Shuster Imagines Evangelicals Going to Gitmo To 'Torture People Just for Fun'

"We'll go to a revival and then go to Guantanamo Bay and torture some people just for fun." -- David Shuster on evangelicals, 12-7-07

So astonishingly malicious were the words of David Shuster today that they leave me at a loss for words of my own. So let's just say it simply: David Shuster is an anti-evangelical bigot.

Video (0:35): Real (991 kB) and Windows (1.11 MB), plus MP3 audio (274 kB).

MSNBC "correspondent" Shuster was a panelist on today's Morning Joe. For his "must-read" of the day at 7:20 AM ET, Shuster predictably chose the New York Times editorial panning Mitt Romney's speech on faith. Shuster approvingly cited this passage:

He was trying to persuade Christian fundamentalists in the Republican party, who do want to impose their faith on the Oval Office, that he is sufficiently Christian for them to support his bid for the Republican nomination. No matter how dignified he looked, and how many times he quoted the Founding Fathers, he could not disguise that sad fact.

Host Joe Scarborough pointed out the Times's history of hostility toward evangelicals.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is the same New York Times editorial page that ran columns after George W. Bush was elected in 2004 saying evangelicals were closer to Osama Bin Laden than our allies in Europe. That of course came from Garry Wills. Then Maureen Dowd said that evangelicals were going to take us back to the Dark Ages. I think there is some hostility, on the New York Times editorial page, toward evangelicals.

DAVID SHUSTER: They still get it right on occasion.

Even Mika Brzezinski was shocked, exclaiming "oh, man!"

SCARBOROUGH: Once in a while, but Alabama beats Auburn once in a while, too.

SHUSTER: We all must believe in football, and I suppose if we all go to Pensacola [Joe's hometown], we'll have a sidetrip where we'll go to a revival and then go to Guantanamo Bay and torture some people just for fun.

Mika seconded Shuster's notion: "Exactly, to make sure that they don't get [unintelligble] illegal."

The lightness of Scarborough's tone in reply belied the seriousness of his words: "It's that sort of mean-spirited view of America and that soft bigotry of low expectations that upsets me so much."

Shuster and Brzezinski shared a hearty chuckle in response.

Ace of Spades comments: "If only those who screamed the loudest about religious tolerance actually believed in religious tolerance themselves."

Bryan at Hot Air:

Shuster’s religious tolerance and fidelity to the facts speak for themselves. He’s a bigot. And so is Mika Brzezinski for chuckling along with him, agreeing, and piling on with the reference to legal counsel.

To think, this crew replaced Imus after his bigoted “nappy headed hos” flap. If anything, this gang is worse.