Free Republic

The important background facts you should know about Ed Schultz: He was a sportscaster until he was 38 and began his talk-radio career attempting to be a conservative Rush Limbaugh imitator, failed at that and then re-invented himself as a “progressive” host, which provided the platform by which Ed got an MSNBC show in 2009. Ed’s basic problem is that he’s not very bright, nor is he well-educated, and he is essentially phony. His father was an aeronautical engineer and his mother was an English teacher, which means that Ed grew up in middle-class comfort, and his whole “populist” blue-collar...

Agreeing with fellow MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, Ed Schultz claimed that Detroit had filed for bankruptcy because the city had a government that was just too small. On Saturday, Schultz argued “Republican policies” led Detroit to become a “conservative utopia.” Harris-Perry last week said what is happening in Detroit occurs “when government is small enough to drown in your bathtub.” “Detroit, Michigan, used to be really a symbol of industrial strength and manufacturing in this country. But, thanks to a lot of Republican policies, the city is now filing for bankruptcy,” Schultz said over the weekend.

We’ve got another one, ya’ll. I thought Melissa Harris-Perry’s utterly illogical talking point about Detroit serving as an example of what “Republicans would impose on us” was bad, but this… Do you think that maybe he actually believes what he’s saying, or that he’s just straight-up lying through his teeth because there is literally no good way to spin Detroit’s fiscal collapse as anything other than the inevitable conclusion of a total progressive utopia without peddling outright falsehoods? Because, according to Mr. Schultz — and stay with him here, because there’s a good chance you might not have realized this...

Given that his grandfather, Joseph P. Kennedy, was one of the most notorious appeasers of the last century, you'd think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might refrain from maligning anyone else as a Nazi sympathizer. Turns out it wasn't just Grampa Joe with a soft spot for Der Fuhrer -- so did his second eldest son and future president John F. Kennedy during trips to Germany as a young man, according to a new book, "John F. Kennedy -- Among the Germans: Travel Diaries and Letters, 1937-1945." (Audio after the jump) Excerpts from the book were published last month in the...

New day and time, same old liberal slop. Ed Schultz returned to MSNBC yesterday in his new, relegated-to-the-ratings-desert slot of weekend afternoons. One of the topics was the targeting by the IRS of conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Predictably, Schultz & Co. did all they could to sweep the scandal under the carpet. Schultz suggested the IRS had nothing to apologize for, while the ever-prolix Michael Eric Dyson actually claimed it was "much ado about nothing," and was even willing to diss President Obama's power, saying he lacked the "juice" to have ordered the IRS attacks. View the video here.

What do "Big Rig Bounty Hunters" and "Swamp People" on History Channel have in common? They both pummeled CNN and MSNBC's brand new shows' debuts last week in the ratings. CNN's attempt to mimic Fox News' hugely successful "The Five" with a five person panel show called (get to) The Point" seems to have crashed and burned in spectacular fashion. The week-long tryout at 10:00 PM ET, in place of an Anderson Cooper repeat, was dead last in cable news ratings, finishing behind CNNHLN and CNBC.

Last night, Chris Hayes made his primetime debut on MSNBC, officially stepping in as Ed Schultz‘s replacement in the 8 p.m. slot. Perhaps this led some of you to wonder how the end other of that transition — Schultz’s weekend show on the network — is doing. Fending on any conspiracy theorists, Schultz addressed issue on his radio show yesterday, informing that there may be no show yet… but that doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere. Schultz pointed to rumors he saw on Twitter, which suggested the shuffle may actually be part of a larger MSNBC strategy to gradually show him...

Ed Schultz was in seventh heaven, lionizing Elizabeth Warren [new first name 'Sheriff'] for the way she grilled financial regulators for failing to take big banks to trial. Just one teenie-weenie factoid Ed failed to mention: those two regulators he showed Warren scalding during his MSNBC show tonight were appointed by, yup, President Barack Obama. View the video here.

Remember then-obscure Senator Barack Obama's speech to the 2004 DNC? All the no blue state, no red state stuff? Fugedaboutit. Now, he's all about killing—figuratively of course—his political opponents. Schultz sees Obama for what he is: and applauds him for it, of course. On his MSNBC show tonight, Schultz repeatedly claimed--polls notwithstanding--that America is a center-left, progressive country. On Obama's coming battles over his liberal agenda, Schultz said--with a sly grin--that when it comes to Republicans, the president's plan is to "grab the jugular." View the video here.

The hits keep coming from libtalker Ed Schultz, who's kicking off the new year on a roll. First week into 2013, Schultz insisted that Bill Clinton was never tried in the Senate after he was impeached by the House. Schultz followed with the laughable claim that gun laws in Chicago, a city with some of the nation's toughest restrictions on firearms, "don't even exist." (audio clip after page break) Schultz is tripling down on his ignorance, making an egregiously false claim on his radio show yesterday while talking about whether schools should allow teachers to arm themselves (h/t for embedded...

Ed Schultz's grasp of American history in the BB era -- Before Barack -- is tenuous at best. And when Schultz is wrong about something from that ancient realm of our past, he makes a fool out of himself. On his radio show Friday, Schultz got on the wrong side of an argument with a better informed caller. Naturally, Schultz couldn't resist hanging up on the man and labeling him an idiot.

This isn't the self-imposed idiocy commonly exhibited by liberals, but a rarefied strain found in left-wing radio and MSNBC. Ed Schultz, standing astride both, embodies it. Bad enough that Schultz insisted on his radio show Friday that heck no, gosh darn it, Bill Clinton was absotively, posalutely never tried in the Senate after he was impeached during the Lewinsky scandal. This from a man whose radio program begins with the lead-in, "where truth and common sense rule." (audio clip after page break) On that same radio broadcast, Schultz dug deep to reveal he's not equipped to render a valid opinion...

MSNBC's Ed Schultz named Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown coed who told a congressional panel that students were going broke buying contraception, a "middle class hero" for advocating free contraception, Twitchy reported Wednesday. "Even more hilarious," Twitchy said, "Fluke is boasting about it and preening." "Thx 4 including me in 2012 heroes & allowing me 2 share my friend's story--interview feels like lifetime ago," Fluke tweeted. According to Twitchy, conservatives on Twitter weren't impressed. "@SandraFluke hero? What a joke! Embarrassment is more like it," one person tweeted. "@SandraFluke what have you sacrificed to be labelled a hero? You're an underachieving grad...

ED SCHULTZ, MSNBC: "If I could just put it this way: the White House is taking the Republicans to the cleaners in negotiation on this. This is a huge win for the White House, if they can get the votes on this. And that's why Schumer is coming out, saying that there's going to be strong Democratic support here. This is a big win for the Democrats, no question about it. A big win for America. This underscores the vote on November 6th, there's no question about it."

Liberals always say they don’t want to take away guns. But give them an awful tragedy like the Newtown, Conn. shooting and they get bolder and more honest. MSNBC host Ed Schultz showed a rare bout of such honesty during a brief Twitter exchange Saturday. Schultz asked “Why should anyone own an assault rifle ?” and followed it up by saying “it's the confiscation of these types of weapons that counts and will have an impact.” “The Ed Show” host wasn’t done his attack on gun rights. “The NRA needs to state the case why assault weapons are needed by...

Ah, Thanksgiving. A time for Americans to come together, be grateful for their blessings—and tell people with different politics to stuff it? That's apparently Ed Schultz's take on the holiday. On his MSNBC show this evening, gloating over his presumption that taxes will be going up on the top 2%, Schultz sent this warm 'n fuzzy message to John Boehner: "think about it over your turkey and stuffing Speaker Boehner. And by the way, you can put some gravy on that--and you know the rest of the sentence." View the video here.

On MSNBC's Ed Schultz program Friday night, the former chief of staff for Colin Powell, retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, said, of the Republican Party, "My party is full of racists ... and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander in chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin ... that's despicable." Wilkerson's allegation followed his former boss's endorsement of President Obama for a second term. The...

Appearing on Friday's NBC Today, left-wing MSNBC host Ed Schultz desperately tried to explain away President Obama's bad debate performance: "I think that there were so many lies coming across that stage, and so many inaccuracies, it was hard for the President to comprehend it and decide which one he wanted to attack first." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Co-host Savannah Guthrie called him out on the liberal talking point: "That sounds a little bit like you're making excuses for the President." Schultz doubled down on his lame attempt to defend the President: "[Romney]...

“Tonight, the really big winner in the Wisconsin recall election is President Obama,” MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said at the top of his Tuesday program after parent network NBC called the race for Gov. Scott Walker over Democrat Tom Barrett. Over the past several months, the left-leaning hosts at MSNBC have put a lot of emphasis on the Wisconsin recall, saying it was important for current Walker to be defeated in order to maintain the American middle class. “John Heilemann, I said at the top of the show that President Obama big winner tonight because in the exit polls we...

[snip] If it's wrong for FNC to campaign against Obama, how about MSNBC launching a "Get Out The Vote" effort against Scott Walker in the Wisconsin recall election? Have a look at the video clip here of an MSNBC "Lean Forward" promo for Ed Schultz's show. After Schultz declares that the Wisconsin recall hinges on "who gets their people out," the screen flashes "Get Out The Vote!" Schultz seeks to recruit his viewers in the effort, the graphic asking them to "share your photos" at Schultz's Facebook page. There's no doubt who Schultz is seeking to get out the vote...