Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A Break From the Chatter

I saw Rachel Maddow's interview with Jon Stewart the other day. And, yes, I have to admit it here, it was an extremely good one. Ms. Maddow (still evidently put off by Stewart's having lumped MSNBC and Fox together) was very gracious and her questions fair. She also let Mr. Stewart talk and fully explain himself (take a lesson, Mr. O'Reilly)............................................................................................As for Stewart himself, so, too, does he, the guest, deserve some credit. This, in that, rather than being taken in by Ms. Maddow's charm (which, I'll admit, can be palpable at times) and cow-towing to her, he gave it to her straight - pointing out that MSNBC has in fact heightened the dialogue to a very troubling degree. But, yes, me-buckos, so, too, was he civil...............................................................................................Overall, I'd have to say that it was a very good example of what cable-news CAN BE, if in fact it wants to.

12 comments:

Commander Zaius said...

I have to say part of reason that interview was so productive was because neither Rachael nor Jon's egos got in the way.

O'Reilly can't go five minutes without saying something about how his, and Fox's ratings, are dominating the other news channels. Of course Keith in the same time frame has to say something profound to show the world he is smart.

Yeah, Maddow can be a partisan pain but I defy anyone to show me completely unbias reporter. Even Uncle Walter had his moments.

Dervish Sanders said...

So, the interview was "an extremely good one" even though RM was trying hard (but failed) to dupe Jon Stewart into... I'm not sure... admitting he was wrong to criticize MSNBC? ...using her "charm"?

IMO, you read the motivations behind the MSNBC personality (in this case, Rachel Maddow) wrong. As ususal. In my opinion Rachel Maddow (a Stewart fan, as I believe she has admitted) was genuinely attempting to discern what, exactly, Stewart's problem with MSNBC is.

In the end I think we discovered that Stewart doesn't hold MSNBC in the same low regard that you do. I think he has some respect for them... he just thinks that at times they could do better.

Whatever, Jon is entitled to his opinion, which I still disagree with. Bottom line, I doubt he'd be agreeable with your extremely harsh criticism of the organization (and intense hatred of Keith Olbermann).

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I got the feeling, wd, that she was trying to defend her product. Granted, she was doing it in a way that was far more civil/decent than Mr. O'Reilly would have done it but, still, there was in fact some recalcitrance.......Hey, I'm with you on O'Reilly and his precious ratings, double b. Very unseemly, such braggadocio.

Rusty Shackleford said...

Hey,you dont like O'Reilly dont watch him.Thats why god invented the remote control.Jeesh,you think anyone cares what WD thinks?

Mordechai said...

Hey Rusty cut Will a break, if he wasn't ragging on Bill O'Reilly, this blog would have never got off the ground.

It is sort of his original cause here.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

It's funny, anonymous. It kind of WAS my original cause (that, and, yeah, the Iraq War). What the hell happened? LOL

Rusty Shackleford said...

Maybe I watch O'Reilly twice a week.I'm sure everyone admitts he does have on "fair and balanced guest." Something that the crew over at MSNBC would never ever do and If they did slip up and get a conservative its always some friggin second or third tier person who allows them to make sport of just for TV time.
Does O'Reilly speak over guest once in a while,yes he does but anyone who saw him hold Barney Franks foot to the fire over him screwing up Fanny and Freddie must agree that was classic.

I mean come on dont you libbys tire of Eugene Robinson,Howard Fineman,David Corn and that creepy Richard Wolffe?

Wednesday nights when Dennis Miller is on is fuuny as hell.

O'Reilly does'nt triple anyone on MSNBC's ratings by accident...its simple his show is just that much better.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Russ, you know how I feel about MSNBC in prime time. I don't like it at all and I criticize it frequently......As for Mr. O'Reilly, I'll admit it, I struggle with him. Yes, he can be fair and balanced. But he can also tilt quite vociferously to the right at times. I will try my best to be fair to him.

Mordechai said...

Dennis Miller quit being funny LONG ago which is why he quit doing comedy and started doing Fox

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

My favorite Dennis Miller joke of all time (on Shane Stant, the supposed "hit man" in the Nancy Kerrigan assault): "He had an alibi. He was spotted climbing out of some primordial morass, learning how to stand upright."

Rusty Shackleford said...

Actually anonymouse Dennis Miller has a national radio show on Westwood One and still performs in Las Vegas on a regular basis.

Im guessing he quit being funny to you ulta serious leftys who dont have much time for comedy while you're trying to right all the countrys wrongs and helping the downtrodden when he left the left and became a moderate.

Mordechai said...

Sorry but the Dennis Miller "funny" died long ago, he is only funny to ultra righties like rusty, then only because he says what they want to hear, like the rest of fox news does .....

PS what ever happened to the unfunny;

The 1/2 Hour News Hour Fox news tried to foist as funny,

Oh right it died the unfunny death of right wing comedy like Miller has done.

Face it rusty they may make tons of money lying, but righties just ain't funny except to other uptight righties, like you.