May 05, 2003

First, there's been the fall of Ashley Banfield:
Ashleigh Banfield's Career No Longer Seems to Shine as Bright
Ash Ban's very public criticism of NBC's/MSNBC's war coverage didn't help her career, but the one who got in the real licks was Conservo pundit and fellow MSNBC on-air personality Michael Savage:
An Explosive Story

"Let me see if I've got this straight. Right-wing homophobic talk-show host Michael Savage, in his 'book,' The Savage Nation, jokes that MSNBC stands for 'More Snotty Nonsense By Creeps,' and refers to MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield as 'the mind-slut with a big pair of glasses that they sent to Afghanistan.'

"So how did MSNBC executives respond? Why, they hired him, of course. And when he called Banfield a 'slut' on the air for daring to interview loyalists to Saddam Hussein, his bosses reacted with silence.

I haven't read Savage's book yet, but I love him on his show and like everything he's been saying.
This remark about Banfield in particular is hilariously correct!
For months after 9/11, Banfield used her hour-long show to be a shameless apologist for Islamofascist terrorist killers and "mind slut" describes her perfectly!
Now comes news from Drudge that Jesse Ventura, former WWF champ, star of "Predator" and ex-MN Governor, once seen as the Great White (Independent) Hope of the network, "isn't working out:"
JESSE VENTURA TV SHOW ON ICE

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's planned MSNBC show is mired in preproduction difficulties, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
"[Ventura] has been having just a terrible time," says a source with direct ties to the project. "The rehearsals have been extremely trying. It doesn't look good.

Of course, Ventura's show doesn't look good!
The man is hopeless as a talkshow/newsshow host and no-one with any sense would have thought otherwise! (Only the almost brain-dead execs at NBCs would be so crazily desperate for ratings that they would consider it!)
Where MSNBC is starting to go right (Right?) is in their hiring of former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough (who is a TV natural!) and of WSJ op ed diva Peggy Noonan:

Right Move: Noonan Joins MSNBC


MSNBC Continues Conservative Shift With Noonan

If only MSNBC would really get a clue and can DNC poster boy Chris Matthews, who carries the water of their ideological Leftist Liberal preferred agenda.
He's the one (Press and Buchanan aren't helping, however) who kills the development of a loyal Conservative viewing audience.
Big time, as VP Cheney would say.