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That is quite remarkable. I would have thought that was Carson.
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Sorry for the hijack.
ETA: I do think the reporter was trying to make the best of a pre-written script based on Fox’s assessment of a swing state being split. I don’t think they realized that it’s split geographically, and it’s really mostly a blue state in the east and around Pittsburgh.
“No, consarn it, I said the sheriff is a n:BONG:!”
It would be funny if Fox’s propaganda wasn’t actually reaching anyone but the base. Unfortunately, even those who should know better are falling for their lies. Here’s what Fred Hobbs, a member of the Tennessee Democratic Executive Committee, had to say on why he was reluctant to support Barack Obama:
He later retracted that statement, and cited the source of his misinformation about Obama:
I can’t complain too badly about Fox News, because MSNBC is blatantly in favor of Obama. They don’t lie, but they do slant things. They’ll sometimes under-report or not mention stuff unfavorable to Obama.
But they don’t just make stuff up and put it on the air the way Fox seems to. MSNBC usually appears to have cites.
You should find some DVDs of his shows. Carson was the best talk show host ever. When I was a kid I risked the wrath of my father to stay up late to watch him.
He also worked at fighting ignorance. He helped to make Carl Sagan a big name, and, as a magician, he famously thwarted Uri Geller by having him on the show and setting up the conditions so Geller couldn’t make his tricks work.
It’s the butterfly ballot all over again!
That might explain why Obama is down 17 in a state Clinton won twice (admittedly not by large margins).
I thought that because he spent years as part of the Keating-Five he was just keeping his fist up Palin for solidarity.
Hey, it explains the ‘Paul Winchell/Jerry Mahoney’ Couric interview…
MSNBC swings both ways. Strangely, it moves from pro-McCain in the morning to pro-Obama in the evening.
It starts the day with Morning Joe. This consists of Joe Scarborough, a conservative former Congressman who participated in the Newt Gingrich takeover of the House; Widdle Willie Geist, who has a man-crush on Joe Scarborough, and is his faithful suckup; and Mika Brzezinski, daughter of Jimmy Carter’s National Security advisor, herself an utter airhead and a Joe Scarborough punching bag and throw rug.
They are joined typically by rightwing-nut talking head, Pat Buchanan and a guy with an actual brain named Mike Barnicle, who’s commentary is more neutral — meaning more libertarian, sometimes favoring one side and sometimes the other. Their token leftist is Harold Ford, Jr., an ill-informed Democratic apologist who babbles endlessly in lists until everyone in the room falls asleep.
McCain-whore Andrea Mitchell is also a frequent guest, as is Chuck Todd, the poll guy, who leaves no pebble unturned in searching the numbers to find any speck of McCain advantage or favor. The show airs almost all the McCain YouTube ads (and almost none of Obama’s) and is basically Fox and Friends on MSNBC.
But through the day, it changes.
One-hour newscasts begin at 9:00, after Joe, and are usually anchored by Alex Witt, another McCain-whore, or Tamron Hall, not as dumb as Sarah Palin, but certainly not a bright bulb. Interspersed, usually, are Contessa Brewer and Norah O’Donnel — both tilting slightly toward Obama. The nadir of the day happens at 1:00 with Andrea Mitchell, who looks like F. Murray Abraham in a blond wig. She is the last shill for McCain until 6:00.
David Shuster usually handles the 3:00 and 4:00 spots, and he is decidedly pro-Obama, often arguing against the McCain surrogates to the point that the Obama surrogate is left with very little to do. And then at 5:00, Chris Matthews hosts his Hardball show. He was a Hillary-whore, who converted to Obama at some point, after a mourning period but before the convention. He doesn’t allow McCain bashing, but he presses McCain talking heads very hard.
Then at 6:00, the last McCain bitch hosts for an hour. This is David Gregory, a boyish looking Republican who is married to wealthy sugarmama Beth Wilkinson, who graduated from Princeton when David was 14, and is a prominent DC lawer and former executive vice-president and general counsel for Fannie Mae. Gregory usually hosts four people whom he considers to be two liberals and two conservatives, and runs them through a high-speed revolving door of bumper-sticker chatter and soundbites.
Suddenly, at 8:00 (Matthews runs twice) Obama’s biggest bitch on earth, Keith Olbermann, bursts onto the air with a whirlwind of McCain bashing, the likes of which is awesome to behold. He uses really big words and really long sentences, often crucifying Billo the Clown (Bill O’Reilly) and the whole staff at “Fox Noise”, including Rupert Murdoch, whom he mocks in a pirate voice. Olbermann does not hold back.
Finally, Rachel Maddow closes out the evening. She is less dramatic than Olbermann, but she is decidedly pro-Obama. She is my personal favorite of all the MSNBC pundits. She used to guest on David Gregory’s show a lot, but a skirmish with Joe Scarborough one particular evening left him licking his wounds and her getting a new show.
I had to wait until I got home to watch the video. Frankly, you can only see half the room in the shot when he asks people to raise their hands. At the beginning, the camera shows people coming in the door of the diner and at the register. Then, it swings around to the other side. You can see about 9 people raising their hands, and there are at least nine other people in the room off camera. We weren’t seeing what the reporter was seeing. Also, it’s not at all clear what the people were laughing at.
There was a concert in Santa Fe this weekend that I didn’t go to, because I wanted to watch the debate. Turns out, they showed the debate at the concert!
Mike Barnicle? Christ, I remember when he used to write for the Boston Globe. Definitely no libertarianism; pretty much entirely popularist class-warfare crap permeating everything. I lost all respect for his opinions after reading a column about how (rich) suburban parents throwing graduation parties for their kids where they let minors drink under adult supervision is bad because (poor) Boston Public Schools students really work hard to do well while attending schools plagued by violence. Not only was the logic in connecting the two pretty lacking, as a student in the Boston Public School system at the time, and from kindergarten until whenever that was, I found his characterization absurd.
He was later exposed as a plagiarist and liar by the rival Boston Herald, and fired from the Globe and his local TV gig, but not his frequent spot on Don Imus. A few years ago the Boston Herald actually hired him to write a column, but I think that’s been over for a while now (they still keep Howie Carr on, though, so if I get a free Herald I can play my game of seeing if I can make it to the end of a Howie Carr column without his stupidity overwhelming me with rage).
This is all from memory, I’m sure Barnicle has a Wikipedia page for those interested, but, as you might be able to tell, I got sick of the guy ages (I’ll estimate it at 13 years) ago, and it’s rather an annoyance to still see that he has any credibility. Kinda a shame to hear he’s on Morning Joe, as Scarborough seems to be a conservative I’d watch if watching conservative shows was something I might feel like doing (and I respect Buchanen as a commentator who seems to speak his mind honestly and intelligently without regard for partisan concerns, and who actually favors robust debate. Really, I think I’d love a guy like Buchanen who was right on more than 8% of the issues.). But, basically, fuck Mike Barnicle.
Well then, there you go. MSNBC early morning is a hopeless wreck.
I don’t know if I’d patronize a diner that separated Obama voters and McCain voters and forced them to sit on opposite sides of the room. But you’d think Fox would have known to point the cameras the other way then.
I watched Olbermann most nights a couple years ago, then stopped for some reason. Then I watched him last night- holy crap, he hates the republicans. He absolutely pulls no punches. Frankly, it’s a little too over the top. He must have played the clip of Palin at the Couric interview- where she can’t name a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade- about 10 times; it got to the point where I couldn’t watch it anymore, I was just too embarrassed for Palin. Then the Rachel Maddow show starts, and she played it a few more times, just in case there was a democrat out there that had missed it in the previous hour. I had no idea how unbalanced Olbermann’s show was.
I don’t watch Morning Joe, but:
I’ve found Andrea Mitchell to be balanced, for the most part. Pat Buchanan often guests in the evenings, and when he can take off his political hat and put on his analytical hat, he’s one of the most astute analysts I’ve ever seen, and has been for twenty years. Unfortunately, he rarely does it.
Harold Ford is himself a former congressman, and not in the least an idiot, IMHO. Schuster is a lightweight whom I only see subbing for others. Contessa Brewer et al. are people whom I’ve seen covering things like hurricanes and entertainment crap. Not saying she’s not capable of more, just that I haven’t seen it.
David Gregory supports Obama heavily, as best I can tell (and I watch him every night). If you think he supports McCain, he must be doing a good job of being neutral. 
Chris Matthews is to the left, but I don’t watch him when I can avoid it - he leaves a bad taste in my mouth. A nasty guy more in love with his own ideas than anything else.
I adore Olbermann, and every biased word that comes out of the man’s mouth. He’s the voice for all of our anger, our outrage, and our humor. Rachel Maddow is his sunny alter ego. I watch those two every night, even sacrificing Nova and Antiques RoadShow (although sometimes I wait until 10 and 11 Eastern to watch Olbermann and Maddow, but then I miss The Daily Show).
I don’t think Olbermann is supposed to be balanced. His show is supposed to be analysis and commentary like Bill O’Rielly’s or Sean Hannity’s shows are.