MSNBC Lineup Takes On “Terrified” Republicans Over Mohammed Trial

Olbermann and Maddow went further than Matthews in essentially calling Republicans wimps and scaremongers for their position. Maddow largely focused on Rudy Giuliani‘s reversal from favoring criminal trials for terrorists in 1994 after the first World Trade Center bombing to favoring military tribunals now. Olbermann went rah-rah and said that mainstream Republicans had strayed far from “defending, or even remembering, the real American way” for thinking of the American justice system as “a last resort.”

The American people seem inclined to split the difference between Republicans’ safety concerns and Democrats’ concerns about civil liberties. A CNN poll released yesterday found that “sixty-four percent of those surveyed said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be tried in a military court, while only 34 percent agreed with Obama that the civilian judicial system was the best way forward;” however, sixty percent of Americans agreed with his being brought to trial in the US versus thirty-seven percent who did not.

It’s debatable whether Giuliani’s switch is politically expedient. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the forces we’re up against are a lot different now than they were in 1994, and that despite Olbermann’s posturing, his position has more mainstream acceptance than the MSNBC bloc’s.