With the unfolding news that Wednesday’s mass shooting in California was, in fact, terrorism, the main concern on MSNBC appears to be an anti-Muslim backlash by Americans and politicians. On Friday, Andrea Mitchell lectured, “In the midst of a political campaign where anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a pitch that I have never heard in this country, not even after 9/11, this is a very concerning time.”
Chuck Todd agreed, fretting, “ I think the more there are going to be plenty of, plenty of Americans who maybe don't have a lot of interactions with Muslim Americans, who are going to feel fear.” The best the Meet the Press moderator could do is to allow, “There is a lot of fear and anxiety in America. Some of this fear may be justified in some form or another.”
After terror strikes in Paris and America, it’s nice that Todd will allow some fear is “justified.”
Later, Mitchell asserted that Barack Obama is “trying to avoid the kind of broad brush demonization of Muslims which will only fuel more people to potentially radicalized.”
Speaking, apparently, of the Republican candidates, Todd warned that Obama had better take charge: “The President needs to fil vacuum because the candidates will fill it and political campaigns by their nature can go rhetorically overboard.”
On November 22, the journalist sneered, “Also, Syrian refugees and America, are there legitimate reasons to slow the process or is this just Islamaphobia?”
On December 3, Todd warned of “Islamophobia,” saying “it’s going to get ugly.”
A partial transcript of the Andrea Mitchell Reports segment is below:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12/4/15
12:37ANDREA MITCHELL: We have been talking about this extraordinary story unfolding and you have a mother giving up her child. Clearly, now there is a terror link. Pete Williams telling us earlier we think that the FBI is going to declare this a terror incident, according to their definition of it. In the midst of a political campaign where anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a pitch that I have never heard in this country, not even after 9/11, this is a very concerning time.
CHUCK TODD: It is. And the more we learn about this, I think the more there are going to be plenty of, plenty of Americans who maybe don't have a lot of interactions with Muslim Americans, who are going to feel fear. It's an important time for political leaders to step up and sort of this is going to be, to me this is going to be test. It’s a test of presidential candidates, a test of this President. It’s a test of leaders in Congress, because there is going to be a lot of fear and anxiety out there. There is a lot of fear and anxiety in America. Some of this fear maybe justified in some form or another. But the point is they need to address this. Don't fill vacuums. Don’t let rumors and innuendo— I think this will be a real test for American political leadership, both the current one and those that are hoping to be ones.
...
MITCHELL: Chuck Todd, where do we go politically? The President has been accused of not being tough enough, of avoiding the phrase Islamic terrorism. He, following what George W. Bush did, trying to avoid the kind of broad brush demonization of Muslims which will only fuel more people to potentially radicalized. Hillary Clinton has said yes, it was a terror attack, but we also have to do other things. We have to do gun laws, which, three amendments lost on the Senate floor, including what some people thought were reasonable changes, background checks for people on the terror list. If you’re on the no-fly list, you should not be able to buy a gun.
TODD: Look, it starts with, I think, look, the President needs to fil vacuum because the candidates will fill it and political campaigns by their nature can go rhetorically overboard.
