You never know what's going to happen. You may think you know, you may hope you know--but you never know. That's the appeal of sports, gambling--and the news. Sometimes it's big events, sometimes it's merely human stories. But it's always interesting.
This morning, The Cable Gamer was watching MSNBC's "Morning Joe." The topic, of course, was the previous night's debate; the McCain campaign's Nicolle Wallace was seemingly read to square off with the Obama campaign's Robert Gibbs. Spin doctor vs. spin doctor. Nothing new there.
Gibbs took the first question, from Mika Brzezinski, and, speaking from inside the debate arena gave a predictable assessment: Obama won the debate.
Then it was Wallace's turn. She was outside the arena--it's fairly standard for the networks to separate the disputants, providing different backdrops. But instead of putting out her own familiar spin, Wallace said, and I am paraphrasing here, "It's been raining here in Nashville, and I want you to know that just overhead, there's a big pool of water on a tarp that I am afraid is going to spill on me. And I want to give a shout-out to Robert, because he gallantly offered to switch places with me."
Mika purred a nice response.
And then Wallace went further, eyeing the water overhead: "Because I am afraid of getting electrocuted here, I have to ask, could you repeat the question?"
It was quite a moment. And because it's live, as scripted as the moment might be, it's still unscripted.
But note to MSNBC: Don't kill anyone on your air. Don't even be so sloppy that your guests feel at risk of being drenched.
