The Cable Gamer thought it was time to see Brian Williams in action, and the President’s press conference provided that opportunity. If they’re going to haul out BriWi for every White House statement he’s going to get a lot more air time than Shepard Smith does, but MSNBC has to do something to get viewers during the day, even if it’s only out of curiosity.

As the presser ended Mr Williams noted:

What a fascinating analysis there to close this wide-ranging press conference. Another wide-ranging press conference.

Apparently this press conference was wide ranging.

We have an embarrassment of analytic riches here with us, from Chris Matthews in Philadelphia to Rachel Maddow next to me.

Clearly two very divergent guests: after all, one was miles away in Pennsylvania. But if you were expecting that someone from the other party would be represented after the Democratic President had an hour of commercial-free air time, apparently that’s not the way things work at the MSNBC breaking news desk. Said Mr Matthews of Obama’s performance:

I thought that he did sort of step back into himself, into his soul if you will.

Chris Matthews wife, by the way, is running for Congress as a Democrat. Of course Matthews himself is a lifelong Dem, but his wife’s situation now gives him a personal interest in promoting the Democratic cause. None of this was mentioned. Up next, former Air America talk show host Rachel Maddow who, after a long string of verbosity, offered this:

I find it remarkable: the length and the complexity of his comments on Syria…seeing the President so engaged and going into that at such length, it’s probably mostly what we need to be talking about right now.

Sometimes when one party has had an hour to make their case, cable news will have someone from the other side on to do analysis/response. But that’s not how things seem to work during MSNBC’s “straight news” hours. Shep has a saying: “Breaking news changes everything.” Except at MSNBC, breaking news doesn’t change everything. Based on what The Cable Gamer saw, it’s still “Lean Forward” news, regardless of who’s sitting in the anchor chair. For those who find it hard to take Williams as an anchorman after his lying, not to mention a still-secret NBC News investigation that led them to toss him off the network, this sort of ideological lockstep isn’t going to convince them that he’s now on the up-and-up.

P.S.: After his coverage ended, Williams tossed it back to anchor Kate Snow, her first and only appearance during the hour. She introduced two guests to react to the President’s comments on gun control. You guessed it: they both sided with POTUS and seconded his call to not vote for anyone who took a different position. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.