Reply #12: Facts

[tarathralls]

Facts are so important...and usually not up for interpretation or discussion - they are facts. Heres' one for ya: Ratigan is on at 4 pm EST. David was on at 3 pm EST. It would have been hard to watch one instead of the other, as they were never on at the same time. Ratigan is still on, M-F, btw.

Also, I've been watching Keith for years, too - and never noticed a half hour of Entertainment each night....don't know where you got that from (I'm not going back into past posts to read about it, either, so please don't suggest that I do that - I'm just saying that I never noticed a full half hour of entertainment news EACH night on Countdown, is all)...but I do remember Matthews being embarrassed that he had to cover the whole Anna Nicole Smith fiasco...since those days they've gotten an "Entertainment Correspondent" on board, Courtney somebody, who dishes it out on the daytime shows, but never on Keith...however, disappointingly they do now cover things like Tiger Woods or Lindsay Lohan as real news, and I really don't give a crap about any of those people...It is now common to see entertainment news sprinkled throughout MSNBC's "news" shows, to my chagrin.

I'm sorry you do not appreciate Keith's trying to edify you, with some honest-to-God American culture. I think it's funny that you think it's somehow cool and hip to be against learning a thing or two from James Thurber...but then again, you would need to concentrate for a whole, say 3-5 minutes, on one topic....so boring, I suppose, especially if you are used to getting your news in 30 second blips.

Thurber is an American tradition, and his stories are a fantastic edition to Keith's show in my opinion - the main reason being that Keith is obviously really into it, and so, puts a good deal of effort into his selection, for the week (or so it seems to me)...it is also an homage to his recently deceased father, so there's some nostalgia in there as well...and most importantly, Thurber compartmentalizes life into nice, easy to assimilate (if you can concentrate for that long) parables that might help one to conduct oneself a little better in today's world, and in dealing with life's challenges. I'm sorry you cannot appreciate those stories, because they are the "teaching moment" each week for Keith, and those of his followers that can stay engaged for that long. I highly recommend you give it another chance, and just prepare yourself to have to stay involved for longer than most news stories, it's really worth it. Do you read? It's like that...

Ratigan is more than just okay - he is the closest thing that MSNBC has to Shuster....like David, he calls both parties out on their shit, even though he very heavily leans to the left....further to the left than the Dems, actually...so you might want to give him a bit more attention, I find him as informative as Rachel - he will tell you how the Dems are as much on the dole as the Repubs...I know many Dems don't want to hear their team bad-mouthed, but I'd rather hear the truth, myself.

Jim Cramer isn't on MSNBC, to my knowledge, don't know when you've seen him...but avoid him, if you do see him on there.

Agreed, Andrea, yuk, Chuck yuk, David Gregory, double yuck.

I don't think Chuck is a rightie, nor Gregory, they just aren't very gripping journalists, and Gregory is too concerned with people liking him (i.e. he danced with Rove, for chrissakes), rather than putting politicians' feet to the fire the way David does.

The worst though, is the constant string of new people they are throwing at us every day lately, in an effort to fill the hole left by Shuster...every one of them has been a full yawn for me...

Please don't start a war with me - I just enjoy making snarky comments, and once I type in a really good, pithy comment, it's hard to delete it, but I do agree with almost everything you said..

Who the hell is Tweety?