NYT Column on 'Obama Haters' Goes Too Far, Even for MSNBC
Reacting to a New
York Times column in which Frank Rich claimed Fox News was responsible for
violent acts like the murder of abortionist George Tiller or the Holocaust
Museum shooting, on MSNBC on Friday, John Harwood remarked: "I love Frank's
columns, but I don't believe that cable television causes people to
become violent."
Harwood, who is a reporter for the Times as well as the co-host of a weekly
Friday show on MSNBC, The New York Times Edition, began by quoting Rich's latest
Op-Ed: "And here's Frank Rich on the 'silent enablers' of what he calls
'extremist Obama haters,' like the actor John Voight. Frank writes, 'Voight's
devout wish was to "bring an end to this false prophet Obama." This kind
of rhetoric, with its pseudo-scriptural call to action, is toxic. It's
getting louder each day of the Obama presidency and no one, not even Fox
News viewers, can say they weren't warned.'"
After Harwood expressed that he thought Rich went too far, co-host Norah
O'Donnell agreed and added: "Yeah and I think people end up hearing what they
want to hear. They latch on to something. And they hear - I've heard people
listen to the same channel before and hear two different - totally different
things. That's part of it, I think."
-Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
