Twitter Update on Lawrence O'Donnell

[Hortensis]

40. Phil Donahue in 1996, emphatically yes. But the others?

I don't like the networks' picking up right-wing commentators either. But that doesn't mean they want to be Fox. Fox's viewership is dying off from old age and calcified brains. Young people, who are far less conservative than Fox's viewers, even the young conservatives, are the ones the advertisers want to draw.

People on the far left should, for the sake of their own understanding, recognize and accept that their numbers are too small for good representation by a network. MSNBC, to its credit, tried some shows aimed more their way a couple decades after Donahue was suppressed, and it didn't work. But, notably, Donahue was not a radical with a radical message. He was a liberal pushing progressive messages to a hugely receptive mainstream audience. This difference that was the key to his great success.

As for Ed Schultz, let's face it. He is better suited to radicals watching RT than to typical left-wingers. I didn't like his style on MSNBC, and if he came back on his knees and toes the MSNBC line I wouldn't watch him after RT.

"Uppity's" an effective dog whistle in many situations, but it doesn't apply to Melissa. They gave her a platform to address social justice and women's issues, and she just didn't draw enough viewership, even with Rachel following. I found wallowing each night in discussion of the latest outrages and endless hashing over needed solutions more depressing than stimulating. So I eventually spent little time with Melissa (and also turned off Rachel on her abortion rights jags) preferring shorter print news updates.

Obermann's exit ended well-publicized several-year conflicts with his bosses; lots of personalities involved, not just issues. Yes, they did want him to tone his combative message down, but he could have done that and still held his hill. He chose not to, and eventually the pot finally boiled over. I was sorry.

Btw, fwiw, except for Rachel on video, and O'Donnell on video occasionally, I don't watch cable news at all. Their outrageously dishonest and irresponsible coverage of the election caused me to say no more. I recommend it.