potatoradio

Ah, Barnicle. Talking about us little folk on our way to work, doing little things like foraging food for our tables and gassing our automobiles...yes, we commoners who do these things are only going to care about a palpable sense that the system is broken. Well, Barn, this Midwestern commoner does care about the system being broken, but I have more than a palpable sense of gloom - I KNOW why I think the system is broken and I know who's doing the breaking. And actually, I'm quite concerned about that - even though I'm not a great cablehead who never deigns to fill up his own tank. Yeeeesh. OMG - Joe's hair had more pomp and circumstance than Peters' today! What happened, Jeremy? Every time I see that library/globe backdrop, I just want to add a fireplace and hand the person a snifter of Coirvoisier and a smoking jacket. And I wish someone had answered Joe's question about how tax reform is supposed to happen without the tax cut from throwing millions off of healthcare, though I appreciated Peters' point that tax cuts are not sexy and there's no lock her up kinda villain for the base to attack, so the party base will be pretty 'meh' about boring old tax cuts. Not to worry, though, because I'm sure there will be plenty of poor-folk punishing in the cuts for people to get excited about. Meanwhile, I've never noticed how much Peters tends to actually sniff while talking and it was not unlike 45's habit. Must be a symbolic noise of the elite - P.S. STFU, Rand Paul. Go away.

Yeah, cry me a river. OH, my job is soooo haaaaaard, Daddy....people don't liiiiiiiiike me and they're meeeeeeeean to me. Suck it up, buttercup. Life of a snowflake isn't so easy, is it? Well that explains why Peters was particularly dour and peevish today and sat at the table in a supersized sulk as they discussed the alt-admin's refusal to answer questions. Biding his time until he got his royal b*tchface going and reminded Sen. Whitehouse that HRC lost because she ran a bad campaign (god forbid we forget our fair and balanced coverage) and then repeated the old tyme talking point that Dems didn't have a message except that "45 is bad." Sen. Whitehouse very politely and with class flushed the toilet on that shite. That was heartening.

I can buy this, but which audience are they trying to sway? Hard right viewers will never turn on msnbc-- not for Faux cast offs or wannabes who weren't big draws. And the hard left needs no convincing that msnbc is trustworthy, if left of center. So...they're looking for cnn viewers? Younger? Is there still a viable independent audience? Questions...questions... I'd rather watch a full day of tucker carlson's head tilt than try to stomach hewitt's nauseating smugness. i can't watch Greta either but at least she said some nice things about wanting to do a good job and seemed somewhat grateful for a new opportunity. Hewitt acts like the world owes him an audience because he's just sooooo smart. Wrong, o king of veneers. Gotta say, I don't get this addition. We have Joe s. For conservative blowhard, Chris m for rudeness, Brian w for condescending cluelessness. If you really needed another arrogant white dude on the network, should have let kornacki keep his show. at least they're not airing "welcome Hugh" commercials (that I've seen). I'd lose my stomach contents if I saw Maddow filling in as the welcoming committee for this windbag.

If Peters comes to the wedding, it will be an all-out pompadour war between those two gents. Mika may ditch Joe at the altar if the hair is right - that's how much I've seen her nearly pass out at the sight of male tresses. Everyone's true worth is revealed in their wavy locks.

Not sure if this belongs in the obnoxious brat thread or here, but I saw a Birdseye frozen veg commercial today that irritated the crap out of me. Two cute little cartoon birds are dancing on the counter as the family eats dinner. They're happy because the kids are eating vegetables. Yay. Cute. Then, out of nowhere, someone either throws a fork or it goes airborne by accident and it stabs one of the birds in the foot. As the bird circles around, stunned (granted, it's cartoon pain, so no blood), the kids start giggling. Who are these evil spawn and why would I want to buy vegetables from a company that thinks sociopathic demon children that like to impale perfectly harmless birds are a good marketing idea? Did they collude with the Halos brats?

Laughed my arse off at Chuck Todd today - his show opened with a promo for a story on the GA-6 election and, of course, the patented, cringeworthy election music. When he started, Todd said, "ah, yes....that music..." Yo, MSNBC? When even your talent starts to snark on your tired old music "design," it's time to have a come to Jesus moment with your composer.

Welp. I remember during Benghaaaaaaaaaazi that there was no time limit. I actually think Mika would have an easier time finding work than Joe if they broke up. He's so dated and I don't think the party is listening to his bellowing. There is always room for one more platinum blonde who shows off leg and arm and is willing to coo over a male cohost. Personally, I'd love Willie to take over, but "Morning Willie" really, really has zero appeal to me. "Giest and Friends?" Getting Giesty with it? WG and the crew? I wonder what friends Willie would be able to call up on a moment's notice, though, and whether he plays in a band and likes to ramble on about the Beatles.

Well, he sure sounds like a standup kind of guy and one with sophisticated, highly developed thoughts well worth a listen. <Snort> Good to know my creep meter wasn't totally off. Hope he isn't the beneficiary of more exposure via Joe's identity whiplash and random friend dials. There's only room for one snowflake on this show and it's "specialness" with a "J."

Oh, that makes sense, thanks. The ongoing territory pissing/arse sniffing between Faux and MSNBC to stake out clicks and eyeballs. One more "gift" from the election - must at least read some twitter feeds to give my teevee talking heads some context. Oh, come on, man...some of us cannot unsee that!!

Who was that Ben Shapiro twerp* and why did Joe seem to have such a boner about hearing his thoughts? An uptight, pseudo intellectual white man who is "against snowflakery" is hardly a rare find these days. I've heard enough about the silenced conservatives and their sulking and how they're oh, so righteous and turning the First Amendment discussion on its head. They're getting their freedom to speak without being arrested with their precious ideas not gaining mainstream acceptance or coverage. I freaking loved Nicholas Confessore when he asked Shaprio whether the alt-fascists were less concerned about their freedom and simply trying to make a buck and get their five minutes of fame. Unsurprisingly, Shaprio had no good response. Sykes did, though, and at least he admitted that yes, there's a lot of the famewhore virus going around the right wing now. Another day when Morning Joe's tweeted guest list is wrong. No Costa, no Peters, no Wallace - at least not that I can find on the online clips. Grrrrrrr....social media better, show. Did they lead off with the London attack and did they refer to it as terrorism? Or was that attack merely an "important, eyebrow-raising, concerning disturbance?" *in fairness, I looked him up. Conservative writer. Followers want him to go further right and he apparently is still sorta trawling the centrist waters. He stands to make some dough and get some exposure during this latest phase of the conservative movement's identity crisis. I can see why Joe would want a young, fresh, snotty boy-next-door right-winger and i noticed that Peters is using twitter to promote Shapiro, too, but he's nails on a chalkboard to me and a new instant "close video instantly" face. But yeah, you go on with your rebellious "anti-snowflake" thinktank...

Orly? The same people who voted to take away health care from 20M+ Americans, not because it would provide health care, but because they needed a "win"? And then celebrated that bit of cruelty chugging beer and smoking cigars? Sorry, no, I don't actually believe they're human after that. And all of Joe's sage wisdom about bipartisanship comes across as dated and out of touch. This ain't the Congress of the 90s, Joe. Why don't you really think hard (or call a few friends outside of the Freedom Caucus or TeaParty or "alt-right") and have a good think on why, my goodness, why oh why, has Congress become so partisan and gridlocked and why one charity game and dinner isn't going to fix it?

My wife was in the other room while I was watching and she called out, "make him STOP talking about what's in his mouth! Is this is a cooking show?" Wanted him to say, "my name is a party in your mouth, bee-yotch." Missed opportunity. I am very distracted trying to figure out what Rachel is drinking. Could not figure out whether she was drinking flat beer, apple juice, or an exceptionally full/tall whiskey and soda. Just as I remembered WHABOOM correctly (kept calling him Kaboom and Zumba and Roomba and Boom Boom Room and a million other things) - he's gone. Not that I'm complaining. You know, show, there are plenty of parents out there who understand that, when starting to date or get to know someone, you can ease up on the "AREN'T MY KIDS JUST THE CUTEST, MOST ADORABLE PEOPLE YOU'VE EVER SEEN?? HUH? HUH? LOOK AT THIS PICTURE! LOOK AT THIS DRAWING! THEY ARE MENSA MEMBERS AND FULL GRANDE SUPREME PAGEANT WINNERS AND COOK AND CLEAN AND SING AND...YES, KEEP LOOKING AT THEM, DAMN IT!" Isn't it enough to say, "I'm a parent and it's an important part of who I am and I hope you'll be open to getting to know my kid?" I'm sure they're angels, but if I were dating I'd like to find that out myself. Someone referring to me as "sloppy seconds" would get a giant, muscle-spraining side-eye from me.

Thanks for the recap, @oakville. I don't watch live and try to pick my way through the prime cuts of the online clips (in other words, cherry picking my commentary) and your chronological layout makes that much easer. My slow-loading computer also thanks you, as I don't have to do quite so much "swiping right" to fast foward! :)

Whoaa.....the delusion is thick with this one. Well, you do you, White Santa baby and best of luck... Anyone else catch Joe's slip when he tried to say "trump" and said "tramp" instead? I need that coffee back that I just spit out, thanks. And I like it when he rattles the Bannon cage. He's at least trying to point out what clothes our naked emperor is trying on - rancid Bannon jock would not be my choice, but hey, what do I know? I think HRC can say whatever the hell she wants to whoever is going to listen to her. It would be...oh, I don't know...nice?...if the press would please stop jumping to the lowest and laziest "story" about her remarks being less than a 100% mea culpa for the election. Mika got it right - she asked Ellison if the remarks about the DNC were true. If that's true, I do want to know that. And Ellison wouldn't answer, which was highly frustrating. All I was looking for was a sense that they'd studied the last election, took a hard look at their path forward, and pieced together a strategy that's something other than, "45 sucks, nobody could possibly want to vote for that again!" Costa!! And he gets a Starbucks cup! Cracked me up when Joe said Costa wasn't associated with Joe's remarks and Costa said, "thanks...appreciate that." He is the one person who report mean girl politics without it sounding like a high school cafeteria gossip mill. So....hmmm...has Kornacki replaced Peters as the go-to geek Dem-hater? he's been on a lot lately and seems to have taken over the "erudite/geek" personality. Which, you know, I can live without Peters' condescending smugness, but today's show had both President Bannon and a full on Two Minutes Clinton Hate. Peters doesn't get a chance to sneer at HRC or show his fan boy crush for Bannon? I almost feel sorry for him... I always want more coffee after I watch clips of this show. Good job, Starbucks.

I give Joy Reid mad props for trying to get through Maddow's trademark, eons-long wind up in the beginning! It was interesting to hear Maddow's schtick in another person's voice, but I was chuckling a little bit throughout because I swore I could hear Joy thinking, "I'm trying, but this is SO not my style..."

Not sure if this is quite purely business and behind the scenes, so apologies if this post veers off the intended focus of the thread. I've been at home lately and have had (too many) chances to watch the new daytime lineup and puzzle over where MSNBC is trying to go - hoping it's more strategic than just "faux lite." I caught Nicolle Wallace's show and I have to say, she had a really good range of viewpoints on her panel (Kornacki to Sharpton - geeky conservative to progressive preacher - that was entertaining). I've also seen Kasich hailed as a hero on her show for his focus on bi-partisan efforts (imagine...that did used to happen). I'm just wondering if maybe MSNBC is trying to position itself as "bipartisan", or "fair and balanced for smart people/elites"? Or maybe they're trying to blend moderate conservatives with liberals in anticipation of Brietbart/Faux only getting faker and more extreme under 45 and capture more of the moderates who are looking for any port in a storm. That would make some sense to me, anyway, and it would be interesting to see if they succeed. Although, if I were in the CEO seat, I'd reverse their shameful whitening trend immediately. You can build bipartisanship without that, you know? But still...no, no, NO screwing with the prime timers, RM, CH and LO'D unless it's to add PM Joy, OK, MSNBC? Pretty please? I can accept you may need to open up my safe space, but this snowflake is special enough to switch if something really starts to stink.... I am thinking that image or intended audience or shifts in tone are fair game for a thread on the business of networks, but please correct me if wrong.

Hi, MSNBC - Potatoradio here. Even though your stable of "lean forward" cableheads is growing emptier and emptier, I'm trying to stick with you. I had JUST gotten over your incessant, cruel use of cheesy election music and had almost forgotten your knee-jerk, neurotic need to introduce new, Very Somber themes for breaking news that's actually breaking news and involves fatalities and is truly horrific. Once again, I beg of you to stop this. Less is more and silence is golden. I would really appreciate being able to watch news about the Manchester bombing without the blasted, soap operatic "We Are Very Solemn Today" music lead in. Believe it or not, I'm already sad and horrified. Thank you.

Have confirmed total fandom for Alex Moffat. His Scarborough was spot on. He really is a versatile, talented comedic actor and I hope to see his experience and role develop. And Morning Joe has many, many pundits/panel guests that would make for excellent satire - both classic and new. Granted, it's probably not popular or well known enough to become a staple, but there's a lot of material there should they need it. Loved the detail of the drinks on the table. I always notice that the guests never get smoothies or Starbucks - just morning joe mugs. Other than that...it was fine. WU jokes read flat out bitter and resigned to me. Now, I think bitter is a perfectly fine response, all things considered, but the first few WU after the election were more...I don't know how to describe it exactly, but were maybe more nuanced or sharp and somehow did more than just give off a really bad mood about current events. I mean, I was in a foul mood about things already and I didn't expect to end the night thinking of rainbows and unicorns, but I was hoping for at least a hearty sardonic laugh. Nope. Just more gloom and doom. Line of the night, though, "we don't want to find her." Bwahhhh!

"He was glowing when I saw him...it just showed how desperately he needed a win." Wow. Thank you, Joe, for saying that this is not about winning. It's about humanity. And for talking about the "optics" of what went down yesterday as wrong. You know, if you really think that, you have a pulpit. You can really focus on this issue. Because over twenty million people stand to die and the congress celebrated that, you don't have to worry about getting ratings if you focus on this exclusively, all right? Was so sad to see the stone faces of Mika, Willie and Sam Stein when they interviewed Scalise, who of course did his song and dance (gee, hope he's not too hungover from the Bud Light). Their seriousness said more to me than anything else. This isn't parlor talk political entertainment. I hope they remember that.

It's a momentous occasion - I appreciated Joe's question to a Democratic Congressman. Joe asked why the Dems were not introducing bills of their own to fix Obamacare*. It's a fair point and I think the Dems would do well to make a note of that and think on a response. See, Joe? THAT is how you can engage the "other side" directly without being a raging douchebag about it. However, I will bet a venti dark roast that tomorrow, there will be at least one panelist or guest frothing at the mouth for fresh Clinton bashing. Woman has the GALL to not take the ENTIRE fall for the loss. Oh, hell's bells, that sh*t will NOT STAND. Let's see....who will it be....,hmmmm....Hewitt? Joe himself? Peters? Yeah, maybe it'll be one of those extra special, poufy-swoop hair, Clinton-rage mornings. *If there's an obvious answer to that, please enlighten me. I'd hate to give undeserved credit out of ignorance. **If I lose, I'm still buying myself coffee, except maybe with a lot of sugar to take down the bitter taste of sexism...

I am listening to clips because right now there is a conference outside my office and if I'm going to be subjected to inane, self-important talk, I'd rather get a nibble of news. So: Mika has eyelashes like Louis CK's character in the SNL sketch. It's giving me a headache to look at Tur's HELLO SUNSHINE shirt. Between that and Mika's sky blue sweater, I'm really longing for winter all of a sudden. Katy spotted with Jamba Juice cup. She must have rank now. Others relegated to plain old mugs. Large Starbucks tumbler and glass of water to Mika's side. Somebody's going to need a potty break pretty soon. Oh...wait...D.C. insider scoop on politics....forgot that's the point here...OK, then... Panel figuring out who's eating lunch in the bathroom and who's at the popular table. Jared and Ivanka are homecoming king and queen and are now the reigning plastics. Bannon has been sent to the school counselor to write "I feel" statements about why he hates Jared. Miller is slinking around Bannon's seat at the lunch table, hunched over a HoneyBun, wondering if he dares sit. Mika and Joe are thrilled to be lackeys for Jared and Ivanka and I bet Mika can't wait to have a girl talk/spa day with Ivanka to gush about sad little babies dying in Syria and how thrilling that daddy sent over those beautiful missiles to take out 20 airplanes. Or 20% of the Iraqi airforce. Or gotten a 20% discount on a new plane. Whatev. I seriously want to tell all of these people to get to class and do some real work instead of continually being armchair Apprentice viewers. We've got trouble with NORTH KOREA, folks. However, hearing Jeremy Peters say "well...I don't think Bannon's going anywhere...not that this administration is necessarily going to be all happy clappy...." made my day. Happy Clappy. Now I can't stop seeing the administration playing pattycake every morning because the manchild 45 likes to clap his hands and can feel "happy clappy." I think he's right, though. Bannon doesn't have the cajones to leave. He'll hang around for scraps, like KAC. For someone who's "brilliant," he really doesn't have the foggiest idea about humanity. Oh thank goddess. Conference over. I can stop now.

The Steve sketch would have been funnier to me if Steve had actually thought he was a hero. I didn't get that impression. The way LCK played the character, it was like he bumbled his way into a few clicks and didn't really care about the outcome. He wasn't trying to cure our social ills, whereas I've known plenty of keyboard heroes who genuinely believe that if someone just reads this one article, their lives will change. I do love a true stand up monologue. Any stand up comedian has to be 'take my wife...please' or 'heh heh...so I saw a girl's pussy and thought...whoah, dude, I haven't gotten any in a long time...' level of bad before I'll give up, and I thought the monologue was one of the sharpest written pieces of the show. Sectional was kinda funny. Alex Moffat only appeared in a tiny bit and still confirmed my new (short eyelash) batting hope. I think he's really talented and has a lot of potential. The rest? Meh....lukewarm. Forgettable. Nothing new. And I agree with the poster who hopes that Che is deliberately playing dumb as part of his schtick.

I can only wish - that would be a freaking delightful bubble bath compared to what I predict will be on tomorrow. Blowhard is tweeting that McCain and Rubio will be on to discuss the strikes. It'll be full 45 hard ons all around-- bunch of attaboys and 'omg! Like, presidential has finally happened!' Maybe they'll even be in their best PJs we need a prediction pool for whether blowhard will be yay or nay 45 next morning. You know, whether we were always at war with Eurasia,etc.

Damn it. Watched clips to find Robert Costa (listed as a guest on Twitter) and he was allowed about ten words. Grrrrrrrrrr. Lies and betrayal to start my morning along with really depressing segment on the collapse of Europe and the coming Dark Age. Would like to crawl back in bed now, thanks. I spy, with my little eye....Jamba Juice smoothies on the set! For the guests! Good to see them taken care of instead of sipping from MJ cups that I can only hope are full of vodka. Boy, Joe sure has convenient friends. "See, I have friends in North England who hated Thatcher...blah blah blah..." Yes, Joe, you're such a connected, "in the know" wunderkind. Nick Confessore is a good model for conservative journalists who need to learn how to interview a Democrat without being a smug, condescending pill. I have no idea what Confessore's leanings are, and that's a good thing. He had fair questions and a neutral, approachable tone. I liked him. So, like Costa, and because MJ likes to forget about poor little liberal elite viewers like me, he'll be relegated to five word blips on a panel of ten zillion. Dear Joe and Mika - do you giggle and make jokes about nuclear war with N. Korea because you truly don't know how else to report the harrowing situation of an administration that seems itching to start pushing buttons and play war in order to prove organ size? "We don't want to have Seattle blown up with a warhead...dangerous situation....go Sonics!* Ha ha ha ha!" WTH??? Might be time for Joe to get some convenient friends from North Korea who can tell him that playing "mine is bigger" between two manbabies isn't going to end well for anyone. I mean, maybe it's Joe and Mika's dream to die in a nuclear cloud while wearing PJs on the set as a final glam shot, but the rest of us peons also have dreams of surviving. *Or whatever team he mentioned...I was too horrified to pay attention.

I got weepy on the bus listening to Mika's tribute. One of my friends is in his final days of pancreatic cancer, so I appreciated her plea for the funding of NIH and other government agencies that serve the health and care of the American people. I also want a Steve Kornacki action figure, with maps. MSNBC should know better than to try to trap Kornacki behind a desk. It doesn't work. He gets awfully antsy to start scrawling numbers and poking states/counties to turn them different colors. I concede Peters' point (after peeling off the layers of condescension and contemptuousness - jeebus, who served him black drip brew instead of a soy honey latte?) that this S.C. nomination swaps one conservative for another and no matter what the Dems do it won't change the make up of the S.C. But, when he's giddily called the Dems "impotent" before and plays the petulant card when they don't "reach out" to really cooperative, public-servant minded people like McConnell*? He can take a backseat about commenting on their strategy or how they "should" behave. Because hypocrisy is not smart and I sure as shit don't want to hear it at 6am. Joe actually was interesting to listen to on this point. I can understand how filibustering would not net Dems a "win" for 2018 elections and the senators who face primaries/re-election, and I've heard more than once that "the Dems need to play to win," but...honestly, unless we're talking about election results, I've had enough of this simplistic "win/lose" mentality. There are bigger, more complicated issues and questions here - starting with how to stabilize our government after eight+ years of infiltration from a hard right reactionary party that's drunk with power now. There are lessons here in how to provide stable, reliable, representative government so that power isn't a revenge or a reality show. With all the caffeine they drink from Starbucks and the crazy long guest list, Morning Joe can afford to go a little deeper than win/lose. * I refuse to call him McTurtle - I know, he looks exactly like one, but I love turtles and don't want to insult them, even if they don't have the cortex to understand being insulted...not that McConnell has much of a cortex, either, but...