p.m. EDT respectively, is as follows:
MSNBC DECISION 2010 11/2/10 9:13 p.m. EDT
LARRY O'DONNELL: [Rand Paul] is a man on a very fast collision course
with his principles. One of the early votes he will be asked to cast in
the United States Senate is the single - the single most important vote
ever cast by the members of the House and the Senate, and that is on the
debt ceiling. Our debt ceiling is now 14.3 trillion dollars, it will
need to be raised in the coming year. He just used the phrase "enslaved
by debt." This is exactly what he stands against. If he - and he is, as a
single United States senator, empowered, empowered to prevent us from
raising the debt ceiling, because it must be raised on a date certain,
at a particular time on the clock, or the United States government goes
into default - if he filibusters the debt ceiling beyond that point, he
can not only destroy the credit rating of the United States of America,
he can wreak havoc on the world's financial markets, cause a worldwide
depression with one consistent holding to principle which is his notion
of the American government's relation to debt.
(...)
MSNBC DECISION 2010 11/2/10 10:23 p.m. EDT
O'DONNELL: (to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ...you're going to have to
loosen the belt before you tighten it, as you know, you and the
Republican leadership in the House, Speaker Boehner, are going to have
to bring up an increase in the debt ceiling to be voted on by your
membership. John Boehner tonight has told the Tea Party quote, "I'll
never let you down." Do you think the Tea Party will feel let down when
you and John Boehner move to raise the debt ceiling next year?
Rep. ERIC CANTOR: Look, right now, what the people are saying,
including the folks in the Tea Party, is "Get your business straight
Washington, start listening to us, and start demonstrating the kind of
fiscal discipline -
O'DONNELL: I'm not hearing an answer. I'll wait, but I'm not hearing one.
CANTOR: I'm going to give you an answer - I'm going to give you an
answer - and start demonstrating the fiscal discipline that we expect of
our federal government, and most especially the Republican Party.
O'DONNELL: You want to raise the debt ceiling?
(Crosstalk)
O'DONNELL: Or are you going to let the country crash?
CANTOR: We're going to have at least three or four months here to
demonstrate that we are about fiscal discipline - cutting spending,
going about the things that Americans want, which is to bring government
back into -
O'DONNELL: And then you're going to raise the debt ceiling, or let the country crash?
CANTOR: Now - Now listen, we-we've got three or four months until that gets here, and then -
O'DONNELL: So you won't answer any questions about the debt ceiling until one minute to midnight when you have to raise it?
(...)
MSNBC DECISION 2010 11/2/10 10:26 p.m. EDT
CANTOR: Again, a pleasure to be on MSNBC tonight.
KEITH OLBERMANN: I'm sure you feel that way. Thank you. And -
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Please come back.
OLBERMANN: Yeah. Indeed. The irony, though, of the phrase -
O'DONNELL: Now wait, I don't want him to come back if he's not going to answer questions -
OLBERMANN: No, but I was just going to say, the irony -
O'DONNELL: I mean this is ridiculous -
OLBERMANN: Lawrence -
O'DONNELL: A guy like that can run and just spins those talking points, doesn't answer a single question.
- Matt Hadro is a Media Research Center News Analysis division intern. You can follow him at twitter.com/matthadro.
