Mosque: MSNBC Celebrates First Amendment, Not So Sure About Second

August 16th, 2010 7:35 AM

There seems to be a double-standard at MSNBC when it comes to upholding the Bill of Rights . . .

When people seek to build a mosque near Ground Zero, the consensus among MSNBC liberals seems to be that the exercise of First Amendment rights to freedom of religion cannot be questioned. But it was a different story at MSNBC when, hours before and blocks away from where Pres. Obama was scheduled to speak, a man exercised his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Readers will recall the case of William Kostric.  He was the New Hampshire man who was part of a protest group in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in August 2009 when Pres. Obama came to town for a health care town hall.

Ironically, given the mosque controversy, Kostric was standing on . . . church property.  But that made no difference to the wise men of MSNBC.  Host Carlos Watson was sure there must be some kind of "emergency injuntion" available to have the man removed.  And Chris Matthews, in the memorable interview embedded here, got testy when Kostric tried to cite his legal rights. "I know the law," snapped Matthews, choosing instead to query Kostric on why he was carrying "a goddam gun."

Can we expect to see MSNBC hosts subjecting the mosque-builders to similarly sharp inquiry about their motives?