Maddow watch: Four days in May with a corporate clown!

TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2016

Cable star really bad at her job:
On Tuesday evening, May 24, Rachel Maddow decided to end her cable news show with a typical bit of snark.

Tribal snark is now a standard part of Maddow's cable program. In such segments, we liberal viewers get our time wasted in remarkably low-IQ ways. But the purity of our tribal identity gets reinforced and stoked.

Maddow's target in Tuesday's segment was New Mexico governor Susana Martinez. Donald J. Trump would be doing a campaign event in Albuquerque that night. But uh-oh! Martinez, who isn't a fan of Trump, had said she wouldn't attend.

For this offense, Martinez became a target of Maddow's snark in her short closing segment. Liberal brain cells were dying all over the country as Maddow closed with this fact-challenged dose of embarrassing tribal porridge:
MADDOW (5/24/16): Donald Trump's first campaign fund-raiser was tonight in Albuquerque. He's following that up with a rally in Albuquerque right now.

The Republican governor of New Mexico, Susana Martinez, is also the chair of the Republican Governors Association. But when Donald Trump said he'd be coming to town tonight, Governor Martinez said she would not attend—for one very simple reason.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Everybody, of course, wants to know if you will be attending Donald Trump's rally tomorrow.

MARTINEZ: No, I will not.

REPORTER: What's your reason? Tell us why.

MARTINEZ: You know, I'm really busy—

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: [LAUGHTER]

The chair of the Republican Governors Association [PAUSE TO ADOPT SNARKY TONE] is really busy. She'd previously said she would also be too busy to attend the Republican convention this summer, until someone reminded her that she has to go because [CHUCKLING] she's chair of the Republican Governors Association.

So she will have to go to Cleveland. But she does not have to come out of hiding while Donald Trump is in her town. Not yet at least.

That does it for us tonight. Now, it's time for The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.
As Maddow's program came to an end, viewers saw her snarking about Martinez's dumbness and cowardice. Martinez had been too dumb to understand that she had to attend the Republican convention! And not only that! She was afraid to "come out of hiding while Donald Trump is in her town."

To watch this segment, click here.

This type of snark is now quite common on the Maddow program. Aside from the oddness of aiming all this snark at a politician who has often criticized Trump, what was wrong with this short segment?

Let us count the ways:

1) You'll note that Martinez's statement to that reporter was edited quite abruptly, cuing Maddow's snark. (In professional circles, this is now known as "the Maddow edit.") To see Martinez's fuller response, you can just click here.

2) According to Maddow, Martinez had previously said that she wouldn't be attending the Republican convention in Cleveland. Maddow treated this as a sign of Martinez's dumbness.

We find no clear evidence that Martinez ever made such a statement, although it's possible she did. The AP had reported, back on May 10, that Martinez would be attending the convention. (For the National Journal's May 11 report, click here.)

We find no convincing evidence that this reversed a previous stance. For tape of Martinez's statement on May 9, you can just click this.

3) There is no sign that Martinez decided to attend the convention because "someone reminded her that she has to go because she's chair of the Republican Governors Association." Maddow treated this as a marker of Martinez's amusing dumbness. The notion that someone had to remind Martinez of her position seems to have been invented by Maddow for entertainment purposes.

4) Martinez didn't seem to be "in hiding while Donald Trump is in her town." She made a direct, open statement that she wouldn't attend his event. Her previous complaints about Trump's behavior and statements would have been known to many New Mexico residents.

Maddow was snarking hard in this short segment, as she routinely does. As a special treat at the end of her low-IQ program, we got to chuckle at the dumbness and the cowardice of this Republican governor.

For viewers of the Maddow Show, this is a familiar type of low-IQ tribal fun. But uh-oh! That very same evening, Trump ridiculed Governor Martinez in much the same way Maddow had done!

According to our tribal verities, this meant that Martinez had become the victim of a racist and sexist attack! Embarrassingly, it also meant that Maddow had positioned herself in alignment with Candidate Trump!

Result? The very next night, Maddow opened her program with a segment about how wonderfully bright Martinez is! We'll review that pitiful clown show tomorrow, with last week's real problem to come.

Ever since MSNBC became "the place for politics," Maddow has become a consummate corporate clown. For the most part, we liberals don't seem to be able to see this.

Maddow's clowning about Martinez was simply dishonest and stupid. Her clowning became politically dangerous last week when it was aimed, in a menacing way, at a second governor.

That person was Governor Terry McAuliffe. Is anyone but Maddow dumb enough to trash him in the way she did on two separate programs last week?

Rachel Maddow is bad at her job. Over the next three days, we'll review "four days in May" as she snarked and clowned last week.

Tomorrow: The greatest flip of all

23 comments:

  1. The part about changing her mind about attending the convention is at the end of Elizabeth Reed's article about Martinez. It is unsourced, but that is no doubt where Maddow got the info.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Reed article is only convincing evidence for the purpose for which Mr. Somerby linked to it and no other.

      Delete
    2. According to Linked In, Ms. Reed (if that is her real name) is quite youngish. And Hispanic. Maybe Mexican. Not that that matters. Mexicans will love Bob Somerby even if he cares more about black children.

      https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethvreed

      Delete
  2. Today Clinton announced a plan to help military families. Huffington Post instead reports: "Angry voters not soothed by Clinton's policy prescriptions." Those voters may not be soothed, but there is also little evidence they even know what Clinton's prescriptions are -- mostly because they don't get any attention by news media.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, the main headline at HuffPo is Trump's endorsement by North Korea.

      And the "angry voters' article is a reprint of a piece in the Washington Post.

      Say, @ 4:02 did you find the NY Times and HuffPo articles you claimed did not exist this morning? I linked them for you.

      Delete
    2. They didn't exist this morning, but yes, I did see them later. I am in CA, so they are clearly not making them a priority.

      Delete
    3. They both existed this morning before you sent in your comment. You are most unreliable.

      Delete
  3. Wow. Bob Somerby is able to keep his readers apprised of the horros unbfolding on the Rachel Maddow Show within a week of them floating across the cable lines.

    It took him almost two ahd a half months to update his readers on the political campaign predictions of Dilbert creator Scott Adams.

    To be fair, Bob actually let his readers know about NostroDilbertus within a day of his even hearing of the cartoonist and before he ever laid eyes on his work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think he waits for the transcripts, which are slow in coming.

      Delete
    2. No, he does not wait. He once devoted several posts over several days just to the fact that there were still no transcripts for a story he posted about.

      Delete
    3. Mostly he waits because he cares about evidence.

      Delete
    4. Since there is no posted transcript for this show, and there was none when Mr. Somerby did his post, doesn't that detract a wee bit from your suggestion?

      Delete
  4. Did you bother seeing OUTNUMBERED yesterday?

    See how Martinez got pretty trashed for not showing up for Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maddow is an award winning journalist, something Bob will never be. Maddow is the host of a popular primetime cable news show, something Bob will never be. Maddow is a real liberal, something Bon will never be.

    Like most old southern conservative white guys, Bob blames his own failures im life on woman and minorities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's simply honest, credible criticism. Maddow is a corporate clown.

      Delete
    2. @7:50 just hates all of the snobbery, and the hypocrisy, in others (well, really only in Bob).

      Delete
    3. Somebody has to keep us up to date with four days in May from a Blogospheric Bozo. Thanks to @7:50 we don't have to read every word. (And if you hate the comments section, why are you here?)

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  7. Hi everyone,so excited Dr.Unity helped me to stop Divorce and he can also help you to fix your Broken Relationships, Separations, Divorce & Get your ex Back. I am Natasha Hayes by name and i reside here in London, United Kingdom. I'm happily married to a lovely and caring husband ,with two kids.A very big problem occurred in my family seven months ago,between me and my husband .so terrible that he took the case to court for a divorce.he said that he never wanted to stay with me again,and that he didn't love me anymore.So he packed out of the house and made me and my children passed through severe pain. I tried all my possible means to get him back,after much begging,but all to no avail.and he confirmed it that he has made his decision,and he never wanted to see me again. So on one evening,as i was coming back from work,i met an old friend of mine who asked of my husband .So i explained every thing to him,so he told me that the only way i can get my husband back,is to visit a spell caster,because it has really worked for him too.So i never believed in spell,but i had no other choice,than to follow his advice. Then he gave me the email address of the spell caster whom he visited.{Unityspelltemple@gmail.com}. So the next morning,i sent a mail to the address he gave to me,and the spell caster assured me that i will get my husband back the next day.What an amazing statement!! I never believed,so he spoke with me,and told me everything that i need to do. Then the next morning, So surprisingly, my husband who didn't call me for the past{7}months,gave me a call to inform me that he was coming back.So Amazing!! So that was how he came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and he apologized for his mistake,and for the pain he caused me and my children. Then from that day,our marriage was now stronger than how it were before,by the help of a spell caster Dr Unity. So, i will advice you out there, if you have any problem contact Dr Unity,i give you 100% guarantee that he will help you and you will be the next to share your testimony to every one in the world.!!. Email him at: Unityspelltemple@gmail.com or call him on +2348072370762 and you can also visit his website for more details: http://unityspelltemple.yolasite.com. thanks to Dr Unity for the love he show to me and family.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi everyone. Am much excited about the work of Dr. Bob. He make my problems disappear just like he make much of what Maddow say about Martinez disappear. My husband left me to drum circle with menfolk and sleep in woods like a liberal rube. Then Bob made an amazing statement. He said nothing is named after him in professional circles because he is not one. then Bob claimed Maddow invented something that an article he linked to invented. Or at least it had the invention in it. Well, you can cast spells or spell check. Thanks for the cuffing aside Dr. Bob gives us when he treats us like Digby fans.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I watched part of last night's show. Rachel was off for a well-deserved rest, and subbing for her was the estimable Steve Kornacki. I was settling down for a facts-driven show as only Kornacki can give us, but what I got was a properly dressed Steve reading from what could have been a Rachel-authored script. Which caused me to wonder. Did Rachel come in and write the script as only Rachel could write it and then resume her holiday so Magic Board Steve could read her copy as written in order to preserve some of Rachel's special magic? Or is Steve so good that he can convincingly parody Rachel's matchless prose style so as to give her bereft viewers some degree of succor in her absence. Or could there be a team of talented hard-working ink-stained grunts in the background producing a show ready to be read by virtually anyone whether it be Rachel, Steve, or any anonymous BBC or Russian Channel newsreader?

    If it is staff-written, why blame Rachel for the quality of the Rachel Maddow Show? Apparently she's only a figurehead. At Fox you get blondes & boobs to help make the propaganda go down. At MSNBC you get a giraffe-necked lesbian Jon Stewart wannabe with a fan base about the size of Tulsa. Whatever the public wants. The customer is always right, said Mr. Macy.

    Get rid of her and you'll just have another screeching head reading basically the same copy. Whattayah want instead? Joy Ried?

    ReplyDelete
  10. An amazing testimony on a spell caster who brought my wife back to me..i live in canada,and I'm happily married to a lovely and caring wife,with three kids.A very big problem occurred in my family seven months ago,between me and my wife.so terrible that she took the case to court for a divorce.she said that she never wanted to stay with me again,and that she didn't love me anymore.So she packed out of my house and made me and my children passed through severe pain. I tried all my possible means to get her back,after much begging,but all to no avail.and she confirmed it that she has made her decision,and she never wanted to see me again. So on one evening,as i was coming back from work,i met an old friend of mine who asked of my wife.So i explained every thing to her,so she told me that the only way i can get my wife back,is to visit a spell caster,because it has really worked for her too.So i never believed in spell,but i had no other choice,than to follow her advice. Then she gave me the email address of the spell caster whom she visited.{goodluck05spellcaster@gmail.com}. So the next morning,i sent a mail to the address she gave to me,and the spell caster assured me that i will get my wife back the next day.What an amazing statement!! I never believed,so he spoke with me,and told me everything that i need to do. Then the next morning, So surprisingly, my wife who didn't call me for the past seven {7}months,gave me a call to inform me that she was coming back.So Amazing!! So that was how she came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and she apologized for her mistake,and for the pain she caused me and my children. Then from that day,our relationship was now stronger than how it were before,by the help of a spell caster. So, i will advice you out there to kindly visit the same website {goodluck05spellcaster@gmail.com},if you are in any condition like this,or you have any problem related to "bringing your ex back. So thanks to the goodluckspellcaster for bringing back my wife,and brought great joy to my family once again.goodluck05spellcaster@gmail.com

    http://goodluck05spellcaster.yolasite.com

    ReplyDelete