Time's Joe Klein: 'Awful Lot of Celebration of Ignorance Going on in Republican Party Right Now'

August 21st, 2012 6:19 PM

Time magazine's Joe Klein made a truly disgraceful comment on MSNBC's Hardball Tuesday.

"The Republican Party has a major grassroots problem which is that a good part of its grassroots now celebrate ignorance. It’s more, it’s more than abortion and women’s rights" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JOE KLEIN, TIME: The larger issue here is how does a guy like Todd Akin get to win a primary in a state like Missouri? The Republican Party has a major grassroots problem which is that a good part of its grassroots now celebrate ignorance. It’s more, it’s more than abortion and women’s rights.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Okay, put that in non-partisan terms. What does celebrate ignorance mean?

KLEIN: It’s, you know, denying evolution, denying the science behind climate change, the birtherism. How is it that when Donald Trump comes out of the closet as a major league birther, he shoots to the top of the polls, the presidential preference polls among Republicans? I mean, there is an awful lot of celebration of ignorance going on in that Party right now. It’s really sad for me because there was a point 20 years ago when I thought the Republicans were coming up with some of the best policy ideas.


With all potentially due respect, I'll debate the science behind climate change with him any time, any place.

It's liberal media members like him that have done absolutely no homework concerning the actual science behind anthropogenic global warming that are celebrating ignorance.

In addition, to take this one statement by Akin and blow it up to represent the grassroots of Republicans is deplorable and shameful, especially less than three months before the nation faces critical elections.

If Klein was being honest about admiring Republican policy ideas 20 years ago, he should cease and desist from these highly-partisan and uninformed attacks on the GOP.