Dana Perino: Bashir Attack on Palin 'Premeditated'

On Tuesday, Fox News’s Dana Perino, who co-hosts The Five, blasted MSNBC host Martin Bashir for his “premeditated” attack on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin last Friday when Bashir suggested that someone should urinate and defecate in Palin’s mouth. 

Appearing on Hannity, Perino noted that “many people had to approve what he said” because it was not like Bashir made an off-the-cuff remark. Perino said there was a graphic on the screen and Bashir’s misogynistic remarks were loaded into a Teleprompter.

“It wasn’t an accident,” she said. “That was a premeditated attack on Governor Palin.”

Bashir claimed that nobody at MSNBC besides himself was responsible for his vileness, saying in his apology that his “wholly unacceptable” and “offensive” words “have brought shame upon my friends and colleagues at this network, none of whom were responsible for the things that I said.”

After Bashir made his comments, sites like Breitbart News continued to call out Bashir and MSNBC, with Breitbart News noting that Bashir was not punished for comments he made on the air while Alec Baldwin was suspended for anti-gay remarks he made off the air. Breitbart News also noted MSNBC has not taken down the video from its Twitter account after urging its nearly 530,000 followers to “WATCH” Bashir’s misogyny. 

Perino mentioned that Bashir had to make an apology because of the “pushback” he was getting. Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney said Bashir’s remarks were “a stain on the entire NBC group and a sign of desperation.” He said Bashir’s personal and “disgusting” comments means that “you’ve lost it because your side is losing.”

Host Sean Hannity said the comments are still shocking, and the lack of a response from MSNBC was “mind-boggling.” He also called out NBC, asking where Matt Lauer, Tom Brokaw, and Brian Williams were. 

On Tuesday, Breitbart News exclusively obtained a letter that Palin’s PAC, SarahPAC, wrote to MSNBC asking what disciplinary action the network will take given the precedent the network has set with anchors like Don Imus, whom they fired over his inflammatory comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team in 2007. Similarly, Alec Baldwin’s show was suspended for two weeks for anti-gay remarks he made on the streets of New York. 

“You fired Don Imus for offensive language in describing the Rutgers University Women’s Basketball team, you suspended Alec Baldwin, and yet nothing has happened to Mr. Bashir,” SarahPAC’s letter reads. “Are we to assume then, that disciplinary procedures at your network take place based on the target of the remarks rather than the remarks themselves?”

The letter concludes by saying, “Americans deserve to know that your network doesn’t condone violent and hateful rhetoric directed at anyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or political persuasion.”