Hours before Republican presidential candidates faced off in Tuesday's debate in Las Vegas, Martin Bashir took a swipe at six of them.
On the MSNBC program bearing his name, the host said that since Mitt Romney is "the inevitable candidate," the rest of the contestants are auditioning "for future employment" at Fox News (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MARTIN BASHIR: In one sense, this debate isn't really about who's going to run for president in 2012 because most experts in the field of (unintelligible) already have Mitt Romney as the inevitable candidate, and he looks well, he looks well-set. No, this debate is an audition for future employment. It's not The X Factor, it's The Fox News Factor, because even those individuals at the bottom of the polling heap know that if they can cause a stir, they, too, could secure a lucrative contract just like Sarah Palin at their favorite network.
That's quite a statement given the pathetic prime time lineup at the network Bashir works for.
