Dan Abrams is not having a good year. First, he was “excused” from his duties as MSNBC General Manager to focus on the inevitable battle for third place at 9 p.m. Then, he poorly managed the whole David Shuster/Rep. Marsha Blackburn debacle — an issue that spiraled as a result of Abrams bad judgments.

Now, he has decided to defend Chris “I swear I’m not partisan yet I attack the GOP during a boring book party last week” Matthews on the eve of the destined-to-be low rated GOP debate that Matthews is co-moderating in Michigan today. How does he defend Matthews? By going after Brit Hume, FNC Washington Managing Editor and host of Special Report with Brit Hume during his “Beat the Press” segment last night.

Seriously? One more time… Seriously? Hume has moderated two debates so far this election cycle, and received bi-partisan praise for both, including the recent GOP debate on September 5. Hume is also not new to this gig — having worked for ABC for 23 years, serving as their Chief White House Correspondent, winning an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Gulf War, and serving on the panel for Vice Presidential debates while at ABC. Ask anyone in the business, and you’ll hear that Hume is respected among his colleagues.

Granted, Abrams made this attack in front of the 465,000 average total viewers that bother to tune in during the third quarter. But, as a former Managing Editor, doesn’t he get the fact that Matthews crossed the line by attacking the very party he is going to “neutrally moderate” tonight? Chris and Dan are both in the 500,000 and under total viewer club, so it might be smart to stick together.

Or maybe this was a ploy to get people to tune away from Larry King.

Or maybe, just maybe, Abrams is upset that Chris gets to sit next to the Money Honey tonight while he’s stuck carrying boxes over to 30 Rock.

The bigger question remains — will MSNBC break the curse of low-rated debates for the net?