In his January 26 article "MSNBC's Sarah Palin Sickness," Hollywood Reporter's Paul Bond tackled the left-lurching network's obsession with the former Alaska governor.
"MSNBC’S dependence on Palin was best displayed with the recent shootings in Tucson that left six people dead and Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded. MSNBC was crucial in driving the narrative that the killer was egged on by violent political rhetoric, particularly from Palin. Even after it was learned that the shooter was an atheist, flag-burning, Bush-hating, 9/11 Truther who enjoyed joking about abortion (not exactly the portrait of a Palin supporter), MSNBC still did not let up on that story line," Bond noted.
All told in the year 2010 alone, Sarah Palin was the subject of 611 segments on the programs hosted by MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz, and Rachel Maddow. Bond didn't take into account non-primetime MSNBC hosts like Joe Scarborough, Chris Jansing, or Tamron Hall. Adding in those numbers could easily push the total to near or above 1,000.
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"Now that Keith Olbermann has left MSNBC, perhaps cable news can begin weaning itself from its addiction to Sarah Palin," Bond quipped at the open of his article.
I doubt it, but perhaps next time this year Hollywood Reporter will have a similar story, only with House Tea Party Caucus founder Michele Bachmann as the object of MSNBC's seething obsession.
