Somebody, Please, Help Tweety Talk!

The past two nights, watching Tweety, on 'Hardball', has been, even more, excruciating, as to his reporting on the Haiti earthquake.

He has put on his "Super-Serious" suit, and looks, sternly, into the camera, with all his dramatic announcements.

And, biggest of all, he sounds like a total, Ted Baxter-like jackass, whenever he pronounces the name of Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince.



You can go out to 'Hardball' and pull up some of the videos, to check it out.

Even Atizine, on Twitter, noticed "Watching newscasters who pronounce almost nothing else properly, try their hardest 2 say 'Port Au Prince' like a local is absolutely weird..."

Almost overnight, Monty Python created a new "Ministry of Silly Talk", and Tweety is their first, gleaming star graduate.

Most normal people pronounce the name of Port-au-Prince, sounding as "Port-O-Prince".

Tweety has been pronouncing it, apparently, in the Francophile manner, as "Port-O-Prance" really dragging out the "Prance" part, making it sound like "Prawnce".

Much in the same behavior as being the only person, outside of the family secret bunker, that pronounces the name of the former Shadow President, as "Cheeny", versus the rest of the standing world, as "Cheney", or "Chay-ney"

Maybe the Darth Vader clan is okay with his mashing their name ...

But somebody needs to clue Tweety in, that he works for MSNBC, not Le Monde.


Bonus Tweety

Clooney: Wouldn’t Cast Matthews In A Daydream ,,,When Pressed, Matthews Admits Miffed Not Cast in Clooney Film ...“Forget This Zelig Mishmash, I Could Have Played McCarthy … And Played Him Damn Good”

MSNBC's Matthews Uninjured Pulling Head Out Of Judy Miller's Ass ...Hardball Host Fawns Over Former White House Stenographer; Stays Away From Tough Questions

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Oh boy, leave it to Tweety.

H/T to John Cole, over on Balloon Juice, for the catch;

This Chris Matthews quote is a Palinesque work of art:

MATTHEWS: And I think we have got to get serious about catching terrorists, not just catching weapons. I‘m waiting for the terrorist who knows kung fu or something that gets on an airplane without a weapon. God knows what that is going to be like.

Hey, Gerald, happy new year, even under this circumstance.

WTF!

We go from a kid, putting a bomb in his underwear, to sketching out a new Jackie Chan movie?

Steve Benen was also scratching his head;

Also note the context: Matthews is urging us to "get serious" about counterterrorism, and in the next sentence, warning us of the potentially deadly consequences of terrorists who know "kung fu or something."

Oh man ...

Was Tweety hitting the punch a little early this evening?

But, on another note, Tweety's wing-in-mouth solved our New Year's Eve music choice.

Everybody, get up and shake it!

Carl Douglas - Kung fu fighting(original)




Bonus Tweety Riffs

MSNBC's Matthews Uninjured Pulling Head Out Of Judy Miller's Ass ...Hardball Host Fawns Over Former White House Stenographer; Stays Away From Tough Questions

Clooney: Wouldn’t Cast Matthews In A Daydream ...When Pressed, Matthews Admits Miffed Not Cast in Clooney Film ...“Forget This Zelig Mishmash, I Could Have Played McCarthy … And Played Him Damn Good”

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

Tweety, The Head of the Democrats?

Please ...

It's enough to have him getting thrills up his legs, and fawning all over dubious guests.

Nora WD has a post up over on Open Salon, on Newt "Contract On America" Gingrich speaking at Fordham University last evening.

At Fordham, Gingrich compares Limbaugh to Chris Matthews

Among many gems, was this;

When asked if a more hospitable America is safer, he replied yes but quickly added that "you don’t gain respect by letting people walk all over you." The Obama administration, Gingrich said, reminds him of Jimmy Carter's administration (which Republicans would love given that Carter lost to Reagan in 1980). Gingrich, who's been divorced twice but just converted to Catholicism, told us that "to drive God out of public life is fundamentally destructive to America." One of my favorite moments of Gingrich’s speech had to be when he compared Rush Limbaugh to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, after being asked how he felt about conservative media stars such as Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. He proceeded to say that they are not politicians and are not running for office and given this we should not consider them to be representative or leaders of the Republican Party, just as no one considers Chris Matthews to be representative or a leader of the Democratic Party (he also referenced Al Franken here).

If Tweety were the head of the Democrats, hopefully that would finally drive it into his thick skull, to lose the phone number of The Rat Catcher.

Why on earth does he continue to bring on his program, the disgraced former Congressman from Texas, Tom DeLay?

Anyway, Nora WD also had a good Newt zinger in there, as well;

The other notable guest may only have been notable to me, given that we had a small run in at the end of the Speech. As I was leaving the auditorium with friends, we were discussing the beginning of Gingrich's speech in which he talked about traveling to Poland with his wife. We then proceeded to innocently (and privately) joke about how we should have asked him to clarify which wife he was referring to: the one he divorced while she had cancer, or the one he cheated on with his current wife, or his current wife. As we were joking about this, a man grabbed me by the arm and said “I know what you’re talking about.” Not really knowing where he was going with this and being a little angry that he thought it would be ok for him to grab a 19 year old girl by the arm, I gave him a confused and slightly dirty look. He then proceeded to ask me if I had heard of Monica Lewinsky, and if I would have still voted for Bill Clinton. I politely said yes and walked away.

Go check out At Fordham, Gingrich compares Limbaugh to Chris Matthews

Bonus Links

Bob Cesca: Step Away From The Constitution, Mr. Gingrich, And Put Your Hands Where We Can See Them

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Leading To Newt Gingrich Deciding Not To Run For President

Clooney: Wouldn’t Cast Matthews In A Daydream ...When Pressed, Matthews Admits Miffed Not Cast in Clooney Film ...“Forget This Zelig Mishmash, I Could Have Played McCarthy … And Played Him Damn Good”

Tweety vs. Ari - It's A Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein Kind of World!

God, it was right on cue, with our post earlier today, on Puckered Lips, Mr. Sycophant, Mike Allen, writing about the Bush Cronies spinning the spin.

There he was, looking like, oh, I don't know, a guy that has slept in his suit for a few days, former Bush Grindhouse Liarperson #1, Ari Fleischer, squaring off with Tweety, on "Hardball" today.



I hope to see the transcript tonight, for Liarperson Ari threw out some whoppers.

As the shouting match began, with Tweety pressing him to defend The Commander Guy, Liarperson Ari threw the 2003 autopilot on and just started babbling "Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein" and "Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ...."

And why I want the transcript is to get the phrasing, the words, absolutely correct.

Liarperson Ari said, and I have this mostly correct;

"I think that Barack Obama should say thank you every day, that he inherited a world without Saddam Hussein in it ..."

Say What?

Is this the new meme?

That we all, not just Obama, but every single American citizen, should bow down to The Commander Guy, because we how have a world without Saddam Hussein in it?

WOW!

That's really spinning that Aug 6th, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing memo.

As the segment wore on, right to the very end, it turned into a hot, cat-pissing, shouting-over-each-other slugfest, Liarperson Ari going, again-and-again with "Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein" and "Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ...." - 

And a curse on you Tweety for licking your wounds, instead of going for the knock-out punch, when Liarperson Ari said;

"After September 11, having been hit once, how can we take a chance that Saddam might not strike again ..."

They - The Bush Grindhouse Cronies - are still trying to sell the discredited bullshit of Saddam Hussein being behind the Sept. 11th attacks?

Liarperson Ari also denied that "they" ever said "Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein ... Saddam Hussein" and "Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ... Bush Kept Us Safe ...." would attack us with nuclear weapons, which, to his credit, Tweety hit him over the head with the Cheney-Condi Mushroom Cloudapalooza..

You can watch the Steel Caged Match of Tweety vs. Liarperson Ari here

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Memo to Liarperson Ari, Mike Allen, Dana Perino, Dan Bartlett and all the other cronies, oh, please, please, keep that one in there ... As all you nitwits go around pumping up the failed presidency, please keep pushing Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11th ... It will be a short selling season on that legacy thing ... 

You can always sneak out of the room, while the gut-wrenching laughter is at full tilt.


Bonus Liarperson Ari - Tweety Riffs

Pareene: Ari Fleischer Battles Chris Matthews, Calls Him "Shameful" And "Disingenuous" (VIDEO)

Sam Stein: Ari Fleischer Battles Chris Matthews, Calls Him "Shameful" And "Disingenuous" (VIDEO)

Alan Colmes: Defending Bush Is Hard

Krup: Chris Matthews Tears Ari Fleischer A Ginormous New One

Joan Walsh: Ari Fleischer's big failure

An Update, and A Pointer ...

The Update

Well, it appears, for now, anyway, we won't be seeing any "Tweety for Senator" signs popping up.

We wrote yesterday, the rampaging rumors that Matthews was gearing up for a 2010 run, ostensibly, against Republican Arlen Specter, should Tweety survive the college-prank-overstuffed phone booth, that likely would have surfaced for the Penn. Dem Primary.

Word comes via Nate Silver, at FiveThirtyEight.com, that Matthews has "flatly denied our report indicating his active hiring for the Pennsylvania Senate seat currently held by Arlen Specter.

"It is absolutely not true," said Matthews, in a statement."

Guess he's not feeling that thrill up his leg ... Yet ...

For, if we want to make like the Big Dog Pundits, spending hours parsing his statement, we could point to the fact that he didn't actually say he wasn't running, just that he was denying the reports that he is hiring staff for such a run.

Stay tuned Tweety Fans ... I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll have "clear-cut signals" of Tweety shopping for soap boxes to deliver campaign speeches from ...

The Pointer

I am still revoltingly shocked at the death of that Wal-Mart employee yesterday.

It's almost incomprehensible that people would be that rabid, over, making a purchase, mind you, this wasn't some free giveaway of Soylent Green, or anything.

Just what was so compelling, that X-amount of people lost all of their social bearings, their humanity, over?

Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9.

Cheap consumer items, more than likely, all manufactured overseas, by people in dreadful factories, being paid sub-livable wages, in jobs that, perhaps, once were based in this country, but farmed out under the flag of downsizing, and free trade quotas

The inventory listed above comes from an AP article, that offers a potential of righting this horrible wrong;

Sought: Wal-Mart shoppers who trampled NY worker

NEW YORK – Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down.

Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.

I truly hope that the Nassau County officials pursue this vigorously, as well as bringing criminal charges against Wal-Mart.

This should not be swept under the carpet, as "too difficult".

There is, apparently, video of the stampede, there's certainly numerous still photos (the photo gallery offered yesterday), and, presumably, X-amount of those animalistic shoppers used debit and credit cards, to make their blood-soaked purchases.

They actually complained about the store closing, due to the death of the employee;

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling `I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."

Larisa Alexandrovna, on her At-Largely blog, goes to the heart of it, in "Wal-Mart and the sick around it...";

Here is what happens when you get a bunch of American shopper's together without supervision - and of course, it would happen at Wal-Mart where everything is from China, polluted and tainted, and where employees are treated like slaves. When you willingly support a company with such little regard for human rights, worker rights, and so forth, the community that springs up around it will be just as contaminated. The worst is yet to come, however ...

Snip ...

My god, for shame! People around the world are dying of starvation and this polluted populace could not wait to buy electronics to the point of killing someone? For shame!

Snip ...

You read that right. Even after these people learned that their actions lead to the murder of a store clerk, they refused to leave the store and wanted to keep shopping. Oh, and as for Wal-Mart? Well, like I said, pollution feeds on pollution and sick feeds on sick. Sure they closed their doors long enough to get the dead-employee off their pretty floors. But then they re-opened shortly after.

What, Wal-Mart could not lose some money from one store where employees were traumatized, where an employee had been killed, where such a thing occurred? They could not take a day off to at least, if nothing else, to teach the community a lesson? No, because what can sick teach sick? For shame!

We give the last word to Will Bunch, over on Attytood;

There've been a lot of stories in the last week or two about what Great Depression II will look like, but I think trampling people to get bargains at a discount stores is pretty much it.

Hey Brother, can you spare a life?

Have Shovel, May Run?

Oh man, would I love to see this ...

Tweety on the campaign trail - as the candidate!

Can't you just see it? ... All lathered up with Aqua Velva, wide-eyed, charging out there, that thrill running up-and-down his leg.

The first sightings of this surfaced earlier this month.

From Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog;

When Chris Matthews said, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work," it was all about a potential senate run. In fact, we'll find very few anti-Obama remarks on Hardball until (and if) Matthews announces he's not going to run. The short explanation is that if Matthews wants to unseat Arlen Specter, he's going to need the White House.

Others also picked up on the Public Policy Polling report, including Chris Cillizza, who predicted that "Here's one certainty: If Matthews does decide to run, this will be the marquee Senate race in the country in 2010."

Well, Sean Quinn, and Nate Silver, over on FiveThirtyEight.com, say, with a caution, that it's a go;

Chris Matthews Staffing Up for Probable Senate Run in 2010

Chris Matthews, it appears, is in.

FiveThirtyEight has been hearing for some time that Matthews is serious about running for the United States Senate, but it took a trip to Georgia among the Georgia-runoff-congregated and well-connected Obama organizer throng to confirm.

According to multiple sources, who confirmed the Tip O'Neill staffer-cum-MSNBC host has negotiated with veteran Obama staffers to enlist in his campaign, Chris Matthews is likely to run for United States Senate in Pennsylvania in 2010. Matthews, 62, would run as a Democrat. Arlen Specter, the aging Republican incumbent, will be 80 if he chooses to run for re-election.

Preliminary public polling suggests Matthews would start at a deficit, in part because Matthews' name recognition is lower than Specter's.

My money says, while it may be tempting, the lure of going from a former staffer to holding the office may be an alluring pull that Matthews finds it hard to step away from.

That is, until someone with sanity that hangs around him points to the MSNBC Tape Vault, and miles-and-miles of videotape that would have a Matthews Campaign in a permanent Press Conference mode, explaining away his gaffes and inane comments.

Steve Benen also noted such;

As for Matthews' chances, your guess is as good as mine. I glanced through Media Matters' recent hits on Matthews' on-air comments, and it's safe to assume the MSNBC host would have a lot of explaining to do before Pennsylvania Democrats gave him the nod.

And just in case, Matthews doesn't hear that friend, someone else can paint him a picture that should resonate.

Scene, the first debate, Matthews, with, at least, three other candidates ... Matthew gives a complicated, long-winded, foolish answer to some question, and all it will take, for any of the other candidates to neutralize him for the rest of the campaign, is for one to look at him and repeat the lament about his colleague, Morning Joke, plastering Tweety with;

"Jesus, Chris, why don't you get a shovel ..."

Or, as Olbermann did to him, just give him the hand gesture, that he was talking too much.

Thank the staffers, close the campaign HQ, and here's some lovely parting gifts for you, Mr. Tweety ...


Bonus Tweety Riffs

The Raw Story - Claim: Chris Matthews 'staffing up' for Senate run

Ta Nehisi Coates: Chris Matthews for Senate

Chris Matthews' Leg

Digby: Frederick of Hollywood and the Tiny Silicone Penis

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

MSNBC's Matthews Uninjured Pulling Head Out Of Judy Miller's Ass; Hardball Host Fawns Over Former White House Stenographer; Stays Away From Tough Questions

Tweety Baits, Rat Catcher Bites

Something is going on here.

For the second time in a month, Tweety, either on his 'Hardball' program, or, as last night, in the Special Election coverage, is showing great restraint, patience, just laying back, and letting the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show shit all over themselves.

We had, of course, the incident that launched The Garlic's Ignorant Dolt of the Week, when Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann dove right in, channeling her inner McCarthyism.

And last evening, in MSNBC's Special Election Coverage, Tweety brought on The Rat Catcher (aka former corrupt Republican Majority Whip, Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, who, before he displayed for the world, his legislative intellect, and unbridled greed, prepared for his role in high government via his exterminating business).

Now, there is a question of judgment, why Tweety, and/or MSNBC, would want to have The Rat Catcher on for an interview, being it was, in effect, The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Night of Barack Obama.

But on he slimed, with Tweety baiting him about the unfolding meltdown of the Republican Party, giving The Rat Catcher the opportunity for him to toot the tin, RNC talking point of how a Democratic Majority is going to bring on the end of the universe.

At the end of The Rat Catcher's spewing, Tweety, all smiling and chuckling, cuts his legs off on national television, labeling him a "hater" (perhaps code for something else, no?)

Here it is, captured for posterity;

Rethug Tom Delay Says Dems Will Screw Economy, Chris Matthews Calls Him A Hater




Let's roll out a deal for The Rat Catcher ... We'll give'em a special nod as "Ignorant Hater of the Day!"


Bonus Rat Catcher Riffs

DeLay, the Lobbyist? ...DeLay Resignation Clears Way For Medal of Freedom Award; To Scold Wayward Republicans, President To Conduct Ceremony In Full Session

Lobbyist Sought $15M To Introduce Bush To Cheney; New Documents Show Abramoff Peddling Secret Bunker Access, In Concert With Fallen House Leader DeLay

Old Ethics Rules Back In Force; DeLay Now Facing Additional Charges; Stowaway On Air Force One Effort To Avoid House Investigation

DeLay's Wife Demands To Speak With President; Wants Answers But Not Sure Where To Camp Out - D.C., Crawford or Hurricane Region?

Cheney Backs DeLay At Fundraiser, Despite Upheld Charges; VP Promises Former House Leader "Strong Iraq Press"; Cheney Takes Cut From Gate For New "Bunker" Fund

Conservatives To Fete DeLay Tonight; Last Chance For Favors In Case House Leader Censured or Expelled

RNC, Congress Planning 'Support Our Majority Leader' Rally For DeLay; Music, Speakers and Celebes Slated For K Street Parade; President To Attend If Not In Gulf Region Again

Nancy Puss'n'Boots To Tweety: I'll Take "Looking Stupid" for $500"!

Well, they already wished Carly Fiorina to the cornfield, and I suspect whoever is the evil little Timmy for the Dead Campaign Express, has their gaze on Nancy Puss'n'Boots this morning.

It was brutal, unbelievable brutal, as Nancy Puss'n'Boots sat there, on 'Hardball' yesterday, with the idiot smile, perhaps with the knowledge that the cornfield was looming.

To be fair, to some extent, Tweety had a bee-in-his-bonnet, almost taking on the persona of one of those detectives in a 1950's B&W boiler, the bare light bulb hanging over a whimpering suspects' head.

Tweety was gnawing on the bone, with great gusto, over the latest edition of Mommy Moose idea, intellect, core base of knowledge over what job she is actually running for, and will serve if - oh boy, we'll need something close to Armageddon - she and the debunked Maverick get elected.

A deer in the headlights would have looked infinitely brighter that Nancy Puss'n'Boots, the mere act of running away would be an intellectual feat dwarfing Puss'n'Boots smiling clown act.

The more Tweety gnawed on this bone, the more Nancy Puss'n'Boots sat there, stuttering and muttering, becoming stupider and stupider by the second.

If they had been monitoring the show with those "People Meters", I believe the squiggly lines would have broke out laughing.

You would have seen a straight line, perhaps a bit up-and-down as the interview started, that pure Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha for the rest of it.

Tweety, so transfixed on his gnawing, his juicy bone, never broke from it, to fall on the floor in laughter himself.

This, from Mudflats today;

Chris Matthews is like a monkey with a gun. Sometimes he’s kind of wacky and unpredictable and you never feel quite sure of what he’s going to do. Other times, he takes careful aim and hits the bad guy right between the eyes. This time, Republican spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer was the one with the big shiny bullseye right in the middle of her forehead. The subject of the conversation? How is it that Sarah Palin still does not know the job description of the Vice President? If you have not seen Matthews’ verbal flaying and subsequent evisceration of Palin via Nancy Pfotenhauer, you are in for a real treat. If you’ve already seen it once, watch it again. It’s almost a seismic event.

And Think Progress;

Today on MSNBC, Chris Matthews challenged McCain campaign spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer to defend Palin’s comments, saying that in all his time in Washington, he has “never heard anybody” give an answer like Palin did. “Where does she get her civics?” asked Matthews. Pfotenhauer became visibly angry by the questioning and tried to change the subject. Matthews, however, refused to let her get away:

I don’t know why Randy Scheunemann or one of the smart people around her — I don’t know who else, Nicolle Wallace, somebody — ought to go to the candidate for the Vice President and give them a copy of the Constitution to read. That’s all it takes. It doesn’t take a lot of penetrating thought. Read the job description. […]

Somehow, in all these trips to Washington — through Neiman’s, and through Saks, and through everywhere else she stopped off, she never picked up a copy of the Constitution. It is a problem. It is a problem, Nancy, and you know it.

Here, and you'll have to imagine the trumpets and drumroll, Nancy Puss'n'Boots, on Hardball.

Hardball's Chris Matthews smacks down McCain campaign's Nancy Pfotenhauer about Sarah Palin. EPIC PFAIL!



Now, it should have occurred to Puss'n'Boots, the video of Mommy Moose's answer to a third-grader's question was all over the World Wide Web, to concede the point, and say something like "Yes, Chris, I agree it was a bad answer" or "She embellished a bit too much".

But it seems the Dead Campaign Express isn't ready - yet - to throw The Wasilla Whiz Kid under the bus.

At least, the top-of-the-ticket, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain isn't

McCain: Palin ‘Most Qualified’ VP Nominee in Recent Memory

My question is, ‘What’s their problem?’ She is the most popular governor in America…

Because she’s not known, or she hasn’t been to a Georgetown cocktail party, or maybe some in Manhattan — I think she’s the most qualified of any that who has run recently for vice president, to tell you the truth. [Emphasis added.]

It's getting harder-and-harder to riff on these people, they're doing such a fantastic job of making fun of themselves, albeit, unknowingly.

MSNBC Waves The Right Flag

MSNBC Removes Olbermann & Matthews From Election Anchor Duties

Well, what can you expect?

This is from the same nitwits, the stuffed shirts and suits in the upper echelons of NBC, MSNBC, General Electric (or some combination of, maybe all), that fired Phil Donohue and hired Rita Cosby.

Rita Cosby, for heavens sake!

The public (very public) dumping, demotion, spanking, and/or otherwise, stiff slap-to-the-face of Keith Olbermann and Chris "Tweety" Matthews by Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC was/is meant to embarrass them.

(And dig how the NYT helped with the slapping - MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat)

Whatever it was about their chores as anchors of political events (debates, primaries, conventions), could have been handled internally, without public fanfare, a subtle shift that may, or may not, have gone unnoticed.

Ratings, maybe, likely were the biggest reason, however, with the various outcries from the Right Wing, most recently by Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain's camp, it certainly gives the appearance the Griffin is caving in to the Freak Show crowd.

And, perhaps, the three-martini-voiced Tom Brokaw.

From Atrios;

I'll just add, for the hundredth time, that Keith Olbermann's expressed "liberalism" is almost entirely limited to a dislike and distrust of the Bush administration, a view shared by 70% of the public, and a concern for civil liberties and executive power abuse. On top of that he has a somewhat liberal "sensibility," but his show covers little of the broader "liberal agenda." But he makes Tom Brokaw uncomfortable so, you know.

And guess what ...

They're plugging in Karl Rove's dancing partner, the dreadful David Gregory to man the Captain's chair for future political events.

Yeah, that oughta send the ratings skyrocketing ...

With Tweety, it could be nothing more that him being Tweety that pushes him off the main stage.

But Olbermann, this is what is going to give this story legs.

To get the full scope of this, Glenn Greenwald has a excellent breakdown of it, with his "The right dictates MSNBC's programming decisions", and he says this;

The irrefutable fact is that nothing attracts ratings for MSNBC -- and nothing has attracted ratings in the entire history of that channel -- the way that Olbermann does. Yet here is MSNBC removing him from the anchor position, reducing his role in its political coverage, and clearly diminishing his stature (and implicitly criticizing his coverage). That is extraordinary for a media company to publicly embarrass, diminish and tarnish its own principal asset. It is plainly doing so for ideological, not ratings-based, reasons: namely, it fears doing anything to anger the White House, the McCain campaign and the Right in this country.

The most recent item that, likely, drew ire, was Olbermann pissing in the tea of the Republican's cup, rightly calling them out on the propaganda 9-11 Tribute video they ran at the convention last week.

Check it out.

The 9-11 Tribute at the RNC - And Olbermann's Reaction

"This "tribute" which served to only throw fear into the political discourse and frighten voters was shown at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Keith Olbermann spoke for many of us at the sickening images used for political gain"



A classic, if anything, to show who's pulling Stumblin' Bumblin' Johnny's strings, with his Rovian campaign.

Leni Riefenstahl would have been most proud of them.

Because the video narrator assured us, this won't happen again, as in "This is a war American will win, because we'll have a President that knows how".

Knows "how to" what - make propaganda films?

Start wars on lies and false information?

Torture people, obstruct justice and stomp on the Constitution?

Inferring McCain will be the "President that knows how"?

Please ....

(We should note, as, no doubt, you heard, how the GOP, in their video shows, used stock images of African Americans, and, more hideously, of a soldiers' funeral, and the infamous McCain Green Screen, in which they screwed up showing Walter Reed Hospital, instead, displaying a school in Southern California has been much-discussed.

The only thing missing from this video was, at the end of it, a 'Sponsored by Walmart' and voiceover from Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain, telling the RNC crowd that he wants to thank them for going shopping after September 11th).

Olbermann wasn't the only one to notice.

The Jed Report asked "Did they just cross the line on 9/11?", Creature, on State of Day, simply labeld it Exploiting the dead, while Hilzoy, over on Obsidian Wings, was "Angry";

I didn't want to write about that. It's still pretty close to the bone. But I have never thought that I had a monopoly on honor and decency and love for my country. I wish more prominent Republicans would stop assuming that they do.

Sasha Issenberg, in The Boston Globe, penned an obit, "The death of a taboo";

ST. PAUL -- One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.

The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers' subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.

The September 11 precedent was one of the few surviving campaign-season taboos. It is survived by direct comparisons of one's opponents to Hitler.

It was intimated that Olbermann may do a "Special Comment" on this 9-11 Tribute Video, and with this naked, public rebuke, by his own bosses, it should, possibly, make for some good fireworks.

Then again, Olbermann, if he really wants to push the envelope, rock the boat, and risk being fired, he can always have Phil Griffin be the "Worst Person in the World" tonight (though, he may want to do a Special Edition of it, and label Griffin the "Biggest Asshole in the World!").

Also worth watching, aside from it being the debut, is to see if Golden Girl Rachel Maddow weighs into it at all.

Holy Neilsen Ratings Batman!

Stay tuned ...


Bonus MSNBC Cave-in Riffs

MahaBlog: So Much for Freedom of the Press

Steve Benen: MSNBC FEELS THE HEAT...

Joe Gandelman: Quote of the Day: On NBC Axing NBC Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews As MSNBC Anchors

Bob Cesca: Keith And Chris

Oliver Willis: MSNBC Caves In To Right Wing Bellyaching Again

Brilliant at Breakfast: MSNBC capitulates to Karl Rove and the Republican Party

John Aravosis : You can turn off NBC and MSNBC during the debates and elections

Digby: The Refs Begin To Tremble

Was Tweety Covering Morning Jokes' Back?

What's in the water over there at MSNBC?

Is it the long, tedious hours of covering the Dog-and-Pony Show in Denver, or is word leaking in the corridors of Rockefeller Center that Keith Olbermann is King Cock there now, much to the chagrin of Morning Joke and Tweety.

Just the other day, Olbermann smacked down Morning Joke Scarborough.

And, last night, Olbermann and Tweety butted heads.

Now to set this up, virtually the entire day, cable news (and MSNBC, which I had on most of the time) had the Froth-O-Meter turned on "High", badgering each and every colleague, guest or passerby, if they had seen or read the "Hillary Speech" and then, with said colleague, guest or passerby, spend the next 15-minutes blabbering about what "Hillary should say" or "What should be in the speech.

(As a sidenote, it seemed I had bad timing, for just about each time I switched over to CNN, Wolf Blitzer was yelling for Jessica Yellin; He's in a closed set, and with a microphone, so why does he have to shout all time? And why are people always yelling at her?)

So, after Tweety gave a rather long prattle about Hillary, and the speech, Olbermann starts to go to guest Stenchy Hoyer, and in doing so, references Tweety's long-windedness with a "going off at the mouth here", including making a hand gesture, denoting talking too much.

As Hoyer begins to speak, you hear Tweety pull back his wings and start flapping them at Olbermann.

"You make that sound, Keith ... I could say the same thing about you"

Hoyer, noting the barb, got off a good one, saying "The good news is I am sitting by, and not standing by".

Matthews Gets Testy With Olbermann During




Hmmm ... Tweety playing Morning Jokes' wingman?

And, speaking of Morning Joke, he must still be a little touchy after the Olbermann slap down, for he got all puffed up, playing out the Charles Atlas-Kicking-Sand-In-Your-Face advertisement, jumping all over David Shuster, for Shuster challenging him to criticize "his party" and Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain over the Iraq Pullout Timetable, you know, the one that The Commander Guy, everyone in the Bush Grindhouse, the Right Wing Freak Show labeled anyone who called for it a traitor, or appeaser, someone who wanted to lose the war.

It's here, and it runs about 10-minutes, but it's fun to see Morning Joke get all huffy.

Shuster vs Scarborough! Man Love in the Morning!

Obama Minister Wants To Nuke Small Towns!

Give it another day, or two, and we'll probably see this headline somewhere, the odds-on bet, on Faux News...

Or, the Right Wing Freakshow will serve this up, with extra, extra spicing, over the radio airwaves ...

A whole lot of panties bunched up last night, and today, (go to Memeorandum for a peek) over remarks made by Barack Obama last week, at a fundraiser in San Francisco

Here's what he said;

So, it depends on where you are, but I think it’s fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people are most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre…they’re misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to ‘white working-class don’t wanna work — don’t wanna vote for the black guy.’ That’s…there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it’s sort of a race thing.

Here’s how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism.

But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What is the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is so we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — to close tax loopholes, uh you know uh roll back the tax cuts for the top 1%, Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to uh middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide healthcare for every American.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.

In a phrase, forever immortalized by our Vice President ... So!

Wait a minute! ...

OMG! ... He used the word "bitter", to describe the feeling people may have, from being screwed over for too many years ...

OMG! ... He criticized Guns and Religion, inferring that they both may be a problem, that both may be a screen, a mask, to front for other problems ... They both get in the way of dealing with other, more important issues, issues that effect the daily lives of people - in small towns - and in big cities.

It's one thing for the MSM to jump on this ... They have an agenda ...Gotta serve the Corporate Party Line ... They have to keep truth out of the news, better just to offer campaign fluff and pap, like MSNBC the other day, with Tweety (and, disappointingly, David Shuster) jumping up-and-down on Obama's back over orange juice.

Orange Juice!

We just had Petraeus and Crocker in Congress, continuing to sell Bush's Iraq War (and the new one, against Iran) and there was bombshell breaking news, on how all the big cheeses in the Bush Grindhouse met regularly to map out the Torture Program, all this on top of the bleak economics of the country and these lint-heads get all lathered up over orange juice.

Help Me Mister Wizard!

Then, of course, both Duck-and-Dodge Hillary "Sniper-Fire-Survivor" Clinton and Stumblin' Bumblin John "If You Knew Sunni, Like I Know Sunni" McCain have to jump all over Obama for his remarks, calling him elitist and out-of-touch.

Please ...

What's getting lost in the din, something that doesn't exactly fit the storyline for the MSM and Cable News nitwits, is Obama, pretty much, goes helmet-less and deals with adversity straight on ... He jumps on it, and, to the best of his strong abilities, doesn't let others pen the story, or, at minimum, speak for him.

There was the "Minister Problem", so Obama goes out and hits one of the park with his Race Speech...

Now we have everyone making hay with his San Francisco comments, and he fires back, right away, with this;

Obama Responds to McCain and Clinton attacks in Terre Haute; Barack responds to criticism from Hillary Clinton and John McCain, at a town hall meeting in Indiana




Pay close attention to this story ...

There's going to more people, feverishly working with paint-and-paint-brushes, on it, than at a Benjamin Moore convention ...

And, eventually, their work will have the canvas looking like "Obama Minister Wants To Nuke Small Towns!"

It's up to you, the good people of Pennsylvania... You're next in line, so you can stand there and inhale the paint ...

Or, wake up and smell the coffee ...


Bonus Small-and-Big-Town Links

Catherine Crier: Punished for the Truth

Ezra Klein: Obama Turns All Thomas Frank On Us

Jill/Brilliant at Breakfast: Why is anyone having the vapors over this?

Jeff Fecke/Shakesville: Barack Obama Hates You

Anonymous Liberal: Going Too Far

Andrew Sullivan: The Red-Blue Divide

Yes, Extra Pillows Will Be Needed ...

Long day and too tired to get into any intricately weaved narrative, about the 20th (or is it 200th) Democratic Debate ...

So, random musings ...

Just listening to the Keith Olbermann-led gang on MSNBC ... Gene Robinson laid down a good vibe, stating Barack Obama came off in the debate as presidential ... The former Nixon-speechwriter Pat Buchanan, essentially agreed with Robinson, going further with drooling over Obama's metaphor for Hillary Clinton, and Iraq, framing it as "driving the bus in the ditch" ...

Olbermann than throws it to Rachel Maddow, who we noted early on wears her Hillary on her sleeve, could offer no such praise, so she dissed the entire debate, calling it dull, how it will drag down what been going on, all the hyper-excitement generated on the Democratic side of these primaries (and the bulk of that delivered by Obama) ... If we ran with a rating system of sourpusses, Ms. Maddow with get four, fully-frowning faces ...

One telling moment - Hillary attempts to diss Obama on Pakistan, that he said he would go in and bomb the country, blah, blah, blah ... Obama, without breaking a sweat (in fact, I think he flashes a wry smile) batted to right back down Hillary's throat, stating (once again) exactly what he said, and then noting how the Bush Grindhouse just recently did exactly what Hillary was trying to score points on against the Big O ...

Tim Russert, in the end, had his little white board ... Only it was one you couldn’t write on, but between his legs, as he "got" Hillary to say she regretted her Iraq vote and wished she could take it back ,,, The MSNBC crew crowed about that, like Russert just discovered the cure for cancer, or figured out the Natalee Holloway case ... Backslapping all around, to the point of palm prints pressed into their suits ...

And Tweety, beating to death a Hemingway riff, of boating a marlin, showing a bit of miff, that nobody was patting him on the back, for making such a great, literary, reference ...

Andrea Mitchell ... I guess her role was to hang around, and when they go to her, she could just restate something someone else said, as if it was her own, and everyone acts impressed ...

Hillary blathered on about being a "fighter" so much, so often, I half expected Burgess Meredith to come rambling out on the stage and grouch "Ya need a manager!" ... Then it's quick cut to Hillary running around Cleveland at dawn and punching sides of beef ...

Obama, throughout the debate was as cool as a cucumber ... West Side Story cool... He went, not like a crazy school boy, he just played it coolly cool ...

Hillary, by all accounts, needed to hit a homerun and knock Obama out of the game with this one debate ... She never hit the ball out of the infield ...

And it didn't help Hillary, to come out, opening moments, right off the bat, whining.

First question of the night went to Hillary and she pounced on Brian Williams, whiningly complaining that why is it she always gets the first question (post-debate, David Shuster checked in with Olbermann and it's only been 6-of-the-last-10 debates), whine, whine, whine ...

Then, she hit herself over the head with her own bat ... She invoked SNL Debate skit from the other night, asking if "we should get Obama another pillow", to make sure he's comfortable ...

You could her booing coming from the audience ... And was it Hillary, or one of her staff consultants, that had her quoting a weekly television comedy show, as her do-or-die debate strategy? ...

Yes Hillary, extra pillows will be needed ... Order them for the evening of March 4th, so you can apply them as a cushion for the big fall coming ...

Keith Olbermann ... Setting The Standard That, Almost Guaranteed, Will Not Be Followed

Yes, I'm going a bit late to this (in part, waiting, and waiting, for MSNBC to publish the damn transcript) but it is a story that has gone vastly under-reported.

A major news anchor made an error, a mistake and then, didn't gloss over it, didn't blame anyone else ... And, in both print, and on-air, brought attention to his mistake, accepted the responsibility for it, and apologized for it ...

Yes, the man, Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, called himself out.

The issue stemmed from an interview Olbermann conducted with Lawrence O'Donnell, on Thursday, 17 January, in which there was no mention or reference to O'Donnell's lowdown smear of John Edwards, in a post he wrote on Huffington Post, the week before.

At some point, between the end of Countdown on Thursday evening, and before 11AM the next day, Olbermann did get hip to it and posted an admission of his error on the Daily Kos, announcing at the very end that "It will be addressed tonight on the show."

Addressed indeed.

Just before the first commercial break, on the Friday 18 January broadcast of Countdown;

"And a note about last night‘s COUNTDOWN and the discussion of Barack Obama‘s evoking of the name Ronald Reagan as a president of change. Lawrence O‘Donnell of Huffingtonpost.com was our guest in the 6th sentence of his first answer, Lawrence dismissed criticism of Obama about for the Reagan reference by John Edwards and that said, Edwards, quote, “Is not a factor in these races coming up except possibly Nevada.” He was entitled to say that but I should have pointed out to you that a week ago, Mr. O‘Donnell wrote a piece for “Huffington” in which he called Edwards, a quote, “Loser,” who, quote, “Might in the end become nothing other than the southern white man who stood in the way of the black man.” I would have pointed out to you if he had pointed that out to us. We can‘t do on air vetting (ph) of everything, every analyst has ever written, the newscast would then consist of 58 minutes of that plus the theme music. But when it is relevant and it‘s pointed at recent it should happen, my apologies that in this case it did not."

Jeez, take just MSNBC, and NBC, let alone the rest of the MSM (The NYT would have to publish months of editions to cover Michael Gordon's stenography), if they applied this standard to Little Timmy Russert, and Tweety Chris Matthews, they'd have to launch another channel (and Tweety was recently forced to apologize, on-air)