Rachel Maddow attacked RedState today, and I’ll get to that a bit later. I generally have liked respectfully disagreeing with her positions, but the whole of MSNBC isn’t worth even a respectful disagreement anymore.

NY DAILY NEWS’S STANLEY CROUCH PRAISES MADDOW
From today’s New York Daily News:

Rachel Maddow is a hero for telling the truth; Fox News keeps spinning lies
Stanley Crouch
Monday, January 31st 2011, 4:00 AM

It’s almost time to quit reading at this point.

Being neither a liberal nor a conservative, I was surprised to discover how much I’ve come to enjoy MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.”

Yeah, it’s time to stop reading.

MADDOW EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: “MSNBC DOES NOT HAVE A POLITICAL AGENDA.”
From Newsbusters:

Hilarious Honcho: ‘MSNBC Does Not Have A Political Agenda’
By Mark Finkelstein | January 26, 2011 | 07:31
(…)

Quoth the Wolff-man:

“MSNBC does not have a political agenda. The idea that we’re beholden to one side or the other is ridiculous.”

Right. To demonstrate MSNBC’s fair ‘n balanced approach to opinion, why don’t we have the network’s primetime troops parade past the NewsBusters reviewing stand?:

Cenk Uygur, Chris Matthews, Larry O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz. Not to mention the recently-departed you-know-who. Plenty of balance there: from garden variety lefty to self-professed socialist.

As I’ve said over and over before, it’s not necessarily the bias. It’s the hypocrisy of claiming there is no bias. I’ve been through this for years with The New York Times claiming it simply reports the news, when we all know it’s virtually the DNC’s mouthpiece.

MADDOW SPINS LANG LANG’S ANTI-AMERICAN SONG
A few days ago, on her “Debunktion Junction.” Maddow finally addressed Lang Lang’s playing of “My Motherhood” at the White House. Maddow quoted the White House as saying that it was simply a nice tune. Maddow quoted Lang Lang that he “didn’t know” the song was anti-American. Maddow accepted both stories whole.

Maddow did, briefly, mention that the song is claimed to have some anti-American lyrics. Specifically, Americans are called “jackals.” It’s a Mao-era propaganda song. Everyone in China knows this. As Glenn Beck said, you wouldn’t play “Dixie” at Martin Luther King’s funeral. You can’t defend it by saying that “Dixie” is just a nice tune, and you didn’t include the words. It’s the same with “My Motherland.”

“Some people have too much time on their hands!” Maddow said of conservative critics.

Well, this is a comment from The Huffington Post:

She also just stated that Lang Lang didn’t mean for the playing of “My Motherland­”, a well known anti-Ameri­can propaganda tune in China, to be a jab at the United States. He just didn’t know the lyrics, so says the White House.

Yeah right.

Spin it…

Here’s how Maddow spins a story. From the January 26, 2011 transcript:

True or false, was Lang Lang actually using 88 keys to flip off the United States? Oh, false, according to Lang Lang and the White House. The song he played, “My Motherland,” was written for a 1956 Chinese movie about the Korean War.

Apparently, some of the lyrics were not kind to America, making the song selection of interest to both American conservatives eager to expose a diplomatic kerfuffle and to Chinese nationals back home who thought it was great joke.

Now, Lang Lang says while he was very familiar with the tune, because it‘s a really popular song, he had no idea what the lyrics were.

The White House response? A spokesman told ABC News that any suggestion that the song was intended as a coded insult is, quote, “just flat wrong.” But a lot of people have time on their hands.

If George Bush had allowed this, you know that Maddow would argue in the opposite direction.

The point, as I’ve said over and over, is that the Rachel Maddow Show is not “about what’s true in the world,” as the promos would have you believe. It’s about liberal spin.

BRIEF THOUGHTS ON CENK UYGUR AND ED SCHULTZ
As I’ve said, the departure of Keith Olbermann at MSNBC has meant the rise of Ed Schultz and Cenk Uygur. Both are unwatchable hyper-partisans.

Ed Schultz led off his show today with, “Jimmy Carter was right. We shouldn’t support Mubarak.” Time to click him off.

ED O’DONNELL AND CHRIS MATTHEWS JUST CAN’T QUIT DISSING SARAH PALIN
Maybe Ed O’Donnell and Chris Matthews just hate strong women, or maybe they’re just lazy. If Sarah Palin’s not a threat, why discuss her every show.

Matthews has called Michele Bachmann a “balloon head.” I dare him to say that to, oh, Sheila Jackson-Lee, who believes that we’ve landed on Mars. Or to, say, President Barack Obama, who believes that combat operations have ended in Afghanistan. Or to, say, Chuck Schumer, who believes that the three branches of our government are the House, Senate, and the President.

O’Donnell’s Monday Palin attack is here. As I’ve said before, can even liberals watch this crap every night in prime time, the same thing, day after day?

O’Donnell also discussed today’s healthcare ruling with Anthony Weiner and Ezra Klein, two people MSNBC always has on. O”Donnell asked about why a severability clause wasn’t included in the law, which was thrown out in its entirety. Weiner said it was “implied.” What’s implied? The clause was in the bill, then removed when it became law. The judge very clearly said that the law, as written, was like a fine watch–it must be sent back to its maker for retuning, and that wasn’t the judge’s job. Under Weiner interpretation of the Constitution, a federal government can force you to do anything it pleases. O’Donnell, of course, didn’t question the distinguished(?) Congressman.

O’Donnell discussed Tim Pawlenty’s comments. At about eight minutes in, Pawlenty was identified on the screen as “R-MICHIGAN.” He’s from Minnesota!! None of O’Donnell’s staffers or anyone at MSNBC noticed (Don’t they watch the show?), so there was no immediate correction.

The distinguished Congressman Weiner then said, and this is from New York magazine:

Anthony Weiner’s Coffee Cup Is Smarter Than You
1/31/11 at 9:18 PM
Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner does not like Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. This should come as no surprise, as the two are on opposite sides of the aisle on virtually every political issue. But! Anthony Weiner also thinks Tim Pawlenty is dumb. Really dumb. Monday night, Weiner appeared on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson’s ruling that thefederal healthcare bill was unconstitutional. O’Donnell read a quote from Pawlenty that said, “I was proud to join this federal lawsuit challenging Obamacare’s individual mandate and am optimistic that higher courts will uphold the ruling.”

Weiner was not happy about that, pointed to his coffee cup and quipped, “This mug knows more about politics than Pawlenty knows.” Perhaps, perhaps.

What a tool.

Which brings us to today’s Rachel Maddow show.

TODAY’S RACHEL MADDOW SHOW
Rachel Maddow had on someone from Al Jazeera, and she congratulates their heroic coverage of Egypt. Rachel, Al Jazeera is the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Maddow also regularly has on people from CAIR. CAIR is an arm of Hamas. Mark Levin today had on Frank Gaffney, who made all of this clear. The Muslim Brotherhood is not good news for the free world.

Maddow pointed out that Mohamed Elbaradei is a Nobel Peace prize winner and that Mubarak is a torturer. Which side should we be on? Nobel Peace prize winner or torturer? Against the people seeking democracy or for them?

Maddow is surely a useful idiot. “Democracy,” in this case, means the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islamic law. The founders of our country all feared the tyranny of the majority. The tyranny of a fanatical religious majority is the worst of all possible worlds. Under the Muslim Brotherhood, every Coptic Christian’s life will be in jeopardy.

Maddow then pointed out that RedState’s position on Egypt (I can’t seem to locate the video just now) is in a boat far out to sea.

SUMMARY
MSNBC is not merely bad. When a “truth-seeker” like Rachel Maddow becomes an apologist for the fanatical “democracy” of the Muslim Brotherhood, it’s dangerous, too.