I am a RI democrat who may have just flipped to tea party after that segment, I don't identify with bullies, and it seems like the tone of this election from the Democrats is anger and playing stupid like Lawrence is doing in totally canned questions that don't make any common sense, the dumbest question I have ever heard "name me one program you would cut that is more socialistic than medicaid?" and delivered so smugly) what an ass, I give up on the D's this segment just made me see how un-common sensical D's have become, this seems like the D version of Hannity, way too abrasive and a huge turn off....

I love your show Lawrence!!! You should have scheduled the Tea Party 101 segment for the entire hour, (yes, we could have done without Delany) in order to expose what little knowledge the Tea people really have. In that small amount of time, you showed the Sarah Palin knowledge in them all. They're just complainer's without knowledge, hee hee! But don't worry, Fox News will have them on tomorrow to clean up their stupidity. Right now they are stewing in disgust, "damn that MSNBC, they got us again" Sarah Palin is probably calling them now, scolding them, "never never never go on that MSNBC, Fox News only.... damn it!!!" I just love it. Democrates should have been doing these types of interviews with the Tea people a long time ago.

The man who made the comment that Social Security Disability was a complete fraud and waste of money is an idiot, what part of it's a tax paid for disability insurance program that we have paid for. What is his suggestion for the millions of disabled Americans that currently get SSD payments? What is his plan for housing and feeding us? Can we keep our Medicare? How does he feel about veterans compensation checks? Since they can't serve the nation any more should they be getting checks from the government any longer and they didn't even pay for veterans disability insurance like Americans who paid FICA taxes. If I sound absurd I hope so I am a disabled veteran who needs a heart transplant and can't get one so yes I am on SSD I would love to trade my health for this SSD check, but I can't so I really resent idiots like this person who used his few minutes of TV time to advocate taking away benefits I paid for, in two ways with my FICA taxes which include the portion for SSD benefits and with body parts from my military service, people like the Tea Partiers make me sick, let's cut 25% of defense and CIA spending, let's cut Congressional pay 10% lets make health care into a Medicare for all program and get rid of insurance companies that don't have anything to do with providing health care all they are is in it for profit margins how many people does that help care for? None take them out of the profit margin a one payer system is the only fix to HCR.

Lawrence, you revealed how hypocritical the Tea Party is. They get the benefits of the so-called socialist programs and yet they condemn socialism. They want to have the cake and eat it, too. They want to protect their social security and yet they want to destroy socialism. They complain about reckless government spending, and yet they raise zero questions about George Bush having spent trillions of dollars on Iraq War. If Bush's Iraq War wasn't reckless government spending, what is reckless government spending, then?

They want the door to swing one way. They turn a blind eye to BP Oil Spill, too, which was caused by a big corporation running afoul. They want to give a blank check to corporations that destroy people's lives, but they want to reign the government in. If they are so concerned about people and their freedom, they should talk about reigning in both big corporations and the big government. But they only talk about reigning in the government.

I applaud your courage. You are the only one who had the guts to say, "George Bush was their (the neo-cons') puppet." I am echoing exactly the words you used, and when I heard these words on national TV, I said to myself, "I am glad there's finally someone on TV who says what he thinks." I am glad you don't let the right wing power brokers and their servants get away with their lies. Sadly, these servants do not know they are servants; they think they're masters because they believe they're the captains of their lives when the ship is going in the opposite direction.

Tonight, you asked the tea party members the precise questions they must be asked. You said, "On this show, you're entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts." Tonight, you showed that the tea party members aren't even entitled to their own opinions. How can they be entitled to their opinions when they are so ignorant about facts? You can be entitled to your opinions only when you are in touch with facts.

Keep up the good work. Do not let anyone get away with their lies. I've seen anchormen and anchorwomen allowing their interviewees to get away with their sophistry. You have a talent in leading your interviewees to reveal their own ignorance. You don't reveal them; you let them reveal themselves, and I think this is a great talent.

Sincerely,

Jid Lee

i absolutely loo0000ooved tonight's Tea Party 101 segment with Lawrence. it was absolutely delightful! SO helpful and so smart to just put these people out and ask them to actually MAKE SENSE.

i enjoyed it because i was so curious to find out IF there was any substance to all that anger and this violence that those people are showing. Well tonight i found out they have nothing to say at all. it was SO RELIEVING to see Lawrence pushing them to get them to make some sense. since Obama became president, we've been exposed to\these crazy slogans and claims that America is becoming socialist, and that we are losing our freedom and blablabla... and we learn that these people, the so-called "leaders" of their own tea brands, have nothing to be angry about!!!

Lawrence, you are a brilliant reporter. Cutting through the political rhetoric and evasiveness of the Tea Party panel to find answers is what every reporter should be doing. Yet, even Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow seem hesitant to get clear answers out of politicians sometimes.

Lawrence is not a bully - he is merely trying to get straight answers out of his panel. How can he do so if these people will not answer his question directly? It's too bad that he even has to go so far as to ask for 'yes' or 'no' answers because of the panel's elusive talking points.

If the Tea Party is against socialism and government control, they should automatically be against all social programs including, dept. of energy, dept. of education, medicare, medicaid, etc. Why can't each individual plainly state this?

And, 'Convinced,' why is the dumbest question:

"name me one program you would cut that is more socialistic than medicaid?"

This is a legitimate question predicated on the fact that medicaid is a social program. And, further, it proposes another question in and of itself: Are there levels of socialism in social programs? For example, is the dept. of justice less socialistic than the dept. of education?

The question I have for Tea Party members is: what personal 'freedoms' has the current government taken away from you?

And "out of control government spending," "stimulus bills," "excessive national debt," and "too much taxation" is not an appropriate answer when these issues are and have been decided by the democratic process of all U.S citizens.

Great work Lawrence!

This was the greatest segment in politics this week next to President Obama on Jon Stewart last night. It was so interesting to watch the tea party jerks with no responses to a simple question. If you are so against socialism, what program would you cut that is more socialistic in nature? Only one had the guts to be honest and he sounded like a radical idiot. The lady and the cat with the glasses sounded like pure fools. They should have stuck to Hannity. I hope he goes on Joe in the morning. I'd love to hear what jackass Joe thinks about that interview.

Also, L.O.D. and Big Eddie are my heroes.

No progressive would consider that bullying..and the question is about Medicare, not that you would know the difference between the two socialized medical care programs. Your ignorance is breathtakingly apparent, so spare us the threats to vote Tea Party candidates into office. It's your vote to cast. Do it.

Notice how all of the Tea Baggers Lawrence had on were all white. As Keith Olbermann asked, "Where are all the black people?" I'll go a step further, Where are all the minorities? Guess they don't believe in diversity or Affirmative Action.

It's funny how all those Tea Baggers didn't raise their hands when Lawrence asked them if they think Social Security and Medicare are socialism. They're such hypocrites and ignorant. They know nothing about socialism and people actually want to vote for these idiots on Tuesday. How stupid.

I am so glad Lawrence O'Donnell took on the Tea Party last night. FINALLY. I have said from day one that the Tea Party is older people either on Social Security and Medicare or about to go onto SS and Medicare, who are angry that the Dems took half a trillion dollars out of Medicare to fund Obamacare. The Tea Party wants Obamacare repealed thinking the Republicans will put that 500 billion dollars taken out of Medicare back in. They won't. The Repubs are the ones who have wanted to end SS and Medicare for decades, they will be more than happy to leave Medicare gutted and leave the 500 billion dollars taken out of Medicare, out. There are 75 million baby boomers about to go onto SS and Medicare, this is what the Tea Party is. They want the Dept. of Education ended because they're old, they don't use the schools and colleges. I have seen them talk in chatboards about ending school breakfasts, closing down national parks - anything for them to fund their social programs. Lawrence is the first person I have seen tell the truth about these people, ask the real questions. Notice how one of the Tea Party leaders wanted to cut Medicare by 50 percent. I didn't see any of the TP leaders say to means test those two programs. No, because they have money and would lose a lot of their socialism, they want poor people to have to pay 50 percent for Medicare along with rich people. The one man who said to end disability wants his double Social Security payment. The Cato Institute said it's unfair to working women that a woman who pays into SS and Medicare gets one payment, a man who pays in gets two payments, one for himself and one for his wife who didn't pay into either program. The Tea Party folks wants those double payments, so they want to end disability payments for other people. It's all greed and selfishness and stupidity. They didn't have a clue that SS and Medicare eat up over 50 percent of the federal budget, that over the next ten years when the 75 million baby boomers go onto SS and Medicare, it will then consume 100 percent of the federal budget. They don't know where the federal money is spent, they don't know what they want cut, they don't know their taxes went down, not up, under Obama. This is all Glenn Beck speak - "lower taxes, no socialism, no government health care, the Constitution, less debt." I've asked them for two years how are they going to fund the 130 TRILLION dollar liabilities in Social Security and Medicare, because it's such massive welfare after about two years of receiving benefits, and they have NO answer.

The Tea Party is for socialism, but only for socialism for them. They are the socialists. The programs they demand would eat up the entire federal budget a few years from now. SS and Medicare would have to be funded via a value added tax in order to keep those programs paying out the way they do now - the double cash payments to men, paying rich people for 30 years, paying out 20 times what people pay in, the millions of dollars each person receives over decades in free health care. The Tea Party are the socialists, they are lying and they're stupid.

I saw Chris Matthews say a couple of times that 85 percent of Americans do not have a 4-year college degree. Apparently, the Tea Party members not only don't attend college, they don't read books either. They don't know what socialism is, what they are asking for, what they are doing. The corporations are using them to end their social programs so the government can spend most of the federal budget on the military. Our government is now setting up military settlements to surround Russia and China. The Repubs would love more wars, war with Iran, with N.Korea, keep making the corporations richer and richer building infrastructures in foreign countries while our infrastructure is crumbling. The Repubs want to end SS and Medicare because the U.S. has 761 military active military bases in 151 countries around the world and our government needs big money to surround Russia and China and pay for more wars. The corporations have taken our jobs to other countries so it's not getting the tax money to pay for more wars, so why not end any safety nets, end giving tax money to the people all together. Then, the U.S. can be an uneducated, Glenn Beck watching, military fighting machine. Can't wait until the Tea Party gets the Repubs elected and the Repubs first order of business is ending SS and Medicare on them so they can go to war with Iran next.

Lawrence, keep it up. Have the Tea Party leaders back. Interview them for an hour. Tell them how much we spend on the military, tell them SS and Medicare will soon eat up 100 percent of the federal budget. Glenn Beck lies and lies, call out all of this lies, ask these people some reald questions. They want socialism but are too uneducated to figure out what they are doing. People like Beck and Hannity see that big debt in SS and Medicare, and they're terrified the people will rise up and demand those social programs. People like Rush Limbaugh want to keep their 500 million dollar contracts and pay very little taxes, they don't want the poor masses rising up and demanding socialism. They know everyone wants socialism, they know their own Tea Party is demanding socialism.

Incredible interview Laurence !!!!

You rock!

Your questions revealed how little the Tea's know about government. The woman came off as uneducated and foolish. Her sound bites did not have a chance. No one thought the social programs of this country are socialism (that was down right funny). How you schooled these guests, corrected and eliminated those with little to no knowledge, was most impressive. This show is paramount, no BS will have a chance to get through.

Thank you Mr. (no relation) O'Donnell. It was an honor to watch you work.

I believe we have another Jed eye knight in our mists.

Ok, this has nothing to do with the Tea Party. But here is my insight as a fairly new comer to the US: i didn't know anything about Dems or Repubs. Then i became very interested in the elections and followed them closely... slowly learning the differences between the parties (not too sure i get the "independent" concept yet though, but i DO remember that Glenn Beck used to call himself an "independent" while on cnn. Look at him now. in all honesty, even while on cnn, i used to find him a bit unstable. i mean it when i say that i believe the guy lives his past addiction to alcohol on tv: his extreme opinions and absolutely unrealistic analysis seem to reflect his extreme past alcohol-induced episodes AND total disconnect from reality when he used to be under the influence. it seems that his system has been "shaped" by this pattern...and it goes on even after recovery. i do admire his great work on himself though.)

sometimes i would turn the tv on and start exploring the channels; everytime i selected a certain channel, i used to hear the same people yelling at each other, anchors kicking their guests out during an interview, rude words etc.. it really looked like a circus, and i couldn't understand anything that anyone was saying.

One day i finally asked my husband: "who are those people? they sound and look nuts". He responded: "oh! those are the craziest people out there. don't listen to anything they say, they are blindly pro-Bush no matter what - and i mean no matter what". Okay, i learned that those nut jobs were called "fox news".

my husband didn't/doesn't/won't miss a single Keith show, and records it when we are out. first thing i learned was "worse, worser & worst", then the show became so entertaining to me that i would try to watch it with him (and forget the chicken in the oven).

i enjoyed 2 things about msnbc: that there is entertainment mixed with information, and that everyone is a straight shooter. All of the anchors say it like it is, and most of them are funny.

i found Keith absolutely hilarious, love his paper throwing, glass breaking and merciless bashing of the idiot of the day, all surprisingly mixed with a nice dose of tact & respect during interviews (certainly not the circus & chaos on fox). My husband always says that Keith does his homework perfectly. He's quite unique with many contrasts.

i couldn't stand Ed Schultz before Obama got elected. everytime he would show up on Larry King or other panels, i found him to be a bully, interrupting people and using some extreme words. But then when he got his show, i started to really enjoy watching (or better to say "listening"). His segments are interesting, and he IS funny. i like his discrete compassion too.

Chris is a bit different from the others actually. He tries to stay neutral, but i like it when he stops you right there whenever he smells bs.

i didnt like Rachel in the beginning. i used to feel she talked a lot herself during the show. but slowly i started finding her very relaxed, pleasant, and quite professional, especially in the way she handled this absolute nut job turned scientist (can't even remember his name) but that was a historic interview where she showed a lot of professionalism.

i always wished we could see more of lawrence. first of foremost, i liked his passion. But now that he has his show, i can see his intelligence, and especially his "expertise" when it comes to interviews.

forgive my ignorance, i don't know what an idependent really is...but so far, from what i have seen, i have noticed that most of those who call themselves independents, don't actually know where the hell they belong... please correct me if i am wrong...

Thanks for the interviews with the representatives of several of the Tea Party movement leaders. I found their profound ignorance of government amazing. However, this profound ignorance did not extend to politics for politics sake. They were all on message (with one partial exception) not to equate Social Security and Medicare with socialism so near to an election. If they had they would be worried about the senior citizen backlash on Election day which might tip the scales in several districts. Seniors usually show up to the polls in large numbers.

Tea Party 101

This was a great interview. These tea party people have a place in our government. If America does not make room, it is America's loss.

I see serious patriots trying to improve on America by becoming politically active.

America's government must make room for patriots like these and many, many more. What's your flavor: “tea parties”, “coffee parties”, libertarians, “sharians”, socialists, skin heads, and communists? America is a diverse place. Congress is where all this diversity must come together.

Without more help, 8 elephants will trample the village: war, immigration, ecology, recession, foreclosure, joblessness, tax, and debt.

When service in a restaurant suffers, more waiters are required. When fire breaks out everywhere, more fire fighters are required. When crime becomes rampant, more police are required. When democracy tanks, more congresspersons are required. Be proactive. Check out plan-b.

Citizen is coach to team democracy. Coach is responsible for success. It’s your call, coach.

http://coach-1640280.newsvine.com/

http://coach-1640280.newsvine.com/_news/2010/06/04/4462088-coach-cm2-constitution

http://constitutionm2.newsvine.com/

Presidential Candidate (for one of 9 executive branch presidents) 2016

Recently I was at a meeting with senior people for Northrop, Bechtel and Fluor in which they discussed donating large sums of money to Sharron Angle THROUGH American Crossroads. They also discussed how they were "assured she was our girl" after a meeting with her people on Yucca Mountain.

If everyone is ok with large companies using organizations like American crossroads to hide behind and donate unlimited money and then get assurances of key votes that would make millions in return for their donations....then terrorist are a much smaller threat to our Democracy and Freedom then our own corporations and political candidates.

I am not some conspiracy theory crank, I am a business man who was told information by senior people from those companies because they believed me to be "one of them"...I am ok with many things, but selling votes and subverting our democracy is NOT one of them. I made a video discussing these meetings and my experience in detail. View them yourself and you decide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M73eks3vK9E

I guess I'm the only progressive here who was greatly disappointed in this opportunity Lawrence had to maybe find some common ground these teabaggers share with us. The one guy said the Wall Street collapse didn't just happen, it was massive fraud. YES! We think that too! But that was just brushed aside so Larry could yell at the baggers and get them to spew a good crazy soundbite. It wasn't tea party 101. I really was hoping it would have been. Why post pictures of the Rally for Sanity? You clearly completely missed the message since you did EXACTLY what Jon Stewart says you cable news people do; bully the teabaggers into a funhouse mirror image so we progressives can all keep hating them.