The time has finally come to give Lawrence O'Donnell his own television show. MSNBC for now nearly a year has supposedly been looking for not only a show but a host to host a show in the 10 PM timeslot. He is literally right under their noses, and I cannot understand how they don’t see it.
Over the last few weeks and months Lawrence O'Donnell has admirably filled in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown, with Keith dealing with the illness and ultimately death of his father (RIP). Lawrence O'Donnell has not only kept all of us abreast of the news, but has excellently detailed the inner workings of the Health Care Debate and offered insight into the legislative process that is rarely seen nor discussed.
You see he has that advantage being a former Democratic Chief of Staff in the United States Senate. His contacts and personal relationships have enabled Senators like Ron Wyden and Jay Rockefeller to routinely appear with him as guests on the many shows that Lawrence O'Donnell guest hosts. They not only provided insight into backroom dealings but also the overall attitudes of the lawmakers during this health care debate. So, I say why not Lawrence O'Donnell for host of his own political show?
Let’s take step by step some of the criticisms of Lawrence O'Donnell that I have seen lobbied his way as to the reasoning he should not be a permanent host.
- He is not a brand name.
Wrong. As I outlined above not only is he well known in political circles from the lawmakers, but he is routinely asked to be a guest analyst on the Sunday talk shows. Besides, if you were to argue that ordinary people don’t know him well enough that has now been shattered with his nightly guest hosting of Countdown. He most certainly has name and face recognition now, to a much wider audience.
- He doesn’t know the issues.
Wrong again. As outlined above being a former Democratic Chief of Staff in the United States Senate I tend to think results in you knowing the issues. In fact I would make the argument you may not get better knowledge on any particular issue than you would from Lawrence O'Donnell. He knows the issues inside and out like the back of his hand.
- He is not polished enough to be a host.
Certainly wrong now. I’m not sure it was ever right, but for argument sake let’s say it was. Fine, he wasn’t polished enough and didn’t have enough experience as a host. Okay. What say you know? Not only has he filled in for Ed Shultz, Rachel Maddow, the old 1600 Pennsylvania Ave show, been a regular contributor on Morning Joe, but has now been the regular host of Countdown for the last few months. So if your argument was that he didn’t have that experience as a show host, then I suggest you come up with a new argument.
- He’s too fiery and aggressive.
What? I mean seriously WTF? That’s a bad thing? We need more fire and aggression on political issues. We need more political hosts willing to hold sell outs and those fighting for corporate interests to the fire. We need more hosts willing to tell the truth no matte the corporate costs. Lawrence O'Donnell is willing to do this and his fire and aggression is most definitely NOT a bad thing.
So those are the 4 main arguments I have consistently either heard or seen written in the blogosphere as to why Lawrence O'Donnell may be a good guy...but not TV show host material. However, in fact as I have outlined those 4 main issues are now nonexistent issues, so if you don’t like Lawrence O'Donnell you better come up with a new set of arguments.
If you are still not convinced, I present to you Lawrence O'Donnell's greatest hits.
First, Lawrence utterly annihilates this clown Phill Musser who claims waterboarding was effective, because you can tell by looking at people that they are guilty.
Lawrence smacks down Liz Cheney's ridiculous notion that not only waterboarding is an effective method or interrogation, but also that President Obama somehow made us less safe by having his justice department release the interrogation memos.
Lawrence challenges Marc Thiessen on his claim that Barack Obama is inviting a terrorist attack by making America less safe. Of course a challenge on Morning Joe is not in the realm of acceptability to everyone's favorite former congressman who quickly attempts to shut Lawrence off. Not fast enough though Joe. Lawrence made his point.
Next, Lawrence takes on the right winged talking point that Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress are socialist and leading us all to some apocalyptic socialist dystopia.
Finally, Lawrence quiets Lawrence Eagleburger who attempted to say Barack Obama has no foreign policy experience. Lawrence asked him to provide evidence of the foreign policy experience Governors Bush and Reagan had.
So, there you have it. If you still believe that Lawrence O'Donnell should not and cannot host his own television show, I ask you please, please tell me why. I see no reason why he shouldn't.
So MSNBC if you really are serious about putting together a nightly 10 PM show the time for excuses as to why you can't are gone. You have your host. You have your audience. You have your chance. Lawrence O'Donnell is your man. Time to make the move.