Almost anything that airs on the Kremlin-backed Russia Today makes for interesting fodder and Wednesday night was no different as former MSNBC host Ed Schultz lashed out at the “stupid” “mainstream media” for selling out to Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s claim that Bernie Sanders supporters incited “violence” at a Nevada convention last weekend.
Schultz singled out CNN chief Jeffrey Zucker for embracing “a lie” concerning the tension in Nevada and ruled that he’s “cheap” because he “allow[s] his people go on the air and use the word.”
As soon as he welcomed Sanders spokeswoman Nina Turner onto the show, Schultz began his comical and ironic assault on the media:
The mainstream reporting on this — on several different occasions today, CNN in their report, used the word violence. Debbie Wasserman Schultz used the word violence. To my knowledge, there were no arrests, no one was sent to the hospital, but I want to hear it from you because you were there. Was there violence at this and is this inaccurate reporting by CNN to say that there was violence at this Nevada state convention?
Turner did her part in making conversation a parody of itself by repeatedly referring to him as “Big Eddy” and stated that “there was no violence” upon having been “in that room for eight hours.”
A few moments later, Schultz went on a bizarre tear about the media’s infatuation with the Clinton team going into a collective outrage about the tension in Las Vegas (which the networks initially ignored):
I mean, that’s just — is the mainstream media that stupid that, all of a sudden, on cue, there might be 50 to 100 people who are upset with the process that they’re all Bernie Sanders robots and, oh by the way, he’s supposedly responsible for every single one of them?
“[H]e had nothing to do with it, as you know, and we both know him, Big Eddy, and his colleagues know him too. He’s a man of integrity. A man of peace. He would never condone any type of violence whatsoever. There was no violence, but Big Eddy, I was in that room and it is greatly exaggerated,” Turner added.
With his trademark screaming, Schultz lashed out at Wasserman Schultz’s calls for the Democratic Party to unify and the media for embracing “an absolute lie” that Sanders supporters were violent.
Of course, he saved the swipe at CNN and Zucker for the very end: “It’s an absolutely lie and CNN has bought into it and for Jeff Zucker to allow his people go on the air and use the word just underscores how cheap he is as a manager of CNN.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from RT’s The News with Ed Schultz on May 18 can be found below.
RT’s The News with Ed Schultz
May 18, 2016
8:07 p.m. Eastern
ED SCHULTZ: I want to go right to this. The mainstream reporting on this — on several different occasions today, CNN in their report, used the word violence. Debbie Wasserman Schultz used the word violence. To my knowledge, there were no arrests, no one was sent to the hospital, but I want to hear it from you because you were there. Was there violence at this and is this inaccurate reporting by CNN to say that there was violence at this Nevada state convention?
NINA TURNER: Big Eddy, I was in that room for eight hours. Quite frankly, I don’t know what happened when I left the room, but there was no violence while I was in that room.
(....)
8:10 p.m. Eastern
SCHULTZ: I just find it curious. How can so many people be so upset at once?
TURNER: That’s right.
SCHULTZ: I mean, that’s just — is the mainstream media that stupid that, all of a sudden, on cue, there might be 50 to 100 people who are upset with the process that they’re all Bernie Sanders robots and, oh by the way, he’s supposedly responsible for every single one of them?
TURNER: Right and he had nothing to do with it, as you know, and we both know him, Big Eddy, and his colleagues know him too. He’s a man of integrity. A man of peace. He would never condone any type of violence whatsoever. There was no violence, but Big Eddy, I was in that room and it is greatly exaggerated and it is unfortunately because if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, they’re going to need Senator Bernie Sanders supporters, but you don’t malign a whole group of supporters and it’s just flat out wrong. I’m saddened by this whole thing to be honest with you, Big Eddy.
SCHULTZ: Well, the Clinton campaign, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is so concerned about coming together — when they start his finger-pointing and making allegations about things that happened and making accusations, what are the Sanders supporters supposed to do? Say, you guys are right. That’s what came down. It’s a lie is what it is. It’s an absolutely lie and CNN has bought into it and for Jeff Zucker to allow his people go on the air and use the word just underscores how cheap he is as a manager of CNN.
