You Talk - Babyshambles (mp3)
If it hasn't been stated enough on here, I despise the Today show. The level of unstable explosive emotion I reserve for that show is well beyond any reasonable amount, to the point that it kinda feels Hinkley-esque. (Don't worry, Matt. You're safe. I don't do weapons.)Conservatives can shout all day long about Today being a bastion of left-wing ideology because all great political (and religious) movements need clearly-defined and two-dimensional bad guys. We need our enemies to be simple and consistent. Liberals like me demonize the super-wealthy CEO and the mind-controlling megapreacher in much the same way the right paints "The Media" and government oversight.
What angers me is that Today is no more a flagship for liberal politics than my johnson is a flagship for women's liberation. In the past decade, the show has gradually shifted from an entertaining and very superficial look at news mixed in with massive doses of pop culture, to a show completely centered in the Wow Moment. Matt and Meredith cover one and only one thing: The Rubberneck Du Jour.Whatever topic is most likely to catch your eye, arouse your prurient interests, keep you from touching that damn dial, then that's the topic they cover. And, to no one's surprise, actual news and actual politics don't keep enough people giving a shit. The Olympics. Snow. Ways to pinch a penny at the mall. The latest big-name adulterous male. This is as close to news as you're gonna get for more than a minute per hour.
The only kind of actual news Today covers is the kind they can't escape. When the World Trade Center collapses, for example. Or when a former beauty queen becomes the face of the Republican Party.
I don't remember who finally had enough of my complaining to push me into giving Morning Joe on MSNBC a chance. For certain I had stumbled across several positive articles about the show, but someone told me to give it a try.A year later, it is undoubtedly one of only three programs permitted the enter my universe of attention in the morning (the other two are NPR and SportsCenter). If you need to know why, it comes down to Mika Brezezinski's Three No's: “No cooking, no lingerie, no missing girls.”
The show involves a large table where former Rep. Joe Scarborough, the slightly right-leaning friendly blowhard, and Mika, the demure brainy slightly left-leaning librarian MILF, play symbolic parents to the breakfast nook. Their "children" change every day, but it's always a bevy of media types, politicians and talking heads. The show is fresh and modestly paced and mixes heavy talk with an often light heart, reminding us that we can all really get along, and none of these issues are worth walking away from the table over.
Don't worry. I get it. I know why one show is on a major network and the other is stuck on a meaningless cable channel. I realize our country is made up more of people who don't give a shit about what's happening to anything beyond their own water cooler and paycheck than it is of people who want to feel connected, involved and informed. Truth hurts, but I get it.
I'm just saying that, without Morning Joe, I would be incapable of holding onto my hope that important people of differing political persuasions can sit down together and talk calmly about things that matter. And what's especially refreshing is how free from dogma most of the guests seem to be. Even Pat Buchanan, who's plenty dogmatic, seems to be capable of enjoying a friendly debate without the yelling and finger-pointing that happens on other similar shows.And that's all I really want out of my morning. Non-explosive, mentally stimulating talk about actual honest-to-God news. A brief look at the state of our union with commentary from people with whom I don't always have to agree. With no cooking, lingerie, or missing girls.
Well, and coffee.
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