Each night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) and presumably for this week’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), MSNBC has and will continue to offer live coverage through 2:00 a.m. Eastern time and in the final two hours, some strange and wacky moments came about for those of us watching at NewsBusters.
For this first night of the DNC, late-night MSNBC provided plenty of material to compile a list of its own, so without further delay, here’s five moments where the cast of characters made viewers shake their heads, stumbled onto the truth, and/or provided a needed break from the political grind.
1. Providing her initial thoughts on the evening and particularly First Lady Michelle Obama’s address, AM Joy host Joy Reid basked in the idea that African-American women were in key roles for the first night of the DNC before having this to say about Mrs. Obama:
REID: [F]or Michelle Obama to culminate that in that magnificent, exquisite speech as a mother, as a citizen, as a wife saying I have to protect my children from the hate their father hears every day, she was splendid. That’s the only word I can of.
2. Hardball host Chris Matthews and his panel in the 1:00 a.m. Eastern half-hour were going over New Jersey Senator Cory Booker’s speech when Matthews praised the “thrilling, exuberant, pro-American speech” before he had much larger point to make.
While late-night MSNBC has shown to provide moments where Matthews was running on fumes, this moment showcased one of brilliance in stepping out to criticize Democrats of today:
MATTHEWS: This is what has been missing to me since Bobby Kennedy, where he had the working class whites and the blacks cause they knew he was patriotic at heart. He was us and there was no doubt of his love of country and I think Democrats can get too sophisticated — too sophisticated and too global.
3. Just as I stated that Matthews had moments of brilliance, he quickly reverted back to the Matthews that NewsBusters readers know all too well. Upon returning from commercial break and a soundbite from Donald Trump commenting on the DNC’s Wikileaks scandal, Matthews blurred on the name of the woman who’s set to step down as Chairwoman:
MATTHEWS: [T]hat mess he’s referring to, the fallout over the DNC e-mail hack resulted in the resignation of the DNC chair — of the DNC chair — Sarah —
MICHAEL STEELE: Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
MATTHEWS: — Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Why am I forgetting?
4. Seconds after Reid sought to spin the DNC’s Wikileaks scandal as overblown, former RNC Chairman and MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele fought back by informing Reid and All In host Chris Hayes that their comrades “in liberal media and liberal politics, don't seem to have the same level of outrage if those e-mails were written by a Republican conservative.”
Of course, this outraged Reid as she shouted down Steele so she could simply write off his compliant as invalid (for some reason) because Donald Trump has repeatedly “retweet[ed] white nationalists.”
5. For the second time since early Friday morning, Matthews aired a taped segment of him showing viewers around his hometown of Philadelphia to some of the city’s top food destinations and this one was to Geno’s Steaks to see how their world famous cheesesteaks are made.
Personally, it’s refreshing to see the bubbling Hardball host step away from the politics and attempt to connect to viewers by showing them around places in his hometown to grab a bite to eat and talk with locals about their Philadelphia accents.
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