Althouse: Bashir resigns.

December 4, 2013

Bashir resigns.

He'd apologized, but "upon further reflection," he resigns from MSNBC.

ADDED: I think this is all such nonsense (including the ousting of Alec Baldwin). They can't trust people to understand explanations. Bashir — if he was ever worth having his own show — should be able to say very clearly that he intended to express the depth of the horror of slavery and therefore why it should never be used as a metaphor. Now, of course, he'd be open to the criticism that he only chose to go where he did because his target was Sarah Palin, but he could confess to that, say that was wrong, and dedicate himself to permanent across-the-board opposition to slavery as a metaphor.

61 comments:

Original Mike said...: Next man up.; 12/4/13, 3:13 PM
rcommal said...: Good riddance.; 12/4/13, 3:15 PM
rcommal said...: But I wish the door had banged him on the ass on the way out.; 12/4/13, 3:17 PM
Brando said...: Same deal as the Baldwin matter--they had to make a business decision and if one of their "stars" (ha ha ha!) threatens to cause advertisers to bolt, out they go.

What does surprise me here though is that Bashir's comments were against Palin, and I'd figure most MSNBC viewers couldn't care less about offending her or her supporters.; 12/4/13, 3:18 PM
mccullough said...: Olberman, Baldwin, now Bashir. They have some whack jobs working there. Baldwin's a good actor. What the hell is Bashir going to do now?; 12/4/13, 3:21 PM
Brennan said...: Good news for Ed Schultz. Maybe he can get his weekday slot back.; 12/4/13, 3:24 PM
MadisonMan said...: Somehow I missed the entire brouhaha, both the original comment and the firestorm it generated. Oh the outrage.

I'm blessed.; 12/4/13, 3:26 PM
Sorun said...: Jeez, you'd think it'd be the FOX News people making misogynistic and homophobic comments. But nope, it's MSNBC.; 12/4/13, 3:26 PM
Jaq said...: "you'd think it'd be the FOX News people making misogynistic and homophobic comments."

Well, that's the narrative, anyway.; 12/4/13, 3:38 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: MadisonMan,

Somehow I missed the entire brouhaha, both the original comment and the firestorm it generated. Oh the outrage.

I'm blessed.

Nah, you're just part of the 99.8% of the country that ignores MSNBC. I find that a pretty effective crap-avoidance strategy, myself. (Granted, it works equally well for FOX News -- by which I mean what most people mean by FOX News, as opposed to my perfectly nice FOX-affiliate local news.); 12/4/13, 3:41 PM
Original Mike said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/4/13, 3:42 PM
Original Mike said...: Wasn't Bashir's original point that Palin's use of slavery as a metaphor for government debt was beyond the pale? Why was Palin's comment egregious? Or did I miss something?; 12/4/13, 3:45 PM
Wince said...: Pardon my shit eating grin.; 12/4/13, 3:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Original Mike said...
Wasn't Bashir's original point that Palin's use of slavery as a metaphor for government debt was beyond the pale? Why was Palin's comment egregious? Or did I miss something?

But, Joe Biden CAN say “We got a real clear picture of what they all value,” Biden said. “Every Republican’s voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney wants to let the — he said in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, ‘unchain Wall Street.’ They’re going to put y’all back in chains"

So should Joe get some of that "stuff" in his mouth also??; 12/4/13, 3:49 PM
Scott M said...: Lowest-rated show of the bunch. I think he either saw the writing on the wall and quit before they could fire him, or he and the network suits cooked this "resignation" up to save face for him.

Hopefully the door hit him in the ass.; 12/4/13, 3:51 PM
lemondog said...: Don't have cable and have never viewed his program but my question to him:

"Why so angry Martin Bashir?"

BTW the name Bashir in Arabic means "bringer of good news."; 12/4/13, 3:52 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Here's the acclaimed Hunter S. Thompson's obituary of Richard Nixon.

Nothing new under the sun.; 12/4/13, 3:53 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Isn't this an offense to freedom of speech? It's un-American to accept a resignation from some guy for saying something not wanted said.; 12/4/13, 3:53 PM
Paco Wové said...: Interestingly enough, the NYT can't seem to bring itself to refer to what Bashir actually said: link; 12/4/13, 3:54 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Comcast must be be exerting some influence at NBC whose original decision was to keep Bashir as if there was nothing to see. But the Comcast owners now must have said to get rid of him.; 12/4/13, 3:55 PM
Darrell said...: Bashir should return to UK now. We have enough of our own whack jobs.; 12/4/13, 3:55 PM
CWJ said...: Martin Bashir will go back to the tabloid TV from which he came. MSNBC will tee up another Martin Bashir clone and life will go on.

Second verse, same as the first.; 12/4/13, 3:56 PM
CWJ said...: Martin Bashir will go back to the tabloid TV from which he came. MSNBC will tee up another Martin Bashir clone and life will go on.

Second verse, same as the first.; 12/4/13, 3:56 PM
Darrell said...: He can speculate on whose mouth he wants to crap in to his heart's content there. They appreciate intelligent debate.; 12/4/13, 3:57 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: From the article:

Mr. Bashir, who first established a career in television in Britain, joined MSNBC from ABC News in 2010. He had been suspended once while at ABC for making comments considered crude and sexist at a dinner for Asian-American journalists

So MSNBC knew what they were getting.; 12/4/13, 4:00 PM
traditionalguy said...: Bashir knew whose side he was on. The creators and holders of our debt are indeed our masters. Bashir wanted to be on their side and would do and say whatever he can for the Masters. That commoner Palin is an enemy of the Empire.; 12/4/13, 4:04 PM
SteveR said...: Comcast must be spending more time on NBC stuff because they damn sure aren't spending any time on the service quality of my f#@$%ing cable and internet.; 12/4/13, 4:21 PM
Sam L. said...: Overdue.; 12/4/13, 4:22 PM
David said...: This is Sarah Palin's fault, you know. Somehow.; 12/4/13, 4:25 PM
David said...: "What the hell is Bashir going to do now?"

The lefties take care of their own.; 12/4/13, 4:25 PM
Michael said...: He should get his own radio show like Limbaugh then he can say pretty much whatever he wants because his show will be so successful. Right? Right?; 12/4/13, 4:36 PM
Big Mike said...: If MSNBC also fired the person who decided to hire him, they might start recruiting better on-air talent going forward.; 12/4/13, 4:40 PM
garage mahal said...: Fox said maybe Bashir can get a job at .....al Jazeera. [He's brown]; 12/4/13, 4:45 PM
Original Mike said...: What Big Mike said.; 12/4/13, 4:46 PM
Michael K said...: "Blogger garage mahal said...

Fox said maybe Bashir can get a job at .....al Jazeera. [He's brown]"

He'd fit in well, too. So would you.; 12/4/13, 4:58 PM
Peter said...: St George said, ”Here's the acclaimed Hunter S. Thompson's obituary of Richard Nixon. … Nothing new under the sun.”

I’ve never read this “obituary” before, but it’s surely not Hunter S. Thompson's finest work- it’s just name-calling.

Of course, one could indeed say the same about Martin Bashir. But, my expectations were higher with Thompson who, as disagreeable as he could be, was also (sometimes) entertaining. But Bashir? What did he ever have to offer other than on-air tripe?

Well, now he’s free to continue to offer it- just not on the air. Ain’t the First Amendment wonderful- he’s free to speak as he pleases, yet no one’s at all obligated to broadcast his speech.; 12/4/13, 5:07 PM
sinz52 said...: "What the hell is Bashir going to do now?"

To quote a line from the movie "Ghostbusters":

Bashir:
"With your qualifications, you should have no trouble landing a top-flight job with either the food service or housekeeping industries."; 12/4/13, 5:10 PM
richard mcenroe said...: They already have a Touré, they didn't need a Touurette's.; 12/4/13, 5:30 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Peter—

Hunter Thompson did his best work--Hells Angels--before he became a drug addict.

All that stuff from RollingStone during the Watergate years was bullshit and ranting. No reporting. Just tirades. If he were around today, he'd have a third-rate blog.

Then after Watergate, he did nothing, except more ranting bullshit in Rolling Stone because he sold copies for Jann Wenner.; 12/4/13, 5:35 PM
lemondog said...: Fox said maybe Bashir can get a job at .....al Jazeera. [He's brown]

Al Jazeera America On-air staff

I see white people......; 12/4/13, 5:44 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Must have been a real interesting conversation with the President of MSNBC.

Martin old chap,you've over egged the pudding again .

Bashir was always a nasty piece of work. But that is the preferred style there.; 12/4/13, 6:16 PM
wildswan said...: I guess MSNBC tried out a strategy of having its opinion leaders spout filth rather than intelligent criticism and has decided it doesn't work.; 12/4/13, 6:27 PM
wildswan said...: I guess MSNBC tried out a strategy of having its opinion leaders spout filth rather than intelligent criticism and has decided it doesn't work.; 12/4/13, 6:28 PM
William said...: The insult was bizarre and, moreover, calculated. Hunter Thompson's insults were grotesque, but some of them were funny and had an air of spontaneity. The parameters for Palin bashing are extremely broad, probably even broader than those for Nixon, and he violated them without even trying to be funny........If he'd just come out of the closet and admit himself to be a coprophiliac with unusual sexual fantasies about Sarah Palin then I'm sure many in the MSNBC audience who have a similar orientation could get behind him. Coprophilia is no sin but denying your identity is.; 12/4/13, 6:30 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/4/13, 6:36 PM
n.n said...: I think this was just an awkward attempt by Bashir to get Palin's attention. Similar to a juvenile boy pulling a girl's hair or chasing her around the playground. Bashir should know that Palin is a happily married woman with children.

Also, flinging feces? Human societies have different standards.; 12/4/13, 6:40 PM
Strelnikov said...: No one at MSNBC is capable of that final item. It would be like asking them to swear off calling their opponents racists. Like "racism", they need "slavery" to hurl against the forces of evil, as required for the common good.; 12/4/13, 6:51 PM
Strelnikov said...: No one at MSNBC is capable of that final item. It would be like asking them to swear off calling their opponents racists. Like "racism", they need "slavery" to hurl against the forces of evil, as required for the common good.; 12/4/13, 6:52 PM
mccullough said...: Does MSNBC make a profit?; 12/4/13, 7:00 PM
rhhardin said...: The metonymy of slavery.

The same thing every day.; 12/4/13, 7:02 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Does MSNBC make a profit?

Does the Comrade Lenin Tank, Automatic Rifle and Enamel Pot Factory make a profit?

Of course not.

That's not its purpose.; 12/4/13, 7:23 PM
Illuninati said...: Hate speech is the business model for MSNBC. Just like hip hop music, the more hateful and vile the speech the more attention their commentators get and the more lefties turn on their channel. Therefore, it is hard to understand why they would fire a commentator for spewing raw sewage on the air.; 12/4/13, 7:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Bashir used the slavery metaphor himself a few years before this remarkably disgusting and hateful excoriation of Sarah Palin for doing the same. So did several of his guests, including the execrable Alan Grayson, and any number of other leftist opinion leaders.

http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/sean-long/2013/11/18/msnbc-forgets-widespread-liberal-hype-debt-slavery-palin-attacks

http://twitchy.com/2013/11/16/martin-bashir-made-slavery-comparison-in-2011/#.Uojs-CQ2rzc.twitter; 12/4/13, 7:55 PM
heyboom said...: BTW the name Bashir in Arabic means "bringer of good news."

Well he certainly did that with his resignation.; 12/4/13, 9:23 PM
gk1 said...: Bashir, who?; 12/4/13, 9:44 PM
Limited Blogger said...: Uniform standards are a bitch. Or, what @skookumjohn said:

"Bashir used the slavery metaphor himself a few years before this remarkably disgusting and hateful excoriation of Sarah Palin for doing the same. So did several of his guests, including the execrable Alan Grayson, and any number of other leftist opinion leaders.

http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/sean-long/2013/11/18/msnbc-forgets-widespread-liberal-hype-debt-slavery-palin-attacks

http://twitchy.com/2013/11/16/martin-bashir-made-slavery-comparison-in-2011/#.Uojs-CQ2rzc.twitter"

So help me understand another standard: Alec Baldwin can't call someone a "c*cks*cker" because it disparages homosexuals. Yet Obama can call conservatives "tea baggers" to disparage them as homosexuals.

This is all terribly confusing.; 12/4/13, 10:59 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I would like to see someone not apologize sometime.

I'd like to hear, "I meant what I said, and I said what. I meant." Apologies to the elephant.

Though none of that in this case.

I will always like James Carville for telling the apology trawlers to get lost.; 12/4/13, 11:07 PM
MeatPopscicle1234 said...: Speaking of race and slavery: http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2013/12/because-lying-and-resenting-is-what-angels-do.html; 12/5/13, 2:00 AM
tim maguire said...: Freeman, I agree. Except they don't mean what they say. It's all a words-by-numbers exercise. Liberals hate conservatives and compete to say the worst things they can think of, generally secure in the knowledge that they will never be called on their lies and baseless viciousness (first hand knowledge from over 15 years in brownstone Brooklyn).

Remember in college, where pot smoking was so normal you'd sometimes forget it is illegal? Similar here, liberals sometimes forget that they're never called on their bullshit because they're surrounded by liberals. So long as the statements are anti-conservative, the decency or truth value is irrelevant. Until the day a non-liberal decides to object and suddenly they're caught flatfooted, no defence. They said what they said not because it's true or sensible, but because they're used to getting away with it.; 12/5/13, 6:36 AM
Skipper said...: They who live by political correctness (meaning, "shut up"), shall die by political correctness (metaphorically, of course).; 12/5/13, 11:15 AM
Strelnikov said...: Did the storm door hit him in the vagina on the way out?; 12/5/13, 11:22 AM