Shepard Smith: “Maj. Hasan’s Name Says it All, Senator”
FOX News anchor Shepard Smith is sometimes seen as a dim beacon of light in an otherwise black hole of a television channel, a voice of reason amongst the reasonless, if you will. And yet, yesterday, following the Fort Hood shootings, an appearance by Texan senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) seemed to change all that, when Shepard asked: “The name tells us a lot, does it not, senator?“ Hutchinson’s (unsurprising) response? “It does. It does, Shepard.”
I’ll say off the bat that I’m not at all surprised by Hutchinson’s response (a Texas Republican? Says it all), nor really such an attitude from the FOX News channel. But from Shepard Smith? I’m disappointed. In case you’re unaware, Shepard was the sole FOX correspondent who vehemently defended against the “Obama is a Muslim” claims and against the whackjob “birthers.” He has ranted on-air against the idea of America torturing people. He has repeatedly been called a “lefty” by the crazies on the far right, and while he most certainly isn’t, that says something. And yet, unsurprisingly, Smith’s humanist tendencies stop at one thing: Muslims. Just like other middle-of-the-road anchors likely to speak out against racism or misogyny, the buck stops at Muslims.
