What the hell happened to Ed Schultz?

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Speaking this week in a National Review podcast, hosted by Jamie Weinstein and published Friday, the TV host refused to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for his troubling human-rights record, instead declaring that Putin is “viewed as a progressive Democrat” by the Russian people. 

When confronted with his own past comments acknowledging Putin had a “nasty human rights record,” Schultz focused on the “tremendous friction” between the U.S. and Russia, and claimed that his previous remarks about Putin “might have been overboard.” 

“Does he have a nasty human rights record?” Weinstein pressed further. “I think the United States has a nasty human-rights record,” Schultz replied. 

“I do think that every super power on the globe has a very poor record on human rights.” 

While his former home MSNBC has hit ratings gold—due, in part, to its extensive coverage of the ongoing probe into Russian ties to the Trump campaign—the famously bombastic progressive Schultz has gone in the opposite direction since departing the network in 2015. 

As The New Republic noted in 2017, since joining Russia’s state-owned television network, Schultz has repeatedly praised Trump’s political acumen while downplaying accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Schultz also brushed off Russia's annexation of Crimea, and defended Vladimir Putin as working to improve Russia.

Yeah, apparently by robbing the country blind, and subjugating it's people.

True confession time, Ed Schultz was NEVER among my favorite MSNBC hosts.

In fact I typically skipped his show, and when I was invited to meet him when he came up here I said I couldn't cause I was washing my hair.

But still I thought that he had some integrity, with his whole defend the middle class shtick.

But now that looks like it was all bullshit.

Hey I understand having to make a living (I've done some shit to make money that we are not going to discuss here.), but to completely sell out like this is pathetic.

At least when Keith Olbermann left MSNBC he managed to maintain his ideological credibility. 

You might want to say good-bye to some of your favorite MSNBC shows.

Here is a letter from the president of MSNBC Phil Griffin courtesy of Mediaite: 

Team, 

I’m writing to share a number of changes we’re making as we build a new daytime lineup with the best live, breaking news coverage on television. 

As of this Friday, “The Cycle,” “Now with Alex Wagner” and “The Ed Show” will air their final shows. 

Alex Wagner will stay with MSNBC and play a key role in our political coverage as we head into the 2016 election. And Ari Melber will continue in his role as Chief Legal Correspondent. But we will be parting ways with some friends – Ed Schultz, Krystal Ball, Abby Huntsman and Toure will be leaving MSNBC. Please join me in thanking them for their numerous contributions over the past several years, and in wishing them great success. 

Beginning in a few weeks, Chuck Todd will bring his unmatched brand of political insight and analysis back to MSNBC with a daily one-hour program. That show will air weekdays at 5pm. 

I know you read press reports last week speculating about these changes. I hope you can understand that we were not able to confirm at that point because we had not yet finalized many of the decisions I’m sharing with you today, and we hadn’t yet spoken directly with the people involved. 

In the coming weeks, as we complete our plans to create a new look and flow for our dayside programming, our 3pm to 6pm hours will begin the pivot towards live, breaking news coverage – with interim hosts from among our very talented ranks. And then, in September, we’ll unveil a 9am to 5pm schedule driven by dynamic coverage of breaking news events that are shaping the day. 

Change can be hard. There’s no doubt it’s been a difficult time, but we have exciting opportunities ahead. 

Phil

Okay somebody needs to explain to me why Alex Wagner loses her spot but Al Sharpton retains his?

I mean I don't have anything against Sharpton, except of course for his constant mispronunciations and intermittent speech patterns, but Wagner is the far superior host.

As for The Cycle, I am surprised that crappy thing is still on the air, though I really do like Krystal Ball. (And if you are going for eye candy alone it is kind of hard to beat Abby Huntsman.)

However the truly disturbing part of this memo is the announcement that the despicable Chuck Todd is returning to the MSNBC lineup. His hosting of MTP has completely changed my Sunday morning TV watching routine, and  I am far from happy to see his return to my favorite cable news network.

If Phil Griffin wants to get serious about saving this network he needs to swallow his pride and hire Keith Olbermann back. And while he's at it does Martin Bashir still need a job?

Boy wouldn't that piss off the conservatives?

Ed Schultz interview of Scott Prouty, the man who filmed the 47% video and derailed Mitt Romney's campaign.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I was absolutely riveted to this thing last night, and essentially planned my entire evening around watching it.

My first takeaway is how humble Mr. Prouty is and that he really seemed to be motivated by nothing more than the desire to reveal the truth about a candidate that he felt was lying to the American people.

My second takeaway is that we need to hold a parade in this man's honor.

Ed Shultz interviews Zerlina Maxwell who received death threats after daring to suggest that men be taught not to rape on Fox News.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I covered this in detail yesterday, which you can read here.

Ed Schultz tackles the Southern Poverty Law Center's report that anti-government groups are at an all time high.

This is the opening of Ed's show so the first minute and a half does not address this topic. If you skip to the 1:30 mark you will start to hear the troubling information.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You know Ed Schults is one of the MSNBC hosts that I link to the least because he is often bombastic and is not known for delivering the information in the cool and informative way that say Rachel Maddow might. However in THIS case I certainly do not think that Schultz is over the top and I share his concern, and that of the SPLC, that these groups present a clear and present danger to the citizens and law enforcement officials of this country.

Here is a little more from Politico:

The SPLC wrote a letter to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security asking for the creation of a task force to examine the resources devoted to battling domestic terrorism. 

“On October 25, 1994, six months before the Oklahoma City bombing, we wrote Attorney General Janet Reno about the growing threat of domestic terrorism,” SPLC President Richard Cohen wrote in the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “Today, we write to express similar concerns. In the last four years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of conspiracy-minded, antigovernment groups as well as in the number of domestic terrorist plots. As in the period before the Oklahoma City bombing, we now also are seeing ominous threats from those who believe that the government is poised to take their guns.” 

As somebody who watched the Schaeffer Cox story unfold, and who has some behind the scenes knowledge bout how a number of similar groups currently preparing their own anti-government plots, I will tell you that we CANNOT ignore these lunatics.

They may be comical at times, with their ridiculous training video, and bizarre conspiracy theories, but make no mistake these individuals are heavily armed and, thanks to assholes like Norm Olson, easily agitated into making dangerous mistakes which might very well cost them their lives, the lives of the law enforcement officials sent to deal with them, and any innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire.

No more Saturday delivery by the Post Office? Ed Schultz has something to say about that! And you should listen.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Last night I was thinking about writing a post about this (As I have in the past), but then I saw Ed Schultz essentially explode on the air and realized that nothing I could write would match his passion and justified outrage, so I decided that you needed to hear it from him instead.

I often find Schultz a little bombastic for my tastes, but on this issue I am with him 100 percent.

He can get loud and abrasive sometimes but I urge you to listen to what he says, because the Republican's plan to privatize government services is certainly not limited to just the post office of even our public school system, they want to  make EVERYTHING to be for profit only.

Sean Hannity's ratings hit rock bottom after President Obama's reelection. Now THAT is change I can believe in!

"I'm losing to Rachel Maddow? How can this be?"

Courtesy of the New York Daily News:

In a fitting coda to 2012, we’ve learned that the ratings for rock-ribbed conservative Sean Hannity cratered after Barack Obama won his second term, with viewers tuning out the Fox News Channel talk-show host in droves. 

According to Nielsen numbers, Hannity lost around half of his audience in the weeks after the election, while his Fox News colleague Bill O’Reilly — who steadfastly refuses to identify himself politically as a conservative — retained around 70% of his audience. 

So what happened to Hannity? 

The going wisdom is that viewers who basked in his preelection anti-Obama rhetoric tuned him out when they were stunned to wake up on Nov. 7 and discover that the President had won a second term — a scenario that Hannity had all but promised could never happen. 

Before the election, Hannity was riding high in the ratings and topped thought leaders on the right, like Dick Morris, Ann Coulter, Peggy Noonan and talk radio bulldog Mark Levin, who predicted Obama would lose in a landslide. 

Those voices — and many others like them — all but drove the political coverage on Fox News, talk radio and conservative blogs. 

But as Conor Friedersdorf wrote in The Atlantic just after the election, “Outside the conservative media, the narrative was completely different.” 

And when the dust settled, it turns out Hannity’s viewers opted to vote again — with their remotes. 

Adding insult to injury, two of Hannity’s rivals on MSNBC, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow, held onto huge chunks of their audiences, while at CNN, far less politically polarizing host Anderson Cooper lost almost none of his viewers postelection. 

It got even worse for Hannity in the “money demo” of viewers 25-54, who are prized by advertisers. 

With this group, Hannity held onto less than half his preelection audience. O’Reilly, on the other hand, kept almost 70%. 

And through the early part of December, Maddow actually beat Hannity in the coveted group — a shocking turn, because until the election, Hannity was unassailable by any of his rivals, at least in terms of ratings. 

This is the kind of news that I find especially heartwarming. And you know the thing is that I doubt Hannity will be able to attract new viewers due to the Fox News demographic dying out and the newer generation's disgust with the vitriol and bullshit that flows from Fox News.

I see this as only the beginning of the end for many of Fox's most  aggressive purveyors of propaganda, and have to imagine that about now the powers that be are thinking of ways to revamp the network in order to survive in the coming years.

I also believe that this all but dooms any hope Sarah Palin might have had of having her contract renewed. With the very symbol of Right Wing conspiracy taking such a hit in the ratings I do not see what business sense there is in bringing Palin, who is the very antithesis of honesty and journalistic integrity, back onto the airwaves in any other capacity except comic relief.

MSNBC's Alex Wagner discusses the GOP's "Palin Problem."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I love Jonathon Capehart on this topic: "The Republican party doesn't need to have Sarah Palin, not just take her marbles and go home and be angry, they don't her to take her marbles and sit in her at home studio in Alaska and blast the hell out of Republicans and the Republican candidate from her studio there in Alaska on Fox News."

Alex Wagner was not the ONLY MSNBC pundit to do a segment on Palin yesterday, Ed Schultz also discussed her in great detail, also suggesting that Dick Cheney feared her, while Democratic strategist Bob Shrum voiced his opinion that Romney HAD to give her a speaking spot at the Tampa convention. Oh won't THAT be fun to watch!

Of course yesterday Palin lost a little of her recent political momentum as Sarah Steelman, the Missouri Teabagger she endorsed, went down in flames last night.

This according to ABC News:

Sarah Palin’s chosen candidate has lost Missouri’s GOP Senate primary. So has the race’s self-funding front-runner. 

Instead, Missouri Republicans picked Rep. Todd Akin, in an upset victory for the Christian conservative who is serving his sixth House term, and who trailed badly according to polling from Missouri. 

Akin’s win comes as a surprise. To many observers, it will seem out of nowhere. 

Gee I wonder what could have horrified the people of Missouri so much about Steelman that she came in last?

Personally I think that Palin is giving Romney and his people a lot of sleepless nights right now. She is indeed a truly nasty bitch who will turn on Romney like a rabid dog if he does NOT throw her a bone, but just like his decision to not produce his tax returns, he may think it will do more harm if she DOES make an appearance than if it looks like he is dissing her.

I am still somewhat confused by the fact that so many powerful men within the Republican party are so completely intimidated by the Lunatic from Lake Lucille. I mean I would have bet big money that Cheney would have flicked her off like a flea rather than have to walk back an absolutely accurate statement about her.

Kind of makes you wonder exactly WHAT Palin has in her arsenal that seems to frighten these people so much?

President Obama speaking to Urban League about gun violence: "I believe a lot of gun owners would agree that AK47's belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(Remarks about guns starts around the 4:10 mark)

The President is in an untenable position when it comes to doing something about guns.

Gun sales skyrocketed mere days after his inauguration, and have steadily increased ever since, simply out of fear that he MIGHT do something to curtail American's easy access to guns. After this speech you can count on it going higher still, and if he ACTUALLY tried to implement a gun control policy the gun lobby would fight him at every turn while gun sales hit an all time peak.

I am not exactly sure WHAT the President can do about this without an overwhelming Democratic majority in both the House and Senate that is.  And even THEN he may not find the support that he needs to do anything concrete about the problem.

Especially when you consider this.

As you can see this culture of guns has become part of our national DNA, as hard to remove from our American identity as it would be to remove the drinking of tea from England's.

Of course nobody's teabag has ever been responsible for the deaths of 12 innocent people. I'm just saying.

Americans are starting to catch on that the GOP is sabotaging the economy on purpose.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I am not a big Ed Show watcher as a rule, and I especially ignore programs that feature a guest host, but I found THIS one very interesting.

Lot's of very troubling information in this to help you understand just how devious the Republicans are being this election cycle.

From now on I don't think we should bother to mince words, essentially this Republican party is made up of traitors, and the American people deserve to know that!

Ed Schultz comes out hard against Mitt Romney's high school bullying and rejects his pathetic excuse for an "apology."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You know sometimes I am a little put off by Ed's strident approach to some of the news stories, but I have to say that in THIS case his disgust with this story almost exactly reflects my own.

For those who fear that Palin will get a free pass from Donny Deutsch.

Now if THAT is the Donny Deutsch who shows up on the panel on Tuesday along with Star Jones and Dr. Nancy Snyderman, then THAT really would be "must see TV!"

People have also been suggesting that Palin will be supplied the questions ahead of time and have access to a teleprompter, but I have to day that in my experience these people NEVER stick to the script.  So if Palin is relying on a carefully orchestrated back and froth tomorrow, I doubt that is what she will get.

And since we all know that the idiot only has a few memorized responses to almost EVERY question we can certainly expect that she will have hard time keeping up with the other panelists.

There will be none of that "can I call you Joe?" garbage on morning television.

President Obama calls Sandra Fluke, victim of horrible smear campaign by Rush Limgaugh, to offer his support.

Once again I am impressed with our President's sheer humanity.

Good for him for calling Sandra Fluke and telling her that her parents should be proud of her.  I have little doubt that they are indeed proud of her.

On the other hand Limbaugh's day is going from bad to worse.

He is hemorrhaging advertisers, while there is an organized effort to boycott those who remain with him.

His name is being used to paint Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum as cowards and misogynists for  not calling him out over his disgusting remarks.

And even Greta Van Susteren has been singled out by Mediaite as a hypocrite for staying silent on the issue when she has a long history of going after liberals and others for any perceived sexist remarks on THEIR part.

Limbaugh, who many believe is essentially in charge of the Republican party these days, is causing the kind of damage to his party that President Obama and the leaders of the DNC could only dream of doing on their own.

In the past individuals who have said far less inflammatory things on the air, like Don Imus, Ed Schultz, and David Shuster, were suspended or their remarks or lost their jobs altogether.

So one must ask, is there a double standard when it comes to Rush Limbaugh? Is EVERYBODY too afraid of his fat ass to fire him or demand that he be suspended?

 This piece of shit is a fucking bully and he needs to be taught that he cannot abuse people like this and get away with it.  Perhaps if he loses enough advertisers Clear Channel will finally get the message that his kind of hateful rhetoric is just not welcome in Barack Obama's America.

(I added that last part just to REALLY piss off the racists!)

Did you see Ed Schultz's interview with Occupy Oakland's injured Marine Scott Olsen?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I know that many of you were worried so I am glad to see this young man making a slow, but steady, recovery.

Hearing him struggle to speak is somewhat heartrending, especially since what happened to him was completely unnecessary and an indication that some places in this country are little better than a third world dictatorship.

Ed Schultz pokes fun at Gretchen Carlson's dippy defense of Sarah Palin.