for MSNBC.
As Olbermann's audience grew to rival, though not quite equal, that of longtime ratings king Bill O'Reilly, MSNBC gained an unwanted reputation as an emergent liberal version of Fox News--a view that became more prevalent after Maddow's show was announced.Not exactly "Fair and Balanced".
Meanwhile Republican and former Congressman Joe Scarborough has a three-hour program every morning--more airtime than Maddow and Olbermann have combined. While MSNBC is experimenting with a block of liberal programming, as a network that shares offices with NBC News, it can't afford to be seen as having an ideological bias. The network recently bowed to conservative critics by moving Matthews and Olbermann, both seen as sympathetic to Barack Obama, out of the anchor chairs for live political events.
The only reason MSNBC should have resisted "conservative critics" is if they wanted to be the perfect counter-balance to FOX NEWS. If only they could find anchors without opinions or curiosity or personality, it might be a reasonable excuse. But I find it part of the "vast Right-wing conspiracy" of "do as I say, not as I do". Or part of their whiner nature, could it be "The squeaky wheel gets the oil"? No wonder the Straight Talk Express seems to have a rattle and need a pacifier.**
*intelligence + temperment
** double what?
[Update: I want to caution against too much ridicule of the way Governor Palin relates to foreign policy and economic issues. She is does a pretty good job of spinning up the trickle down. Meaning she is describing them in ways that obscure under sensible principles policies that will not achieve them. In other words she does a brilliant job of defending policies which are indefensible, yet fits the old pattern of what they think will work. But then I could just be too easy on her, or sexist, in an affirmative action sort of way.]
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