Ed Schultz

It was just a question of time. While it was hard to know where it would come from (although MSNBC is always a safe bet), someone was going to make the entire swine flu pandemic a partisan political issue. 

MSNBC's Ed Schultz on the April 27 "The ED Show" blamed Republicans on two levels for the swine flu pandemic that some think has been a bit overblown.

"Well, here we go again - Republicans are playing politics with our health," Schultz said. "This kind of stuff just makes my temperature go up. I'm boiling over this - as many as 150 have been killed by this flu in Mexico. Cases are popping up allover the United States."

Updated with addendum, 2:30 p.m. Sunday --

All men lead lives of quiet desperation, according to Thoreau. Suffice it to say the observation would not remain among Thoreau's best known unless there was truth attached.

Then there are men like Ed Schultz, exuding blustery angst from every pore and hardly aware of it.

With news last month that he would host a cable television show on MSNBC, Schultz reacted like he was walking on air, and deservedly so. MSNBC's dorm-room politics aside, not everybody gets a platform like this to express his or her views. Anyone given such an opportunity can be justifiably proud and Schultz came across that way.

But as ratings have plunged for Schultz's television show -- described by Brian Maloney at The Radio Equalizer -- Schultz has become toxic.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Lamestream Media The media coverage of the more than 800 Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party protests that took place in all fifty states on April 15 ranged from disdainful dismissal of their nature, significance and import, to outright hostility towards the events and individual participants, to sexual innuendo-based full-on ridicule.

In this summary, we focused on the three major networks - NBC, ABC and CBS, the two left-of-center cable news networks - CNN and MSNBC and the three major "national" newspapers - the USA Today, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

While not an exhaustively comprehensive oeuvre of TEA Party bias, it contains many, many examples which serve to illustrate the broader antipathetic themes.

To wit:

At the top of the 1 pm hour of the Ed Schultz Show today on the radio, Schultz declared "The country does not feel the same way the teabaggers do." Picking up on video showing a woman at a tea-party meeting demanding book-burning at universities, he added: "Welcome to the House Unamerican Activities Committee, 2009 version...I can just envision Senator McCarthy somewhere in the depths of Hell just smiling about all of this." But the real ardor came out when he asked Rep. Chris Van Hollen out of the blue: "Do you think that Fox News wants the government to be overthrown? Cause they’re sure acting like it." Van Hollen denied that Fox was some sort of Bill Ayers network in reverse. Here’s the exchange:

After the premiere of his MSNBC cable show on April 6, liberal radio host Ed Schultz spent considerable time telling his listeners about the television show.

Here's Schultz on Thursday, boasting of alleged high journalism standards at MSNBC while speaking with a caller (click here for audio) --

Where I work, they don't put stuff on the air unless it's correct and they differentiate between opinion and fact. And in my world I think that's kind of important. On The Ed Show (Schultz's program on MSNBC), I'm not going to tell you something that I know isn't the truth.

All of two minutes later, after playing a clip of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticizing Obama for naming gay rights activist Harry Knox to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Schultz showed how the distinction between opinion and fact hasn't permeated the rest of his "world," specifically his radio show (audio link here) --

Hours from the premiere of his MSNBC cable show Monday night, radio host Ed Schultz told listeners what they can expect on his television show (click here for audio) --

If it's successful then I think you win because I know what I'm going to be talking about, I know what kind of stories I'm going to be looking for. And I want to make sure that the Democrats don't get weak knees on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Yet it was Schultz whose knees grew wobbly after the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Rush Limbaugh on the so-called Fairness Doctrine in February.

Not only did Limbaugh leave Schultz the most unhinged he'd been since McCain picked Palin, Schultz vowed to respond in print, telling his listeners he'd been in touch with a Wall Street Journal editor about writing an op-ed in the Journal.

Ed Schultz debuted on MSNBC during the 5 p.m. slot on April 6 with a flashy new set. And although the liberal radio host's "The ED Show" is in its infancy, it has one apparent theme - it's very pro-organized labor.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, was even Schultz's first guest. On his second show on April 7, Schultz's opening "OpEd" segment was firmly for the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check. And, on his third show on April 8, he invited Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of the pro-union, pro-card check American Rights at Work organization.

However, there's one detail Schultz hasn't revealed to his audience - a potential conflict of interest. As recently as 2008, Schultz received more than $20,000 from three separate AFL-CIO affiliated labor unions.

Many liberals claim that Rush Limbaugh was bought and paid for by the Republican party. Not true especially since they couldn't afford him.

However, what is true according to a source is that the new veracity-challenged MSNBC host, Ed Schultz, received cold cash from the Senate Democrats in order to launch a national radio show in an effort to counter Limbaugh.

And who made this assertion? Some conservative antagonistic to self-professed liberal Schultz?

Nope. This claim was made by leftwing former radio host Randi Rhodes.

In 2005 Randi, during a C-SPAN interview with Brian Lamb, claimed that she was present when the money was offered. Here is an excerpt of that transcript from the Radio Equalizer:

No wonder this guy professes love for President Obama: neither one cares how much the government spends . . .

Ed Schultz debuted his MSNBC show this evening by calling for universal health care, saying "I don't care how much it costs."  There was one area, however, in which Schultz did show more guts than his new colleague, Keith Olbermann.

View video here.

Liberal radio host Ed Schultz doubts that General Motors' much-anticipated electric car, the Chevy Volt, will help nurse the ailing automaker back to health.

But not so doubtful that Schultz won't gush about the Volt in a radio ad for GM.  

Here's Schultz warning his listeners about the vehicle during Monday's show after playing a clip of President Obama describing his rationale for giving GM and Chrysler more time to restructure (click here for audio) --

Ed Schultz appeared at the end of MSNBC’s Countdown tonight for the "Big Announcement" that he will take over the 6pm slot on the left-wing cable "news" network on Monday with "The Ed Show." Last week, MRC president Brent Bozell issued a press release about the negotiations between the talker and MSNBC, taking the network even further to the left: "I will offer NBC a bit of friendly advice: When you find yourself in an embarrassment hole, stop digging,"

Schultz responded by blowing smoke on his radio show that rumors of an MSNBC show were baseless speculation, and that he was a "radio guy...I’m not going anywhere." Is that a lie, or simply a Clintonesque non-denial denial? He said:

But I find it interesting that out of nowhere, where there's no basis of anything, it's just a bunch of speculation out there, that Brent Bozell would put out a statement about MSNBC for associating with Ed if that ever happens, and he's got, quote, some friendly advice (laughs) He's got friendly advice.

Before that, he said:

Syndicated talk radio host Ed Schultz, with a listnership numbering in the tens, is keenly aware of Media Research Center Founder and President and NewsBusters.org Publisher Brent Bozell's Wednesday public statement.

In which Bozell predicted Schultz would quickly prove to be yet another embarrassment for NBC should MSNBC follow through with their notion to give Schultz a television show, thereby - somehow - managing to make their already obnoxiously liberal line-up even more so.

Schultz it seems was quite irritated, as he returned to the topic on four separate occassions during his minimalist-audience show yesterday.

The transcripts of the said references:

If you thought MSNBC could not possibly tilt any further to the left, you may — sadly — be wrong. According to the New York Observer, the cable network may be about to give liberal radio host Ed Schultz his own program. Schultz has already filled in three times this month as anchor of the 6pm ET 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the one-time venue of Meet the Press moderator David Gregory.

“Schultz, with his rustic delivery, blue-collar bona fides and copious hunting references, would presumably add some heartland credibility to MSNBC's wonky cosmopolitan lineup without disrupting the lefty story line,” The Observer’s Felix Gillette noted on Tuesday.

Schultz has been a favorite with the NBC/MSNBC crowd since his national radio show debuted in January 2004. NBC’s Today show quickly brought him on as a pundit during the Democratic primaries, and treated him to a gooey profile in March of that year. Katie Couric touted Schultz as a liberal version of radio mega-star Rush Limbaugh, though at the time Schultz’s affiliates consisted only of stations in North Dakota, Montana, and Needles, California.

"I will offer NBC a bit of friendly advice: When you find yourself in an embarrassment hole, stop digging," said Media Research Center's Brent Bozell in a statement released today regarding the MSNBC cable network's reported negotiations to hire left-wing radio host Ed Schultz.

Schultz has a long history of obnoxious on-air comments and behavior.  Just this past Friday, Schultz called Republican Senator Jon Kyl a "spineless scumbag" for daring to criticize President Obama's joke about how his bowling was so bad it was "like Special Olympics or something."  On March 2, he likened a speech given by talk radio host Rush Limbaugh to conservatives at a political conference to Adolf Hitler addressing a Nazi rally.

Last November, he called Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama "a terrorist on the American worker. He is a terrorist on wage workers" and said ""the progressive talkers, you know, we lefties with microphones, we were never invited to the White House. Never got a chance to even urinate on the yard. You know? None of that."

Mr. Bozell's full statement appears below:

Imagine the howls of anguish that would have belched forth from the Old Media if George W. Bush had decided to only talk to Fox News and Drudge? Imagine if members of Bush's administration had reached out only to the Internet sites RedState and Powerline. What if Bush had instituted a concerted effort to only interact with conservative media sources? Who can doubt that the Old Media would have decried it as the end of the world as we know it? In fact, they did by so often attacking Fox News.

Yet, here is precisely where Barack Obama is going with his own media outreach. Not with out reach to conservative sources, of course, but to exclusively partisan, left-wing sources, often to the exclusion of moderate, right of center, and older media outlets. As Politico reported on March 24, the president's team is "reaching out to liberal commentators, local reporters and ethnic media" in hopes of going around long established Old Media outlets.

What is it about Republicans, lefty talker Ed Schultz complained to his radio listeners on Friday, that they can't "reach across the aisle" and give President Obama everything he wants?

Schultz proceeded to demonstrate how his own reach falls short.

First, Schultz lambasted Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., for criticizing Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" last week. Not because of Obama's revealing gaffe about the Special Olympics, but for schmoozing with Leno at a time of widespread economic anxiety.

Here's what Schultz said about Kyl after playing a clip of Obama's remarks, followed by Kyl's criticism (click here for audio) --

When it comes to a voter's right to privacy, some elections are less sacred than others to radio host Ed Schultz.

The country's top-rated liberal talker has seized on the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act -- also known as "card check" -- that would allow unions to circumvent workplace elections that currently let workers decide on unionization.

Here's Schultz on Monday, misleading his listeners on how card check would work (click here for audio) --

The anger and outrage over $165 million in bonuses paid out to American International Group (AIG) executives has many upset and outraged, but it also has some scratching their head wondering where that same emotion is over the entire government spending/bailout culture that has encapsulated Washington, D.C.

Earlier on March 17, CNBC reporter Rick Santelli suggested on CNBC's "Squawk Box" some of this outrage could be purely political. However, liberal talk radio host Ed Schultz said on MSNBC's March 17 "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," host by David Shuster, this "outrage" is welcomed by President Barack Obama.

"David, I think the Obama administration wants this public outrage," Schultz said. "It's an issue of timing right now. They couldn't have stopped the money to AIG."

Left-wing talk show host Ed Schultz guest-hosted MSNBC’s 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday night (could it be a tryout for that fourth spot in the ultraliberal MSNBC evening batting order after Maddow?) In one interview, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter reminded all conservatives of a certain age how eager he is for socialist health care, just as he was for Hillary’s plan the last time around. The first symptom? Deny the reality in front of everyone’s face, that somehow he and the Democrats don’t favor having the government run everything:

ALTER: First of all, nobody‘s talking about a government-run system. As John Podesta just indicated, if you‘re happy with your private health insurance, you‘re going to be able to keep it, no matter what comes out of this Congressional process. We need to stop stigmatizing, the name calling, the socialized medicine, the government-run programs. All that is just BS. This is—

(CROSS TALK)

ALTER: This is about a compromise that‘s going to offer a lot more choices. It is going to be expensive. But the question is whether it‘s more expensive to have the status quo. And health care experts on the left and the right believe that to be the case. That‘s why we‘re ready for change.

Deep down, Ed Schultz is shallow, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker.

Case in point: Schultz's trite, cliched comparison of conservative talker Rush Limbaugh's remarks before a boisterous CPAC audience with Hitler addressing a Nazi rally.

Schultz, the top-rated liberal radio host in the nation, watched Limbaugh's speech on TV last weekend -- with the sound turned down -- and was convinced he saw "striking" parallels to the German dictator.

Here's what Schultz said on Monday's show, preceding his criticism of Limbaugh with praise for the late radio giant Paul Harvey (click here for audio) --

Top-rated radio host Rush Limbaugh has gotten some unexpected help in his campaign against the so-called Fairness Doctrine that would censor conservative talk radio -- liberal radio host Ed Schultz, though Schultz most assuredly did not intend for this to happen.

On his nationally syndicated program Friday, Schultz read excerpts from an op-ed written by Limbaugh and published in that day's Wall Street Journal, a column taking the form of a letter to President Obama.

Here's Schultz, reading from Limbaugh's op-ed  --

Mr. President, we both know that this effort at regulating speech is not about diversity but conformity. You've said you're against reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, but you've not made it clear where you stand on possible regulatory efforts to impose so-called local content, diversity-of-ownership, and public interest rules that your FCC could issue ...

That House Democrats with barely any business experience deigned to pontificate to Wall Street executives drew criticism from an unlikely quarter -- top-rated liberal radio host Ed Schultz.

Schultz could barely contain his disgust with members of the House Financial Services Committee for their condescending treatment of Wall Street execs whose banks received TARP funds.

Here's what Schultz said on Friday's show, referring to financial sector CEOs testifying before the committee two days earlier and the dearth of business experience among its members (click here for audio) --

Obama's critics who claim the new president is a closet socialist lusting to seize profits have nothing to fear, according to liberal radio host Ed Schultz.

Look at Obama's experience as an author, Schultz suggested on Friday, for evidence that Obama is as much capitalist as the next entrepreneur.

But Schultz quickly leaped from conjecture about Obama's book deal for "The Audacity of Hope" to allowing those uncertainties to morph into hard fact. Not only that, Schultz got the title wrong and appears unaware Obama has written more than one book.

Here's what Schultz initially said (click here for audio of the excerpt) --

Imagine for a moment John McCain had won last November, and Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Laura Ingraham were seated in the front row of his first primetime press conference.

Think the media would have gone completely nuts?

Well, as the Washington Times reported, liberal radio talk show host Ed Schultz and Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein were both accorded such an honor during President Barack Obama's presser Tuesday:

Say, how 'bout the news of President Obama lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor?

What, you haven't heard? With good reason. Former president Bush did not impose this, making it all but impossible for Obama to reverse it.

None of which prevented radio host Ed Schultz from repeatedly claiming on Friday that Obama, all of three days after taking office, had lifted a "ban" on embryonic stem cell research. 

Lost on Schultz was what Bush actually did -- prohibited federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, which did not affect privately funded research -- and what Obama has yet to do -- reverse Bush's ban.

Still, it made for provocative fodder to Schultz, all the better to feed the meme of Obama bringing transformative change that includes paraplegics soon shedding their wheelchairs.

Schultz's interest was piqued by news of the FDA approving an application for Geron Corporation to inject embryonic stem cells into patients with injured spinal cords.

Here's how Schultz described it --

Top-rated "progressive talker" Ed Schultz is concerned about possible improprieties in the Minnesota Senate recount.

At least he was a moment ago.

Almost certainly without intending to, the liberal radio host fueled at least one belly laugh among listeners while he took calls Wednesday.

Schultz talked about incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's legal challenge to the questionable results of a recount that reversed his initial narrow victory and put Democratic challenger Al Franken, formerly of Air America Radio and "Saturday Night Live," barely ahead (click here for audio) --

Back in the summer of 2003, members of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater on Cape Cod sponsored a public forum with the memorable title, "Dissent=Democracy: A Teach-In on the 'New McCarthyism' ".

Speaking as panelists were historian Howard Zinn, authors Norman Mailer, Sebastian Junger and Marge Piercy, actor and playwright Eric Bogosian, director Andre Gregory and other left wingers. The event was organized by Jeff Zinn, son of Howard and a director at the Wellfleet theater.

Yet for a public gathering devoted to "dissent" and one equating it with democracy, something was conspicuously absent when it came to the panel -- dissenters.

Here's how it was described in a story that ran in the Cape Cod Times on Aug. 8, 2003 --

The high-wattage panel of writers, artists and performers (Jeff) Zinn pulled together for the forum, the proceeds from which benefit the theater, purposely does not include people from the political right.

"They've got their own forums," Zinn says. "I'm not required to provide balance; I'm not PBS."

OK, so Barack Obama isn't really the political Messiah of critics' caricature, despite the fervor of his supplicants. But according to liberal radio talk show host Ed Schultz, Obama qualifies for the less lofty but still impressive description of Hub of the World.

Schultz offers an unlikely theory for the renewed fighting in Gaza, one more revealing of the person suggesting it than the subject at hand --

Democrats in Congress say the darndest things, don't they? 

My favorite recent example -- 10-term Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York talking with liberal radio host Ed Schultz on Tuesday about why she voted in favor of bailing out Detroit (click here for audio) --

SCHULTZ: The Big Three, how did you, you voted in favor of that.

SLAUGHTER: I did, because one in 10 jobs in the United States is tied to what happens to them. I've been on their back as long as I can remember. When I was in the state legislature in the '80s, we passed a seat belt law in New York. And they fought us tooth and nail and (said) if they had to put in seat belts in cars they would surely go broke. And I remember that just before I went down to vote an ophthalmologist from my district called and said, please go down and tell them how hard it is to dig glass out of eyes. But they fought every thing in the world that we ever tried to do, always at the same time that the foreign automakers were doing it and cleaning their clock. I've never understood their reluctance really to do things to help themselves. I guess their political situation was just so good in Washington they didn't have to worry about it.

Maybe there's hope for some of those immersed in left-wing media.

Liberal radio host Ed Schultz has been decidedly skeptical about claims emanating from the Obama inner circle about whether contact was made between Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Obama or his surrogates on filling Obama's Senate vacancy.  

Schultz hammered away at this on Wednesday's show, focusing on what could be Obama's Achilles' heel in the affair, senior adviser David Axelrod's statement on Nov. 23 that Obama and Blagojevich had spoken about the vacancy (after the scandal broke, Axelrod claimed he "misspoke").

After playing a clip of Axelrod's statement on Nov. 23, Schultz had this to say (audio) --

Well, OK, how can any fair-minded American say, well, that's OK, we're done with that angle of the story. Wait a minute. This is a clear, admitted discrepancy and it makes people wonder what the hell's going on here.