Salon.com > MSNBC http://www.salon.com Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:51:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Irin Carmon talks GOP birth control drama on “Up With Chris Hayes” http://www.salon.com/2012/01/09/irin_carmon_talks_gop_birth_control_drama_on_up_with_chris_hayes/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/09/irin_carmon_talks_gop_birth_control_drama_on_up_with_chris_hayes/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:56:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=11999921 Over the weekend, Rick Santorum pushed back at Salon's story about his opposition to birth control, and the moderators at the ABC News debate Saturday night took note: They asked Mitt Romney what his stance was on states banning contraception. (Unsurprisingly, they did not get a straight answer.)

Salon staff writer Irin Carmon appeared on MSNBC's "Up With Chris Hayes" on Sunday morning to discuss the week's news in general and this story in particular. In the excerpt below, Carmon stands by the coverage and explains what Santorum and Romney's positions on contraception and reproductive rights really mean. Watch the full show here.

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]]> Over the weekend, Rick Santorum pushed back at Salon’s story about his opposition to birth control, and the moderators at the ABC News debate Saturday night took note: They asked Mitt Romney what his stance was on states banning contraception. (Unsurprisingly, they did not get a straight answer.)

Salon staff writer Irin Carmon appeared on MSNBC’s “Up With Chris Hayes” on Sunday morning to discuss the week’s news in general and this story in particular. In the excerpt below, Carmon stands by the coverage and explains what Santorum and Romney’s positions on contraception and reproductive rights really mean. Watch the full show here.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/09/irin_carmon_talks_gop_birth_control_drama_on_up_with_chris_hayes/feed/ 3 1. Mark Halperin http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/1_mark_halperin/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/1_mark_halperin/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10435641 What more is there to say about Mark Halperin? He certainly hasn't gotten any better since last year, when a panel of experts (me) named him the world's second biggest hack. He's still wrong about everything. He's still shallow and predictable. He's still both fixated solely on the horse race and also uniquely bad at analyzing the horse race.

Halperin spent 2011 gearing up for the presidential elections by parroting transparently lame spin from Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, insisting that Palin was really going to run for president and taking Trump's farcical vanity "campaign" seriously as anything other than a time-wasting stunt. He still takes Mark Penn seriously as a wise campaign sage and not an amoral grifter. And he got in trouble for calling President Obama a "dick" on "Morning Joe," because the president criticized the GOP at a press conference. (This after Halperin spends years writing columns calling him a weak-willed wimp, because he is a Democrat.) The worst thing was not that he called the president a dick, it was that the president hadn't even been dickish. (Well, the worst thing was the whole "Morning Joe" team giggling like stoned teenagers that Halperin said a bad word.) Halperin is so dedicated to being wrong about everything that, upon his return to the airwaves, he actually made a point of mentioning that, had he been on TV during his suspension, he would've been wrong about something. Plus he did a "Morning Joe" appearance from an airplane bathroom which is surely illegal.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/1_mark_halperin/feed/ 35 14. Joe Scarborough http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/14_joe_scarborough/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/14_joe_scarborough/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10325771 Nothing sums up everything hatable about cable news and politics and possibly America itself better than "Morning Joe," MSNBC's daily extended advertisement for Starbucks products and Joe Scarborough's odd belief that he is funny and charming.

The former Florida congressman and possibly attorney of some kind followed up his unremarkable political career by becoming a wildly successful moderate TV talker. ("Wildly successful" in terms of monetary compensation and publicity -- his show is watched by less than half the number of people who watch Fox's daily televised morning train wreck "Fox & Friends.") Joe's supposed to be some sort of maverick because he's not a doctrinaire Republican (anymore), but what he is is a totally doctrinaire member of the moderate Beltway political establishment.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/14_joe_scarborough/feed/ 29 Irin Carmon talks Plan B decision on MSNBC http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/irin_carmon_talks_plan_b_decision_on_msnbc/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/irin_carmon_talks_plan_b_decision_on_msnbc/#comments Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:42:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10303303 In an unprecedented move, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius overruled the FDA's call that emergency contraception, or Plan B, be available on store shelves to women of any age. Irin Carmon joined Tamron Hall on MSNBC's News Nation to discuss the outrage. Watch here:

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]]> Read this story at http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/irin_carmon_talks_plan_b_decision_on_msnbc/

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/irin_carmon_talks_plan_b_decision_on_msnbc/feed/ 10 Justin Elliott talks Occupy and foreclosures http://www.salon.com/2011/12/05/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_and_foreclosures/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/05/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_and_foreclosures/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:14:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10292182 Salon's Justin Elliott discussed the foreclosure crisis and the new Occupy Our Homes campaign -- which is launching Tuesday -- on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell.

Watch:

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]]> Salon’s Justin Elliott discussed the foreclosure crisis and the new Occupy Our Homes campaign — which is launching Tuesday — on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell.

Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/05/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_and_foreclosures/feed/ 1 Regular “Hardball” guests agree: Chris Matthews’ new JFK book is the best book http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/matthews_logrolling/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/matthews_logrolling/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:13:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10231243 Chris Matthews is very proud of his new biography of John F. Kennedy. "It is actually the best book" on the subject of John F. Kennedy, according to Matthews. "People who know their business say it's the best book."

Who are these people? What business do they know? I am going to go out on a limb and say that these people know the business of political punditry. Part of the business of political punditry, like most jobs in media and publishing, is logrolling.

The back of Matthews' "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero" features advance praise from historian and frequent "Hardball" guest Doris Kearns Goodwin ("Chris Matthews is a masterful storyteller"); historian, writer and occasional "Hardball" guest Douglas Brinkley ("I give it ten gold stars!"); biographer and Aspen Institute president Walter Isaacson ("an awesome and delightful book"); and frequent MSNBC commentator and batty old aunt Peggy Noonan ("an insightful piece of work and a great time!" italics hers); My favorite blurb of all is from NBC anchor and amateur comedian Brian Williams: "Chris Matthews takes on a giant of American life—and triumphs." So in this book, Chris Matthews ... fights JFK? And beats him?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/17/matthews_logrolling/feed/ 28 Justin Elliott talks Occupy on MSNBC http://www.salon.com/2011/11/07/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_on_msnbc/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/07/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_on_msnbc/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:09:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10172928 Salon reporter Justin Elliott appeared on MSNBC Monday afternoon to talk about the latest developments in the Occupy Wall Street movement, including a new TV ad created by protesters.

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]]> Salon reporter Justin Elliott appeared on MSNBC Monday afternoon to talk about the latest developments in the Occupy Wall Street movement, including a new TV ad created by protesters.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/07/justin_elliott_talks_occupy_on_msnbc/feed/ 2 Irin Carmon talks “personhood,” abortion on MSNBC http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/irin_carmon_talks_personhood_abortion_on_msnbc/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/irin_carmon_talks_personhood_abortion_on_msnbc/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:53:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10152559 In a piece that appeared on Salon on Wednesday, Irin Carmon wrote about a controversial possible new Mississippi law that would redefine "personhood" as something that begins at conception. As she detailed in the piece, its passage could result in bans on commonly used forms of birth control, while also opening the door to criminal investigations on women who suffer miscarriages.  She spoke about it last evening on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell.

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]]> In a piece that appeared on Salon on Wednesday, Irin Carmon wrote about a controversial possible new Mississippi law that would redefine “personhood” as something that begins at conception. As she detailed in the piece, its passage could result in bans on commonly used forms of birth control, while also opening the door to criminal investigations on women who suffer miscarriages.  She spoke about it last evening on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/irin_carmon_talks_personhood_abortion_on_msnbc/feed/ 15 TV that deserves the name “journalism” http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/chris_hayes_msnbc/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/chris_hayes_msnbc/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10150558 Waking up at 4 a.m. is rarely enjoyable, and arising at that unspeakable hour to appear on a cable news show is particularly painful. In such situations, you feel as if you’re dragging yourself out of bed only to be treated like a canine in a dogfight, with the typical show pitting you in a contrived death match against another guest who is your equally angry, equally mangy opposite. That, or you’re simply asked to play the yes-man -- the Ed McMahon to the host's Johnny Carson.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of most cable news because I find this format mind-numbing, uninformative and tedious (and cable news' declining ratings over the last year prove I'm not alone). So when I was asked to appear on MSNBC last Saturday morning, my initial thought was, "Thanks, but no thanks."

But then I realized it was a new show hosted by Chris Hayes, a journalist whose work I've long admired. So I said yes. And crack-of-dawn fatigue aside, I'm glad I did, because to my surprise, I ended up getting the chance to participate in one of the best television programs on the air.

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]]> Read this story at http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/chris_hayes_msnbc/

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/chris_hayes_msnbc/feed/ 44 Emily Sirota goes on MSNBC http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/emily_sirota_election/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/emily_sirota_election/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10144094 Last week, Salon contributor David Sirota wrote an article about how his wife's school board campaign in Denver is giving his family an up-close (and disturbing) look at how big money has infiltrated the nation's most local races. On Monday night, Emily Sirota talked to Lawrence O'Donnell about why big donors have become so invested in local elections and how this influx of money has transformed Denver politics.

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]]> Last week, Salon contributor David Sirota wrote an article about how his wife’s school board campaign in Denver is giving his family an up-close (and disturbing) look at how big money has infiltrated the nation’s most local races. On Monday night, Emily Sirota talked to Lawrence O’Donnell about why big donors have become so invested in local elections and how this influx of money has transformed Denver politics.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/emily_sirota_election/feed/ 14 Justin Elliott talks to Ed Schultz about Occupy Wall Street http://www.salon.com/2011/10/06/justin_elliott_talks_to_ed_schultz_about_occupy_wall_street/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/06/justin_elliott_talks_to_ed_schultz_about_occupy_wall_street/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:19:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10104778 After the big labor march on Wall Street last night, I sat down with Ed Schultz and Laura Flanders to discuss the day, where the movement might be heading, and whether the protesters are Obama supporters.

Thanks to whomever in the crowd gave a shoutout to Salon at around the 4:19 mark.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/06/justin_elliott_talks_to_ed_schultz_about_occupy_wall_street/feed/ 17 Which network asks the best presidential debate questions? http://www.salon.com/2011/09/22/gopquestions/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/22/gopquestions/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/09/22/gopquestions Newt Gingrich may be a joke of a candidate, but he made a serious point the last time Fox News sponsored a presidential debate: Moderator Chris Wallace should "put aside the gotcha questions." With Fox News (and Google) sponsoring Thursday's night's debate, there is a risk of another gotcharama. A semi-scientific review shows that Fox and MSNBC are more likely to play gotcha. If you want to hear what the candidates have to say about public policy, wait for a debate sponsored by CNN.

Sparked by Newt's complaints -- and my own sense that the debate questions were poorly done -- I went back and coded the questions in each debate. I divided them into five categories:

• Basic policy questions, which simply ask the candidates their positions on issues of public policy. For example, Tea Party voter Sandra Jones asked: "What would you do to get the economy moving forward? Do you have a plan? And, if so, what is it?"

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]]> Newt Gingrich may be a joke of a candidate, but he made a serious point the last time Fox News sponsored a presidential debate: Moderator Chris Wallace should “put aside the gotcha questions.” With Fox News (and Google) sponsoring Thursday’s night’s debate, there is a risk of another gotcharama. A semi-scientific review shows that Fox and MSNBC are more likely to play gotcha. If you want to hear what the candidates have to say about public policy, wait for a debate sponsored by CNN.

Sparked by Newt’s complaints — and my own sense that the debate questions were poorly done — I went back and coded the questions in each debate. I divided them into five categories:

• Basic policy questions, which simply ask the candidates their positions on issues of public policy. For example, Tea Party voter Sandra Jones asked: “What would you do to get the economy moving forward? Do you have a plan? And, if so, what is it?”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/22/gopquestions/feed/ 11 Joe Scarborough writes bizarre 9/11 song, for some reason http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/scarborough_song/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/scarborough_song/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/09/08/scarborough_song Joe Scarborough -- the former Republican congressman who now hosts a basic cable morning show -- wrote a 9/11 song. Why? I don't know. I really don't. It's called "Reason to Believe," and it comes with an insane, Americana-drenched video that also doubles as a parody of horrible Americana-drenched country music videos.

 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/scarborough_song/feed/ 35 Farewell, third-tier candidates http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/debate_goodbye/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/debate_goodbye/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/09/08/debate_goodbye Maybe the most telling moment of last night's Republican debate came not when Rick Perry said "propes" instead of "props," but when he appeared to forget Rick Santorum's name. "Let me just respond to the last individual," Perry said, as he avoided answering a question about America's persistent racial inequities. With the press-appointed "official start" of the 2012 campaign, and the first debate featuring all the universally acknowledged front-runners who are actually running, it is time for us to bid a regretful goodbye to those individuals who make the early months of the campaign fun: the third-tier fringe candidates like Rick Santorum.

You could tell when the Politico/MSNBC-sponsored debate began that the moderators wished there were fewer people onstage. Almost the first 15 minutes of the debate were spent on an argument solely involving the only two people with a shot at the nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Brian Williams and John Harris clearly preferred addressing their serious questions to those two, and many of the questions aimed at the others onstage were about one of those two ex-governors. Poor Michele Bachmann, heretofore the only credible non-Romney candidate, seemed barely to be present. Huntsman got a lot of airtime, but he's been getting plenty of press attention this whole time.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/08/debate_goodbye/feed/ 89 Steve Kornacki talks Huntsman, GOP race on “Hardball” http://www.salon.com/2011/08/23/kornacki_hardball/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/23/kornacki_hardball/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:59:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/22/kornacki_hardball Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is attempting to jump-start his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination by calling out his opponents on their willingness to embrace Tea Party orthodoxy. Steve Kornacki wrote about Huntsman's strategy on Monday, then dissected it with Time's Michael Crowley and guest-host Ron Reagan on MSNBC's "Hardball" later in the day:

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]]> Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is attempting to jump-start his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination by calling out his opponents on their willingness to embrace Tea Party orthodoxy. Steve Kornacki wrote about Huntsman’s strategy on Monday, then dissected it with Time’s Michael Crowley and guest-host Ron Reagan on MSNBC’s “Hardball” later in the day:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/23/kornacki_hardball/feed/ 8 Hey MSNBC: Ditch the weekend trash shows http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/msnbc_sunday/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/msnbc_sunday/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/22/msnbc_sunday On Sunday, when there was huge, historic news breaking very suddenly in Libya, the best television coverage of the event available for Americans was, obviously, on al-Jazeera English -- which is still not available on most cable packages but streamable online -- though CNN acquitted itself pretty well primarily just by switching over to its CNN International arm. (Until Wolf Blitzer showed up late at night to ad lib atonal vowel sounds in his imitable style.) Even Fox did ok, by playing footage from their British pseudo-sister channel Sky News, which had an actual real-life reporter embedded with the Libyan fighters entering Tripoli. (Though Fox decided mustachioed neocon John Bolton would be the best person to put the footage into perspective for their American audience, a group largely unused to anything resembling unfiltered international news.)

So thanks to CNN's international arm and Fox's decision to hand the reins over to their multinational corporate parent company's other, superior news network, two of America's three "24-hour cable news networks" had decent coverage and compelling firsthand pictures and videos from Tripoli as the anti-Gadhafi forces took the city.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/22/msnbc_sunday/feed/ 35 The real problem with Buchanan calling Obama “boy” http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/pat_buchanan_boy_comment_context/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/pat_buchanan_boy_comment_context/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:04:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/03/pat_buchanan_boy_comment_context On MSNBC Tuesday night, Pat Buchanan called President Obama "your boy" when speaking to Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been hosting the 6pm hour on the network. He said that Sharpton's "boy" Obama got "whipped" by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

"My what?... My President, Barack Obama? What did you say?" Sharpton retorted in disbelief. Buchanan attempted to cover his tracks by saying he was using boxing terminology, meaning "your boy in the ring," but Sharpton shot back "he's nobody's boy -- he's your president." Watch the interchange here, via Mediaite:

Appearing on "Morning Joe" Wednesday, Buchanan once again tried to defend his comments: "Some folks took what I said as some kind of a slur. None was meant, none was intended, none was delivered."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/pat_buchanan_boy_comment_context/feed/ 33 Mark Halperin’s triumphant return to saying nonsense on “Morning Joe” http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/halperin_back_2/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/halperin_back_2/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:45:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/03/halperin_back Oh, happy day! Mark Halperin was back on "Morning Joe" this morning, and MSNBC's master political analyst didn't lose a step during his month-long forced vacation. During a discussion of the economy and the national debt, Halperin masterfully said a bunch of inane, contradictory nonsense.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/03/halperin_back_2/feed/ 17 Mark Halperin’s back on MSNBC! http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/halperin_back/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/halperin_back/#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//war_room/2011/08/02/halperin_back Poor Mark Halperin's summer vacation ends this week. The famous political analyst who doesn't understand politics and is wrong about everything will be back on MSNBC sometime this week, after serving his month-long suspension for calling the president a "dick," on "Morning Joe," on July 30. I had sort of hoped, a month ago, that MSNBC would just quietly not ever lift the suspension, or maybe they would all forget that MSNBC ever even employed Mark Halperin. Not to be! Soon, Mark will be back on "Morning Joe" where he will cover politics like a horse race, as covered by someone who had never seen a horse race.

Mark has surely learned his lesson, and from now on he'll be politely wrong about everything, constantly.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/halperin_back/feed/ 15 Al Sharpton, MSNBC and journalistic standards http://www.salon.com/2011/07/27/sharpton_10/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/27/sharpton_10/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:28:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald//2011/07/27/sharpton On Sunday, Cenk Uygur was interviewed by CNN's Howard Kurtz about Uygur's departure from MSNBC, and Ugyur claimed that Al Sharpton -- widely reported to be his replacement -- vowed in a 60 Minutes interview never to criticize President Obama under any circumstances.  When I first heard Ugyur make this claim, I assumed it was hyperbole -- until I watched the video and read the transcript of the Sharpton interview.  The 60 Minutes segment was aired on May 19, 2011, and chronicles what it calls Sharpton's "metamorphosis: today he's down right tame. So much so, that he has made his way into the establishment."  It includes this:

Sharpton told us that having a black president is a challenge: if he finds fault with Mr. Obama, he'd be aiding those who want to destroy him. So he has decided not to criticize the president about anything -- even about black unemployment, which is twice the national rate.

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