Well, for starters, I’m not asking Joe Buck for much… except how he gets hats on over that gigantic cranium of his.

As for your point… okay, as I said before, valid.

@RJB: thanks for paying taxes. Really, you are actually paying for my internet, so thanks for that too! Keep working hard and I’ll keep getting my EBT card monthly… thaaaanks!!

“Facing Budget Cuts, MSNBC Replaces Keith Olbermann With Talking Point-Reciting Automaton”

http://bit.ly/6tHsOI

Still, if I were a GOP hopeful and I had decided to go on this worthless network for some ridiculous reason, the ONLY one I would be willing to go on, per the number of viewers would be Olbermann…and that only if I thought I could stomach his insane rantings.

ANYONE would get a much bigger audience going on ANY FoxNews show rather than MSNBC. BTW, those who say that MSNBC has “respectable numbers’ need to check out the latest tally as of 18 November (note the HIGHEST numbers of any MSNBC show are almost HALF those of the LOWEST numbers of the lowest FoxNews show):

CABLE NEWS RACE NOV. 18, 2009

FOXNEWS HANNITY/PALIN 4,200,000

FOXNEWS O’REILLY 3,868,000

FOXNEWS BECK 2,512,000

FOXNEWS GRETA 2,383,000

FOXNEWS BAIER 2,235,000

FOXNEWS SHEP 1,980,000

MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,041,000

CNNHN GRACE 1,036,000

MSNBC MADDOW 957,000

CNN KING 835,000

MSNBC HARDBALL 625,000

CNN COOPER 611,000

Matthews was a speech writer for Tip O’Neil. But as for being respected on both sides of the aisle… um… I’m not sure I buy that one.

But your point about having worked in politics before punditry is valid. But then again, if your standard is that only people who’ve worked in a particular can talk about it, well, we’ll have far less sports commentators and television critics (and bloggers) than we do now.

m says:
November 25, 2009 at 12:01 pm

Lie.

m says:
November 25, 2009 at 12:07 pm

Olbermann is a newscaster.

Where are all those Olbermann defenders who say, “His audience knows he’s giving his opinion”? M, would like to disagree with you.

KO is not a “newscaster” by any stretch. He’s a pundit, an activist, and a preacher… one who only puts forth HIS argument and mocks everything else. Not a “newscaster”… just an advocate with a big (not that big) microphone.

shootfromthehip says:
November 25, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Hey “icanbelieveit” – MSNBC gets very respectable numbers.

Respectable how? Remember, the left-wing lines currently are:
“The right watches more television, that’s why they get better numbers… the left is out doing other things.”
-or-
“FNC’s numbers are only big on cable, but really only have an impact on 1-2-3% of the population.”

So when you say “respectable numbers,” what exactly are you saying? Which talking point are you adapting/ignoring to get to that result?

And she invites countless others, they are just too scared to show up because they know Rachel does her homework before a debate.

How do you know that she invites others on? What is your evidence of this? Just because Maddow says it… that makes it true? Would you extend the same trust to (for example) Beck… if he said he invites a lot of liberals on, but they’re too scared to appear? What’s the proof?

It’s a good thing, they count their internal broadcasting of the network, during their broadcast day, because if they did NOT, their “very respectable numbers”, WOULD BE ZERO !

And I wouldn’t be surprised if their own control room, tunes out, during their insipid performances.

It’s NOT that they are a shill for Obama, et al, it’s that they are just a step up from “cable access”.

IMAGINE the amount of money they pump into their operation, daily, just to keep it afloat ???

Is it possible the real journalists at NBC news hold their noses and their tongues with regard to the extreme views of the prime time lineup?

I agreed with his closing point last night that it was instructive to just listen sometimes to the factless talking point rescitation of those on the right yearning for the good old days of Bush/Cheney.

And I am so sick of people saying Maddow doesn’t have guests from the right on. She does all the time. And she invites countless others, they are just too scared to show up because they know Rachel does her homework before a debate.

Olbermann is a newscaster. He’s not a debater. He only has 1 on 1 interviews. It’s a different format altogether. Throughout the one hour of Countdown there’s absolutely no shouting or yelling (except maybe an impersonation or if its a Special Comment). Olbermann hosts a generally very, very calm show.

@Chuck — thanks for giving the “douchebag” some slack. You’re a true gentleman. I’m sure your mother would be proud of you.

I think the thing that gets lost about Chris Matthews and the rest of the commentary on msnbc is that Matthews is the only one of the bunch that has actually worked in politics. He worked, if I remember correctly, on Jimmy Carter’s campaign and is well respected from those on the right. Well, the educated right… So I think there’s appeal for GOP guests who know that Matthews understands policy, policy making, and history. Unlike Oblermann, Maddow, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. They are all just throwing grenades with no real understanding of what it’s like on the inside. I’m not going to put words in the mouths of his guests, but I image that has something to do with it.