I don't watch most of the conventions, but I did tune in to "Morning Joe" and a bit of "Hardball" to see MSNBC pundits turn on each other. That was the most fun thing I've seen on t.v. lately. Sort of like the drama and angst of an MTV reality show, but real, not fake and poorly acted. The Daily Show did a segment on the blowups. BTW, you could tell that these were not staged like the "argument" on immigration between Geraldo and O'Really on Fox Fictional News.
First, Chris Matthews, who usually pretends to be a moderate but, in reality, is an outspoken McCain supporter and usually takes the Republican side in any debate, reacted to a smear by Keith Olberman, who is one of two liberals on MSNBC. Keith introduced a guest by apologizing for his fellow pundits running off at the mouth. Matthews exploded. "I could say the same about you, Keith. I was saying what I believe and you'd better just shut up about running off at the mouth."
Keith deserved the shot, but, to his credit, he just smiled and moved on.
Later, when former right wing Congressman, Joe Scarbourough, started ranting about how the McCain camp was the winner at The Democratic Convention, Olberman said "he is really shoveling the sh-t now." Very rude, if true, and Keith later said he thought his microphone was off. Joe took exception.
Then, on "Morning Joe," Scarborough wailed on the other progressive contributor by saying "don't you ever watch the show? Don't you ever watch the show? No, I know you don't, because you sleep in. We had you scheduled 3 times last week and you couldn't show up for any of them." I can't remember the liberals name, because he is only an occasional guest, but he was the same guy who said "The Clintons pimped Chelsea."
Joe has been feisty for a couple of weeks, shouting down his co-host, Mika Bryzenski, on several occasions. Mika is moderate/liberal and hasn't been able to get a word in edgewise lately. Meanwhile, Scarbourough has allowed his regular right wing contributor, Willie Whatsit, to say outrageous things like "liberals are pretty wimpy when it comes to guns."
The best political news network on tv is providing much more interesting content than the Democrats. Let's just hope they keep on with their infighting during the Republicrook convention.
BTW, these fights between right wingers and progressives make a mockery of the conservative claim of liberal bias on MSNBC. This is open range, folks, and, until now, the conservatives just haven't had the guts to stake their claims. |
