The same day an MSNBC host admitted to being a socialist on national television, America's only openly socialist member of Congress came out in defense of Keith Olbermann after the "Countdown" host was suspended indefinitely for violating NBC's campaign finance rules.
If you needed any more proof of just how far to the left this so-called news network is, you should look no further than what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) published at the Huffington Post Friday:
It is outrageous that General Electric/MSNBC would suspend Keith Olbermann for exercising his constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice. This is a real threat to political discourse in America and will have a chilling impact on every commentator for MSNBC. [...]
At a time when the ownership of Fox news contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Party, when a number of Fox commentators are using the network as a launching pad for their presidential campaigns and are raising money right off the air, it is absolutely unacceptable that MSNBC suspended one of the most popular progressive commentators in the country.
Of course, that NBC has rules against what Olbermann did is irrelevant. But that's not the biggest hypocrisy here, for Sanders is a devout supporter of strict campaign finance regulation. Last September, he wrote at the Huffington Post:
The reality of Washington, to a very significant degree, is that those people who have the money are able to influence public policy. Big money controls the agenda. If you don't have the money, you get to the end of the line. [...]
This is a huge issue. The antidote, in my view, is public funding of elections so that everybody has the opportunity to run for office without having to be beholden to powerful special interests.
So, the antidote in Sanders' view is public funding. If that's the case, why fight for Olbermann's "constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice?"
The answer: because folks like Sanders really aren't opposed to candidates raising money. They're opposed to Republicans doing it.
Read more:
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/11/06/americas-only-openly-socialist-member-congress-defends-keith-olberman#ixzz14X4I0aGs
