The crass journalists at MSNBC on Thursday used the sudden death of Roger Ailes as a way to spike the ratings football and tout their recent successes against Fox News. Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough bragged, “Fox News is an absolute mess.... Roger Ailes gone for, what, maybe six months, a year? And for first time this century, they aren't in first place. In fact, for the first time this century, they are in third place.”
Hardball anchor Chris Matthews hyped MSNBC’s recent surge, touting, “Well, Rachel [Maddow] beats them every night.” To be sure, Matthews, Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell said some nice things, but made sure to underline Fox’s struggling. Mitchell needled, “We should point out [Ailes's] downfall was because of personal failures and the fact there was such a culture of illegality.”
Scarborough compared Ailes to Joe Paterno, the late Penn State coach who was accused of covering up child sex abuse in the university's football program:
You look at Roger Ailes's life and you look at all of his successes, and I'm reminded of Joe Paterno.... A man that America loved and respected, and looked up to for years, and I know certainly not all of America loved Roger Ailes. He was a very divisive figure, but I can tell you conservatives were thankful for him. Republicans were grateful for what he started up. And just like Paterno, what, four, five years later, people are now starting to try to
balance.
Classy, MSNBC. (H/T to Mediaite’s Matthew Balan, formally of the MRC, for first noticing the exchange.)
A partial transcript is below:
Morning Joe
5/18/17
8:48ANDREA MITCHELL: We should point out his downfall was because of personal failures and the fact there was such a culture of illegality. I mean, the abuse at Fox that was not restricted to Ailes. It was pandemic, according to all accounts and according to the money paid out and still face a lot of legal liability because the payments were not properly labeled in their share holder reports. That corporation is being remade by the sons now, and it's being remade after the fact.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You look at Roger Ailes' life and you look at all of his successes, and I'm reminded of Joe Paterno.
MITCHELL: Wow.
SCARBOROUGH: A man that America loved and respected, and looked up to for years, and I know certainly not all of America loved Roger Ailes. He was a very divisive figure, but I can tell you conservatives were thankful for him. Republicans were grateful for what he started up. And just like Paterno, what, four, five years later, people are now starting to try to
balance it. But there is — there is no doubt and we just have to say this: Right now, Fox News is an absolute mess. We talked about this earlier in passing. Roger Ailes gone for, what, maybe six months, a year? And for first time this century, they aren't in first place. In fact, for the first time this century, they are in third place.CHRIS MATTHEWS: Right. Well, Rachel beats them every night. It's — I do think a lot of our viewership is rationale, as you know, Joe, it's rationale. People want to watch something that makes them happy. When the markets going up CNBC is dynamite. You know, when the liberals are winning the liberals are progressives are watching. And when the conservative side is winning, they're all watching.
