There was little doubt when Martin Bashir started his mid-afternoon gig at MSNBC in February that he'd be another left-of-center anchor in the show's afternoon lineup, although to what extent the British-born reporter would be a fierce partisan bulldog was uncertain. The past few months, as we've noted, the former rugby player has displayed pugnacious partisanship, at one point ridiculously calling on John Boehner and Eric Cantor to resign if they refuse to give ground on raising taxes.

It's now reached the point where Bashir's mean-spirited, unbridled raw partisanship is not going unnoticed or unchallenged by his guests. Today Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus quipped that Bashir "should be writing ads for the Democratic National Committee" after the MSNBC anchor kicked off a panel discussion with her and Democratic strategist Julian Epstein thusly:

Cheri, Newt Gingrich: Serial adulterer, a man forced to resign from the Congress, a man who attacks others for supporting Freddie Mac but then fails to mention he's banked almost $2 million for his "historical insights to the same company. Your response to his rise?

"These are truths, they're not made up. They're not adverts, they're truths," Bashir protested, apparently unconcerned that he sounds like an attack dog for the Left rather than an ostensibly objective journalist.