MSNBC's Alex Wagner Beseeches Obama to Forward LGBT Agenda in 'Year of Action'
Alex Wagner made it clear that she was in Senator Harry Reid's Amen corner on the Tuesday edition of her MSNBC program, promoting the Nevada Democrat's green light to President Obama to use his controversial "year of action" end run around Congress to advance the agenda of leftist LGBT activists. Wagner expressed her hope that "with the White House promising a 'year of action'...we can only hope that creating a more fair and equitable society is on that list." [MP3 audio available here; video below]
The host also spotlighted the reporting of ThinkProgress.org, and cited new Obama adviser John Podesta, but failed to disclose that she once worked for the Podesta-founded Center for American Progress, which runs the left-wing website.
Wagner led the pro-LGBT activism segment by noting that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's message for President Obama today amounts to, don't let us stand in your way. Asked this afternoon if the President should use executive action to ban workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees, this was his response." She then played a clip of Reid underlining his support for the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act:
SEN. HARRY REID, (D), NEVADA (from press conference): Everyone knows how I feel about ENDA. I pushed that very, very hard. But that's up to the President. If he decides to do that, I totally support him.
The former cultural correspondent for the Center for American Progress continued, "As further evidence of just how dysfunctional this Congress has become, Senator Reid would support the President circumventing the very branch of government where Harry Reid serves as majority leader." She added her slanted explanation of ENDA:
ALEX WAGNER: The Employment Non-Discrimination Act – known as ENDA – would prevent employers from firing someone for the sole reason that he or she is gay or is suspected of being gay. Right now, in 33 states, there is no law preventing this kind of discrimination against LGBT workers.
While the Senate passed ENDA with bipartisan support last year, the Republican-led House refuses to hold a vote on it. Speaker John Boehner reportedly told the LGBT Equality Caucus last month that there is 'no way' ENDA will pass this year. The votes to end discrimination for three to five percent of the United States just apparently are not in the House Republican Caucus.
At no point did the host mention the religious liberty concerns regarding this proposed legislation from libertarian groups, such as the CATO Institute, and from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
When Wagner cited the 33 states statistic, an accompanying map highlighting those states cited the Human Rights Campaign as its source. Of course, HRC is a major left-wing homosexual activist group. Her producers also ran a screen cap of ThinkProgress's report on Speaker Boehner's reported remarks as she mentioned the Republican leader (see below).
The MSNBC host ended the segment with her Podesta citation, and with her plea to the Obama administration:
WAGNER: If the White House decides to take executive action on ENDA, it would have limited scope, because it only covers the federal workforce. But John Podesta, newly-named counselor to the President, signaled in an interview on Friday night that the administration may be open to using whatever tool is in the arsenal. With the White House promising a 'year of action' – one bolstered by executive orders – we can only hope that creating a more fair and equitable society is on that list.
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter.
