Perhaps MSNBC can replace the peacock with the donkey?
I knew I wasn’t the only person who noticed that MSNBC had shifted across the political spectrum in the last year or two.
MSNBC has been the network of choice for me for a number of years. It has been a pleasant respite to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Glenn Beck, and Nancy Grace, (ugh) as well as Fox’s Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Steve Doocy. (double-ugh)
When I first started watching MSNBC years ago, it seemed to be just right of center. “Hardball with Chris Mathews” seemed moderately right, while “Scarborough Country” with Joe Scarborough seemed a bit further to the right. While I was never big on Scarborough, Mathews seemed a bit more palatable. Chris Mathews even scored some pretty big “cool-points” with me back in 2004 right after the Republican Convention when Georgia’s scalawag Senator Zell Miller became so flustered with the “Hardball” host, he harkened back to the days of dueling. Mr. Miller if you’re reading this, I have a cane with a brass end on it. I’ll let you be the Sen. Sumner to my Congressman Brooks if you get my drift. The following is a video of the priceless exchange between Mathews and Miller in 2004. Never mind the old man in the cowboy hat at the end. He never was relevant:
Keith Olberman had been a good counterpart to Scarborough, offering a more liberal counterpoint. “Countdown with Keith Olberman” had already celebrated its third year on MSNBC when in early April 1997, Don Imus of “Imus in the Morning” famously (or infamously?) referred to the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team as a bunch of “nappy-headed-hos.” When I first heard of the big stink following Imus’s remark, my first reaction was, “People actually still listen to Imus?” As a result, he was canned from MSNBC, and the network had to fill the early morning void where Imus’s video simulcast once aired. No problem. Take the conservative of MSNBC, get rid of his prime-time “Scarborough Country,” and repackage him in the early morning slot as “Morning Joe.” MSNBC tried following “Countdown” with “Verdict with Dan Abrams” which received mediocre ratings.
At the urging from Olberman to NBC brass, Abrams lost his time slot in Sept. 2008 to regular liberal commentator on “Countdown” and “Air-America” host Rachel Maddow. For those who may not care for Olberman’s blustery style, Maddow offers a nicer and more polite style with a smart sense of humor. Because the two shows appear nightly during prime-time on MSNBC, the general climate of the news network looks awfully darned liberal. After all, both Olberman and Maddow are unapologetically left on the political spectrum.
At least MSNBC has the guts to admit that these shows have a distinct liberal bias. FoxNews on the other hand, are still in this delusional denial mode, asserting that their network is “fair and balanced.” Oh Fox, when will you finally come out of the conservative closet? No one will think any worse of you. Come to think of it, I really don’t believe it’s possible to think any worse of FoxNews. I say kudos to MSNBC for offering an alternative to FoxNews. Does this mean that they’ll take up the mantle and be the mouthpiece to the new administration?
As I wrote earlier, I knew I wasn’t the only person who noticed that MSNBC had shifted across the political spectrum in the last year or two. Since the other media outlets wouldn’t acknowledge this 800lb gorilla in the room, the comedy pundits had to take up the slack and make this observation. The following are clips from “The Daily Show,” and “23/6″ that I personally find hilarious. Just because I’m a Democrat doesn’t mean that I don’t have a sense of humor:
The Daily Show-MSNBC to Replace FoxNews
23/6-Fox, MSNBC Debuts New and Different Promos
Amazing. The rundown right now of the big three cable networks is that FoxNews is very right-wing, MSNBC is very left-wing, and CNN is well . . . douchy.
