Here’s the video from NewsBusters.org’s Noel Sheppard.
I first heard of this story while listening to ‘The Larry Elder Show’ this morning. Honestly, I don’t like Cenk Uygur, not in the least. I believe his is downright dishonest, immature, ill-informed and extremely partisan. If MSNBC fired Cenk because of any of these reasons, or because of his extremely poor ratings (despite what Cenk said to Kurtz, the truth is that his ratings were terrible), then there wouldn’t be anything wrong here. The issue here that, as Cenk told CNN’s Howard Kurtz during his interview on ‘Reliable Sources’, he was replaced simply because he was being critical of President Barack Obama. Do I believe him? In this instance, yes.
If anything, the recent Mark Halperin incident shows that the White House is not only keeping a close eye as to what is being said on MSNBC, but that MSNBC is listening to what the White House says. It could be because they want more access to Obama and his staff, or simply because they support the far-left politics of this administration. Either way, it’s obvious to anyone who has spent any time watching MSNBC that they are in the tank for this White House. If anyone needs proof of this, I recommend that they visit NewsBusters.org and read some of the articles concerning MSNBC’s news coverage.
If this was about content or ratings, MSNBC wouldn’t have offered Cenk another position on their network. Keeping him as a contributor would allow MSNBC to control what Cenk said by choosing what discussions he could participate in. By replacing him with Al Sharpton, MSNBC still has a rabid far-left partisan, but one that will not be critical about Obama and the Democrats. Because of his name recognition, Sharpton might also give MSNBC a short-term ratings boost, but his controversial history and bigoted views will eventually turn off most viewers. As Larry Elder said this morning, Sharpton is the “black David Duke,” and I doubt most Americans will tolerate that kind of nonsense.
By replacing Cenk Ugyur with him, MSNBC goes from bad to worse. Despite how unwatchable Sharpton’s show will be, MSNBC now has someone hosting MSNBC Live that will not be even the least bit critical of President Obama. MSNBC’s “Lean Forward” has become a deep bow to a thin-skinned White House. Pathetc…
UPDATE: It appears that’s there far more to this story than I first believed. Larry O’Connor at BigJournalism.com has put up a post pointing out that Al Sharpton was crucial in bringing about the Comcast/NBC merger.
…It’s not like Sharpton was an early champion for the mega-media-merger out of the kindness of his heart. His political organization National Action Network (NAN) has received $190,000 since 2009, when the merger was first announced.
Also, Sharpton and NAN ferociously fought on behalf of James Clyburn in his struggle to retain a leadership position in the House when the Democrats were consigned to the minority earlier this year. The Democratic leadership created a position called “Assistant Minority Leader” so that he could retain the #3 position, something that does not usually exist for the minority party in the House. Subsequently, Comcast has donated over $10,000 to Rep. Clyburn’s political committees further assisting the father of the key FCC vote in favor of the merger, Mignon Clyburn.
Criticism is pouring in from left-leaning publications who realize this move doesn’t pass the smell test…
I recommend my modest readership give O’Connor’s post a read as it’s very enlightening.
Would it surprise anyone if this hosting job was payment for Sharpton’s work in assisting with the Comcast/NBC merger? I doubt it. Sharpton is far from a morally upstanding individual, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone if his support for the mega-merger came with a such a price. Does that mean Cenk Uygur was wrong for believing that Sharpton got his job because he wouldn’t criticize President Barack Obama? Not at all. MSNBC was looking for someone to replace Sharpton with and the White House expressed concern over some of Cenk’s comments.
While this explains is why Al Sharpton was at the top of the list for a hosting position at MSNBC, I am still convinced that Cenk Uygur was replaced because he dared to criticize the thin-skinned President. Pathetic…
