Actually, no, that isn't parody. I've been conducting a rather bracing on-the-record email interview with Melanie Morgan, the sometime guest on MSNBC and right-wing talk show host on San Francisco's KSFO-FM. You may recall that Ms. Morgan recently said that she'd happily countenance the slow and agonizing execution of Bill Keller over his decision to publish the big Times piece on the U.S.'s secret financial surveillance program. In yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle Morgan was quoted saying this about Keller:
"If he were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber."
After emailing her for confirmation of the quote -- which she granted -- I sent her, just for the heck of it, this extended description of the horrors of dying in a gas chamber, and asked the following: "Given that definition of the gas chamber, Is it really true that you'd countenance the above-described lengthy and excrutiatingly painful death for Bill Keller for printing that story?"
Here's the emailed reply from Morgan, in full knowledge that it was on the record:
"Let me answer your question with a question. If, by leaking classified information that resulted in the deaths of American soldiers -- let's just say that a terrorist purchased all the ingredients necessary for an IED and detonated against a convoy of 18, 19 and 20- something Marines, killing them -- do you honestly think I would give a rat's rear-end how the editor who leaked that information dies? Do you think I actually CARE if he or she goes slowly, banging away on the prison bars or is extinguished immediately? The answer is NO. I DO NOT CARE.
"However, the best solution that I can think of to deal with any newspaper editor, whether it's from the NY Times, LAT, WaPo, or the Wall Street Journal who is responsible for leaking national security classified information, is to be locked in a steel cage with the family members of slain troop members who would happily deliver the ultimate punishment of death. And then sent to the hottest corner of hell." (Emphasis added.)
Melanie Morgan has her own talk show, ladies and gentlemen. She's a sometime guest on MSNBC. Those are both valuable platforms. Memo to MSNBC brass: Please take a moment to read her thoughts and think about them a bit before booking Melanie Morgan on one of your shows again. Please?
I know, I know, there's no point in engaging with these people or giving them attention, right? It's just schtik, right? Waste of time, right? But what the heck. Now that she's basically said that any editor leaking classified national security information should be murdered, maybe it's time to check in with the corporate owners of her local station.
Adapted from a post at The Horse's Mouth.