Editor's note: Although this site is primarily geared towards California news, we from time to time step outside the state and see what is going on around the nation and the rest of the world.
As if often the case, fair and balanced are two words not associated with MSNBC.
In another rant and rave at the end of his show Wednesday evening (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27310526/), MSNBC's Keith Olbermann went off on Sarah Palin's comments regarding the role of the vice president.
Olbermann went to great pains to mention that Palin reportedly had a number of gaffes in defining the VP role. One small problem....
Olbermann failed, however, to mention how Sen. Joe Biden, who has been in the Senate for more than 30 years and is the Democratic VP nominee, messed up his remarks (www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/03/biden-gets-veep-role-wrong/) a few weeks back at the debate he had with Palin when asked about the vice presidency.
Meantime, don't hold your breath on Olbermann to report on Biden's gaffes.
As many of you who read this site know, the menu on here is often California news. From time to time, we look at national and world events.
We start this message off by saying that there are plenty of blowhards on the right who need to get a life.
That being said, we took in another episode of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" tonight on MSNBC. To say it is a little biased towards the left would be like saying that Kobe Bryant is a fair basketball player.
For what seems like the 545th time in barely a month, okay, a little bit over the top, but you get the point, Olbermann attacked Sarah Palin and John McCain tonight.
His attacks on Palin have been particularly interesting. Olbermann hit Palin over her recent interview with CBS' Katie Couric. Now even those of us on the right will say it was not Palin's best performance. But hitting her over the head about not being able to name a Supreme Court decision she took issue with and totally ignoring Joe Biden and Barack Obama's gaffes on the campaign trail is biased beyond recognition.
Maybe we were in the restroom or getting our dinner out of the microwave and missed it, but we've yet to hear Olbermann go on about Biden's infamous gaffe in his interview with Couric. You know, the one where Biden said that FDR went on TV in 1929 to reassure the nation following the stock market crash.
Ummmm...the problem with Biden's response to Couric was that Herbert Hoover was actually sitting in the White House at the time and television had yet to be invented (something no doubt Al Gore would like to take credit for if he had been around).
Olbermann does not even attempt to be partially balanced with his hour long babble fest. It is a simple left wing hit attack on anything wearing elephant clothing.
We know this will come as a shock to Olbermann, but there are many of us out there who didn't go to Harvard, Yale or Oxford and can still figure out that 2+2=4. We don't need left wing talking points shoved down our throats for an hour. You might actually want to present both sides and let the viewers decide. Then again, if you actually did that, people might actually not support your candidate from Illinois.
Criticize Fox News all you want, but at least folks like Alan Colmes, Juan Williams Kirsten Powers, Howard Wolfson, Lanny Davis, etc. are on there either regularly or as guest contributors to give the other side.
One thing we've come to realize in watching Olbermann is that he does fit right in with the Democratic mascot. And we were not referring to the term mule.....
Editor's note: As many of you who read this site know, the menu on here is often California news. From time to time, we look at national and world events. In the midst of a heated political race, we will also take a look at times at how TV is covering it. Tonight, we take a look at MSNBC and its newest star, Rachel Maddow.
It should come as no surprise that MSNBC recently dropped (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090800008.html
Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann from its primetime political coverage. Even a news outlet as far to the left as MSNBC was losing viewers with its unbalanced coverage of the two parties fighting it out for the White House.
Now we will admit that we tune into MSNBC from time to time to hear the 'other side' and see where they are coming from.
But even a few minutes of watching some of the MSNBC anchors is like attending a Howard Dean boot camp. Blame the Republicans for all the country's ills, blame America for all the problems in the world, and instead of coming up with solutions on how to fix issues, just blast the other side because you have no solutions. We know, MSNBC and Barack Obama seem to have much in common.
While Olbermann, who is appropriately aligned with his "Oddball" segment makes no hiding of his liberal leanings, we had held out hope that the newest prime time host, Rachel Maddow, could at least look at things objectively. We know she leans heavily left, but we thought maybe she would bring a little more objectivity to the anchor chair. Surely she could not be as bad as Olbermann, right? Wrong!
After watching one segment this evening where she assailed Mc Cain, we see that nothing much has changed in recent weeks at the network.
While Maddow's passion for politics is great, her biased views are almost as over the top as Olbermann's. We have noted before when we think the Republicans are wrong, and we will continue to do so. But all we ask is that those on the left call it straight down the line and admit when Obama, Biden and Democrats get it wrong. It lends itself to something known as credibility.
Maddow, 35, a political commentator who can be heard daily on the Air America Radio network (a liberal talking points production) and has served as a guest host for Olbermann, is obviously being groomed as the female version of Olbermann.
While Olbermann has used President Bush as his punching bag, check out this little tidbit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KbcBAce17A&feature=related) from Ms. Maddow on Ronald Reagan.
Funny how after all these years, those on the left still show their hatred for Reagan.
Yes, Ronald Reagan who defeated the peanut farmer from Plains. You remember Jimmy Carter, right? The president who let our hostages sit in prison cells around Tehran for more than a year. Funny how Maddow forgets to mention that little tidbit in the above-mentioned clip.
And then there is the Ronald Reagan who helped end the Cold War, helped stop the spread of communism in Central America, brought the American economy out of its Jimmy Carter woes, and despite Ms. Maddow's claims, spent $5.7 billion on AIDS research, starting in 1983. The same disease that has had a major grip on a certain lifestyle in this country, the gay community, of which Maddow is a proud member of.
We know Maddow fits right in at MSNBC and that she will probably deliver decent ratings for the network.
In the end, though, Maddow may want to take a step back and look at things a little more objectively before doing the 'blame the right' song and dance that is a top hit at MSNBC. Then again, we're not holding out much hope.
Editor's note: Although this site is primarily geared towards California news, we from time to time step outside the state and see what is going on around the nation and the rest of the world.
