Last night Ed Schultz, the genuinely populist host of MSNBC's appropriately named "Ed Show," forcefully proffered that in his opinion former vice president Dick Cheney wants to see another terrorist attack on U.S. soil so that he can be vindicated in his relentless attacks on President Obama's changes to Bush-Cheney's national security policies. This morning, before what is likely a much larger audience, that of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," its host, Joe Scarborough, asked Schultz if he really believed his own speculation. Whereupon Mr. Schultz batted not one eyelid: Absolutely, he said. Whereupon the melodramatic Mr. Scarborough said, "I'm shocked." Whereupon Mr. Schultz responded with chilling honesty: "That's Dick Cheney." Schultz proceeded to characterize Cheney as a "ruthless" politician who's willing to welcome any national tragedy that would both vindicate his scurrility and, more important, help usher in yet another era of right-wing dominance. At their theatrical best, "Morning Joe" 's regularly attending ensemble sat speechless, and then confessed to their speechlessness, shock, and horror. I grant you, what Schultz said both last night and this morning was the roughest of rhetorical stuff. But who, in a truly honest moment, would question it's lethal validity? Not even the far right would, but remember, I qualified that question with "honest," and my guess is that they, on behalf of the gallantly innocent Mr. Cheney, will hereupon launch a bloody jihad against Mr. Schultz (Leon Panetta was too formidably unassailable, Schultz isn't) that will vigorously test MSNBC's corporate dedication to free speech -- which, in Schultz's case, I did not find irresponsible. Because Cheney comes with too much evil baggage.
Your host. Photo credit, L. Reeves.