Kos Rachets up the Rhetoric
Markos Moulitsas puts out another blog post on being banned from MSNBC and drags Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz into it. This is getting ugly fast…
MSNBC tried to talk me out of going public with this, between Griffin and another exec. But here’s the thing — neither Keith Olbermann nor Ed Schultz reached out. That spoke volumes to me, since they have my number, and I’m sure Griffin would’ve loved for them to intervene. But they didn’t. What’s that tell me? That they’re fighting the good fight from the inside and have zero interest in doing Griffin’s dirty work for him. They won’t be able to comment on this for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean they’re not engaged.
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July 7, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Ok, having not followed this story much, I only know that there’s something about a dead girl and Joe Scarborough. That’s enough to know if Markos made a comment about it, he’s in the wilderness entirely of his own volition. And if he keeps insinuating that it’s “totally cool with KO and Big Ed, but they must remain silent”, they’re going to have to say something.
July 7, 2010 at 10:34 pm
I think Kos was totally off base with his post. Talking about carping at Matthews isn’t the same as the snide tweets he made about Scarborough. I saw those tweets. They got ugly on both sides.
And yeah, if he keeps “speaking for” Olbermann and Schultz, they’re going to have to react….
July 8, 2010 at 12:31 am
C’mon, Markos… why are you getting Ed and KO into this? The last thing they need is bad publicity about you having a quibble with the network’s morning show host.
And, I agree with Spud, those remarks were very underhanded. Frankly, I like Scarborough… he’s a pretty cool guy as long as you don’t get under his skin, and he’ll be totally civil with you. Markos and him were civil when they did Meet the Press one time a while back, so I don’t know what brought on this pointless feud.
Olbermann and Ed are smart to stay out of this, especially Keith, who might be in a bit of a pickle since he (still) blogs on DKos. Now, he has to deal with his favorite blog’s founder getting banned by his network’s president. Honestly, I don’t think Keith should even be at DKos anymore… he should have left a long time ago, let alone, stayed off when he left temporarily a few weeks ago. He’s the host of a news/opinion program… what does he need to blog for? I don’t get his logic there… usually, I agree with his logic, but not in this case.
I guess he (Keith) will have to deal with the consequences, if there are any. It could come to the point where Griffin doesn’t think Keith should blog on a site where someone attacks a fellow employee, then Keith might get miffed with that and end up leaving MSNBC. I think the chance of that happening is slim with Griffin being such a big fan of KO’s, but with Keith’s past of ending relationships with employers quite abruptly, it’s very possible.
July 8, 2010 at 4:08 am
“Keith might get miffed with that and end up leaving MSNBC.”
To go where? CNN. FNC. I don’t think so.
I don’t think either he or Schultz will get involved with this; it’s just too messy.
Funny though how almost all these MSNBC internal dustups involve Scarborough. I can’t imagine he would win any popularity contests with his fellow employees. In fact I bet many would be secretly quite happy to see him screw the pooch and get the boot.
July 8, 2010 at 4:12 am
fritz, it’s not that Scarborough is the “bad guy” here, but he is the ONLY non-far left liberal at the network, and probably the only guy accused of murder! So yeah, he’s “different”, and he has to defend himself. Wouldn’t you?
July 8, 2010 at 4:38 am
this Kos guy is deluded to think that Ginger Ed and Olbergruppenfueher will come to his aid– he’s simply not that important to MSNBC but fritzy’s right about banjo boy– just take a look at some of the Utube stuff with him arguing with various guests and co-pundits from his show– Imus says people ought to check with Human Resources and PMSNBC to see how many complaints have been logged about this joker–
July 8, 2010 at 4:54 am
I have no problem with Scarborough being upset at Markos; his comment was over the top. It’s just that Scarborough is not a team player. He likes to push the envelope with fellow hosts; i.e. running his show long on purpose to annoy the hosts of the shows that follow.
He was just on this AM from his vacation in Holland on Skype drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. It was funny but it’s bound to give headaches to his bosses. It’s not professional and he doesn’t care.
It kinda reminds me of how Imus acted when he was on MSNBC and we know how that ended. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go to far and meet the same fate.
July 8, 2010 at 5:10 am
banjo boy isn’t even worthy a mention in the same sentence with– Imus– it’s like trying to compare crab apples to Valencia oranges–
July 8, 2010 at 7:04 am
fritz3 Says:
July 8, 2010 at 4:54 am
“It kinda reminds me of how Imus acted when he was on MSNBC and we know how that ended. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go to far and meet the same fate.”
Meet the same fate? You mean Scarborough would be hired by a Fox Network and 77WABC Citadel? Imus has been gathering more radio stations than when he was with CBS?
Scarborough and Mika were on 77WABC, and their radio gig got canceled if that was their “audition” for a try out on a Fox Network, I would say it didn’t go very well.
July 8, 2010 at 7:07 am
Phil Griffin – or whoever would handle this – needs to assemble all of the on-air talent and tell them that if they have a problem with a booked guest or a beef with anyone in the room then take it up with them off the air or come to management and don’t air it out on twitter.
Also, Scarborough looks as bad getting into a Tweet argument with Marcos as Olbermann does having a breakdown on DailyKos.
July 8, 2010 at 7:13 am
“Meet the same fate? You mean Scarborough would be hired by a Fox Network and 77WABC Citadel? Imus has been gathering more radio stations than when he was with CBS?”
No, I mean getting fired. I have no idea where, if anywhere, he would end up.
July 8, 2010 at 7:22 am
It doesn’t matter if Scarborough is a nice guy, or whether he kicks his cat or drinks beer on the air. Nobody should have to put up with some twit suggesting that he’s a murderer, based on an internet conspiracy theory that isn’t much more reliable than truther/birther crap. I don’t blame him for defending himself, and I question the intentions of anyone at MSNBC who would actually book a guest who spreads this kind of garbage.
July 8, 2010 at 8:33 am
spot on johnny^– no matter what i think of banjo boy, u speak the truth–
July 8, 2010 at 8:59 am
There are problems or complaints that one needs to keep in-house.
Being accused of murder by someone isn’t one of them. Moulitsas didn’t “antagonize” Scarborough as his defenders claim. He suggested he murdered a woman. Antagonism? That’s defamation of the first order.
I find it astonishing that Griffin said that Moulitsas had simply been “suspended” from appearing on MSNBC. So, he doesn’t have to apologize or retract his statements? He can return on-air in a two months? Two weeks?
What’s MSNBC’s expiration date on statements calling someone a murderer?
July 8, 2010 at 10:46 am
I’ll be surprised if bathtub isn’t stocking up on bubble bath for the next few days.
July 8, 2010 at 11:22 am
^I’ll be surprised if anybody has a clue what the hell you’re talking about.
July 8, 2010 at 11:25 am
Is Moulitsas paid by NBC? Only then could I understand a suspension or freeze out – because God knows cable nets have continued to book guests who have said outrageous stuff about people who are not employed by their network – but I guess that is okay?
And Moulitsas is an important figure in the political discourse – he is perhaps the biggest voice of the far left in the country. It would be like a network freezing out Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Arianna Huffington, Sarah Palin, Tony Perkins or Tom Tancredo.
July 8, 2010 at 11:32 am
It would be like a network freezing out Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Arianna Huffington, Sarah Palin, Tony Perkins or Tom Tancredo.
None of which would be ignorant enough to accuse a host of murder, and would be “frozen out” if they did.
July 8, 2010 at 3:12 pm
“‘banjo boy isn’t even worthy a mention in the same sentence with– Imus”
Oh, why, yes… because Don Imus is just the bastion of class and being professional, isn’t he? I doubt you were saying anything close to that when he made his “nappy headed hoes” remarks and kept going on with other racist comments WHILE working at MSNBC. No, because everybody called Imus a liberal because he’s on a “liberal” network.
But, now that he’s at Fox’s failing business network, you’re saying he shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as his successor, who more and more people are starting to tune into in the mornings? Sure, Scarborough can act clownish, but Imus is a racist fraud that nobody cares about anymore. He got demoted to an irrelevant network which broadcasts his shows all day. He’s WAY past his golden years… he looks like a freaking scarecrow these days. Kids will start wearing him as a Halloween costume.
July 8, 2010 at 3:19 pm
– Halloween costume –
..with a wife half-his-age that looks like Laura ingraham. If that don’t give you nightmares, nothing will.
July 8, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Here we go. I’m not a big fan of the I-man, but I disagree that he’s racist. His “supposed to be kinda complimentary is a shock-jock kind of way” comment back then was stupid, but it was his extended whining about victimisation that did him in. He spent two weeks playing the “they’re out to get me, I’m a good man” card instead of of just apologizing and shutting up. It made him look somewhat less than apologetic, which intensified the feelings about his little joke. “I’m sorry, but..” never works.
July 8, 2010 at 5:36 pm
no he’s not a racist but told a racist joke– so what?– oh that’s right, i forgot– only black people can tell racist jokes about white people and white people have to sit there and take it because of what happened to blacks in the past– white folk can’t tell black jokes or we’re labelled rascists– sorry doogie, i forgot the double standard u people espouse– i shouldn’t have forgotten as i just got over a dust-up on the same subject with steveo– Imus is past his prime and is fighting cancer but refuses to die (like St. Elizabeth only without the tell all book) but he has more class and wit in his cowboy hat than banjo boy has had his whole life– what i thought was funny was joe and mika telling their audiences that they were taking a hiatus from their radio show to re-tool it– excuse me while i laugh out loud!– they will never be on the radio again as they got even lower ratings than they do their tv show– they were cancelled… period… at least people still watch that wretched rascist Imus so maybe his fans are all rascist too, yes?
July 9, 2010 at 3:35 am
Actually, Morning Joe gets very good ratings (at least in total viewers) and their radio (according to them, which I take with a grain of salt) gets just as good of viewers as Beck’s radio show in New York only, though. Again, they said that, not me, so I’m only reiterating them. Point being, they aren’t a terribly rated or unpopular faction in the cable news and talk radio business as many people want to claim. Imus is a failure… he’s like a journeyman in sports who can’t do anything for anybody no matter where he goes. It’s sad to hear that he has cancer (which I didn’t know about), and I hope he gets well, but I wouldn’t exactly miss him. That explains why he went to FBN… nobody else wants him.
July 9, 2010 at 3:56 am
yeah, doug– take the ratings thing they give u with a “grain of salt”– Morning Mika is the lowest rated show on early morning cable and i wouldn’t figure that Beck would get anywhere decent ratings in New York City, would u?– they are lying, outright, about re-tooling their radio show– it’s over and they know it but Joe’s monumental ego can’t admit it– Imus was the biggest thing in radio for years except for Stern until his flap with the BB team– he was televised on MSNBC which as many people watched then as they do Morning Joe now– he’s TELEVISED on FNB but his home radio station is 77 WABC and he’s affiliated with hundreds of radio stations around the country– u don’t have to like the guy but the man is and was a giant in radio so u should get ur facts straight before running off at the mouth about market share and ratings–
July 9, 2010 at 10:38 am
Just so I’m clear with your thinking – the problem isn’t what he said – but that he said it about a host? How many people have said Hillary was behind Vince Foster’s death, that Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks? Or the plane crash of Paul Wellstone?