I came in this morning to work absolutely incensed. It's my own fault. There are a few other options to my morning news viewing when the rest of my family hasn't stirred from their beds yet.
However, I've become an MSNBC addict lately. It's this one ray of sunshine in an absolutely bleak media hurricane that constantly bombards us with right wing talking points and completely illogical banter. Having a dose of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow each evening is such a refreshing change. Even Chris Matthews gets it from time to time. Chuck Todd I'm not so sure about but his political wisdom can't be questioned.
Joe Scarborough is the Anti-Christ.
On the segment of his morning program that I was "fortunate" enough to tune into today, Joe was seated next to recently-exposed Republican shill Peggy Noonan. Of course Mika was there clearly uncomfortable as she always is. Chuck Todd was in attendance as well.
Scarborough had as message this morning that the Republicans were being masters of politics with McCain's recent attack ad that took aim at the "slurs" the Obama camp had made against Sarah Palin. To contrast he pulled up one of Obama's ads that was completely issue driven and had no attacks on McCain's character. We've all seen in recent days some extremely sharp counter-attacks by Obama and his crew but yet Joe clearly chose the ad that he knew would look weak and indecisive in contrast. Peggy Noonan of course was there to support him in everything he said telling the audience that McCain was clearly winning the war with his tactics.
They went to Chuck Todd who tried to be balanced, agreeing that the Obama ad was not very effective but questioning why recent McCain ads were only about Sarah Palin. He was clearly seeing a strange turn but Scarborough cut that off quickly.
The real evil reared its head when Mika, clearly irritated by this right wing assault, tried to interject her views. Joe immediately began to talk over her and wouldn't let her get out a single idea. That's when I turned to CNN. I was raging. This was Bill O'Reilly in MSNBC clothing, absolute bullying tactics right out there in the open reinforced by a proven liar in the form of Noonan. The McCain ad was a huge distortion of truth with absolute honesty and integrity shown in the Obama ad and here's Joe saying this is how politics in our country is supposed to be played. He was celebrating the tactics and disparaging and bullying anyone that held a counter view. I expect that out of Fox News but not out of a network that used to bring us Huntley and Brinkley.
Had a Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, or even Tweety been in attendance, bully Joe wouldn't have been so empowered. He would have known he'd be called on the carpet and put on his nuanced mask. Peggy Noonan might even have been challenged on her take based on her off-camera remarks at the RNC by a true journalist.
So I probably already know the answer to this one but just what are the rules regarding targeting other hosts on MSNBC? Clearly guys like Joe Scarborough on many days are just as despicable or even more so than Olbermann's frequent target of Billo the Clown. Is there a line they can cross which allows them to be put in the crosshairs?
I know after this morning's episode that I will never again watch Morning Joe despite an occasional day when he has on quality guests that he cannot bully and there's real valuable information to be obtained.
Keith, I'm pretty sure you can't respond to this diary but I want you to know something. I'm pretty sure I speak for the community here when I say that it must be a terribly frustrating environment surrounded by people in your corporation that you must view as reprehensible slugs and I can't imagine the temptation that must be there every night to call them out for their hypocrisy as you do scum like O'Reilly.
Joe Scarborough is a despicable human being and I intend to never again view his propaganda. As Obama has said recently and forcefully - "Enough!"