I’m sorry to learn that MSNBC isn’t some big, happy, united family. It’s a shame that their talent seems to dislike each other. But maybe that is why MSNBC is the most watchable of the cable news networks. Watching CNN or FOX, it seems like I’m seeing the same crew from the Clinton impeachment fiasco. There’s Lanny Davis and James Carville and Paul Begala and Terry McAuliffe and Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, and Geraldo Rivera. It’s like these channels are frozen in amber.
We have three new anchors on the broadcast network channels, but we still have Larry King, Chris Matthews, and Bill O’Reilly anchoring the cable channels. I think the cable news industry should just go out and fire all the on-screen talent in their employ that were hired before Bush/Cheney took office.
CNN has done some new hiring. Bringing Roland Martin in was a good hire. But get David Gergen off my teevee. When it comes to MSNBC, their problem is one of culture shock. Olbermann and Maddow are from a different cultural place than Pat Buchanan, Chris Matthews, and Andrea Mitchell. There is contempt and suspicion swirling all over the sets because the new blood knows all too well how badly the old blood failed us in the period between l’affaire Lewinsky and the invasion of Iraq. It’s that tension that makes MSNBC somewhat watchable. FOX News is a parade of professional liars and tired-out sell-outs. CNN is like a Georgetown cocktail party aired for a mass audience.
Virtually every one of these personalities, from all three networks, are loathsome and worthy of lengthy derision. The American people hate the press, but they hate these people even more. If MSNBC wants to solve their infighting, they should fire nearly everyone. Keep Olbermann and Maddow, and build out from there with new, fresh faces. If we’ve seen them before, they’ve probably lied to us before. The Bush administration is coming to an end. There is a whole generation of political pundits whose careers should end with it.
