What is it about Republicans, lefty talker Ed Schultz complained to his radio listeners on Friday, that they can't "reach across the aisle" and give President Obama everything he wants?Schultz proceeded to demonstrate how his own reach falls short.
First, Schultz lambasted Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., for criticizing Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" last week. Not because of Obama's revealing gaffe about the Special Olympics, but for schmoozing with Leno at a time of widespread economic anxiety.
Here's what Schultz said about Kyl after playing a clip of Obama's remarks, followed by Kyl's criticism (click here for audio) --
SCHULTZ: Oops. Inappropriate. A gaffe. The president has apologized for it. He has called the chairman of the Special Olympics Committee and that is Tim Shriver and he has apologized. You know, you're just under the microscope 24/7, aren't you? And it's gonna offend some people and it's going to be taken the wrong way and it will be played up quite a bit by his opponents, as much as you can.
In fact, now we see the conservatives are over there criticizing him for even going on Leno. This is a goofball from Arizona, Jon Kyl. Here is it --KYL: He flies off to Los Angeles tonight to be on the Jay Leno show. My suggestion is, that he come back, since he's taken the full responsibility, to get his people together and say, all right, I want to know exactly what happened, who did what when, and how are we going to prevent his from ever happening in the future, and how can we manage these taxpayer-assets in a way to solve the banking and financial institution crisis that's facing this country?
SCHULTZ: OK. Uh, where do we stand on this, Americans? Here is Jon Kyl grandstanding on the president of the United States. I tell you what, since we're into passing laws fast now, you know, we've done the fly back in the middle of the night for Terry Schiavo, we've got to pass a law to reel in 73 guys that yanked on us with taxpayer dollars and got an AIG bonus, maybe the Congress, maybe Kyl, maybe you should introduce some legislation over there in the Senate that would restrict the president of the United States and maybe the Senate could come up with a list of shows that the president can go on.
This is outrageous! There is just nothing but jealousy here. Jealousy because no one who has a late-night show would want that loser Jon Kyl because he's not a ratings magnet!
This is what passes for analysis from Schultz, and in many a hard-fought campaign for student council. No wonder MSNBC is considering Schultz for a weeknight cable show, he'd fit right in.
Obama's gaffe will be "taken the wrong way," Schultz said. What would be the right way? If Obama joked that he bowled no better than FDR in his wheelchair, would it strike a deeper chord with liberals?
More from Schultz on "boneheads" like Kyl (here for audio) --
SCHULTZ: There is still a fight for this country. There is still a political divide. There are still boneheads out there like Jon Kyl who don't want to reach across the aisle. They don't want to do it and they're looking for absolutely any opening they can possibly find.
A minute later, Schultz climbed over the top with his substance-free vitriol (audio here) --
SCHULTZ: Every now and then we have to give a refresher course to the stupid conservatives of America. Now what's going to happen is that every right-wing talker in the country is going to talk about Special Olympics. Well you know what? Why doesn't every conservative in this country just make a donation to Special Olympics today? Just make, everybody make a donation to Special Olympics. You know what I think? Wendy and I are going to donate $100 to Special Olympics today. How about that, huh? You guys have kinda had a hard time with your fundraising over there on the Republican side as of late anyway, we'll show you how to do it. Put your money where your mouth is. In fact, I'm challenging Jon Kyl, the senator from Arizona, to donate $100 the way Ed and Wendy are. I know my health care bill went up 20 percent. Well, we just gotta work around that. But Sen. Kyl, let's you and I make a donation to Special Olympics today. You spineless scumbag.
Reminds me of a cartoon from the late '70s during the debate over the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. It showed a woman pushing a boulder labeled "ERA" up a steep hill. In the background, men could be seen walking away.
"Where are you pigs going?" she implored.
