Dylan Ratigan Goes Off On Tea Party Guest, Kicks Him Off Show: 'You're Offensive' (VIDEO)

[BigBearJohn]

On Tuesday afternoon, MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan got so upset with one of his guests, "Tea Party" leader Mark Williams, that he cut off his mic mid-interview, dispatching him off the air prematurely. Williams was on MSNBC talking about his upcoming Tea Party Express nationwide bus tour culminating in Washington, DC on tax day, and the conversation heated up almost as soon as the segment began.

Ratigan began the segment by asking Williams how he draws the line between the "admirable and understandable" principles advocated by many in the Tea Party, and the radical and racist views of some "hiding" under the Tea Party umbrella.

Williams: "Well that's real simple. There's wingnuts and there's normal people."

Ratigan was not satisfied with this assessment, and pressed the point: "What confuses me about the Tea Party is the Tea Party's willingness to accept the wingnuts, as you put it, without shaming them or defining more crisply what the Tea Party's agenda is relative to those who just want to kill black people for instance."

What followed was a back and forth in which Ratigan attempted to get Williams to answer the following: Does he "accept racists and Nazis in the Tea Party?" The conversation reached its climax and conclusion when Ratigan declared "I don't want to continue with this, you're wasting valuable oxygen. Can we please cut off this man's microphone, he has no interest in answering my questions. Mark, a pleasure. Actually, not really a pleasure. It was offensive, you're offensive, your treatment of my show as a vehicle to spread your propaganda and ignore my question, offensive."

Watch video at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/dylan-ratigan-goes-off-on_n_483071.html

[Atticus]

1. Was that a breath of fresh air or what? nt

[AllentownJake]

2. A couple DUers owe him an apology nt.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Really?

Someone was defending Williams?

[AllentownJake]

6. 3 weeks ago

He interviewed a guy dressed up in 18 th century costume at their silly convention and some people called Dylan a tea bagger cause he only subtley mocked the guy.

[eleny]

3. Saw it earlier - a thing of beauty

[tnlefty]

5. Thanks for posting this!

Called the asshat out, eh?

[Atman]

7. I'm going to take a somewhat unpopular stance here...Ratigan could have done better

While I understand the DUers who applaud Ratigan denying the racist Teabagger a platform -- after all, we watched for eight years as O'Reilly and his ilk routinely cut off the mics of anyone who questioned George Bush -- after finally seeing the video, I don't think Mr. Ratigan gave the teabagger a chance to sufficiently hang himself. He would have been better off letting the creep at least get a full sentence in, then hammering him on the bullshit he just spewed. He didn't do that. He may have known where the Teabagger was going to go based upon his previous comments, but I've never seen him nor heard of him, and I would have liked to hear just how crazy he is. Ratigan could have helped drive home the point that these people are just racist assholes, but instead he simply cut they guy off repeatedly.

While I did like seeing a racist like that shut down, I think Dylan Ratigan could have done a better job demonstrating to his audience exactly why the guy is so reprehensible -- just by letting him speak.

.

[arthritisR_US]

9. that's how I saw it too. n/t

[cayanne]

8. MSNBC has it's very own Reilly?

Inviting guests on, shutting mikes off, and kicking them off the air? We didn't like it when O'Reilly did it to our side so why is OK for
Ratigan to do it to their side? I would hope our side would show more class than Fox News, or even Free Republic, but it looks rather doubtful for some here. IMO, Dylan was rude and that is why I don't watch him. Rachael does a much better job interviewing these people.

[Touchdown]

10. Oh'Really shut down people he disagreed with, but let the racist speak uninterrupted.

Billo also allowed any lie spewed as long as it fit Fox's agenda, and in fact Billo himself is a pathological liar. Dylan doesn't suffer liars, or racists. He shouldn't have to.

Apples & Oranges. The tit for tat argument doesn't wash.

[cayanne]

12. Not to me

The clip I just watched, Dylan asked him a question and gave him little chance to answer by talking over him repeatedly.

[Touchdown]

14. If you ever heard this douchebag before, you'd know what was coming.

Dylan did, and didn't want to subject his audience to more racist apologia.

[W_HAMILTON]

11. Fight fire with fire.

I never really liked that saying, but where has rolling over and playing dead gotten us?

I want to see more people on our side standing up and fighting for their beliefs.

[cayanne]

13. I'm all for fighting fire with fire

I just don't like how he was treated. Talking over him while accusing him of not answering is a tactic O'Reilly used. Ask Symbolman, he was there.

[W_HAMILTON]

15. He could have answered the question.

When Ratigan did let him speak, he basically said that NBC promoted someone with a questionable background...this is a Republican tactic.

He had a chance to answer.