The Ed Show

This column has twice—here and here—taken the un-svelte Schultz to task for his hypocrisy in making repeated fat jokes at the expense of Chris Christie, culminating in calling the NJ guv a "fat slob."  Media Bistro has reported [h/t Clerical Gal] that MSNBC prez Phil Griffin reprimanded Schutltz for his crude comment.

Apparently by way of non-apology apology, on his MSNBC show this evening, Ed admitted that he too was fat and would understand if others also considered him a "fat slob." Media Bistro has reported

I began to suspect something was afoot early in the show. On the one hand, Schultz launched into yet another long diatribe against Christie.  After taking numerous solo shots at the NJ guv, Schultz brought in a NJ teacher of the year, who was happy to be described as "strongly against Gov. Christie." The pair proceeded to rake Christie over the coals, paying scant attention to the brutal budgetary problems facing the Garden State that have forced Christie to make reforms.

But—in stark contrast with previous shows—the fat jokes had demonstrably disappeared.  And sure enough, in the tease for a subsequent segment, Schultz said "I admit that I'm fat."  Then came this show-closer . .  .

As we near the midterm elections, left-wingers will be reading from the same tired playbook – the attempted marginalization of the Tea Party movement, but just more of it. But more and more, they are discovering the tactics are tougher to defend, as their side has their own fringe, loose-cannon elements.

On CNBC’s Sept. 29 “Squawk Box,” hosts Joe Kernen and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera went after Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell for what seems to be hypocrisy – a willingness to attack one side for extremism, while ignoring extreme elements on the left. Rendell was asked by Kernen to elaborate on remarks he made earlier this month, that some Republicans are “fruit loops,” “whackos,” and “flat-out crazy.”

KERNEN: I want to talk to you about something, later about -- you're calling Tea Party people wing nuts and fruit loops?
RENDELL: Not all of them.
KERNEN: Not all of them? You saw the president, the president basically said that most of them, most of the Tea Party “are directed and financed by powerful and special interests lobbies,” this is in the Journal today. That's most of them and the rest of them are bigots. So you're either directed by special interests …
RENDELL: I don't believe it.
KERNEN: Seventy-one percent of Republicans, according to this poll today in the Journal identify – so, you've just trashed the entire half of the country.
CARUSO-CABRERA: He says slowly but surely, the GOP is taken over by whackos.
RENDELL: There’s no question about that.

Liberal radio host Bill Press on Friday called Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly bullies and cowards for never bringing people on their programs that disagree with them.

Most comically, Press made this pathetic and indefensible remark on MSNBC, the nation's most biased cable news network that hires anchors who categorically refuse to allow any dissenting views on their shows.

But Press was clearly missing the irony in the following position espoused on "The Ed Show" as was the host who seemed to very much agree (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Wednesday falsely claimed the newly released Republican "Pledge to America" doesn't address job creation.

Speaking with Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown on "The Ed Show," Schultz said, "This was just released a few moments ago from the Associated Press. They're calling it the 'Pledge to America.'"

He continued, "The 'Pledge to America' is to cut taxes, cut federal spending, repeal healthcare, and ban federal funding for abortion. Nothing in there about job creation...Those are the four main points."

Actually, there are five main points in this 21-page document, the first of which is titled, "A Plan to Create Jobs, End Economic Uncertainty, and Make America More Competitive" (video of Schultz's remarks follows with transcript, commentary, and full text of the Pledge):

At certain schools across the country, parents possessed the authority to pull their children from class Tuesday so as not to witness President Obama's address to students nationwide – and Ed Schultz believes that constitutes an "opt-out for Right-wing whackos." Schultz seemed to be not in favor of academic freedom – in this case.

Decrying opposition to the speech as "perverse conservative hatred" for Obama and "motivated by race," Schultz was apparently doubly-mad about this, as he hit the issue hard for two nights in a row on his MSNBC show. "I think the President's speech should be mandatory for all students," he insisted.

Some public schools notified parents if their children would be watching the speech, while others left the decision to the teachers whether or not to show it. "If you're a superintendent, and it wasn't shown in your school, or in every one of your classrooms, you ought to be ashamed," Schultz raged. "It's amazing you're on the payroll in this country."

Republican strategist Ron Christie on Monday demonstrated why Keith Olbermann is smart to not have conservatives on his program, for most MSNBC hosts are just not up to the challenge.

Appearing on the "Ed Show" to address some comments Newt Gingrich recently made about President Obama, Christie refuted former Air America host Jack Rice's contention that Gingrich was being racist.

"I disagree with what he had to say this past weekend, but to suggest that the former Speaker of the House is trying to say, 'Oh the President of the United States is black and and I'm white' I think is so far out of bounds and so untrue," scolded Christie. "This has to stop." 

Minutes later, when the host asked his Republican guest what the "con" was that Gingrich accused Obama of perpetrating on the American people, Christie hit the ball so far out of the park that by the end of the segment, his liberal antagonists were left laughing in astonishment (video follows with transcript and commentary):  

Fire doesn't melt steel--and a Florida pastor apparently isn't capable of burning a Koran without a plot by Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich behind him . . .

On The Ed Show this evening, guest Karen Hunter, responding to a leading question from host Schultz, went deep conspiracy theory, saying she "wouldn't be surprised at all" if the "fingerprints" of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich were "all over" Pastor Terry Jones' plan to fire up some Korans.

You might think Ed Schultz would be out of place in a junior high recess yard, but that's where he's landed himself with his childish name-calling . . .

On his show this evening, the MSNBC host—demonstrably desperate to pick a fight with his ratings superiors at Fox News—no fewer than four times referred to FNC host Steve Doocy as Steve "Douche-y."

It was an appearance on a Doocy-hosted show by resident FNC legal expert Judge Andrew Napolitano, discussing the Glenn Beck rally, that supplied Schultz the opening to engage in his middle school-worthy mispronunciation.

A recurring rubric at James Taranto's Best of the Web Today column at the Wall Street Journal online is "We Blame George W. Bush," for tongue-in-cheek blaming of the former prez for things palpably beyond his purview. Let's add another item to the list.  Dem senator Russ Feingold has blamed his tough re-election race on, yes, W.

Let's think about that. If Bush were such a bad president.  If his policies were so disastrous for the country. Wouldn't that boost the chances of an incumbent Dem senator who, like Feingold, had voted against Bush policies every step of the way?

Hey, I don't try to understand Dem reasoning: I just report it.  Feingold made his logic-defying allegation on this evening's Ed Show.

Gallup might be seeing an historic spread in the Republicans' favor, and even Mark Halperin is predicting GOP gains of as many as 60 seats. But amidst all the Dem panic and gnashing of teeth, the Pelosi party can still count on one true believer: Bill Press.

Former California Dem chairman Press has predicted that when results come in on Election Night, GOP leader John Boehner's office will be a "morgue," while Pelosi's place while Pelosi's place is "where the party's going to be."

Press proferred his hyper-optimistic prediction on this evening's Ed Show, reacting to the report that Ohio talk radio host Bill Cunningham will be broadcasting from Boehner's office on Election Night.  For good measure, Press—ironically no fan of the First Amendment, apparently—expressed disappointment that it was legal for Cunningham to do so.

KEY UPDATES below the fold, including Beck's response to Schultz. 

There's not really much you can say about this claim, beyond "suuuuure."

Ed Schultz, who attracts just over a quarter of Glenn Beck's viewership (700,000 vs. 2.6 million viewers), claimed he could out-rally the Fox News host, whose "Restoring Honor" event attracted an estimated 300,000 people to the National Mall on Saturday.

"I guarantee you, I could do more than 300,000!" claimed the man who just last week found out he didn't make the cut for an MSNBC promo. "It ain't a big deal!" Schultz also claimed that the crowd size at Beck's rally has absolutely no bearing on Democrats' prospects in November.

Wishful thinking on both counts, it seems.

Audio and transcript via Brian Maloney at the Radio Equalizer:

Your pink slip is on the way.

That is the fear that is probably driving Ed Schultz completely over the edge. And Big Ed probably insured the likelihood of that outcome when he recently threatened to go postal and torch MSNBC when that network neglected to promote his abysmally rated show on an election night.

Brian Maloney at the Radio Equalizer has recorded the Schultz dementia from his radio show as he pathetically makes the case for the "success" of his failing MSNBC Big Ed show. The full transcript is below the fold but first an excerpt from his demonic rant which demonstrates why the MSNBC suits, for safety sake, might want to pass Ed through a metal detector whenever he enters their studio:

And you have no idea, in my bones, in my very soul! In my heart! I want to kick Fox's ass! I want to drive them into the ground! I want to spike the ball! I want to kick 'em in the teeth on the way back to the huddle! And then I want to turn around and lift my leg on 'em! Because that's all they're worth!

On Thursday's The Ed Show on MSNBC, substitute host Cenk Uygur -- also of the Young Turks -- blamed conservative opposition to the Ground Zero mosque for acts of violence against Muslims, and charged that the Republican party is the "party of hate." He soon added: "Then there's the vitriolic fight against immigrants, undocumented ones and in Arizona just people who happen to look undocumented. And, of course, there's the grand daddy of all prejudice, fear and hatred stoked up against Muslims in this country. Now, it's gotten so bad that a young man stabbed a cabbie in the neck and face Tuesday after finding out that he was Muslim."

He eventually 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."

Uygur also recited a list of violent events from the past couple of years, while also running clips of conservatives like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Bill O’Reilly in an attempt to prove that they were responsible for inciting specific violent incidents. At one point, he even used edited clips of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann in such a way as to suggest that they had encouraged people to shoot Muslims or other minorities.

After recounting recent episodes of violence against Muslims, he tied in Palin and Bachmann:

UPDATE (11:26 AM): Was Joe Scarborough mocking Schultz on air the day after his outburst? 

Ed Schultz may have finally lost it. He has reportedly been neglected by MSNBC brass. The last straw came earlier this month when Schultz found out he would not appear on MSNBC's election night promo.

He went absolutely berserk, according to people on the scene.

"I'm going to torch this f***ing place!" he screamed during a meeting in the MSNBC newsroom according to the New York Post. "F***ers!" he added for good measure.

According to an unnamed source, Schutlz was dragged into a meeting with MSNBC president Phil Griffin, where Schultz was told that he would be fired if he did it again. He broke down in tears.

The Post has the full scoop (h/t Treach):

Wasn't comparing your political opponents to Nazis once a no-no? I mean, just remember how upset the liberal concern police would get if some wayward individual at a Tea Party event in some random place in the United States had a homemade sign protesting President Barack Obama and invoked Nazi Germany symbolism?

Well, you would think - or at least expect a national TV host (even with considerably lower ratings than his competition) would certainly avoid using Nazis symbolism to attack those with which they disagree, right? No, apparently it's just a double standard. On MSNBC's Aug. 25 "The Ed Show," a seemingly angry host Ed Schultz said he was "fired up" about the Aug. 28 Glenn Beck event at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"This is the story that has me fired up tonight - Glenn Beck is distorting Martin Luther King's dream and his Tea Party followers are on edge," Schultz sais. "You know, I just sense that we are going down a very dangerous road right now when a political organization like the Tea Party has members trying to intimidate elected public officials."

I was going to say the left has now officially hit rock bottom.  But it's still a long way to Election Day for the desperate Dems . . .

On this evening's Ed Show, trial-lawyer guest Mike Papantonio accused Glenn Beck and the Koch brothers of consciously plotting, via Beck's DC rally, to provoke race riots.

In Papantonio's fevered imagination, the Beck-Koch axis is attempting to recreate the race riots of 1968 . .

Different host, same liberal bias . . .

Subbing for Ed Schultz on MSNBC this evening, Cenk Uygur suggested that the roughly 70% of Americans who oppose the Ground Zero mosque are "ignorant."  Uygur was debating the mosque matter with Republican strategist and former Newt staffer David Winston.  Winston suggested that the people behind the mosque could, in light of the overwhelming oppposition of Americans to the plan, show sensitivity by agreeing to site it elsewhere.

That provoked Cenk's snide insult, which, as you'll see, actually revealed his own lack of knowledge on the subject . . .

A liberal Huffington Post contributor and board member of the website's Investigative Fund rained on Ed Schultz's GM success story victory parade on Thursday.

After the MSNBC host crowed about the positive earnings report from the government-owned car company, he clearly expected that left-leaning guest Leo Hindery was going to join him in the celebration.

Quite to the contrary, the admittedly "progressive" Hindery, who has contributed almost $1.5 million to Democrats in the past ten years, quickly threw a heapin' helpin' of cold water on this party before it got started.

"I love being on this show. But I`m going to push back a little bit on your accolade for GM," he marvelously began. 

"There will be more jobs created in Mexico by the Big Three automobile manufacturers than will be created here in the United States" (video follows with transcript and commentary, pay particular attention to the smile being washed off Schultz's face):

Ed Schultz on Thursday blamed Republicans for all the unemployed people living in America today.

As he began the most recent installment of the "Ed Show" on MSNBC, the host said, "The Republican Party has been on a crusade against the middle class and the poor for the last 30 years. We're now seeing the wreckage of that race to the bottom line culture."

He disgracefully continued, "Today a government report showed weekly jobless claims at a five-month high. 484,000 new unemployment claims were filed in the week ending August 7th. And you know what folks, you can lay this right at the feet, right at the altar of the Republican Party."

Sadly, he wasn't close to done, claiming, "The people you see flooding the streets begging for help, begging for an opportunity are victims of the Republican agenda just to make sure that President Obama fails" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

What's next: Bill Clinton cutting an ad vexing David Vitter on the issue of fidelity?

Of all people, Ed Schultz spent an entire segment this evening going after Chris Christie . . . about his girth.

I counted no fewer than seven separate barbs that Schultz directed Christie's way over his weight.  He began with a photo of the NJ Governor with the graphic "Battle of the Bulge."  It got heavier from there.

MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Monday absolutely got his head handed to him in a debate with syndicated columnist Tony Blankley.

Clearly underestimating his opponent, Schultz rudely introduced the subject of a Republican proposal to not have the Congress come back for a lame duck session after November's elections by saying, "No one knows better about shutting down Congress than someone who was right there working for Newt Gingrich when it happened before."

Not letting this stand, Blankley gave the "Ed Show" host a much-needed history lesson (video follows with transcript and commentary):  

From the Department Of People In Glass Houses . . .

Early in his MSNBC show this evening, Ed Schultz mocked Karl Rove's performance in filling in for Rush Limbaugh today.  In particular, Schultz slammed Rove for his brief problem in providing the show's call-in number.  

But later in the show, Ed himself ran head-first into a rhetorical roadblock, stumbling badly when it came to pronouncing the most famous name in the world of ocean studies: Cousteau.

How far have we come from the era of "Dissent Is Patriotic" stickers on the bumpers of your local lefties during the Bush administration?  A host on the second-highest rated cable news network has equated political dissent with . . . assassination.  

On his MSNBC show this evening, Ed Schultz stated:

"Now I'm putting my cards on the table tonight as I do every night. The Republican party is on a mission to politically assassinate the president's agenda across the board.  They want to shoot down everything."

Did you think that, with the perspective that time tends to impart, Alan Grayson would have backed off his unhinged allegation that Republicans wanted sick people to die quickly?  Trick question! I did say Alan Grayson.  On the evening's Ed Show, the dippy Dem congressman from Florida emphatically stated that his ugly assertion, made on the floor of the House, was "the truth."

Grayson was responding to the suggestion by Kurt Kelly--one of the seven Republicans vying for the right to knock Grayson off--that by missing a vote on an allocation of funds for our overseas military, perhaps Grayson wanted the troops to die.  Kelly was clearly riffing off Grayson's earlier allegation.  That didn't stop Grayson from taking great umbrage, claiming that the difference between his assertion and Kelly's was that Kelly was lying whereas he Grayson was telling "the truth."

Warning: Readers are strongly advised to remove fluids from their mouths as well as from proximity to their computers before proceeding any further!

Ed Schultz on Monday accused Sarah Palin of making a sexist remark about President Obama.

As NewsBusters previously reported, the former Alaska governor on Sunday said, "[Arizona governor] Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country as was the purpose of immigration laws." 

On the MSNBC program bearing his name, Schultz took exception to this comment in a fashion destined to leave many readers gasping for air in hysterics (video follows with transcript and commentary):

During the past week, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz had trouble acknowledging that allowing a tax cut to expire, in effect, is a tax increase, as he debated on the Ed Show the issue of whether the tax cuts passed during the Bush administration – due to expire at the end of this year – should be extended beyond 2010. On Tuesday’s show, even while noting that the top marginal rates would increase from 35 to 39 percent, Schultz absurdly claimed: "The bottom line is they want you to believe that letting the Bush tax cuts expire is a tax increase. ... The Republicans are saying that, hey, this is all about a tax increase. No, it`s not. It`s the law they put into effect. It`s the law that they signed. It`s the law that they pushed under President Bush. It had an expiration date. Now they’re coming back saying, well, it`s a tax increase. No, it`s not. People in the top two percent are going to go from 35 percent to 39 percent. Ninety-eight percent of Americans are not going to be affected."

The MSNBC host also insisted on the semantics of calling an extension of the tax cuts "cutting taxes," even though such an extension would, in effect, leave rates the same and merely stop rates from increasing in 2011. Schultz went on to deceptively claim that the Heritage Foundation’s Curtis Dubay, appearing as a guest on Tuesday, had agreed with him that "cutting taxes" does not create jobs. On Wednesday’s show, during a discussion of financial reform, after guest Stephen Sprueill of the National Review spoke in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts, Schultz misleadingly shot back: "No, it doesn`t work. And it`s not a job creator, and the Heritage Foundation guy was here last night admitting that cutting taxes is not a job creator."

On Friday’s The Ed Show on MSNBC, host Ed Schultz trashed conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, repeatedly mispronouncing her name as "Schafly," for linking being a single woman and having a greater likelihood of depending on government programs, as she noted at a recent GOP fundraiser that 70 percent of single women voted for Barack Obama. At the top of the show, Schultz teased: "I`ve got some choice words for the ‘Wicked Witch of the Midwest’ tonight – and that`s what she is." He later plugged before a commercial break: "Speaking of ‘Psycho Talkers,’ ‘Wicked Witch of the Midwest’ Phyllis Schafly [sic] got off her broomstick long enough to take a shot at unmarried women of America."

Later in the show, after conservative talk radio host Heidi Harris had appeared in a segment to defend Schlafly, Daily Show co-creator and regular guest Lizz Winstead appeared for the "Club Ed" segment and bashed Harris as "that teabagging Carol Brady," advising Schultz that "you have got to slam her down when she is absolutely wrong." After the Daily Show co-creator went on to charge that Schlafly "can empty her bowels through her mouth and just exhaust horrifying crap onto the universe," an impressed Schultz laughed and cheered her on as he seemed to refer to Winstead’s rant declaring, "That’s great stuff":

Hey, it's Friday night. Time to kick back and enjoy some—unintentional—humor, courtesy Ed Schultz.

Big Ed sees soup lines around the corner if we "continue to follow the Republicans" [sic].  His solution to stave off disaster?  The extension of unemployment benefits. . .  . "endlessly."

Say Ed, are you aware that FDR's New Deal socialism failed to dent the Depression?

Perhaps it's the proximity of North Dakota, Ed Schultz's home state, to Minnesota but the MSNBC host has an identifiable fixation on a certain conservative Republican congresswoman from Minnesota.

On his July 29 program "The ED Show," Schultz once again attacked Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. This time this wizard of smart attacked her for loving to get "her mug out there." But if that's a crime then Schultz is an accomplice. 

"Well, that's Michele Bachmann said, she wanted to create a ‘receptacle' for the Tea Party and so, this might be the first thing in the ‘receptacle,'" Schultz said. "I think she is doing it to stay visible. She loves getting her mug out there, she loves the visibility. She was rather an obscure congresswoman until she made an asinine comment on ‘Hardball with Chris Matthews' about investigating members of Congress. That pretty much put her on the map, Roy."

Bret Baier took on former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean for accusing Chris Wallace of lying about Fox News's coverage of the Shirley Sherrod affair.

As NewsBusters previously reported, Dean pointed his pathetically biased and accusatory finger at FNC while a guest on "Fox News Sunday" only to have it marvelously slapped down by Wallace.

The following day in the friendly confines of MSNBC's "The Ed Show," the former Vermont governor said, "I happen to like Chris Wallace, but he was really not being exactly accurate when he talked about 'We didn`t say one word about this before the secretary of Agriculture fired her.' The fact of the matter is they were pushing this story very, very hard all day."

On Wednesday's "Special Report," Baier struck back and struck back hard using a time lapse video to prove Dean completely wrong (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t our friend Johnny Dollar):