The Other McCain

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Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes

Posted on | December 31, 2013 | 25 Comments

The sequence of headlines tells the story:

Melissa Harris-Perry Panel Mocks
Black Romney Grandchild As Token
— The Right Scoop

Outrage as MSNBC panelists make Mitt Romney’s
adopted black grandchild the punchline of a joke
— Daily Mail

Sarah Palin: MSNBC ‘despicable’
— Politico

MSNBC host apologizes after panel makes
fun of Romney photo with black grandchild
— CNN

It goes without saying, of course, that Melissa Harris-Perry’s apology was insincere: She hates and despises Mitt Romney, she hates and despises the entire Romney family, and she hates and despises everyone who voted for Romney. Whatever offensive thing she said about Romney’s grandchild was simply an expression of her partisan hatred and — because partisan hatred is the entire raison d’être of MSNBC — there’s no way Melissa Harris-Perry is going to apologize for that, is there?

Anyway, Melissa Harris-Perry has now been compelled to apologize, which is perhaps of minor interest to the 600,000 or so Democrats who watch MSNBC, but the larger and more permanent question remains: When will the corporate proprietor of MSNBC come to grips with the reality that there is no commercially viable audience of Republican-hating news consumers on cable TV?

There were a few brief years during the Bush presidency when Keith Olbermann’s anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-GOP rantings attracted a large enough viewership to lift MSNBC past CNN in the cable-news ratings, but that boomlet has clearly ended. MSNBC’s audience has shrunken drastically since Olbermann’s departure (and especially, since Obama’s re-election). The only reason MSNBC is still in second place ahead of CNN is because, unwisely, CNN executives decided to mimic the anti-Republican bias of MSNBC, and the failure of CNN’s weak imitation only further demonstrates the non-viability of the MSNBC model.

MSNBC’s corporate parent Comcast is now subsidizing a continuation of this failed project only because their executives lack the creativity to envision anything more watchable. Therefore, the network gives airtime to third-rate talents like Melissa Harris-Perry and everybody acts surprised when their anti-Republican shtick (which is the only reason anyone watches MSNBC) yields embarrasment.

Well, excuse me for not playing along with this charade. At some point, a routine that is so predictable ceases to be interesting.

 


Category: MSNBC

Comments

25 Responses to “Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes”

  1. gntlman
    December 31st, 2013 @ 1:39 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes http://t.co/BTGmWmpKZI #TCOT

  2. csham21
    December 31st, 2013 @ 1:42 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes http://t.co/BTGmWmpKZI #TCOT

  3. Socialism: Organized Evil
    December 31st, 2013 @ 12:44 pm

    The ideology of liberalism is an ideology of nonsense.

  4. Juliette Akinyi Ochieng
    December 31st, 2013 @ 12:45 pm

    Many light-skinned black Americans like Harris-Perry try so hard to be “blacker-than-though” that they let it overrule their common sense–assuming the latter ever existed, in her case. Proving their “blackness” is their be-all and end-all. Other examples: Eric Holder, Ben Jealous, and, of course, Barack Obama. That’s the short list.

    My mom, who is mixed of race, says that the pressure is always there–from black people–to choose sides.

  5. Gahrie
    December 31st, 2013 @ 12:53 pm

    “She hates and despises Mitt Romney, she hates and despises the entire Romney family, and she hates and despises everyone who voted for Romney.”

    The first two may be likely, but I doubt the third is true. Melissa Harris-Perry’s mother is a White Mormon. Unless she despises the White half of her family.
    The irony of this controversey is that there are probably very similar pictures of her taken with her Mormon family when she was growing up.

  6. Juliette Akinyi Ochieng
    December 31st, 2013 @ 12:55 pm

    “Unless she despises the White half of her family.”

    This is obvious.

  7. MNHawk
    December 31st, 2013 @ 1:30 pm

    How far do you have to fall in life, to literally be reduced to hating on the concept of unwanted children finding loving homes?

  8. New Years Resolution: You stay classy MSNBC | Batshit Crazy News
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  9. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 31st, 2013 @ 1:50 pm

    This whole thing was more offensively stupid and hypocritical on MSNBC’s part than anything else. If a conservative did something like this they would go nuts, but it is what it is. They reveal themselves.

  10. MidAtlanticWoman
    December 31st, 2013 @ 2:05 pm

    Or is it the black side of her family that she hates??

  11. Earl Scruggs
    December 31st, 2013 @ 2:09 pm

    Melissa who now?

  12. Juliette Akinyi Ochieng
    December 31st, 2013 @ 2:15 pm

    Very likely also.

  13. Tom Callow
    December 31st, 2013 @ 3:09 pm

    Totally un-professional is what we have come to expect of NBC these days.
    Harris should just not have used that photo and whomever picked it on the staff should be sat down and talked to by whatever passes for management there, but that’s not likely to happen.
    That panel thinks they are on the Chelsea Handler show and not on a supposed news channel and that in itself is the way the network wanted to head, to a comedy channel lineup
    Idiots there wonder why they are shedding viewers by the hour, this is why

  14. Quartermaster
    December 31st, 2013 @ 3:41 pm

    She just hates.

  15. PCachu
    December 31st, 2013 @ 3:43 pm

    Hey Stace, you forgot the sneer quotes around “apologizes”. Because Harris-Perry’s little Twitter-borne exercise in self-justification is as much an “apology” as I am a “pony princess”.

    Oh, one or two of the message lines could actually be construed as a real apology in isolation. Sadly for them, however, Missy didn’t stop there and kept on typing — for as with all things, even what should be an apology is really all about helping the Special Snowflakes feel better about themselves. (ProTIP: actual apologies do not include excuses or disclaimers.)

  16. Munchki Crumpkin
    December 31st, 2013 @ 4:12 pm

    Now, now! Why all the fuss? The panel’s comments were mild, benign even. I’ve heard much worse about our lovely First Family. You have to admit it is a bit humorous considering the difficulty Republicans have courting the African American vote. At least there’s one they can count on in 2032.

    Seriously, if the Obama’s adopted a white child you would be all over it. I’ve never heard a First Lady denigrated the way Michelle has been. But since you started it, if Anne doesn’t start pushing away from the dinner table someone’s going to accuse Mitt of having multiple wives. See how that works?

  17. MrPaulRevere
    December 31st, 2013 @ 4:24 pm

    ‘But since you started it’ … So its all Stacey McCains fault! Who knew?

  18. GadsdenJazz
    December 31st, 2013 @ 4:26 pm

    Specifically, MHP apologized for “hurting the Romneys” – referring to feelings, obviously, because MHP didn’t poke anyone with pins or punch anyone. But, MHP doesn’t KNOW that she “hurt” the Romneys, who are no strangers to receiving unflattering commentary. MHP’s characterization of injury to the Romneys is presumptuous and self-aggrandizing.

    Moreover, not only is MHP’s “apology” presumptuous, it’s a non-apology: She’s “apologizing” for the results of her trespass (for hurting the Romneys’ feelings), not for her own actions, i.e., not for using her show as a platform to use a family’s love as a means to impugn the family’s integrity. Nowhere does she say, “I’m sorry” for anything she DID. She apologizes for the results – and, in doing so, limits the apology to the Romneys and to the FAMILIES who both made trans-racial adoptions AND who were offended by what she said (how small is that contingent?).

    I should have just said, “I agree.” Sorry. 😉

  19. Adjoran
    December 31st, 2013 @ 4:29 pm

    “mild” … “benign, even”

    This demonstrates you are a leftist apologist. Go Fluke yourself.

    And that goes for your little hypothetical straw man, too.

  20. Adjoran
    December 31st, 2013 @ 4:31 pm

    Write your congressman today and demand that cable/satellite services offer “a la carte” programming instead of forcing consumers into “bundles” of channels.

    How long do you think MSNBC would be on the air if subscribers had to pay a quarter a month for it?

    Of course, while it might lower overall bills somewhat, it would mean trouble for little-watched channels like Home & Garden, A&E, BBCA, etc.

  21. Da Tech Guy On DaRadio Blog » Blog Archive » Rapist Logic by baldilocks
    December 31st, 2013 @ 5:55 pm

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  22. Quartermaster
    December 31st, 2013 @ 7:07 pm

    H&G and A&E was all we watched when we had cable. We broke the habit and haven’t watched TV in years.

  23. jakee308
    December 31st, 2013 @ 11:19 pm

    MHP hates and despises white people. which is sad because she is half white. This is self hate for all to see.

    Does she think her momma is proud? or is this a daughter/mother thing?

  24. cmdr358
    January 1st, 2014 @ 9:11 pm

    “…..third-rate talents like Melissa Harris-Perry…..”

    You’re much too generous in assigning third-rate status Mr. McCain. It must be your holiday spirit.

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    […] Unpopular Personality @MHarrisPerry on Obscure MSNBC Network Apologizes […]