Pretty levelheaded op from Krugman: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/opinion/11krugman.html?hp

I get the feeling that Jeff watches Network, sees The Howard Beale Show, and says, gee, why can't the real news be more like that? Dumb as the mouth-breathing, low-count t-shirt redstaters that he likes to make fun of.

Keith Olberman said this a few months back, aimed at Bush:

"And in pimping General David Petraeus..."

Admittedly, a big difference between using the word in reference to a general and to a young woman, but still, it does suggest that MSNBC has no specific standards in place, leaving them entirely vulnerable to Clinton-style pressure. Looks like it'll be open season on their anchors and commentators all through the election, by any campaign which chooses to affect offense.

I was disappointed that NBC / MSNBC caved in so easily...the Clinton campaign got its panties in a bunch last month over comments Chris Matthews made to the effect that Hillary has a political career because of hubby Bill's philandering...this is the "pattern" of abuse that Clintonistas are complaining about...please spare me, Mrs Clinton - you gotta be tougher than this if you want to be Prez...

And MSNBC, you gotta be tougher than this if you want to be Press.

Yeah, Olbermann is feisty and fearless all right, except when it comes to his own network's blatant and wanton disregard for the democratic process. Not a peep. See Kucinich.

How the mighty have fallen. I still have clear memories from when I was kid of watching NBC news. John Chancellor would come on and do the news, and then at the end, David Brinkley would come on and do a two-minute commentary. (I also remember Chancellor doing commentary, so that might have been during the early days of Brokaw.)

You had the news and then a clearly-defined opinion piece. But that doesn't feed the beast any more. Now you have blend the news and the opinion, or worse, entertainment, to get the ratings.

Regardless, I still think it is incredibly inappropriate for a presidential candidate to publicly demand the firing (or suspension) of a news commentator. (I know, stuff like this goes on behind the scenes all the time. That's also wrong, but not as blatant.) It's a clear chilling of political speech, and, as such, one of the worst things that a candidate can do, in my opinion.

I think it's fine for presidential candidates to publicly demand the firing of a commentator, as long as the network publicly tells them to go fuck themselves.

Yes, the lines of news and entertainment are blurring, and that mess is only going to become worse, I fear. For the time being, I suppose Shuster has the right to say it, but I think we have the right to call him on a stupid remark. Whether or not the Clinton campaign should be making such a flap about it is a separate debate, and I don't have the answer to that.

By the way, Anderson Cooper sneaks in a wry remark every once in a while.

Gee rocco, just when I've quit you, you write exactly my first insight on the general cowardice of GE-owned MSNBC. For further info, see War, Iraq - 2003.

And I agree with Jeff 100 percent on Cenk's piece. The lines have blurred to much. Mixing news with opinions is not democratic on a public airwave forum of that caliber. It's FOX.

But then Jeff actually writes this:

"He's the greatest free-associating blabbermouth provocateur on the airwaves right now. A brilliant shoot-from the hipper, an old-school boomer newshound, a Bill Maher facsimile, a sardonic preacher, a print guy from way back, an agitator, a stalker of evasion, a carrier of the old-liberal Kennedy nosalgia flag and a bullshit spotter par excellence. "

How could somebody so full of shit be a spotter? Once in a while he gets it, but otherwise he's mooning like a schoolboy over Bush in his flight suit or the aqua velva aroma of Thompson. Then his off the cuff stupidity to John an Elizabeth Edwards about "busting balls" and chuckling at Coulter calling Gore "a total fag." He's got trouble. Female trouble.

Sadly, Matthews is a genuine idiot and part of the problem. Even Keith O. obviously doesn't like him. The less of him the better. As if it makes any difference.

BTW, saw a commercial last night for one of LA's vapid news teams, and the lead story was hooking one anchor up to a lie detector while the chryon below advertised the network's lie detector show.

Whatever happened to Sherman Anti-Trust?

Wow, talk about COMPLETELY wrong.

How can Jeff/Cenk Uygur/everyone here miss the obvious?

David Shuster was/is a *journalist*. Maybe a good one, maybe a bad one, but even when he was providing commentary to Chris "Not a journalist" Matthews, Shuster is supposed to have his impartial, non-partisan journalist cap on.

I don't expect Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Lou Dobbs, OR Bill O'Reilly to be impartial journalists. Because they're NOT. They're editorialists, commentators, interviewers. Just as I don't expect George Will, George Stephanopolous or Tim Russert to be a journalist.

I know that there's a special keyboard macro available to all Huffington Post writers that immediately cues up "at least it's not as bad as Fox News" but that's always said by people who NEVER WATCH Fox News. The best thing about Fox News has always been that you largely know where they're coming from. Are they biased? Sure, but you at least knew they were. And they did a good job of separating out "hard" news from "soft" news. Even now, I know while watching Brit Hume and company that I'm going to get a rightward-slant on the news. I'm okay with that, because it's called FULL DISCLOSURE.

You watch CNN, and we're all supposed to pretend that Anderson Cooper and company are these impartial, non-partisan dispensers of the straight and honest truth. Maybe they are, but in this high-gloss "news" age, what often comes across is the complete denial of any bias at all.

I don't care if there are liberals in the media. OF COURSE the media is liberal. What makes me laugh hardest is when the liberal media denies they are so, or points out Fox News, as if one channel (that admits its bias) is a great big boogeyman when opposed to NBCABCCBSMSNBCCNNNYTIMES.

Full disclosure, or everyone goes back to reading the sports scores and stock prices.

I'm sticking with Jon Stewart's opinion that CHRIS MATTHEWS is insane. New Hampshire. Hilary Clinton. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

Hilarious.

whenever HIllary sends Bill off to do fundraising, she greats him with a "Bitch better have my money" at the door.

And in case Jeff hasn't seen this incredible clip, here's Jon Stewart exposing Matthews for the cackling shill he is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sddRviP8-do

Fuck yeah, Stewart drinks his milkshake!

Turns out Hillary sent Chelsea to have breakfast with a college boy who is a super delegate in Wisconsin.

That defines pimping your daughter for votes.

According to Matt Drudge.

And when was he ever right about the Clintons and unsavory doings?

Bill Maher actually got fired off of television for making a statement, so he is a poor example when illustrating difference in treatment.

The Maher 9/11 incident was blown out of proportion. But those were volatile times. Lame but understandable.

The issue is not commmentary vs. news. It was the choice of words.

There's a bright line between a newsman and a comedian.

But seriously, folks, who gives a fuck?

Well, if Clinton loses to Obama in tomorrow's primaries, won't that mean that it truly is hard out here for a pimp?

Rocco wrote:
Yeah, Olbermann is feisty and fearless all right, except when it comes to his own network's blatant and wanton disregard for the democratic process. Not a peep. See Kucinich.

Olbermann is "feisty and fearless" because it's now safe safe safe for an NBC outlet to lob grenades at Bush/Cheney and company in a "hosting" format. Even neocon Dan Abrams will do that as well.

Being the good corporate citizen Keith is, did he even dare to have an opinion on-air about the Shuster suspension?

Maybe a good way to evaluate Chris Matthews is to compare him to follow-the-trendsters like film "critic" Peter Travers who merely parrot the prevailing conventional wisdom chatter/who's up and who's down rankings they hear--whether it's film or politics.

The Clinton campaign is doing two things: First, it's putting the media on notice that it will sic its attack dogs on anyone who tries to report about them unfavorably.

Second, its getting back at MS NBC for some of the things Chris Matthews has said. But Clinton knows she can't go after Matthews directly because he's too powerful, so they're going after the low-hanging fruit instead.

Matthews already apologized himself a couple weeks back for his own CDS.

First off, hasn't the phrase 'pimped out' moved beyond slang and into the general vernacular and beyond it's literal meaning?

If I were Shuster I'd be worried, this is the same net that canned Phil Donahue when he was MSNBC's highest rated host because of his skepticism of the Bush admin's case for war w/ Iraq.

I'll never forget meeting Chris Matthews and his wife backstage at a High School theater event in Washington. He was about to present an Award and he was bouncing up and down on his heels muttering "Our boy is out there. Legacy of greatness."

Later when my friends and I thanked him for coming and shook his hand he affected a Boston accent and said "Thanks for ya sapport", then jogged away. I think it's quite possible he is also a robot, but one that was struck by lightning. Heroic. He and Olbermann make these endless Primary nights fun. And Scarborough is growing on me, he's certainly the most loose and charming right winger on the air. Wells is right. MSNBC should never change.

Yes, where would our democracy be without these amazing media gatekeepers? I hope GE keeps making weapons systems forever in tandem with their ownership of a news juggernaut.

Matthews a "bullshit spotter par excellence?" Puh-leeze. This is a man who regularly has indicted criminal Tom DeLay on and treats him like the Pope. When DeLay admitted on-air to an affair, Matthews didn't even follow up on that--even though he's spent the past 16 years with his nose in the Clintons' bedroom. And when Gray Davis was replaced by Schwarzenegger, he let pass Peggy Noonan's asinine comment that this was a victory for "the anti-elites." Arnold, zillion-dollar movie star and member of the Kennedy family, is an "anti-elite?" He's off his meds and should go, along with that little weasel Tucker Carlson.