Me and and my good friend Ed Shultz (OK, so I'm more of a fan than a friend).
I’m a big Ed Schultz fan; I have been ever since he kept health reform alive and on the radar after most everyone else had given up. Ed just kept talking about it and talking about it.
Ed came to an informal Congressional hearing on the day after a huge health care rally in Washington, and he wept as he listened to the stories. These were not crocodile tears; Ed Schultz is a real mush, and injustice and lies fire him up — sometimes a little too much.
I heard him call Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” on his show and I knew this would be trouble. It was a case of open-mouth-insert-foot. This time, though, he seemed to have gotten both feet in there.
See, Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity can call people any names they want and there’s no blowback. Laura Ingraham can use the “n” word and then wonder why people don’t respect her freedom of speech, and the right will stand behind her and call the left overly sensitive.
I’m not saying what Ed did was right. I shook my head in disappointment when I heard it. But what happened next is something the right never does: Ed Schultz went to his bosses and voluntarily took a week’s suspension from his MSNBC TV show without pay. Keith Olbasmann and Joe Scarborough both recveived suspensions from the network for violating campaign contribution policy, but this is for something said outside of MSNBC’s employ. Unlike Olbermann, Schultz won’t complain about the suspension.
He apologized on his show before taking leave and called his own comment “vile and inappropriate.” He apologized to Ingraham, to his family and to his listeners.
As for Ingraham, according to Huffington Post: “Ingraham did respond on Facebook and Twitter, where she wrote, “MSNBC suspends Schultz. Oh great, now his ratings will go up.”
Ed Schultz is loud and he can be abrasive, but he is sincere. He speaks his mind, and even when I disagree with him, I respect him. He’s there for all of us not-wealthy who are being screwed by big corporations and their influence on government, and he’s telling the truth. When Big Media choose to ignore stories like the demonstrations in Wisconsin, Ed’s there with his big mouth, making noise and keeping the story alive.
Yes, he slipped. But he’s humble enough — and decent enough — to admit it, apologize and accept the consequences.
Well, I’m a sucker for a sincere apology and for a man big enough to make it.
I’m proud to have him on my side.
