On special edition of MSNBC's PoliticsNation on Monday in which a panel of MSNBC regulars selected awards for the year 2013, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid asserted that the "Knockout Game" was the "most overrated story of the year," as she complained that conservatives "went absolutely ballistic" and "wanted[ed] to stoke issues of race."
MSNBC contributor Jimmy Williams then brought up the IRS scandal in which conservative organizations were given closer scrutiny before the 2012 elections, with Williams charging, "Ain't nothing there. Never was, never will be," and with fellow panel member Krystal Ball chiming in that "It's not even a scandal."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, December 30, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: Let's get right back to the awards. First up, the most overrated story of the year. Krystal?
KRYSTAL BALL, MSNBC HOST: Well, slipping in right under the wire at the end of the year here, I think I got to go with pajama boy. The young man in the advertisement. Conservatives freaked out about this thing. It was incredibly silly.
SHARPTON: Joy?
JOY REID, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Got to say the knockout game. Two videos that were in about a hundred different stories, no trend anyone could discern, but the right went absolutely ballistic over it because they want to stoke issues of race.
SHARPTON: Jimmy?
JIMMY WILLIAMS, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: The Internal Revenue Service scandal.
BALL: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Ain't nothing there. Never was. Never will be.
BALL: It's not even a scandal.
WILLIAMS: Not even a scandal.