Media Matters covered this segment by discussing when it's time to hang up on a right-wing radio host. I'd take that question one step further and ask when it's time to stop validating them by appearing as guests on their shows. If MSNBC's Karen Finney didn't want to have hateful insults lobbed at her by wingnut Hugh Hewitt, maybe she should stay off of his show and vice versa.
Karen Finney hangs up on Hugh Hewitt after he insists she defend Joe McCarthy:
MSNBC host Karen Finney on Tuesday abruptly ended an interview with conservative radio personality Hugh Hewitt after he repeatedly tried to get her to defend former Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s 1950s-era communist witch hunt.
On her MSNBC show over the weekend, Finney had said that Cruz’ rhetoric about using “grassroots common sense” was “reminiscent” of McCarthy.
Hewitt invited Finney on his radio show on Tuesday and immediately demanded to know if “communists infiltrated the United States government?”
“If we go back to the McCarthy hearings, it’s pretty clear that he, A, created a culture of paranoia and fear that people later recognized was — you know, people sort of bought into it, and then recognized that it was absolutely misplaced,” Finney explained. “I mean, that’s the point.”
Go read the rest of the post for more of the back and forth, but it was obvious Hewitt cared about one thing, and that's badgering and bullying Finney. I hope Finney and her producers at MSNBC keep that in mind before they mainstream any more of these guys by bringing them on as guests on her show.
