via Fair: Earlier in the week, MSNBC produced a segment that was to discuss a skit from Air America's Randi Rhodes Show (4/25/05) Joe Scarborough turned to Liddy for his response to this incident, asking: "G. Gordon Liddy, are conservatives guilty of similar hate speech on their shows?"

Liddy's response: "Well, if they are, I certainly haven't heard of it."

That would mean that Liddy has not listened to his own program. On August 26, 1994, Liddy told his radio listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests." Liddy's advice that day was explicit: "They've got a big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots.... Kill the sons of bitches."

Today Scarborough issued this response:

Just saw your site's write up on my show with G. Gordon Liddy.

I admit that I am shocked that I did not have personal knowledge of Liddy's statement. I remembered Bill Clinton blaming Liddy for Oklahoma City but obviously did not know the back story. As one who has stayed on top of pop culture and media since my teenage years, I am embarrassed I did not recall that shocking statement. Secondly, I am surprised our team did not have this information at hand when we did the segment. It was an embarrassing oversight and one that I will mention on an upcoming show.

Ironically, the point of the segment was to focus on how inflammatory talk radio has become and what is required to get good ratings. Having the Liddy comments on air was a great opportunity that we lost.

Thanks for your work to hold reporters and journalists accountable. Such a service is invaluable for those of us who want to be fair.

All the best,

Joe Scarborough

At least he did apologize, but I am not shocked at all by this laziness that is prevalent in the 24/7 cable news industry today. We are faced with a media that is supposed to inform the public instead of misleading them at every step of the way; and is generally guided now by ideology instead of facts. This is just further evidence that demonstrates this serious point, and it is the consumer that suffers the most from this malaise that has infected our broadcast media.