Good morning! In lieu of the video previews we hope to bring to you here on the blog, I offer Marvin Gaye. I feel confident we won't hear any complaints.
We could not be more excited (and focused, and a little sleepy) up here in 30 Rock, eating the breakfast that the "Up w/ Chris Hayes" team so generously bought for us while we finish our preparations for this morning's premiere edition of "Melissa Harris-Perry." It only makes sense that we give you a heads-up about the terrific guests joining Melissa this morning.
- Edward Cox, chairman of the New York Republican State Committee, and the late President Nixon's son-in-law. He'll join us to discuss the ever-rightward lurch of the Republican Party, a take on which you might not expect from Melissa.
- Baratunde Thurston, digital director of The Onion, comedian and co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics. Author of the recently-published (and hilarious) How to Be Black. Read Melissa's review of it here.
- Chloe Angyal, freelance writer and editor at Feministing, where she blogs about gender, sex, politics, pop culture and body image. Currently writing her doctoral thesis on romantic comedies; read her recent Jezebel piece, "I Spent a Year Watching Rom-Coms and This is the Crap I Learned."
- Peter Edelman, professor of Law at Georgetown University, and author of the upcoming "So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America."
- Dorian Warren, assistant professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. Watch him talk about the "recession generation" with Melissa as she guest-hosted "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" last summer.
- Touré, MSNBC contributor and author of "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now." Both he and Jawn Murray, pop culture expert and lifestyle reporter, will join us to talk about the late Whitney Houston on the day she is laid to rest in Newark, NJ this morning.
Most of all, we're looking forward to you all joining Melissa this morning. See you at 10:00am ET.
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I was hoping Edward Cox would have a good conversation about todays republican party, but he is just spewing the same old tea party rhetoric.
Edward Cox was a disastrous choice for first guest. Simply repeated the same old mantra. WHO vetted this guy? Preparation is paramount. Should have had a human being as first Republican guest. Michael Steele maybe.
how about David Frum? He seems to be the only Republican that will actually debate differences and not go to OBAMA DID EVERYTHING WRONG and we want 'our' country back!!!
Melissa asked Mr. Cox to give a bigger picture of what's going on in the Republican Party today and he gives us current talking points of the republican candidates. He gets an "F" for not following directions.
Dammit! Get a bell like you ring for service and ding the dang thing when you need to shut someone up. This is not going well at all. Ditch Cox and stop all this cross-talk. This is not the View and cross-talk is unintelligible and thereby irritating.
Diametrically opposed viewpoints is NOT good television, no matter what the TV geeks say.
I'm sorry but Edward Cox is only willing to 'debate' the history of the last three years. He blames Obama for EVERYTHING because the Congress had '60' Senators (not true). OK Mr. Cox. WHAT ABOUT THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF THE DECADE when not only did the GOP hold all three (President, and both the House and the Senate) and didn't HAVE that silly filibuster. Does he REALLY think the GOP did a good job? 15 years ago the GOP was 'sane' but according to him it 'was 15 years ago and they've changed? GIVE ME A BREAK.
i can not hear anything through the bedlam. please practice (and enforce) conversational courtesy.
9and enforce
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Terrible choice for first guest. I have always loved Melissa's wise commentaries on other shows but I almost couldn't watch this morning as Edward Cox steamrolled over her. If she's going to have rude guests like Cox on, she's going to have to be tougher. I watch shows on MSNBC to see liberals stand up for their ideas and principles, not be rolled by Republican talking points. Whoever chose him as the first guest for her debut did her a terrible disservice.
Tough first guest. Good job by MHP keeping her cool. The narrow "Obama as the anti-Christ" perspective is so ignorant and telling. I teach/work at a community college where we are trying to teach students to consider the merits of multiple perspectives in building their own opinions. Edward Cox obviously needs such a course. Where are the intelligent, deep-thinking, rational Republicans? Do they exist - Republicans who can articulate rational reasons, based in both evidence and opinion, for policies they believe in?
Ed Cox is a rude, self-servicing, egostical Tea Party maniac. Please please please, have your guests more balanced along the gender variables. Being rude, cutting off MHP, and bogarting the show is not good. He obviously thinks it's okay to be rude and talk for long periods without taking a breather, continuously cutting off MHP and allowing the HOST of the HER own show to speak less than 5% of the time is not a good thing. Filibustering is a Tea Party/RepubliCON thing but not good. I am recording the show and I do hope that MSNBC will offer an audio podcast for the Melissa Harris-Perry Show. I will be a regular!
I'm listening in from Canada. You have an international audience. Your guests must have something intelligent to say to all of us. Cox did not. He didn't even have anything to say to Americans. Real human republicans must have been embarrassed by his 'bad doggie' performance. That is to say, the dog bites, we smack it on the nose, doggie says "oh no, I'll never do it again" and then he immediately bites you on the ass.
Your thesis that we need two viable parties is something we all perceive as correct. It applies everywhere. We're having the same problem in Canada. Too bad that your opening guest so badly undermined your introductory segment. As I said, preparation is absolutely paramount. Did your producers explain to Mr Cox what the opening segment was to be about and engage him in conversation to determine his viewpoints and intentions? He responded like your basic meat eating piranha. I was so disappointed. I'm sure things will improve, but guest preparation is important.
I met MHP once at the CC's on Esplanade while I was teaching at Tulane. (Go Green Wave!) I have great hopes that this show can move beyond the shouting-heads approach to "dialogue" that makes cable news shows so hard to watch, and so antithetical to actual enlightenment. The first several minutes this morning with Edward Cox were a disappointment, as MHP seemed unprepared for Cox just continuing to talk over her and over her, and was unsurprisingly uninterested in actually TALKING TO her. Please, please, MHP, you're a professor first, and we love you for it--don't let the conventions of cable talk make your show less than it can be.
I am a fan of Ms. Harris-Perry and will watch every week. My first reaction, if it's worth anything to you, is to keep a keen hold on the conversation, perhaps less laughter - Tea Party agenda is seriously painful. Appreciate attempts to stay congenial, but remember you are the queen of Sunday morning. (Call them out on history twisting. Bush was Pres. from 2000-2008. The economy meltdown hit us personally in 2008.)
Hey Melissa, Please control the exuberance of your guests. They were running over Edward Cox instead of letting him finish his talking points. I know it’s tough but that’s why you get paid the big bucks. I want more Republicans to come on, without being defensive, and answer the question, “What is a conservative.” It was a great question that never got answered. You go girl!
I think you've missed the point. We don't want 'talking points'. We want to hear what they ACTUALLY stand for. What THEY stand for. Not just OBAMA IS BAD and WE'RE GONNA SAVE YOU. Oh and 'jobs and the economy' is not good enough. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT???
Dear Dr. Harris-Perry,
You describe George Romney, the daddy, as representing authenticity. Not so! I was around in those days. When Romney senior was running for President, the standard joke about him was that "Deep down, he's shallow." That's the true inheritance given to the son, sadly. Mitt Romney is totally shallow as a personality, and utterly disconnected from his inner self. That's why he always has such an uncomfortable look on his face, why his comments are so weird and ungrounded ("severely conservative"). Hollow Daddy creates hollow son.
Great point about Republican areas receiving greater assistance. On the subject of daddy states etc, In the context of daddy states, I think it's noteworthy that conservative rage may be the result of a psychology of dependence still unresolved among conservatives.
That’s the problem with most on the Left Wing and Progressive spokes/news persons. Defending the Republican Party even though they’ve turned into a corrupt Ho organization. YES, the two party system is a good thing but that doesn’t have to include the party that produced the Bush/Cheney disaster. Let the sane people on the Right form another party because the GOP had it’s chance and it f*** up BIG TIME!
COME ON, are you Republican voters #*~/‘n INSANE? Am I missing something here? Didn’t Conservatives just have 8 YEARS of Bush/Cheney and Republican controlled Congress (1994-2006) to put their warped ideology into practice? AND IT ALMOST DESTROYED THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH!
Waste, fraud, abuse, scandal, sexual deviancy, corruption, lies, incompetence, job outsourcing, off-shore tax evasion, reckless economics, welfare for the rich, deregulation, war profiteering, Constitutional violations AND a Corporate Crime Wave of epic proportions…. The WORST looting of a nation’s wealth and resources in the history of MANKIND!
Where was the Tea Party anger THEN? #*~/ ignorant hypocrites.
But you want Democrats/Progressives to believe if only Conservatism had one more chance it can work? The very definition of insanity, isn’t IT? Over and over AGAIN! Just separate yourselves from Bush/Cheney… bull$#!~ MISINFORMED people into believing they’re part of a NEW Conservative Movement.
So STOP defending the degenerates & PUNCH A REPUBLICAN TODAY!
I am somebody who fights back cyberbitchslap2.blogspot.com
You hit that right on the nail head, man
Off to a very rough start. Edward Cox was the worst choice for an intelligent discussion. He was a repug bully, talking over everyone and spewing party line. BUT MHP, you didn't handle it well at all...especially at the end, when in a subservient, demure way, you smiled and coyly thanked him! You don't have to be rude...but when you are talking lack of authenticity by Romney, how about some form you???
Frankly, during a break I would have told him he had to allow others to talk or you would turn his mike off and then ask him to leave during a break if he kept it up. You were NEVER going to get an intelligent discussion form this guy---Vette them better or the show is finished before you begin.
Love the premise--wrong guest, and you handled it poorly. Take lesson from Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow.
I am so offended by conservatives like that appalling Ed Cox who is closed minded and verbally aggressive being allowed on the air. I enjoy your commentary Melissa as it is intelligent and informed. Please put those conservatives in their place if they are to be your guests; teach them some manners!
Good luck on your new show!
The Daddy Dearest is an important aspect to take into consideration. However, the topic that no one wants to touch is the fact that a black man, President Obama talked to the public about equality health care for women. And women appreciated that because it spoke to them, not at them. Immediately, the white males of the GOP got upset and said wait a minute, only we can tell women what to do with their bodies. So they went back to the stone ages when white males dominated, brought up the old issue of contraceptives because that is a means of controlling the population. They can identify with an era when they domonation of women. This ia a major power struggle for the GOP.
YEA! If all you silver spoons (who are getting all the news/pundits jobs nowadays) don't have the courage to put the Conservative wackos in their place... LET ME DO IT!
Put me in the same room with Andrew Breitbart or James O'Keefe and see if they say all that BS to my face... COME ON! yOU want ratings, see if Breitbart getting knocked out of his chair don't put you on top... lol
I’m asking myself the same questions I was in 2000 but with different players. Is there enough dumb@$$ Sarah Palin groupies to elect another George W. Bush for president? AND IT SCARES ME…
I don’t care what anyone says, these Republicans of 2012 are f***’n insane. Not only do I want to prevent them from taking over my government but I want to insure these right-wing degenerates end up in the puzzle factory.
Ed Cox is a bore, and I do not agree that you handled it poorly. Chris Matthews talks over people constantly...and it's annoying. Your video with George Romney brought back some memories (I was a Republican back then) and what a huge difference between father and son. The other comment I would make about the Romney family is in regards to Mitt's mother, Lenore. She ran for public office and was a strong supporter of the ERA and pro choice. Good luck with your program, I enjoyed the discussions and also that your guests, and you, have a sense of humor!
I definitley do NOT like Chris Matthews talking over the top of people--what i was referring to was that he calls people on their BS - maybe Ed or Lawrence O'D and Rachel, even Chris are better choices.
Melissa, you are off to a great start.
With all the talk about the right's focus on personhood, I think that there is one consequence that is being ignored -- and it will seem a bit out there, but a logical consequence non the less. If a person is created at conception, what does the 'state' do about miscarriages? Since the death of a person is involved, isn't there a requirement to report the death to authorities and aren't the authorities required, at least in some cases, to investigate the death? Maybe my scenario is a bit far out, but personhood a few years ago was a bit far out as well!
Melissa, I'll be a regular watcher. (Just as I am of "Up".)
Regarding Whitney Houston, I was disappointed--though not surprised--that neither you nor your guests alluded to the rumors of her bisexuality. I'm a lesbian and heard in 1986 (yes, I remember when!) that Whitney and Robyn Crawford were lovers. I understand, sadly, why Whitney denied that they were in a romantic relationship. I wonder if Robyn will be in the church for Whitney's funeral. I hope so.