conservative philly guy an interesting choice...
Michael Smerconish is a regular guest on MSNBC, especially on fellow Philadelphian Chris Matthews's "Hardball" program. Smerconish often gets to represent the republican stance on such programs as he does on his conservative talk radio show in the City that "loves ya back." While he is a conservative, at least in the modern context, out of the "Reagan" mold more than the Bush mold, he is no Rush Limbaugh or his comedic ilk. He lacks the hate inspired rhetoric that Ann Coulter types spew. He also tends to have his facts more together than the O'Reilly's and Hannity's of the world.
This morning, while getting myself awake, I flipped over to see what MSNBC was doing in the wake of the Don Imus firing. There, I saw Chris Matthew's citymate hosting their morning show in a similar, but not widely as syndicated simulcast style.
I took a little time to check him out.
And he was pretty good. Admittedly, I don't listen to his radio show, so I don't know how it compared to a typical radio morning or if he adapted his show to MSNBC's format. The show was a bit awkward, but understandably so, as they lacked the long term airtime that Imus & Company had after being on the air together for years.
I had the opportunity to see him interview a couple folks, like Ted Nugent.
Nugent, whom I know from his days as "Sweaty Teddy" when he swung around arenas in loincloths in between guitar solos to the delight of 1970 something crowds. Later, Mr Nugent became an outspoken gun rights advocate and eventually found himself with his own media outlets for his agenda and a seat on the NRA board.
The interview was entertaining, albeit a bit "softball" if not wiffleball like. there were several instances where The host, guest and crew were openly hesitant to "say the wrong thing" and start another controversy with themselves being the target of "gotcha" charges. I was also dissapointed that no mention of any continuing work with the people he jammed with on "Supergroup" last fall on VH1. If the interview was going to be soft by just setting up NRA talking points, then why not throw a bone to those of us who appreciate Mr Nugent on a musical level more than on an activist one? And these cable news producers scratch their heads wondering why they have a hard time getting anyone were eligible to join AARP during the Reagan administration to tune in for more than 6 minutes.
But more importantly, I found it interesting that MSNBC went with a conservative white person vs a black host of any political leaning.
After some thought, it did seem to fit into a plan to ensure more "balance" on MSNBC. And instead of pandering to a race balance, just like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have been attempting to pressure NBC into, they looked to a balance on the political spectrum.
It seems to me that possibly the thinking was that if they went with a liberal black host, it would only serve the right wing, pro fox punditry that charges that everyone else, especially NBC, is too liberal and going further to the left. If they chose a conservative black host, then the "uncle tom" type charges come from the Sharpton / Jackson coalition.
So, they tried this. And, with time, I could see Smerconish being a pretty good host. He is certainly not the cure for insomnia that I found Imus's 1/2 dead banter to be. He's conservative, but not a trained seal type pundit like the forementioned Limbaugh, et al...
Overall, he has potential. That is if they can tweak it up to more suit his style rather than just have him "filling" Imus's seat and using Imus's format.
Maybe they could bring in Allison Stewart to co host with Smirconish to provide a good political and racial balance. It might also help in getting those of us not in a nursing home to stay tuned for a while longer instead of flipping somewhere else for their morning news and information.
But before they get into all that, as Michael put it this morning before his sign off, they will need to decide if they are gonna even "let him in the building." I for one, hope they do.