Schultz Admits Editing Perry, Doesn't Apologize for Falsely Accusing Him of Making Racist Remark About Obama

August 16th, 2011 11:05 PM

As NewsBusters reported hours ago, MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Monday deceptively edited comments made by Rick Perry to falsely accuse the Texas governor of making a racist remark about President Obama.

"The Ed Show" host admitted his mistake on Tuesday's program, but failed to apologize to Perry or even acknowledge his despicable accusation let alone retract it (video follows courtesy Breitbart TV with partial transcript and commentary, file photo):

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Now last night we played a clip of Governor Perry talking about the debt being a black cloud over this country. We did not present the full context of those statements and we should have. Here’s the full clip. Let’s get it right. Here’s the full clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK PERRY (R-TEXAS): I'm a pro-business governor. I don`t make any apologies about it, and I will be a pro-business president. Getting America back to work is the most important issue that faces this country, being able to pay off $14.5 trillion or $16 trillion worth of debt. That big black cloud that hangs over America, that debt that is so monstrous. There’s only one way you get rid of it that’s practical, that makes sense, and that is to free up America, free up American entrepreneurs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: No doubt about it, it was a mistake and we regret the error on this particular statement. We should not have included it in our coverage of his overheated rhetoric. That’s our mistake.

What a farce.

Schultz went on national television Monday with a highly-edited video accusing the governor of the nation's second most populated state of making a racist remark about the president.

He went on 24 hours later admitting that said video was edited without acknowledging or apologizing for the deplorable slur.

What kind of a "news" organization is this?

The folks at Comcast, General Electric, NBC, and MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for not requiring their employee to issue a complete retraction for his error along with an apology to the person that was wrongly defamed. Anything less compounds the insult and the injury.

If this is what Americans can expect from MSNBC during the upcoming campaign, maybe there should be a disclaimer running at the bottom of the screen 24/7 informing viewers that the information being presented might be erroneous, but those involved really don't care because they're all in the tank for the current White House resident.

That at least would be far more honest than Schultz's pathetic mea culpa as well as what's currently passing for "news" at this disgrace of a network.

*****Update: Back in May, Schultz was suspended one week for calling Laura Ingraham a "right-wing slut." How will Schultz be reprimanded for intentionally editing a speech by a governor in order to accuse him of making a racist remark about the president?