For the next two weeks MSNBC is calling itself The Place for the Olympics. With as many as 12 hours a day of events then a two-hour wrap up show, politics will take a back seat, relegated to Hardball at 7pmET and Countdown at 8. And while it may take war somewhere much closer than South Ossetia (like, say, New Jersey) to interrupt Olympics programming, MSNBC’s two-hour wrap up show (5pm-7pmET) has shown it will cover breaking news, then move right back to athlete profiles, medal counts and putting Willie Geist on Olympic display. (Today: sabre!)
Just hours after returning home from China, President Bush held a Rose Garden event talking about the progress in ending the conflict in South Ossetia. Hosts Tiki Barber and Jenna Wolfe in Beijing tossed back to anchor Tamron Hall in New York, who introduced and wrapped up the President’s brief remarks.
The show was also The Place for Promotions: Keith Olbermann made a rare MSNBC daytime appearance, Chris Matthews was on in the 6pmET hour to promote Hardball and Brian Williams was live promoting his Tiananmen Square broadcast.