What other network has ever done this sort of thing once, much less twice?
p.s. Is running a cable news network actually a real job? The shows, obviously, don't just run themselves. There are plenty of real jobs there. But the network? What is there to that job, other than just screwing things up? Letting fools, knaves and psychopaths yammer on without end, or firing people who make too much sense when they're really not supposed to?
What else is there to the job? And why can't it be done by a temp?
Kieth did a pretty damn good job of summarizing the high points of Bernie Sanders epic speech yesterday. Can anyone really doubt that if the President of the United States put half of Bernie's effort into educating the American people--the way Bernie did yesterday--he could literally crush the GOP opposition? He. Just. Doesn't. Want. To. He prefers to crush you and me, instead.
(No time to let up now! - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
Simply incredible. In 24 hours over 200,000 people have signed our Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) petition to MSNBC demanding they put Keith Olbermann back up on the air.
If you haven't heard the news, MSNBC suspended Keith without pay for gasp, donating to three Democratic candidates this cycle. As @TheShannonFiles tweeted:
I think they picked a bad time to fuck with the Progressive movement. We're a little pissed off.
It's time for a little tough love. MSNBC must be made to understand who the customers are and to remember that the customer is always right.
1. Stop watching MSNBC until he's reinstated.
2. Find the pro KO petitions and sign them
3. Find every venue to badmouth MSNBC management.
4. Remember this is not about KO, it is about whether or not the left will have a media outlet that is honest or just another elitist propaganda machine that wants our support but stabs us in the back.(That sound like some other liberal organization we frequently write about?)
5. There is nothing in their employee rules that called for the nuclear option, so Phuque them!
Shortly after which, I posted this email action alert from BoldProgressives.org:
BREAKING: MSNBC has suspended star anchor Keith Olbermann following the news that he donated to three Democratic candidates this election cycle.
Media are writing about this breaking story right now, and our growing petition will display the public outrage. Sign here.
NBC policy does not prohibit employees from donating to political candidates. But MSNBC president Phil Griffin is miffed that Keith didn't get "prior approval" first. Seriously. His feelings are hurt.
Meanwhile, Republicans Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan also gave political contributions -- but are not suspended. It must only be ok for MSNBC employees to give to Republicans, not Democrats.
Then tell your friends. Thanks for being a bold progressive.
I urge you to take that action, but I'd also suggest you read what I have to say on the flip. And if you haven't seen what Rachel Maddow had to say on her show last night, then check out the clip:
Hello again my Brothers And Sisters. Today I've been musing on the hypocrisy that we so often see from the Right Wing of American politics. Now one of the best hypocrisy busters out there is Rachel Maddow. She along with Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, and Stephen Colbert, are routinely pointing out the number of things said by specific Republicans out of one side of their mouth, only to later be contradicted by what they say out of the other side.
However there are on occasion examples of hypocrisy that are not necessarily attributable to any one specific individual, but rather to Republicans as a whole. Today I want to discuss two recent examples.
Well here we are again. I wasn't sure at first if there was going to be an installment as for most of the morning my 'Net access was down. But here we are. Yesterday I talked about Laws 3 and 4, and now without further Apu....
Kill the Bill or be killed by the Senate Health Care Reform Bill. That is the choice Americans face. Death looms large in the United States today. The Single-payer health care plan died in the Senate. Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont, and the father of the more recent Single Payer Plan "which eliminates the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, administrative costs, bureaucracy, and profiteering that is engendered by the private insurance companies" was brought to his knees on the floor of the Senate. As he tried to cope with the loss of common sense and what the citizens crave, reluctantly Mister Sanders acknowledged the proposal did not have the votes to pass.
I'm watching a duet of arguments from Katie Couric and Keith Olbermann about sexism in the primary. Couric thinks Clinton had the worst media treatment she's ever seen, because of tolerated sexism, for which Olbermann calls her the 'worst person in the world'. Very bloggy exchange.
McCain is going to lose, and lose big. I just watched McCain's full strategy briefing by Rick Davis, which you can see here. It reminds me of a dot com business plan from 1999, with unbelievably ridiculous assumptions. In the path to victory section, Davis encourages us to 'keep a close eye on California'. Crash.
He brags that the campaign is ahead in Wisconsin, though the latest poll shows him 14 points behind. Crash.
And can compete in New Mexico because of his appeal among Hispanic voters, despite two recent polls showing Obama leading McCain among hispanics by thirty points. Crash.
Davis also says that no public poll has shown Obama leading McCain among independents. What about this one? Crash.
Washington is no longer a swing state, with McCain down by 18. This can only help downticket candidates like Darcy Burner.
According to Rasmussen, Cornyn is up by 17 against Noriega. This race is a gamble, and will rely on Cornyn doing something really stupid and Noriega taking advantage.
Dion Nissenbaum of McClatchy reports that a strike on Iran is back on the table.
New Obama economic policy director Jason Furman picks up some defenders.
Hey folks - this is Adam Green with MoveOn. Chris and Matt have graciously opened up the front page of OpenLeft this Sunday morning from 10am to 11am EST for me to liveblog ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
I wanted to invite you to join me here for active discussion, and to suggest in the comments below any thoughts you have on things to look for. Be they big issues or small nuances...or questions you think should be asked to McCain...I'm all ears.
As many of you probably know, MoveOn launched a petition this week to ABC and other networks in reaction to this week's travesty of a debate. If you haven't seen it yet, it says:
"Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions--ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."
There was a ton of energy behind this media critique. A quarter-million people signed MoveOn's petition within 3 days -- thousands of them not prior MoveOn members. (If you haven't signed yet, click here.) And the sentiment was equally strong on many blogs, and even on the pages of the Washington Post, Editor & Publisherr, and other places.
When it comes to what questions should be asked to McCain tomorrow, I have to admit, I'm a little torn--and I'd really value other people's thoughts. (More below...)
Many already have written about the extremely sickening attacks on a 12yr. old young man, Graeme Frost, and his family.
You can find a reading of others thoughts Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, and Here. And if you just search his name you'll come up with 41 other hits under Diary's.
Many may have caught 'Count Down', last night, and the interview with the parents of Graeme and his little sister.
STATE BLOGS
