2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I guess Rachel, Chris and Lawrence [View all]Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)And given his work with the late, great Daniel Patrick Moynihan, he had the inside knowledge and expertise about how government works. For political scientists like myself, there's nothing better than listening to a commentator who has been on the inside, working for policy wonk and a truly intellectual giant like DPM. With that kind of pragmatism that he brings to the network, I find myself drawn to him because he tends to be able to break down very complex public policy issues in such a way that is easier to understand.
Rachel, another political scientist, is very good as this, too. Trust me, I'm not denying her brilliance and intellect. That was never in question. Her personality is fine, though she sometimes annoy me with her silliness/giggling and shit--and being far too kind to these asshole, racist conservatives (e.g., referring to Pat Buchanan as "Uncle Pat" .
But I definitely understand where you're coming from and agree wholeheartedly. These folks are not our friends. They've often been very irresponsible.
I think Ed Schultz learned a very valuable lesson during the run-up of the 2010 election when he was telling Democrats on his radio show, as well as on his t.v. show that he wasn't voting; he was depressing the vote. I was an avid fan at that time and would listen daily. Outraged Democrats would call in after we lost the House in 2010 and yell at Ed for what they perceived as him depressing Democratic Party turnout. Though at the time, he couldn't admit his faults, by 2012, his tune had changed. He'd become this sunny optimist and had this "go get 'em" attitude. Even after that first debate between Obama and Mitt Romney when everyone panicked--only Ed and Al Sharpton agreed that Obama didn't perform as badly as everyone thought. Everyone else--Tweety especially, Rachel and Larry O' all predicted that Obama would lose the election because he had performed so badly after that first debate. (Remember that?!?!?) Funny how it's always those three who are supposedly the more "reasoned" liberals vs. Al and Ed Schultz who are often ridiculed and butt of jokes, or not taken very seriously on our side of the aisle.