Chris Hayes Goes Full Driftglass. Sorta.

Well good for him.

John Yoo and Jay Byee are indeed despicable ghouls who deserved to be driven from civilized society and not given cushy sinecures at respectable institutions.

I already know that, and so do you, and so does Mr. Hayes.

You and I also know that Yoo and Bybee are safely located on the other side of the continent from Mr. Hayes so there is no danger of any uncomfortable moments among them when they accidentally run into each other in the Men's Room, or in line waiting for a Howard Shultz skinny Centrist latte.

But here's the thing.  You and I and Mr. Hayes also know damn well that for years now one could not swing a dead marmoset MSNBC, without hitting some Bush Regime Dead Ender who was there getting his or her reputation nipped and tucked and rehabilitated and burnished.

And none of those asshole has ever apologized for a fucking thing either.  Hell, its a minor miracle if you can get one of the to acknowledge that the Bush Administration ever happened all, or that their already-depraved Republican party was reduced to gibbering, public, racist madness by the election of the Kenyan Usurper.

So since you and me and the little man behind the tree all know all of this already, I kinda wonder who Mr. Hayes' very pointed comments were very pointedly aimed at.  Of course, I have theories which very neatly fit the facts, but since MSNBC employees are apparently sworn to secrecy about the dark magyks that go on up in the executive suites, I can to little more than --

In 2005, NBC CEO Jeff Zucker appointed [Phil] Griffin senior vice president of NBC News and in 2008, president of MSNBC.

In 2013, Griffin said he wanted MSNBC to be more of a lifestyle brand than a political hub...

He has said his idols are former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, and television news executive Andrew Lack. "I am one of the few people in television who never wanted to be on-air," he told The New Republic in 2013.

--  speculate irresponsibly.

Behold, a Tip Jar!

Peak Both Siderism: The Southern Avenger

Unbeknownst to me, last week was apparently declared "National Both Sides Do It Week" during a secret conclave of the lords of the Beltway media, because that shit was everywhere.

Of course Chuck Todd was all over it:

From the Today Show:

And Michael Steele -- whose role in the Republican Party was explained eloquently by Malcolm X here -- loves some false equivalence for breakfast, lunch and supper more than Paula Deen loves butter

But nowhere was the Big Beltway Both Sides Lie more in evidence than on the once-respectable Christopher L. Hayes teevee show where the con-artist formerly known as the Southern Avenger took the floor to explain that the best way to deal with the white supremacists who have taken over the Party of Lincoln was to ignore them, and that (per the video above, h/t Crooks & Liars) all this reckless ginning up of racist rhetoric was the fault of...

...wait for it...

...the Left and the Right!

So if you've ever wondered how in the world every single fucking bigot and gutless "independent" in Christendom all learned to reflexively bark out the identical alibi -- "But Both Sides..." -- every single time another Republican atrocity is laid at their feet, now you know.

They learned by watching teevee.  By reading the newspaper.  By listening to the radio.  By hearing the same, despicable like repeated by respectable men and women everywhere.

Because without the Big Beltway Both Sides Lie, the Beltway media would be unable to function. Which is why they have to work extra hard to manufacture ever more bullshit rationalizations every time reality threatens to derail their morally-bankrupt gravy train.  Which these days is every god damn day.

The Fresh Prince of Belles Lettres

From Brother Charlie Pierce:

...

The problem with [Meet the Press] never has been the hosts, although they could be better. The problem is that the format is obsolete, which is demonstrated quite clearly by the panels put together on MSNBC's weekend morning shows -- academics, and state politicians, and, occasionally, ordinary citizens who have latched into a cause, all viewpoints that almost never get aired anywhere else, and undeniably fresh ones.

The only flaw with Brother Pierce's assay of MSNBC's very early weekend offerings is that it should begin "Once upon a time..." (and thanks for the link, also too,)

Yes, there was a time when an active and vibrant "community" of early watchers got up with the chickens in order to get their fix of the Pure Quill. A two hour course in advanced public policy, linguistics and political theory facilitated by Chris Hayes.  With pastries! And a host who cheerfully torched the fourth wall by directly and comfortably interacted with the audience.  This was followed by another two hours of the same-church-different-pew hosted by the terrific Melissa Harris-Perry.

O frabjous day!  Callooh! Callay!

We had found the sacred glade where l'esprit of Air America was hiding from the corporate chekists! The underground Liberal sea into which the many river of Lefty blogging were supposed to flow but never did.   To celebrate, my wife and I would arise early and go now, and go to Innisfree and build a pillow and blanket nest in our bed, with me darting to the kitchen for coffee and toast during the breaks breaks.

Then, MSNBC kicked Mr. Hayes upstairs.  They upgraded his wardrobe, coached him to shoot for "basso profundo" voicing promotional spots for his new, prime-time show and cut him down to one hour a night.  And then they handed the weekend role of passionate policy wonk in shirtsleeves over to Steve Kornacki.

But, unfortunately for those of us who used to set our alarms by the show, Mr. Kornacki came to the party packing a Myers-Briggs eerily similar to Chuck Todd's.  From the start, he showed an overwhelming preference for poll numbers and the dry, fiddly details of political messaging over the viscera of genuinely serious issues; a propensity for turning everything (except the minutiae of New Jersey politics) into horse race coverage; endless, masturbatory speculation about Hillary and 2016; larding up his panels with obvious Conservative hacks and "Both Siderists" for "balance"; a passivity bordering on catatonia when his Conservative guests lie to his face; a strong smell of controversy-aversion and desperation that comes off the program like the reek of panther sweat.

Needless to say, there is virtually no interaction with the audience anymore, and the hash-tag around which the early-bird Tweeters used to gather has been shitcanned in favor of...nothing at all.

"Meet the Press"'s horrible template is political teevee's factory default setting because it turns the hard work of creating lively and interesting public debate into a plug-and-play soft-serve pundit franchise; business-friendly, inoffensive and all its parts are interchangeable.  Just follow the manual and any goof can run it.

And so when "Up..." was put into the hands of a Chuck Todd Junior, small wonder that its home-cooking and brilliant, idiosyncratic charm were bulldozed to make room for "Meet the Press, Junior".

Melissa Harris-Perry is still out there, still doing wonderful things, but for reason which I suspect have as much to to with its executive's stupidity as its executive's timorousness, MSNBC has chosen to blow up the weekend's spirited, magical, two-hour ride to MHP's piece of teevee real estate and strand her on an atoll at the end of a long, grim, pot-holed bridge.

Still, it was nice while it lasted.