Cenk: Why I quit MSNBC

Good job Cenk for standing on principle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrKKkGl3TnY&feature=player_embedded

turn down cash to instead being able to live with yourself.

he's too good for MSNBC, as are a couple of others.

"people in Washington are concerned about your tone" --- what a statement to one of their TV personalities. keep it calm, don't cause too many waves - stop being so damned progressive --- screw them!

but he has confirmed what many of us have long, long suspected.

Rachel is seriously tough on both her Republican (when she gets them) and Democratic guests. Shit, Rachel barely has any Republicans on her show and she's got serious ratings and MSNBC is keeping her on.

I just see this as smoke and mirrors when the defense he gives is contrary to the other hosts on MSNBC who are pretty brutal to the guests. And if it's true about Al Sharpton---he doesn't dance around his guests and pretty much tears into the Repubs regularly. He just didn't fit, end of story (for either party). The excuses given just don't match up to me.

I think Cenk was the latter. He yelled, shouted down guests and spent most of his interviews telling his guests what HE thought and what HE thought everyone else should be doing and thinking and did little to elicit any useful information or insights or even to highlight holes and deficiencies in his guests arguments.

While it may be emotionally satisfying to see someone with whom we agree beat down people who disagree with us, it is not an effective tool and isn't even good television. I like Cenk and find him often to be charming and funny. I tried to watch Cenk every day - and just about every day found myself thinking, "Oh, shut UP!" and then turning the channel because I just couldn't take any more of his yelling and what I believed to be often a naive view of how government, policy and politics actually work in the real world.

I think these shows should be about more than just a liberal echo chamber providing catharsis for left-leaning viewers. They should educate and illuminate and persuade people who don't see things our way but are open to changing their minds. That's why Rachel Maddow is so excellent. I believe that people of various stripes actually listen to her and learn something. On the other hand, Cenk offered nothing new, provided no learning opportunities and probably turned off many more people than he attracted. If people like me, who actually liked Cenk, could barely stand to watch him, I'm sure folks who might be open to new information but aren't liberal stalwarts wouldn't go anywhere near him.

Screaming loudly doesn't make one an honest, effective truth-teller any more than talking softly and intelligently and listening to what a guest has to say make one a sellout. And a host who takes this approach is not necessarily the victim of some kind of nefarious corporate conspiracy when he's asked to tone it down. I'm a staunch and proud liberal who loves people who vigorously speak the truth and *I* wanted him to tone it down - if only so that more people could actually HEAR the truth and not just a loud voice screaming at them.

I have high hopes for Rev. Sharpton because, based on what I've seen in his tryout, he is much more in the Rachel mold and, thus, can be a very successful and valuable part of the lineup. Time will tell, but he's off to a good start.

In regards to the yelling, that is exactly what turned me off about his show. It was like watching a younger version of Ed. This is actually the reason I don't watch The Ed Schultz show. At first I liked it, but then the yelling, the double standards, and the hypocrisy on his part was driving me nuts to watch to the point he turned me off. It also helped that he advocated that people shouldn't vote---since I abhor that mentality.

We need more bullies like Cenk.

If the only people who listen to him are those who agree with him, what's the point?

You may like listening to bullies, but I think most people have no interest in being yelled at night after night. That kind of schtick may be entertaining for uneducated people who already agree and ave no interest in learning anything or seeing any other point of view, but it gets us nowhere and is a complete waste of time, in my view.

I'm an adult and prefer not to be lectured to by my entertainment. Being a reasonable, respectful interviewer with good debating skills is a lost art. Larry O is the only one I can tolerate on a regular basis.

It's kin of amusing how seriously some people are taking this, as if the cable talkfest is really that important. First, it only reaches a tiny sliver of the electorate. Second, it is likely that most viewers aren't getting all or even most of the political information from MSNBC - especially from the 6:00 hour.

All of this hand-wringing and "we're DOOMED!!!" crying and whining all because one of the lower rated cable channels replaced one of their lowest rated hosts is pretty funny.

Her tone is not threatening....unlike her intellect. I admire and respect her and Cenk.

They were worried he would become ucontrolable......And I think they feared having to pay him more than they were willing.

This is not some vast conspiracy to take down Cenk Uygur.

He's not as fearsome and threatening to the power elite that some here seem to think he is. No one is shutting him up or shutting him down.

He's a blogger who got a television show that didn't work out. Period.

Just like every other host.

His numbers were low and falling. And he consistently trailed Fox, CNN and CNN Headline.

The facts are what they are.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/the-scoreboard-friday-july-15-2_b77126

He cherry picked ratings for his video

He was in 4th place

June 6:00

FNC
1,563,000 total
231,000 25-54

HLN Prime News
1,136,000 total
330,000 25-54

CNN
618,000 total
175,000 25-54

MSNBC
542,000 total
153,000 25-54

CNBC
123,000 total
49,000 25-54

Well said.

Rachel started on Radio. He started on youtube. But he's been in the business for a long time. He's not a neonate. He's just overall a bad interview and I find his explanation poor. Why would they fear having to pay him more than they were willing? Didn't you hear his interview? He just said they were going to give him a slot where he was going to be getting MORE money than the 6pm slot and he rejected it.

If MSNBC was so afraid of him, why would they offer him another show?

He wasn't offered another show.

I'm astonished by all the vituperation aimed at Cenk.

He seems like an amiable enough guy, doesn't take himself too seriously, and was pretty fair to the MSNBC folks in his description of events.

My assumption was, and I don't think you know any better---was it would be a different time slot based on two things. His statements over and over about not getting the 6pm slot and secondly an article which stated he was given another time slot. But it doesn't matter, the whole thing is semantics. But nitpicking seems to be the key when one doesn't have a solid argument.

youtube wasn't around back then. i know he looks young, but he's 40.

with racist sauce, she displayed affection toward him, called him her Uncle Pat. She played that game with abandon. Imagine Sharpton having David Duke on, and calling him 'son'. That is what Rachel did for her dollar. To be blunt, I have never seen any one sell out so deeply and casually as Rachel Maddow. Uncle Pat. I rarely tune her in, each time I do it is a Republican, or she's making alcoholic beverages on the 'news'. Racist gay haters and cocktail shakers. Serious journalism, with a car service! As long as Rachel gets the silk sofa, Rachel is happy. She would promote evil for a bonus, we know this because she promoted Pat.
Uncle Pat on Hitler:
"an individual of great courage.... Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path."
Uncle Pat on gay people:
"With 80,000 dead of AIDS, our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide."
Uncle Pat on women:
"Rail as they will about 'discrimination,' women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism."

So Rachel proved herself quickly by standing with that one, deeming him Uncle Pat.

I think you're way off base. First off, I never remember Rachel ever calling Pat uncle. Tamron Hall has said that we call him Uncle Pat when she was questioned about how she feels about some of Pat's racist comments. Overall, Rachel has stood toe to toe with Pat in regards to the nonsense he says on air. I don't think anyone can deny it.

You forgot to mention Uncle Pat on Black people---which is actually what he's raging about more often than anything else. However he is her co-worker and they all have to deal with him. Even Cenk dealt with him on his show and he was actually relatively nice to him---I don't see how he's not a sell out for having Buchanan on his show---especially considering Cenk was a "former" Republican.

It seems that to some here that one's bona fides as a true progressive is directly proportional to their on-air decibel level. The louder they scream, the more progressive they must be.

She demonstrates what one has to do to work there, be cozy with bigots like Buchanan. Cenk said he did not want more Republican guests, nor to 'tone it down'. Maddow 'toned down' her entire being to get that gig, she changed her hair, her clothing, her identity. When asked, she was more than willing to legitimize homophobes and racists. These things are the very definitions of selling out. She did them. She is just herself, one person. And I have felt this way about her since she became Buchanan's beard. I never even saw the Cenk show. Don't watch bigot TV. I despise Buchanan. Don't enjoy the washed up TV producer show O'Donnell has, Ed is just not my idea of a good time, and the rest is Republicans and prison shows.
So characterize away, that is the exact tactic for which I reject Pat, his coworkers, and his fans.

is cozying up.

In the way that Barack Obama cozied up to McCain when McCain said "that one."

Uh, youre making 0 sense.

goose egg.

She called him 'Uncle Pat'. Sorry you can not remember the facts. She promotes him. She legitimizes him.
And I did not forget to post Pat on Black people, I was focusing on the GLBT and women, because Rachel is those things. It is those communities she sells out when she promotes her dear Uncle Pat, and gives him standing on her show.
Note, dear, Cenk left because they want him to have more Pats on the air. Rachel just does as she is told.
I would not watch Cenk with Pat on his show. I do not watch MSNBC because of Pat. I do not trust Rachel Maddow, because of Pat, and I never will.
Cenk is well out of that backwater Buchanan Fest. Hate TV. Not my idea of good times, watching hate filled bigots from the Nixon administration get paid to keep hating. I do not find bigots to be entertaining nor elucidating, and thus, I see no reason for them to be on 'the news'. Rachel sees reason for hosting bigots, and that reason is money.

Read up and learn. Google is your friend.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2553

You could search my name and Pat Buchanan on DU and you'd see at least 2-3 threads where I complain about racist things he's said. My point is...Every fuckin' host on MSNBC has dealt with Pat Buchanan; Cenk happens to be one of them. But you label Rachel as the sell out. Cenk is just a shit host, but he's not banned Pat Buchanan from his show but welcomed him and talked to him.

Again, I know for a fact it was Tamron Hall who called Pat Buchanan "uncle Pat", not Rachel.

patronizing. You said 'Rachel does not play patty cake with guests'. Buchanan is the Patty Cake Guest of all time. My point, she does play patty cake with her guests, cozy time with Uncle Pat proves that. In short, I do not agree with your framing that she does not play the corporate news patty cake game, because she does. She has Pat on because she is told to do so, and she wants her check, so she does it. Not everyone would make that same choice, as you see with Cenk.
Rachel also called Pat her Uncle Pat, many times. Many times. Rachel is a gay person, Pat is our enemy, and yes, that makes her Patty Cake with Pat more telling, it serves to counter your claim that she does not play patty cake. She has the guests she is told to have, even those who hate her people, and she plays Patty Cake with them. Banters with bigots, for pay, because she is told to do so. That is her choice. I do not have to respect it, nor will I pretend that it is not soft ball, kid glove time for Uncle Pat on her show.
Cenk says he left over just that sort of nonsense. You say you do not believe him. I think he's well out of that house of right wing bullshit. Pat's House is not a place for humans. And it is Pat's House.

hence the reason I said you were being patronizing. As far as Rachel. Again, she doesn't mince words with Pat. She disagrees with him as she's disagreed with Republicans on her show and she's basically made the look like fools. And then ends the conversation on a cordial note. She like most "balanced" news hosts know that it's better to have right and left versus just a left sided argument. I don't see the problem with her being nice to people she may not like. She's being polite on that end.

I find your point be utterly false. She doesn't have Pat on because she has too. Normally when Pat is on the show, it's when she can't get a Republican guest to give the other twist to the argument she'd need. As a matter of fact, Rachel rarely has Pat on her show. You make it seem as though he's on every other day or week or month---and in all three cases you'd be false. Cenk is full of himself is all I can see. He's had Republicans on the show---and he spends more time yelling at him or pompously interjecting himself and his own rhetoric into a discussion that nothing productive is done. A lot of people get turned off by that and I happen to be one of them.

For god's sakes, "on your Rachel is gay and Pat is our enemy." I'm a Black woman ---all of America is my damned enemy. Jesus Christ. Your statement is utter nonsense. There's no argument necessary to even deal with that. She basically spends her time shitting on his bigotted ass---but you think her a sell out on the rare occasion she has Pat on her show. Something else.

Cenk didn't leave over anything but the mere fact he lost a 6pm slot which is a difficult slot to own. He can say what he wants---but it still doesn't match up to the other hosts there. You can believe what you want about Rachel---but she's far from a right wing ass kisser as you portray her.

I watched Tweety rip Norquist a new one. And Rachel always, always has the facts and catches the right wing BS.

She can take her guests to task - Cenk doesn't have that power yet

Cenk is insulting and rude and often poorly informed. Rachel always has full command of the issues and debates forcefully. She doesn't shhout down her guests. She just traps them in flaws in their own logic.

Cenks ratings were down. Viewers and advertisers were complaining. MSNBC made a smart business decision replacing him.

He kept making "that's not what I really meant" statements

This confirms I was correct to assume he had too much integrity for television.

He was the most critical of Obama on the network (even more so than Ed IMO). All the "good" hosts focused their fire on Republicans. The hosts that pointed out Obama's enabling of Republicans were shown the door.

Or perhaps he was shown the door because his ratings were bad.


Thats a possibility as well.:shrug:

He was consistent. Ed doesn't know whether he's about to wash his hands of Obama or if Obama was a brilliant.

My gripe with Cenk from the beginning is that he just didn't come across as too bright.

I'm sure he is but he was not good at reading, articulating, and justifying his attacks.

I think he was getting better. He might have been bringing in a younger audience, that's the down side.

Ed spins himself in circles trying to figure out if the president is very clever or very weak.

Cenk stays on focus: tax the rich, regulate the banks, show your strong side to the public.

From what I saw, he tells it like it is and doesn't kiss Administration ass.

Ed Schultz is not in love with Obama either and even Rachel has her moments. But you're saying Cenk? Please. The only person on MSNBC who's consistently defended Obama is Mika on Morning Joe and that's mainly when Joe is not around.

And O'Donnell railed against NBC to the point I (and many others) thought he might've gotten fired. Cenk was just loud. And ignorant at times. I'm glad he's gone.

just look at all the host on there.They all have rethugs on there show disagreeing with a democrat they just hired UNCLE TOM Steele as a MSNBC contributor why can't these shows just have a democrat speaking to the host instead of this shouting match between a STUPID CRAZY rethug

TV.

He always speaks truth to power and has done so for a along time. Turned down a 2x salary raise for a reduced role. Wow.....Many would make the opposite decision.

He should move to Current and help KO build a network :)

you just silenced yourself Cenk.

It's obvious he doesn't have an agent.

Cenk had significantly increased ratings in the demographic MSNBC had *claimed* they hired him to attract.

Then TPTB didn't like Cenk's honesty. Like many people I was beginning to watch MSNBC nearly every day just to watch Cenk. Now i won't. I think somebody important didn't want people to watch Cenk. It was almost an accident he had gotten on at all.

His numbers were low and dropping.

Sharpton is old and boring.

Sharpton obviously will listen to TPTB. I watched earlier this week. He certainly had Repugs on.

Sharpton's ratings are much higher than Uygur's in fact, Sharpton's lowest rating was higher than Uygur's best number.

I don't think you know who Sharpton is. He's a Civil Rights marcher, this man doesn't "conform" because the man wants him too. And I'm fuckin' insulted that you would insinuate such a thing. Sharpton is well known in the United States and prominent in New York, he' also has a very successful radio show. He doesn't need to listen to TPTB.

Sharpton has had Republicans on and has dismantled each and everyone of them. What the hell, did you think Sharpton was expounding his love and devotion to Republicans? Because you act like he does. "Old and boring," to each his own. I find Cenk, pompous and bullying.

No way MSNBC gives him an hour on the weekend, because it would mean an hour less of LockUp

He needs to get over himself. Quick.

To spend that amount of time talking about yourself: "They offered me a lot more money" "They offered me a lot more money" "I got the ratings up" "Here is a dissertation on my ratings, which nobody but me cares about." "They offered me a lot more money" "They offered me twice as much money"