I swear, every time I hear that moniker, it makes me literally laugh out loud. It's every bit as Orwellian as the Ministry of Peace - except that it's hilarious, as opposed to being nightmarish. As proof that they deserve all the mockery we can muster, I offer you this from Armando at dKos:
I saw this ratings synopsis and it really impressed me that it looks like Olberman is really the biggest show on MSNBC now. Pretty impressive. Remember, Hardball was their signature show.
Now, I'll grant you, this is pretty hilarious in and of itself. When you click on the link itself, the one thing you are ACTUALLY impressed with, when checking Olberman's ratings, is that he is consistently pummeled each and every single night by O'Reilly, Zahn, and usually (!) Grace. This, to the "Reality Based Community" is winning (which explains a lot about their current attempts to sabotage the candidacy of HRC in '08, God bless them). Let's put this in perspective, shall we?
On average, during the week in question, O'Reilly averaged 2,419,200 viewers. Zahn averaged 595,200, Grace 652,000. Olbermann? 385,000. So in other words, if you define "success" as getting 1/6th of the ratings share as your strongest competitor, and getting doubled up by CNN's second string, all the while coming in dead last, Olberman is doing great, and we sincerely wish that kind of "success" upon anything that the folks at dKos like (most especially the Democrats). Armando's assertion that Olberman is doing well simply because he is outdoing the rest of the garbage on MSNBC is simply due to the fact that he is unable to do a basic eyeballing of the rest of the time slots in the evening and notice that the 8pm time slot has the highest viewership across the board for cable news.
But the "Reality Based Community" isn't done!
Evidence that truly "fair and balanced" news is a ratings winner?
Again, we pause for a moment of mirth at the "Reality Based Community"'s defintion of "winner". And "truly fair and balanced." I swear, if it weren't for the Democrats, I'd almost never laugh.
Is it not time that these cable news networks stop trying to Out-Faux Faux?
Hopefully someone will see the light.
Oh please, oh please, that they will "see the light" indeed! May all the MSM outlets in the world strive to be more like Keith Olberman's Countdown in every single way, and may they all become as "successful" as he is!
It said largest on MSNBC, not on cable television. But, lets not have facts intrude on your pointless bashing, shall we?
Posted by: jm | July 29, 2005 at 02:42 AM
I think you are missing Armando's point: Olberman is doing better than the MSNBC's anchor show, Hardball (which many liberals consider to be a right leaning program).
Mea culpa: If you look at my comments history on other blogs you will see some angry, curse-ridden rants about my feeling regarding Conservatives. I was angry when I made those comments and I regret posting them.
Having said all that, I was taken aback by this comment of yours:
"As proof that they [liberals] deserve all the mockery we can muster,"
I don't think anyone deserves mockery, and until I read that comment I thought you would agree with me on that.
I used to enjoy posting on Redstate.org because I could actually discuss issues with people who have very different views than I do. It was eye-opening for me to see things from a perspective that I had never been exposed to.
My participation on Redstate did two other things, one good, one not so good.
The good thing: I got to see Conservatives as people instead of members of a group. It had never occured to me that someone who believes in intelligent design still sends his kids to school, pays his bills and mows his lawn on Saturday. In other words, any given Conservative's day to day life isn't all that much different from mine.
The not so good thing: My participation there also exposed me to people who reinforced my stereotypical opinion of Conservatives.
I am telling you all of this because I always thought of you as someone who might think a liberal such as myself holds idiotic views, but bears no ill will
toward me. The comment I quoted above didn't seem to reconcile with my impression of you, and I wanted to tell you why.
Posted by: Blue Neponset | July 29, 2005 at 07:09 AM
Dear jm,
I already addressed that point in my post, but let's not let reading comprehension get in the way of an opportunity for some childish snark, shall we?
Posted by: MachoNachos | July 29, 2005 at 07:38 AM
Dear Blue Neoponset,
Please send me an email, I'd like to discuss this with you privately.
Regards.
Posted by: MachoNachos | July 29, 2005 at 07:40 AM
Armando is missed at tacitus, but it is good to see that he is still rearranging deck chairs for the Kos Koolaid Kids.
Posted by: hunter | July 29, 2005 at 11:37 AM