FAIR Alert: Did MSNBC Know Liddy's History?

[G_j]

FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2505

ACTION ALERT:
Did MSNBC Know Liddy's History?
Host Once Advocated Killing Government Agents

April 29, 2005

In an April 27 debate about extreme talk radio rhetoric, MSNBC's
Scarborough Country turned to an unusual guest: right-wing talker G.
Gordon Liddy, who ten years ago called for the killing of federal agents.

The purpose of the MSNBC segment was to discuss a skit from Air America's
Randi Rhodes Show (4/25/05). The pre-recorded segment, about an "American
Association of Armed Retired People," included the sound of gunfire as the
"answer" to Bush's Social Security plans. Both Rhodes and Air America
quickly apologized for the skit. "Our normal vetting process failed....
and we regret it," Air America president of programming Jon Sinton told
the New York Post (2/28/05).

On MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough turned to Liddy for his response to this
incident, asking: "G. Gordon Liddy, are conservatives guilty of similar
hate speech on their shows?"

Liddy's response: "Well, if they are, I certainly haven't heard of it."

That would mean that Liddy has not listened to his own program. On August
26, 1994, Liddy told his radio listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist
them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing
bulletproof vests." Liddy's advice that day was explicit: "They've got a
big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest
on underneath that. Head shots, head shots.... Kill the sons of bitches."

This was far from an isolated incident. On September 15, 1994, for
example, Liddy told his listeners: "If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember,
they're wearing flak jackets and you're better off shooting for the head."
The theme was repeated so often that Liddy's callers began to exclaim
"head shots!" to express their agreement with the host, the way Rush
Limbaugh's callers say "megadittos."

After Liddy's talk of shooting federal agents received media attention, in
the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing (London Independent, 4/24/95), some
stations dropped Liddy's program. In a press conference responding to the
controversy (Associated Press, 4/25/95), Liddy clarified his advice by
noting that shooting a federal agent in the head might not be the ideal
plan: "So you shoot twice to the body, center of mass, and if that does
not work, then shoot to the groin area."

Liddy's history was inexplicably absent from the MSNBC segment, though
fellow guest Michael Harrison of Talkers magazine seemed to allude to it
at one point: "Mr. Liddy has had his own experiences being misunderstood
in the media and being called a hate talkshow host when, in fact, he is
quite a nice gentleman, and I defended him at that time."

Whether or not Liddy is a nice guy, the real question is whether MSNBC was
aware that one of its guests in a discussion about extreme rhetoric on the
radio was one of the most infamous purveyors of such talk-- advocating
anti-government violence not in a single failed attempt at humor, but as
serious advice, regularly repeated.

MSNBC's panel also displayed a remarkable ignorance about right-wing talk
radio. After playing a clip of Rhodes referring to Bush as "George
Satan," Scarborough posed the question: "Is that what it takes, Mr. Liddy,
to succeed in talk radio, whether you are a liberal or a conservative?"
Liddy replied, "No, I don't think it is at all. I have succeeded without
averting to things like that, and so have people like Sean and
Rush and what have you."

The notion that right-wing talk radio does not resort to name-calling,
like comparing political opponents to the devil, is frankly absurd;
Limbaugh, for one, routinely called Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle "El
Diablo" (American Prospect, 12/3/02; see also:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1860 .)


ACTION:
Let Scarborough Country know that G. Gordon Liddy's advocacy of shooting
federal agents should have been disclosed in a segment about violent talk
radio rhetoric.

CONTACT:
MSNBC
Scarborough Country
mailto:[e-mail]

As always, please remember that your comments have more impact if you
maintain a polite tone.

For more on Liddy's record, see:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1313

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Your donation to FAIR makes a difference:
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[LisaM]

1. And they call Hillary "Hitlery" and refer to feminists as Nazis.

Which is apparently different, somehow.

[G_j]

4. and apparently

you can advocate killing government agents and get a job pontificating about "hate speech".

[donkeyotay]

2. So, is Libby a terrorist?

"...Head shots, head shots.... Kill the sons of bitches."

I mean, I was just reading about a fifty-year-old teacher who was strip searched for carrying a small, mild protest sign. Yet, the rightwing has been threatening everyone to the left of their righteous selves for years - with impunity. Isn't it terrorism to be running around threatening to kill judges and other public officials?

[MisterP]

3. where'd that happen?

If you kill people with your bombs, you're not called a terrorist and are handled nicely. But knock in an AHNULD HUMMAH or run off with lipsticked rhesus monkeys and you may as well have flown those planes into the towers yourself!

[jmm]

5. How could MSNBC not know Liddy's history?

That's like MTV not knowing that R Kelly and Michael Jackson like them young.