Video: Ziegler gets his mike cut off by MS-NBC

posted at 1:15 pm on June 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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If you want to see irony in action, watch as the “tingle up the leg” and the “Obama is sort of like God” network challenge John Ziegler on his credibility. Contessa Brewer doesn’t want to actually talk about the subject – David Letterman’s two attacks on Palin’s 14-year-old daughter – but wants to make the interview about Ziegler instead. John has his own idea about what he wants to say, which is when Brewer demands that his mike get silenced:

RealClearPolitics reports (from John) that MS-NBC pulled a bait-and-switch on him. Norah O’Donnell was supposed to be his interviewer, who has interviewed John in the past. For some reason, they threw Brewer at him, who clearly wanted to keep John on a tight leash.  Brewer had no interest in talking about the topic at hand (Letterman), but in trying to zing Palin and John’s interview of her.

I’d call this red meat for everyone. The Left can cheer Brewer for her manhandling of Ziegler, while the rest of us can point out that (a) everyone at MS-NBC knows that Ziegler criticizes their coverage every chance he gets, and (b) they invited him, and not the other way around.

Besides, MS-NBC is the absolutely last media organization that can level charges of “cheerleading” at anyone else in the industry.  Have they canned Evan Thomas for calling Obama “sort of God” or Chris Matthews for his “tingle up my leg”?  When they do that, then Contessa Brewer can sniff at John Ziegler for a lack of journalistic objectivity.

Update: On a related note, Tommy Christopher rips David Letterman:

There’s a whole lot of justified outrage going on about David Letterman’s recent attacks on Sarah Palin and her 14 year-old daughter.  There really is no denunciation strong enough for these attacks, which are in many ways more egregious than the Guy Cimbalo “Hate F*** List” that Playboy and Politico took down.

Letterman’s attacks were made in an exponentially larger, broader forum, and included the statutory rape of a minor child.  They cannot be taken down or redacted.

But he also makes a good point here:

There are some who would try to hang Letterman’s attack on “the Left.” I’ll get to “the Left” in a minute, but Letterman is no more a liberal, in the political “team sports” sense of the word, than Guy Cimbalo is.  They are not conservatives, but they are also basically apolitical.  Their words are owned by a popular culture that is hostile to conservatism, but also to liberal ideals (of feminism as well as others).  They are a third column.

The attacks aren’t coming from “the Left”, but the silence certainly is.  Read all of Tommy’s post.

Update: Like some commenters, I’m particularly amused at Brewer’s offense at Ziegler’s claims of bias, but her lack of outrage over the personal attacks on a 14-year-old girl.  Stay classy, Contessa!

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