Ed Schultz

MSNBC Announces Ed Schultz's 'Triumphant Return' To Cable Tonight

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 6, 2011, 12:14PM

On May 25, MSNBC's Ed Schultz left cable after he called conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a "right wing slut." Tonight, MSNBC says, Schultz makes his "triumphant return to television."

Schultz offered viewers a long apology for his comments about Ingraham, which came not on his primetime show but his daily talk radio program.

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Ed Schultz

MSNBC Suspends Ed Schultz For A Week After 'Slut' Remark

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 25, 2011, 7:03PM

MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz.

Ed Schultz will take a week off MSNBC's airwaves after he called conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a "right wing slut" on his radio show Tuesday.

"Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated," MSNBC said in a statement.

Shultz will "address" the statement on his 10 p.m. MSNBC primetime show Wednesday, the network said.

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Ed Schultz

UPDATED: MSNBC's Ed Schultz Calls Radio Host Laura Ingraham A 'Right Wing Slut'

Benjy Sarlin | May 25, 2011, 2:37PM

MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz.

Late Update [7:08 pm ET]: MSNBC has suspended Schultz for one week.

MSNBC host Ed Schultz is known for his hyperbolic attacks on Republicans but it looks like he may have crossed the line on his show yesterday by labeling Laura Ingraham a "right wing slut."

"President Obama is going to be visiting Joplin, Mo., on Sunday but you know what they're talking about, like this right-wing slut, what's her name?, Laura Ingraham?" he said on his radio show. "Yeah, she's a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama's doing it, they're working him over."

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Pres '12

Pawlenty: My Past Support For Cap-And-Trade 'Was Stupid' (AUDIO)

Eric Kleefeld | March 29, 2011, 2:48PM

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), who is exploring a run for president, is bluntly backing off from the progressive position he once took on cap-and-trade.

Pawlenty has stepped back from this position before, but now he's handling it as an apparent presidential candidate. MSNBC reports:

"Anybody who's going to run for this office who's been in an executive position or may run has got some clunkers in their record," he said on the Laura Ingraham Show. "As to climate change - or more specifically cap-and-trade - I've just come out and admitted and said, 'Look, it was a mistake. It was stupid. I'm not going to try to defend it.'"

The former Minnesota governor signed a bill in 2007 that authorized a task force "to recommend how the state could adopt" a cap-and-trade system. The same year, he also joined onto an accord with five other governors urging the creation of "a market-based and multi-sector cap-and-trade mechanism."

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'Obama's Wars'

McCain, Graham Lead Effort to Strip Holder of Detainee Authority

Susan Crabtree | March 10, 2011, 3:47PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Six senators, led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), are pushing for sweeping changes to the nation's laws governing detainees and the war on terror, including one that would strip Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department as a whole of the power to make decisions about where to try suspected terrorists.

The group of senators, which includes Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Scott Brown (R-MA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), are working with Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee on a bill that would usher in comprehensive detainee policy changes and would, among other things, affirm the military's right to detain, hold and interrogate detains at its discretion without the involvement of the Department of Justice or Holder.

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Health Care

Cantor: Of Course We'll Try To Repeal Health Care Reform! (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | August 27, 2010, 2:44PM

Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Just in case you had any doubt -- as it seems some conservatives did -- House Republican leadership is committed to taking every possible step, even symbolic steps, to repeal health care reform.

On Fox News last night, guest host Laura Ingraham pressed GOP Whip Eric Cantor to commit to putting a repeal bill on the floor at the very start of the next Congress if Republicans take the House. Cantor was completely game. "Absolutely I will pledge to do that! Are you kidding? Of course!" he said. But he also acknowledged that, even if Republicans could pass a repeal bill, it would face a veto, so he and his colleagues will take intermediate steps.

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Cordoba House

Karl Rove: Cordoba House Imam's Role Under Bush No Big Deal, But Obama Plays Politics (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | August 24, 2010, 4:45PM

more at fox.com August 18, 2010

Former top George W. Bush operatives are really distancing themselves from the Bush administration's relationship with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Karl Rove said last night on Fox News that he wasn't aware until "recently" that Rauf was sent abroad by Bush's State Department to talk about the Islamic faith.

Laura Ingraham, filling in for Bill O'Reilly, asked about Rauf "working" for the Bush administration.

"I'm not sure working is the right title," Rove said, trying to frame Rauf's role as part of "bureaucratic" State Department decisions that are determined "apolitically." Rove's evidence included the fact as a young Republican he was named to a youth delegation during Jimmy Carter's administration.

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CT-SEN

Simmons On McMahon: 'The Only Thing She's Got Is A Checkbook' (AUDIO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 10, 2010, 10:42AM

Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT)

Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT), who is running in today's Connecticut Republican Senate primary, appeared yesterday on Laura Ingraham's radio show -- where the two sharply criticized the national Republican Party for favoring self-funding candidates like former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Bringing The Smackdown: Linda McMahon's Campaign For Senate, And Her Colorful Pro-Wrestling Past]

Simmons, who dramatically re-entered the primary in the home stretch, talked about how he polls just as well as McMahon against the presumptive Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, despite all the money that McMahon has put into the race. Ingraham then asked whether national party committees are favoring self-funders who would make their own jobs easier.

Simmons agreed. "And that has been the topic of some national news stories within the last few weeks, that they have focused very much on self-funders because their own fundraising has not been as aggressive or as successful as it should be," said Simmons. "I think that's a damn shame. If you look at the polls, I am very competitive against Richard Blumenthal, and I"m the kind of guy that can take him on at every level. I can take him on in debates on the issues, on serving in Vietnam. She can't. The only thing she's got is a checkbook."

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VA-05

Tea Party Fail: Moderate GOPer Heading To Nomination In Hot Central Virginia Race

Christina Bellantoni | June 2, 2010, 10:56AM

VA State Sen. Robert Hurt (R)

A few months ago it seemed the towns around Lynchburg, Virginia would be ground zero for a political shift -- Republican voters scoffed at an establishment favorite candidate as they set their sights on the fifth district. Now, the conservative favorite Laurence Verga has deflated, losing campaign staffers who say the more moderate Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt is all-but-certain to handily capture the party nomination for the central Virginia district on June 8. That would pit Hurt -- who drew ire for backing a 2004 state tax increase but is otherwise a pretty standard Republican -- against freshman Rep. Tom Perriello, a Democrat who won a GOP seat during the 2008 Obama tidal wave. He's vulnerable but has amassed a campaign war chest of more than $1.5 million.

But the GOP isn't free and clear yet of an intraparty battle, with yet another "true" conservative threatening to run as an independent in the general election if Hurt clears the seven-candidate field. Jeffrey Clark says he'll make a third party run if Hurt wins the GOP nomination, according to the Washington Post. Clark told the Lynchburg News and Advance that he views Hurt as a "situational conservative."

There are few polls and Republican sources on the ground say it's possible something would surprise them next Tuesday, but even former Verga loyalists told me privately that he's toast and Hurt will win.

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Michael Steele

Solving The Steele Mystery: Why Did He Cancel On ABC?

Christina Bellantoni | January 8, 2010, 1:39PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele

What the heck happened? In a case of what might be bad communication or could be trouble brewing for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, we delve into today's Steele Mystery.

Here's what we know: Steele was scheduled to appear on ABC's "TopLine" show at lunchtime, but canceled and cited an emergency RNC meeting that raised red flags about the embattled chairman's tenure.

[TPM PHOTO FEATURE: STEELE TRAP -- A LOOK AT THE RNC CHAIR'S YEAR]

The RNC denied to us that any meeting was happening, flatly saying "No," when we asked.

This afternoon, an RNC spokesperson backtracked and told ABC that there was a noon meeting at the RNC, just not an "emergency RNC meeting."

An ABC spokeswoman told TPMDC that Steele's book publicist called the network at 11:30, 30 minutes before the scheduled interview time, to cancel.

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VA-05

Laura Ingraham Picks Sides In VA-05 - Against Primary Candidate She Says Is Too Moderate

Christina Bellantoni | December 22, 2009, 1:36PM

Laura Ingraham

Talk radio personality and darling of the right Laura Ingraham has a message to deliver in the intra-party feud in Virginia's fifth district: Republicans can't defeat Rep. Tom Perriello with a "middle of the road" candidate.

"Republicans on Capitol Hill still haven't gotten it through their heads," Ingraham said on a recent show before introducing her guest, Republican candidate Laurence Verga.

In the Dec. 7 interview the radio host called Verga "the man who is the conservative in this important primary."

TPMDC told you this month there are seven contenders vying for the nomination to challenge the embattled freshman Democrat.

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