On Tuesday’s All In, host Chris Hayes and his guests tackled a chilling and politically loaded subject: which beliefs should disqualify someone from holding public office. Among other things, the group decided that global warming “denialism,” opposition to same-sex marriage, and opposition to a “robust” Voting Rights Act should put a politician outside the mainstream and ruin their chances of holding public office.
Hayes seemed excited that politicians might be branded with a figurative scarlet letter for holding beliefs that run counter to his own far-left vision. In fact, he claimed the act of disqualification based on certain beliefs is a “tool of progress,” not something that “constrains consensus.” The host gloated:
All In
By Paul Bremmer | May 14, 2014 | 5:46 PM EDT
By Brad Wilmouth | May 7, 2014 | 11:36 PM EDT
MSNBC efforts to link conservatives to Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy continued on Wednesday, May 7, as All In host Chris Hayes suggested that endorsing Tea Party candidates was "basically one step away from endorsing Cliven Bundy." [See video below.]
By Brad Wilmouth | April 29, 2014 | 11:31 PM EDT
Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's All In on MSNBC to discuss the controversy over Donald Sterling's racist comments, HBO comedian Bill Maher managed to make a crack about Rush Limbaugh.
He answered a question from host Chris Hayes about whether there would be an increase in the number of people defending Sterling in the aftermath of his punishment. Maher said Limbaugh will "find a way to say something worse" than Sterling. [See video below.]
By Brad Wilmouth | April 25, 2014 | 1:21 AM EDT
On the Thursday, April 24, All In with Chris Hayes, during a discussion of racist comments about black Americans by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, MSNBC political analyst Michael Eric Dyson compared those words to a recent statement by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan about the work ethic in the inner cities. [See video below.]
By Paul Bremmer | April 24, 2014 | 4:38 PM EDT
There’s a slow but steady drumbeat of support building up in the media for an Elizabeth Warren presidential run, and MSNBC is playing a huge part in it. On Wednesday’s All In, host Chris Hayes chatted with Esquire’s Charles Pierce about what makes Sen. Warren (D-Mass.) so great. Hayes began the interview by asking, “[W]hat is it about Elizabeth Warren that people love so much? There is some quality that is bringing something out in people.”
Pierce, who wrote a profile of Warren in Esquire, made a flattering comparison of the senator’s speaking style to that of an iconic liberal president. He exclaimed that “she gets the same effect out of ‘golly’ that Lyndon Johnson used to get out of curse words.”
By Paul Bremmer | April 23, 2014 | 6:07 PM EDT
As an environmentalist, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes sure does love Earth Day. He celebrated the holiday on Tuesday’s edition of All In by fantasizing about the day when 80 percent of the planet’s fossil fuel will stay in the ground. And why does Hayes not want energy companies to extract fossil fuel? To reduce emissions and prevent global warming, of course.
Hayes, however, lamented that the fuel he believes needs to stay in the ground is worth about $20 trillion, a pricey sum to leave untapped. He laid out the problem for his viewers, as he saw it:
Daily Beast's Goldberg Invokes Oklahoma City Bombing in Discussion of GOP, Cliven Bundy, and Militias
By Brad Wilmouth | April 21, 2014 | 11:07 PM EDT Appearing as a guest on the Monday, April 21, All In with Chris Hayes, Daily Beast columnist Michelle Goldberg -- also of the far left The Nation magazine -- invoked the Oklahoma City Bombing during a discussion of the Cliven Bundy standoff, as she accused the Republican Party of "playing footsie" with militias during the Clinton administration, and suggested culpabilty by Republicans in stoking violence. [See video below.]
By Brad Wilmouth | April 19, 2014 | 4:27 PM EDT
On the Friday, April 18, All In show, during a discussion of the firing of former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich for simply donating to a political campaign opposing same-sex marriage, guest Richard Kim of the far left The Nation magazine intoned that he found it "disturbing" that gay activist friends of his have expressed interest in "targeting" more people who have made similar donations, and who have declared they should "find out where they live." Kim:
By Matt Hadro | April 15, 2014 | 11:42 PM EDT
MSNBC's Chris Hayes celebrated Tax Day by standing up for the IRS as the "cornerstone" of the federal government and lambasting Republicans for trying to gut the agency.
"Conservatives recognize that one of the only things standing between us and a genuine plutocracy are thousands of anonymous bureaucrats doing the basic work of enforcing our nation's laws," Hayes said, painting a homey picture of IRS workers holding up democracy instead of targeting Tea Party groups.
By Paul Bremmer | April 11, 2014 | 5:31 PM EDT
MSNBC personalities frequently turn to race to explain away society’s ills, and on Thursday’s All In, host Chris Hayes cried racism on the topic of state Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare. Hayes started by admitting what many people have probably guessed about him and many of his fellow MSNBC hosts – that he sees American politics through a racial lens. He proclaimed:
“The racial prism I use to analyze American politics has grown sharper and I think in some ways more pessimistic in the Obama era. I will cop to that, unquestionably. Like, I do think, see things more thoroughly through the prism of race.”
By Paul Bremmer | April 10, 2014 | 5:18 PM EDT
More than five years after the end of his term, George W. Bush still finds himself the target of attacks from the liberals at MSNBC. On Wednesday’s All In with Chris Hayes, the network found a new way to smear the former president – by criticizing his paintings. Fill-in host Ari Melber actually brought on an art critic, Jerry Saltz from New York magazine, to dissect some of President Bush’s paintings, now displayed in an exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. But Melber offered his own commentary as well. Remarking on the fact that Bush has painted several self-portraits and portraits of world leaders, Melber griped about what the ex-president has not painted:
“These are not pictures of people at Abu Ghraib or Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice. He's positioning himself, as you said, either at the most personal or at the diplomatic level with foreign leaders. We're not seeing any sort of focus on other worst parts of his legacy.”
By Paul Bremmer | April 8, 2014 | 5:57 PM EDT
Michelle Goldberg of The Nation took a cheap shot at Republican voters during an appearance on Monday’s All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Fill-in host Ari Melber brought up Jeb Bush’s recent remark that illegal immigration is an act of love, calling it “an appealing message.” Goldberg cut across him, demanding, “Appealing to who?”
Melber replied, “Well, appealing to people who like love, obviously.” To which Goldberg shot back, “Right, not the Republican base.” At that point, Melber cut to a commercial break, leaving the Republicans watching (if any) to shout at their televisions, “But I like love, too!”