MSNBC hires former GOP head Michael Steele

I love Rachel Maddow, so I see Steele a lot..she evidently adores arguing w/him. She will get plenty of time for that evidently, from Time:

Fox News' Republican-professional commentator ranks have been thinning lately, with contributors Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum leaving to explore Presidential runs. So you'd think that Fox might be a promising perch for former GOP party chief Michael Steele. You would be wrong: the defenestrated RNC head is not an especially popular figure among the conservatives who make up much of Fox's viewership, and today it was announced that he will be joining MSNBC, of all networks, as a commentator. An actual human, non-puppet commentator.

Of course, it's not like MSNBC has no other Republicans in its pundit ranks, the chief example being Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough. But it will be interesting to see if Steele presents himself as a GOP analyst/loyalist, a la Fox's Karl Rove, or moves from his partisan past a la the TV version of Scarborough.

Meanwhile, a fascinating feature in New York magazine suggests that Fox News chief Roger Ailes has misgivings about some of the own political stars he's helped build.

It will be interesting. At least Steele isn't the usual walk in lock-step sort of Republican, which is why he would of never been hired by Faux News. He can hold an intelligent conversation and I actually find myself looking forward to the back and forth between him and O'Donnell and of course him and Maddow. An intelligent Republican is always welcome in my book, even though agreeing with him is a slim and none choice... for this leftwing nutjob bitch. ;)

His shit-canning reminded me of when the Red Sox canned a winning manager years back..I was like wtf?  Steele won a shitload of districts for the GOP turning the House into THEIR House..what the hell else did they, the idiots who voted for Steele's replacement want..the second coming of JC himself on video exclusively on Faux News? jeez.. whatever..it's MSNBC's victory and I do look forward to what he says..and hopefully it's not just their friggin talking points..please..not those.You do well up against Maddow..so keep it up..even if I DON"T agree with you Michael.

A message to the left - We are Media Orphans

Robert Parry, who can put his finger on the pulse of the right so very succinctly and eloquently, does it in this Consortium writeup about the left and our shrinking options in the media with the departure of Keith Olbermann. That he calls us media orphans...well, it just friggin nails it. From his article:

The troubling message to progressives is that they remain essentially orphans when it comes to having their political interests addressed by any corporate news outlet. While the Right has built its own vast media infrastructure – reaching from newspapers, magazines and books to radio, TV and the Internet – the Left generally has treated media as a low priority.

Though some on the Left saw hope in the MSNBC evening line-up, the larger reality was that even inside the world of NBC News, the other content ranged from the pro-Establishment centrism of anchor Brian Williams to the center-right views of MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough to CNBC’s mix of free-market extremism and corporate boosterism.

While gratified to be given a few hours each night on MSNBC, the Left surely had nothing to compare with Murdoch’s News Corporation and its longstanding commitment to a right-wing perspective on Fox News and News Corp.'s many other print and electronic outlets.

As I wrote in an article last November, “Olbermann and the other liberal hosts are essentially on borrowed time, much the way Phil Donahue was before getting axed in the run-up to George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, when MSNBC wanted to position itself as a ‘patriotic’ war booster.

The man ain't lying is he? Does it not all make sense now? We have a mere 14 hours a week whilst the right has tens of hours a week? If you count the scum in talk radio then it bounces the numbers even higher.

Yet, the president who was elected by the voters in 2008, not a panel of leftwing nutters, is father from the right than the left in a vast majority of issues. If you listen to the screaming nutters on the right on Faux, or Limbaugh, Palin,Savage etc he is no where near their beliefs. He wants to bring our nation to it's knees they tell us daily. He wants to kill your granny! He wants to bankrupt Amerika!

But his ratings are higher than Reagan's were at this stage in his presidency, more people trust him to fix things than trust the Republicans.

So why is it that you can not find more talking heads disseminating information with that "famous liberal bias" the right constantly screams about on tv? Why is it that MSNBC has not shown a scintilla of loyalty to the hosts on the left similar to what Faux shows to it's stable of rightwing hosts? Again from Parry's article:

“Unlike News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who stands solidly behind the right-wing propaganda on Fox News, the corporate owners of MSNBC have no similar commitment to the work of Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.

*snip*

The ongoing significance of America’s media imbalance is that it gives the Right enormous capabilities to control the national debate, not only during election campaigns but year-round. Republicans can deploy what intelligence operatives call “agit-propaganda,” stirring controversies that rile up the public and redound to the GOP’s advantage.

These techniques have proved so effective that not even gifted political speakers, whether the savvy Bill Clinton or the eloquent Barack Obama, have had any consistent success in countering the angry cacophony that the Right can orchestrate.

One week, the Right's theme is “Obamacare’s death panels”; another week, it’s “the “Ground Zero Mosque.” The Democrats are left scrambling to respond – and their responses, in turn, become fodder for critical commentary, as too wimpy or too defensive or too something.

The mainstream media and progressives often join in this criticism, wondering why Obama let himself get blind-sided or why he wasn’t tougher or why he can’t control the message. For the Right and the Republicans, it’s a win-win-win, as the right-wing base is energized, more public doubts are raised about the President, and the Left is further demoralized.

All questions and no answers. It's disheartening ain't it? Don't it piss you the hell off?

Well,  its a mute point now as the era of Comcast starts now....and we will see how that shit unfolds...but one thing is for certain, it will be about ratings..bet the farm on that kids..bet the farm.

So keep watching the few shows we still got on the telly. It's all we got, along with Maher of course. And hopefully KO will return, eventually, on another channel stronger and more eloquently than ever, ripping the right with everything he has.

Keith Olbermann and Countdown are no more.

 Updates at the bottom of the post
About 15 minutes before the end of tonight's show, KO pronounced the end of the run of Countdown in a teaser prior to a commercial break. A very-fucking-short statement released by MSNBC on this development:

MSNBC announced Friday night that its marquee "Countdown" anchor and talk show host Keith Olbermann was out.  The network did not provide a reason for his abrupt departure. "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," NBC Universal said in a statement.
Olbermann and his bosses have clashed in recent months. He was suspended in November for two days after revelations that he gave donations to a Democratic political candidate, which was a violation of the company's ethics policies for news employees.

The Comcast/MSNBC merger was completed this week. Coincidence? I think not... Sources indicate Lawrence ODonnell will take over his slot. Rachel Maddow has Chris Hayes subbing for her tonite on her show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Update:From what I am hearing from my inside connection @MSNBC, this was most likely KO's move, not MSNBC. They gave him a lot of shit daily, but they would never kill the golden goose.

Update2: From HuffPo - MSNBC released the following statement on their new programming order:


    Starting Monday, January 24, "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and "The Ed Show," hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. "The Rachel Maddow Show" will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT.


    Also starting Monday, Cenk Uygur, MSNBC contributor and host of the popular web show "The Young Turks," will be filling in as host of the 6 p.m ET hour.

Pat Buchanan has to go.

Watch his stunning blowup with Rachel Maddow here on my video page and then tell me this old jackass should still be on television representing anyone but the KKK. Rachel invited him on regarding an article he authored on Real Clear Politics about how the GOP should handle Judge Sotomayor.

He also had a dust-up with Pulitzer prize-winning writer Eugene Robinson on Hardball yesterday. Watch that one as well here.

This tired old fuck needs to be put out to pasture..now. Here is my letter to the head of the news department:

Mr. Capus,

I have watched all your political shows for a few years now. I am a devoted viewer and I enjoy the give and take from both sides of the aisle for the most part.

Pat Buchanan has to go. He snapped not once, but twice this week. First on Hardball with Pulitzer prize winning writer and MSNBC contributor Eugene Robinson. Then Thursday night on Rachel Maddow's show.

The man made flat-out racist comments, no ifs, ands or butt's about it. It was actually embarrassing to watch a man of his stature sink that low. If those are his true beliefs, I can no longer tolerate him on my television. He has become increasingly shallow and elitist, not to mention sounding like an original member of the KKK.

Going forward, I will not sit and watch Buchanan scream and holler at anyone. I will change the channel. Whether I go back to the show he is on depends on what I find to watch whilst Mr. Buchanan waxes poetic about how the white folks are getting screwed and how racist Judge Sotomayor is. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but giving Mr. Buchanan a soap box from which he sounds like someone in need of a psychological intervention is down right ridiculous and dangerous. Dangerous in that you will be losing loyal viewers.

Relegating Mr. Buchanan to the Morning Joe show might be an alternative. I never watch Morning Joe as it's thankfully on at 3am here on the left coast.

I would appreciate a response from you sir.

Thank you,
Dusty Taylor

Please feel free to write Mr Capus: steve.capus@nbcuni.com if your tired of the old white man waxing racist on MSNBC too.

Kurtz on Chuck Todd

I have become quite fond of Chuck Todd, in fact I find him and his brain incredibly sexy.

On a purely sexist level...His facial hair is great too.

Howie Kurtz waxes poetic today in a lengthy WaPo article about the man behind the numbers at MSNBC's political news division. We don't get his hunches, we get the numbers. His blog First Read is good too..putting out updates twice a day, and even occasionally on the weekends.

Full disclosure: He is married to the Dem that was Jim Webb's communications director in his campaign in VA.

Now, if they would just dump Tweety's ass and put Chuckie in his place, I would be much happier with their lineup.