Cenk's advice to CNN

Cenk Uygur wrote a great letter of advice to CNN. Just go read it.

Cenk is a joy

Cenk Uygur.

When the world grew dark during the Bush years, Keith Olbermann really lifted my spirits. I'd never heard anyone talk like that on TV. Bill Maher was another bright light in those days. I can't watch either of them anymore, but that's another story.

Today, in our new, brain-free American society of willfully ignorant religious gits and greedy grab-everythings, Cenk Uygur is a breath of fresh air. I thank dog that he exists.

I think Cenk is sweet. I love his honesty and persistence and the way he's emotionally transparent. I like what I see inside this man. I also find him to be impressive. None of what he says is scripted yet he puts out a coherent show every evening. The guy's smart and he never gets lost as he's presenting complex information. Our Cenk can think on his feet. That's a real talent.

What he's doing is teaching. Each night for an hour, Cenk schools America and explains what's going on in our country, clearly and simply. He's quite a guy. I wonder how long they'll continue to let him speak the truth, and how they'll try to bring him down. Compared to Cenk, Rachel Maddow wears a muzzle when she does her show. The powers that be must be salivating over the prospect of taking him down. They see this guy as dangerous. To them, he's Bradley Manning. And you know what? They're right. I think both deserve medals of honor.

Go, Cenk! (PS: he's having John Ratzenberger on Friday's show -- Cliff Clavin from Cheers! Is that must-see TV or what?)

Have you been watching Cenk?

Mayor Rocky Anderson

As I said the other day, I'm nuts about The Young Turks on Current TV. Cenk Uygur is just what America needs. If you haven't tuned in, you're missing phenomenal TV. Cenk knocks it out of the park night after night. I can't get over it: he actually tells the truth about what's going on in this country. You don't get that anywhere else on TV. That's for sure.

US government totally controls MSNBC

A truthful man.

It's official. MSNBC tossed Cenk Uygur's show because he spoke truth to power.

Uygur said that, in April, MSNBC president Phil Griffin called him in for a talk. Griffin allegedly told him that "people in Washington" were concerned with his tone on the show.

Cenk also reported that MSNBC told him to have more GOP guests on the show. This, of course, would be impossible since Uygur doesn't just sit there while GOP blowhards burp up their breakfast and call it wisdom. And clearly, if you want to bring the truth to people there's no sense in having anyone from the GOP on your show. It's just a time-out from rational conversation. (And this is why I don't watch Bill Maher, who sucks up to these idiots.)

In any case, he's out and will be a guest on Keith Olbermann's Current TV show tonight (Thursday). Tune in. Should be fun!

Reason for hope

I just found out Cenk Uygur (pronounced Jenk You-ger) is taking the 6PM slot at MSNBC. This is so great. Jenk is the smartest guy around and a truly powerful progressive voice. There's an interview with him on Alternet today. Here are some excerpts:

"I think defeating Fox -- and more importantly, getting the rest of the media to understand they do not do legitimate news -- is very important. I hope to do that through pointing out their hypocrisy, propaganda and general foolishness. But I also plan to beat them in the ratings and make them fear me."

And his take on Obama is spot-on:

"The only hope we have is that Obama is a much more progressive person when he is running for office than when he is actually in office. So, perhaps as he is pretending to be a strong progressive on the campaign trail he will accidentally beat the Republicans on some issues he didn't even expect to win on."

I love this guy. He created The Young Turks, the most popular news show on the internet, and now he's branching out into "classic" TV. He'll be on weekdays at 6 PM on MSNBC. Give it three thumbs up and start watching the show. (I'm not sure if he's on yet or this is a future development. I guess I'll find out tonight. The guide doesn't specify who's doing the 6 PM hour today.) I'm very hopeful about this development. Cenk's way better than Olbermann. Net gain here, not loss.

Update: Seems he got bumped by Tweety, because you really need a guy like Tweety when Egypt goes wild. Sigh. This man doesn't know up from down. Let's hope they let Cenk near the microphones tomorrow.