MSNBC President Admits To Howard Kurtz: Sometimes Ed Schultz “Crossed The Line”

The Daily Beast‘s Howard Kurtz has experience exposing MSNBC’s dirty laundry and he’s at it again with a new column on the “surprise star of its liberal lineup” – Ed Schultz. Although Kurtz accurately reflects that the ratings of The Ed Show are dwarfed by Fox News‘ Special Report With Bret Baier, he still considers Schultz to be “Rush Limbaugh‘s TV Nemesis.” And although Rush would dispute Schultz is in the same league as him, with profile-raising pieces like this and with increasingly critical commentaries of President Obama, Schultz’s stock at MSNBC is certainly rising.

Schultz explains his brash style to Kurtz as a result of the fact that “Liberals have been vilified, laughed at for years” and claims it’s “good to give it back to [liberal critics].” Interestingly, MSNBC president Phil Griffin, admits:

There are times I tell him he goes over the top and that TV is different than radio. . . . A couple of times he’s crossed the line. I said, ‘Ed, you ran down the field 100 yards and you spiked the ball. Don’t spike the ball!’

Since such passionate “spiking” seems to at least contributed to MSNBC’s ratings success against CNN, might Griffin begin trusting his hosts with the ball more? Schultz concludes to Kurtz, “Not to get too grandiose about it . . . but I really believe I’m saying things a lot of Americans want someone to say.”

Check out Kurtz’s full column.

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