MSNBC to change name..

[SoCalDem]

New name will be

MSTIMBC

:eyes:

[DefenseLawyer]

1. Geez, cut them some slack

Their friend died.

[Romulox]

2. Corporations don't have friends. They have shareholders. Just FYI...nt

[SoCalDem]

5. and when a network that is supposedly about presenting NEWS, stops

doing it when their boss dies..and continues the griefgasm for DAYS ON END..and televise the funeral of their friend..complete with color guard, bugle music and national anthem...it's beyond creepy..

In ANY other "business" this would not happen..

If the ceo/boss of a furniture company died, they may shut down for a few hours for his funeral, but they would still be making furniture..

When the "boss" of GM dies, will they cease making cars for a week, so everyone can "mourn" ?

Life goes on, people.. he was a workaholic whose lifestyle caught up to him.. He was a husband, a Dad, a boss..and people liked him..and he died.. It's sad, but people die every day..

[texanwitch]

23. No, did they really do all that stuff at the funeral.

Talk about overkill.

My friend's mother did more good for American then Tim every did and we had a memorial for her in the backyard.

Are they now going to talk for several days about the funeral.

[Gato Moteado]

32. you asked: "When the "boss" of GM dies, will they cease making cars for a week, so everyone can...

..."mourn" ?"

GM hasn't made a car in decades. they've made some things that resemble cars...but not real cars.

[SoCalDem]

33. Touche'.. ding ding ding.. you win

I knew someone would say it. and you were first

[QueenOfCalifornia]

37. Where is your

lapel pin?

[SoCalDem]

39. My nightgown has no lapels

:P:rofl:

[QueenOfCalifornia]

56. ThAT DOES IT.

Get a lapel pin or I will conclude that you HATE AMERIKA!

[jgraz]

52. They didn't stop. They made Tim into their *product*

Even more ghoulish, if you ask me.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. Pick your battles

Seems like an awfully petty thing to pick a fight over and doesn't really advance your agenda very well.

[Romulox]

17. *My* agenda? What exactly is *my* agenda?

Speaking accurately about the personal relationships of artificial "persons" (i.e. corporations)?

Since we're handing out free advice, I would advise you, as an attorney, to

1) attempt to select your words more precisely; and
2) do not assume facts not in evidence (e.g. references to my "agenda")

:hi:

[DefenseLawyer]

22. I didn't mean that to be pejorative

Although I can see why you could have read it that way. I could have just as easily said "our agenda". We all have an agenda of some kind or another. I meant the progressive agenda that we probably share. That being said, picking on the dead guy is still a bad idea.

[Zywiec]

18. So why then do people get so upset that the oil companies

are doing the best they can for their shareholders? They have no friends, right?

:shrug:

[Romulox]

25. Because legislators are supposed to make rules that redound to the benefit

of the greatest number of real live people, not fictitious "corporate persons".

Is this not obvious to you? :wtf:

[Fovea]

10. Yeah, that is sad.

So is the flooding of the Midwest, and soon I suspect, the second flooding of New Orleans.

A national emergency is actually happening, if you look at the area that will be affected by the end of this.

MSNBC needs to suck it up and get back to serving the first amendment.
When I see a news commenter crash at his desk of a coronary and be treated like a Hero of the Soviet Union, we have a big problem with cults of personality.

[DefenseLawyer]

13. It's cable news

and one channel at that. You may have noticed but there are one or two other media outlets available to us for news these days. I am not watching their Tim Russert thing, I could care less, to be blunt. But some of you seem to be taking their programming choices as a personal affront. I guess I am just not that in tune with my teevee.

[hootinholler]

28. NO. I. WILL. NOT. CUT. THEM. SLACK.

So piss off.

-Holler

[DefenseLawyer]

30. Damn. How about cutting me some slack, excessively angry person?

It's a teevee station for god's sake. How about instead of suggesting to me that I do something (I'm not sure what)presumably involving urination, you just watch something else?

[kath]

29. spare us your piety. PUH-LEEZE.

[DefenseLawyer]

31. It's not piety, I just don't live my life around the programming choices on MSNBC.

I could care less one way or the other.

[kath]

53. I think you meant to say "I couldN'T care less" in 2 of your recent posts.

are you really a lawyer?

[DefenseLawyer]

62. ZING! You got me. Better get back to your hunger strike to protest MSNBC programming

Between that and your boycott of GE and burning Tim Russert in effigy on the steps of 30 Rock you are way too busy to have to worry about my lack of understanding of the English language and my status as a fake lawyer.

[book_worm]

3. After Day two of non-stop coverage of Tim Russert's passing

I said "Will the media react like this when Walter Cronkite dies" with day after day of tributes? and the answer was by most--"of course". I doubt it. Tim Russert seemed like a very nice man and did a good job with MTP, but the coverage by MSNBC is getting absurd. Yes, he was there friend, but as an early episode of MASH said, "Good people die" and there is nothing you can do about it. A good man died but I honestly don't think that he had the impact on society that many other good people have had when they die and get not nearly as much attention from the media.

[NashVegas]

4. They Seem to Feel

His impact on *them* amplified his impact on the greater world.

If that be true, I wouldn't call it a good influence.

A co-worker who claims to have a background in TV news thinks what they're doing is 100% justified.

[Donnachaidh]

21. Background in TV NEWS = Boys Club

Gee - if Fox News was doing this about the death of any of their on air *personalities* you'd be seeing KO and Dan Abrams doing bits about the depths needed to be plumbed to find anything good to say about (insert dead guy here).

This just proves to most of us here what we already suspected - Aside from the occasional shot across the WH with snark, MSNBC is NO better than any of the other *cable talking head* stations.

Boys Club first, then maybe a little work if we have the time.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. No doubt...

...and the reason they will use for not giving Cronkite his due?

The complaints they received when they paid "tribute" to Russert.

[SoCalDem]

35. Brian Williams said we were LUCKY to have breathed in the air he breathed out

:puke:

Is MSTIMBC having a contest for the most unctuous performance by a co-worker?? Will it be an annual event..with presenters & musicians & uninterrupted airtime:)

[texanwitch]

49. How sick, Brian Williams needs help.

St. Timmy is right.


I wouldn't want to be in the same room with St. Timmy.

[sandnsea]

8. They didn't when Ed Bradley died

and he was a helluva lot better journalist than Tim Russert. This is insane.

[Fovea]

11. Yeah, but

Ed was, well, you know...

[dflprincess]

14. Or Peter Jennings

n/t

[book_worm]

19. good point on both Jennings and Bradley

[libnnc]

24. they didn't do it when Frank Reynolds died either

I loved him.

Nor did they do it when Tom Snyder died.

Loved him too.

This is very, very odd to me.

[SoCalDem]

50. Tom Snyder's passing was noted more by Dave Letterman than any newsies

I missed Tom's show..he knew how to interview people..

[DefenseLawyer]

27. Ed Bradley worked at CBS

which doesn't have a 24 hour cable news outlet. That might have something to do with it.

[sandnsea]

34. News is supposed to be news

Independent from partisan or financial concerns. Shouldn't matter which "outstanding journalist of our time" is dead.

[Glorfindel]

9. That's the problem when the media become the message

Ideally, the reporter should be anonymous, as the BBC sometimes does it: "And now, from our correspondent in Harare, the latest..." Alas, we seem to have established a cult of personality and of celebrity with TV reporters, so that who is saying it becomes more important than what is being said.

[book_worm]

12. I have no problem with him getting tributes, but non-stop coverage like from Friday thru Monday on

MSNBC reminds me of the non-stop coverage that JFK or some other president got when they died. It just seems like overkill.

[Eurobabe]

16. Oh he was being lauded on Morning Dead Intern Joe

as the best newsman EVER, topping Cronkite. :eyes:

[K Gardner]

46. I heard today he is now an ICONIC FIGURE.

[SoCalDem]

48. Ironic is more like it

If he was the consummate "news" guy they say he way, he's rolling in that coffin after the 6 day griefgasm

[Eurobabe]

57. By the 7pm edition of Tweety, Tim R. was imparting double rainbows

over Wash. DC.

I think he's headed for sainthood.

:puke: :puke:

[tomg]

60. That was the worst. I was channeling

surfing and I inadvertently caught Tweety saying how at Russert's funeral they sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and they came out and there was a rainbow.

I guess I misinterpreted that rainbow. I thought - what with the flooding in the midwest - it was God establishing a new covenant and promising us that no Republican would ever be elected again.

on edit: nothing against Russert. Seemed like a decent guy and average/fair moderator of MTP. It's Tweety who drives me crazy.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Sure.

Assuming it brings in the ratings.

[Eurobabe]

15. LOL

DUzy.

[Jane Austin]

26. Hey, I'm really enjoying all these

stories about Russert.

Maybe I have a different view of him, because my weekends included not necessarily Meet the Press, but always "Tim Russert", the hour-long interview show that was on three times on Saturday.

He wasn't the gotcha guy from Sunday mornings. He was a keen interviewer, eager to get to everything his guest knew, or had written about.

If it was a book show, he knew the subject and he was nearly always excited about what the author had written.

I couldn't help but really like him as I watched these shows, and I came to really appreciate his approach to that job.

Right now, I still have saved on our TiVo the show he did a few months ago with Doris Kearns Goodwin about the Presidential race, with big helpings of her book Team of Rivals.

It was a fascinating show, and I felt that I knew the candidates personally when Russert and Goodwin were finished.

So I'm really enjoying the stories about Tim, and I'm especially glad to get to "know" his son Luke.

I am moved by the stories of how he was personally "in your corner" for so many people that he worked for, with, or just knew.

No, I sure didn't like his choice of guests on MTP. But I find I really do like Tim Russert, the man.

[malaise]

36. That's quite brilliant

:D

[Swamp Rat]

38. LOL!

:D

[ObamaTime2008]

40. What I'm surprised at

is that people are actually surprised we spent 6 days on this. Didn't we spend like 2 months on Brittany Spears awhile ago. When has the fucking media done anythingt that was sane or intelligent since so far back I can't even remember anymore. I haven't seen a movie made that wasn't some sequel from some stupid show that I was watching since my childhood 40 years ago. America has stopped using it's intellectual influence so long ago that just discontinuing watching it and expressing how stupid and deceitful the news media and entertainment field is your ownly sane option available. It reminds me of the saying Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and execting a different outcome. I think our only recourse in life is on the internet. It's the only place that truth is here, no matter what truth your looking for:)

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Brilliant, so are they also going to have Timmy cannonized?

I agree with you

:puke:

And no I will not cut them any slack

[SoCalDem]

43. Wait for the unveiling of the headstone

Engravers at the vatican are working on his headstone as we speak..

The headstone will be 4 city blocks long..to encompass all the mighty works & kind words due a man such as St Tim of Timmalo, NY..staunch fan of his beloved Timmalo Tims..

There is some worry that the headstone way still be too small, so teams have set off across the world in search of a suitable location for the pyramid of Tim, which will undoubtedly be needed to hold all the accolades & tribute from the world..

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Can't wait... the Presnit and the Pope will surely preside

and a chorus of Angels will sing

[spoony]

42. I'm beginning to hope it goes on longer

Just to watch the wailing and gnashing of teeth here as if it were the end of the world. They lost a guy they worked with and loved, as apparently did many viewers. Rending your garments over it really isn't necessary, people.

[bigwillq]

45. I feel exactly the same as you.

:)

[AngryOldDem]

55. And the irony is....

...they say they want the story to go away. Yet, they keep posting and posting and posting and posting and...

[RNdaSilva]

58. Ain't that the truth?

RIP Tim.

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. LOL

That's good!!

[napi21]

51. You folks are being unreasonable. What you seem to be missing

is that a network news group is fairly small and very close people. They work together all the time, and become very close friends too. I think what we're seeing with MSNBC airing what you consider TOO MUCH Russert is their way of dealing with the sudden loss of not only their boss, but a good friend! I saw the greif, shock, and sadness on their faces last Friday. To them, it was like losing a close family member. They are airing the tributes, not only for Tim, but for them too.

There are other channels on your TV. If you don't like what's on MSNBC, tune in a different one!

[gristy]

54. So what you are saying is that professionalism goes out the window?

If their buddy keels over, they get to "grieve" in front of the rest of the country as long as they want?

For the record, I have not watched MSNBC since this happened.

[KharmaTrain]

59. My "Hour Of Silence"

All this Russert stuff reminds me of a situation I faced a long time ago. I was the Program Director of a radio station where our morning personality...a local fixture for many for over 20 years, died just a few months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The day of his funeral, against the wishes of my boss, I ordered the station shut down for the hour of his funeral so all station members could attend...and use this as a silent tribute to the man's memory. I almost got fired that day as the station manager/owner was pissed about the commercial revenue lost (there wasn't that much...and I knew it) and how "unprofessional" it was. To this day I'm proud I ordered it.

Just like this man's listeners, I see many here who saw Russert as a "friend"...someone they had grown to know over the years and see no problem with this over-the-top adulation and coverage. In the rest of the world, a loss like this would be internalized...the privacy of the family in this difficult time protected and respected...instead we got an orgy of corporate media self-abosorbtion...as if this one person was a world leader. He wasn't.

For some of us, he's a symbol of what's wrong with corporate media...and this coverage amplifies all those criticisms and highlights how elitist the beltway media fishbowl is. Honestly, I would have prefered a weekend of lock-up shows and reruns to the non-stop self serving coverage of what should have been a private tragedy.

[dmr]

61. They have imposed their enormous grief upon all of us.

That is unfair; and unprofessional.

I saw their grief the first night. It was real and it was painful. The suddenness of Russert's death made it particularly hard on them.

Back to reality. They do have a responsibility to present the news, or other forms of infotainment they put out. But presenting several days of near 24-hour observance of the man they adored was an unprofessional and unfair imposition to their viewers.

I turned MSNBC off. While I'm sorry and sad he passed away, I could not bear the tributes knowing how I feel about the role the media has played over the years.

This is my first post on the death of Russert. I've waited out of respect for those who are grieving. Losing someone is painful, and grieving is an important process.

I believe Russert was a fine human being; but I share with so many others that Russert is one of many who have been complicit in the rape of our country, our Constitution, our treasury and the thousands of deaths perpetrated by the thieves and crooks in Washington.

I think I could be more forgiving if they they gave similar - I'm not asking for the same - but similar and sincere attention toward observing a brave man on the Congressional floor reading heartbreaking words that described why the 43rd President* of the United States of America ought to be impeached! Honest and sincere attention to what and why those words are important and action must be taken lest the future be damned by another gang of thieves - knowing license to fuck over America has once again been granted.

If only there was hope that the so-called MSM would reflect and ponder what they have done to this country.

They have all been coming down from the giddy high of the Democratic primary race. The General Election, thus far, has proved to be unexciting. McCain is boring. There's nothing exciting about him. There is nothing exciting in the GOP, either. They could work themselves into a frenzy if they chose to call McCain on his gaffes and kagillion flip-flops. To report on McCain means to report the common sense coming out from Obama - that's an excitement they plan to down-play. I've no doubt they're waiting for the 527s and Swift-boaters to kick-in to exploit.

They could also work themselves up in a frenzy reporting on disasters and sufferings in America's mid-west, but I suspect they are down-playing that seeing that it is an election year - and damn - Obama is pitching in and trying to help.

Instead, they are using this time well by spending it in their sincere non-stop grieving while they figure out what or how they are going to proceed. In the mean-time, it has given them an opportunity to over-elaborate and counter Scott McClellan's assertions they did not do their jobs or serve their country well.

Anyway, Rest in Peace, Timmy. I wish you would have done things differently over the years. If you had the impact that they say you did - well, it takes just one person sometimes to effect change. It could have been you. You could have been a hero.