A Tale of Two Conventions

>>>>>>8/31/2008 10 am: THE UPDATES JUST KEEP ON COMING. MARY OVER A FREEDOM EDEN HAS NEW INFORMATION AND A PATENTED MARY RANT ABOUT THE COMPLETE DISASTER THAT MSNBC HAS BECOME: MSNBC - NOT FAIR AND BALANCED

>>>>>>8/27/2008 10 pm: THE DISASTER AT MSNBC HAS EXPLODED. READ THE STORY ON POLITICO TONIGHT: MSNBC prez defends convention team

>>>>>>8/27/2008 10 am: SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS ESSAY.

ORIGINAL POST 8/26/2008 10:53 pm:

Hillary Clinton gave a great speech tonight. She brought down the house. She was brilliant. No matter which network you watched, Clinton was a master at the top of her game. All three cable news networks carried her speech uninterrupted and in full.

But before and after the speech you could watch two entirely different conventions. Your could watch the real convention as it was unfolding on CNN or you could watch a fairy tale make-believe convention on MSNBC.

To summarize, Keith Olbermann is a complete blithering idiot and he is singlehandedly destroying the once great NBC News organization. O.K., not singlehandedly. He has help from the nearly helpless and totally bewildered Chris Matthews and the completely biased and totally unqualified David Gregory. Their combined performance can only be described as pathetic.

When you are so totally biased in favor of one candidate, you continuously seek to bolster your biased opinion. This became David Gregory's sole mission on the floor of the convention. So Gregory pigeonholed Governor Bill Richardson, who dutifully recited the Obama mantra and avoided all controversy.

But Gregory didn't need any help, Olbermann will not brook any naysayers. Disagree with Obama's perfection and face the wrath of Olbermann.

As result we had Keith Olbermann pontificating about the total unity of the Democrat Party at the exact moment CNN was interviewing a tearful black woman delegate who said she might not be able to vote for Obama this November.

Olbermann's unity was a myth, a figment of Olbermann's mind. When you already know all the answers, you no longer look for or even tolerate any facts that might point in a new or unexpected direction. A person as completely blind as Olbermann cannot be allowed to anchor a news program.

As a result, tempers are boiling over at MSNBC with near open warfare between Olbermann and Gregory versus an incredulous Joe Scarborough. Insiders advise that Scarborough is close to being fired for daring to challenge the all powerful Olbermann. Yet most outside analysts agree that Scarborough is right and MSNBC is a network careening out of control toward the abyss.

Part of the question is how long can Tom Brokaw and Brian Wilson and the rank and file journalists tolerate the complete destruction of the once great NBC News Organization. And do they have the power today to challenge Olbermann.

But, mark my words Olbermann's days are numbered. Part of the handwriting is in the overnight ratings. CNN's audience was 50% greater than FOX and nearly double the ratings of MSNBC. People want fairness and objectivity from their news sources.

FOX and MSNBC both fail because they are not fair or balanced. CNN has power because Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer and Campbell Brown (she escaped from MSNBC just in time) worked hard to be fair and report the news instead of papering the walls with rosy Obama colored wallpaper.

UPDATE 8/27/2008: Maureen Dowd tells the story of the Denver convention that Keith Olbermann and the MSNBC cheer leading squad tries to avoid. Read her column in today's New York Times: High Anxiety in the Mile High City

On a separate note I watched what seemed to me to be an entirely different David Gregory this morning on Morning Joe. I like the detached and analytical Gregory on display this morning much better than the cheerleader we were treated to last night.