In a testament to how slanted MSNBC's coverage of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri has been, Democratic state senator and left-wing bomb-thrower Maria Chappelle-Nadal praised the channel's activist coverage of the story during an appearance on Monday's Jose Diaz-Balart: "I have to tell you that because your network has been here, a lot of truths have come to light. If the national media was not here, everything would be brushed under the rug....we would not be able to hear the stories of police officers who have called us and treated us like animals." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Chappelle-Nadal proclaimed: "So what I would say nationally is this is the time to have an honest and frank conversation. This is the time to have cultural engagement." On August 14, her idea of "cultural engagement" was tweeting "F**K you" to Governor Jay Nixon over his handling of the protests following the shooting death of Michael Brown.
In response to Chappelle-Nadal cheering MSNBC, Jose Diaz-Balart responded: "You're so, so eloquent about what you're saying, state senator. It's important that if others don't come to us, we go to them. And communicate and share and mitigate the fear and the ignorance."
Here is a transcript of the August 25 exchange:
10:22 AM ET
(...)
MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Jose, I have to tell you that because your network has been here, a lot of truths have come to light. If the national media was not here, everything would be brushed under the rug. And I promise you that. It is the truth that if you were not here, we would not be able to hear the stories of police officers who have called us and treated us like animals. Those police officers who will have demeaned people. Pregnant women who have been caused to be face down on the ground. If the national media wasn't here, we would not be able to engage in an open and honest conversation.
So what I would say nationally is this is the time to have an honest and frank conversation. This is the time to have cultural engagement. If you're at someone's house or if you're sitting on the porch or if you're having coffee at the local corner shop, that is what we have to do. We have to be honest about this and we can't hide it.
This is a wonderful opportunity for St. Louis to be what it can be. Which is a wonderful place where we don't keep secrets and we don't hide behind closed doors. And frankly, Jose, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the secrecy. We have to tell the truth about the racial divisions in this community and the economic divisions. So I implore your audiences as well as everyone else is help bring truth to light.
DIAZ-BALART: And one of the ways of doing it is to fight the fear of ignorance. Because there are a lot of people who through ignorance, fear. And if you fight fear you also fight ignorance. And you're so, so eloquent about what you're saying, state senator. It's important that if others don't come to us, we go to them. And communicate and share and mitigate the fear and the ignorance.
CHAPPELLE-NADAL: That is absolutely correct. We can't be our better selves unless we're honest with who we are on the inside. And it's no longer acceptable to have the mindset of fifty or sixty or seventy years ago. We are in the 21st century, and that means that there are certain challenges we have to face with openness. And not have any fear to move forward.
DIAZ-BALART: State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal. It's so nice to see you once again. Thanks for being with me this morning.
CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Thank you, Jose.
