Perhaps it's the proximity of North Dakota, Ed Schultz's home state, to Minnesota but the MSNBC host has an identifiable fixation on a certain conservative Republican congresswoman from Minnesota.
On his July 29 program "The ED Show," Schultz once again attacked Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. This time this wizard of smart attacked her for loving to get "her mug out there." But if that's a crime then Schultz is an accomplice.
"Well, that's Michele Bachmann said, she wanted to create a ‘receptacle' for the Tea Party and so, this might be the first thing in the ‘receptacle,'" Schultz said. "I think she is doing it to stay visible. She loves getting her mug out there, she loves the visibility. She was rather an obscure congresswoman until she made an asinine comment on ‘Hardball with Chris Matthews' about investigating members of Congress. That pretty much put her on the map, Roy."
Perhaps that put her on the map in Schultz's view, but he's done his part to keep her there. According to a tally of "The Ed Show" episodes compiled from a Nexis search since July 29, 2009, Bachmann has been a subject of Schultz's scorn 71 times.
And Schultz's guest, Roy Sekoff, the founding editor of The Huffington Post played up the left-wing meme that Bachmann, by supporting Rep. Roy Blunt over Missouri state Sen. Chuck Purgason for the GOP nomination in the open Missouri U.S. Senate race, she has tarnished her brand. (Polling data indicates Blunt should cruise to a win in this race as things stand right now.)
"She got the addiction to it, right - exactly," Sekoff said. "But look at the blowback and what's happening now is the Tea Partiers are mad at her because she's supporting some of her brethren in Congress. And they're like, ‘Wait a minute - you're our darling until you don't go along with our candidates.' And I think, she's feeling this thing about that a little bit right now."
Schultz's show has been an MSNBC staple since 2009, but continues to lag far behind its rival "Special Report" on the Fox News Channel. One common thread in Schultz's show over the year - the attacks on Bachmann. Apparently it's just not a ratings winner.
