David Shuster has been filling in for Tucker Carlson and today he put the screws to Ron Christie, former aide and apologist for Vice President Dick Cheney. Watching this clip I got the feeling that I was watching a real journalist at work as Shuster not only asks Christie hard questions, but follows up and calls him on his talking points and misinformation. Christie insinuates that Cheney’s role as President of the Senate somehow outweighs the job of VP and that the only reason Cheney is refusing to comply with the law is to insure the solvency of the Office of the Vice President as if it were somehow in danger. The topic turns to Scooter Libby and Shuster wasn’t having any of Christie’s spin:
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Shuster: You’re a great guest, you’re a great guy, but on the politics and the law in the Scooter Libby case, you’re wrong.“
David Shuster has done some great work on “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann and it’s obvious he’s been taking notes. MSNBC would do well to consider moving Tucker out of the way to make room for a real journalist to take over this time slot.
Filed Under: Dick Cheney, MSNBC, Plame Case/Pat Fitzgerald, Scandals, White House
5 Trackbacks To “MSNBC’s David Shuster Grills A Cheney Apologist“
Some people in high places have decided its time for Cheney to go. Otherwise we wouldn’t have a four part series on him in the Wash Post. I guess the corporations have decided maybe war with Iran wouldn’t be so great after all. Perhaps another world war wouldn’t be too good for business.
That mofo needs some serious eye surgery…(cheap shot, i know…)…maybe if he wasn’t soooo frakin’ wrong all the time…..
wow… Ron Christie’s parents must be horrified about the good little tool they have created. Can you imagine conversing with some one like this guy? Poor David Shuster…
David Shuster, unlike many so-called journalists, still retains his professional soul. I wish he and Lara Logan would be given a news show to anchor together. Now, that would be journalism.
OMG…I misspelled freakin’ !
I think Shuster would make a great permanent replacement for the shrill and whiny Tucker. In fact that was exactly what I thought watching tonight. Normally I would have changed the channel, but seeing David Shuster, I stayed tuned to MSNBC.
Shuster has been a straight shooter. I hope he will grill Hillary one of these days.
Compromising days are over!
david schuster asks the questions and is relentless. he’s given us a taste of what should have been all along. journalists the entire time should have been asking the questions and not settling for dribble that was returned. the cheney apologist is nothing but a flim flam man; he excels at redirecting issues. however it’s evident that he hasn’t a leg to stand on. he comes off as weak and stammering for a foundation. one can only think that his thought is how in the world am i going to counteract this guy when he’s dealing with facts and the facts support his position.
nevermore - I was going to say the same thing. You’re off the hook. :-)
andotech @ 3:
Speaking of Christie .. he’s been on MSNBC a lot lately. Is he MSNBC’s permanent Cheney lackey?
i like shuster give him the spot. who is tucker blowing. Stewart on crossfire should have ended his career. what has tucker done except work for right wing think tanks and pols. That is not journalism.
A black Ken Mehlman.
Shuster is great, I think, aside from Keith of course, he is the best thing on 24 hour news. His explanations of the stories he covers are always very comprehensive but told in such a way that the “average viewer” can understand the seriousness of what he is covering. I would love it if he got his own show but only if he can keep being the guy on the spot at all these hearings and trials etc. In other words, he can film it in D.C. or something, cover Washington during the day and then tell us all about it each night.
And for the most part, they were not talking over each other which is rather rare today in American political-talk programs.
Ezzy @ 7:
Oh, thank you for the unintended compliment! :)
Cheney protecting the office of the vice-presidency? Please - Congress made sure that the VP would be strictly limited in the legislative role - in 1789.
I love these “rule of law” people who want the Scooter out so badly.
I only made it through about 4 min until I shut it off and yelled at my screen.
kerplunk @ 12:
Possibly a straight one, as well.
Shuster is a journalist — this kind of in-studio anchor job would dull his professsional knives.
I think my bullshit meter broke! my god, that was painful to watch.
David Shuster is the anti-Tom Russert. When Russert gets some spin he just let’s it pass — even if he knows it’s bull. I get so irritated watching guys like Russert kiss ass every week. Shuster is refreshing and I loved it when he got indignant with Cheney’s MSNBC tool. Go David!
Still too O’Reillyesque for my taste even if he is on the side of the angels.
Shuster can stay…Cheney must go!…somewhere…anywhere…Dubai, maybe?
Ron Christie, defending Scooter “former Hill staffer” Libby by griping about “unnamed sources” in the newspapers would be laughable if Dick Cheney hadn’t started a disastrous war that way.
Shuster slapped the shit out of him…and said at the end point blank that you are wrong asshole….ha ha….
I know the facts asshole..you cant blow smoke up my ass…punk-ass….
I’m still curious re: who gets to appear on these programs? Who decides, and how? I’m tired of the dialogue bouncing back and forth between republican spokesmodels and democratic spokesmodels…they are all, it seems, by definition, by their OWN definition, COMPLETELY BIASED, and, therefore, it seems, completely lacking in credibility…we seem to be turning into a nation ( media-wise, at least) of used car salesmen…would anyone buy a car from, ohhh, let’s say,(because this is a left-leaning site ) that Carville guy??? Not me…
Hard to believe but I think I read somewhere that Schuster used to work for Fox. Quit because he couldn’t do real journalism. Doesn’t matter where he used to work, he is a good reporter and YES I have seen him report negative things about Dems. With Schuster he reports the facts and chips fall where they may.
Shuster is exactly the kind of guy you need grilling these characters,
because they cling to their lies like limpets.
Ron Christie: “I wish these unnamed sources would come forward…”
Yea, so that your ex-boss Cheney can have their phones tapped!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… Kudos, Shuster! Ron Christie got PUNKED just like this joke of an administration.
Boudica @ 6:
Really said it all there, B. I never watch Tucker, but w/Shuster @ the helm, suddenly it makes sense to put MSNBC on when I get home from work…
It must be hard to defend a man after everybody knows that HE SHOT AN OLD MAN IN THE FACE and did his best to cover it up. I know it’s old news, but I just like reminding people. ;)
people like that are dangerous.
apologist is a nice word.
a very sophisticated sociopath?
“gotcha politics” …. omg.
” i would argue that, that’s just one small part of a bigger picture that you’re not seeing”…..talk about projection.
It’s nice to see someone stand up to that cross-eyed race traitor.
David Shuster is terrific. I would actually watch Hardball if I knew ahead of time that he is going to fill in for A-Hole Matthews
Ron Christie is such a bald faced liar about the case it’s unbelievable. Shuster actually did his job as a journalist and called him on it. Wow. Unbelievable. A journalist actually called these right wing liars on national tv.
Key,
“I work for the man.” Hope his pay eases his conscience in his life to come.
Watching Shuster this evening I was also thinking how great it would be if they gave him a show. I always want to hear what he has to say.
Replace Tweety with Shuster. Tucker is not very interesting, but Tweety seems to have mad cow disease. He makes the weirdest comments and is now sucking up to the worst of the wingnuts with Ann “I hate most Americans” Coulter.
First, Libby was charged with LYING and that is why he is going to cupcake prison.
Secondly, sounds like “uncle tom” is throwing boy Bush under the bus by claiming that maybe it was Bush who decided to expose an covert CIA agent and not Cheney.
Oh, and another comment regarding Shuster. So nice to see a journalist with some brass ones.
talker @ 1:
Yeah… Iran has far less oil than say, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or UAE. Plus, corporations had actually become disillusioned with the Bush WH a couple of years ago when the Patriot Act started to become enforced. Multinationals realized that with tighter security on the US borders, and the shutting down of international money networks to flush out terrorist funds, it is getting harder and harder for them to launder money and hide it in offshore tax shelters.
Ron has been “Cheney-ize”
another apprentice for the Sith
Hard to believe Schuster started on Fox News Channel. He turned out to be a real reporter.
Some one should track the times “the fact of the matter is” statement is made in these talkies. Also the “well, I mean” thing to begin their spiel. This would be a good job for a high school or college communication class.
The commenting interface is HUNGRY!
A scary thing happened today… the Supreme Court is dismantling the Endangered Species Act. And this Supreme Court is now disregarding “precedence” and setting “new precedence”. The Democrats should have filibustered Alito and Roberts. Shame on them. Now we have “politicos” running the Supreme Court and they will defend the boy Bush and the shooter Cheney at all costs. When the Democrats get more control in January 2009, they should start impeachment proceedings against Roberts and Alito.
talker @ 1:
You’re onto something, Talker. I agree with you.
If I knew that Shuster was filling in for Tucker’s shitty show, I would have tuned in.
Shuster always kicks ass with the truth.
Everyone should email MSNBC and tell them how much better the show is with Shuster hosting it.
The silliest argument in the world is that there was no underlying crime, because no-one was ever charged with outing Valerie Plame. Duh-uh, that’s because Scooter Libby lied to cover up the facts of the case. Justice was thereby obstructed. What part of that do the wingnut apologists not get?
dixie @ 34:
Oops. I meant Tucker Carlson not Matthews. I do not watch his show, anyway.
SadButTrue @ 48:
The wingnuts only hear what they want to hear and it’s never the truth.
Mr.Cheney, If you have nothing to hide, why are you hiding everything?
Call the medics I’m having a Heart attack, a real news reporter asking real questions, WOW! is the MORON Tucker going to come back and apologize for the real news that is going on while he is away or is this a trial run to see if the FREAK is going to go, I say good bye Farewell don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Can anyone get that sicko o’llielly to comment on this I mean that IDIOT has said anything since they threw him out of the NEWS BOX, get imagination and fatasizing doesn’t count hahahahah! More REAL NEWS and ACCOUNTABILITY in the NEWS
StraightShooter@15 says:
Oh, thank you for the unintended compliment!
Don’t you have confidence in my statement? I have always watched Shuster reporting and then Mathews just messes up and panders.
I wish Shuster grills Hillary too. There’s an interesting comments made on HuffingtonPost by Sen. Mike Gravel on Hillary’s bigotry.
hareli @ 46:
I met David Lindroff, author of “A Case for Impeachment”. He predicted that the Republican Party would do something to get rid of Cheney if it was in the best interest of the party. The Republic Party is very afraid of losing more seats in Congress and losing the White House in 2008. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed this expose on Cheney.