What does a liberal cable television host do when a guest confronts her with an ugly truth? Why, she cuts off his microphone, of course!
That's what happened on Thursday, when Nancy Grace -- host of a weeknight program on HLN, which was formerly known as the Headline Network -- clashed with Frank Taaffe, a friend of George Zimmerman who stated that black teenager Trayvon Martin had drugs in his system during their encounter on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla.
THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, is the principal psychoactive component of the cannabis plant, which is commonly used as “a recreational drug” under the name marijuana.
At that point, Grace said: “Sadly, we have to cut his mic” while the liberal host continued to discuss the topic as her guest angrily looked on.
That segment of the interview began when Taaffe said he wanted to talk about something important.
You know, you keep talking about this gun. George had a concealed weapons permit. He had a legal right to carry that weapon with him.
However, the guest stumbled when he said that “we've talked about the Second Amendment, and you said something about before the Civil War before. I want to talk about the gun issue.”
Grace quickly corrected Taaffe's mistake:
It was the Revolutionary War, when the Brits, the Tories were bursting into people's homes.
Undaunted, the guest continued by stating that “in the state of Florida, the requirements were met by Mr. Zimmerman. He was a legal concealed weapons permit carrier.”
The liberal host acted confused when she fired back: “A legal concealed weapons carrier. Did you just say that?”
“He had a permit,” Taaffe replied.
“I don’t care!” Grace declared. “And you know what, Jeffrey Dahmer had a legal right to have knives and a boiling pot. That doesn’t mean it’s okay!"
Interestingly, the HLN anchor didn't attempt to explain how she'd keep such kitchen items from people like Dahmer, who was a cannibal/serial killer in Wisconsin.
Taaffe responded with a common-sense answer:
Just like you have a legal right to vote, you have the legal right to bear arms, and you know this, being a constitutional lawyer, on top of everything. So let's not go there that he was just sauntering about with a gun looking to gun down a young black male.
“That’s exactly -- he was sauntering around with a gun,” Grace claimed.
“He was not,” the guest asserted.
After cutting off Taaffe's microphone, the liberal anchor continued focusing on her guest's mistake:
OK, Mr. Taaffe, I appreciate your attempt at history, but it was the Revolutionary War when we got the Bill of Rights after that.
“And yes, everyone has a right to carry a gun, but it’s still extraordinary that you think it’s so normal that he carries a loaded gun, live ammo, no safety to walk his dog,” Grace concluded.
Interestingly, this wasn't the first time Grace cut off Taaffe during a discussion of the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin incident. On March 28, 2012, the host shut down Taaffe's microphone during an intense discussion in which Zimmerman's friend tried to talk over comments made by Daryl Parks, the attorney for Trayvon Martin's family.
As NewsBusters previously reported, Nancy Grace has a reputation of being too aggressive when interviewing guests. In November of 2006, a woman killed herself after being interviewed by Grace over the apparent abduction of her son.
Then in 2008, an advertisement for Grace's program proclaimed that the new fall season of shows would deal with “incredible crime stories.” The fast-moving montage included a shot of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Kent.) spliced in between convicted dog abuser Michael Vick and missing Bolingbrook, Illinois, resident Stacy Peterson.
Fortunately, once CNN executives learned of the NewsBusters story, they contacted McConnell's office and apologized for the incident.
With encounters like these happening on that network, it's no wonder HLN's ratings are so low.
HT: The Blaze
