Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

A consequence of cucumbers

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power
use it!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

We’re not going back!

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / This better not be true…

This better not be true…

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Via New York Mag:

MSNBC is in talks with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt about creating a show for him on weekend evenings, four well-placed sources at the network tell Daily Intelligencer. Initially MSNBC was keen on having Hewitt host a program on weekend mornings, but that idea is off the table because Hewitt wants to be on in the evening, according to two sources. At one point, network management also floated moving Joy-Ann Reid’s popular weekend program AM Joy to the afternoon to serve as a lead-in for Hewitt and help jumpstart his ratings, but that plan has seemingly been dropped.

It’s bad enough that they already have that ambulatory cream cheese sculpture on board as an analyst — now they’re giving him his own show? Fuck that bullshit. I get that network execs are stuck on the idea that if they “balance” the points of view, they’ll attract a larger audience. It’s not true, but I get that they are wedded to this falsehood.

But Hugh Motherfucking Hewitt? That googley-eyed, mealy-mouthed, chickenshit non-entity? And this after giving Nicolle Wallace and Greta Van Susteren their own shows? If this Hewitt deal goes down, fuck MSNBC. I’ll catch Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow online.

Reader Interactions

186Comments

  5. 5.

    FlyingToaster

    I get that network execs are stuck on the idea that if they “balance” the points of view, they’ll attract a larger audience. It’s not true, but I get that they are wedded to this falsehood.

    That’s what they tell the publicist. They don’t believe it for one second.

    MSNBC is owned by Comcast. Which really, really wants an oligarchy and a monopoly and basically to have a guaranteed margin of 40%. The last thing they want is to have an empowered middle — or working — class viewership who wants no part of their bullshit.

    I don’t watch cable news any more, because egads! It’s gone from grim to absolutely awful and all propaganda. I’ll stick to links from my twitter feeds and from sites like BJ.

  6. 6.

    Spanky

    And since we’re discussing the Very Liberal Media, Ruth Marcus is really working on getting a lower tumbrel number.

    Is $60 million really not enough for the Obamas?

    … More fundamentally, what is really revolting about all this unseemly money-grubbing isn’t who’s writing the checks, it’s the unnecessary vacuuming of endless sums. Sure, Clinton’s conduct was infuriatingly boneheaded because she knew she might be — at a certain point, she knew she was — running for president. The fact that she was seeking office opened her to suggestion that those signing her speaker’s checks were currying future favor.

    Obama, by contrast, is done with electoral politics, at least the kind that have him on the ballot. His office said a portion of his income will go to charity. But is this rapaciousness really the image he wants to cultivate — for himself or for fellow Democrats? Having left his party in such terrible condition, does he really have to offer opponents ammunition to attack him as hypocritical?

    Some readers will argue …

    We’re going to have to leave it there, Ruth.

  7. 7.

    Spanky

    @FlyingToaster: Yep! We dumped DirecTV and got rid of all the TVs when we realized we hadn’t even turned them on in three months. I would have cut it in the run-up to the election if we hadn’t done it sooner.

    Assholes aren’t getting my money.

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Spanky:

    Saw that headline and byline earlier on the WaPo site and decided to skip it completely in the interests of my blood pressure. Judging by your excerpt, I made the right call.

  9. 9.

    MattF

    Two RW opinionators appearing in the WaPo are entirely predictable– Hewitt and Theissen. Theissen is worse, IMO, because he doesn’t even bother to pretend to be anything other than an amoral hack. But it’s close.

  11. 11.

    bystander

    @Spanky: Marcus’s article was sickeningly condescending. She went through all the other former Presidents and how everyone of them took in plenty, but the new rule she has come up with only applies to Obama. I stopped short of calling her a racist in the comments section because, even tho it’s true, it’s the beltway hack’s get out of jail free card.

    Even more sickening is the WaPo article by three hacks, including the vile Karen Tumulty, fretting over how the repub party is having a hard time learning how to govern. No mention of how it’s over 100 years old and in control of Congress for the past six years.

    I hate these jerks. That is all.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    From the NYMag article:

    Hewitt is already part of the NBC News family as a paid commentator, but the fact that he’s on the verge of getting his own program is alarming to some staffers at MSNBC. Among their concerns is that Hewitt, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and Trump supporter, doesn’t represent the values of the liberal network. While Hewitt flirted with never-Trumpism during the campaign — most notably when then-candidate Trump attacked Mexican-American judge Gonzalo Curiel, and after the infamous Access Hollywood tape was leaked to the Washington Post — he always came back to Trump, and ultimately cast a ballot for him in the November election.

    …. MSNBC’s talks with Hewitt come at a time of increased internal tension at the network. Some staff are worried that NBC News chairman Andy Lack is leading the cable network in a more conservative direction. At an NBC News town hall after the election, Lack said that the organization should be focused on appealing to America’s heartland, according to people at the meeting. The remark was widely seen as a directive to, as one source put it, “focus on Trump voters.”

    Fuck MSNBC. They’ve always been corporate shills with a Rachel Maddow libtard interface.

    And do they really think Trump voters are going to tune in to maligned MSNBC? Really?

  13. 13.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @Spanky: This line of attack was weaponized by a certain someone. I’ll just leave it at that.

    Get back to me when she complains about Reagan’s 2 million dollar speech.

  14. 14.

    ThresherK

    @Spanky: Fuck Ruth Marcus, who is applying the Villager Special angstrom-wide Democrats’ approval landing strip.

    For PBO and FLMO, if they hadn’t been “money grubbing” Ruth would have been on about their “why didn’t they make more of themselves and seta an exaaaaample instead faking being soooo blaaaack and ghettttoooooo?”

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    Not in the mood to have my afternoon ruined by thinking about MSNBC and Ruth Villager Marcus.

    Haven’t tired yet of Fyre Festival coverage. Per one commenter, Rich kids of instagram meets Lord of the Flies.

    Rooting for the Flies.

  16. 16.

    mellowjohn

    he has to be on at night because direct rays of the sun will kill him?
    just asking.

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ThresherK:

    For PBO and FLMO, if they hadn’t been “money grubbing” Ruth would have been on about their “why didn’t they make more of themselves and seta an exaaaaample instead faking being soooo blaaaack and ghettttoooooo?”

    This exactly. PBO and FLMO can’t win for losin’ when it comes to the Ruth Marci of this world.

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    We have to expand our resistance to include media because they really fucked us in the 2016 election and seemingly have no interest in learning from their mistakes.

    I’m thinking the place to start is with the crowds outside the Today show. Let those fuckers come outside to pussy hats and clever signs telling them what they can do with fascist enabling pundits.

  19. 19.

    efgoldman

    @Spanky:

    We’re going to have to leave it there, Ruth

    Some people actually need to be laid off and have to live on unemployment, for as long as it lasts.
    That ESPN shitcanned 100 on-air people and shit-for-brains like Marcus and Cilliza and Bobo sttll have jobs is proof, if any were needed, that life is unfair.

  21. 21.

    efgoldman

    @bystander:

    the new rule she has come up with only applies to Obama. I stopped short of calling her a racist

    If it walks like a duck….

  23. 23.

    efgoldman

    @Elizabelle:

    Among their concerns is that Hewitt, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and Trump supporter, doesn’t represent the values of the liberal network.

    Lots of comedians work there

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @mellowjohn: Maybe that’s it. I’m a pale, freckly thing who can get sunburned wearing a lead-lined burka in a bank vault, but if I’m white, Hewitt is translucent!

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Who said, “The day I realized it can be smart to be shallow was, for me, a deep experience.”

    3 guesses and the first 2 don’t count.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    Donahue, Olbermann, MHP, etc., etc.

    MSNBC is like too many big media outlets. They are not “liberal”, they’re a cog in the Comcast corporate machine. Riling up the audience is fine and good, but it can’t go “too far”.

    The even more rightward tilt of MSNBC has been clear for a while (and probably accelerated after they bought the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal from GE in 2013). I doubt that Rachel feels the same sense of control about her show now that she did in 2012:

    What Maddow insisted on, when she moved to MSNBC, was complete editorial freedom. Over the past four years, she has achieved a rare measure of control. Of the 44 noncommercial minutes that The Rachel Maddow Show is on the air, Maddow herself is speaking for 35 or so. When she has guests, they are often people whom she admires and with whom she agrees – while I am on set she hosts Paul Krugman, the foreign-policy wonk Steve Clemons and the journalist Steve Coll. When the program is clicking, the guests lead her deeper into a topic, adding their own expertise to her insights. But even in these exchanges, the format requires that the audience place a tremendous amount of trust in Maddow herself, that it defer to her authority. Most cable news shows offer a couple of viewpoints, and let you choose. Maddow generally presents only one, and it is hers.

    “The cable-news model is that you want to create a fight,” she says. “Because people will yell! And there will be exclamation points and things will be in ALL CAPS and people will watch! Having been the left-wing person booked to fight with the right-wing person in that Punch and Judy show, I’m not interested in re-creating that. If I’ve booked you, I feel like you’ve got something worth listening to. With conservative guests, that means you can’t just be a random hack who’s here to fight with me because I am who I am. You’ve got to bring something to it where even without sparks flying and even with it being civil, you’re going to illuminate something that I can’t.”

    If Maddow is the show’s outsider who disdains the conventions of TV news, then her producer Bill Wolff is the insider, the man who understands them, even honors them. A TV lifer, Wolff spent years at ESPN, many of them as producer of the afternoon shoutfest Around the Horn; his claim to fame is that he invented the “mute” button, which a host uses to cut off guests when they get too obnoxious. In his office, Wolff nods at a muted screen overhead, where MSNBC’s afternoon host Martin Bashir is trying to wind up a GOP flunky by calling Newt Gingrich a delusional narcissist. “Audiences love conflict,” Wolff tells me. “Conflict sells. In cable news, it’s about having people disagree. The audience sees it as a competition, and gets to declare victory. They have an emotional stake. And that’s why it works.”

    Wolff left the show in August 2014, but it’s hard to see that that attitude hasn’t won-out even on TRMS.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    efgoldman

    @Tripod:

    Best way to influence this White House is TV for cranky old men.

    I’m the crankiest of old white men, and I stopped watching that bilge when Olbermann left. Made me even more cranky.

  29. 29.

    efgoldman

    @Betty Cracker:

    if I’m white, Hewitt is translucent!

    I bet you’d give him Caribou Barbie sparklepants.
    Oh wait, that was the other guy. Lowery?

  30. 30.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    Obama owes us nothing.

    I think he might still owe somebody a couple of bucks for a lunch when he was campaigning in NH

  32. 32.

    JMG

    Maddow and Hayes are good journalists, but I cannot watch their programs or any other cable news for that matter. Kills more brain cells than sniffing glue.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud:

    Dr King Shultz: I must remind you, Obama is a free man. He cannot be treated like a slave. He… within the boundaries of good taste, he must be treated as an extension of myself.
    Big Daddy: Understood. Betina, sugar?
    Betina: Yes?
    Big Daddy: Obama isn’t a slave. Obama is a free man. You understand?
    [Betina pauses]
    Big Daddy: You can’t treat him like any of the other niggers around here, ’cause he ain’t like any of the other nigger around here. Ya got it?
    Betina: You mean, you want me to actually treat him like white folks?
    Big Daddy: No, that’s not what I said!
    Betina: Then I don’t know what you want, Big Daddy!
    Big Daddy: Yes, I can see that. Uh, what’s the name of that peckerwood boy from town that works with the glass? His momma work at the lumberyard…
    Big Daddy’s Mammy: Oh, you mean Jerry?
    Big Daddy: That’s the boy’s name, Jerry!
    [to Betina]
    Big Daddy: You know Jerry, don’t ya, sugar?
    Betina: Yes, Big Daddy.
    Big Daddy: Well, that’s it then! Just treat him like you would Jerry!

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    On the $400k, meh. We know he’s raising the money for his foundation and his other organizing efforts. He’s not doing so to buy up an island for sweatshop factories or to sell out the country to Putin.

    This will blow over soon, if it hasn’t already, just like their book deal did. Of course, it will become part of the long list of “outrages” that the RWNJs have, but they put imaginary things there so there’s nothing he can do to prevent that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I don’t really care all that much. I watch Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell many nights, but other than that, I don’t watch much news at all. As long as those three are on, I don’t worry too much about the rest. I like Joy Reid, but she’s on on weekend mornings, I think, and most weekend mornings, I’m still asleep.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: If you’re implying Maddow is toeing a corporate line, I disagree. She’s covering the Trump-Russia thing better than anyone else on TV. Her show hasn’t turned into a screech-fest. Maddow has her faults (too long a wind-up is my biggest complaint). But peddling lies and ginning up conflict for entertainment aren’t among them, IMO.

  39. 39.

    Honus

    Reagan took two million from the Japanese in 1989. He got over a million in various speaking fees before he ran for president in 1979-80, arranged by supporters, so he could be independently wealthy and concentrate on politics. Nothing unseemly about that money grubbing Ruth?

  41. 41.

    Hal

    I find Maddow informative and insightful. I’m not an expert on politics at all and watching Maddow, Hayes and O’Donnell has helped me brush up on current affairs in a way that viewers of Fox News will never experience. Joy Reid is kickass too, and doesn’t hesitate to push back at her guests when they start shoveling shit. My one annoyance with Hayes, btw.

    Even if msnbc is moving right, there’s still some solid liberal voices on the network, and I think that’s important with all the right wing nonsense out there.

  43. 43.

    Elmo

    “Rapacious?”
    Rapacious.
    From the Latin rapere, to seize.
    Same root as “rape,” and connotes taking by force. Plunder.
    And people are squeamish about calling her racist?

  44. 44.

    Hal

    Every article on the speaking fees acknowledges this is nothing new, then goes into why the Obamas should be held to a different standard. The lack of awareness of the blatant hypocrisy of this line if thinking is amazing.

  45. 45.

    Mart

    @Elizabelle: Amazing MSNBC thinks conservatives will ever watch them when they think Fox is too liberal. And am I the only one who cannot stand Maddow smatlzin around for more than two minutes?

  46. 46.

    Dave C

    I stopped watching cable news of any kind about a decade ago. I have yet to regret the decision.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Hal: It’s almost like all these white people think they get to tell him what to do, like they own him or something.

  49. 49.

    danielx

    The remark was widely seen as a directive to, as one source put it, “focus on Trump voters.”

    When has network attention (any network) not been focused on Trump voters, is what I’d like to know. The endless questioning of why assholes act and behave like assholes is getting a little tiresome at this point.

    Also too, I have reached the point where I can skip the byline, read a post and think yup, that’s a Betty Cracker post. Good on her too.

  50. 50.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Hugh Hewitt? The man who selflessly fought along side the troops in Iraq from his office in the Empire State Building? That Hugh Hewitt?

    Obviously, yet unnamed executives at MSNBC need to be named and included on the master tumbrel manifest.

  51. 51.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    At least MSNBC shit-canned Halperin’s terrible show.

    But this is what a big segment of so-called liberals do: fret over appearance, civility, balance.

    Do you see Fox News struggling over these issues? Any stories about them giving Krugman a program?

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: Yes, she’s not as bad as many. But I stopped watching her when she started having many more Republicans on (Republicans who do little more than spout talking points). I don’t think she has “complete editorial control” any more, if she ever really did.

    I generally try to recognize that people (even TV people) are human and complex and operate under lots of constraints that we generally don’t see. Rachel didn’t make the system she’s in. So, I recognize the contradictions in my criticism of her and her show and my arguments in support of NPR and Public Radio. But I do not feel the need to somehow support her show, and the quasi-monopoly media conglomerate behind it, even though she’s not as bad as many.

    My main point, though, is that MSNBC has always been a corporate entity, all about chasing viewers in certain demographics to get ad money. It’s not a “liberal” network. There’s nothing surprising about that – it’s a business. This NewYorker piece from 2013 has a good summary. E.g.

    During those “lost” years, MSNBC didn’t seem so liberal, and neither did Matthews: he was a Democrat, perhaps, but one who was offended by Bill Clinton’s misbehavior, wary of Hillary Clinton’s rise, and unimpressed by Al Gore. (In 2000, he voted for George W. Bush.) As Fox News grew, MSNBC often found itself trying, with little success, to poach Fox’s viewers by echoing its point of view. In 2002, the network rebranded itself “America’s NewsChannel,” and it hired conservative hosts like Pat Buchanan, Alan Keyes, and Michael Savage. In 2003, it fired Phil Donahue, who was then its most outspoken liberal host and an increasingly strident opponent of the Iraq war. The executives were trying to match the message to the medium: they guessed, not unreasonably, that talk television, like talk radio, might be a politically particular form. Perhaps liberals simply preferred the gentler, less argumentative approach of, say, public radio. And so maybe a successful cable news network, in the Fox News era, would have to be assertive, sometimes combative, and generally conservative.

    Around the time that Donahue was fired, the network hired Olbermann, and soon afterward Griffin, a veteran NBC and MSNBC executive, was named president of the network. Everyone agrees that what happened next was part of no master plan: Olbermann began delivering impassioned monologues, initially over the objections of management, that expressed the growing anger and dismay of liberal America. In Bush’s second term, the network stopped trying to imitate Fox News and started trying to fight back. Olbermann was effective in goading O’Reilly because he had a similar store of bluster and self-regard—if some liberals viewed him as a bully, at least he was their bully, bullying the bigger bully.

    On September 7, 2007, for the first time, Olbermann beat O’Reilly in “the demographic.” O’Reilly soon reclaimed his lead, and his total audience was always substantially bigger. (Fox News would be even more successful if its audience weren’t so old.) But the ratings success confirmed the wisdom of MSNBC’s new direction. The next year, MSNBC gave the nine-o’clock hour to Maddow, a frequent guest of Olbermann’s, and although her style was different, her politics were pretty much the same. MSNBC had become, essentially, a liberal network. In 2010, it adopted a provocative slogan of its own, “Lean Forward,” which slyly suggests a political orientation without spelling it out.

    Even Matthews, these days, is given to passionate denunciations of the Republican Party—although he is quick to argue that what has changed is the political landscape, not him. During the primaries in 2008, Matthews said that, when Obama spoke, “I felt a thrill going up my leg.” The remark has haunted Matthews, though it accurately captures the slightly giddy sensibility that is central to his appeal. “Everybody makes fun of me for the ‘thrill up the leg,’ “ he says now. “I’ve got to tell you something: it still works, once in a while—when he talks about our country, when he talks about race.”

    Maddow’s success may have made the network more willing to let Olbermann leave, in 2011. There had been a series of public disagreements, including a brief suspension, after he was found to have made donations to political candidates, which was against network rules. Although Olbermann hasn’t said much about MSNBC since his departure (he declined to comment for this story), he has apparently followed the network’s fortunes. Last month, he retweeted a comment about MSNBC’s “impressive” ratings, adding, “This is sarcasm, yes?” Asked if he was criticizing Maddow, he offered a brusque clarification: “It’s about the collapse of that network. I don’t know anything about her anymore; she hasn’t bothered to speak to me since I left.”

    That story also has a quote from Griffin saying that MSNBC is not “the place for breaking news”, but that’s exactly what they decided to try to morph into recently. They change their “mission” and “strategy” whenever they feel like it.

    It’s all about chasing eyeballs, not being “liberal”. If the Comcast management decides that Hewitt, and spending more time and energy covering a cherry-picked version of white rural America will get them more of the advertising dollars they crave, they’ll have no compunction in kicking Rachel (and Chris and Joy) to the curb.

    That is all. :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  53. 53.

    Spanky

    OK, which one of you jackals put this comment under the Marcus article a few minutes ago?

    Villagers gonna village. I read this, and now I’m going to forget it. Just like everybody else will, Ruth.

  57. 57.

    Spanky

    Climate March expected to draw massive crowd to D.C. in sweltering heat

    But the day is still young. Still pretty cloudy here, fortunately.

  58. 58.

    sdhays

    I wonder if all of the blood in the water over at Faux News is making executives at MSNBC think that they have a real chance to break in on that sweet, stupid conservative audience. As Josh Marshall pointed out yesterday, a big part of Faux’s appeal is the throwback racist, misogynist culture that oozes from the screen, and the scandals happening now seem to have a real chance of forcing a change. If Faux starts pushing a more watered down hate after cleaning house and paying out millions, then other channels may have an opportunity to move in.

    I don’t know if that actually makes sense; Faux’s brand is pretty strong and it’s not like the viewers are terribly self-aware, so they might not notice at this point, but I would not be surprised if that’s what the MSNBC executives are thinking. Although the counter-argument to that is that they actually thought that Joy Reid’s viewers would stick around to watch Hugh Hewitt, so maybe it really is that they’re just incredibly stupid.

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    @bystander:

    Last night I was trying to catch up on the NYT, and when I got to “Obama accepts $400,000,” I threw the damn thing across the room.

  64. 64.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Hugh Hewitt? The man who selflessly fought along side the troops in Iraq from his office in the Empire State Building? That Hugh Hewitt?

    Yes, THAT Hugh Hewitt…

    HH: I’m sitting in the Empire State Building. Michael, I’m sitting in the Empire State Building, which has been in the past, and could be again, a target. Because in downtown Manhattan, it’s not comfortable, although it’s a lot safer than where you are, people always are three miles away from where the jihadis last spoke in America. So that’s…civilians have a stake in this. Although you are on the front line, this was the front line four and a half years ago.

    Dispatches from the front lines in the war on terror…

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    @sdhays:
    Bingo. O’Reilly’s audience is in play, at least the cohort who can find the remote, which hasn’t switched channels since the teevee machine was set up. The others are waiting for the pretty lady to come on and yell at Mexicans.

  66. 66.

    danielx

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    But this is what a big segment of so-called liberals do: fret over appearance, civility, balance.

    Do you see Fox News struggling over these issues? Any stories about them giving Krugman a program?

    No, but then libs are supposed to be civil, whereas wingers are supposed to be pricks with ears. I do occasionally check out winger blogs to read comments, and somehow…somehow, although lots of BJ commenters (me among them) engage in lots of snark and mocking, we do not generally call for the literal execution of political opponents. (No matter how much it might improve the health of the body politic.) Compare and contrast with many winger blogs, where the calls to imprison, torture, beat, murder, shoot, burn, and hang* their political hate objects seem to be almost obligatory. Those hate objects can include liberals, brown people, furriners of every stripe, Muslims, Democrats in general, Republican apostates (the internal enemy is always the most dangerous, doncha know), reporters, teachers, public employees or anyone else depending on what the bright shiny object of the day may be.

    *Rope. Tree. Journalist. Assembly Required. That particular meme is at least a decade old and at the same time never gets old, apparently.

  70. 70.

    Oatler.

    Totally unrelated item: Chuck Todd’s exclusive interview with Mike Pence on MTP tomorrow, followed by Exxon and Wall St. commercials.

  72. 72.

    amk

    sorry limeys, you fucked yourself into a corner.

    European Union leaders have unanimously agreed the negotiating guidelines for Brexit talks with the UK.

    European Council President Donald Tusk, chairing the talks in Brussels, tweeted that the “firm and fair political mandate” for the talks was ready.

    The 27 leaders – UK PM Theresa May was not present – approved within a minute the guidelines first issued on 31 March by Mr Tusk.

    Talks with the UK will begin after the general election there on 8 June.

    The deadline for completing the negotiations is 29 March 2019.

    EU officials said leaders burst into applause as the negotiating stance was waved through.

    The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said: “We are ready… we are together.”

  74. 74.

    Yarrow

    The name “MSNBC” always cracks me up. The network was created as a partnership between NBC and Microsoft in the heyday of the dotcom era when everyone wanted a piece of that sweet, sweet dotcom action. The “MS” in the name was for Microsoft. The partnership was dissolved awhile ago. I can’t believe they still use the name. Would make more sense to rebrand under the NBC News name.

  75. 75.

    hovercraft

    @Spanky:

    But is this rapaciousness really the image he wants to cultivate — for himself or for fellow Democrats? Having left his party in such terrible condition, does he really have to offer opponents ammunition to attack him as hypocritical?

    So how does President George Bush junior imagine spending his retirement years?
    “I can just envision getting in the car, getting bored, going down to the ranch,” he says. He also has big plans for making money. “I’ll give some speeches, to replenish the ol’ coffers,” says Mr Bush, who is already estimated to be worth $20m. “I don’t know what my dad gets – it’s more than 50-75 [thousand dollars a speech], and “Clinton’s making a lot of money”.

    On talk circuit, George W. Bush makes millions but few waves
    Since 2009, the former president has given at least 200 paid speeches, typically pocketing $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance.

    Fuck Ruth Marcus.

    In Demand: Washington’s Highest (and Lowest) Speaking Fees

    Topping the list by a longshot is billionaire birther and infamous reality-TV host Donald Trump. “The Donald earned a staggering $1.5 million per speech at The Learning Annex’s ‘real estate wealth expos’ in 2006 and 2007,” according to Forbes. “Trump appeared at 17 seminars and collected this fee for each one.”…..

    Liz Cheney – $20K

    Daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz makes nearly one-third of what her dad charges when it comes to speaking fees. “Liz Cheney gets $20,000 plus travel for one,” according to Politico.

    Cheney is worth hundreds of millions, where are the stories about his fucking money grubbing?

    Fuck these people.

  78. 78.

    Yarrow

    @hovercraft: I just figure that all those people who are complaining about Obama’s speaking fees and where he’s going to speak are either Republicans who want to damage Democrats or Russian agents and their useful idiots who also want to damage Democrats to assist in the goal of damaging the US.

    It’s also a useful distraction from whatever it is they don’t want us to look at. “Look over there at Obama’s speech and fees! Don’t look over here at Republicans destroying the EPA, taking away healthcare, looting the Treasury, being traitors.” There’s only so much time in the day and if everyone’s focused on the former president’s speaking fees then people have less time to focus on these other things.

    Also, the evergreen Former Presidentin’ While Black is always to be examined under a microscope and found lacking. But no one is racist or anything.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yarrow:

    The name “MSNBC” always cracks me up. […] The “MS” in the name was for Microsoft.

    I thought it was a stupid name/acronym then, and I think so now. It always me me want to respond with “MSNBC? Well, LSMFT to you!!”

  81. 81.

    schrodingers_cat

    Just back from a yard sale, got a great haul at $63. Wheel barrow, entertainment center, two school chairs, brand new ice cream maker, a cabinet, some art work, a shovel, hedge trimmers. Weather was perfect.
    @jeffreyw: The couple had two Brittney spaniels but no kittehs!

  82. 82.

    Jacel

    @Elizabelle: The more I hear of the Fyre Festival, the more it sounds like a continuation of “The Magic Christian”. Did Guy Grand secretly organize the event?

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    @SiubhanDuinne: I thought it was stupid then but at least it made more sense given the whole dotcom era. Remember the AOL-Time Warner merger? Established companies really wanted some connection with the booming tech world and the dotcom bubble companies were flush with cash. Mergers and buyouts and various partnerships were happening all over the place.

    The MSNBC name is dumb but at least it made some sense at that time. Now it means nothing. There’s no connection to Miscrosoft. It’s not fully NBC. It’s not a shortened acronym for anything like “Cable News Network” is for CNN. It doesn’t say “News” like “Fox News Network” does. It’s just…meh.

  91. 91.

    hitless

    @Yarrow: It’s really rather amazing how blatantly there are special rules for Obama. The Trump administration is awash in ethical conflicts. It’s likely compromised by a foreign power (maybe more than one!). But the big story is that Obama received a speaking fee large enough to considered unseemly.

  93. 93.

    HeidiMom

    @rikyrah: On the subject of Trevor Noah, his book “Born a Crime” is one of the best things I’ve read in a very long time. It’s a partial autobiography, covering his life growing up in South Africa. Funny, sad, angry, filled with trenchant observations about life and race and people. And if you think he’s amazing, wait until you meet his mother.

  94. 94.

    LurkerNoLonger

    This is just a text book case of poor parenting. I mean, who names their kid Hugh Hewitt? Is it any wonder he turned out to be such an asshole?

  95. 95.

    J R in WV

    @Spanky:

    Me neither, but it could have been, I so totes agrees with it. But I don’t comment anywhere but here, and LGM a little, and the former Gawker empire for a laugh once in a while. And /. aka slashdot.org. but that’s a specialized IT geek arena.

    I wouldn’t read one of Ruth’s opinion pieces for any reason. Also too.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    The biggest bullshit is that Trump is somehow some “enemy” of media. He’s a fucking gold mine. He knows it and they know it. It’s a partnership, a wink wink situation where readers and viewers are on the outside looking in.

    It’s not even subtle. He goes after the two “prestige” outlets that are friendliest to him- the NYTimes and CNN. This is deliberate. It sets the bar incredibly low for “tough coverage” – he has identified them as the toughest. They aren’t but it doesn’t matter. THEY benefit from this portrayal and so does Donald Trump. It’s a win/win.

  97. 97.

    raven

    I didn’t think I’d get to fish at all what with the high winds and gnarly surf. I went down at 5:30 and it was good enough to try so I went down and got it 5 hrs! Nothing but ocean cat and one whiting that got bit in half on the way in. All-in-all it was good.

  98. 98.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    This forever apartment dweller is extremely jealous!

    I’m making winter-type stuff before it gets too hot. Last night I made leek and potato soup with shrimp.

  99. 99.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:
    Howard Stern knows Trump:

    “And by the way, he’s now on this anti-Hollywood kick. He loves Hollywood. First of all, he loves the press. He lives for it. He loves people in Hollywood. He only wants hobnob with them.”

  100. 100.

    Kay

    Some of this might be market research, sadly. Cable skews older, right? Add to that that Democrats (in my opinion) should be polling better than they are as a Party in comparison to Trump and maybe this a recognition that among cable viewers far Right is the direction to go in. Democrats should be picking up some upside from Trump and I haven’t seen anything that indicates they are.

    These are just businesses. Obviously the First Amendment is an important concept but don’t go too far tying these businesses to that noble idea. Business first, lofty ideals second, or maybe third or 22nd. Somewhere in there.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Not really. He doesn’t seem to be able to make them portray him as a Genius and Savior and all-around sexy guy.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    It’s not a sophisticated tactic. Trump picked his enemy- the NYTimes. He didn’t pick the Washington Post. There’s a reason for that. By making the NYTimes “the toughest” he sets the bar. He does this all the time, with everything.

    Greatest, strongest, toughest.

  103. 103.

    Yarrow

    @debbie: He doesn’t really care, though. Some editor or writer at a magazine in the 80’s or 90’s told the story of when they put Trump on the cover and it was a bad story about him. They thought he’d be upset. He wasn’t. He called them to thank them for putting him on the cover and loved it. No such thing as bad publicity.

  106. 106.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: Part of the reason he picked the NYT is that they are his “home newspaper.” He lived in NYC forever. It’s familiar. He’s clearly got some sort of mental deterioration (dementia, etc.) and it’s probably much easier for him to pick on the NYT than it is for him to pay attention to something new. Prior to running for president he wouldn’t have cared about the Washington Post so why should he start now?

    As for CNN, Jeff Zucker is head of it and they are good friends. So I’m sure they have some deal. Trump beats up on them and people tune in to see what they do/say. It’s good for ratings. I see his comments in that light, not some nefarious plot. It’s all about ratings for Trump.

  107. 107.

    Yarrow

    @debbie: He’ll be in jail or dead from his obvious medical issues. Or possibly hidden away because of dementia/Alzheimer’s. He won’t have a post-presidential career.

  108. 108.

    hovercraft

    @Kay:
    He’s been playing this game with the media for decades, all that business about him pretending to be PR flack John Miller and Barron whatever, when the “journalists knew exactly who they were talking to was mutually beneficial to him and the media, they got the “inside” scoop they crave and he got the attention he craved.

    @Yarrow:
    The man has craved attention, recognition and most of all the approval and admiration of the elite, be they the media, Hollywood, Society, and business elites, he’s never gotten it. NY High Society rejected him, the Hollywood elite wanted no part of him, just look at who he socialized with, Tyson, Rodman, Busey, and wouldn’t go on his show, the business world rejected him and refused to fund his failures which is how he ended up entangled with Putin. He has the love of his fans, but the people whose approval he craves the most do not respect or admire him.
    SAD!!!

  111. 111.

    Yarrow

    @hovercraft: Exactly. He couldn’t get money from banks because he’s a terrible businessman, a conman and a liar. NYC society people know it too and avoid him. Hollywood as well. He’s a sad man whose pathologies may destroy us all.

    @germy: Plenty of books and movies about him and this disaster but I doubt there will be memoirs. Isn’t there some law that you can’t profit from your crime and that’s why serial killers, etc. don’t write books and make money from their stories?

  115. 115.

    James Powell

    @Kay:

    The “wink, wink” and low-bar relationship you refer to has been the same for the NYT and Republicans since Reagan. The NYT wrote the Clinton Rules and made it a press/media standard. But the last time they treated a Republican like that was Richard Nixon.

  117. 117.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:

    Add to that that Democrats (in my opinion) should be polling better than they are as a Party in comparison to Trump

    Could you expand on this, Kay? Are you talking about the national party as a whole? Seems like individual Democrats are doing fairly well. The Kansas election was much closer than it should have been, Ossoff was strong in GA-6. The local wins in Illinois in locations that have been GOP for a century.

  118. 118.

    Yarrow

    @raven: Yeah, you’re unlikely to get good weather for 11 straight days. Sounds like you’ve had a good time, though.

  119. 119.

    AxelFoley

    @Certified Mutant Enemy:

    Can we stop pretending MSNBC is liberal?

    Seriously. I don’t know why folks on the left watch MSNBC or CNN. Both networks helped usher Trump into the White House and have constantly shown they want that conservative viewership.

    Fuck both of them.

  120. 120.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:
    I disagree. Maybe once upon a time this would have been a strategy. As is regularly noted, Trump was able to speak in complete sentences 15 years ago. Here and now, Trump’s Razor argues against it. His behavior is completely explained by him hearing someone said bad things about him, and whining publicly. This is a man who keeps printouts of the electoral map on his desk to give to visitors. He is petty, vain, and stupid beyond the ability of regular people* to understand.

    *Okay, liberals. All signs are that conservatives understand, and like it. Presumably they feel validated in their own dipshit, idiotic narcissism.

  121. 121.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Another Scott:

    MSNBC has always been a corporate entity, all about chasing viewers in certain demographics to get ad money. It’s not a “liberal” network. There’s nothing surprising about that – it’s a business.

    QFT. And the viewers they chase are the ones that return the highest prices for ad time, i.e., the ones most likely to buy crap, i.e., the ones most easily taken in by snake-oil salesmen & most likely to buy on impulse, IOW Trump voters, They don’t give a shit about people who research products & never make a purchase without careful consideration, or about people who don’t have the resources to buy in the first place, IOW Democrats.

  122. 122.

    Teddys Person

    @germy: Jared and Ivanka will hire Palin’s ghostwriter to produce a book-like product that the Wingnut Welfare Circuit will make a “best seller.”

  124. 124.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    It’s understandable. Hewitt has the boorish, hectoring, self-righteous charisma of a fatter, neutered Bill O’Reilly. I’m sure lots of non-Fox viewers looking for some tendentious political television on summer Saturday afternoons will make a High Tea With Hugh a regular part of their weekend.

  125. 125.

    Hal

    @schrodingers_cat:

    brand new ice cream maker

    Which was probably a re-gift. Ice cream makers always seemed to me to be one of those gifts no one uses more than once or twice.

  126. 126.

    Citizen Alan

    @hitless:

    I have just learned that Obama’s outrageous speaking fee is only 33% larger then what Kendall Jenner for every individual Instagram she posts on behalf of paying advertisers.

    Fuck Ruth Marcus.

  127. 127.

    Shalimar

    @germy: Donald hasn’t written any of his previous autobiographies, there isn’t any reason they need him for a presidential memoir. Ivanka can sit down with the ghost writer and give all the inside info he/she needs.

  128. 128.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Hal: Probably. I had a Cuisinart ice cream maker that stopped working. I sent it back. I had ordered it myself. The ice cream makers that use rock salt and ice work the best but this is more convenient.

  130. 130.

    Duke's Archives

    One would think that not watching cable news since the election (and trying to minimize blog time) would be enough to comfortably sleep through the night. I am still waiting.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeidiMom:

    Glad you mentioned that. I heard two or three radio interviews with Trevor Noah right after the book was released — the Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross stands out in my mind, but there were others — and have been meaning to add Born a Crime to the reading queue. He’s a wonderful story-teller, and the excerpt he read from the book suggests that it’s wonderfully written. Thanks for the reminder that I want to order it.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yarrow:

    Yup. All of this. (And yes, I remember the AOL-TW merger all too well. That was the beginning of the end for CNN, which was actually a pretty decent news organisation back in the day.)

  133. 133.

    Keith G

    I do wish that leading politicians did not take excessive fees on the speaker’s circuit. It adds to cynicism and to speculation that either consciously or not, they were kinder to those whom they were supposed to regulate. That cynicism is real and it affects both parties. And I would like to see my political party pay more attention to things that are technically legal but nurture hostility among voters whom we want to reach.

    As far as MSNBC…who watches them? Things changed several years ago. Now, the self righteous hackery generated by that platform is nauseating.

  136. 136.

    Shell

    I can’t stand the Republican apologist on CNN (can’t remember his name). Everything, no matter what the top ic, is always Obamas or the Dems fault. He usually has a sickly smile while the flop-sweat starts to build. He reminds me of that Martin Short character, a lawyer who’s getting grilled by a 60 Minutes type reporter, and getting more defensive and sweaty by the second.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    You can really play around with flavors in ice cream more than people realize. Since we have a lot of Eastern Europeans and people from the Middle East in our area, it’s pretty common for rose-petal ice cream to be available.

  139. 139.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mnemosyne: Oh yes, using rose petals and rose petal water, sugary substrate from rose petals is also a very Indian thing didn’t know it was also a Eastern European thing I thought it was very Mughal thing. Mughals bought roses to India. Mughals did come from Central Asia though, so it kinda makes sense.

  140. 140.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I used to be. I’m in Ohio now, but I’m a half block from Graeters and a couple blocks from Jeni’s. I cope.

    I saw a very delicious-looking recipe for ginger ice cream. I may have to borrow my brother’s ice cream maker.

  143. 143.

    Keith G

    @Omnes Omnibus: I am thinking above mid 5 figures (Median household income 2016 = $56,516) for a few hours work might be a moral starting point as being excessive.

  145. 145.

    bystander

    @zhena gogolia: My husband announced he had renewed our subscription and 8 hours later announced the boycott of the Times for hiring this idiot.

    Contra: I did not develop septicemia because he made me go to the Italian fascist dentist to find out that I had an abscess on a root canal.

  146. 146.

    Yarrow

    @Teddys Person: Doubt it. Palin’s ghostwriter was Nancy French, wife of David French who flirted with a NeverTrump Republican or independent run for president in 2016. Palin and Nancy French apparently had some kind of falling out over Trump because Palin was all in for him. I think the Frenches would not be first on the Trump list for ghostwriters.

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Keith G: So you are picking something completely arbitrary. Do you also want to limit what they can make off of book sales? .

  148. 148.

    zhena gogolia

    @bystander:

    My husband sighed patiently when I announced for the 5000th time that I was canceling. He knew I wouldn’t because of my addiction to crosswords.

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Our area has a very large community of immigrants from Armenia, which is technically Eastern European but the ethnic group has a lot of ties to the Middle East, so there are Iraqi Armenians, Iranian Armenians, etc. From what I’ve been told, rose petal ice cream is very common in the Middle East. If you go to the right 7-Eleven type stores out here, you can get it in the freezer case like a Drumstick.

  152. 152.

    Mnemosyne

    @Citizen Alan:

    I have just learned that Obama’s outrageous speaking fee is only 33% larger then what Kendall Jenner for every individual Instagram she posts on behalf of paying advertisers.

    Yes, but Kendall Jenner is an already rich white woman, so it’s right and good that she make huge amounts of money on a daily basis, while Obama is … well, you know …

  154. 154.

    Chyron HR

    @Keith G:

    And yet the Sandercrat party was already peddling the “Obama was a false god, you must pledge yourself to the Berning Man” meme weeks before anyone heard about Obama’s so-called “Wall Street” speech (that has nothing to do with Wall Street). Go fucking figure.

  155. 155.

    Hal

    Soonergrunt Retweeted

    Matt Murphy @MattMurph24

    Obama was asked to provide his birth certificate during his Presidency & now being told how much $ he’s allowed to make as a private citizen
    9:46 PM · Apr 28, 2017

    Because I’m still irritated at this story.

    andré carrington PhD @prof_carrington

    Replying to @elonjames
    This is just concern trolling. It’s not his opponents seeking “ammunition,” it’s detractors within his own coalition. It’s weird…

  157. 157.

    Yarrow

    @ArchTeryx: Saw the original twitter thread yesterday. There was a comment here last night linking to a tweet about some member of Congress who is apparently key on healthcare that said he was unconvinced or doubtful or something. MoC’s name begins with a U, that’s all I remember about him. But follow up tweet said this guy was significant and if he wasn’t on board it was going down.

    I usually go by how urgent Mayhew (David Anderson) finds the situation. If he’s saying call Congress then I’m on the phone as soon as I can be. He seems a little less worried this time, which I take as a good sign.

    I’m not sure it’s worth calling on the weekend, but maybe faxing would be good. I will start calling first thing on Monday again.

  160. 160.

    Kathleen

    @debbie: Jeni’s Black Forest Cherry is to die for. Unfortunately I think it’s seasonal. I haven’t even seen Jeni’s here in Cincinnati for awhile. I don’t think Graeters is as good as it used to be since they’ve gone regional. Dallas Kroger stores even carry it now.

  161. 161.

    hueyplong

    The Trumps are making money hand over fist WHILE he is in the White House, yet we get tut-tutting about whether the Obamas are receiving too much from the invisible hand.

    Orange clearly ain’t black.

  162. 162.

    JMG

    @ArchTeryx: Wikler, the tweeter in question, is one of the big wheels in MoveOn. I do not doubt his sincerity, but he’s also talking his book. MoveOn needs people to be in a high state of political anxiety/anger.

  165. 165.

    Keith G

    @Omnes Omnibus: In my perfect world they would return to their home town a la Truman and live with a pension that 90+% of Americans would orgasm over.

    Now…there is no way to regulate this so we get to live in a society even the “good” leaders get suspected as being just slightly better than Billy Tauzin. That cynicism festers and then gets weaponized. And here we are.

    Books can be a different matter since, if undertaken honestly, they represent a lengthy process using much intellectual capital and fill a niche of documentation for the historical record.

    Edit..but this is spit balling as I am not losing sleep, nor am I tut-tutting

  170. 170.

    liberal

    @Keith G: IMHO you’re missing the main point, which is that books (unless there are shenanigans with advances) really do represent fair recompense according to market demand, whereas a high speaking fee from a FIRE sector institution has the appearance of influence peddling.

    Now if Obama gave a lecture at a stadium and made the same $ from thousands of ticket purchases, it’d be a different matter.

    The claim that Obama is an ex politician, hence the CF speech can’t be influence peddling, is so wontanly ignorant it’s not worthy of discussion.

  171. 171.

    Mnemosyne

    @liberal:

    a high speaking fee from a FIRE sector institution has the appearance of influence peddling

    You’ve been repeatedly told that the speech is at a healthcare conference and is about healthcare, and that Cantor Fitzgerald was solicited by the organizers of the conference to essentially make a donation so they could get Obama to speak about healthcare. So your claim that this somehow creates an appearance of “influence peddling” for Wall Street makes no fucking sense.

    It’s not a Wall Street speech, or a speech about Wall Street, or a speech given to a Wall Street audience. It’s a healthcare speech at a healthcare conference. What “influence” is CF expecting to gain on healthcare?

  172. 172.

    Keith G

    @liberal: I am missing the point?

    I believe I stated that books are in a different category for the reasons that I listed. Did I not?

  173. 173.

    El Caganer

    Jesus Christ. I don’t give a shit if they offer him a check big enough to retire the national debt. He’s not the President any more, and the fees aren’t being offered under the table, so who fucking cares? As far as “setting an example,” that’s a load of bollocks. Whatever you may think of his specific policies, he already “set an example” of grace and class while he was in office…and all you have to do is take a gander at his successor’s behavior to see how much “setting an example” was worth.

  174. 174.

    Chet Murthy

    @Keith G: Look, I also find the extremes of wealth in our country to be appalling. I also would welcome confiscatory progressive taxation, and a country in which we don’t need to save for college, our schools are excellent, and our health and retirement are a government (not private) concern. BUT THIS ISN’T CONTEMPORARY AMERICA.

    In contemporary America,

    (1) EVERYTHING has been converted into money. There ARE NO OTHER UNITS OF MEASUREMENT.

    (2) So if you’re one of the greatest Presidents in living memory, and you want to have -any- influence in our post-presidential career, you’ll need a warchest. A big effin’ warchest.

    (3) Yeah yeah, it’s too bad. but unless you’re gonna be like Jimmy Carter (and really, who calls Jimmy Carter to get advice on -anything-?) you need to abide by this system

    (4) in which, I repeat, there is only one measure of value, influence, power, relevance, etc: STACKS OF BENJAMINS

    This is the reality of (what appears to be) end-stage capitalism (yeah, it can always get worse). So don’t go decrying that Obama is playing the game the way it’s meant to be played, the ONLY way it CAN be played. And don’t decry it of our first black president.

    Because it comes off as racist, and you shouldn’t be racist.

  175. 175.

    Chet Murthy

    @Keith G: Look, I also find the extremes of wealth in our country to be appalling. I also would welcome confiscatory progressive taxation, and a country in which we don’t need to save for college, our schools are excellent, and our health and retirement are a government (not private) concern. BUT THIS ISN’T CONTEMPORARY AMERICA.

    In contemporary America,

    (1) EVERYTHING has been converted into money. There ARE NO OTHER UNITS OF MEASUREMENT.

    (2) So if you’re one of the greatest Presidents in living memory, and you want to have -any- influence in our post-presidential career, you’ll need a warchest. A big effin’ warchest.

    (3) Yeah yeah, it’s too bad. but unless you’re gonna be like Jimmy Carter (and really, who calls Jimmy Carter to get advice on -anything-?) you need to abide by this system

    (4) in which, I repeat, there is only one measure of value, influence, power, relevance, etc: STACKS OF BENJAMINS

    This is the reality of (what appears to be) end-stage capitalism (yeah, it can always get worse). So don’t go decrying that Obama is playing the game the way it’s meant to be played, the ONLY way it CAN be played. And don’t decry it of our first black president.

    Because it comes off as racist, and you shouldn’t be racist.

  177. 177.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    First, and best, ginger ice cream I ever had was at a Cadbury’s sweet shop in Edinburgh, summer of 1959. They served a scoop of it with the most sublime hot fudge sauce, and called it a “Freezing Hot” sundae. It’s been almost 60 years, but I’ve never forgotten it. Great gustatory memory!

  178. 178.

    Raven Onthill

    The network execs are conservative, just like the NYT publishers. They’ll talk a liberal game until popular opinion starts turning against the big money, then they’ll start talking “balance.” I’d a million times rather the quiet conservatives like Sulzberger than the noisy fascists like Donald Trump or the Koch brothers, but they are not on our side.

  179. 179.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @Mnemosyne: Someone was spewing the CF conspiracy shit over at Washington Monthly yesterday. I guess the Berniecrats get their marching orders to troll blogs just like the RWNJ’s. If this shit from the Inflamed Prostate from Vermont keeps up we can kiss 2018 and 2020 goodbye.

  180. 180.

    Yarrow

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:

    I guess the Berniecrats get their marching orders to troll blogs just like the RWNJ’s.

    They are Russian trolls. Might even be bots. Their goal is to stir things up, enhance any divisions among Democrats and derail discussion. Tell them they’re Russians and ignore them. If everyone did that we’d be in better shape.

  182. 182.

    cmorenc

    In the interest of hearing diverse political voices on MSNBC, IMHO we should solidly support MSNBC giving Hewitt the 3am Saturday night slot, between MSNBC’s two-hour “Worst Prisons in America” show in the 1-3am slot, and MSNBC’s “Most Dangerous Prison Inmates in America” show in the 4am slot.

  184. 184.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: There is a definite lack of coverage of things other than from a right-of-center position on the daily NPR news shows. That’s true.

    But NPR and Public Radio is much more than Mara and Cokie pontificating, and their totebagger/villager/bothsidery political news coverage. It’s “On the Media” and “The World” and “Science Friday” and “1A” and “Latino USA” and “Wait Wait” and “Indivisible” and “This American Life” and “Snap Judgment” and local political news shows like “The Kojo Nmamdi Show”.

    Being pissed off at Mara and not supporting your local public radio station because of that is counterproductive, IMHO.

    It’s very different, in my mind, from not watching and not supporting MSNBC. I recognize that it seems contradictory.

    But everyone is free to have their own watching habits. At least until Alain become Benevolent Despot and rewrites all the shows before they’re delivered to our browsers… ;-)

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  185. 185.

    Another Scott

    @Kathleen:

    I don’t know how to do the fancy strike through thingys.

    The “standard” way is to use the “del” (delete) tag. Just put the text you want to strikethrough in between opening and closing del tags. Like this:

    [del]This text is strikedthrough.[/del]

    (with the square brackets replaced by the corresponding triangular brackets.)

    You’ll get:

    This text is strikedthrough.

    HTH!

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who usually use the [strike] tag but apparently that is obsolete as of HTML 4.)

  186. 186.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    dollar, dollar bill, ya all!

    MSNBC is owned by Comcast and they have issues in front of the SEC and FCC

    They know they way to grease the wheels for regulatory approval in this corrupt regime is though bribes AND flattery of Orange baby on their tee vee assets.

    The best part is Kornacki got fired in favor of ditzy Nicole Wallace. Kornacki used to be good, but then he sold-out, going full Broder in hopes of ingratiating himself with the Village, but it made him unwatchable. It’s like those teen movies where the guy dumps the pretty girl next door, thinking he can land in the popular clique and ends up with neither.

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