MY good friend L.

I am happy to see you call it like it is and a liar a liar.. ;]

Cheers

Just saw the show with Any Rand/Paul Ryan story. Can't wait to pass on the news. Good job Larry

Lawrence, your Spotlight on Ann Romney really was The Last Word! Brilliant. Thank you.

Your's is the only of the evening line-up I can tolerate at this point. I've been weaning myself off MSNBC onto more Australian content, promising to cut loose after the election. It's very disheartening watching this drama unfolding. But I did get a big laugh out of David Cay Johnson's, "Why we didn't know that, that was the blind trust's doing."

Fantastic Ayn Rand expose. Now to watch the clips. And Joy's a gem. The more she talks, the more I like her. And yes, I love every time you call a liar a liar. cheers.

Still say put a moustache on Ryan and he looks like Hitler!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. O' Donnell,

This diatribe/near middle school rant was unbecoming of a national television political journalist. Your passion for your "cause" as a "practical european socialists" (your own self-describing words) was very unbalanced, lacked objectivity and bordered on slander. To publicly accuse anyone of lying, of any stripe - a particular a habit of yours historically - you must be prepared to offer proof not mere speculation and hearsay.

Ms. Rand did endorse Ronald Reagan in her time, by and by, which you state she did not. Are you lying? I don't know, but you're most certainly misinformed. Also, Ms Rand's philosophy, called, Objectivism, is in full agreement with the Catholic Church in regard to human reason and the dignity of the individual. Where they divert from one another is the existence of God and what is genuine love. This is the principle difference that separates them.

For Mr. Ryan to have picked up on her (Ms. Rand's) near disordered worship of human reason and, distinctly, the dignity of the individual, is perfectly understandable. The Catholic Church states that Faith and Reason walk hand in hand and the dignity of the individual is the foundation of it's teachings of Social Justice. That Mr. Ryan had "walked" with her for a time and studied her is hardly a cause for a diatribe but rather speaks to a mind in search of truth. Something you apparently struggle with - the truth.

If you have an ounce of integrity in your work you may wish to point out that you erred when you stated Ms. Rand did not endorse Ronald Reagan when, in fact, she had with great enthusiasm and on numerous occasions.

15 Post Topics on this Blog on the current page and while there are repetiitive posts on minor issues of interest such as Ayn Rand, Romney's taxes, etc. there is not a single post of what the two candidates are saying how our economy got into the really awful shape it is in after 5 straight years of Federal Govenment and Federal Reserve attempts to stimulate with deficit spending and low interest rates and dropping tons of dollars on the finance system by Helicopter Ben, Ben Bernanke, Chief of the Federal Reserve.

And all we have for it is High Unemployment, low, anemic Gross Domestic Product, a huge number of homeowners underwater with their mortgages, Family Annual Incomes down by $4,500 dollars from the previous administrations last year figures, retireees no longer able to obtain interest income that helps defray their cost of living (with the increases not properly measured by the Federal Government in Food Prices and Gasoline and Home Heating Oil), and the steady growth of a larger, and more intrusive Federal Government with new legions of employees needing to be supported by the tax payers, such as the 45,000 new tax lawyers and investigators and agents for the IRS just to implement the taxing and penalty mandates to individuals and employers of ObamaCare, the (Un)affordable Care Act.

Come on Little Larry O'Donnell, even you can surely do better than this pap you offer up daily: start paying attention here to the matters that really matter to the American voters.

Well said, Keith. It is, in large measure, a distraction from the more serious issues that face this great nation to entertain insignificant "facts" such as of Mr. Ryan's apparent adaptation of selective portions of Ms. Rand's philosophy and Mr. Romney's alleged "felonious lying" on his income tax returns.

Mr. O'Donnell? If Mr. Romney has been "feloniously lying" on his tax returns you are also implicating that the IRS is either incompetent and/or is turning a blind eye to his "crimes" while his political opponent is currently the official administration of the executive branch of our government. A rather odd argument.

Given his high profile and income one would think just the opposite; that he would come under greater scrutiny not less from the IRS. If you truly belief he "feloniously lied" why not file a formal complaint with the IRS? And leave the rest to those charged with the responsibility to enforce the IRS Code? This seems the civilized course. Not borderline slanderous hearsay and mere speculation for whatever motive you harbor and focus on the real issues at hand as Keith pointed out so well.

Ayn Rand, speaking about abortion: "Without the right to control one's own body, no other rights are possible."

Bits and pieces of Rand's philosophy have been used by the wing-nuts on the Right who are either too lazy to have read her writings or don't have the intellectual equipment to comprehend them. Ayn Rand is not only a "minor issue," she (or her misunderstood writings) are probably the largest issue of our time.

To Rand, belief in a supernatural being (God) equaled mysticism. A title of one of her pamphlets was "Faith and Force: Destroyers of the Modern World." She would have thought Paul Ryan a complete bozo.

Lawrence, you nailed it. Keep reminding people, please.

I am not sure if Paul Ryan's flip flopping on his former hero, now cast as villian, Ayn Rand is really going to matter to the religious right. Evidence of this was witness in the early criticism of Romney, a Mormon, that he was not a "Christian." Bible Belt religious leader after religious leader gave support to any one and everyone but Romney, until only Romney remained, and support was suddenly given on the basis that it would be better to vote for someone who does not follow "Christian" doctrine as a Mormon, than support someone who has publically attested that he is a Christian [Obama].

Given this, I have serious doubts that those in the conservative religious right will abandon their true god, the one that gives them a sense of security and comfort each and every day ... I am speaking not just of the Almighty, but the Almighty Dollar.

Ryan is just evolving on the issue of religion. Just like President Obama and his stance on gay marriage. What is the big deal? At least Ryan can count with real money.

if romney is elected......hope not...
i would not be surprised if he completely remodeled or tore down and built a new white house that is more to his liking. how could such a man of wealth and good taste live in such an old thing as the present white house!!!!

Thank you all for your feedback. Mr. Olson, Ms. Rand did endorse Ronald Reagan publicly numerous times both in public speech and in her writings. She was not in love with him, or his ideas in their totality - to be sure; he was the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry bin of American politics in her view, so she endorsed him. In fact, it would not be a shock to hear she voted for him. She also endorsed Alan Greenspan and his work.

As for the Ms. Rand's position on the abortion issue, Mr. Dewitt? The presumption in her understanding is that though human life is created through consent to a conjugal act which caused a new life somehow magically transforms as "hers" to dispose of as a "right to her body" wholly avoids the reality that this was not made possible through herself alone; which is wholly and - ironically - irrational - given Ms. Rand's worship of reason.

Life requires co-operation of others to create in the first instance. It is not a "solo act" of an individuals will. A woman can not will herself to become pregnant without outside of self cooperation. Therefore, because creating life requires - of necessity - the cooperative act of another it is not "hers" as a personal possession. Nor, is the new life strictly and rationally speaking, of her alone. It is also of the father as well. This means - rationally, that this new life is a sharing - not a singular possession. It stands to reason - Ms Rand's "god" - that any decision regarding this new life is also to be determined in a cooperative manner. Reason demands this. This is why I stated earlier her understanding of genuine love is virtually non-existent and so her philosophy is sorely lacking - truth. That is, rationally speaking of course.

And I will repeat the first statement Mr. O'Donnell. If you truly believe Mr. Romney has feloniously lied on his income tax returns either produce hard evidence of such a charge, file a formal complaint with the IRS, or encourage your chosen President to instruct the U.S. Dept. of Justice to officially investigate these very serious charges. If you are not in possession of such evidence, or are not willing to pursue legitimate avenues of recourse to address your concerns then silence is the only virtue tenable in this life on the subject. Any less is scandal and very low brow knuckle dragging stuff and mere noise making.

I think that all of the focus (in the Rewrite) on Ayn Rand's atheism and strong pro-choice views, and their conflicts with Paul Ryan's Catholicism and strong anti-choice views, kind of miss the boat. I think that a person can believe in some aspects of an author's philosophies and not in others... it doesn't have to be "all or nothing." In this case, I assume that Ryan's devotion to Rand has always been based on her economic and political views (i.e., business leaders and the rich as heroes and the immorality of government assistance to those in need); her religious views (i.e., atheism and pro-choice stance) have probably always been irrelevant to Ryan.

As such, I don't see any personal transformation here -- the Ryan budget, which pays for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, etc. through tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, is consistent with Ryan's long-standing belief in Rand's economic and political views. To me, this is the key point -- the fact that Rand was also a devout atheist -- which makes it easy and convenient for Ryan to disavow all ties to Rand's philosophies -- is just a distraction.

I enjoyed reading Atlas Shrugged a few years ago, and found it motivating when I was about to start my own business. I believe in capitalism and recognize the important role that entrepreneurs play in our society. But pure objectivism as a blueprint for public policy in America today? Um, I don't think so.

More stark are her comments to Mike Wallace (see it on youtube) 1959 that we have no moral obligation as our brother's keeper. In 1959 she saw both political parties moving toward totalitarian socialism.

More stark is her interview with Mike Wallace 1959 where she says we are not our brother's keeper and both parties are leading us to socialism by supporting Social Security, etc.

You were trying to castigate Paul "Ayn Rand" Ryan regarding his economic and political views and his links to author Ayn Rand. However, the fact that Ayn Rand was an atheist is, I think, irrelevant to the discussion unless you want to discredit atheist views altogether, and you seem to want to make that point that atheism is evil. And likely, too, you, like many Americans would never vote for an atheist because you're xenophobic. Personally as an atheist I take offense at that. Yes, Ryan is a self-righteous, egotistical person. His policies are incredibly bad. And he claims to be a Catholic, yet I didn't hear you stressing that fact at all, that his supposed morality is contrary to what his church supposedly teaches.

You either believe in individualism over collectivism, or you believe like Obama in collectivism over individualism, with all the self defeating unjustness that entails. Self reliance and taking responsibility for one's own actions in life is a very livable creed...suggest you try it out, Nick. There is reason why one can't do that and be charitable also.

I was glad to hear O'Donnell admit in his blog that he is deliberately trying to @!$%# over the Republican party during each and every one of his shows. Don't know where your head is at, but I don't see that kind of one-sidedness happening on the Republican side. Scumbags like O'Donnell can have a show if they want , but they shouldn't be allowed to pretend that this is an objective presentation. O'Donnell and his ilk are nothing but lapdogs to their socialist directors. If you don't believe me now and vote to reelect Obama - then you'll believe me in 4 years when he ends democracy as we know it. Think it over comrade.

Hello Gentlemen, this will be my "last call" and I wish you all well but welcome your feedback. Davidk? To be an atheist is not an indication of evil intent or evil per se and you assume much when transferring stereotype to someone you do not know. There is no need to express Mr. Ryan is Catholic. This is common public knowledge at this point and why I referenced Catholic teaching in the first e-mail. It is the MSNBC staff (as the near ancient video at the top of this blog demonstrates) that brought this irrelevant "issue" of Ayn Rand and Paul Ryan to the table; so, complain to them.

At they same time, because they (MSNBC) speak publicly with an implied authority they must face the music of public scrutiny. If they can not handle it? Then they should get out of the business. Mr. O'Donnell publicly accused Mr. Romney of criminally lying and deception when filing his income tax returns. This is a very serious accusation with grave consequence.

When making such a charge in a public format such as a nationally televised news network as an agent of a legitimate news agency one must be prepared to back up such a charge with facts not hearsay, speculation and/or mere subjective opinion or "reading between the lines" of an others statements. In short, it's dishonest, crude and border line liable slander. This is precisely what's wrong in "journalism" today on all sides. It's a national disgrace the level of moral depravation that passes for "news" today. That's the real scandal and evil Davidk.

SL Cabble. It is difficult - I know - to remain civil and we all know name calling is a sign of weakness so, we'll forgive you. To accuse a person of a federal crime as a public reporter without any hard facts is, in fact, a case for slander SL Cabble. Perhaps you should review the law. And it was stated that all sides are are guilty of this gutter journalism so why you are getting yourself so worked up over this is difficult to see. And lastly, I was referring to the video of the Johnny carson show. You need some rest and lay off the Starbucks. So, when you have something of substance to offer, well, we're all here.

So, how does a believer in Ayn Rand's philosophy vote for TARP and request stimulus money for their state?