With Carlson Away, Shuster Leads Liberal Love-In

With Carlson Away, Shuster Leads Liberal Love-In

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
October 1, 2007 - 19:25 ET

Don't look for Shuster to be guest hosting "Tucker" again any time soon. -- from my column of September 26th.

Oy, was I wrong!

I had figured that David Shuster wouldn't be subbing again for Tucker Carlson after embarrassing his show, and MSNBC at large, with the tasteless "gotcha" game he sprung on Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), exploiting the death of a soldier for partisan political purposes.

But tuning to Tucker today, there was Shuster, the so-called MSNBC "correspondent."

Carlson is certainly no partisan Republican, having mentioned more than once that he didn't vote for W in 2004. Tucker is a self-described libertarian, with a guilty-pleasure penchant for much of what Ron Paul has to say. But let's respect his tendency to balance his own views by often having as his guests Dem consultant Peter Fenn and left-leaning WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson.

But what's Shuster's excuse? Tucker's absence today wasn't some last-minute event. It was the continuation of a scheduled Carlson hiatus that began last week. The producers had plenty of time to order up a conservative pundit or two to balance David's liberal views. But no. There were Fenn and Robinson as the day's pundits. And what ensured was nothing less than a liberal love-in, a predictable "you're-so-right, David" agree-a-thon.

Note the chuckles all around in the screen capture. It perfectly reflects the liberal consensus at play.

From the opposition of conservative Christian leaders to a prospective Giuliani candidacy, to brewing trouble with Iran, Rudy's cell phone call from his wife, Clarence Thomas's "60 Minutes" interview, Dem and GOP primary prospects and Newt's decision not to run, there was near-unanamity of a conventional-liberal-wisdom bent on every subject. The closest to a discordant note was Fenn's suggestion that Obama's latest fundraising numbers were better than Shuster made them out to be. To borrow NB Managing Editor Ken Shepherd's trademark expression for disinterest: "meh."

If controversy is the essence of good TV, this was video Ambien. Fair and balanced? Not hardly when Shuster hosts with this kind of monochromatically liberal panel.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.

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Carlson Capon, Gilt, Steer or Geld take your pick

October 1, 2007 - 19:44 ET by Lame Cherry

What is more telling in this is Tucker Carlson has absolutely no pull, gonads or standing at MSNBC or simply put.......Carlson condones using a dead US Soldier or otherwise Shuster would have never been on his program again.

Carlson's name is all he has and MSNBC has just rubbed it in the dirt by placing Shuster in the host chair again.

Frankly Carlson if he has any morals, he will tell MSNBC to shove it as that is what ethics would dictate. It is tough when one needs a job, but no one should have this kind of garbage going on associated with their name.

Or perhaps that is what MSNBC has in mind to force Carlson out and replace him with ghoul Shuster.

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

ok i have to state the obvious

October 1, 2007 - 20:16 ET by lunaticcringeradio

is anyone suprised that a liberal mouthpiece wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity to exploit an chance like this, but in all fairness, that is exactly what brit hume and sean hannity do on their commentary/analyst shows. this is so often the problem with liberals whining about fox news, they can't distinguish between a reporter and a commentator or analyst, but when someone is pushing their liberal agenda there is no problem or bias seen, i mean take the daily show on the comedy network, i have actually heard a young liberal site that as a credible news source.

also on the topic of exploiting a soldiers death, the only person happier to hear about a us soldier dying in battle more than a muslim terrorist, is a us liberal pundit or politician.

lunaticcringeradio

Nice

October 1, 2007 - 21:04 ET by BigB

Ya know, in the real world in which the rest of us peons dwell, we would be looking for a new job this week after the latest Shooster debacle...That whole Blackburn thing was so pathetic, as was Mr. Potato Head's apology/statement/sorry-attempt-to-cover-my-ass...Mebbe the Grand High Poobahs of Undermining America told Shuster 'Ok, Yer done, you got until Tucker gets back to spew as much vile, partisan, hor$e$hit as you can...as long as you don't make a complete ass of yourself like trying to smear a respected member of Congress with some half baked exploitation of a dead soldier'.

So pathetic...

Hey Dave, you could parbly hook up with Dan 'Tall Tower' Rather or the NY Times...You won't get to look at your own Block Head on the TV but hey, it's a Jay Oh Bee....

Well, in all fairness, I suppose some misguided intern has had a nice, wet bite taken out of his ass and is in the market for employment...

Now, this might sting just a little bit.....

They scraped...

October 1, 2007 - 21:22 ET by JPR1

...the bottom-of-the-barrel to get Keith Olberman. It would appear they have now turned the barrel over and scraped the bottom-of-the-bottom-of-the-barrel to come up with this.

Roger Ailes should send Gerry Rivers packing and give Carlson six weeks to come to his senses. Then maybe an infomercial; be about as useful.

The Shuster Show?

October 1, 2007 - 23:11 ET by Barker

MSNBC should just give David Shuster his own show. Possible show titles:

"Circle Jerk with David Shuster"

"Spin the Bottle with Shuster & Co"

This was a quick pick up

October 2, 2007 - 05:44 ET by ThisnThat

I checked into a hotel yesterday and turned the TV on -- the channel was tuned to MSNBC and this program. I was going to change the channel, but since I never watch MSNBC, I thought I would just go ahead and catch a few minutes of this as I worked.

WOW. I never caught the names of these 2 "guests", but I simply couldn't believe what I was hearing. These "guests" were given absolute freedom to say whatever they wanted to say, and they spent the entire time with their talking points and cutting down any Republican they could. It was constant; and you're right Mark, they were constantly chuckling at their witty statements. I couldn't stand any more before my mind turned to mush, so I simply turned the TV off and just sat there in amazement.

This is the kind of stuff that's on MSNBC? So Newsbusters isn't just making this up for their posts? INCREDIBLE. But at least this program wasn't as bad as Air America, but it certainly did not inform the viewer; and I had to sit there and try to sort out fact from fiction. It wasn't hard, there were few facts.

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