Harris-Perry on Bill Maher

[Auggie27]

An odd show, one that began with Bernie Sanders and ended with a rather brilliant digression via the "Dilbert" creator (a hypnotist by trade) about how Trump's campaign works.  Required viewing, in some ways, that one segment; revelatory  But Melissa Harris Perry was in a strange frame of mind, and couldn't get a word in edgewise (and to my surprise, didn't try; though to be fair points were raised, since she's probably the smartest person in the room).  Most startling, she seemed to feel obligated to accommodate one of the most obnoxious conservatives blowhards I've seen on any talk show in years, a Trump die hard with not a fact at his fingertips save some bogus research about "foreigners" that he claimed was government initiated and/or sanctioned.  But if Harris Perry intrigues you, don't miss her odd behavior here, cajoling the jerk in the middle of the panel, touching him, becoming downright deferential and cuddly at some points.  I have had many takes on this brilliant academic, and feel the jury is out on how she was handled by MSNBC. But this was a bizarre appearance, and her Mary J, Blige look as she played up to this dreary miscreant next to her only added another layer of strange. 

[Jordan Catalano]

It was such a strange episode of the show. I love Bill, but if his head went any further up Sanders' ass, he would have suffocated. As for Perry, the fact that nobody let her ever speak really got on my nerves and was so rude of all of them.  

[TheatreFan4]

I do believe that Melissa is a very smart woman, but some of things that come out of her mouth are just... so stupid...

[SmoothLover]

This is a tad shallow but I thought Melissa looked great!

[South Florida]

That blowhards name Auggie was Wayne Allan Root.  I have seen him on Fox News and now this.  This guy is a complete moron and self promoter, his main career was giving gambling advice to people who bet on sporting events.  He is the worst kind of sleaze imaginable.  I am shocked he was on Real Time, they obviously don't care who sits on that panel.

 

[Auggie27]

Thank you, South Florida. I failed to look up Root's name.  His remarks were so incendiary, so stupid, he provoked some of the strongest fervor from Maher. Maybe that's why Harris-Perry's peculiar accommodation -- her touching this creep throughout the show -- provoked this thread, admittedly a strange niche topic at best.  Harris-Perry intrigues me, because her stand on issues can be so rarefied.  She took on the book and film "The Help" with impassioned denunciation, even when African-American guests on her show admitted to loving the movie. It drove her crazy, and she schooled and eventually shamed everyone who simply didn't see how egregiously the author marginalized the women of color (I don't disagree with a couple of her points, but it's a period-specific pop cultural entertainment, one that moved many, and won Oscars and nominations for the actresses; worthy of outrage?  Really?). But her embrace of Rachel Dolezal last year was the tipping point for me.  She had her on twice and couldn't stop building a case for her inclusion in the black community. I'm a white man, what's it matter to me?  Still, Harris-Perry's attempt to draw a parallel between trans people and those opting to reinvent via another racial identity struck me as strained to the point of specious.  Mainly, I couldn't understand why she took up that woman's cause.   

[javero]

I sense that MHP has some unresolved identity issues of her own.  Perhaps part of it stems from her being the product of a black dad and a white mom, both academics, and from growing up outside of Richmond, VA .  Through the years I've watched her lambaste blacks and whites alike when their takes on identity politics differ starkly from hers.  There are times when I've thought of writing to her and suggesting that the the rest of us are dealing with myriad matters in our lives some of which are more pressing their her favorite causes.  If she was able to dial it back on Maher show recently, then I think I'll check out the episode.  While I admire her intellectual heft, I can only take her in measured doses.  I have a white male colleague with a black wife who describes MHP as the self-appointed final arbiter on all matters of race.  That's a bit extra though.

[Huss417]

Watching the show it seemed like an odd April Fools episode or I had taken one Ambien too many. 

[adamgreer]

javero said: "I have a white male colleague with a black wife who describes MHP as the self-appointed final arbiter on all matters of race.  That's a bit extra though.

 

I don't think it's extra at all. That's exactly how she comes across.

 

[Liza's Headband]

Ugh. MHP is the absolute worst. Javero, you were far too kind and generous in your accurate description of her. Did she ever return to her post at MSNBC? I hope not. The woman doesn't even deserve that. If you're finding people to blame for Trump's rise, look to her. Her intellectual condescension and rhetoric-heavy divisiveness is why this country is so screwed up, and why society is swinging the pendulum to the opposite extreme (Trump) with great veracity. 

[Auggie27]

Javero's post reminds me of my reactions to her. On MSNBC she was given a weekend program that filled two hours -- an enormous platform in media.  She had some success, but often would introduce topics before breaks, never to be picked up, and then race through guests who were given opportunities to agree with her or not, but often sat at the table glassy-eyed, simply waiting for her to cease annotating (admittedly, a cable punditry syndrome).  Her intellectual heft seemed at odds with her ambition.  She was not nearly as media savvy as she self-defined (obvious on Maher's show, despite her solid point about Trump being a product of Obama years backlash), and again, she took on strange obsessions.  

There's a bigger topic here about MSNBC, a cable news outlet that cannot find an identity and stick with it.  Remember the Ronan Farrow midday show?  Designed to pick up his vanilla demographic (who would hardly be likely to tune into cable news at noon or 1, if at all for other than headlines; as if youth and 4th tier celebrity status would entice).  And then the afternoon chats with really smart people like Alex Wagner. Gone.  In a way, Harris-Perry is representative of the overall dilemma at MSNBC.  It's a place where anything goes for about 6 months.  Now we have Brian Williams back as Rachel's election night Sancho Panza, polishing his strained jokes to woo Maddow in front of our eyes and earn street cred after his public shaming.  Yeah, an odd place, MSNBC.

[haterobics]

Jordan Catalano said: "It was such a strange episode of the show. I love Bill, but if his head went any further up Sanders' ass, he would have suffocated."

I was hoping Bill would finally be like, isn't it time to let it go already? Since he has been saying as much on his show for weeks, but I guess he decided against taking that position for the interview.

[South Florida]

Yes, he cowered, it's over, we need to come together.