Rosie's going bye-bye. .
Alec wants out.
The New York Times hate-America pages are old news.
What, oh what, will Bill have the Folks focus on next week?
Short of Bill having a new (or old) book of his to push, it will be the MSNBC's hottest fill-in/audition yet. Certainly no where near the lookers Michael Smerconish or Imus are, Stephanie Miller will be seated in the morning simulcast slot in the MSNBC studios in Secaucus, N.J.. If she and her crew perform to half of their capability, Miller will never leave that seat.
As George Bush thought George Tenet said about WMD, this one's a "slam dunk."
Yes, the honchos at MSNBC, the same network that brought us the face of Michael Savage, are moving into uncharted area: entertainment.
Hands down, The Stephanie Miller Show is the most entertaining political show in morning radio. I know I put in a lot of qualifiers there, but if I just used "funniest," I would need no more.
It may not be perfect right off the bat, but that never stopped Miller. Much as the mystique of Jim Ward's on the money voices and the impact of the sound effects frittata that punctuates the show, will be handicapped by the fact that you actually see the man and woman behind the curtain.
The tradeoff is that the talent that is The Stephanie Miller show will get some well-deserved notoriety. While neither a Bill Maher nor a Jon Stewart nor even a Stephen Colbert, Stephanie Miller is the first Stephanie Miller and another in an all too short list of comics who has evolved into a political animal who reveals the emperor's (or president's) lack of credible garments. Watching Bill Maher and Jon Stewart wielding their satirical (and very real) power this past week, makes one beg for more funny guys with brains, even if some of the funny guys gots great gams.. .
But the best part of it all is that you know Bill O'Reilly will have someone from his cracked staff take note of Stephanie and her replays of Bill's actual words which should nail her at least a feature appearance on "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day" at the Factor. If you don't know what that is, picture a segment that usually has absolutely nothing to do with anything truly ridiculous, but is made so because Bill ends the segment by saying, "...which makes it The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."
If Bill listens to how much his own words and audio are embarrassing and laughably insipid, he might even make Stephanie the "Talking Points Memo" subject at the top of the show. If Jim Ward were to actually lampoon O'Reilly, Bill might call for a complete boycott of Stephanie's show. She should be so lucky. Ask Franken.
With Rush Limbaugh already thinking she's a babe who countless numbers of her fans don't listen to, and Sean Hannity has traded touchy-feelies with the liberal's lovely lady lumps, the Right is already aware of Stephanie. The fun starts when "independent" Bill starts to notice. And what he'll find is MediaMatters with a great ass. And she's funnier than David Brock.
Monday should be interesting. Let's hope that MSNBC doesn't let this opportunity slip by. If nothing else it will make the old line "a face made for radio"null and void.
Steve Young is author of Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" www.greatfailure.com