You must forgive me for not being impressed with the news that MSNBC has allegedly finally been driven to the extremes by columnist Pat Buchanan's "incendiary musings on race and immigration" and is seeking to get rid of him.
Don't get me wrong. It's way overdue. Buchanan has gotten away with racially charged rhetoric for too long, and his book, Suicide of a Superpower, with its venomous attack on all of those who don't fit Buchanan's idea of proper American culture (i.e., what he calls "White America"), is a fitting final straw.
But as I said before, I'm not impressed. You see, Buchanan is not the only problematic individual to be given somewhat of a home at MSNBC. According to Equality Matters, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins has made 11 appearances on MSNBC news programs. Perkins is the same guy who has said vindictive things about the LGBTQ community, including:
The stuff Perkins says is no different from the drivel Buchanan spews. And in addition, his organization, FRC, has been known to either cherry-pick science or refer to junk science in order to smear the LGBTQ community. It is for reasons like this that the organization was named as an official anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Of course, Perkins and FRC will claim that they are being victimized for their stance against marriage equality, but this is yet another lie. SPLC puts it this way:
The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, FRC employs a number of "policy experts" whose "research" has allowed FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to "transform the culture."
In Its Own Words
"Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement."
--Robert Knight, FRC director of cultural studies, and Frank York, 1999
"[Homosexuality] ... embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion."
--Steven Schwalm, FRC senior writer and analyst, in "Desecrating Corpus Christi," 1999
"One of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets of a new sexual order.'"
--1999 FRC pamphlet, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys
But in spite of all this, Perkins continues to be called upon by the network for "credible" analysis of the GOP presidential primary, even recently on MSNBC's Martin Bashir. It seems to me that if MSNBC wants to be consistent, the standards that the organization is using to dismiss Pat Buchanan should be used against Perkins and FRC. Or is MSNBC saying that racism is a no-no but homophobia is allowable? There is a nasty double standard here.
Related post: 16 Reasons Why the Family Research Council Is a Hate Group
But the writer complained that Perkins has appeared on several MSNBC news programs. But I am not aware of any news programs on MSNBC. I thought MSNBC had nothing but pundit programs like Matthews and Maddow and O'Donnell. But that's bad enough. All TV shows should shun indecent guests.
I've been saying this for years.
When TP appears on MSNBC, I change the channel. I can't bear to listen to his calm, condescending voice spouting junk and insults with such ease- and without being challenged.
I LOVE Martin Bashir, but I was really disappointed and disgusted that he had TP on. I watched in hopes that he would challenge his remarks, but he didn't.
Thirty years ago people like Perkins -- or Ku Klux Klansmen or end-times evangelists, for that matter -- would not have been allowed near a network TV camera because their views were considered too extreme, and rightly so. Now those same people have all but taken over the Republican Party, largely because media executives provide them with a national platform to spread their poison.
MSNBC needs to clean up its act and keep the right-wing extremists off its airwaves.