The Watercooler at MSNBC Must be Spiking Hot and Frosty

Well, the virtual watercooler, at least. It may be just as well that Dylan Ratigan is in New York and Andrea Mitchell in D.C., especially after Ratigan called her “favorite economist” a “con artist” and “The Godfather.” For valid reasons, I might add. Alan Greespan, principal architect of the Bush financial collapse, said by way of explanation that he was right 70% of the time. It’s that 30% we had to worry about.

If “Sully” Sullenberger posted such success rates his airbus might be sitting at the bottom of the Hudson River. Which is pretty much what happened to our economy. Chris Matthews got into the act, adding with a note of glee, “even Ayn Rand would be proud.” Certainly, Mr. Greenspan might be less affluent today but more admired had he stuck with the saxophone. Alas, he succumbed to Ms. Rand’s bewitching charms, her exotic voodoo economics, so here we are. I must say though, Andrea Mitchell is one classy lady. She elegantly sidestepped her husband’s clever evasions by pretending it didn’t happen. Although Dylan Ratigan might consider turning on his heel if he spots Andrea walking his way.

And what to make of David Schuster’s latest suspension? One of the nicest guys in MSNBC’s dysfunctional family is getting a raw deal from management Top Hats. David’s niceness masks a deceptively impetuous nature, one of his best attributes. First the dumb Top Hats take away his tweeting privileges for exposing the punk who entered Senator Landrieu’s office under false pretenses (see Rachel Maddow’s exposé). Simply put, a right wing blowhard shouts loud threats and the Top Hats cave. So to forbid David from tweeting is: (a) silly; (b) infantile; (c) stupid; or (d) all of the above. A: (d). Next, the Top Hats “rip [David] a new one” because he filmed a CNN pilot. Please. Can anyone say, overreaction? The guy’s contract expires this year. He’s exploring his options. It’s not as if the dumb Top Hats showed him any respect. But they’d be really really dumb to let him go. Cut David a break and get him back on air. And give him back his tweeting privileges. Idiots.

Now, to the meat of the batting order. Ed Schultz has been pinch-hitting a lot of late because of the Top Hats’ disruptive meddling. He’s great. Solid, passionate and genuine. Which has Contessa suddenly flirting with him on-camera. What’s up with that? Ed seems puzzled but plays along. He doesn’t quite know what to make of Ms Brewer -- who does? Keith anchors the team, as always hitting for average and power. (I wonder if the rumor that his comments are pre-screened by Top Hat censors is true; that would certainly explain why Keith on a recent show declared he had nothing to comment about. Back in the days that military censors in Brasil slashed newspaper articles, the defiant press would print recipes or columns of black ink where the censored articles had been laid out. Censorship of any kind has no place in journalism. I hope it’s only a rumor.) Rachel Maddow is still hitting for power and swinging for the fences with regularity. Yet she hit a single on that Pentagon video story (home run for Dylan). I hope her power numbers aren’t declining.

Which brings us back to Chris Matthews. Chris is like the wild closer who fires heat but has control problems. Hardball. Lots of “dusters” as he’ll admit to himself, not to speak of a brushback, something way outside, and CRACK –- extra base hits, as I recall, from Alan Grayson and Howard Dean. They rocked Chris. Manager Joan Walsh had had enough: “Don’t get me going, Chris” she warned before yanking him. Usually Joan lets Chris work himself out of the inning. And mostly, he’ll get back on his game. But seriously, Chris revealed he used to be a Goldwater Republican before “falling in love” with Gene McCarthy. That explains A LOT, Chris!