Ed Schultz Confuses Wishful Thinking About Obama on Gitmo With Indisputable Fact

April 13th, 2009 12:25 PM

After the premiere of his MSNBC cable show on April 6, liberal radio host Ed Schultz spent considerable time telling his listeners about the television show.

Here's Schultz on Thursday, boasting of alleged high journalism standards at MSNBC while speaking with a caller (click here for audio) --

Where I work, they don't put stuff on the air unless it's correct and they differentiate between opinion and fact. And in my world I think that's kind of important. On The Ed Show (Schultz's program on MSNBC), I'm not going to tell you something that I know isn't the truth.

All of two minutes later, after playing a clip of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticizing Obama for naming gay rights activist Harry Knox to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Schultz showed how the distinction between opinion and fact hasn't permeated the rest of his "world," specifically his radio show (audio link here) --

This is the only card he can play right now. This is the only card because there, number one, are economic things that are happening right now that are very positive. The president of the United States is committed to fighting terrorism. We are going to get conclusion in Iraq. The troops love the president. The G-20 companies, countries, thought he was a really good guy, OK? Gitmo is shut down. You get all these psych-, I mean, I could fill an hour of psycho talk.

That Schultz can, with plenty of his own. But as anyone paying attention is aware, the detention center at Guantanamo has not been "shut down," despite then-candidate Obama's frequent vows during the campaign to do exactly that.

Instead, what Obama announced two days after taking office was his intention of closing the Gitmo prison within a year -- the better to provide him ample time to figure out what the hell to do with those detained there. Especially the unrepentant, homicidal ones.

Schultz must have also snoozed through the news cycle when Attorney General Eric Holder visited Guantanamo in February and described the detention facility as well run, professional -- and difficult to close.

Seeing how liberals are so concerned about detainees at Gitmo, here's an idea, borrowed from others who suggested it before me -- how about transferring Guantanamo prisoners to a reopened Alcatraz? That virtually escape-proof prison situated within view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional district.