GretaWire

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IT IS SHOWTIME!!

Show Questions and Comments??? Post them right here about ON THE RECORD!!

We are busy preparing for tonight's show ... so I hope you join us for ON THE RECORD at 10! Thanks!

Are we getting another stimulus dose? Washington Post says it is being discussed at the White House.  This one will likely come in a different form (if it comes) -- what is being discussed temporary payroll tax holiday and permanent extension of the research and development tax credit.

Note: this is a discussion...not a decision.

PS. Get ready...tomorrow the unemployment numbers for August come out.  Let's hope the numbers are trending DOWN.

This is how ridiculous some people (journalists?) are.  Because my producers hustle really hard and book the chief newsmakers first and often as they are the main part of the ongoing news story...and because I get off my __ and go to stories and the guests so that I can take you ....suddenly I am a pal to a central guest to an important national news story.

In the blurb below Governor Brewer is being criticized for a poor performance in a debate and I am referred to as her "pal."  Who do you think books these guests?   And where do you think this happens?  Do you think I am hanging around some social event with our guests and that we are pals? really pals?

It is true I like people (even the goofy ones who are thinking up all sorts of things about me and about how guests are booked on cable news shows.)  It is also true that I like my guests (I don't agree with any one of them all the time.)  I am nice to the guests and I appreciate that they will come on ON THE RECORD at 10pm to explain why they do something or don't do it....so the critics call me the "pal."  Go figure.  Yes..it is funny.

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"....Be it stage fright, or her empty head just couldn't function on air without the able assistance of her pal Greta Van Susteren–whatever the case, ...

Read below and tell me...am I wrong?

When President Obama took office there was great excitement....he could draw crowds like no one else!  People who were never paying attention to politics were getting involved in politics.  Even many moderate Republicans were excited !

And now?  (and actually starting very on as evident by the Tea Party events of April 15, 2009)

It just feels depressing.  There  is little or no excitement and that is a big problem - not just politically for the Democrats come November  but for our economy.  We can all argue about what economic policies to pursue or not to pursue but bottom line is that the economy reflects the national psyche. If people feel great and excited, they invest and spend.  They are creative and enterprising.   If they feel a national doom and gloom, they hold on tight to their money and the economy grinds to a dismal halt.  We need to turn this around.  Many Americans are really worried or even really hurting.

I keep trying to think what happened...where did that all important excitement go that inspires everyone and which we all hoped would bring us out of economic funk?

I come up with a different explanation all the time as I try to figure out where everything seemed to go off the rails in this Administration. Tonight I think it is because President Obama never became a leader...he did not realize what it meant to be the President of everyone.  Instead, perhaps out of inexperience, he remained in campaign mode (the us against them attitude)  starting first with the "my way or no way" with the stimulus bill of February 09.

As I look back 19 months I think that if instead there had been bipartisanship in February 09 in tackling our mystifying economic turmoil, I think things would be different now.  We would see the two parties working together, and not simply drawing a line in the sand.  There was no bipartisanship and no real effort to achieve it.

So what happened?  People got mad...felt left out.  Many were furious that a giant stimulus bill -  unread by those voting for it -  was shoved down their throats with a 'take it or leave it' attitude.   Do you blame them for feeling left out and alienated when there was no bipartisan agreement?  So what happened next?  The Tea Party movement was born.

And because he is the President, it was his responsibility to hang up his campaign mode beginning January and move into being that leader we needed.  He is the top guy.   He didn't do it so now, with all the Washington rancor, he is really entrenched in campaign (attack) mode.  The first thing he did when he got back from vacation was to go to the Rose Garden and criticize the Republicans.  Even if they deserved it, that was the action of a campaigner not a leader.

I am not saying it is easy to be a leader but two things: 1/ he said he could do it when he ran and 2/ he could at least seem to try.  He could at least appear to reach out to those with whom he disagrees no matter how obnoxious he thinks they are or that they actually might be.   That's what a leader does.

And every time I hear him blame someone else I hear it as code "I can't do it.  It is too hard." Well it is hard..and few can do it....and maybe he can't and if he can't, he won't get a another term.

Don't kid yourself...if you think our GretaWire poll in the previous post had anything to do with the content of the note below from Politico.com, you are fooling yourself.  It is merely a coincidence.  I had no idea the White House intended to do a press conference and I am sure the White House is not reading GretaWire.  This (below) went up at 3:56pm ..and our poll went up about an hour before.  Let me repeat: this is just a fun coincidence.  The White House does not influence me and I certainly do not influence them.  I wish the press conference were in the evening....I think people pay more attention to evening press conferences.

Watch our interview with Bob and Mike Bryan, which includes footage we were not able to include in last night's ON THE RECORD:

did you know one is left handed? and the other right handed? how is the fact that one is right handed and the other left deadly for opponents?

do you want to know about stringing of their rackets? have they ever played with wood rackets? who would they have liked to play in history?

how about the fact that they have an iphone app? (and it is free!)

can they go anywhere in the USA without people recognizing them?

superstitious? big time ! (but apparently they are not the only ones!) lucky showers? lucky restaurants? lucky songs?

weak stomach ? nerves ?

there is so much more to learn about the Bryan Brothers and tennis....so watch the video below:

As this is our behind the scenes look at the U.S. Open with the Bryan Brothers, as shown on last night's ON THE RECORD:

Let's hope this breaking news turns into nothing...but right now Coast Guard is reportedly responding to oil rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico.