This is an example of overreacting.
TPM consistently makes solid, albeit partisan, points as it analyzes the political and policy scenes. Along with similar blogs that favor the opposite side of the aisle, I find it must reading.
But it's way too early to get upset or to assume that there's a conspiracy at the Sunday talk shows because they booked Republicans this weekend. Why?
- The Republican Party is BIG news right now as it tries to figure out where it goes from here
- Republican governors met last week in Miami and made news
- Republicans look like they're about to lose even more seats in the Senate as final counts, recounts, and special elections take place in the next few days and weeks.
The Republicans TPM notes as being booked on the talk shows all play to these stories.
Newt Gingrich, who is as important a voice as exists in the GOP, made an important statement last week calling on the party to move to the center or risk being doomed to marginal and losing status.
Jon Kyle, one of the most conservative Republican senators and a member of the Senate GOP leadership, will make news either by agreeing with Newt and showing that the party is likely to be moving away from what up to now had been considered its base, or by disagreeing and showing that a huge fight is ahead.
Michael Steele announced this week that he is a candidate to become chairman of the Republican National Committee so his views about where the party should go are important.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is considered to be a likely candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 and, therefore, is an important voice in what the party says, does, and should do.
In addition, my strong suspicion is that many Democratic guests turned down invitations to appear on the shows this weekend. For example, it is unlikely that anyone from the Obama transition team was willing (or allowed) to appear. If they were asked, the Democratic House and Senate leadership also almost certainly turned down an invitation because they didn't want to upstage the transition, they would be asked questions about potential cabinet members they certainly didn't want to answer, and the lame duck session over which they will preside next week doesn't look like it's going to produce much of anything.
Meanwhile, the three Democrats listed by TPM as talk show guests are hardly insignificant. Carl Levin (auto industry, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee), Barney Frank (financial services), and Charlie Rangel (taxes) are all very senior Ds who are heavily involved in current policy discussions.
The GOP candidate for president just received 46 percent of the national popular vote. The Republicans may be on their way to being marginalized but they are not there yet. That make the future of the party news and a worthy subject to be discussed.
So TMP is wrong: The fact that Republicans are on the Sunday talk shows this weekend is not a cause for concern.
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