Openly gay MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts is aggressively using his daily soapbox for gay activism. On Friday morning, Roberts was outraged with the rest of the left that the Republican candidates did not denounce the boos after openly gay soldier Thomas Hill asked on video if the Republicans would "circumvent the progress that has been made" for gays if elected. [Audio available here.]
No one seems to question why Fox News and Megyn Kelly would pluck this question out of thousands of submissions and throw it directly at Rick Santorum. It seems like they were wearing a bracelet asking "What Would CNN Do?" Roberts, speaking very calmly, said something very wild. These Republican candidates would like to build a time machine and go back to when women couldn't vote and slavery was cool:
THOMAS ROBERTS: And the [Santorum] phrase of “social experimentation.” I get out of all of these things that many of these candidates would rather take legislation to build a time machine and go back in time to where, uh, we had, you know, no women voting, slavery was cool. I mean, it's just kind of ridiculous.
CHRIS HAYES: Well -- I also thought was interesting about the response, he seemed to imply there is no sex in the armed forces. Basically saying, this is -- everybody should be --
ROBERTS: Nothing happens on shore leave.
HAYES: Nothing happens in the armed forces. And it was like, really? Have you talked to to any members who served?
ROBERTS: Been to Fleet Week in New York?
Notice how Hayes tried not to agree with the crazy talk and changed the subject. Roberts began the segment by disdaining the trend of "strange crowd reactions and candidate responses" in GOP debates:
ROBERTS: So, boos from the crowd, the debate crowd last night after hearing from a service member protecting our nation, followed by that response. Well, everybody really failing to thank him for serving our country. It’s just the latest in the series of strange crowd reactions and candidate responses in these Republican debates. Let's bring in Chris Hayes....What is your reaction? The audience response, especially last night. We’re on the heels of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Bravely, courageously, this person fighting in Iraq submits that question, publicly asks it of the panelists, you know, the GOP hopefuls, and Santorum -- that’s his response.
Hayes agreed, and then expressed admiration for how the soldier was "jacked." Roberts returned to his point:
ROBERTS: But It was a missed opportunity for a lot of people to stand up because they love to stand and wave their military support all the time and funding for our military. This was a missed opportunity.
Hayes agreed, and said the Republican base is still “very hung up on cultural issues.” As if MSNBC and Thomas Roberts are not.
