Howard Kurtz made a blatant pitch to the Breitbart crowd last week as he flacked his new, Trump-friendly book to its radio-show listeners.
CNN’s Oliver Darcy caught the report:
Howard Kurtz gave an interview to Breitbart last week: “I think Breitbart has really evolved and matured into a site that I go to every day. It doesn’t mean I agree with everything on it, but I feel like there are a lot of things there I want to read" https://t.co/ZFDa1CcVpq
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) February 5, 2018
As the article noted, Fox host and media critic Kurtz was asked by Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak, “Where do you see Breitbart News in the political and media ecosystem?”
“I knew Andrew Breitbart and had a lot of respect for him,” replied Kurtz. “I think Breitbart has really evolved and matured into a site that I go to every day. It doesn’t mean I agree with everything on it, but I feel like there are a lot of things there I want to read, and I think it’s very open about its opinions and points of view in a way that people can judge for themselves what to take of it.”
Really? Has Kurtz forgotten that Andrew Breitbart’s deceptive, racist ACORN videos – which destroyed ACORN – were relentlessly promoted on Fox News without any apologies? That Breitbart admitted on Fox his deceptive video falsely depicting Shirley Sherrod, once the head of Obama’s U.S.D.A., as a black racist was driven out of a desire for revenge against the NAACP over its opposition to the Tea Party?
As for the current Breitbart, On January 29, editor-at-large John Nolte said this about the attempted mass shooting at CNN:
NOLTE: CNN is a network that is in hyperdrive to legitimize political violence. CNN wants political violence. They want people hurt. They want riots, they want antifa out there. They see political violence as a legitimate tool to further CNN’s far-left agenda.
Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow recently said Breitbart had “no option” but to defend pedophile Roy Moore in order to protect Donald Trump from similar accusations. Marlow also accused Fox News of having a “vested interest” in Moore’s loss.
Just today, Breitbart deleted a tweet so vile it makes you wonder why anyone might think posting such a thing acceptable in the first place. Mediaite caught the tweet before it was deleted. The link refers to a Breitbart article about declining NFL ratings.
Grampa, what’s a Super Bowl?
Well, lil Muhammad, back when the kuffar ran things, they stitched up filthy pig skins, moved them around painted lines, and shoved each other. There was secular music and alcohol –
A very haram affair! https://t.co/mWI2bjcEm1
- Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 5, 2018
Mediaite further notes:
This form of racism is relatively common at the site, which has featured a “black crime” tag, been named the “platform for the alt-right” by former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, and even exposed by BuzzFeed News for trying to promote white supremacist beliefs.
Think Progress has many more examples of Breitbart's bigotry.
There were plenty of ways Kurtz could have respectfully answered Pollak’s question without explicitly legitimizing and endorsing the site. The fact that he did so speaks volumes about how low he’s willing to go.
(h/t NewsHound Richard)
(Kurtz image via screen grab)
They need to be paid well, obviously, because no self-respecting actual news outlet should dream of employing them post-Fox. Just look at how much their painful experiences with Greta Van Aspirin and Megyn ‘White Santa’ Kelly must have locked that door with NBC. And do we think O’Reilly will ever be gainfully employed again?
Oh look, dear David is back to spread another layer of derp on the moronic pile of crap has already blessed us with. Isn’t he just the cutest…
In other words, once you are on their payroll they own you, and you have to do what they say.
Fortunately, the disgruntled Fox “News” employees have given the middle finger to these frauds, and telling their stories to other media.
As for the Breitbart site, it is and has always been a haven for haters. Angry conservatives loved Andrew Breitbart because he told them what they wanted to hear – that they were somehow virtuous for hating others, and that their opponents were genuinely evil. Breitbart is a man whose vicious behavior over the course of his career truly made the world a much fouler place than when he arrived in it. I can’t say that he has had as much nefarious influence as, say, Roger Ailes, but he certainly emboldened plenty of vicious people to let their inner hater fly. Case in point, sadly, is the current Tweeter-in-Chief.
When people look back on this time in American history in another 50 years, they will note how many of the Fox News pundits really went all-in on the Kool-Aid. Kurtz has unfortunately positioned himself in the neighborhood of the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh. A truly sad way for him to end his career, but he made this choice and must now live with the consequences.