“has there ever been a bill before in congress where an entire network on television has blasted it every day for more than a year?”

The only parallel I can think of is MSNBC, which has sucked the collective dick of the Obama Administration for over a year.

And like Roxsy says, they’ve been sucking it hard.

MSNBC bashed the Bush administration for anything/everything for years and now claims no network has done such a thing? Matthews is delusional. FNC is the only network that provides real debate and all sides of the issues, which is why FNC dominates the cable news ratings.

What gets me is that Chris and his lackies either are just plain stupid or they have reverted to just lying for ratings. Everyone knows that has watched FOX news or passed by that they have debated the health care issue and had various people on there from time to time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th1wGYv2Ig4
Fox News Anchor Martha Maccallum w/Bob Beckel and Kate Overchain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPfHVWU_uSM
Shepard Smith and White House Deputy Spokesman Bill Burton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJzxaK2fO2c
Senator Ben Cardin and Shepard Smith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1hdxmzgac0
Meygan Kelly with Dana Blanton (including polls Fox and CNN)

It’s still debate whether or not you intimidate guest like Chris Matthews or not.

Your exceedingly foul language aside, Azarkhan, the issue in you quoted passage is: “Has there ever been a bill …”? Am I to conclude by your diversion into generalities that you can’t think of one and am in agreement with Mr. Matthews?

I see, too, TfT, that you devolved into generalizations which do not answer the question posed? Please do answer, without the musty baggage filled with out of date clothes and Old Spice.

Oh please TRRK, MSNBC railed against the patriot act for years, until Obama renewed it, then MSNBC was silent.

MSNBC is nothing but a mouthpiece for Obama; you know it, I know it, anyone (even the few) who watches MSNBC knows it.

You must watch more MSNBC than I do. I don’t find anything worth watching on MSNBC except for a special Maddow show and Adrea Mitchell. In fact, I find so little of value on cable news than I can understand why so few people watch cable news on any of the cable networks.

~Matthews said, “if you listen to this network there is a lot of debate on MSNBC about this health care bill – left versus center-left, whatever…for it or against it, there are all points.”

Wow. Left vs. center-left…that is some debate.

There are Libs on Fox constantly claiming this hcr bill is wonderful. Also MSNBC is clearly for the bill. Matthews is projecting. And he has no ratings so it’s just sad.

Chris was exactly right, the 24/7 jihad by all elements of a network against a bill is unprecedented. Todd demurred because of future employment considerations where Chris has none.

Christine,
Again, to put it all in perspective about ratings, FOX typically gets up to 4 million people watching their FOX NEWS shows. That is 4 million out of 300 million people. Far more people watch non-Fox News shows on any given night.

It is not honest to argue that FOX News is fair and balanced with regard to the health care debate. Which is not to say that you do not occasionally hear the other side of the argument.

Even if what the leftist swine say is true–that Fox only presents the opposition to the health care takeover– that still leaves:

New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Associated Press, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN

So now what is your pathetic, lame-ass, nauseating excuse for the Democrats not being able to rally enough members of their OWN PARTY to vote “yes” on the Senate bill?

PS: That was just a rhetorical question. I’m not remotely interested in anything you have to say.

I’m not sure why all the Fox lovers think all the people in the world watches Fox, we get it more people watch Fox than MSNBC! Also more people watch the Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and TNT than Fox, I wonder what Hannah Montana or sponge bob thinks about Healthcare?

Matthews has an attitude of a six-year-old. He’s preaching to a smallish choir of like-minded Libs who don’t watch Fox anyway. Give him a Genie bottle so he can rub it and make the viewer ratings at MSNBC and Fox News switch places. That’s his only hope.

mcf1757:”I’m not sure why all the Fox lovers think all the people in the world watches Fox…”

Actually mcf, we don’t think that. You are correct that other channels have much larger audiences.

But the game here is that MediaiteMatters posts videos, articles, etc. that are critical of Fox News, and we (conservatives) respond in kind. Of course, we don’t control what Mediaite posts.

Some better questions are:
Why is Mediaite so obsessed with Fox News?
Who is Mediaite working for, or perhaps more to the point, is Mediaite part of an informal alliance with HuffHoe, Daily Kos, etc.?
How does Mediaite make money? As you can see, there are very few ads on this site. Is it funded by sympathizers to the Democratic Party?

Didn’t O’Reilly interview Obama before? And isn’t Fox giving Obama another opportunity to explain health care? And don’t O’Reilly and Hannity have on Marc LaMont Hill and Bob Beckel regularly to present the other side? If Matthews ever actually watched Fox, he’d know that.

“As you can see, there are very few ads on this site.”

Looking over the site, that is not correct. There are quite a few ads. Whether or not they generate enough money to pay for everything is another matter.

Isn’t the thing about Fox’s POV Jon Stewart’s treatise from Monday night?

Chris Matthews needs to interview Sen. Blanche Lincoln, and then try to blame FNC for the difficulty the Dems are having in rallying together.

Today on Morning Joe, Lincoln said that SHE initiated dialogue with the White House. SHE went to them first.

Bob Woodward responded with some blather about the president being an intellectual… sigh

What the hell is the administration thinking! If they want pass this thing they had better be LESS intellectual. Going on FNC may be too little, too late.

If by debate, Matthews means demagoguery, then, yes, MSNBC has debate.

Azarkhan says…

Watch your language, please!

You’re not in some locker room.

Act like an adult.

Again. Its a cycle. Fox News sucked the collective dick of the Bush admin for 8 yrs. Fox is mostly opinion. With the exception of Keith Olbermann’s program, MSNBC has debate and actually reports news. Olbermann’s show is falling behind Rachel Maddow because there is no debate on his show. He brings on the same people every day who all agree with everything he says. CNN, is down them middle which is a good place to be.

“March 17, 2010 at 10:15 am”

Did I actually hear Matthews say that MSNBC ran the debate dialogue gambit from “left to center-left”?! :D

Shomari, surely you can express a point without sounding like you’re in a junior high boys bathroom.

CBS, ABC, and NBC are all headed by liberal Democrats. The New York Times and most big city newspapers are liberal. No one watches CNN. Fox is the only news channel that leans right, but that’s not good enough for the left. They want the media to be 100% in their pocket. That’s why all the hatred of Fox. Can’t let those opposing opinions get out.

“CBS, ABC and NBC are all headed by liberal Democrats”? Hmmm – curious where you get that information “writer”? Maybe you should look at the corporations who own these networks and see where their policies lie.

You really need a new shtick, Writer. You have added anything new, of substance, in weeks. To say that the corporate media is liberal is as absurd as saying my cat is a vegetarian.

This idea that it doesn’t matter that reporters are generally to the left because they work for robber baron corporation is beyond me.

Mr. Hall are you really suggesting that media entities are virtual sell-outs and and sock puppets to their corporate overlords?

And, it’s a double play. Corporate media called out.

Mr. Hall are you really suggesting that media entities are virtual sell-outs and and sock puppets to their corporate overlords?

—

If he isn’t, I am.

Media members are by in large to the left of the general public.

It’s astounding to me that many of them would rather imply that they are corporate shills than to admit something far less pejorative than that.

Well, you aren’t exactly the gold standard of rationality, Clucker.

I give more credence to Mr. Hall (and most of the animal kingdom)

Colby, it’s not that hard to find. NBC and MSNBC’s chairman is Jeffrey Immelt, and his political affiliation can even be found on that conservative bastion, the Huffington Post. (along with other less conservative sources) Disney owns ABC and their chairman is Robert Iger, a liberal Democrat. Time Warner owns CNN, and the chairman is Jeffrey Bewkes, a liberal Democrat. Rupert Murdoch is the only conservative media mogul. It’s odd how the left says that Murdoch’s political views infect his network, yet the others are somehow viewed as above all that, and would never let their personal biases enter their networks.

How did your bunion surgery go, Cecelia? I hope it wasn’t painful. At least, not too painful ….

Evidently, it went very poorly, TRFRK, you’re still here.

Colby is probably busy looking up what I just posted. (White) Royal will spin it away.

Rupert Murdoch is the only conservative media mogul.

—

And, you know this how? Didn’t the Murdoch holdings in the UK lurch to the left when the British people bid a not too fond adieu to Thatcherism? Didn’t Murdoch actually work with closely with Clinton, politically? And, what of the gratuitous boobs peeking around at us whilst we’re on p. 2 of the Murdoch British-holdings and bouncing all over our PHOXY screens in the US? Family values? Murdoch is an opportunist. It is Ailes who is the extreme rightist loon. Your facts need a booster shot.

Cecelia says:
March 17, 2010 at 10:43 am

Evidently, it went very poorly, TRFRK, you’re still here.

—

I’ll see if I can get a refund on that candle I lit for you.

Better yet, just…excise…yourself…

What happened Hall?

He starts a debate and then runs off?

(White) Royal is still distraught over Barney’s offensive avatar. And if you don’t believe Royal is against stereotyping, then you must be an ignorant, racist, trailer-park dweller, like all those tea partiers or all those people in the deep South.

Yes, Writer, TRFRK is a study in contradictions, is he not…

A lover of mankind — the poor, uneducated, and unwashed, and always apt to call you that if you disagree.

Hey, Clucker, does using the term “Raygun” help you keep the psychotic Patsy nibbling at your fingertips?

Where has he gone? I miss him already. (But not a whole lot.)

He’s off preening somewhere and calling out Clucker’s Clods –his coterie of internet operatives.

Then I’m off to the gym to work off my depression at his absence.

>Rupert Murdoch is the only conservative media mogul.

Actually, he’s the only one with a clear agenda. Every single TV channel, every single website, every single newspaper that Murdoch owns has a conservative slant. NOTHING like that can be said about any other media conglomerate.

Ummm….don’t look now, M, but your facts need a booster shot (whatever the hell that means..)

Scroll up…

Ceceeeeeeeeeeelia, I’m down on my knee, I am begging you please, to GO home (back to your perch at the Dollar Dump where you can give outsiders the Leona Helmsley treatment).

Thanks for the article Colby.

Jim R says:
March 17, 2010 at 9:22 am
Chris was exactly right, the 24/7 jihad by all elements of a network against a bill is unprecedented. Todd demurred because of future employment considerations where Chris has none.

Jim,
As I pointed out when I sent an email to Mediaite requesting this be address:

A better question might be:

Has there ever been a bill in history before the Congress, where an entire network on television has pushed every day for more than a year?

Of course, it’s not just one network, it’s pretty much every network and print news.

Is this the Onion? Is this April Fool’s Day? Did Matthew start drinking early to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. You can’t make me believe he held up MSNBC as a network that celebrate diverse views and open debate on the issues. If he really said that. it is an even bigger joke than the tingle up his leg.

same2u says:
March 17, 2010 at 11:25 am
Ceceeeeeeeeeeelia, I’m down on my knee, I am begging you please, to GO home (back to your perch at the Dollar Dump where you can give outsiders the Leona Helmsley treatment).

—-
This is what I am talking about. For more smart political talk, please visit TRRK, S2U, Heckman, Johnny Tee, and the count at http://rangerbobfriends.blogspot.com/

This is what I am talking about. For more smart political talk, please visit TRRK, S2U, Heckman, Johnny Tee, and the count at http://rangerbobfriends.blogspot.com/

Is this a joke? I’ll agree that TRRK is good for a respectful political debate, but John and S2U, you must be joking there!

Fox is the voice of conservatives. I’m good with that. There needs to be balance and it is generally true that the other networks and much of the media leans progressive. But it is not fair to say that all non-Fox news is completely one-sided. There is still journalism out there. CNN is by no means liberal much of the time. And the big three networks are not either.

On the other hand, conservatives, by nature, always resist change. They resisted medicare, resisted civil rights laws, resisted woman having the right to vote (and woman’s rights in general), resisted polution standards, and will continue to resist health care reform, immigration reform and any other changes that are proposed. That is what they do. In the overall dynamic of change it is their job to do that, lest we as a people jump into something for the sake of change that is not fully vetted.

Evidently, I’m shaking same2u’s confidence daily…

Patsy, is Ranger Bob the loudest voice in your head?

Michelle, if “respectful debate” is being called a racist for disagreeing with TRFRK, then everyone in the world will at some point have fifteen minutes of respect from TRFRK.

valkyrie101, as I recall, the Repulicans were a big part of the civil rights movement, but somehow that part gets left out.

As far as resisting pollution standards, of course we want to clean things up, but NOT at the expense of our entire economy. And a woman’s right to choose, well some of us are looking out for the rights of the unborn. As for immigration, all we ask is that we secure the borders and enforce the laws first. What a concept.

I’ve come to respect you as a debater, but in this case I don’t feel like you are being fair in your representing our views.

Cecelia,
I used to have the same problems with TRRK, but we’ve made peace and since then he has been more respectful to me. I’m just speaking for me in this instance.

Michelle,

Quick FYI– You’re about to spend a lot of time in order to have Valkyrie end up saying that you were both arguing the same thing all along.

Michelle, so you apologized to him for forcing him insult you..huh?…

No I didn’t apologize to him, we just agreed to disagree and can talk without insulting each other now.

I’m not sure what you are saying with your comment about Valkyrie.

Michelle,
I did not say “Republican”, I said “conservative”. It was not that long ago that the politics of the sourth was on the Democratic side, but it has always been conservative down there. I am talking about the dyanmic of conservative and liberal, and the role those two play in matters relating to change. That is not the same thing as Republican and Demoncrat, though in today’s debate that is the case. In fact it always was the case in the past that there were lilberals and conservatives in both parties, but in recent years the two parties have become polarized.

You do get both sides on Fox News.

I won’t count Hannity’s interviews with Michael Moore, nor will I count Dylan Ratigan’s shouting matches.

Cecelia:

When people reach an accomodation, especially one which has held for at least a bit of time, I think we all need to respect that. Michelle and I have political differences that are substantially. We also have some profound theological and ecclessiological differences that could never be resolved unless one of our churches were to make a tremendous doctrinal move. I find that so terribly sad, in an existential sense, but also on a personal level. People of God ought not be so divided (and so divisive). I respect Michelle tremendously, her faith commitment, her family values, obvious even on a blog, her well-considered and articulated ideological points of view. For the moment, that’s enough. Why ought that bother you so much? Frankly I find that mean and petty on your part. For, in the end, as Christians and as Americans, we have so much more that unites us than divides us. There is much common ground. And, that is a high place. I really resent someone trying to pull us apart, trying to pull us from that high ground. Michelle and I will never be soulmates, of that I am sure, but I suspect we could very much enjoy a Sprite and a Diet Coke together and have an interesting, spirited, substantive, even fun conversation. Let that be enough.

Well said, King.

valkyrie101, I will admit to being very sensitive to this issue. I feel like R’s and Con’s are portrayed as uncaring and selfish, and that is not at all how I see myself or how I live my life, so I tend to take such statements quite personally.

There is really nothing one can say about Matthews and his program. He has, for many years, continued on his low rating and old line Democrat philosopy. He is still trying to work the 60′s and 70′s politics and is very much out of touch with reality. No one is sure just how Matthews has been able to maintain his contract with NBC nor has anyone provided a good reason for his continuos service to the “company”. Perhaps when Comcast takes over it will probably negate all contracts and then they can negate Matthews.

valkyrie101 says:

“Again, to put it all in perspective about ratings, FOX typically gets up to 4 million people watching their FOX NEWS shows. That is 4 million out of 300 million people. Far more people watch non-Fox News shows on any given night.”

No shit.

And MSNBC typically gets less than a million viewers in primetime.

“Let that be enough.”

By all means!

One more sentence and I was going to lose my pear crepes.

Christine,
Yes, MSNBC does get like a quarter of the viewers (or less) that Fox does. But then, MSNBC is a relative upstart to Fox which had already established itself long before MSNBC appeared on the scene. MSNBC is also not available as a basic channel on as many cable outlets as Fox, and that effects ratings. But hurray for Fox. Glad they provide a voice to conservatives. I was a conservative myself for most of my life, and a die hard Washington Times fan, which I subsribed to for twenty years. I changed during the Bush administration years.

Too funny. All Chris does is have the same lame Progressives on who are all for the bill or only against it because it isn’t radical enough.

And yes Chris, MSNBC has been crack-diving BHO for over a year now. Oh, wow, poor Chris, I saw you had only 100K viewers the other night.

valkyrie101~

Actually MSNBC and Fox News were both launched in 1996. MSNBC in July and Fox News in Oct. I have no idea whether one is much more available than the other and I highly doubt you do either.

Now we are back to the “MSNBC is not offered on basic cable ” excuse for the low ratings. Funny, few people get just the “basic” cable service.

What happened to the other old excuse that “millions are watching MSNBC on their PCs, and that doesn’t show up in the ratings” excuse?

Bawahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Maybe it’s not offered on basic cable because there is NO demand for it. I have basic cable and have it.

valkyrie101~

If your claim were true about Fox News being more widely available than MSNBC, you would think people would be saying that all the time in defense of MSNBC’s ratings. I’ve never heard it before. Not even from anyone on MSNBC. I have the basic digital cable from Comcast and I get CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, and Headline News. No Fox Business though.

Christine, The Fox network was launched in 1986 and struck it big early on with Married with Children and the Simpsons. You are correct that Fox News was launched in 1996, but by that time Fox was an established network with significant name recognition and negotiated access to far more homes than MSNBC were able to hook up.

The reason I mentioned that MSNBC is not included in as many of the basic cable packages as Fox is because here in Florida, at least in the metro area where I live, in order to get MSNBC you need a cable box, but not for Fox. I went to the trouble of getting a cable box just so I could watch Racheal Maddow.

valkyrie101~

I live in Florida too and I don’t know what you’re talking about but whatever. I’m done with this topic. The idea that Fox Network helped Fox News but NBC didn’t help MSNBC is nonsense. Gotta go now.

A note to Valkyrie, more cable networks may be tempted to drop MSNBC from basic service given the collapse in its ratings. Matthews, Olbermann and Maddow have each lost more than half of their audience over the last 18 months. And if they continue to act as the government-run information arm of the Obama administration, they will lose another 50% in the next 18 months.

LOL

Hey Valkyrie, you said ” The Fox network was launched in 1986…” Well, just when was NBC started?

Ya lose again!

Again felix, happy for FOX, I am sure their 3 or 4 million (on a good night) viewers out of our 300 million population are satisfied with it. MSNBC with its 500K audience is good too. They have their little niche. That is where the hard core progressives go to get their fix (well, those who watch TV). Your claim that Matthews, Olbermann and Maddow has lost half its audience over the last 18 months is, of course, nonsense. You must be confusing that with Beck, who has lost so many advertisers that his show is now sponsored by “end of the world” seed vendors, and gold merchants who are nice enough to give Beck a cut for promoting the imminent demise of our monetary system as “news”. LOL.

Tyler. It is not a big issue. Am I right or wrong? So far no one, you, Christine or me, have put up any objective data proving the point either way. Before your gloat, maybe you should put in the time to research the issue instead of speculating. Me? Its just a throw away issue and I do not care either way. I am pretty sure that FOX News is available in more homes as a basic service than MSNBC. You want to prove me wrong? Go for it.

But then FOX is and represents a quivering mass of vicious irrationality and civic incoherence. A dissolute gang of atrocities of the mind. Expect no more. It’s not cmplicated at all.

WOW! Listen to the Faux News Fanboys squeal like stuck pigs!

Truth hurts, don’t it?

Beck has a bigger audience at 5PM than MSNBC has at any hour!

LMAO

Tyler, I know that Beck has bigger ratings. But then, it is all relative. There are a lot more options for progressives then just watching MSNBC. And really, neither of those cable networks catch that many people compared to, for example, American Idol.

Obviously, Mr. Matthews has never watched FOX. As for “debate” on the lib networks, it’s leftist debating extreme leftists.

pyrope, your partisanship is showing. Clearly Fox is the conservative network. I can live with that, but be honest.

Jelperman, you just don’t get it, do you? Olbermann, Matthews, and Madcow have lost more than half their audience in the last six months. They’re owned by NBC, which has been around since Jesus was knee high to a grasshopper, and FOX is the new kid on the block that is capturing the ratings because people are so desperately hungry for the truth. No one who watches FOX is complaining one whit. Instead, we are celebrating while all the libs are crying in their beer.

valkyrie101, (lovely name), so many times i have seen conservatives and liberals, democrats and republicans, and other people with diverse views appear on FOX news, usually, it is the liberals who are given the most time to express their opinions and they are uniformly treated with respect and with decorum befitting a professional journalists.

On those occasions when I have watched MSNBC, I have yet to see anyone with a conservative viewpoint allowed to get a point across, and the rants by Olbermann, Matthews, and Madcow are far beyond civility in most cases.

It’s not that FOX is so much right wing (actually, they do appear that way because they are so diametrically opposed to all other networks), it’s just that both sides of a viewpoint looks so radically different to the other sources that makes them appear that way. So, as for FOX being “the conservative network,” I would respectfully submit that they’re the only “not-liberal” network.

That sound’s about right, the “not liberal network”. Nice. :-)