Left-wing media critic Jeff Cohen has been all over cable news as a contributor, but for a time he worked as a senior producer for MSNBC. Monday, in the wake of the NSA spying scandal, Cohen lashed out at his former employer as the “official network of the Obama White House.”
This isn’t exactly news to the most of us, but MSNBC’s water carrying for Obama’s massive surveillance state apparently woke Mr. Cohen up:
When it comes to issues of U.S. militarism and spying, the allegedly “progressive” MSNBC often seems closer to the “official network of the Obama White House” than anything resembling an independent channel. With a few exceptions (especially Chris Hayes [10]), MSNBC has usually reacted to expanded militarism and surveillance by downplaying the abuses or defending them.
Had McCain or Romney defeated Obama and implemented the exact same policies, treating whistleblowers like Manning and Snowden as foreign espionage agents, one would expect MSNBC hosts to be loudly denouncing the Republican abuses of authority.
Cohen then names names:
As Snowden arrived in Russia from Hong Kong, MSNBC host Ed Schultz blustered on [12] about Snowden as a “punk” and “coward.” …
MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry has been condemning Snowden [14] by contrasting him with civil disobedients who “love their country” and submit to arrest – while Snowden just wants to “save his own skin [11].” …
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has also disappointed. After doing a typically thorough presentation on the force-down of President’s Morales’ plane, she ended her report [17] by expressing displeasure only that Washington had apparently gotten allies to go out on the limb “for nothing.”
For the most part, the left is perfectly okay with MSNBC being a branch of the Obama White House on every other issue. It is only on issues the left disagree with, like this spying business, that brings out the complaints.
MSNBC is at least being consistent.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC