On Friday, MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall exclaimed: "Harsh political discourse against [President Obama] really amped up and people started to push the boundaries of what might be considered decency. From talk radio to those tea parties that we saw with some pretty offensive signs folks were holding, even in the presence of children. The anger has certainly intensified."
As evidence of the supposed lack of "decency" co-anchor David Shuster declared: "And so listen to Glenn Beck make his case against health care reform just yesterday on his radio show, watch." The audio clip that followed featured Beck yelling at a hostile caller during his Wednesday show.
Based on that one example, Shuster wondered: "So are the political attacks, is the language, is the discourse, going too far? And does it have real consequences?" He then teased another segment on the topic in the next hour, but it was preempted by live coverage of President Obama speaking on health care reform.
Before moving on to the next story, Hall remarked: "Imagine if we talked to our viewers like that?" Hall does not need to imagine, she can simply turn to MSNBC's own Keith Olbermann. The left-wing bomb thrower routinely screams insults and accusations at conservatives during Countdown every night.
Here is the full transcript of the segment:
3:48PM SEGMENT:
DAVID SHUSTER: We've been talking about the language, Tamron, between the President and Congress, but there's also this whole sort of area of language besides the President and Congress, and that's sort of out there on the blogosphere and talk radio. And remember the old adage about being able to disagree without being disagreeable?
TAMRON HALL: Yeah, I remember it, but I don't think a lot of people who listen to, maybe, certain radio stations believe that. Well, six months after President Obama took office, a lot of sociologists and analysts believe that harsh political discourse against him really amped up and people started to push the boundaries of what might be considered decency. From talk radio to those tea parties that we saw with some pretty offensive signs folks were holding, even in the presence of children. The anger has certainly intensified.
SHUSTER: And so listen to Glenn Beck make his case against health care reform just yesterday on his radio show, watch.
KATHY: -industrial country in this world-
GLENN BECK: In this world-
KATHY: -that doesn't have health care. What the hell is wrong with you?
GLENN BECK: And we are the only country in the world where leaders come from every other country to get health care when they can't get the right kind of health care in their own country!
KATHY: I'm asking you a logical question and you are-
BECK: I'm giving you a logical answer.
KATHY: You don't have logic! Every time you people bring up costs, you don't care about the trillions of dollars to bail out the banks and all the credit card companies.
BECK: Kathy, get off my phone! Get off my phone, you little pinhead!
SHUSTER: Wow. So are the political attacks, is the language, is the discourse, going too far? And does it have real consequences? We will take up that issue coming up in our next hour right here on MSNBC.
HALL: Imagine if we talked to our viewers like that? Get off my- [laughs].
SHUSTER: Wow.
-Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.