In MSNBC's Contessa Brewer's case it's "D'oh!-D'oh!" Apparently it never dawned on the woman to check the background of Rep. Mo Brooks before interviewing him, and fully intending to use the challenging inquiry as a 'gotcha' when she felt it was timely in the discussion. She was owned big time:

HT: Ace of Spades, who notes...

"... she does have a journalism degree, which journalists believe to be a General Degree of Expertise in Everything."

Fact of the matter is there are those in the viewing audience that believe these MSM people, and the occasional self-appointed experts they bring on to nod and echo on camera in such matters as economics (Michael Moore), healthcare (Obama), and global warming (Al Gore) do have solid degrees/education in the heated topic of debate being crammed through like today's "good crisis" before it goes to waste. If the average spoon-fed media watcher sees a celebrity harping on something of importance, the tendency is to give them much credence primarily due to their face recognition.

We all self-educate in these matters (as is our responsibility to), but we also know how/when to recognize when somebody is an expert and knows exactly the facts in what they are talking about on an issue, and not just rolling out and along the agenda's talking/selling points. What does it really say? The MSM plays the viewing public as fools and idiots that will buy "Pet Rocks" ... Sadly, they are spot-on with that one, as witnessed in the 2008 election. Hopefully the majority have blinked away from that strobing TV screen to inform themselves and wake up to reality in 2012.

It's obvious MSNBC is in full campaign mode (again) for Obama's 2012 election, and they make no bones about it. Why any GOP Congress person, or future GOP candidates, bother to enter the political asylum posing as a news network is beyond me. Why legitimize them for their 14-15 viewers at any given hour?