The South Carolina primary may be over, but MSNBC anchors are not letting up on their portrayal of Republican primary voters are bigots whose support is being courted by the use of "code words." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
During a promo for her 2 p.m. Eastern show NewsNation, MSNBC anchor Hall falsely accused Gingrich of using incendiary rhetoric on minorities, and claims such words are part of an overall racially charged “attack strategy” in his bid for the White House. About two hours later, fellow MSNBC host Martin Bashir read from a 17-year old New York Times editorial that similarly blasted Gingrich.
Of course, Hall and Bashir are following the well-worn path cut by Hardball host Chris Matthews, who has maniacally denounced the former Speaker as "Mephistophelian."
Instead of responding to the substance of Gingrich's critique of Obama's economic stewardship: food stamp use has exploded under Obama -- not to mention the growth in black unemployment -- MSNBC instead continues to reach new lows every day by accusing the former Speaker of using racially charged language in his presidential campaign.
Below you will find excerpts from Hall's tease and Bashir's closing commentary:
1:30 p.m. EST
And also, the South Carolina voters were drawn in by Newt Gingrich’s debate performance, many of them voting for him only after he went on a tear in the debate just days before the primary. Will his attack strategy and incendiary rhetoric on food stamps and minorities work this time or is the shtick getting old.
3:57 p.m. EST
And as we prepared for today’s broadcast, we came across an editorial from "The New York Times" that provides a brilliant distillation of Newt Gingrich's character and political development. It starts with those who newt hates the most. He describes himself as a battler against liberal elites and the media.
As we know, Mr. Gingrich has been blaming the media for twisting everything from his multiple marriages to his vast income from government agencies like Freddie Mac. The editorial then goes on to describe how Newt has decided to use code words, which barely conceal a tone of racial decisiveness and contempt for the poor. The editorial goes on. Mr. Gingrich has reinvented the political landscape of his youth. A sun belt where politicians communicate in the venerable code words of Barry Goldwater and George Wallace. The code words, of course, originally had much to do with race.
But this race-based anger charged politics mutated in Mr. Gingrich into a more generalized moral authoritarianism. Mr. Gingrich wants to be obeyed. Indeed he does. When Gingrich refers to Mr. Obama as the greatest food stamps President in modern history, it doesn't matter that it's not true. It allows him to use those code words that he so loves. So according to "The New York Times, Mr. Gingrich hates the media and his campaigning is marked by the deliberate use of racially divisive language.
