Rachel Maddow Opts To Cover Gun Rallies Over DADT Protest

video

by Glynnis MacNicol | 10:34 am, April 21st, 2010

» 17 comments

Interesting. On last night’s show Rachel Maddow opted not to cover the DADT demonstrations at the White House yesterday, despite the police’s stunning decision to remove the White House Press from the scene (Ben Smith said he’d never seen anything like it). Instead she opted to spend ten minutes on the lightly attended gun rallies that took place in and around Washington D.C. on Monday to mark Patriot’s Day (also, the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing).

Maddow has spent a lot of time on her show discussing the rallies, and the pro-gun movements, and the high rhetoric that sometimes accompanies them, so it makes sense that she’d follow up — something she couldn’t do Monday night due to her hour-long McVeigh special . Except, that those rallies, much pumped up in the weeks beforehand, make barely a blip on the news radar on Monday (even Fox barely covered them). Whereas, yesterday’s DADT demonstrations — during which Lt. Dan Choi and 5 fellow gay service members handcuffed themselves to a White House fence — resulted in the press being barred from a protest taking place at the White House. That to me is news. Particularly as it follows President Obama being heckled by gay rights protesters at a fundraiser on Monday. Anyway, interesting choice. And one that doesn’t help knock down the growing perception that the media is pumping up the rhetoric as much as anyone else, particularly considering how MSNBC seemed determined to link the McVeigh special to the Tea Party movement. Video of Maddow’s gun segment below.

Ben Smith, dadt, Lt. Dan Choi, Oklahoma City Bombing, Rachel Maddow, Tea Party Movement

roxsteady

Um, if you don’t think these teabaggers with their violent and racists rhetoric and idiot militia groups are stoking hatred and violence, BarbinMD of the dailykos has just one of the many example of this. And from a Premium Saltine to boot!

“Of the violent rhetoric coming from today’s bastardized version of “patriots,” Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour says:

that claiming the “tea party movement is going to cause people to be violent” is the “biggest crock that you’ve ever seen.”

“That is the lowest form of just absolute demagoguery, and there is just no basis to it.”

And from one of the protesters at Monday’s gun rally:

… former Alabama Minutemen leader Mike Vanderboegh told the crowd that armed confrontation should be reserved only for instances of the government threatening people’s lives.

However, he said it might be justified if people face arrest for refusing to buy insurance under the health care reform package recently passed by Congress.

“If I know I’m not going to get a fair trial in federal court . . . I at least have the right to an unfair gunfight,” Mr. Vanderboegh said.”

This was the same loon who encouraged people to throw bricks through the windows of members of Congress. Did that happen? Did someone’s gas line get cut? The Anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing was Monday. Daniel Choi has been on Rachel’s show several times, even outing himself on her show last year. Something tells me there will be more protests of DADT in the near future. I watched several other news shows who covered McVeigh and not the DADT rally. I suspect it’s because their signs and rhetoric aren’t violent. They are not telling people to throw bricks through windows. I’m not sure what your problem is with Rachel. I do know this; the man she replaced coiuldn’t draw flies to his show. Sour grapes?
dhg

Maddow:Doing her part for the kool aid drinking sheep.

Makes you wonder why a gay commentator on a left wing news channel would ignore her own,but hey an agenda is an agenda and you must feed it regularly.
The Real Royal King

Gun-toting loons are a more immediate threat. Seems like a good call to me.
Munch

BarbinMD of the dailykos”

With that, you made your post totally meaningless.
ImNotBlue

Munch says:
April 21, 2010 at 11:20 am

That’s as far as I got.
The Real Royal King

Well, at least you’re open-minded.
Munch

Rachel, why didn’t ya report on this, hon?

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis Praises Socialism, Bashes Conservatives at Socialist Youth Conference (Video)
Posted Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 5:42 AM

Over 150 youth and student activists gathered at Norman Thomas High School in New York City from March 5-7, 2010. Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) activists and progressive youth converged to discuss how to amplify left-wing pressure on the establishment. These young radicals came from Texas, Indiana to Kansas, Florida, Rhode Island, Oregon and more.

Bertha Lewis spoke at the Winter Conference of the Young Democratic Socialists in March. The ACORN CEO praised socialism and attacked conservatives in her talk.

Last summer, the Young Democratic Socialists voted to make “Free Higher Education” a national priority. It’s the next “human right” that democratic-socialists will want you to pay for.

ACORN is the largest radical leftist group in America today.

This radical group worked closely with the Obama camp during the election but, the community organizing group was not open about the relationship. T

One of Barack Obama’s first big “community organizer” jobs involved ACORN in 1992. He worked along side ACORN before he became an elected official. Obama also trained ACORN employees. He represented ACORN in court. Obama worked with and protested with ACORN. His campaign donated $800,000 to ACORN in 2008 for voter registration efforts.
And, ACORN even canvassed for Obama in 2008.

In 2009 Obama promoted a top ACORN operative, Patrick Gaspard, who’s organization was fined $775,000 for election violations, to a top post in the White House. Gespard is helping shape domestic policy today.
ImNotBlue

The Real Royal King says:
April 21, 2010 at 12:53 pm

Well, at least you’re open-minded.

Well, when an organization with a stated goal of advocating a particular POV is used as a “source,” you have to understand the following information is highly suspect.

And since this is a KOS poster, talking about violence of their political rivals… I’m not expecting much in the way of honesty or fairness.
ImNotBlue

Maybe management didn’t want her to talk about it… and fearing for her job, she just went along with what the bosses wanted.

Good thing too. MSNBC can’t have all their hosts take “family time.”
http://lnsmitheeblog.blogspot.com LNSmithee

roxinherhead wrote:

Um, if you don’t think these teabaggers with their violent and racists rhetoric and idiot militia groups are stoking hatred and violence

The tea party movement and militia groups are not interchangable. As was noted yesterday, even Maddow herself wouldn’t dare suggest that.

But nice try.

The Anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing was Monday.

Why did the OKC bombing happen on April 19, rox? Do you know why? I do.
silkworm

Poor Maddow, she is starting to become the National Enquirer of MSNBC
TfT

Rachel didn’t “opt” out or in on any story; Rachel did what Rachel was told to do by the WH. And she ignored the story because she was ordered to do so. I wonder if that big award or praise she recently got on LBGT issues will be taken away now. Rachel bowed to the whims of the White House — shut up on the protests.

Unbelievable.
felixw

I feel sorry for lefties like Rachel. There is no violence at the tea parties, so she needs to search through blogs and signs for something objectionable to report every night. What a laugh — MSNBC has run thousands of hours of coverage on the tea party, but still refuses to offer the smallest whisper of why these events are really being held.
NORBIT

What’s the shock here? – Doesn’t Rachel work for the White House?
writer

What a conflict for Rachel. She’s for gay rights. She’s for Obama. Gays are protesting Obama. What to do? Ignore it and hope it will go away.
nrgetick

@munch………maybe she would have if there was some actual substance to your little story. Ohh yea thats right its got all the ingrediants for teatard koolaid in it: ACORN and socialists and hussein obama.
nrgetick

@norbit…”Doesn’t Rachel work for the White House?”

Doesn’t Rupert Murdoch subsidize the GOP?