Cenk Uygur: The Next Leftist MSNBC Star?

Cenk Uygur (pronounced Jenk You-gurr) is profiled by media reporter James Rainey in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times, and it becomes quite clear the exotically-named Young Turks radio host could be the next leftist star at MSNBC. Since his friendship with Dylan Ratigan led to some guest-hosting gigs (in which he bested Ratigan in the ratings), Uygur is now part of the "family" of Bush-hating radicals:

Cable executives hope fill-in hosts can at best hold on to the audiences they inherit. But MSNBC insiders said they believe Uygur did so well because many of those who watch his three-hour weekday Web program, (3 to 6 p.m. PDT) or clips on his YouTube channel jumped to MSNBC when Ratigan was out....

MSNBC President Phil Griffin called Uygur “part of our family” and expects him to get “more and more” air time, though he declined to specify in what time slots.

Inside Cable News guesses it wouldn't be any place in day time (might they dump the Hardball rerun at 7?) Or they could do an MSNBC version of  Red Eye in late night? In any case, Cenk wants to be seen on Obama's left:

"Obama spent the first two years of his administration practicing political unilateral disarmament," he said in one salvo. "He laid down his arms to reach out to Republicans, and they ripped his arms off and clubbed him over the head with them."

Uygur has also offered these oddball utterances:

Unlike Fox, MSNBC is "straight news."

He made this case with a straight face: "Is there a chance that Obama is actually more conservative than Reagan?"

Days later, he added this Obama dismissal: "I didn't realize we elected a Republican president."

As a Republican electoral wave approaches, the Tea Party is the "cancer of the Republican Party."

Most recently, he asked, "What black person, gay guy or girl, immigrant or Muslim-American in their right mind would vote for the Republican party? They might as well hang a sign around their neck saying I hate myself."

Eventually, MSNBC is going to be just wall-to-wall leftist wailers, many of them from failed talk-radio shows.