Love the passion but cut MSNBC a break!

[morrissey fan]

Look, I am with all of you! However, we can't protest every time a news outlet doesn't tell us exactly what we want! Unlike FOX, during the non-commentary hours, MSNBC does "news" not talking points like FOX! Sometimes the news is great, sometimes it's bad. I'd rather them tell us the news then give us a sugar coated FOX News broadcast with lies and propaganda.

As for the commentary shows, they are all helping serve a liberal agenda. But unlike FOX, they will give facts and real opinions not talking points. I felt the same way after the first debate as Chris Matthews did. He was angry, surprised and being honest. Now, compare that to how Fake News acted after every other debate! Rachel will bring up interesting topics from time to time, but her heart is in the right place. They treat us like ADULTS! It's Fox that treats their viewers like someone explaining something to Governor Palin! "You see, he is evil- Mr. Trump said do, and he has money. Do you understand little girl?"

I think the problem is more on us outside the TV media. We all have a heart attack when a bad poll comes out! We have a day of greta polling, and yet somebody looks for the one bad one!

MSNBC is not the issue, I love the network. Not to mention, Martin went into commercials with a Smiths song today!

[OldDem2012]

1. I'm sorry, but Tweety and Big Head Ed completely turned me off during the 1st debate....

...and they continued to act like screaming two-year-olds the following day. They are supposed to be PROFESSIONAL journalists and I haven't watched them since. Maddow wasn't much better...I no longer watch her show either.

Additionally, MSNBC has been reporting polls for the last couple of weeks indicating that the race is either tied or Obama is losing. Do they not understand or care that the polls they've been using are totally worthless??

To be fair, Bashir, Sharpton, and O'Donnell kept their wits about them and have continued to be supportive of the President, but I have no use for the rest of the network.

[FrenchieCat]

2. If one cuts out Morning Joe and Andrea Mitchell, anything in between and sometimes Hardball.....

Then MSNBC is kind of OK.

What I will say is that MSNBC is not the Fox of the left....
because Fox has no programming that isn't totally slanted towards the Right....
their entire channel is Romney Election Headquarters....
While MSNBC gives us about 4 shows that leans Left.....
and none of those lean as much to the Left as it could.
Guess that's what is meant by "lean Forward".....just
not totally.

I only cut them a break because I'm desperate for News truth,
which I might get from MSNBC about 42% of the time
if I'm lucky.

[morrissey fan]

3. The left media is getting more attention!

You have to admit the "liberal" media is finally getting numbers and attention. I think we cracked the code a few years ago. If any of you remember the "Air America" radio network, it was an amazing idea, with some great programs- but it failed. Some would blame the AM signals and poor promotion, I thought they needed more people who were fired up and got people going like the college dropouts on the right. Say what you want about Cokehead Beck, Pillhead Limbaugh and waste of human space Hannity, they get their GED dropout listeners excited. They get them to stop chain smoking in their trailer for 90 minutes, and they pay attention. Most of Air America was very educational and statistic based with facts, but not the kind of radio that keeps people glued. The two that had great passion and still do well are Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy.

But, look what has happened over the last five years or so! Keith Olberman(I miss him everyday) was able to stir up passion and bring up stories while being entertaining as hell! Ed Schultz- full of passion and always makes a great case! Rachel Maddow- she has made being a wonk sexy again! Lawrence O'Donnell- always coming in for the punch! Chris Matthews- kinda like the crazy uncle you love, and I'm biased because he's a Philly guy! Martin is coming on strong, and they even have a younger round table before his show. They cracked the code and the numbers are up.

The real liberal treat is Stephanie Miller! Funny, lovable, quick, sharp and always entertaining!

[DHelix]

4. I'm conflicted - Sometimes I wish they were the Fox News of the Left since most think they are

Right Wingers think ALL media except Fox has major Left Wing bias which is BS, but I know that most center right and extreme right types just assume that MSNBC is exactly like Fox News for the Left. I don't think it is and sometimes I wish it was. Not so much for me but for undecideds who might stumble across it.

The biggest problem with them trying to play the devil's advocate all the time is that the Right Wingers use those media clips to make it seems like "Hey look everybody! Even MSNBC thinks ________." And because there's a reputation that they're the voice of the left now it just makes us all look divided and weak.

I don't ever want people to lie about news but I don't see why they can't focus exclusively on positive Democratic stories or shocking Republican stories and leave the centrist stuff and the counterpoints from Republican pundits to other networks. I don't watch Fox News that often but I have a hard time imagining that they have as many Democratic pundits on their network as MSNBC has on Republian pundits. It seems like MSNBC allows to hear the other side whereas Fox doesn't. I'm of the opinion that in order to fight what's going on in the Right Wing arena we need to be willing to get a little dirty too. The Right Wingers are always united because they think that anybody from the Left is worse than one of their own on the Right. Left Wingers, being as open minded as we tend to be, tend to complain whenever our primary issue of concern is neglected a little, rather than realizing that there's a good chance that ANY of our people are better than one of theirs getting in due to the extremists in their party.

So, on the one hand I applaud your quest for unity within the Left and Center left but on the other I think that MSNBC could help that cause too by spinning for the President a little bit more like those on Fox News spin for Romney. Because make no mistake about it... it wasn't just the President's performance that caused the slide... it was the 7 straight days of MSM meltdown and over-analysis of body language that caused the slide. For 7 straight days nearly ever journalist remarked about how disappointed they were in the President's performance and brought in body language experts to discuss every minute detail. They haven't done ANY of those things since after Obama's wins. So, even as I'm typing this I'm reminded of the fact that MSNBC could be far more biased than they have been and probably should be. The existence of Fox News practically demands that somebody has to do it.