MSNBC: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Vaulted)

[alias1]

I can't stand Nicolle Wallace.  She's only somewhat palatable now because she's not a Trump supporter. She always looks and sounds so smug.  I think Steve Schmidt has much more interesting and objective things to say.  I never want to hear about Palin and her stupid O'Biden thing again.

[Mumbles]

I really wish they would move on from James Carville as their sole Democratic "strategist". He's a good sound bite, but his best days were last century. Forget social media, people were just trying to figure out what the internet was. (And believe it or not, the Dems have won some elections without him.)

Agreed. He never did another US campaign after the 1992 campaign. He occasionally dabbled in foreign elections in which he, or any American, has no business meddling. He wouldn't know the first thing on how a campaign is run now. I never understood the media's delight in that phony ragin' Cajun stuff or that demented Punch and Judy act he has with his equally horrific wife.

Quote

The best part of the pre debate show was Nicole Wallace telling the story of Palin's debate line, "Can I call you Joe?"  She said people congratulated her on her strategy. But the team didn't tell Palin to do that. Palin kept calling Joe "O'Biden" so she just asked him that on the spur of the moment. 

Steve Schmidt bragged about this this am on Morning Joe. It's appalling to think these people are bragging and laughing about the dangerously ignorant candidate they tried to make one heartbeat away from the presidency. Tee hee hee. (And, while she isn't a particularly sympathetic person, it's a bit mean to give up Palin. She was their client of sorts.)

[MulletorHater]

34 minutes ago, Mumbles said:

 

Agreed. He never did another US campaign after the 1992 campaign. He occasionally dabbled in foreign elections in which he, or any American, has no business meddling. He wouldn't know the first thing on how a campaign is run now. I never understood the media's delight in that phony ragin' Cajun stuff or that demented Punch and Judy act he has with his equally horrific wife.

Steve Schmidt bragged about this this am on Morning Joe. It's appalling to think these people are bragging and laughing about the dangerously ignorant candidate they tried to make one heartbeat away from the presidency. Tee hee hee. (And, while she isn't a particularly sympathetic person, it's a bit mean to give up Palin. She was their client of sorts.)

Exactly!  I am still puzzled as to why failed and no-longer-relevant folks like Michael Steele are rotated from show to show.  Other than giving us the tired line, "Drill, baby, drill!," at the 2008 GOP convention, what exactly has he done lately?

And, that goes for people like the perennially smug Bill Kristol, who gives me a splitting headache.

[NewDigs]

7 hours ago, stormy said:

I hate MSNBC.  One of  the brightest minds in the political world, Keith Olbermann, reduced to youtube because MSNBC has to keep on the irrelevant talkers.

...MSNBC has decided to cede their network to the likes of Joe Scarborough.

'For years, Scarborough complained—bitterly in private and not even all that cryptically in public—about the network's lefty slant. But since Andy Lack retook the reins of NBC News last year, he's demoted or jettisoned many of the more ideologically driven MSNBC hosts—from Al Sharpton to Ed Schultz to Melissa Harris-Perry. At the same time, Lack has elevated hosts like Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, and Halperin and John Heilemann—or, as Brzezinski described them to me, "our people." Scarborough appreciates the changes: "I couldn't have said this for a very long time, but I like the people who are on MSNBC. I like the shows that are on MSNBC."'

^^^ From recent GQ article.

Ugh. Halperin is back on WADR. I never thought I'd say, I miss Donny!

[33kaitykaity]

On WADR, Liz Mair, Trump hater/Johnson supporter, got all up in Professional Interruptor/Trump surrogate Boris Epshteyn's business -- you're on TeeVee all the time and every time you always interrupt.  I was so happy she at least didn't let him get away with his bullshit.  

Edited October 5, 2016 by 33kaitykaity

[NewDigs]

I cheered!

Boris hasn't been around much lately. I didn't miss him. He's up there at my Kingston annoyance-level. DefCon whatever the highest number available.

[3pwood]

8 hours ago, stormy said:

... And Rachel, stop saying "watch this space".  You stole it from Keith!

I think it was originally stolen from Bugs Bunny, who may well have stolen it from someone else.

[car54]

I love that Olbermann is commenting and he is on Twitter every night trolling Trump and Trump followers.   I miss him badly on MSNBC but I have been watching him on Youtube and GQ and I'm happy he is free to say what he really thinks without any concerns.

[annzeepark914]

3 hours ago, NewDigs said:

Ugh. Halperin is back on WADR. I never thought I'd say, I miss Donny!

Dear ol' Donny Deutch.  Remember his show from a few years back, when he always wore light purple or lavender shirts?  

[car54]

I think Donnie not being on Morning Joe is part of why the atmosphere is so bad lately--I know Mika hates him but he did lighten the mood with humor.
Since he's full out anti Trump now we don't see him much.   He's been a good fillin when Halperin or Heilemann have been out on WADR and I think he actually has some good comments and seems to know his stuff when he's on.   And yes he wears the pastel shirts and socks.   They set off his lovely hair.

[magdalene]

The closer this election gets the more I tune into MSNBC - to get comforted, ha. 

[pivot]

MSNBC used to be such a great network. But, they've replaced almost all the intelligent talking heads with dumb and/or old white men who are too out of touch to know what is going on. Watching Brian Williams, Chris Matthews and Hugh Hewitt try to spin Donald's debate performance as a win on Sunday and minimize Trump bragging about sexual assault made me insanely angry.

The lack of diversity in the panels/hosts is really hurting MSNBC this cycle because they are constantly surprised by what moves #s against Trump. Women knew that the tape would be devastating to him this weekend but 75% of talking heads were men talking about the tape on MSNBC. It really hurts their coverage. I wish there was an alternative but Fox is crazy and CNN has a million people screaming at each all the time.

[CoderLady]

I like most of the nightly lineup but Rachel Maddow makes me want to throw things. When she goes into one of those "We've got something really great to tell you! You won't believe this! It's amazing! Just wait til you hear this! When we found out, we just had to tell you! Listen to this! It's so great!" jags I'm almost foaming at the mouth and screaming by the time she finally, with more grinning and mugging and fanfare, says whatever it is. And then once she gets launched on the story she tends to get stuck onto a point and repeats it with variations a few times before continuing, like the audience is made up of third graders.

I feel bad bitching about the presentation skills of someone I know is magnitudes of brilliance smarter than me but damn -- I have to mute her show after about 15 minutes. And that's unfortunate because she does dig up some good stories and provides interesting and unusual historical perspective on subjects.

Edited October 11, 2016 by CoderLady

[atomationage]

Rachel Maddow is the tops.  Second for me is David Pakman on YT.   Third is Keith Olbermann of the GQ channel on YT.  The first two are usually ahead of the curve and end up reporting on things in the evening that are the news of tomorrow.   Samantha Bee and John Oliver are great but they're only on once a week, and fall behind. 

[33kaitykaity]

H&H do me in again.  These guys are so beyond worthless sometimes.  

i was prepared to be impressed that the actually covered the Hillary Clinton/Al Gore rally in Miami today, their observations reasonable.  But a few still photos later they move on to the next story.  Hey dumbbells -- you could've allotted 2 minutes so we could hear clips of their speeches for ourselves.  

[Medicine Crow]

Andrea Bitchell's obvious bias toward Hillary is breath-taking ... even when she's travelling on Hillary's plane.  Blech!!!  (I would have liked to comment on her appearance but I'm a woman & that's low-hanging fruit.  LOL.)

[MyAimIsTrue]

38 minutes ago, atomationage said:

Rachel Maddow is the tops.

I agree.  My crusty old father (though the older he gets the more progressive he gets) has a crush on her.

[MulletorHater]

40 minutes ago, atomationage said:

Rachel Maddow is the tops.  Second for me is David Pakman on YT.   Third is Keith Olbermann of the GQ channel on YT.  The first two are usually ahead of the curve and end up reporting on things in the evening that are the news of tomorrow.   Samantha Bee and John Oliver are great but they're only on once a week, and fall behind. 

I love her!  She makes MSNBC's evening lineup worth watching for me especially after they got rid of so many of their other liberal/progressive hosts.  I looked forward to The Ed Show because I felt Ed's passion for working people like me and he seemed to be the only person who cared about the issues affecting everyday working folks.  I know that he can be a bit much, but I will be forever grateful to Ed for breaking the Mitt Romney 47% story in 2012, as well as the story about his (Romney's) lies about Jeep moving its factories to China.  On any other channel, these stories would have gotten a passing glance, but Ed was like a dog with a bone and kept hammering them home.  He also broke the story about the Baine Capital business in Illinois that was moving jobs overseas, after the American employees trained their foreign counterparts and were fired.  That this happened weeks before the election was simply astounding.  The optics!

Another David Pakman fan here!  I discovered him on ROF a year ago and I love his commentary.  And, yes, Keith Olbermann keeps me sane.  Honorable mention goes to Chris Hayes and the fabulous Joy Reid.  It's a shame that TIIC of MSNBC insist on being Fox-lite and drove away its core audience.

[LotusFlower]

To quote David Letterman, Rachel Maddow is the smartest person on tv.  Love her.  Chris Matthews makes me laugh, and Brian Williams seems out of his league.  I know he was demoted, but he seems comfortable only when anchoring, so MSNBC doesn't seem like the right fit.  Everyone else is a policy nerd and/or pundit, and he's just not.

[tenativelyyours]

Yeah, if the sexual assaulter actually wins, Rachel and a well stocked wine cellar are pretty much what I desperately plan on getting me through the next four years.  That and the prospects of a job in Berlin that will keep me there more than half the year.  It's that or an office in China.  And it pains me horribly to say even that prospect does not weigh as heavily as it did a year ago when the shift in offices was first talked about.

I wonder if the conservative suits at Comcast/NBC sat Williams down and explained how his lying ass could sit in a real journalist's seat on teevee again as long as he realized what a little stoolie he is for them?   His Mansplaining how the Inverted Orange Scrotum rose above the petty chatter of his "locker room talk" was a touch surprising even for Lyin' Brian.  I didn't know maximum security prisons for sexual offenders had locker rooms?  Aren't those just called cells Lyin' Brian?

When even Neil Cavuto on Fox is giving Delusional Ben Carson the incredulous "what kind of locker rooms do you hang out in" and your sitting there trying to say he won the debate in part because he locker room talked his way past it and made the issue "less substantive" (I think that was what Williams said, once again breaking out his "How to Impress Others with Your Use of Big Words and Stuff" book) than the talking point press tried to make it (and really?  Talking points are what get you and that empty suit you call a television presence to the next commercial break).

I just hope before he finally gets shown the door as he deserves, Rachel is allowed to be just a tad less professional and congenial as she is time after time and she just smacks this man down completely as he deserves even more than the door.

[atomationage]

7 minutes ago, MulletorHater said:

the fabulous Joy Reid.

Joy is another bright spot on MSNBC, but she's not on often enough for me.  How nice would it be to have more Morning Joy and less Morning Joe?

[Jaded]

26 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

Andrea Bitchell's obvious bias toward Hillary is breath-taking ... even when she's travelling on Hillary's plane.  Blech!!!  (I would have liked to comment on her appearance but I'm a woman & that's low-hanging fruit.  LOL.)

I would have been tempted to push Andrea out of the plane door to see if she could use those arms she's always showing off to fly.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Jaded

[LotusFlower]

4 minutes ago, tenativelyyours said:

I wonder if the conservative suits at Comcast/NBC sat Williams down and explained how his lying ass could sit in a real journalist's seat on teevee again as long as he realized what a little stoolie he is for them?   His Mansplaining how the Inverted Orange Scrotum rose above the petty chatter of his "locker room talk" was a touch surprising even for Lyin' Brian.  I didn't know maximum security prisons for sexual offenders had locker rooms?  Aren't those just called cells Lyin' Brian?

When even Neil Cavuto on Fox is giving Delusional Ben Carson the incredulous "what kind of locker rooms do you hang out in" and your sitting there trying to say he won the debate in part because he locker room talked his way past it and made the issue "less substantive" (I think that was what Williams said, once again breaking out his "How to Impress Others with Your Use of Big Words and Stuff" book) than the talking point press tried to make it (and really?  Talking points are what get you and that empty suit you call a television presence to the next commercial break).

Wow.  Tell us how you really feel!  (But I agree with you).  That's why I'm always grateful for James Carville - he came on and eviscerated the panel for insinuating that Trump won the debate, or even that he performed well.  He turned the whole discussion around, and Chuck Dodd started to walk backwards...

[RedheadZombie]

My mom adores Joy, or "AM Joy" as she calls her.  My mom's a lifetime Democrat, but a relatively new Liberal (with my help).  She loves that Joy doesn't allow Trump's surrogates to go off on insane tangents, or refuse to answer the question.  I love her, too. 

I still love Hardball.  Chris cracks me up with things like laughing when he's threatened with a duel, or just smiling and shaking his head when something particularly ridiculous is said.  It almost killed me when he let Kellyanne Conway flirt and talk nonsense following the last debate.  But I fell out of my chair when Rachel and the rest raved at what a "beautiful human being" Conway is.

[MulletorHater]

1 hour ago, LotusFlower said:

Wow.  Tell us how you really feel!  (But I agree with you).  That's why I'm always grateful for James Carville - he came on and eviscerated the panel for insinuating that Trump won the debate, or even that he performed well.  He turned the whole discussion around, and Chuck Dodd started to walk backwards...

Lord, that was a thing of beauty, wasn't it?  Carville wasn't even rude about it, but he made the point and explained why there was no way in the world Trump won that debate.  He was like the little kid in the crowd who yelled that the emperor had no clothes on when the so-called adults in the room were tripping all over themselves to suggest otherwise.  It's astounding how Trump is consistently graved on a curve.  Just because he shows up and doesn't pee on himself means he actually "won."

My sanity was restored and I was doubly gratified when Chuck Todd explained that the next 48 hours will be even worse for Trump because of the fact checkers.

[ruby24]

I can't tell you how offended and infuriated it makes me to hear disgusting old men constantly defend that crap as "locker room talk." I literally start shaking, I'm so angry.

[pivot]

That's the problem with almost all white men on MSNBC. They just don't get it at all. So frustrating.

I actually prefer Chris Hayes to Rachel Maddow as Rachel constantly talks down to her audience but Rachel is the only decent one on the current panel. If I ran MSNBC, I'd have Rachel Maddow, Jose Diaz-Balart, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes and Michael Steele/Nicole Wallace on the panel. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by pivot

[madfortv]

Why is Kellyanne Conway so respected? She caught my attention, and not in a good way, before she was hired by Trump.  Now I change the channel whenever she is on a show.  I can't stand her.

After watching the last debate, I was surprised at the initial discussion on MSNBC.  I wondered if they watched the same debate. James Carville and Joy Reid brought some sanity to the discussion.

[33kaitykaity]

Pence is giving a religion speech to a poor captive audience of 11,000 students whose attendance at the event was mandatory.  

[Moose135]

That's at Liberty University - that's where Ted Cruz announced his candidacy as well.  They have had a number of Republican candidates speak in similar events.

[33kaitykaity]

8 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

That's at Liberty University - that's where Ted Cruz announced his candidacy as well.  They have had a number of Republican candidates speak in similar events.

i'm just wondering why Msnbc felt the need to bring the audience a religion speech that aids the politician giving the speech, especially when that politician's running mate is a legendary lying liar and cheating philanderer whose "sins" are being abetted by that speaking politician.  

I need a bleach bath now...

[MulletorHater]

What slays me is that last night, Rachel's show had a segment on regarding two scheduled fundraisers for Pence (New Jersey and Nevada) that were canceled due to a lack of interest.  So, I guess he needed to be in a place where he would have a literally captive audience.  I realize what Liberty University is all about, but the idea that attending a speech by a presidential candidate is mandatory is outrageous.

Which makes me wonder.  With at least a couple of big money donors demanding that Trump give them their money back (fat chance!), would fundraising really be an issue for him?  I thought he vowed to self-finance his campaign...

[Padma]

20 hours ago, CoderLady said:

I like most of the nightly lineup but Rachel Maddow makes me want to throw things. When she goes into one of those "We've got something really great to tell you! You won't believe this! It's amazing! Just wait til you hear this! When we found out, we just had to tell you! Listen to this! It's so great!" jags I'm almost foaming at the mouth and screaming by the time she finally, with more grinning and mugging and fanfare, says whatever it is. And then once she gets launched on the story she tends to get stuck onto a point and repeats it with variations a few times before continuing, like the audience is made up of third graders.

I feel bad bitching about the presentation skills of someone I know is magnitudes of brilliance smarter than me but damn -- I have to mute her show after about 15 minutes. And that's unfortunate because she does dig up some good stories and provides interesting and unusual historical perspective on subjects.

I think she's fine, but I'm not the huge fan that many are. Her repetition kills me! Although I admit I do remember what she was talking about most of the time because of it (if I haven't turned the channel). Last night the big great thing was the Arkansas bridge being blown up. Oddly, I remember all the visuals, all the build up, all the fizzle, but I can't for the life of me remember why it was important! Seriously, I got nothing! And the story took forever.

I'm glad she's boosted MSNBCs visibility and ratings--she does some good work periodically on issues no one else does--and I definitely prefer her to Matthews--but I'm not the fan that many are.

[David T. Cole]

This topic was moved back here from Current Events & Politics (sorry, housekeeping after we started that). Network discussion stays in Network Talk. If the discussion turns to the purely political / news then please break it off to the Current Events & Politics forum, thanks!

[car54]

Earlier this afternoon there was a crawler on the MSNBC screen- I think it might have been around the time of Andrea Mitchell's hour or just after--about one of the Wikileaks document leaks quoting Hillary as refering to some fellow cabinet members as "needy Latinos"---then I never saw any other coverage--have they done any stories about that?  I was away from the news quite a while after that.   That can't be good.

[jjj]

First -- here you are!  I go off the boards for a day (last week and yesterday) and find the threads have moved!  Glad to have this one back!

Second:  Alex Wagner on WADR today as co-host -- has she been on MSNBC lately, and I missed her?  Very glad to see her back.

52 minutes ago, car54 said:

Earlier this afternoon there was a crawler on the MSNBC screen- I think it might have been around the time of Andrea Mitchell's hour or just after--about one of the Wikileaks document leaks quoting Hillary as refering to some fellow cabinet members as "needy Latinos"---then I never saw any other coverage--have they done any stories about that?  I was away from the news quite a while after that.   That can't be good.

I have not seen every minute, but have been home sick with MSNBC on constantly, and did not hear anything about "needy Latinos" being discussed.  But there was something on WADR about one of the email addresses having been changed on one of the email documents, so evidence that the documents have been doctored. 

[car54]

Thanks jjj....I was away from about 2-6 pm and it seemed weird that they ran that in print but nobody's brought it up.   I saw the  discussion of the questionable emails--the reporter who was on was saying that they had to be open to that happening and they had to follow up on all of them.   He said that where it would get sticky is if the Clinton campaign said something was not a valid email, and then they found out it was indeed a real one--that it would break the trust in the campaign.

Hope you feel better!  

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, jjj said:

Second:  Alex Wagner on WADR today as co-host -- has she been on MSNBC lately, and I missed her?  Very glad to see her back.

According to this, she left to join The Atlantic magazine as senior editor in April.

[jjj]

2 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

According to this, she left to join The Atlantic magazine as senior editor in April.

Yes, I knew she was fulltime at The Atlantic, but she was definitely co-hosting today!  Just checking on whether I missed her return earlier.  They implied she would be back tomorrow.  I hardly ever get to see WADR, so she could have been there for months without my knowing. 

[car54]

Alex has also been on The Circus with Halperin and Heileman--I think she is just someone they like and have on sometimes--I enjoy her, I wish she was on more often--she has really good chemistry with John.

[atomationage]

5 hours ago, David T. Cole said:

This topic was moved back here from Current Events & Politics (sorry, housekeeping after we started that).

This seems to be causing a problem with where you end up on the page when you click on the topics.  I keep seeing things that I've already read.

[David T. Cole]

@atomationage The "redirect" links from the other forum are not 'smart' if you are coming in from there (it will spit you to the start or end) If you are clicking this topic inside Network Talk it should be okay (regular unread logic).

[pivot]

I give MSNBC a lot of crap for their pushing out most of the women and minorities from their shows but Lawrence O'Donnell deserves some serious kudos for his all-women panels during the Trump sexual assault scandals. Seriously impressed to see on multiple nights all-women panels. The conversations are much different on his show than any other because of it. 

[car54]

For some reason, Lawrence gets a much better discussion going --some of the people are on other shows but they usually are better on his show--he has a real gift for framing a good conversation.

[nowandlater]

18 hours ago, madfortv said:

Why is Kellyanne Conway so respected? She caught my attention, and not in a good way, before she was hired by Trump.  Now I change the channel whenever she is on a show.  I can't stand her.

After watching the last debate, I was surprised at the initial discussion on MSNBC.  I wondered if they watched the same debate. James Carville and Joy Reid brought some sanity to the discussion.

The New Yorker recently had a Kellyanne explainer: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/kellyanne-conways-political-machinations

[atomationage]

Chris Hayes was interviewing  Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept?  about whether or not John Podesta has any right to privacy with the emails that were hacked by wikileaks? supposedly.  I thought Greenwald came off as pretty sleazy.

[Jodio]

So, Brian Williams just reminded viewers that all of these allegations of sexual harassment/assault against Trump are of a "he said/she said" nature.

Fuck you, Brian Williams! Fuck you!

[NextIteration]

4 hours ago, atomationage said:

Chris Hayes was interviewing  Glenn Greenwald from The Intercept?  about whether or not John Podesta has any right to privacy with the emails that were hacked by wikileaks? supposedly.  I thought Greenwald came off as pretty sleazy.

Greenwald's inconsistency about where he chooses to be pure, can be really obnoxious.  I used to be a fan, not so much anymore, I'm tempted to unfollow him on twitter.

[stormy]

PBI  there's a The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell board now  as well as the original All In with Chris Hayes board.

[roughing it]

I was watching Stephanie Ruhle this morning, and she was discussing who was Trump's base - those who are anti-women and anti-African American.  I disagree.  From my neck of the woods, Trump's base is strictly and vehemently anti-Hillary - the ones who chant "lock her up", they call her Killary, can't stop ranting about Benghazi, emails, etc...  They are raging with hatred.  These people would vote for Charles Manson over Hillary.  That's who Trump's followers are.

Edited October 13, 2016 by roughing it
changed "talking" to "ranting" - it fits better