MSNBC’s Live With Dan Abrams may not be a house on fire ratings-wise (Hannity & Colmes almost quadrupled it last night among all viewers, and it has about half of Larry King’s audience), but they’re still flailing away against the Fox News Channel after Keith Olbermann’s retired for the night. On Thursday night, MSNBC reporter David Shuster accused Mitt Romney of "insanity" and spewed at Fox News star Bill O’Reilly as a "buffoon and a jerk" within about one minute. The topic was AP reporter Glen Johnson angrily accusing Mitt Romney of lying, and Abrams showed footage of Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom telling Johnson to be a professional and don’t be argumentative with the candidate. Shuster erupted in outrage:
DAVID SHUSTER: Don't be argumentative with the candidate? Don't be argumentative? What does Mitt Romney think is going to happen to him when he's president? Are all the world leaders going to be nice and respectful? If he and his campaign have a problem with reporters being rude, what does he think is going to happen when he's sitting in the Oval Office? It's insanity.
DAN ABRAMS: Is this happening a lot on the trail? Is this happening a lot?
SHUSTER: It's happening, on occasion, but I would draw a distinction, Dan, between a reporter who knows what he's talking about, like the reporter today, and a buffoon and jerk like Bill O'Reilly, who pushed over, who tried to push over a guy to try to get out of the way at Barack Obama, and then, what does he ask Barack Obama? Is it some insightful, hard, penetrating question? No! He says: ‘will you be on my show?' That is where you can draw the line. If the reporter is lazy and is silly and is aggressive, that's a problem. When a reporter knows what he's talking about, I have no problem whatsoever with that.
The segment was an ideologically monotone debate between Shuster and liberal Huffington Post blogger Rachel Sklar, who maintained Glen Johnson was unnecessarily rude. (Imagine that, the Huffington Post being against rudeness. See the MRC Special Report on that record.) But Shuster's blast at O'Reilly came out of nowhere. It had not been discussed earlier in the segment.
As for O'Reilly's lunge to snag Obama for his show (a chance slimmer than the most anorexic runway model), isn't it hard for a journalist to be both lazy AND aggressive at the same time? You can't compare a host like O'Reilly to a street reporter like Shuster or a David Gregory. He's trying to book a guest, not interview them on the spot. That's not lazy. It's trying to save the fireworks for the studio. And Shuster definitely brought the fireworks for his MSNBC bosses when it came to slamming FNC -- his former employers.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
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"What does Mitt Romney think
January 18, 2008 - 18:33 ET by Chris Norman"What does Mitt Romney think is going to happen to him when he's president? Are all the world leaders going to be nice and respectful?"
Has Shuster asked this of Hillary?
Of course not, Chris
January 18, 2008 - 18:38 ET by RJNot only that, this morning Shuster had the absolutely galling hypocricy to equate his cordial attitude and softball questions to Huckabee with the aggressive offensiveness of the AP's Johnson.
Shuster is a lying bastard
January 18, 2008 - 18:45 ET by RJJust now on Chris Matthews, Shuster played (again) the tape of Johnson's attack on Romney and compared his reaction to the "Macaca incident."
The media is willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of Romney.
The media is willing to do
January 19, 2008 - 00:29 ET by bigtimerThe media is willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of Romney.
Precisely RJ....and they will not stop until their agenda is full-filled...if possible. that is.
Great point, Chris.
January 18, 2008 - 18:44 ET by motherbeltGreat point, Chris.
I had the same quote ready to go, but my point is does Shuster think world leaders are going to interrupt the President of the United States when he's answering a question, and tell him he's lying?
The thing that got me about that reporter, which Shuster didn't deem worthy of mentiont was that he couldn't even get his a$$ up off the floor to argue with Romney. What a completely no-class guy. I think we can expect better from other world leaders.
Jeez, does Shuster wonder at all what would have happened had Bill Clinton treated world leaders the way he's talked to reporters lately?
mb & RJ
January 18, 2008 - 19:22 ET by Chris Normanmb & RJ
As we all know (and so should Shuster and Johnson), there's a big difference between aggresively questioning and actually flat out arguing with the candidate - that makes it a debate.
Agreed. There is
January 18, 2008 - 20:24 ET by motherbeltAgreed. There is questioning, there is follow-up questioning, and then there is rude arguing. Johnson falls into the latter category.
Not a huge Romney fan, but
January 18, 2008 - 18:54 ET by Ruths husband BenNot a huge Romney fan, but since when do we equate reporters with world leaders. Totally different species. Reporters misrepresent the news, world leaders make the news. When the reporters become the story the media has failed.
O'Reilly could always hold his pee
January 18, 2008 - 18:45 ET by Lame CherryBarbara Walters said the means to her success was she could hold her pee while waiting to ask for an interview.........
Perhaps O'Reilly could learn to hold his pee and I suppose it might help Romney if he held his pee too. He could tell rude reporters, "I too can hold my pee and I feel your pee pain in why you are rude in waiting for interviews".
Shuster should probably take a squirt though before he goes on television as the pee has risen to his brain as in a "pee drunk" clouding now his clever adjective liberal expressions........he forgot to use "Nazi"..........that is the stand by for all liberals.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Perhaps Shuster could just wear a bladder bag.
January 18, 2008 - 20:38 ET by kgPerhaps Shuster could just wear a bladder bag. Where would we all be without MSNBS?
Beat the press
January 18, 2008 - 18:50 ET by Jerry MackDan Abrams is the person that wants viewers to watch other networks for foo-faws and send them to him so he can air them on his show. Believe that he is General Manager or was at Msnbc. What a way to improve ratings for his network.
THE ABRAMS TANKS...
January 19, 2008 - 00:10 ET by danybhoyI think he has been demoted from being in charge at MSNBC(DNC-TV according to El-Rushbo), but he somehow holds a job at the peacock, same goes for most of the roster there. I don't believe the average cable news viewer needs to encouraged watch other cable news outlets, the ratings already show that is happening.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
Does Shuster think he's
January 18, 2008 - 19:36 ET by SMGalbraithDoes Shuster think he's Keith Olbermann, Jr. with this stuff?
He's supposed to be MSNBC's national correspondent; not MSNBC's national commentator. This is a reporter spewing this stuff.
Y'know reporters? Folks who are supposed to leave their opinions outside of the newsroom?
There are absolutely no lines or standards anymore over at MSNBC between reporting and opinion. Just say whatever the hell you want to say.
The place is a journalistic ethical black hole. Ethics may go in in the form of network standards and guidelines being promulgated; but after being issued, they're never seen or heard from ever again.
Last place and sinking...
January 18, 2008 - 18:59 ET by orlandocajunMSNBC's ratings (especially Olberman) now include Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Rosie O'Donnel, Cindy Sheehan and Harry Reid. They're trying to hold onto their five viewers.
Shuster
January 18, 2008 - 18:59 ET by PrairieSkyIt is amazing to believe that this twit used to be with FOXNEWS...I wonder how long it took him to realize that he was totally out of his element at FOX? I can just imagine the cheers erupting from the FOX building the day he left for that bastion of shining journalistic perfection, MSNBC!! What a yutz...Good riddance.
SHUSTER...
January 19, 2008 - 00:28 ET by danybhoyIt is funny to think he was at FNC, I barely remember him there. But I do have a question, Shuster thinks going from FoxNews to MSNBC is a promotion, which it is NOT. Going from #1 to a distant #3 is a demotion. Then there is Allison Stewert, BathTubBoy's sub host(she's busy having a baby right now), she left MtvNews to go to MSNBC. Now my question is this, which is worse?
Is leaving FNC to go to MSNBC & thinking that's a good thing, like Shuster does? Or is going from MtvNews & becoming BathTubBoy's backup at MSNBC, like Stewert did?
Shuster is a low level buttboy at MSNBC, we all know it. He'll never knock Mathews, BathTubBoy, Morning Schmo, Mika, & the rest of the celler dwellers. But Stewert could'nt knock of Kurt Loder as the face of Mtv News, & was no better then Tabitha Soren, & Sway. I think it's wash, but I could be wrong. Let me know.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
Shuster
January 19, 2008 - 02:07 ET by PrairieSkyNo Danybhoy, I think you are right. I think you hit the nail right on the head. Shuster is bitter about being canned by Fox News back in '02, and takes every chance to spew his brand of bile. He is an Olbermann in training, and is probably just waiting for Olbertwit to finally say something so outrageous that even MSNBC will have to fire him, and then he'll get his job. Any way you look at it, MSNBC and its coterie of pathetic cast offs will forever remain nipping at Fox News's heels.
ITS JUST THE GREEN EYED
January 18, 2008 - 19:06 ET by charlietexasITS JUST THE GREEN EYED MONSTER: JEALOUSY!!
Schuster and Olberloon
January 18, 2008 - 19:15 ET by nicksmith112Schuster and Olberloon literally report on King Bill moments after Bill says something LIVE on his show.
These nuts eat, sleep, and dream King Bill...lol!
I'm a refugee from the Democratic Party.
This whole incident kinda
January 18, 2008 - 19:22 ET by wiwfThis whole incident kinda reminds you of the whole Iron My Shirt! thing. Except this one was taken seriously by the left and is less funny.
We're supposed to heckle, attack, and pick apart Romney, but throw softballs to Hitlery. How fair and balanced!
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
I think the only difference
January 19, 2008 - 07:45 ET by motherbeltI think the only difference between Shuster and Olbermann is that KO makes his digs in a somber, condescending way, as if he were Moses speaking from the mountaintop, and Shuster is more like an adolescent in his "Ha ha....gotcha!" manner.
isn't it hard for a
January 18, 2008 - 19:20 ET by fitzfongisn't it hard for a journalist to be both lazy AND aggressive at the same time
Actually, Tim, if you saw any of David Shyster's tortured "objective news reports" on the Scooter Libby trial, you'd know that it isn't that hard at all.
I saw this whole
January 18, 2008 - 19:58 ET by EvilCon555I saw this whole Mitt Romney/Glenn Johnson thing this morning. I had a migraine headache and was pondering a sick day, feeling pretty lousy. Often when I have a migraine things that get me going again are either throwing up, or a shot of endogenous adrenaline (for you non healthcare workers - think flight or fright response...). Since this reporter made me want to throw up, and totally made me want to go postal, I was good to go....
Anyway, I was wondering what would happen if this reporter was blindfolded and was talking to Hillary, or Barack...or John McCain.
I think the first thing would be that he would stand up...yeah I know he's blind folded..but his sixth sense would prod him to somehow stand for no real reason.
Second, our friend would shout out to Davey that the reporter is never the story...just as a friendly reminder should his scoop hit the cable talk circuit that doubles as objective news.
And finally, he would have asked, as part of his fair and balanced reporting (remember he is blindfolded and I am having a migrainous rant), if any lobbyists have ever really been corrupt. And if so would the good candidate still employ one, even as an unpaid friendly advisor who won't take up his campaign managers seats on his airplane? And on that note could the dear candidate give examples of when lobbyists, both Democrat or Republican, did not help the US economy and political structure in shaping beneficial policy that forwarded the goals and means of this great country.
Then Davey would have gone on his show and proven that a blindfolded reporter is indeed an unbiased reporter and not a camouflaged leader of a foreign nation. Then he would have put on a dress, danced a jig, and text-memoed Bill O'Reilly with a "OMG Mitt is sooo cute...your BFF Davey"
So, I have said enough...you all get my drift. Lobbyists aren't all bad...and reporters ....well when they make you throw up, they have somehow actually helped you..
I'm going to bed now...
BIG TOP PEEWEE
January 18, 2008 - 19:32 ET by TWOTIMETUNAIt's hard to take anyone serious that looks so much like PeeWee Herman. Who is this little runt anyway?
Democrats are either Parasites or Parasite Enablers
PeeWee Herman
January 18, 2008 - 21:05 ET by jezebelleis better looking....and has more class.
Who started this business of
January 18, 2008 - 20:11 ET by Chris NormanWho started this business of asking reporters their personal opinions on issues? Imus? O'Reilly? Whoever did it, I don't know if it's been helpful to expose what these so-called neutral reporters really think or horrible, because it's accelerated the trend to be openly biased when reporting hard news.
David Shuster: Romney's Insane, O'Reilly's 'A Buffoon and a Jerk
January 18, 2008 - 20:39 ET by Crash... and Truther's are "Normal".
This f*#ker couldn't tell a story from a bloodhound if it found him.
I don't think O'reilly's
January 18, 2008 - 20:45 ET by Jack BauerI don't think O'reilly's that great.
But compared to Shuster, Billy Boy is like a broadcasting God. Maybe that Hindu one with eight limbs.
That's his analysis, Romney is insane. Wow. He must have gone to Berkeley to be able to come up with that insight.
David Shuster: insane, a
January 19, 2008 - 09:36 ET by motherbeltDavid Shuster: insane, a buffoon, and a jerk.
It's a hat trick!!
Okay ... I've held back long enough
January 18, 2008 - 23:05 ET by drillanwrExactly WHAT is it with people who work for NBC (MSNBC) and the funky mouths?
Katie Couric's mouth weirded me out ... Ann Curry's always sounds as dry as hot air passing through a hollowed-out gourd. Campbell Brown's mouth is waaay strange ... And David Shuster's is just plain scary! Matthews's is in constant drool and mumble as if he's in mid-stroke. And Olbermann's is in endless purge like some toilet holding tank of an RV at a camp ground sewage dumping station.
There ARE more, but I ... I just can't go on recalling them ...
Don't forget Mika's
January 19, 2008 - 09:50 ET by motherbeltDon't forget Mika's permanent little "smirk"........
I was looking for one more
January 18, 2008 - 23:28 ET by ConservativeRexI was looking for one more issue or event to push me in to Romney's corner. This moron (and my apologies to the true morons) at MSNBC has provided just the incentive I needed. Frankly, I was leaning that way at any rate, but this cinches it for me. The more the MSM hammers Romney the higher he slides on the popularity meter. Like trying to use a sledge hammer to ring the bell at the carnival, when the MSM hammers Romney the higher he gets. Keep it up!
"The more the MSM hammers Romney...
January 19, 2008 - 09:58 ET by RJthe higher he slides on the popularity meter."
That's pretty much how I feel, Conservative Rex. Romney wasn't my first (Thompson) or second (Hunter) choice, but the more the media hammers him the more I realize their dislike/fear of him proves he's probably the right guy for the job and the best chance Republicans have of winning in November.
"I really like Mike Huckabee." -uber liberal Mika Brezinski
Seems the closer we get to
January 19, 2008 - 00:46 ET by bigtimerSeems the closer we get to Super Tuesday the more certifiable critters from the network nbc and all tentacles seem to be expanding and becoming closer and closer of needing to be committed to the nearest looney-bin...
Throw in a good handful from CNN to-boot.
....Happy Days are Here Again...
how to simplify your life
January 19, 2008 - 01:34 ET by RousseI stopped watching CBS news in 1980, after Roger Mudd delivered an insane late-night rant about Reagan from the grounds of the White House. I stopped watching NBC and ABC news in the early 90s. When I had satellite TV, I watched FOX, but now I'm on an antenna and I don't watch any news at all except for an occasional local network, and that's for the weather.
My life is much better now. I get all the news I want via the internet. Too bad ABC, CBS, and NBC don't "get" it.
Put pressure on NBC
January 19, 2008 - 02:20 ET by Parker1227I've sent so many emails to MSNBC complaining about the unprofessional behavior of Shuster and Olbermann that they've blocked my email address (one of them anyway ;^).
I think we should all put pressure on NBC Sports ( nbcsports@nbcuni.com ) to pull Olbermann from his football gig.
Even if it is only a minor irritation (to Olbermann) it is worth it. The guy is truly insane in his obsessive and unprofessional hatred for both O'Reilly and Bush.
About David Shuster....
January 19, 2008 - 03:20 ET by R D HelmI will freely admit that I am not Bill O'Reilly's biggest fan. However, I will always applaud him for the fact that he has done a great deal to expose judges that are soft on child predators. Sadly, no one else with the visibility he enjoys seems the least bit interested in doing the same.
I have to wonder how many stories of judges letting perverts off the hook has David Shuster covered? I am guessing it is next to none.
If even that many.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. -J.W. von Goethe
Why, why, why?
January 19, 2008 - 10:53 ET by c5thenWhy do liberals call people names and try and belittle them when they don't agree with their views?
When a liberal says something that I disagree with, I call them a liberal. It's not meant as a "bad name" but apparently they all think it is. What does it say about a person if they are ashamed of their own political viewpoints?
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Shuster
January 19, 2008 - 13:03 ET by Steve SternFirst I had to put up with comments by Keith Olberdork. Now comes Shuster. Who is this bozo anyway?
Glen Johnson needs a
January 19, 2008 - 19:29 ET by DaMavGlen Johnson needs a reminder that the job is "reporter", not "heckler". What he did with Romney was a disgrace, repeatedly interrupting, and inserting his opinion.
The object is not to cover the news, but to rack up points with the liberal media elite by trying to trash conservative candidates.
Romney is not my first choice but I thought he handled this as well as anyone could. My gut kept hoping he'd grab Johnson's laptop and break it over his head.