MSNBC: The Place For Politics (And Taped Programming)

Huffington Post   |  Rachel Sklar   |   February 9, 2008 08:00 PM



I'ts 8:00 pm on the day of primaries in Nebraska, Washington State, Louisiana and Kansas, and MSNBC just started its live coverage. During the day, while CNN was covering the ongoing voting via "Ballot Bowl" and Fox News was doing the same with "You Decide 2008," MSNBC was running taped programming like "Sex Slaves in America" and "Lockup: Holman" and "Born in the Wrong Body," up until 6pm when Tim Russert's show began, followed by a taped documentary on the career of Hillary Clinton, narrated by Lester Holt. Now the coverage is in full swing, anchored by Norah O'Donnell along with Chuck Todd, Lee Cowan, Alex Witt, Eugene Robinson, Pat Buchanan and Rachel Maddow, but earlier today, when Mike Huckabee took Kansas and when Washington — a state where Obama has led in fundraising and endorsements and which has almost as many delegates as New Jersey — was caucusing (in a voting system that tends to favor Obama) and even the U.S. Virgin Islands was getting in on the act, American Samoa-style, MSNBC was off the case. Why, with so many correspondents in the field and what could be a decisive day for the Democrat side going on, was the decision made to go to tape? I asked MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines, who pointed out that the network would be running three hours of live coverage tonight. "We're always live when there's breaking news to report as there is tonight when there are election results to report," said Gaines. (Though I can't help pointing out that Huckabee's win in Kansas sort of counts as news.) Gaines declined to give any other reason for the decision to go to tape; it should also be noted that MSNBC was live during the day of the South Carolina primary.

What MSNBC missed during the day: Huckabee's Kansas win; live coverage of Huckabee addressing CPAC, including this already-widely-quoted line about why he's still in the race: "I did not major in math. But I did major in miracles. And I still believe in 'em!"; Fox News being sure to mention David Shuster's suspension from MSNBC because of his comment about Chelsea Clinton — but did not, however, mention that David Shuster had formerly been at Fox News.

Related:
'Significant Saturday': Three Things to Watch
[Newsweek]
Not Super, But Still Important [Forbes]


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If MSNBC weren"t already ranked dead last in cable news, I would recommend that we boycott it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:51 PM on 02/11/2008

TOTALLY TRUE!!!
MSNBC HAS BEEN REPLAYING THE SAME CRAP FOR OVER A YEAR.
AND PLEASE!! RETIRE THAT OLD THING......THE DINOSAUR PAT BUCHANAN!
HE IS NO MORE RELEVANT THAN BOB DOLE.
WRITE MSNBC TO REVAMP, maybe they'll respond to more complaints, go to msnbc.com

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:21 PM on 02/11/2008

Beware of Buchanan. His views are at the very least disturbing, if not xenophobic.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:19 PM on 02/11/2008

Now that Hillary and MSNBC are bedfellows, will MSNBC seek Hillary"s approval of the questions that the moderators will ask the candidates at the debate scheduled for February 26th?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:16 PM on 02/11/2008

MSNBC needs to grow a spine.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:06 PM on 02/11/2008

CNN has long been the Best Hillary Team. Now that MSNBC has become the Place for Hillary, what"s left?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:05 PM on 02/11/2008

Bullshit. CNN has been pushing Oblama. Look at the grandiose CNN political ads for their own coverage- Oblama is highlighted consistently. His image is larger, more frequent & on the beat, as-they-say.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:48 PM on 02/11/2008

To compensate for Shuster"s comment, MSNBC has changed its slogan to "The Place for Hillary."

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:03 PM on 02/11/2008

In a shameless effort to placate the Clintons, MSNBC aired the hour-long documentary on Hillary at least three times in three days.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:01 PM on 02/11/2008

Worse yet, MSNBC had planned to begin live coverage an hour later. Alex Witt announced Saturday morning that live coverage would not begin until 9 pm.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:58 AM on 02/11/2008

They should do away with those taped programs. On Sunday, when surfing the channels for political coverage, I first went to MSNBC thinking that they would have some sort of special coverage on the elections. Instead, I was greeted with some silly taped program, the substance of which will remain forever forgettable. So, I then turned to CNN and they had live coverage. MSNBC, you need a total commitment to "political coverage". Dump your taped shows of "sex slaves" and the like in the garbage where they belong.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:46 AM on 02/11/2008

So did I, because I always go to them first. CNN is horrible, and they are extremely biased toward Hillary and of course especially toward the RePUKES! In general, MSMBC has been doing fantastic political coverage, with Keith Olbermann, and all of the NBC anchors. Chris Matthews has moderated himself lately, having seen the handwriting on the wall. I have been watching morning to night, during the political happenings. I believe that they are the BEST network for politics. But on Saturday, they were off their game, and on Sundays, they are always off. I think they are presently being much too influenced by the Clintons, who are running totally scared, and who allowed the Media Matters Hillary "SHILLS" to intimidate them about the incident regarding David Shuster, just as they did regarding Imus. That is completely ridiculous! I wouldn't stop watching them for what is nothing but a Clinton ploy to gain sympathy in a failing campaign!!! MSNBC surely needs some programming "tweaking," but otherwise, it is the best network for politics!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:36 AM on 02/11/2008

I don't buy it for one minute that CNN is biased toward Hillary. Are we watching the same channel?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:50 PM on 02/11/2008

There's some right to criticise there, because they did miss a couple items, and they could have been giving some taped segments on, say, the Iraq war or mess in the economy and federal budget, but i am not going to throw large stones because they refused to have 24 hours of talking heads making the same predictions that are either obvious or patently false.

The election is important, but there are other issues in our nation and world.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:06 AM on 02/11/2008

Has anyone else noticed that Pat Buchanan is trying very very very hard in supporting Hillary.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:43 AM on 02/11/2008

YES, and i have written to MSMBC repeatedly, that he has been doing this. It is evident that he is attempting to suppress Obama's support, in hopes of propping up Hillary. This is a very supperficial, but popular ploy among the RePUKES, that has been going on a very long time. It is new with Pat, however. He was always fair, before this. You would think the Democrats would understand just how much they want Hillary to be our candidate, because she would be SO EASY to beat. But mabe this very fact explains why Hillary's supporters are the ones with less education! Obama has the intelligent supporters who understand such dynamics!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:43 AM on 02/11/2008

Pat is a campaign insider that can look at the Democratic race from objective point of view due to the fact that he is a Republican.Pat was a speech writer for Nixon. He tries to anticipate move and counter move by each campaign . He is a good political strategist. I'm pretty sure he isn't a Hillary supporter.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:29 AM on 02/11/2008

Pat Buchanan & Ron Paul should have run together! They're the only two Republiguns who have any real ethics.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:52 PM on 02/11/2008

No, but he wants the RePUKES to win!!!! Boy, does he ever!!!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:44 AM on 02/11/2008

Someone should look up Aaron Brown and let him bring "News Night" to MSNBC after Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams . I miss "News Night" with Aaron's complexed discussions, well thought questions, and Morning Papers. I actually learned something from Aaron Brown. I'm sick of hearing about the popularity contest's. When is Congress going start Impeachment hearings and send the Bush administration to prison? Now that's a lockup I could watch around the clock.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:56 AM on 02/11/2008

I heart Aaron. Hometown boy!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:35 AM on 02/11/2008

Pat Buchanan is better on tape.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:12 AM on 02/11/2008

Chris Mathews and Tim Russert are the best news journalists on TV.

Anderson 360 is good when he is reporting from the field.

Kieth Oberman is too lopsided and predictable albeit entertaining.

The worst ones are Brian Williams, Lou Dubbs and a few from the Fox channel whose names I can't even remember.

Not all Fox is actually bad. But they have a lot of terrible anchors which really drag down a few decent ones.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:26 AM on 02/11/2008

Chris Mathews and Tim Russert are the best news journalists on TV.

**************************************

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Really?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:28 AM on 02/11/2008

A good assessment of infotainment hosts Matthews and Russert.

Geraldo Rivera and Jon Stewart are also excellent at entertainment.

How about real journalists who do real news like Daniel Schorr on PBS, Linda Ellerbee on Nick news or Christine Amanpour at CNN.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:19 AM on 02/11/2008

If you are smarter than a fifth grader you would prefer Ellerbee to Anderson Cooper.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:20 AM on 02/11/2008

On Friday, I went to the MSNBC website to check out their programming schedule for Saturday, in anticipation of primary/caucus coverage. It was nowhere to be found! How can a major cable network not have their programming schedule on their website? This is utterly unbelievable.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:33 AM on 02/11/2008

I think they are *regrouping* because of the Capus smackdown. It didn't stop the Morning Joe crew from starting out snickering about Clinton.

*The Place for Politics* is the most biased place on cable TV, they bought into their own *press*.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:25 AM on 02/11/2008

It's only biased, when they are not fawning over your candidate!!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:46 AM on 02/11/2008

Love to see a news channel where I can watch Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann! What a breath of fresh air after years of crap on CNN. Larry King are you taking notes?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:09 PM on 02/10/2008

I only watch Keith on MSNBC. He's the only honest "journalist" on the tellie. If it weren't for Keith, I'd swear democracy is dead. CNN is pure, total crap. And of course, Fox News is a cartoon channel

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:39 PM on 02/10/2008

Maybe MSNBC has come to the same conclusion many Americans have. This whole process is a farce, so why the hell bother. There were just giving alternatives to the endless and mind numbing coverage to the dog and pony show. We dont get to choose anything , except between the corporate selected candidates.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:41 PM on 02/10/2008

Dear Loki,

It is understandable that you feel the way you do. I am a Midwesterner too. I also have given up politics many of times. This time its different. Its ok to talk politics and now we have the forum where all may have the chance to speak.

This is not the twentieth century. The world is full of risks. Take one. Right here right now.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:12 AM on 02/11/2008

This is pretty sad to me. By watching the recent primary coverages, and moving from channel to channel, I have discovered that MSNBC is indeed farcical. It's simply that they don't have the budgets to compete with CNN or FOX. This weekend (I am a resident of the state of Washington) there was little or no reporting on our state caucus or, of course, other Saturday caucuses. FOX had more coverage even, but as for yesterday and Super Tuesday, CNN totally kicked MSNBC's butt: John King with his great map presentations; Bill Schneider
with his exit polls. Wolf Blitzer reporting evenly without all the blatant bragging historical allusions of a Chris Matthews. All in all, MSNBC's primary coverage is aenemic.

This is sad for me to say because I've previously posted here that my favorite news is the first half hour of the Keith Olbermann show; also that MSNBC ought (as other posters suggested) to hire Rachel Maddow (which they did recently --not just because of me but I'm sure because of the many who find her commentary extremely interesting, insightful and informative.

I am retired, age 69, and a former reporter and editor. My favorite other commentators on political issues are Pat Buchanan, David Gergen, Chris Crawford, Joe Scarborough, Chuck Todd, Eugene Robinson, Bill Press, Larry O'Donnell, James Carville, Paul Begala, Bill Schneider, Candy Crowley, and John Roberts.

I must admit to being a political junkie but the best news show is, of course, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Thank Nature that the writers' strike is about over, and that they basically got what they wanted, if I believe the early headlines.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:22 PM on 02/10/2008

There are a few good ones on CNN, but they come with the bias and the bad ones, including the idiots James Carville, Paul Begala, Wolf Blitzer, Candy Crowley, John Roberts, Rick Sanchez, Amy Holmes, Larry King, and some whose names escape me. I will take MSNBC ANY day, over those biased and/or incompetent blowhards! As for Fox, my remote goes right past it!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:52 AM on 02/11/2008

Lou Dobbs makes a mockery of himself with his constant anti-illegal immigration rants and English language only nonsense.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:55 PM on 02/11/2008

Jon Stewart is very well written and insightful. Olbermann is really good, especially the first half hour, as you say. Don't you think Fox is unwatchable, though. I can not stand the right-wing propaganda. I may listen to O'Reilly's talking points just to note the ideological bias and falsities.

MSNBC should develop a B team to support their A team of Matthews, Olbermann, and the rest of the gang. Tucker is unwatchable, as well.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:57 PM on 02/10/2008

MSNBC, where, uh, you can, uh, hear, uh, Nora, uh, O'Donnell, uh, say, uh, about, uh, every, uh, fucking, uh, word, uh. uh uh uh uh. Write her some cue cards, uh uh uh uh uh uh!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:09 PM on 02/10/2008

She has the worst laugh.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:57 PM on 02/10/2008

Followed by her "horse" laugh.

Unbearable.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:36 PM on 02/10/2008

I noticed they took almost all their 'live' programming off after the Schuster stuff....they have barely been on for a few days. In the middle of the evening news hours when they usually go great guns, Holman was on for 4 hours.....they are hiding trying to figure out how to go on the air without being sexist/racist/ slanted when they've been so called out on it lately.