Scott Prouty is the man who made that video of Romney talking about the 47% to his rich donors. He is exactly the kind of person who needed to do this: a person who was doing everything in his power to rise: educated, hard working, with a "good moral compass" as he puts it, and just getting by. Still living in an apartment, not married, no kids: all that beyond his means. Working for rich people who boss him around and show other forms of contempt for ordinary people. What made him furious was hearing Romney say that young Chinese women were delighted to work in sweatshop factories for meager wages and implying that if we did things right in this country we could have the same kind of labor force. That we needed to stop coddling people with benefits.
It had to come from someone like him. Look at well heeled people like us: we do get benefits, aside from the ones everyone else gets and takes for granted as if they just happen-- like public safety and street and highway maintenance--but we are winners in the game of capitalism. We profit from the virtually free higher education we got, and we inherited property and other assets, too. What do we have to tell Scott Prouty? We don't have to work for rich people and swallow their insults. Prouty comes from a class of people, not necessarily into politics, who very much believe in fair play and giving everyone a chance. They work far harder than I do, for sure, and have a lot less to show for it, mostly, because they came into the game of life with fewer advantages, even though, I must say, they are probably every bit as smart and competent as Terry and I are, or maybe even moreso.
In fact, I was kind of blown away by how smart Prouty is. He is a very cool, systematic thinker who also has a passionate sense of justice. Well, he is my hero!
On last night's Ed Show, Scott Prouty came forward for the first time. Asked why he waited so long and is re-animating the issue at this point, he said it was because of the way Romney was refusing to go away and was lying about everything. Most importantly, he said that identifying himself earlier, and especially before the election, would have shifted the focus away from Romney and what Romney said and onto him. I think, myself, that at this juncture he is safer in the public eye, because he is apparently already being stalked.
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And Chris Hayes and Ed Schultz are switching places on MSNBC. Thank god. Now I can have my weekends back and watch Chris on weekdays instead. We usually watch the Rachel Maddow Show, and Chris's show will come on an hour before hers. I'm wondering how different the format will be, switching to a one hour from a two hour format. So proud that I knew Chris Hayes "when," sort of, from the Nation Cruise. And I was, frankly, getting tired of his show, and I think he was, too. This change should freshen things up.And give Melissa Harris Perry a chance to shine instead of being in Chris's shadow. She is wonderful, too, and was also on the first Nation Cruise. She has needed better guests. She tried to have Gail Dines on, but her boss nixed that as being too controversial. I read Dines's book, Pornland, and was quite upset by her conclusions, especially her belief that porn has ruined sexuality for many.
But that is a subject for another day, perhaps.
I also was impressed with the interview last night. I am glad he came forward and gave his reasons. He really did do a service for the country. Those who wanted to vote for Romney anyway at least couldn't pretend they didn't know what he was.
On the removing of Ed Schultz, I was not pleased. I liked his working guy, rough and tough ways, don't particularly like Chris Hayes, too young, too smooth, too something lol, and to me it will be like two Rachel Maddow shows in a row, BUT it will free up my evenings to not watch news; so that works for me as did you regarding the week-end change. I doubt I will watch Ed on the week-end as that's always too filled up for me to even remember it unless they do it in the evening. We have lost Ed's voice on Progressive radio with the Oregon station going to sports. I am down to what I read, I guess :( Not that reading is bad.
Posted by: Rain Trueax | March 14, 2013 at 12:06 PM
Rain: I hear you. And I like Ed Schulz and his working class vibe, too. It's really too bad you lost progressive radio. Chris Hayes is eastern and urban and Rachel is western and urban, so there is that degree of difference. Funny, we always like young women but are somewhat prejudiced against young men.
Posted by: Hattie | March 14, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Well, I'm not that fond of her as such either. I watch her show off and on but she's not on my list of must-sees. Maybe I am prejudiced against the young or maybe it's just that I liked Ed and felt he was not the standard looking guy to be doing that job. I came to like him from radio and liked him when he moved to the news show. He would really call out what he saw and not gently at times ;) I hope he meant it and that he really did want this change. The rumor was they wanted to get a smoother, more sophisticated look to their lineup... Does that mean Chris Matthews is next? *s*
Posted by: Rain Trueax | March 14, 2013 at 02:32 PM
Rain: I understand that Ed Schulz actually wanted the weekend spot. But of course we will probably never know what's behind the switch.
Posted by: Hattie | March 14, 2013 at 06:03 PM
I am so behind on this Mitt story. Will be interesting to watch Ed, who I think is great, and finally get the entire scoop on the damaging video. I sure hope that this young man will be safe in the years to come. -- barbara
Posted by: barbara | March 14, 2013 at 07:01 PM
When news of that video broke, I thought, This is the beginning of the end of the Romney campaign.
Prouty is raising money for legal defenses and has had to contend with angry people:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/scott-prouty-47-percent-legal-assistance-fund?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Motherjones%2Fmojoblog+%28MotherJones.com+%7C+MoJoBlog%29&utm_content=Twitter
Posted by: Brandon | March 14, 2013 at 07:38 PM
Barbara: The big media are trying to suppress this story. They are still beholden to the Republicans and their money. They would rather cover CPAC.
Brandon: Thanks for the link.
Posted by: Hattie | March 15, 2013 at 10:48 AM
Hattie: You're welcome.
I found this through a NancyNall.com comment:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/3/14/11649/9098
To me, MSNBC should stop running all those old prison specials on the weekends.
Current, which is no longer available on our cable system, now seems to be only documentaries about the last days of dead celebrities: "[name]: The Final 24." That's according to the FB updates I signed up for a while ago.
Finally, Nancy herself is dismissive of Maddow's view of Detroit's new emergency manager.
Posted by: Brandon | March 15, 2013 at 11:09 AM