Celebrating Incompetence!......

MSNBC may do a very poor job of delivering much in the way of news and coherent commentary (as I believe they do), but it cannot be denied that they do a splendid job of hiring the handicapped, so long as incompetence counts as a legitimate handicap.

In a recent example the always reliably, slow-witted Chris “Hardball” Matthews made a fool of both himself and the network he represents by musing on-air, whether it’s a crime for an American citizen to contact al Qaeda.

(A brief note on this thorny issue; Turns out that it IS a crime. That’s why the FISA Laws allowed the NSA to monitor American contacts TO “suspect foreign portals,” since way back in 1979. Although, I suspect that to Mr. Matthews, contacting, say Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan during WW II would’ve been “No big deal” either...or maybe it’s just those ideologies he approves of that are “OK” - perhaps then, collaborating the Soviets during the Cold War would’ve been fine with Chris Matthews.)

On the November 9^th broadcast of "Hardball," Chris Mattheww was conducting one of his typically sweet-toned, pandering interviews with Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, in which he compared Nidal Hasan to Sirhan Sirhan (killer of Robert F. Kennedy) and, in the process, actually evinced some sympathy for Sirhan’s cause, saying, “Bobby Kennedy had made political statements saying we're going to sell arms, fighter planes directly to Israel, not under the table. We're going to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Those are the things that triggered his killing spree. He killed one person - Bobby Kennedy, horrifically. But did he become a different religious person because he committed the crime? And when did this happen?”

Yes, when indeed?

More importantly, when did Chris Matthews become SUCH an embarrassment to anyone associated with him?

And if you thought his bending over backwards to “understand” Sirhan Sirhan’s motivations was acrobatic, his contortions over Nidal Hasan’s possible motivations (other than that he was a jihadist terrorist, that is) were even more breathtaking; “See - we have a problem," Matthews began. "How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he's an Islamist until he's made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever, according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al Qaeda. Is that the point at which you say, ‘This guy is dangerous?' That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?"

That's a GREAT question, isn't it?! When you think about it, how could it be "a crime" to simply "dial up al Qaeda?" I mean what have THEY done to US?....OK, bad question, but IS IT an "actual crime?"

Wow! That's some deep philsophical stuff oozing out of Chris "hardballs" Matthews, isn't it?

Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe he didn't mean "al Qaeda," as in the jihadist Islamic group we're AT WAR WITH, perhaps he really mean Al Kaida, that full-time plumber and part-time U.S. wiffle-ball champ from Sandusky, Illinois...I mean it really is "no crime" to call him!

OK, I’m not getting this at all.

MSNBC puts up a weekday evening commentary line-up that goes, Schultz, Matthews, Olberman, Maddow...and the result is not only “NO ratings,” BUT major, even massive humiliation for MSNBC and anyone even remotely associated with the ponderously idiotic ramblings of the likes of Matthews and Olberman – the current reining champs of gross stupidity.

I mean, seriously, guys, are you TRYING to lose?!

If you are, you’re doing a helluva job!

I Tried to Tell Him...

I tried to give Keith Olbermann some career-saving advice. (SEE: http://workingclassconservative.blogspot.com/2007/03/red-bell-bottoms-or-what-in-hell.html

Either he didn’t take it, or maybe he didn’t get it...but in either case, I blame myself.

But recent developments point to a massive Olby-train wreck!

In a recent piece, Taylor Marsh said “Keith Olbermann is why I dropped any interest in supporting the Fox boycott. Because Fox's Bill O'Reilly had the ratings and the reach out, so when Hillary needed to get both and draw attention to her primary fight, they were there and fair. Yes, I realize the larger Fox network anchors never miss a chance to hit Democrats, almost always unfairly and below the belt, but O'Reilly treated Clinton with respect, something she could never get on "Countdown" or "Hardball," two of the top rated shows on MSNBC...

Beyond THAT, this week, after the MSNBC debacle during the coverage of the two Conventions, Keith Olbermann and Chris Mathews have been demoted from Anchors to analysts.

As Brian Stelter of the NY Times reported, “MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.

“That experiment appears to be over.

“After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

“The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.

“The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” said Davidson Goldin, formerly the editorial director of MSNBC and a co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin.

“Executives at the channel’s parent company, NBC Universal, had high hopes for MSNBC’s coverage of the political conventions. Instead, the coverage frequently descended into on-air squabbles between the anchors, embarrassing some workers at NBC’s news division, and quite possibly alienating viewers. Although MSNBC nearly doubled its total audience compared with the 2004 conventions, its competitive position did not improve, as it remained in last place among the broadcast and cable news networks.”

I told you to put away those red bell bottoms Keith!

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Another thing I don't get...you gave up ESPN for MSNBC?

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WHY???