Lawrence O'Donnell Trying to Get Fired?

[YankeeFan]

Wow, he has hammered NBC for the entire hour tonight for allowing Trump to remain on the air while continuing to make birther claims.

He displayed a rating chart that shows Celebrity Apprentice's ratings climbing as his birther appearances continued. Says NBC doesn't care because of the ratings.

Says FOX got sick of Glenn Beck's craziness, wonders what it would take for NBC to fire Trump. Said CBS fired Charlie Sheen.

Bigger question, can you call out your employer's integrity on a network they own and still keep your job?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I don't know if he'll be fired, but he's right. Somebody has to call out Trump for this crap.

 

[Rufino]

O'Donnell doesn't need that show just for the money, and has made clear it's not something he particularly loves doing. He's a guy with pretty diverse interests. If he can't speak his mind, I imagine he'd rather not be there anyway. He's also completely right, which helps.

 

[terrier]

Does anybody want to be at NBC anymore?
With one foot out the door, Meredith Viera let him prattle on and on today. Now there are stories that Matt Lauer will walk when his contract runs out next year.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

The next person who interviews Trump needs to say the following:

"Not only has Obama released his birth certificate, he's the only Presidential candidate who ever has. The state of Hawaii's DOH verified the information on the document. The newspaper announcements were placed by the state, not the parents or grandparents. Now if you have any credible evidence that Obama was born anywhere else, please let me know. That's evidence that he was not born in Hawaii, not 'anybody could get a Hawaiian COLB, his grandmother said he was born in Kenya, he's spent millions trying to hide his personal records' or any of that ****.
If don't have such evidence, shut the **** up."

 

[YankeeFan]

The surprising thing wasn't that O'Donnell blasted Trump. That was warranted & expected.

But he blasted -- I mean blasted -- NBC for the entire hour. It wasn't like he made one comment asking why NBC would allow such nonsense, it was the central them of the show.

He basically said that FOX had more integrity than NBC.

It really had me wondering if he wants out and would like to do it in a blaze of glory.

 

[Stoney]

The next person who interviews Trump needs to say the following:

"Not only has Obama released his birth certificate, he's the only Presidential candidate who ever has. The state of Hawaii's DOH verified the information on the document. The newspaper announcements were placed by the state, not the parents or grandparents. Now if you have any credible evidence that Obama was born anywhere else, please let me know. That's evidence that he was not born in Hawaii, not 'anybody could get a Hawaiian COLB, his grandmother said he was born in Kenya, he's spent millions trying to hide his personal records' or any of that ****.
If don't have such evidence, shut the **** up."

Or, better yet, just keep their mouths shut and let him prattle on.

IMO, survival of the birther crap is one of the best things that can happen to Obama's re-election hopes, and a birther presidential candidate would be absolute gold. The only people inclined to buy into that were never gonna vote Obama anyways, and it only turns off the people who are on the fence and communicates a message about how utterly desperate to smear is the right.

Republicans are the ones who should be desperate to shut up the birthers, Dems should be happy to let em spew away.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

The next person who interviews Trump needs to say the following:

"Not only has Obama released his birth certificate, he's the only Presidential candidate who ever has. The state of Hawaii's DOH verified the information on the document. The newspaper announcements were placed by the state, not the parents or grandparents. Now if you have any credible evidence that Obama was born anywhere else, please let me know. That's evidence that he was not born in Hawaii, not 'anybody could get a Hawaiian COLB, his grandmother said he was born in Kenya, he's spent millions trying to hide his personal records' or any of that ****.
If don't have such evidence, shut the **** up."

Or, better yet, just keep their mouths shut and let him prattle on.

IMO, survival of the birther crap is one of the best things that can happen to Obama's re-election hopes, and a birther presidential candidate would be absolute gold. The only people inclined to buy into that were never gonna vote Obama anyways, and it only turns off the people who are on the fence and communicates a message about how utterly desperate to smear is the right.

Republicans are the ones who should be desperate to shut up the birthers, Dems should be happy to let em spew away.

I don't know. If you don't challenge lies, people tend to believe them.

 

[Magic In The Night]

The next time someone interviews Trump and he starts spewing about the birth certificate, said interviewer should say, well, Donald, are you willing to let us see your draft card and do an investigation of where you were and why during that time?

 

[CarltonBanks]

The issue is such a non-starter, why bother? Let Trump prattle and worry about the things that are actually important. I think the whole "Reality star questions President's birthplace" story has more people rolling their eyes than actually taking is seriously. Why even give it any more legs?

 

[Bob Cook]

Better yet was Bill Cosby coming on after Trump, and being Grumpy Cos and ripping Trump as a fool. Meredith Viera sat there in stunned silence, like she could have used a lifeline.

 

[YankeeFan]

Better yet was Bill Cosby coming on after Trump, and being Grumpy Cos and ripping Trump as a fool. Meredith Viera sat there in stunned silence, like she could have used a lifeline.

Cosby went after him? Where?

O'Donnell played a long clip of the Trump/Viera interview. She looked incapable of asking a good, tough question.

 

[GoochMan]

Lotta those types in the national media these days.

 

[Starman]

The next person who interviews Trump needs to say the following:

"Quit lying, you stupid mother****er. I don't work for you and you can't fire me. Shut the **** up."

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The issue is such a non-starter, why bother? Let Trump prattle and worry about the things that are actually important. I think the whole "Reality star questions President's birthplace" story has more people rolling their eyes than actually taking is seriously. Why even give it any more legs?

Sadly, polls show only 28 percent of GOP voters are rolling their eyes at this birther idiocy and 21 percent aren't sure if they should roll their eyes or not. A whopping 51 percent of GOP voters get angry if you roll your eyes when they start screaming about how Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii.

That said, I'm convinced Trump is doing all this to boost his TV ratings. No way he plans to run. But could you imagine how much fun it would be to do opposition research on him?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/31/opinion/la-oe-maher31-2009jul31

Bill Maher said it best in 2009:

"But we live in America, and in America, if you don't immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people."

 

[Boom_70]

I did not even realize until I read this thread that the birther issue still looms.

My feeling with Trump is that he is less interested in running for President than he is promoting The Trump brand.

 

[CarltonBanks]

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/31/opinion/la-oe-maher31-2009jul31

Bill Maher said it best in 2009:

"But we live in America, and in America, if you don't immediately kill arrant nonsense, no matter how ridiculous, it can grow and thrive and eventually take over, like crab grass or reality shows about fat people."

Was this before or after he was throwing "****" and "****" around? I do not look to Bill Maher for advice on anything...neither should anyone else. He is an arrogant, mysoginist idiot. He is EXACTLY the kind of ******* that the left should be dismissing, not quoting.

Inky, the sad thing is that I would imagine that 28% number is a little inflated. However, I think this is a result of many on the right wanting ANYTHING to bring Obama's presidency to an end. Not because of racism, but because of a real disdain for his policies. That's why I think people like Hannity, Rush, Levin and Steyn are so dismissive of the Birther issue...because it does nothing but help swing independents the other way.

 

[DanOregon]

I'm more surprised NBC signed off on Trump being given a weekly spot on Fox and Friends.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Here's the thing, though. If you're NBC, do you fire O'Donnell for speaking his mind, knowing that there would be a backlash against them for restricting his opinions? Or if you're NBC, you just suck it up on this one and hope the furor dies down?