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You are here: Home / Cenk Uygur

Cenk Uygur

by $8 blue check mistermix|  July 21, 201112:44 pm| 102 Comments

This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment

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Every summer when I go back to the Dakotas to visit family, we mix manhattans, gimlets or martinis, make snacks, and watch the NBC Nightly News along with the first few minutes of the local news. This ritual starts at 5:30 local time, it’s been fixed for years, and that’s the way my old man likes it. He doesn’t like cable news, and the snooze hour is too long: he wants his 45 minutes of information to supplement the long list of printed media he reads every day. Politically, he’s a liberal Democrat, but in his personal habits, he’s 100% “get off my lawn”.

Given his inflexible nature, I was pretty surprised to learn that he’d changed his ritual to include the first half of Cenk Uygur’s show. He thought that Cenk was “pretty good”. That’s how I came to watch a few hours of Cenk a couple of weeks ago and, yeah, he’s pretty good. What I saw was an aggressive and smart journalist. Unfortunately, his body language was too much for Phil Griffin:

The “people in Washington,” he said, were MSNBC producers who were responsible for booking guests for the 6 p.m. hour, and some of them had said that Mr. Uygur’s aggressive body language and overall demeanor were making it harder to book guests. “The conversation was, ‘Hey, look, here’s how we can make it better’ — about physical things on the show,” Mr. Griffin said.

So now we know that MSNBC management, who want to portray their network as a smart, forward-looking and hip place, are less open to change than an 80 year-old man who could probably chisel his daily routine onto granite tablets. Isn’t it time that Griffin was sent home so he could mix a martini at 5:30 to watch Lawrence Welk, Leave it to Beaver, or some other show where the participants don’t move their arms too much?

And, no, my old man is not going to watch fucking Al Sharpton.

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    stuckinred

    July 21, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    He wouldn’t know a beaver if it was staring him in the face!

    (apologies to Randall P. Mc Murphy)

  2. 2.

    JPL

    July 21, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    breaking news…Obama and Boehner Close to Major Budget Deal, Congressional Leaders Are Told

  3. 3.

    Poopyman

    July 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    I never was a fan of Cenk, but I’ve always chalked that up to something about him rubbing me the wrong way. I was glad he was on, but I wasn’t going to watch him.

    That said, network suits are weasels, and if the on-air talent isn’t pulling in tons of cash, they’re at the whims of the weasels. Olbermann was the only one at MSNBC pulling in any $$$, IIRC, and where is he now?

  4. 4.

    stuckinred

    July 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    JPL

    Breaking where, Creative Loafing?

  5. 5.

    dpcap

    July 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    JPL: So what is Cantor doing? Did someone tie him up and put him in a trunk?

  6. 6.

    Poopyman

    July 21, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    @jpl:

    Yeah, but has anybody told the Tea party?

  7. 7.

    dan

    July 21, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    A part of me thinks that Cenk’s outspokenness on the Israel/Palestine issue was also a reason MSNBC wasn’t enthralled by him…….

  8. 8.

    4tehlulz

    July 21, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    @JPL: Links or it didn’t happen.

  9. 9.

    jwest

    July 21, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    “And, no, my old man is not going to watch fucking Al Sharpton.”

    Obviously a racist.

  10. 10.

    Anya

    July 21, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    And, no, my old man is not going to watch fucking Al Sharpton.

    May I ask why? They just replaced one loud mouth Obama hater with another loud mouth Obama supporter. Is your old man an Obama hater, mistermix?

    Personally, I’ve never watched an hour of cable. I generally hate teevee (product of being raised by hippie parents) and I cannot stomach watching any of the cable personality more than 4 minutes of a chosen clip.

  11. 11.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Maybe I was watching another Cenk Uygur, but the bit of him I caught once indicated a real problem with his body language and demeanor, in that it took him forever to spit out a single sentence with all his pauses and tics.

    It’s like he never realized the difference between YouTube and hosting his own show.

  12. 12.

    60th Street

    July 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    @JPL

    Reads like “clean debt ceiling bill” code to me.

    Only question is, will it be through the 2012 elections, or not?

  13. 13.

    Montysano

    July 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    Re Al Sharpton: I saw him interview Rep. John Walsh, and I was impressed. There was none of the usual “Since you’re not gonna answer my question, let’s just move on” crap that makes me scream at my teevee (which frightens my children and makes the pets nervous).

  14. 14.

    Anya

    July 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    jwest @ 8 ~ not cool. Racism is a serious matter and snarking about it puts you in league with Beck, Limbough and the other despicable assholes who deny racism exists.

  15. 15.

    mistermix

    July 21, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    @Anya: He’s not going to watch Al Sharpton because of a deeply held prejudice against loudmouth idiots. I inherited that flavor of biogtry from him, unfortunately, and I discriminate against idiots as well.

  16. 16.

    stuckinred

    July 21, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    60th Street –

    WHAT reads?

  17. 17.

    Beta Magellan

    July 21, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    Didn’t we already establish that Cenk’s poor ratings were the reason he was being canned?

    That said, I cracked a smile when you said your father was “get off my lawn” type–that’s exactly the sort of audience I’d expect someone with Cenk’s demeanor to attract.

    Also, the White House’s official tweeter (http://twitter.com/#!/pfeiffer44) says there’s nothing new going on with a budget deal.

  18. 18.

    nellcote

    July 21, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    MSNBC said Cent was such an asshole that they couldn’t book guests for the show. Plus Rev. Al gets better ratings.

  19. 19.

    Phineas Phang

    July 21, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    I say good riddance to Cenk. He’s a know-nothing blowhard who happens to be a liberal know-nothing blowhard. The Jane Hamsher of cable news.

  20. 20.

    Yevgraf

    July 21, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    @dpcap

    So what is Cantor doing? Did someone tie him up and put him in a trunk?

    Boehner slipped a roofie in Cantor’s Shirley Temple, slammed down a triple single malt himself and then grumbled “drink up, kid, its good for you.”

    Cantor will be waking up tomorrow with a headache, a strange reeling in his rectum and the sense that something went awry at the bar last night.

  21. 21.

    Jon O.

    July 21, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    Yeah, I dunno. Cenk Uygur never seemed to be in support of anything so much as Cenk Uygur. Takes too much time to get to the point, specializes in polemic. I would love a strident liberal who’s willing to call studio fixtures out on their lies. I just think Uygur kinda blows.

  22. 22.

    Mojotron

    July 21, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Cenk used to have a public access show in the DC area (Arlington IIRC) called the Young Turks about 15 years ago, and it was pretty much the same thing you see today. One of the few times I caught it on teevee he had a caller start out by buttering him (Cenk) up and saying how great he and his show were, and culminating with the caller asking if he could suck Cenk’s dick on air.

    I really think the “left” needs an “aww shucks” folksy type that kills these assholes with kindness and facts (you see some of this with Maddow); a lot of the MSNBC/Air America personalities come across as smug and/or abrasive, so even when you agree with them it doesn’t mean you want to listen to them.

  23. 23.

    techno

    July 21, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    As someone who spent part of my childhood in North Dakota, I want to know what your old man thought of Velva ND’s favorite son–Eric Severeid. He was on CBS, ya know.

    I once read an article about those 1930s radicals when they were at the Journalism school at University of Minnesota. Severeid would make Uygur look like a member of the Tea Party by comparison. And yet, he got to be CBS’s wise man for years. Perhaps it was because he actually looked like Michaelangelo’s God.

  24. 24.

    scav

    July 21, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    Everybody found this finally? NYT Link although it also sounds like nothing, continuing update of darkness, tunnel, oncoming light, nobody’s fault.

  25. 25.

    irmaladuce

    July 21, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    Well, if your old man don’t like him, then I guess that’s that. Nevermind the fact that Sharpton delivered higher ratings than Cenk. Clearly, Sharpton’s show is doomed to failure.

  26. 26.

    The Moar You Know

    July 21, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    Look, here’s the deal. Two things happened:

    1. Cenk was abusive to his guests. No shocker there, if you’d ever read him at the GOS, you’d know he was an asshole willing to gin up furious RRRAAAGGGGEEE at the drop of a hat. But that approach to life, while fine on the interwebs, doesn’t work so well in dealing with people face to face. And it was causing MSNBC considerable difficulty in getting guests to appear on his show.

    2. (the real problem) Cenk tanked their ratings. Tweety is on a 5. Cenk came on at 6. At 6, MSNBC lost 29% of their viewers. Worse yet, when the Tweety rerun came on at 7, most of those viewers came back. The last straw was when he went on break, he had Sharpton come in – and Sharpton pulled consistently higher ratings than Cenk.

    I’m not sure if the ratings drop was because Cenk came off as a jerk, or because looking at his lens-cracking face for more than twenty seconds is an ordeal that no human should be subjected to, or both, but regardless the ratings drop doomed him.

    Free markets work. Or something.

  27. 27.

    karen marie

    July 21, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    If I had a TV, which I don’t, I wouldn’t tune in to see Al Sharpton because of his involvement with the Tawana Brawley matter.

    I’ve seen some of the Young Turks episodes years ago and some clips with him on TV. MSNBC scraped the bottom of the barrel giving him a show.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 21, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    MSNBC said Cent was such an asshole that they couldn’t book guests for the show.

    Sounds right to me, the handful of times I caught a few minutes, he always seemed to be bellowing incoherently.

  29. 29.

    jwest

    July 21, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    Anya,

    It’s hard to deny the evidence.

    An older person who hates children playing in his yard and black television personalities? Sounds like a closet conservative who sneaks out to listen to Rush Limbaugh every afternoon.

    And as we all know, if he’s conservative, he must be racist.

  30. 30.

    dan

    July 21, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    I HATED Cenk. Not a big Al fan, but he doesn’t BLOVIATE, I learn more from his show and, weirdly, he is a better interviewer.

    Unfortunately, Al lost a lot of weight, but he still carries baggage.

  31. 31.

    MonkeyBoy

    July 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    I don’t have a TV so I never watched Cenk Uygur. In the few clips I’ve seen of him online I’ve gotten frustrated in his seeming to use way too many words to finally get to his point.

    This didn’t appear to get in the way of giving him a decent TV audience, many I guess who watch TV as a way of killing time.

    He never seemed to have a big presence in the major left blogs who post video clips. I think Sharpton has had a bigger presence than Uygur. Has Balloon Juice ever posted a clip of him?

  32. 32.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    Sharpton is a great guest, but he strikes me as a weak host, stuttering and awkward when talking to the camera. Allison Stewart, who I think left MSNBC, is the best sub I’ve seen in the past few years.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    July 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    Sorry I had to step away. The NYTimes flashed breaking news but now that the article is up, it’s less clear.
    However, officials on all sides of the tense negotiations warned that no firm deal was in hand yet, and tried to downplay the progress — if only to stave off attempts to block it or influence its shape by hardliners on both sides of the debate on taxes and spending.

  34. 34.

    gnomedad

    July 21, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    @AAA Bonds:
    When I’ve caught TYT on YouTube, I’ve gotten the impression that no one there had any idea that I might have something better to do than watch them chat.

  35. 35.

    mistermix

    July 21, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I can’t believe I’m getting into an argument about something I don’t give a shit about (MSNBC’s lineup), but Cenk claimed that he was doing better than Ed Schultz, who had the same time slot previously. (When measured over a decent period of time). Is that false?

  36. 36.

    LittlePig

    July 21, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    I always get a kick out of Cenk (pronounced “Jenk”, I was pleased to learn) but I can see how he’s not part of the post-Keith picture for the suits at MSNBC. I’d love for him to have his own show.

    That said, it’s been pretty obvious Rev. Al’s been in the grooming for many weeks (starting with the Rev taking over at The Ed Show after Ed got kicked off a week for calling Laura Ingraham a “talk slut” or whatever). I took it for granted he was the Appointed One.

  37. 37.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    @gnomedad:

    Yeah, exactly. Knowing now they had a public access show because of Mojotron’s comment above, I begin to understand. Cenk came across as a college radio DJ with a camera trained on him.

  38. 38.

    freelancer

    July 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    @ The Moar You Know:

    or because looking at his lens-cracking face for more than twenty seconds is an ordeal that no human should be subjected to

    Mean, but I lol’d.

  39. 39.

    jl

    July 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    I don’t think Uygur is more abusive of his guests than other cable and network news people.

    One of the reasons I find it hard to watch TV is that find the anchors’ and reporters’ and interviewers’ antics rude, pompous and abusive (Maddow is an honorable exception). Uygur’s antics are also insufferable in different ways, but I bear them because I think he marginally better informed and can reason better than most of them (which is not saying much, but it’s something). But I don’t think Uygur’s are worse than others. People are saying Tweetie and Morning Joe aren’t rude, don’t interrupt, don’t dismiss, don’t bully?

    Uygur at least attempts to get the fact straight, and he tries to reason out his arguments, and presses the guest to do the same. Often I am not impressed with his efforts, but he at least tries. And he expects the guest to try too. A completely ignorant and unprepared guest who only has talking points will not do well, and will feel abused. That is the only tone problem I can see compared to other talking heads

    Edit: I think Sharpton comes off better on traditional TV than Uygur, though. And I like Sharptons sens of humor.

  40. 40.

    Lockewasright

    July 21, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    Bagger sacked. Hahahaha!!!

  41. 41.

    NonyNony

    July 21, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    @JPL

    Sorry I had to step away. The NYTimes flashed breaking news but now that the article is up, it’s less clear.

    Yeah – from reading the actual story Obama and Boehner appear to have come to an “agreement” that it’s likely neither the Republicans nor the Democrats in either house of Congress will accept.

    That doesn’t sound like “Breaking News” – that sounds more like news in the “Special Report: Dolphins Still Missing” territory to me.

  42. 42.

    askew

    July 21, 2011 at 1:21 pm

    Can we please can the conspiracy theories about why Cenk got fired? He had horrendous ratings. When Al Sharpton subbed for Cenk, the ratings improved dramatically. His ratings were better than Ed Shultz in that time slot, but when your replacement consistently pulls in higher ratings you are going to get fired.

    Why anyone would be upset that a blowhard moron like Cenk is off the air is beyond me. The guy was less factual than most Fox News hosts.

  43. 43.

    Han's Big Snark Solo

    July 21, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    I prefer Cenk over Al. It isn’t even close. I also prefer Laurence O’Donell over Keith Olberman, and that one isn’t close either.

    Mr. Uygur’s aggressive body language and overall demeanor were making it harder to book guests.

    So they replaced him with freakin’ Al Sharpton? He’s a train wreck! What, Cindy Sheehan was busy?

  44. 44.

    Citizen_X

    July 21, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Greenwald (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, sheesh!) has a good–perhaps Chosmkyan, if that’s a word–take on Uygur’s canning and the consensus that the media considers acceptable here.

    And for those saying that Uygur made for unwatchable TV, Greenwald links to the NYT saying that he had “‘solid’ (but not ‘stand-out’) ratings.” Plus, MSNBC offered to keep Uygur on in some capacity, so he couldn’t have been that awful.

  45. 45.

    Lolis

    July 21, 2011 at 1:23 pm

    Who cares about Cenk?

  46. 46.

    tomvox1

    July 21, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    I guess I would feel more sympathy for Uygur if he wasn’t being a self-aggrandizing asshat for suggesting the it was the powers that be in the WH that got him canned:

    In April, he said, Mr. Griffin “called me into his office and said that he’d been talking to people in Washington, and that they did not like my tone.” He said he guessed Mr. Griffin was referring to White House officials, though he had no evidence for the assertion
    Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said in an e-mail Wednesday that his staff did not raise any concerns about the show “with Phil Griffin or anyone else.”
    “I didn’t agree with everything said on the show, but certainly didn’t have any problem with it,” Mr. Pfeiffer added.

    But, you know, I spoke truth to power and that’s why I got booted–prove me wrong!

  47. 47.

    Teejay

    July 21, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    Mistermix:
    The only way we’ll know if you’ve got a hair on your ass is if you scan a post office return receipt requested slip addressed to Phil Griffin.

  48. 48.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    They probably should’ve given it to Mark Ames.

    Would’ve taken all of two weeks for him to get kicked off for saying something over the line, but it would have been fantastic while it lasted.

  49. 49.

    Dave

    July 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    They could have just told him, “You’re ugly and speak repulsively.” Telling him they let him go because of his politics was probably, actually, just politeness.

  50. 50.

    Mary Jane

    July 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    @ mistermix

    Loudmouth idiocy is in the eye of the beholder. I don’t think Cenk’s an idiot per se, just another loudmouth gasbag who twisted himself into a pretzel trying to convince his guests and audience that Obama is a failure. He wasn’t even good at it.

    Firebaggers are a tiny fraction of MSNBC’s audience.

  51. 51.

    jl

    July 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    @44 And who cares about 90% percent of US public affairs news talkie interview TV, broadcast, cable, or internet. It sucks.

    Arguing about whether Tweetie or Al or Morning Joe, or the rest of the zoo on any channel is like arguing over which cheapjack goofy junk food is better.

    Nutty Bars!
    Coffee Nips! (mmm… mm.. that nuthouse coffee we have here at Mornin’ Joe is reeeaaalllly good)
    Leg tingling twizzers!

  52. 52.

    Citizen_X

    July 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    @ Yevgraf:

    Boehner slipped a roofie in Cantor’s Shirley Temple, slammed down a triple single malt himself and then grumbled “drink up, kid, its good for you.”
    __
    Cantor will be waking up tomorrow with a headache, a strange reeling in his rectum and the sense that something went awry at the bar last night.

    Clap…clap…clap…

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 21, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    In April, he said, Mr. Griffin “called me into his office and said that he’d been talking to people in Washington, and that they did not like my tone.”

    Sounds like a corporate way of saying “no one wants to appear on your show”

    I thought they were grooming Chris Hayes? Probably the most Maddowian (polite, well-informed, geeky) of the candidates I’ve seen mentioned.

  54. 54.

    ruemara

    July 21, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    Meh. I could do a better job. I find most of the progammes available do very little to actually shed light on issues. I think some found Al was a better interviewer and I’ve tried TYT, it was unlistenable and I’ve enjoyed Noh opera recordings. Plus, Greenwald weighed in on Cenk’s firing? Really? Did he do one on Olbermann, because I find this to be a highly unserious topic for a serious guy.

  55. 55.

    RossinDetroit

    July 21, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    If I had a TV, which I don’t, I wouldn’t tune in to see Al Sharpton because of his involvement with the Tawana Brawley matter.

    Me also, too. I paid very close attention to that scandal. Al came off as an attention grabbing douchenozzle and never backed down when he was proved conclusively wrong.
    I don’t have any time for a guy like that.

  56. 56.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    It’s hardly scientific but the negative comments on Cenk outweigh the positive ones on every post about him on this blog, from the center-rightists to the leftists.

    I’m just saying: with his misanthropic anger as his main attraction, wouldn’t BJ be the target audience for Cenk? And doesn’t the consensus here that he kind of sucks suggest that, maybe, he kind of sucks?

  57. 57.

    jwest

    July 21, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    MSNBC was under fire because their on-air “talent” had the same complexion makeup as a Klan meeting.

    Media sources did speculate that a woman might have filled the spot, but then management would worry about instances like this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtQyEd-zS4&feature=player_embedded

    Contessa Brewer arguing with a freshman GOP congressman about economics:

    Contessa: “We were looking at going into a depression at that point..”
    Mo Brooks: “We weren’t going into a depression…”
    Contessa: “Do YOU have a degree in ECONOMICS?”
    Mo Brooks: “Yes, ma’am, highest honors”

  58. 58.

    Rome Again

    July 21, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    I thought we already did this once, didn’t we? And, funny, that thread is still going. I know because I just posted on it a short while ago. ARGH!

  59. 59.

    Trollenschlongen

    July 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    It is fascinating, and revealing!, to see the BJ Obots run interference as corporate media apologists.

    Hadn’t watched Uygur at all before yesterday; now I’ll be giving The Young Turks at least one page view per day.

  60. 60.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    @Trollenschlongen:

    LOL, no you won’t

  61. 61.

    jl

    July 21, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    Some just might sense some humor in Balloon Juice commenters complaining about abusive behavior in debate and discussion.

    I don’t of course. But some people just might.

    I very definitely find it effing hilarious.

  62. 62.

    MonkeyBoy

    July 21, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    @AAA Bonds:

    And doesn’t the consensus here that he kind of sucks suggest that, maybe, he kind of sucks?

    You are talking about blog readers many of whom do not watch TV because most TV sucks.

    If I had been forced to watch TV maybe I would have watched Uygur because the alternatives in his time slot sucked more.

  63. 63.

    Citizen_X

    July 21, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    jwest @ 56: Your gratuitous misogyny earns you a knee to the groin. However, that exchange was cringeworthy. He makes this idiotic contention that we weren’t in danger of slipping into a depression, and she responds by going straight to argument-by-authority. Fail.

  64. 64.

    eemom

    July 21, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Tweety is abusive to his guests. In fact, the only time he doesn’t suck is when he’s an asshole to another asshole who’s a bigger asshole than him.

  65. 65.

    Sentient Puddle

    July 21, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    Wait, is this why we’re supposed to be denouncing Al Sharpton?

  66. 66.

    Alison

    July 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Boehner slipped a roofie in Cantor’s Shirley Temple, slammed down a triple single malt himself and then grumbled “drink up, kid, its good for you.”

    Cantor will be waking up tomorrow with a headache, a strange reeling in his rectum and the sense that something went awry at the bar last night.

    Rape jokes – so funny! And edgy!

    Look, I despise Boehner and Cantor and basically the GOP as a whole, but please, FFS – don’t do this shit. It’s not funny, it’s not new, and it’s extremely offensive.

  67. 67.

    Amir_Khalid

    July 21, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    @AAA Bonds:
    What Trollenschlongen really wants, besides attention, is for a soft toy to have intimate relations with him. Why, he told me so his own self.

    As for Mr Uygur, I haven’t seen much of him for obvious reasons; but the impression I get from this clip is that he’s the kind of commentator who often sheds more heat than light on the topic of the moment. There’s a glut of pundits on American TV anyway, and having one fewer — a middling one, at best — seems like no great loss.

  68. 68.

    jl

    July 21, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    @63: thanks. I will remember that. It will come in handy whenever anyone asks why I ever watch any of that stuff at all.

    Even what I watch, most of it is clips on the internet, and I know that there is an especially good train wreck or some useful piece of information gets out despite the best efforts of host and guest.

    One thing about Uygur that has not been mentioned is that he a very aggressive on issue of corporate control, and how to thwart it. Anyone here have a problem with that issue?

    Or does it always all have to be all about Obama (whether pro or con)?

  69. 69.

    Brandon

    July 21, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    Given that MSNBC is owned by the Rebuplican tilted Comcast, I can only guess that giving Al Sharpton a show is some kind of clever ruse to discredit liberals and/or further push a false equivalency with FNC.

  70. 70.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    Cenk Uygur’s story reminds me of this guy in my high school in the late 1980s who applied to a lot of great colleges, got into a few, but didn’t get into one of his “safety schools.” He spent months claiming he had been told that he was _over_qualified. That’s what Uygur is doing. “Corporate HQ told me they just couldn’t handle how much ass I kicked, man.”

  71. 71.

    jl

    July 21, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    @65: I agree. And, don’t need no formulaic bad jokes for Boehner, he will provide his own set ups, and jokesters should watch for them as events transpire.

    Looks like news of deal is overblown, but does definitely look like Boehner is getting ready to go all statesman. Hope he does well enough to get something through, and he appreciates the thanks we all give through our mean jokes.

  72. 72.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 21, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    One thing about Uygur that has not been mentioned is that he a very aggressive on issue of corporate control, and how to thwart it.

    He’s a guy with a big head, wearing a tie, yelling about something. Sorry to say, there’s an app for that.

  73. 73.

    Lawnguylander

    July 21, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    @mistermix

    @Anya: He’s not going to watch Al Sharpton because of a deeply held prejudice against loudmouth idiots. I inherited that flavor of biogtry from him, unfortunately, and I discriminate against idiots as well.

    I imagine that, like most of us, you and your father became aware of Sharpton in the 80s or early 90s when he was much more of a loudmouth than he is now. Not that I expect either of you or anyone else to keep up with the evolution of Sharpton’s public persona but this guy doesn’t exist anymore. Cenk is much more of a loudmouth idiot than Sharpton is today so if you two can tolerate Cenk, you could probably tolerate the 2011 Sharpton model. I wouldn’t recommend tolerating either of their shows, just saying that I think you could.

    Also, there’s something very funny to me about Cenk being unable to cut it as a loudmouthed purported spokesman for the left and being replaced by Sharpton of all people. None of us would have ever heard of him if the NY Daily News and NY Post hadn’t decided that his buffoonish image made him the perfect person to represent the interests of the NYC area’s black community sometime in the 80s. Then national outlets figured they’d have him as the guy who speaks for all black Americans. His rise to prominence is entirely due to his usefulness to right wing media outlets. I couldn’t stand to see his face back then more because of that than the stupid shit he sometimes said. Now we have some kind of pretend liberal media company deciding Cenk wasn’t cutting it as their newest asshole mascot of the left and going back to one of the old classics, albeit a classic that has mellowed with age. And Cenk’s going to convince a bunch of people that they got rid of him because the powers that be can’t handle what he’s throwing down, man. What a fucking lying tool he is.

  74. 74.

    Lawnguylander

    July 21, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    @FlipYrWhig

    “Corporate HQ told me they just couldn’t handle how much ass I kicked, man.”

    Holy crap, I swear I did not see that before I made my comment.

  75. 75.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    The eXile has a decent headline for this:

    CENK TANKED, BLAMES GLENN BECK-ESQUE CONSPIRACY

    I’d note that Ames shows up on Ratigan pretty frequently and is a far bigger critic of Obama than Cenk Uygur. No one seems to like Cenk very much or believe his story about why he was fired.

  76. 76.

    Bruce S

    July 21, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    “And, no, my old man is not going to watch fucking Al Sharpton.”

    But my mother-in-law will. Everybody who “matters” isn’t white FYI.

    Sharpton has been far more responsible and constructive in his commentary about President Obama than such notables as Jesse, West, Dyson or the execrable egomaniac, Tavis Smiley. He’s a great addition to the MSNBC line-up. Not the same-old-same-old. And while I like Tamron Hall – who wouldn’t? – we need some representation of the spectrum of black folk that edges past the Halle Berry end.

    Just as Ed Schultz brings an “unvarnished” Midwestern populist voice to MSNBC, Rev. Al brings a connection to the black folk who fill churches every Sunday in the “wrong” part of urban America.

  77. 77.

    Sharl

    July 21, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    I have no idea on what went on with Cenk Uygur and MSNBC. But I’ll never forget what that network did to Ashleigh Banfield.

  78. 78.

    Chyron HR

    July 21, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    @Trollenschlongen:

    Are we allowed to have no idea who Cinq Ugnaught is, or is anything less than total admiration for the Cenkssiah proof of Otardation?

  79. 79.

    cat48

    July 21, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    Msnbc doesn’t discourage Obama bashing. I don’t think Cenk was fired b/c he hurt the prez fee fees; otherwise, Ratigan, Schulz, & Maddow & their assorted guests all would have been fired a long time ago. It was especially extreme during the healthcare debate & continues sporadically. I think it was his ratings.

  80. 80.

    Kathy in St. Louis

    July 21, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    “He (Griffin) told the New York Times on Wednesday that he had offered Uygur a weekend show, and that the “people in Washington” he had referred to were not people in the government, but MSNBC producers who said Uygur’s feisty attitude was making it hard for them to book guests. (Uygur is sticking by his version of events.)”

    That’s what it’s really about. You can’t book politicians on your channel if they are going to be asked hard questions, asked about their untruthful statements, or asked questions that haven’t been run by their handlers. This is the reason you never hear a follow-up from David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Candy Crowley, or any number of the professional talkers. Their guests won’t come back and they’ll tell their politician friends that the news people were mean to them, and then what? Lots of dead air. Looks like the politicians have the upper hand in this fight, just as they do in all else.

  81. 81.

    Bruce S

    July 21, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    #76 – Great link. Thanks for the reminder of what douche-bags most network executives are, almost all of the time.

  82. 82.

    urizon

    July 21, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    This is encouraging. MSNBC is fake liberalism, slightly to the left of Nelson Rockefeller.

  83. 83.

    Josie

    July 21, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    @mistermix: I don’t have a dog in this fight because I don’t watch MSNBC or any other cable news show anymore. I do, however, take issue with your description of Al Sharpton as an idiot. He is indeed a loudmouth and definitely has an agenda, but he is not an idiot. In fact, he is very clever, having parlayed a local presence into a national one, simply with his wits and fast feet. I’m not crazy about him, but I wouldn’t bet against him in a political sense.

  84. 84.

    lamh34

    July 21, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    I agree with an earlier commenter, seem sto me that much of the problem with Rev Al is from one incident in particular. It’s funny, that so many people like to buy in the “race-hustler” caricature of Rev Al that the MSM has perpetuated. Forget about the evolution of the man, and the fact that the Rev Al of today is way different than the Rev Al of the past. But then I guess it would be too much work for some people to actually look into the work that Rev Al and his National Action Network has done, or the organizing that Rev Al has done for the Dem party.

  85. 85.

    gwangung

    July 21, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    Also, there’s something very funny to me about Cenk being unable to cut it as a loudmouthed purported spokesman for the left and being replaced by Sharpton of all people. None of us would have ever heard of him if the NY Daily News and NY Post hadn’t decided that his buffoonish image made him the perfect person to represent the interests of the NYC area’s black community sometime in the 80s. Then national outlets figured they’d have him as the guy who speaks for all black Americans. His rise to prominence is entirely due to his usefulness to right wing media outlets.

    Note that this is all in relationship to white people. Within the black community, Sharpton has no more and no less influence than how much sense his words mean. He doesn’t have all that much influence or leadership as white people think, except to the point where his own words make sense.

  86. 86.

    JenJen

    July 21, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    @Jon O, #20:

    Yeah, I dunno. Cenk Uygur never seemed to be in support of anything so much as Cenk Uygur. Takes too much time to get to the point, specializes in polemic. I would love a strident liberal who’s willing to call studio fixtures out on their lies. I just think Uygur kinda blows.

    Cosigned. I’m not much of a Rev. Al fan, mind you, but I thought Cenk’s show was as un-watchable as Dylan Ratigan’s crapfest continues to be.

  87. 87.

    lamh34

    July 21, 2011 at 2:37 pm

    @lamh34

    So he’s a “loudmouth” and Ed Schultz is not. Keith Olbermann is not! I’d seriously put Rev Al contribution to “liberalism” and civil rights and Democratic policy against Ed (“Dems shouldn’t vote for Obama) Schultz or Keith (“I don’t vote”) Olbermann anyday.

  88. 88.

    Josie

    July 21, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    @lamh34: Actually, most of the afternoon and evening pundits are loudmouths, which is why I don’t watch anymore. It seems to be a requirement to get the gig. Cenk must have completely gone overboard.

  89. 89.

    Bruce S

    July 21, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    #87 – “Ed (“Dems shouldn’t vote for Obama) Schultz”

    A brain-dead characterization…

  90. 90.

    Joel

    July 21, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    There are definitely legitimate issues with Sharpton: Tax evasion, documented homophobic and anti-semitic statements. The latter two can be forgiven (if you’re so inclined), as he did apologize. But the tax evasion issue is stickier.

  91. 91.

    Sharl

    July 21, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    The late and greatly, greatly missed Steve Gilliard once explained Al Sharpton’s appeal to the NYC Af-Am community in a way that got through my whitebread haid – he tends to show up in situations when other “community leaders” suddenly are nowhere to be found. See this November 2006 post, for example. An excerpt from near the end of the post:

    …Why do black families call on Sharpton?
    __
    First of all, politicians won’t stand up against the NYPD, which has a tremendous public relations arm. They might for a day or two, but only the hard core will fight with them in the papers.
    __
    Second, he won’t sell them out. He has stuck with cases for years, in the face of media attacks.
    __
    Third, families who try to deal with the system often get screwed. Simply put, if the Bell family hadn’t gone to Sharpton, the Post version of the story would be the only version out there. New York’s media still doesn’t understand that their audience is no longer majority white. Without people like Sharpton and Barron out there, they would have no voice. Without political support, there is no chance of being heard.
    __
    What I find so amazing is that some people are astonished that people would seek his protection, like he’s some kind of radical with views outside the community. He isn’t. There aren’t too many black people who don’t think those cops murdered those men in a drunken rage. That may not
    be the case, but I would say that without Sharpton convincing people to believe in the system,
    we’d be talking about a riot in Southeast Queens…

  92. 92.

    Phil Perspective

    July 21, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    Lawnguylander @ 73:
    Did Sharpton ever offer an apology for purposefully ruining people’s lives in the 1980’s?

  93. 93.

    Lawnguylander

    July 21, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @Phil Perspective

    How the fuck would I know and why would I care? If you do care, do your own research.

  94. 94.

    Peter

    July 21, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    Good riddance to Cenk. I’ve never been able to stand him; Even when he had a decent point to make, his presentation was beyond awful. It was like watching one of those vloggers who don’t write OU what they want to say in advance, but just talk from the top of their head, and then post it unedited, ums and ahs and all.

  95. 95.

    AAA Bonds

    July 21, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    @Peter:

    Exactly right.

  96. 96.

    rikryah

    July 21, 2011 at 4:46 pm

    I like Rev. Al.

  97. 97.

    MJ

    July 21, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    Don’t let the slicked back conk fool you! Rev. Al is wicked smart, very funny and almost always keeps it real.

  98. 98.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 21, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    I just realized what Cenk Uygur’s complaints remind me of: Hollywood conservatives who blame their career failures on powerful liberals.

  99. 99.

    Lockewasright

    July 21, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    Awww. Now if he wants to pay the bills by improving the GOP’s chances in 2012 he’s gonna have to get them to pay him.

  100. 100.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    July 21, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    Cenk is full of shit.

    If it was a matter of “Tone” then Ed Schultz wouldn’t be on prime time, yelling and screaming at top of his lungs.

    If it was a matter of “tone” then Dylan Ratigan would have been fired for shouting down Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8R8baHPr2E

  101. 101.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    July 21, 2011 at 10:27 pm

    if it was a matter of “tone” he would have been replaced by Casper Milktoast, not lighting rod Al Sharpton, who was responsible for firing MSNBC darling Don Imus.

  102. 102.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    July 21, 2011 at 10:51 pm

    mistermix – July 21, 2011 | 1:13 pm · Link

    but Cenk claimed that he was doing better than Ed Schultz, who had the same time slot previously. (When measured over a decent period of time). Is that false?

    ————————————————————

    YES!

    Ed was successful at the 6 PM time slot.

    Here’s a sample of his summer ratings from last year

    http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/07/21/cable-news-ratings-for-tuesday-july-20-2010/57889/

    http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/07/22/cable-news-ratings-for-wednesday-july-21-2010/57994/

    Ed was averaging about 700,000 viewers, but what’s more important, he built on his lead-in.

    Now, here’s Cenk’s ratings from 3 weeks ago.

    http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/06/28/updated-cable-news-ratings-for-monday-june-27-2011/96826/

    He was averaging 475,000 viewers, AND losing a whooping 29% of his lead-in.

    Why would you take clownish, boorish, buffoonish Cenk at his word?

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