With MSNBC dropping his show, Ed Schultz is reportedly pondering his future on a fishing trip in Canada. Here’s what I think he should do: Run for public office.
Ed (above with wife Wendy) would be a strong candidate. And the Democrats will need all the strong candidates they can get in 2016.
As a TV pundit, Ed was always on the side of the angels as far as I am concerned. As a congressman or senator, he could be counted on to speak out boldly on behalf of the working man and woman.
We need people like Ed in politics. We need people who call it as they see it, who speak truth to power, who know right from wrong and are not afraid to say what’s on their minds and in their hearts.
Born and raised in Virginia, Ed played college football in Minnesota, where he made the All American team. He was a pro footballer with the Oakland Raiders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After his football career, Ed became a radio sportscaster in North Dakota and later a radio talk show host.
He wound up at MSNBC where I – for one – enjoyed his unabashed support for such liberal causes as organized labor, economic justice and equal rights for women and minorities.
If he runs for office, you will surely hear what a conservative he was back in the early days. And he was. But his second wife, Wendy, enlightened him. She introduced him to the homeless people and veterans at the Salvation Army shelter where she worked and encouraged him to see for himself how farmers were struggling in the Dakotas.
Like the Apostle Paul, once converted, Ed became a militant proselytizer. He sometimes got into trouble for his outspoken support of progressive policies and his contempt for right-wingers like Laura Ingraham. (He called her a four-letter word on his TV show and got suspended by MSNBC. Remember?)
MSNBC is dropping Ed, along with The Cycle and Alex Wagner, all regarded as “liberal.” Instead, the network is bringing back disgraced NBC newsman Brian Williams and focusing more on breaking news than on politics (in an effort to become more pallatable to viwers and advertisers who don’t like progressive voices, I suppose).
Apart from a pitifully few voices crying in the wilderness – like Al Sharpton, who apparently survived the MSNBCÂ chopping block – that leaves only obscure cable channels like Free Speech TV to talk back to the vast right-wing noise machine that America’s corporate media have become.
That makes it all the more urgent for strong liberals like Ed to become politically active. I understand Wendy has beaten the ovarian cancer that afflicted her last year, and I am confident she would want him to continue his fight for the causes dear to her heart.
