The Cycle Set to Premiere Monday June 25th on MSNBC

The hosts of The Cycle (l-r)- Steve Kornacki, S.E. Cupp, Krystal Ball, and Touré

As some of you may have heard, The Dylan Ratigan Show ended its 3 year run on MSNBC on Friday June 22nd. To fill the void at 4 pm EST, Martin Bashir's self-titled program moves up an hour on Monday June 25th. Replacing Martin at 3pm EST will be a brand new program titled The Cycle, a panel ensemble show hosted by MSNBC contributors Steve Kornacki, S.E Cupp, Krystal Ball, and Touré. With a format that looks to be similar to Fox's The Five, all four hosts will take turns facilitating the discussion. With the inclusion of Cupp, there are some who have misgivings about a conservative hosting a program on a left-leaning news channel like MSNBC. In the first clip below, The Young Turks discuss the topic. Please note this clip is from June 18th and at that time, MSNBC hadn't finalized the details of the upcoming program.



I don't have a problem with the selection of S.E. Cupp as one of the hosts of The Cycle. I think having opposing viewpoints helps enliven the discussion. It may come as a surprise to some, but I've mellowed on S.E. over the past several months. This is due to her appearances on another MSNBC program, NOW with Alex Wagner. For the most part when S.E. guests on NOW, she represents a fairly reasonable conservative point of view. However, when compared to the nonsense spewed by such conservative pundits as Sean Hannity and Andrea Tantaros, calling S.E. a reasonable voice from the right may be akin to terming Moe "the smart stooge".  At any rate, I'm looking forward to checking out The Cycle. In the clip below, Dylan Ratigan introduces the four hosts during the final telecast of his program and has a discussion with them about how their show will bring a fresh take to cable news.

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RNC Chairman Compares President Obama to the Captain of the Shipwrecked Costa Concordia

During his appearance on Face the Nation this past Sunday, RNC chairman Reince Priebus compared President Obama to Capt. Francesco Schettino (who was at the helm of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia when it partially sank on January 13th).  The reason for Priebus' ridiculous analogy? According to him, President Obama campaigning for a 2nd term is akin to abandoning the American people. I don't recall past presidents being criticized for hitting the campaign trail. Now that President Obama is in the White House, a commander-in-chief trying to convince the American people he deserves reelection is comparable to manslaughter.

Not only were Priebus's remarks outrageous, but they are another example of the sad decline of the GOP. These comments weren't made by a right-wing media pundit or a run-of-the-mill conservative blogger. They were made by the head of the Republican party! Although this type of inflammatory rhetoric plays well with the people who already hate President Obama's guts, I doubt if it'll appeal to moderates or independents (you know, the people who can decide elections).

In the clip below, MSNBC host Martin Bashir discusses Priebus's comments with DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse.

Do you think Reince Priebus crossed the line with his analogy?

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Martin Bashir and Andrew Breitbart Go Head-to-Head

Although MSNBC host Martin Bashir's interview of conservative blogger/author Andrew Breitbart took place late last month, I still wanted to share it with you in case you missed it when it first aired like I did. The tough questions by Bashir had Breitbart ducking, dodging, and running for cover. Now this is how you interview someone who's a proven liar with highly questionable journalist ethics. Bashir's handling of Breitbart was the antithesis of his MSNBC colleague Dylan Ratigan, who just a day earlier lobbed softball after softball at the Tea Party darling.