It's not often that the hosts of MSNBC trumpet an elected Republican as a "hero." But liberal anchor Ronan Farrow did exactly that on Tuesday as he praised Senator Mark Kirk's insistence that he would not campaign [1] against his Illinois colleague, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.
According to Farrow, Kirk's declaration caused him to release "weeping tears of joy" for "those rare magical moments of congressional harmony." Regarding the 2014 senatorial election in his state, Kirk asserted, "I am going to be protecting my relationship with Dick and not launching into a partisan jihad that hurts our partnership to both pull together for Illinois." An effusive Farrow swooned, "For the increasingly novel approach of putting substance over politics, Senator Mark Kirk is our hero today." [MP3 audio here [2].]
Does anyone seriously believe that if the situations were reversed – a Democrat refusing to back his fellow party member in a race against a Republican – that Farrow would still use the "hero" label?
Farrow described Kirk's actions as an effort to not "undermine their shared efforts to govern."
In his brief time on the air, the 26-year-old host has also extolled liberal actress Lena Dunham as a "hero [3]." Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood has given 100 percent of its money to Democrats in 2014, Farrow allowed the organization's president to label her group "non-partisan [4]."
A transcript of the March 25 segment, which aired at 1:56pm ET, is below:
RONAN FARROW: It is time now for today's heroes and zeros. So, you may have noticed, there's not a lot of functionality going on in Congress. The most recent Congress is actually on track to pass fewer laws than any before. But they do seem really good at yelling at each other.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS: If you will sit down and allow me to ask the questions. I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America! I am tired of this!
FARROW: I mean, I grew up with, literally, every minority and cultural background under one roof and it never got that bad. Anyway, this is why we at RFD cling weeping tears of joy to those rare magical moments of congressional harmony. And we actually spotted one yesterday. Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, this guy behind me, announced that he will not campaign for the Republican nominee who's running against Kirk's fellow Illinois senator. That's Democrat Dick Durbin. He's doing this so as not to undermine their shared efforts to govern. Here's how Senator Kirk explained his decision to reporters.
SENATOR MARK KIRK: I am going to be protecting my relationship with Dick and not launching into a partisan jihad that hurts our partnership to both pull together for Illinois.
FARROW: For the increasingly novel approach of putting substance over politics, Senator Mark Kirk is our hero today.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter. [5]