MSNBC Goes Nuts!

You might have missed MSNBC's reaction to Republican Scott Brown winning Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat on January 19, 2010. After all, who really watches MSNBC anyway? Just a few dozen folks like myself who enjoy checking in to see what the weird kids are up to.

Up and down the MSNBC lineup, commentators and talk show hosts are finding it difficult to deal with the reality that Obama and his liberal socialist friends have already worn out their welcome with America, even in Massachusetts. Despite the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1, the state just elected a GOP senator.

Rachel Maddow was visibly shocked when the results came in - video of the moment Brown won shows Maddow swallowing deeply and struggling to say the words. The next day she downplayed the impact of the election, choosing instead to point out that Democrats still had a large majority in the Senate, at least for now. Ed Schultz, host of "The Ed Show," struggled to put a positive spin on things. The best he could muster was a shot at one of Brown's statements on the "Today Show." The senator-elect told the program that the war on terror and health care reform would be his priorities to address. "Terror? Terror is your priority?" the host asked incredulously. "Aren't we safe?" Either Schultz fails to grasp how close we came to disaster with the underwear bomber or doesn't care much for the soldiers and civilians who were gunned down at Ft. Hood. At least under President Bush, terror plots were foiled by authorities. Now, under Obama, plots are foiled by pure chance, and taxpayers get to pay for attorneys for terrorists. Sports reporter turned pontificating pseudo-intellectual Keith Olbermann actually tried to claim the moral high ground by portraying Brown as some sort of sociopath.

I'm sure it was difficult for Olbermann to focus his moral relativity to certain particular stances, but he did manage to call Brown an "irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, a teabagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees." Olbermann did later offer an apology, saying he forgot to include "sexist" to his list of insults. He then challenged anyone to prove him wrong. Of course, he's only right if you accept Olbermann's moral presuppositions, which come from his twisted liberal worldview. He also tries, with little effect, to tie Brown to an incident during which an attendee at a Brown campaign rally supposedly threatened violence against his opponent, Martha Coakley. Though the incident could not be proven, Brown refused to speculate or comment on the matter. Olbermann took that as advocating the violence.

It's been a common tactic for liberals fighting the rise of conservatives and libertarians in the Tea Party movement: portray them as violent radicals who are being quietly supported by their leaders. It's all a reach, but in Olbermann's "bizarro" world, it all makes perfect sense.

Enjoy the show as the ivory tower at MSNBC crumbles and their commentators have to answer to the common folk: they really are entertaining as their grip on reality slips away.