Last week, Monday through Thursday, Live With Dan Abrams ran a series called Bush League Justice, apparently an experiment to see if he can hold onto Countdown viewers, but possibly -- just possibly -- starting to recognize the power of the audience for real news. Tonight he threw the hypocracy of the Senate Republicans (and that means you, Linsey Graham) who, while on the Judicary Committee attempting to get Mukasey confirmed, said Congress should enact legislation specifying waterboarding as torture, but now oppose the bill which resulted from their suggestion.
Abrams turned the tables on Cliff May and Pat Buchanan by showing them their own comments on his show in early November advocating that Congress create such a bill. Now, of course, both pundits are doing the "I didn't mean that" shuffle the Republicans are so famous for, and Abrams called them on it.
Abrams followed up with the story of the DOJ civil rights head resigning on Friday (Abrams' series opening on Monday was on the civil right division at the Justice Department). In that story (NOTE: video with advertisements) Abrams cited statistics showing the Civil Right Division has been warped into advocating "religious freedom" for right-wing church programs and causes.
So tonight Abrams is savoring a possible victory in his own coverage. I realize Abrams is a long way from Olbermann still, but this tentative flame of journalistic ardor should be rewarded. Since Abrams has been friendly with a lot of the right-wing pundit crowd, he could bring a different righteous angle on the same issues Countdown pursues, and maybe we should give him some love to encourage him to abandon the trite tabloid fare in favor of really holding this Administration's feet to the fire.
He is also covering the Haliburton gang rape case tonight and beating up on O'Reilly. The more content he shifts toward bearing down on the wingnuts, the better.
Abrams' series last week covered the aforementioned Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department on Monday followed by (NOTE: MSNBC videos with advertisements):
I am not a fan of Dan Abrams, but I am intrigued by this change in programming. Many commenters on my initial diary on the Bush League Justice series last week don't ascribe this change to a true change of heart on Abrams' part, but it is interesting that last week he devoted a quarter of his show to these topics, but tonight he is devoting over half to issues written about extensively here on dKos. Dan has always had a certainly subtle cockiness and a touch of the scold in his manner, which is interesting to see turned on the rightwing punditry for a change. His self-righteous demeanor fits these topics much better than his past fare, to my mind.
His interview with Jamie Leigh Jones tonight on her rape by KBR employees in Iraq was one of the best on the topic I've seen. Talk about a story which really needs to get some media play (and lawsuits) to pry open the digusting practices of these mercenary companies "serving" us and lay them out for the American public to see.
I really don't know what to think of this change in Abrams' show, but I hope it indicates a sea change in another cable TV news show. One of the commenters on my diary last week said Dan was no longer in management at MSNBC, so I hope he is using the mojo he got by backing Keith Olbermann to change the direction of the news coverage on that network for the better. I understand the wariness of many Kossacks on this change, but I do think we need to encourage this kind of coverage no matter how it emerges.
What do you think? Any links to transcripts and dKos diaries on any of these topics would be appreciated.