MSNBC, Your Place For News
Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard Hayden: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too, all right.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard Hayden: I know, they’re called doctors.
*** Update ***
And as I am post this, MSNBC is reading Sarah Palin’s twitter feed. Shoot me.
December 10, 2009 4:56 pm
Posted in: Bring on the Brawndo!, Media
50 Comments
50 Responses
geg6 - December 10, 2009 | 4:58 pm · Link
Ha! Lil Luke! Doooooood! Where’s my candy cane?
Zifnab - December 10, 2009 | 4:59 pm · Link
What happened to reading these jackasses so we didn’t have to, John? My eyes are burning with stupid now. Thanks.
asiangrrlMN - December 10, 2009 | 5:00 pm · Link
Are you curled up in a corner, rocking back and forth and waiting for the Rapture? Poor, poor Cole. You can’t give in, though. Who would feed Tunchie and Lily?
Ash - December 10, 2009 | 5:01 pm · Link
I have a friend who was a bartender at a Boston College bar that Russert Jr. frequented. She’s says he was always a “douchebag with a shit-eating grin who bought shots for skanks.”
That’s all I have to contribute.
Morbo - December 10, 2009 | 5:02 pm · Link
Meritocracy!
FYWP; let me have my multiple exclamation marks and 1s.
Sweet FSM, how badly that went wrong…
Max - December 10, 2009 | 5:02 pm · Link
I’m actually interested to hear what Tweety says about the speech.
I was surprised that the racist fuck Patty B could come up with anything negative to say.
Crashman06 - December 10, 2009 | 5:03 pm · Link
@Ash:
Please, please, please, please tell me it was Mary Ann’s….
Leelee for Obama - December 10, 2009 | 5:03 pm · Link
There is a special place in hell for the nimrods who gave Luke Russert a job more involved than copy boy and/or coffee maker/deliverer. Even his father is cringing and his Mom had best save him from this, or he won’t be able to get any job later, when people remember he’s not his father. ( Not that that was all that, of course.)
PeakVT - December 10, 2009 | 5:04 pm · Link
I realize good reporting is expensive, yadda, yadda. But reading a Twitter feed? On air? If this keeps up they’ll be reduced to making fart noises with their armpits by the middle of next year.
jacy - December 10, 2009 | 5:06 pm · Link
I can proudly say that I’ve stopped watching ANY news on TV, save for the local weather and hockey highlights/commentary. No MSNBC, no Nightly News, NOTHING. No good can come of it.
I get all the news I need from Balloon Juice, NPR when I happen to be in the car, and DVR of the Daily Show so I can FF through anyone who makes me want to hit them with a shovel.
I think it’s adding years to my life.
Keith - December 10, 2009 | 5:06 pm · Link
He passed out candy canes?!? Is he trying to run for Student Council or something?
ABS - December 10, 2009 | 5:06 pm · Link
He is what Steve Albert is to sportscasting
GReynoldsCT00 - December 10, 2009 | 5:06 pm · Link
Guess Andrea Mitchell challenging Al Gore with her Facebook post was a hit this morning, they’ve now moved on to the Twat’s Tweets
ABS - December 10, 2009 | 5:07 pm · Link
oops I meant Kenny Albert
Mike - December 10, 2009 | 5:10 pm · Link
OT, but I loved this opening paragraph from Taibbi…
“The race to revamp the American health care system and turn it into an even bigger and more incomprehensible mess than it is today continues. Watching the congressional back-and-forth on this is a fascinating comic exercise, sort of like putting a chess board between a pair of beached Beluga whales and waiting for a game to break out.”
Priceless.
The rest of the article: http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/
asiangrrlMN - December 10, 2009 | 5:12 pm · Link
@jacy: I dunno if I’m as proud, but me, too. Lefty blogs, a quick skim of the headlines, MPR in the car, and an occasional dose of Jon Stewart and Colbert. That’s about the extent to which I can handle this BS.
Jamey - December 10, 2009 | 5:12 pm · Link
Hey, that paste ain’t gonna eat itself …
Midnight Marauder - December 10, 2009 | 5:15 pm · Link
You know, in this instance, I’m reminded of the wise words of one, Michael Scott, yet again.
John PM - December 10, 2009 | 5:16 pm · Link
@jacy: #10
Same here. I only watch the morning news for the weather and the sports. I cancelled my newspaper subscription at the beginning of the year and now read Balloon Juice on the train. I find I am much more relaxed.
Comrade Dread - December 10, 2009 | 5:17 pm · Link
From Sarah Palin’s Twitter feed:
Zifnab - December 10, 2009 | 5:18 pm · Link
@jacy: Cheers to that. I’m right there with you.
News shows just make me cringe at this point. The stupid is almost palpable.
carlos the dwarf - December 10, 2009 | 5:18 pm · Link
green balloons! green balloons!
GReynoldsCT00 - December 10, 2009 | 5:20 pm · Link
@Comrade Dread:
this, from a woman who talks in salad-speak…
Midnight Marauder - December 10, 2009 | 5:21 pm · Link
You know, in this instance, I am reminded yet again of the wise words of one, Michael Scott.
New Yorker - December 10, 2009 | 5:23 pm · Link
I honestly wish I had the talent to be a professional athlete, as that appears to be the lone profession in which we have a true meritocracy. I mean, nobody is going to let Joe Montana’s son play QB if he can’t actually reach his fucking receivers with the ball.
But every other line of work: media, business, politics, it’s all about your rich and powerful daddy (and occasionally, mommy). I can’t wait for Lloyd Blankfein Jr. to tell me how he’s doing God’s work in 25 years.
Midnight Marauder - December 10, 2009 | 5:23 pm · Link
You know, in this instance, I am reminded yet again of the wise words of one, Michael Scott:
Johnny Pez - December 10, 2009 | 5:23 pm · Link
At least Luke Skywalker was smart enough to realize that trying to follow in his father’s footsteps would be a bad idea.
Libby - December 10, 2009 | 5:26 pm · Link
I stopped watching TV news a couple of years ago. And I didn’t get cable when I moved here six months ago. Seemed pretty pointless. I can get what little is worth watching online and get enough dumb teevee with my rabbit ears to put me to sleep at night.
I do still read a lot on line, but I don’t read wingnuts at all and I avoid the pundits that drive me crazy. My blood pressure has improved greatly…
New Yorker - December 10, 2009 | 5:27 pm · Link
Also, I wrote the above rant before I was reminded in a post below how Bill Kristol is still on the WaPo payroll.
Scott - December 10, 2009 | 5:27 pm · Link
And as I am post this, MSNBC is reading Sarah Palin’s twitter feed. Shoot me.
Ya wanna know how to stop this? Pick the worst offenders, leave their heads on pikes outside their studios/newspapers/magazines. Repeat frequently.
The media whores do this shit over and over because they face no penalties for it—hell, they’re actually shielded from all penalties and criticism that comes from anyone outside the fringe right. They won’t change because of non-rightie criticism—they have no idea anyone is even complaining. They’ll only change when they’re too damn scared of the rest of us.
Noonan - December 10, 2009 | 5:28 pm · Link
The thing about Palin’s Twitter feed is that it oddly makes her more coherent.
General Winfield Stuck - December 10, 2009 | 5:32 pm · Link
And Jethro Clampett growed up to be a brain surgeon, Luke just set his sights low, he’s doing fine where he’s at.
AngusTheGodOfMeat - December 10, 2009 | 5:32 pm · Link
Well, there is always this.
There’s nothing that could drive me crazy faster « Karen’s Rant Page - December 10, 2009 | 5:38 pm · Link
[...] http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=31007 [...]
EEH - December 10, 2009 | 5:41 pm · Link
@jacy: When broadcasting went digital, we let our tvs go “dead” as we did not have cable or a dish. It was surprisingly painless and we don’t miss it at all.
We still have our newspaper subscription but I find myself reading it less and less. When the Rocky folded, the Post picked up several of their people including the ever craptastic Mike Rosen whom I just cannot stomach. The op-ed section, once my most favorite section of the paper is one that I barely glance at any more. Lord, I miss Mike Royko. He was the main reason I started paying attention to the op-ed section in the first place way back when I was in high school and I always subscribed to whatever paper that carried his column whenever I moved. It was a dark day when he passed away. I’ve been a Post reader for over 20 years and it’s a shame that it’s come to this.
demkat620 - December 10, 2009 | 5:41 pm · Link
While we’re at it, can somebody remind Tweety that Freedomworks is not a grassroots movement?
kthnxbai!
beltane - December 10, 2009 | 5:44 pm · Link
@Scott: Look on the bright side. When the revolution comes, the media folks are the familiar faces. No one knows what the Goldman Sachs execs look like; everyone knows Wolf Blitzer’s face.
shoutingattherain - December 10, 2009 | 5:44 pm · Link
Luke is a Legacy Pledge, just like Flounder in Animal House.
Flounder. Not a bad nik, actually.
Captain Haddock - December 10, 2009 | 5:47 pm · Link
Reading Palin’s blog? Must be a slow Tiger Woods day…
Martin - December 10, 2009 | 5:52 pm · Link
jcricket - December 10, 2009 | 5:54 pm · Link
There was an article in Der Spiegel (which is German for “America Sucks”) that talked about how fashionable it was to appear (or even be) smart in Germany. Left/Right – doesn’t matter, you have to appear like you know what you’re talking about.
As much as I hate their opinions, I’d rather have a bunch of Andrew Sullivans and Newt Gingrich’s floating about arguing for supply-side economics and illusory non-coal-industry-hurting carbon taxes (or whatever) than the current bunch of anti-intellectuals.
But my suspicion is that the reason the right has turned to “animus” and “anti-intellectualism” with a ferver is that reality has proven all their ideas false/wrong/etc – so all they have left that “sells” is banging on the table and hatred of minorities/immigrants/liberals.
I fear for our country when we, at the highest levels, embrace being a dumbass (see Palin, Sarah and her whole “real Americans” v “people who went to Ivy league schools” shtick). It’s gone far beyond the debate about “ivory towers” and is now full on “if it’s complicated and only scientists understand than it’s obviously liberal claptrap and I’ll just go with my gut/pastor/Rush Limbaugh”
Just Some Fuckhead - December 10, 2009 | 5:57 pm · Link
Luke Russert could only be better if he had blond curls and big tits.
freelancer - December 10, 2009 | 6:01 pm · Link
@Martin:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Weeeeeahhhhhhhhhh!
CT Voter - December 10, 2009 | 6:02 pm · Link
Mark Halpern’s top story right now:
Apparently it’s contagious. And Halpern can’t even claim to be original.
That’s sad. You’re outrageously stupid only because you copied someone else’s original inanity.
EEH - December 10, 2009 | 6:07 pm · Link
@jcricket: That explains my family, then. Appearing to be stupid is the biggest horror that we can imagine.
Xanthippas - December 10, 2009 | 6:26 pm · Link
Not to toot my own horn or anything…
Jeff Fecke - December 10, 2009 | 6:26 pm · Link
What do Obama’s Nobel speech and “Going Rogue” have in common?
That’s a tough one. I was going to say “Both are in English,” but having read excerpts from Going Rogue, I feel certain that isn’t true.
Leelee for Obama - December 10, 2009 | 6:29 pm · Link
@CT Voter: There are much more enjoyable ways to practice masochism. Stop reading Halperin, you might get cancer of the thought process.
jacy - December 10, 2009 | 6:32 pm · Link
@EEH:
I grew up in the Springs, and when I was a kid, we had both the Sun and the Gazette, but now it’s only the Gazette, which my mom said is just horrifying now. Funny enough, several people I went to college with got jobs there.
I worked for the Independent for a bit, and I think it’s still running. Back then we did our best to keep our thumbs in the eye of the jump-for-jesus brigade.
My mom was very upset when the Rocky folded.
Living now in backwards land my S/O picks up the New Orleans Times Picayune from his parents on Sundays so we can clip the coupons, do the crossword, read Mutts, and use the rest of it to line the catbox.
skippy - December 10, 2009 | 10:27 pm · Link
i like what sat nite live said last weekend: “msnbc—it’s like nbc with ms!”