I’ve harped on MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan before—specifically on his tendency to swallow news framed by Glenn Beck. He’s also generally a cable loudmouth.
But then there are moments when he let’s his temper flare at the right things, as he did this morning when talking to resident Republican Doofus Brad Blakeman over the GOP’s total and irrational opposition to health reform.
What set Ratigan off was this notion that Republicans, in their refusal to do anything and everything, would even fight against fairness and competition in the health insurance industry.
Did anyone else see this? Oh, it’s a treat.
Follow me for video and transcript:
We all know the standard cable TV format of bringing on Democratic and Republican "strategists" to pantomime the day's talking points and provide the TEEVEE audience with enough fireworks to keep ratings up. Sometimes these empty suits actually start listening and won't let stupidity go unchallenged. Chris Matthews hitting back at the birthers, or the talk radio host who didn't understand what appeasement meant, are good examples.
Thank God for YouTube, so we can relive these moments of sanity.
Here's a transcript of the relevant portions, but you have to watch the whole video to get the full appreciation.
Republican Doofus: We could come up with the best solutions and the Democrats would throw us to the side. They haven’t included us in the health care debate...
Ratigan: Nonsense! Either step up and deal with the problems as a party or get out of the building.
Doofus: But, Dylan, we don’t have the votes.
Ratigan: It’s nonsense. I don’t care about the votes. This is a debate about ideas. Believe me, if you were capable of prosecuting a series of ideas, I guarantee you there are Democrats and Republicans who are persuadable to rational thought if you actually care about America and you actually want to solve the...
Doofus: We do care about America.
Ratigan (shouting): You don’t! You clearly... You don’t care about America in that you care to be constructive to the conversation.
Doofus: We are constructive!
Ratigan: And if all you’re capable of is personal destruction and personal assassination, whether it’s fear from the right or guilt from the left, you are all eating this country from the gut, and it’s got to come to a conclusion...
[Snip]
Ratigan: The demand from the American people as I see it as a journalist right now is to demand that the politicians deal with the systemic problems.
Doofus: That’s gonna be changed in 2010, Dylan. That will be changed when the Republican...
Ratigan: Thanks. You steal our money another year. We’ll wait for you to win, buddy. We don’t need to worry about it until you guys win. This is nonsense.
UPDATE: Wow! The Rec List! Thanks for the mojo, everyone. I couldn't wait to post this video when I watched it this morning.
UPDATE FOR REAL: A couple of commenters made a good point that I want to address about this video and some earlier parts of the segment on MSNBC. Ratigan had run some tape of Nancy Pelosi choking up at the thought of all the excessive rhetoric contributing to a climate of violence. Ratigan took the opportunity to act like as asshat and accuse the Dems of guilting the opposition into--who knows?--acting nicer. Hence the comment mid-transcript that makes another fake equivalence between what Doofus Blakeman and Speaker Pelosi.
I hold these cable hosts about two degrees above contempt most days, and feel compelled to write about them when they do something especially stupid. In Ratigan's case, I was calling him out recently for mouthing Glenn Beck's phony czar paranoia, and I linked to that diary in the intro.
Ratigan is no hero. But while he has an audience, and while cable networks, including MSNBC, insist on having these fake experts do panels, I see no harm in highlighting moments when TV formula gives way to something real. Especially for folks out here in the blogosphere, who spend a disproportionate amount of time watching cable news, these moments are refreshing.