Crossposted from MY LEFT WING
So… MSNBC “dropped” Olbermann and Matthews as anchors.
Well… Olbermann, for one, has NO BUSINESS being a news anchor.
He might as well be wearing an Obama t-shirt on the air every night.
He knows it, we know it and everyone else knows it.
I’m pretty sure that’s why he excused himself from Minneapolis.
Matthews CANNOT anchor a news desk; he doesn’t have the skill set, and I’m pretty damned sure he knows it — god knows the rest of the world does. God knows the person who washes his drool-covered shirts does (I’m sorry, Tweety; I do sort of like you, but you DO sort of drop spittle more than an arthritic halfback drops shovel passes.)
This wasn’t a fucking FIRING.
The one who should be fired… is Tom Brokaw.
Tom Brokaw, venerable though he may be, needs, if not outright firing, new status as “MOSTLY retired” after that BIZARRE display after the “9/11 Tribute.”
It is arguable that what Olbermann did may or may not have been necessary or appropriate. What is NOT arguable? That Brokaw was OFF HIS NUT: A huge “Tribute” to the “fallen” occurs… the lights come up… and he basically clears his throat and says, “So, anyway, back to my dry analysis of this convention.” For over 90 seconds. He fails to acknowledge the so-called “tribute.”
Now, some might argue Brokaw’s staggering faux pas was, in fact, a slowing of journalistic reflexes. That he was aware of the appalling, nakedly opportunistic and manipulative douchebaggery the Republicans had just displayed in that so-called “tribute” — and simply didn’t know what else to do but pretend he hadn’t seen it.
I would argue that Brokaw is probably too far up their asses to know the difference between their usual douchebaggery and moments of unusually grotesque and nauseously partisan Republican fuckwaddery.
But that’s probably just me.
The fact is, the only surprising thing about the news that Olbermann and Matthews have “been removed” from the anchor desk at MCNBC (aside from the admittedly cruel wording, which is probably little more than a sop to the people who really wanted them kicked off the network entirely)…
Is the fact that this so-called “dismissal” happened AFTER the conventions… AFTER the effect of their partisan editorial commentary has already done the bulk of its work. Sure, there’s still Election Night. But no one’s votes will be affected on Election Night.
So, no, AG… For some reason, I just do not see this particular moment in news history as the one that’s going to lose it for Obama.
