Palinoia

The Morning Joe Rebuttal for November 16th, 2009


The founding principles of the Morning Joe show were determined and written in stone when Mika refused to cover Paris Hilton and Joe began calling out the extremist on both sides and calling on those in the center to police their respective ranks.

Where are that Joe and Mika today? This would be a short observation if that were it: if this was a debate about why Sarah Palin, who is as marketable as an entertainer as Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears, was taking the oxygen out of the newsroom. That actually got some coverage by the crew today but mostly they all seemed resigned that resistance was futile and they might as well play along.

But there is such a glaring omission, and it was even teased on the show but a battered staff just grew glass-eyed and passed over the subject.

Sarah Palin is here for one specific reason: to take over the health care debate on behalf of all of the kill votes in the United States of America. This is not a conspiracy, nor do I think that it was even seen by kill vote operatives or Palin-pitchers as anything more than blind luck and accidental opportunity. She wrote the kill catch phrase “death panels”. She will have a talking point to connect with swing state supporters throughout this conveniently timed book tour. There is no doubt that in a fight where the house was a loss for the health care debate despite shenanigans galore, the kill vote interests far and wide are simply happy they’ve found the nuclear option in time for the senate.

Expect a significant portion of each of the Palin public performances to be used to pound the health care initiative using all of the best tips and tricks the right has been using since 1994. Quick slogans will come out of the woodwork as an attempt to use the book tour to be the genesis of the final viral marketing campaign. You will know a minimum of 5 new 5 words or less reminder slogans that the patriotic thing to do is kill the bill by the book tours end.

I listened to the coverage today on the show, and it just seemed that the crew couldn’t retrain their sights forward, that they needed to take a day off to remind themselves of the issues. That made the Palin coverage part of the show today seem like a group of people doing their homework in class.

Katrina vanden Heuvel really comes close to Alan Colmes (Hannity and Colmes) on the show, like a person brought on to be beat up. Her points are progressive and highly respectable, but it comes off like a focus group teaching Joe Scarborough how to overcome objections and hone his message for some future endeavor.

One a humble note, one of my key points last week keyed on a sports analogy, which I will probably never forgive myself for. When I compared the Virginia gubernatorial race, I said it was like a New Orleans Saints – St. Louis Rams football game and described it as a rout from kickoff to final whistle. I watched that game this week, and embarrassingly, parity in the NFL won out.

Go Chargers, see you tomorrow.