Unhinged Ed Schultz Questions Ted Cruz's Patriotism on Prisoner Swap: 'Nothing American'

A furious Ed Schultz on Monday questioned Ted Cruz's patriotism after the Senator spoke out against the prisoner swap deal that involved top Taliban leaders and a U.S. soldier. The Ed Show host played a clip of the Senator wondering, "What does this tell terrorists? That if you catch a U.S. soldier, you can trade that soldier for five terrorists we've gone after?" Schultz spewed, "Ted Cruz has zero credibility. He has zero foreign policy experience. He's a guy from Texas who doesn't have a clue." 

The host then openly questioned Cruz's patriotism, dismissing his remarks: "And it's all pablum, anything to take down the President. There's nothing American about Ted Cruz." [MP3 audio here [1].] Earlier in the segment, the anchor praised the deal made by Barack Obama, saying of the terrorists: "We're not prosecuting them. We're not doing Habeus Corpus. We're afraid to bring them to the United States and go through the judicial process."

The very trusting Schultz enthused over their release: "The former detainees will be under watch in Qatar for a year, and they are to have no contact with the Taliban."

On November 20, 2013 [2], the host fumed over comments Michele Bachmann made about ObamaCare, questioning her love of country: "I'm glad to see Michele Bachmann is so happy about a law's problems. I think it's fair to call Michele Bachmann's attitude anti-American."  

A partial transcript of the June 2 segment is below: 

5:03 PM EDT:

ED SCHULTZ: Five members of the Taliban were released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl and there are conditions to this agreement. Now look at these men who were on the screen right here. Now, if you are an American, do you think this is a good deal or do you think that this is a bad deal? Do you feel that this is good that an American family is going to get their son back? These men right here on the screen have been held in captivity. We're not prosecuting them. We're not doing Habeus Corpus. We're afraid to bring them to the United States and go through the judicial process. We really don't know what to do with these guys! So why not give five of them away and get an American back? Oh, no, the Republicans can't look at it that way! The former detainees will be under watch in Qatar for a year, and they are to have no contact with the Taliban. The deal has Republicans, of course, crying foul all over the place. Congressional Republicans are complaining that president Obama, whoa, didn't give notice for 30 days releasing the detainees. Republicans are using a United States prisoner of war as a political tool in an attempt to make president Obama look bad. That's the story. 

...

TED CRUZ [Clip of Cruz on This Week]: The question going forward is have we just put a price on other U.S. soldiers? What does this tell terrorists? That if you catch a U.S. soldier, you can trade that soldier for five terrorists we've gone after? That's a very dangerous precedent. 

...

SCHULTZ: Ted Cruz has zero credibility. He has zero foreign policy experience. He's a guy from Texas who doesn't have a clue. All he knows is that he's got a big name and a big state behind him and he can get on any show he wants. And it's all pablum, anything to take down the President. There's nothing American about Ted Cruz.