In 2008, a then-MSNBC host mocked George W. Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove, for signing up with the "home team" of Fox News. Yet, on Tuesday it was announced that Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, will be joining NBC and MSNBC as an analyst. A NBC press release hyped that Axelrod "will contribute frequently across all broadcasts and platforms of both networks." (There was no mention as to whether MSNBC is Obama's "home team.)
On February 6, 2008, then-MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams trashed Fox News for signing Rove: "The folks over at Fox News are just thrilled about what I'm calling Karl Rove's homecoming, his debut last as a political commentator and the home team cheered them on again and again." Abrams, who is now at ABC, sneered, "Come on. Give me a break."
On the February 13, 2008 edition of Live With Dan Abrams, the host referred to Rove as the "big loser."
Last week, it was announced that Robert Gibbs, former Obama press secretary, joined the NBC line-up. Strangely, MSNBC's hosts have failed to speak out about the cozy relationship between their network and the current White House.
In the February 19 Washington Examiner, the Media Research Center's Brent Baker noted, "MSNBC has always been the media wing of the never-ending Obama campaign and now they've just made it official by bringing a top campaign strategist inside MSNBC to make sure they never stray from pro-Obama spin."
A transcript of the Dan Abrams exchanges can be found below:
2/6/08
Live With Dan Abrams
...
ABRAMS: It`s time for tonight's Beat the Press. First up: Last night, it became crystal clear. The folks over at FOX News are just thrilled about what I'm calling Karl Rove's homecoming, his debut last as a political commentator and the home team cheered them on again and again.
BRIT HUME: We have in our midst tonight, Karl Rove--
BILL KRISTOL: As Karl Rove pointed out--
LAURA INGRAHAM: As Karl Rove said it earlier--
HUME: You heard Karl Rove said earlier--
CHRIS WALLACE: Karl Rove says maybe a mistake. I was talking about this with Karl Rover earlier.
ABRAMS: Come on, give me a break.
2/13/08
DAN ABRAMS: But the big loser of the day, Karl Rove, who claimed earlier this week on his new home, FOX News, that the media, not the president, was to blame for the sluggish economy. You have got to love Rove`s fictionalized world -- first blaming the Democrats for rushing into war. Now blaming the media for the economy.
