MSNBCers in Full Meltdown Over Scott Walker Recall Victory
When it became clear, on Tuesday night, that Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker was headed towards a big win in his recall election, the hosts on MSNBC went into a frenzy. Ed Schultz led the panicked pack of liberals on MSNBC when he admitted on the 11pm EDT edition of The Ed Show: "This is not going to be an easy night for many broadcasters who are liberal. This is not going to be an easy night for this broadcaster. To say that I'm shocked and stunned is pretty much an understatement." Lawrence O’Donnell was in full denial as he absurdly proclaimed, "President Obama was the big winner" of the recall. Rachel Maddow feared Walker’s win was an “incentive for him to continue to be as radical as he's been and more.”
The following outbursts were aired during MSNBC’s June 5 coverage of the Wisconsin recall election:
The Rachel Maddow Show
9pm EDT
SCHULTZ: Scott Walker could very well be indicted in the coming days, I mean, he is definitely a challenged candidate. And this state does not have a surplus, and they were able to get that message across to a lot of people to the point where you had national media figures who were saying that the state has a surplus, so a lot of fudging going on, so to speak. And it's really surprising. But when you've got the money, and you can buy the message, you can convince a lot of people that you're on the right side of the issues, so it's going to be really a fight for the Democrats here in November. No question about it.
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
10pm EDT
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: I said at the top of the show that President Obama was the big winner tonight because, in the exit polls, we saw today that they were asked "who would you vote for for President today?" Fifty-three percent in Wisconsin, 53 percent say "President Obama." Only 42 percent say Mitt Romney. That is, if not the recall outcome, that outcome for President Obama has to be very encouraging.
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RACHEL MADDOW: The prospect of him [Walker] having a prominent speaking role at the [GOP] convention, or something. That’s every incentive for him to continue to be as radical as he's been and more.
The Ed Show
11pm EDT
ED SCHULTZ: This is not going to be an easy night for many broadcasters who are liberal. This is not going to be an easy night for this broadcaster. To say that I’m shocked and stunned is pretty much an understatement. But I also think that it is a real warning to Americans that money is now infiltrated into our political system like we have never seen before, and the ruling by Citizens United is now a real message to every American.
It is going to take an insurmountable amount of effort on the ground for the progressive movement and the Democrats to do what they need to do in 2012. And this is also a real message to local politics that this money will filter down, and Citizens United will affect federal and state elections over time.
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SCHULTZ: This is a big victory for the conservative movement, not only in Wisconsin but in America. We can't deny that. And they've got the money on their side. And the people that are behind Walker outside of the state, they don't ever want to see a Democratic President again. I mean, their mission is to get a supermajority in the Senate, keep the majority in the House, win the White House and change this country to their ideology no matter what any poll says. And so, what is the message to Americans tonight if this is a template on how the rest of the country is gonna go. I believe it's some pretty damn scary stuff.
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SCHULTZ TO REV. JESSE JACKSON: There's a big effort in this country by the conservatives to destroy and defund public education. This, of course, is hurting the minority communities. State budgets are being chipped away at. In this state of Wisconsin, they took a billion dollars out of public education. What does this mean? Because there's a lot of Republicans who are saying that they're gonna model what Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin, and that they're gonna do this and move forward with this radical agenda to knock out public education in America. What does this mean? Is this a bellwether night?
Geoffrey Dickens is the Deputy Research Director at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Geoffrey Dickens on Twitter.
