CNN

There are reports that David Shuster taped a pilot for a new CNN program

It appears Shuster may be in the MSNBC doghouse again after reports he shot a CNN pilot recently, which apparently happened without his MSNBC bosses knowing.

On Friday Shuster didn’t host his 3:00 show, but did host the 10am show, highlighting that this story does have some legs. Today we find out Shuster won’t be hosting either show:

MSNBC bad boy David Shuster may be on his third strike.

Shuster won't be on the air today for his 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. shows, according to MSNBC insiders. Whether he returns before his contract expires in December is up for debate.

Shuster's last appearance was at 10 a.m. Friday. MSNBC boss Phil Griffin pulled him from his 3 p.m. gig after learning, via The New York Observer, that the anchor had recently shot a pilot for CNN without having informed his bosses.

And as the article reminds us, Shuster has been a constant scapegoat for MSNBC:

In February 2008, Shuster was suspended for two weeks and forced to apologize after a tasteless on-air crack about Chelsea Clinton's presidential politicking for her mother, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.

At the annual Democratic Party meeting there should be a mandatory seminar on communication. Not properly communicating has cost the Democrats dearly. It was a big nail in the coffin on health care. People couldn’t understand things like “health exchanges” or “public option”. Even the one simple word left a bad feeling with voters - “mandates”. Democrats tried to make mandates sound like a good thing, but you can’t change how people feel when hearing that word.

Now we are seeing the failures of communication spread beyond healthcare:

Nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday morning also indicates that 63 percent of the public feels that projects in the plan were included for purely political reasons and will have no economic benefit, with 36 percent saying those projects will benefit the economy.

Twenty-one percent of people questioned in the poll say nearly all the money in the stimulus has been wasted, with 24 percent feeling that most money has been wasted and another 29 percent saying that about half has been wasted. Twenty-one percent say that only a little has been wasted and 4 percent feel that no stimulus dollars have been wasted.

Again the Republicans took advantage here. They used key phrases like “government welfare” and that strikes anger in voters, while Democrats go out and get to technical trying to defend the stimulus.

American’s understand catch phrases better than anything. Look at “death panels”. It was a flat out lie, but because it was such a small and catchy phrase, it ended up causing damage.

And check out who it is:

This week, John's exclusive guests are Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) LIVE from Jerusalem. We'll get their insight on the foiled airline terror plot and President Obama's strategy on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As Benen points out:

Hmm, McCain and Lieberman, talking together about foreign policy and national security. Now that's a balanced pairing.

CNN – The worst rated name in news! Keep this crap up and before long CNN will lose the ratings game to public access.

We hear the phrase “24 hour news cycle” an awful lot, but in reality we don’t have a 24 hour news cycle. Instead this decade has seen a 24 hour news cycle evolve into a 24 hour opinion cycle.

Take the case of my previous post of Mary Matalin claiming that Bush inherited 9/11 and reduced unemployment his first year in office. Both statements are completely false. When Bush took office unemployment was at 4.2% and had raised to 5.7% after his first year in office. Now a lot of people can defend this in part because of 9/11 and they would be right, but the fact is that Mary Matalin flat out lied and no one in the news world tried to correct her.

Welcome to the 24 hour opinion cycle.

What we are seeing now is more people able to take to their airwaves and spread their opinion, completely unchallenged and void of fact. This is evident on FOX, CNN and MSNBC. Even Keith Olbermann is more of an opinion show than news show.

People talk about how our nation has become so polarized over the past decade. We now see everything is right and left, or blue and red. This is a direct by-product of the 24 hour opinion cycle. Take Matalin’s comments yesterday. In our busy lives a lot of people don’t have the time to fact check people like Matalin. Instead they quickly catch a little talking point and it becomes fact to them. I am sure someone today will sit around the water cooler and say “you know that Bush reduced high unemployment he got from Clinton in his first year. I heard that on CNN yesterday.” Of course they are just echoing the very same lie, but they don’t know any better.

 Greg Sargant points out that in a new CNN poll there is a 6 point uptick in support for the Senate bill. There are some other numbers in that poll that are very interesting:

Thinking about the health care and health insurance that is available to most Americans, do you think the proposals in the Senate bill would change things for the better, change things for the worse, or not make any real changes at all?
34% Change for the better, 38% Change for the worse, 26% No change

Thinking about the health care and health insurance that is available to you and your immediate family, do you think the proposals in the Senate bill would change things for the better, change things for the worse, or not make any real changes at all?
22% Change for the better, 37% Change for the worse, 39% No change

These two questions were rotated in the polling, so they each represent a 50% coverage of those polled. It’s interesting that while support for the bill has gone up (even though it is still widely opposed), the number of people who thinks the bill will do actual good remains low and out numbered by those who think it will do more harm than good. In all honesty I think we should look at change for the worse and no change as the same thing.

Image via Wikipedia

Anderson Cooper is seeing his ratings plummet:

The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, "Anderson Cooper 360," has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.

Last month, in Cooper's time slot, Fox News' "On the Record" attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while "360" averaged 672,000; repeats of MSNBC's "Countdown" and HLN's Nancy Grace show averaged 655,000 and 458,000, respectively.

But in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo, those same repeats won out over Cooper with 224,000 (MSNBC) and 214,000 (HLN).

CNN really needs to make some big changes and make them quick. Cooper is at the point that he’s getting beat by reruns. That is really sad in the news industry.

A familiar face from CNN has a new gig with the RNC:

Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant, will take over as a senior communications adviser to RNC Chairman Michael Steele, according to a source familiar with the move. The announcement of Castellanos' role comes hours after communications director Trevor Francis announced he was leaving the committee. But, Castellanos is taking on the strategic role on a permanent -- not interim -- basis, according to the source.

This follows the news that Trevor Francis is vacating the post, a kind of odd departure mid-cycle. I just hope CNN informs their viewers of Alex’s position every time they have him on.

CNN has ran a very interesting poll that gives us a lot to think about:

The poll indicates that a slight majority, 51 percent, of Republicans would prefer to see the GOP in their area nominate candidates who agree with them on all the major the issues even if they have a poor chance of beating the Democratic candidate. Forty-three percent of Republicans say they would rather have candidates with whom they don't agree on all the important issues but who can beat the Democrats.

Democrats polled seemed to place a slightly higher priority on electoral victory: 58 percent say that they would like their party to nominate candidates who can beat Republicans, even if they don't agree with those candidates on all the issues. Fewer than 4 in 10 Democrats say they would rather see their party nominate candidates who agree with them on all major issues, but have a poor chance of beating the Republican candidate.

When you first read this you would assume that the Republicans put issues ahead of party, which seems like a great thing. Actually it isn’t. What the poll shows is that the Republicans have an 8 point deficit in self-identified Republicans believing in the party, while Democrats are +20. Here’s the reason given for this:

"One reason for the difference between the parties: the Democrats have a relatively even split on ideological grounds. Thirty-four percent of Democrats are liberal, 40 percent are moderates and less than one in four call themselves conservatives," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

By contrast, 73 percent of Republicans questioned in the poll say they are conservatives, with only 26 percent describing themselves as liberal or moderate Republicans.