Okay... the writing is on the wall, and Griffin has a "no comment" while sending up a trial balloon of "the book is the problem", but saying Fired makes me smile more. All thanks to his silly new book, which is a cry fest for WASPs. For more on the decision, check out David Ferguson's post on Rawstory. Que "Wah-Wah" Trombone.
Suicide of a Superpower came out in October and features chapters with titles like “The End of White America” and “The Death of Christian America.”
While I only watch MSNBC online (Rachel, and Lawrence), I have always been irked whenever Buchanan, as the cranky old crazy Republican, came on Chris Matthews or one of the other shows throughout the day.
Considering that 2011 saw the end of Glenn Beck's crazy boatride on Fox flounder, apparently Phil Griffin at MSNBC (the guy stupid enough to see Keith leave the network) finally could not find a reason to keep Pat Buchanan on the payroll as a commentator, not with Buchanan's new book. Maybe Pat can head over to Fox... they still have the market on Crazy.
Still, for a network that is supposed to be catering to liberals the way Fox caters to Republicans... it's still strange to me that Scarborough continues to darken the channel in the mornings.... but apparently Joe and Mika couldn't fit their show into CBS' time slots.
The conservative firebrand has seemed increasingly out of place on a network that has emphasized a liberal viewpoint on many of its programs in recent years. Last August, Buchanan went on "Morning Joe" to explain that he wasn't trying to slur President Barack Obama by referring to him as "your boy" during an on-air discussion with talk show host Al Sharpton.
Meanwhile, "Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski acknowledged at a news conference Saturday that they considered offers from other networks in recent months, including CBS, which is launching a new morning show on Monday. Former "Morning Joe" producer Chris Licht is producing the new CBS show.
In other news at MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry, who often helps out on TRMS, is getting her own show. So now, there are at least TWO pundits on MSNBC who actually have doctorates (the other is Rachel Maddow).
If you're like me (poor, but with an internet connection), then perhaps you listen to online TV while you're doing, well, work. Anyway, I'd suggest checking out "Up with Chris Hayes," (known as Lambchop to his friend Rachel). Frankly, while I am still sad to see Keith left MSNBC (stupid Phil), and is now on Current (of which I cannot stream), at least Keith's impact on MSNBC is such that Rachel has her own show, Chris rode Rachel's Coattails, and Pat Buchanan is finally gone.
All in all, I'm much more satisfied with the lineup, and hope you, my fellow Progressives, will do what you can to reward actual progressive voices in the media. Perhaps you'd even like to contact MSNBC's Phil Griffin, and congratulate MSNBC on a wise decision. There are a lot of moderate Republicans who got purged in the Teahadist 2010 elections, so maybe if MSNBC wants to give voice to conservatives, they should reward the moderates? What do you think?
UPDATE: Okay, we seem to have jumped the gun a little. Based on the original source of my post, it is correct that Buchanan is "indefinitely off the air." The Rawstory entry has also been updated- one commenter provided this report from mediaite- which actually quotes Phil Griffin from the AP memo better. Rawstory also has an update from Color of Change as well:
“ColorOfChange.org welcomes MSNBC’s decision to indefinitely suspend Pat Buchanan. However, it’s time for MSNBC to permanently end their relationship with Pat Buchanan and the hateful, outdated ideas he represents. We appreciate this first step and urge MSNBC to take the important final step to ensure that their brand is no longer associated with Buchanan’s history of passing off white supremacy ideology as mainstream political commentary.”
So if you really want to make sure Buchanan goes away, be sure to contact MSNBC about the subject. If you want that Indefinite Suspension to really mean Indefinite... feel free to let Phil know your desires in as polite a way as possible.