An Open Letter to MSNBC President Phil Griffin: Take Responsibility for Hateful Ed Schultz

Brent Bozell
March 14th, 2012 3:04 PM
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Dear Mr. Griffin,

Your network, working on marching orders from Media Matters, is on a mission to take Rush Limbaugh off the air. Far from being an independent journalistic enterprise, MSNBC is the very essence of a political lapdog of the far left.

Just last night on MSNBC, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton, and Lawrence O’Donnell all devoted time on their programs attacking Rush. In each case, they grabbed at thin air looking, looking, looking for the opportunity shamelessly to keep the story alive.

These assaults by MSNBC have nothing to do with what he said about Sandra Fluke, and everything to do with censoring prominent voices on the right. Gas prices are nearing $4 a gallon, the unemployment rate hovers over 8%, the US debt is soaring to astronomical highs, but MSNBC is too busy to cover these legitimate news stories. Instead you go after Rush.

And you're doing it in the most hypocritical manner imaginable.

While your network continues to attack Rush, you personally continue to employ Ed Schultz. Ed Schultz, the man who called Laura Ingraham a “right wing slut.” The man who claimed that "The Republicans want to see you dead! They'd rather make money off your dead corpse! They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don't have anything for her."

Or consider his comments on the former Vice President: "You're damn right, Dick Cheney's heart's a political football. We ought to rip it out and kick it around and stuff it back in him."

Schultz has compared the Tea Party to Nazi Brown Shirts, asked if the term “whore” applied to Joe Lieberman’s wife, and claimed publicly on his show that conservative broadcasters want Obama shot. And that is but the tip of the iceberg. The list of vile, repugnant venom coming out of Schultz’s mouth is extensive:

And this is just one of your hosts. There are plenty more. And yes, in coming days we'll be talking about them, too.

Enough of your hypocrisy. It's time that you take responsibility for, and ownership of Schultz's hateful speech.

You hired Schultz in 2009. Then you promoted him. Twice. And let's not forget how you fawned over Schultz to the Los Angeles Times just a few weeks ago saying "This is a guy who understands how to connect with real people." What's worse is that your pride of this character assassin isn't an isolated incident. As President of MSNBC, you oversee a “news outlet” which employs other hate mongers who fling around similarly extreme, hate-filled and politically-motivated rhetoric.

If what Rush said is so offensive that it deserves your network's obsession with having him removed, then what are you going to do about a host who has a history of insults a hundred-fold worse than anything Limbaugh has ever said? Unless you fire Ed Schultz, you are a complete hypocrite.

It's time you take responsibility for hiring and promoting this hate-filled misogynist, and resign.

A copy of this letter is being sent to Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast. Under separate cover we are sending him another letter, calling on him to take responsibility for employing you. We intend to take this message directly to the shareholders of Comcast as well. I doubt very much they want to have anything to do with race-baiting, hate-filled, character-assassinating misogynists.

Sincerely,
L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President
Media Research Center

CC: Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast