Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A tale of two networks

What is it with MSNBC?  Hosts getting suspended / fired, having to apologize after shooting off their mouths - not occasionally, but routinely?   Think about the list of Freedom-Hating wackos that has constituted their lineup of on-air "talent".  Melissa Harris-Perry, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton, Alec Baldwin, Keith Olberman.  It's the kind of outfit about which you have to say that Rachel Maddow is as close as it comes to reasoned discourse.

Compare and contrast to FNC, the organization that causes the Freedom-Haters to come absolutely unglued. Is there even an isolated instance of host behavior there that remotely compares with what occurs routinely at MSNBC?  Certainly, I like some better than others.  I get a little tired of the line between the sharp-observer-of-cutlural-and-economic-trends pose and the yeah-some-of-my-conceptualization-is-overly-broad-to-the-point-of-being-sloppy-but-that's-the-way-Irish-guys-from-Levittown-speak pose that O'Reilly tries to strike.  Hannity goes in for a bit of that, too, and adds to it a style of confrontation that undermines the very arguments he's clearly trying to make.  Still, they're clearly smart guys who clearly lead what we'd call traditional lifestyles.  And the other hosts - Greta, Megyn, the panelists on The Five, Cavuto - are nothing short of fabulous.  Articulate, razor-sharp, principled, devoted to freedom, common sense and decency.

I always wonder how failing networks stay on the air.  I guess it's because the revenue is assured, since they're bundled by cable-service providers, so it doesn't matter how many people watch them.  Still, it's disgusting to think that it guarantees jobs to weirdos and haters who aren't qualified to participate in any kind of activity in our economy that actually adds value to anything.

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