MSNBC Host Says He ‘Fell Short’ Saying He‘s ’Uncomfortable‘ Calling Fallen Soldiers ’Heroes’ — But Doesn’t Directly Apologize on TV
- Posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:55am by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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MSNBC
MSNBC host Chris Hayes said Saturday he “fell short” when he dissed the use of the term “hero” to describe fallen soldiers, but didn’t offer a direct apology for his words on TV during an opening discussion of the controversy.
Hayes caused an uproar with his comments last week, the day before Memorial Day. He issued a written apology on Monday, but in addressing the controversy for the first time on his show, didn’t use the specific words “I’m sorry“ or ”I apologize.”
Hayes admitted he “cringed” when he saw the headlines related to his remarks and said he received a litany of angry and genuinely distressed messages about them.
“And reading those messages, I had to agree,” Hayes said, emotion evident in his voice. “Who was I to say who is and isn’t a hero? It hardly seems a designation that is mine to deny or even to confer, which is in a very clumsy way what I was trying to say, or at least what I wanted to discuss – not what makes a hero, or who is a hero, but rather this: We have a society that on the one hand has become comfortable with war, and on the other hand wants to distance itself from it as much as possible. To outsource it to contractors, to robots and to the 2.3 million volunteer men and women who have been asked to serve for longer durations than at any time in recent history.”
He continued, “What we’re trying to do here on this show, and obviously we don’t always succeed, is to talk about sometimes quite sensitive topics in good faith….We tried to do that last week. But I fell short in a crucial moment.”
(h/t NewsBusters)
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Comments (104)
Detroit paperboy
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:33amIs that Rachel Maddow ? It kinda looks like it…….
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:46amMust be Madcow’s twin sister.
Report Post »Rajabear1
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 10:06amYou’re not far off the mark.This freak of nature used to fill in for madcow whenever he/she was out. That’s how this pencil-neck communist pig got his weekend morning propagandist, indoctrination show. He and his commi buddies were on a roll this morning…
Report Post »Rajabear1
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 10:13amBTW if anyone thought that I’m a bit harsh on this POS, you may want to know Chris Hayes is married Kate Shaw Associate Counsel for President Barack Obama. Call me crazy, but maybe, just maybe he may be carrying water for the marxist admin and they just may have ulterior motives and not be objective. Hence the term propagandist-indoctrinator. I believe it to be a very accurate and polite description verses what I could have said. I’m just sayin…
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 10:58am“Chris Hayes is married Kate Shaw Associate Counsel for President Barack Obama.”
Like Obama and Chris Matthews and any number of others from the left… being married doesn’t make them any less gay… if the rumors are correct… ??
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 1:02pmI think he looks like a really ugly woman with thin lips…. but I think you may be right. It‘s Rachel’s long lost twin sister.
Amazing how the liberals feminize their men…. and just how ugly the result is. Either they look like ugly girls… or ugly hippies…. but whatever in the end… it’s always UGLY.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 1:48pmDon’t “dis” the man… “hero-ize” em!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:22pmIt seems that an awful lot of these sociacommiarxsit that are married do not share the same last name. I wonder if it’s to confuse people into not associating them with each other.
Report Post »Samantha Power is married to Cass Sunstein, Robert Creamer (who wrote that Obamacare blueprint book while in prison) is married to Rep. Jan Schakowsky. This list goes on and on….
anOpinion
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 5:32pmHe didn’t cringe and its a phony apology. He meant every word he originally said, and was holding himself back, but doesn’t have the courage to admit it.
I guess we know why the left can’t be honest, but it would be refreshing to seem them try once in awhile.
Report Post »Rajabear1
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 5:59pmHeck, I was so shocked a couple of years ago when madcow made some reference that he was married and then she said it was a female! Could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I just assumed he was homosexual since he was so feminine. Then when she made reference to his wife’s position in the BO admin, I thought “yah, I’m shocked. NOT.”
Report Post »I too believe these libs and far left feminize their males (can’t justify calling them men for several reasons). I am very relieved that my 16 yr old son is developing into the man I wished for him to be and not a pie in the sky, wishy washy, bleeding heart, brow beaten, sissified, dependent, shallow thinking/believing lib. He doesn’t fall for the indoctrination that so many males fall for today. He know the term ‘man up’ very well. I felt very strong while raising my 3 kids as a single mom, that all 3 knew there are distinct differences between man and woman and that God created them with that role in mind. Looks like it stuck. Thank God.
RLTW
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 6:09pmCan the faithless discuss topics in good faith?
Report Post »LogCabinRepublican
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:57pmLOL – that’s what I thought – I’m a gay man and I have NEVER trusted Lesbians which Maddow clearyly is.
Report Post »lainer51
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:31pmNot sure if it is Madcow, but if she had a son……………………………….
Report Post »jagar
Posted on June 4, 2012 at 11:37amI’ve always thought he was a Rachel Madow want-to-be in looks and his speaking manner, minus the stupid glasses that are two sizes too small for his face. Just about the most annoying gasbag too look at and listen to.
Report Post »dropthehammer
Posted on June 4, 2012 at 12:14pmIs Hayes, Rachael Maddow’s twin sister, or is Maddow, Chris Haye’s twin brother? You make the call.
Report Post »bikerdogred1
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:32amThis guy looks like a three dollar bill.
Report Post »ICEDRAGONNITE
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 3:00pmFire the RAT!
Report Post »carl_in_ohio
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:27amHe apologized to save his job…period.
He didn’t have a change of heart. He wasn’t misunderstood.
He uncomfortable because its either apologize (costing the network money) – or get fired.
Report Post »drbage
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:39amExactly, he apologized not for what he said, but because he got caught. If the network was really worried about losing money, they would fold the tent and go off the air.
Report Post »dmerwin
Posted on June 4, 2012 at 8:46pmNot the guy I want watching MY back.
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:20amWho cares what he says, if he apologizes, if he drinks warm milk at night, if he’s even breathing. This guy is a creepy little troll; and less significant than a dust particle on a dirt road.
Chris, you’re a lib wuss. Move to China or something.
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:45amI agree!!!
Report Post »UpholderOftheConstitution
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 3:18pmHere, Here! Completely concur!
I would love to see this coward wuss speak like this to a man or woman who has served multiple tours and has lost relationships for their duty. What makes them heroes and always heroes is not that they pick up a weapon. What makes them heroes is that they go and do what they are ordered to do and they do it regardless of their personal political beliefs! Chris “wuss” Hayes you have watched to many hollywood blockbusters that glorify war thinking every veteran is like this. Well news flash, those that have to fight are the last ones wanting to have a war you spineless piece of jelly! Go back to Sweden where you speak this trash on their TV!
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:18amPlease… I’ve seen and heard enough of this gay looking hair-lip.
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:35amNo kidding! This is old news and has been reported on and commented on, to death, already everywhere else. Is Blaze just playing catch-up or what? Never want to see or hear of this sissy boy dweeb again……………….
Report Post »jnobfan
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:15amHe’s a coward. Cowards can’t even apologize for being cowards. I would also like an apology from his parents for raising a person without a sense of pride in the greatest country in history. I bet they had him watching Captain Planet and the Smurfs on tv till he was in high school where I hope he got bullied everyday.
Report Post »rickc34
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:35amWhat do you expect? The propganda machine for the President just put out the true feelings of what they believe. I stopped watching the major networks ,cnn and msnbc after seeing how far left they have become. Far left agenda is everything against what my family fought for and served in the different branchs of the service. After all the president is a sunni muslim. Has anyone ever come forward that went to school with him? How about pictures in yearbooks? He just appeared.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:15am.
Report Post »Sure would be nice if one of those Hero’s buddies, would plant a Boot in his Ass…..
Darla_K
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:18amWhat I don’t understand is why these idiots are reporting the news?
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:04pmHayes doesn‘t report the news and doesn’t pretend to report the news. He’s an opinionator, like Hannity or Maddow.
Report Post »txannie
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:12amI still say he needs to keep his ignorant mouth shut. He just proved to all that he is a arrogant jerk that is unable to consider that words can be a weapon and that he just doesn’t care about anything except hearing his own voice and pontificating about his opinions.
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:10amYawn – - – obama’s anti-American propagandists get more ridiculous by the day.
Report Post »AUsername
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:09amSome folks view the military as goverment yes man who kill for them and don’t think about it and think anyone who takes a life is not heroic. there are those folks out there and he might be one of them.The definition of hero and our troops is still debatable even if you don’t have this viewpoint. but this anchor should have at-least explained why he didn‘t feel right calling them hero’s to spark debate about it.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:53amAfter reading between the lines of what you just wrote… I get this sneaking suspicion that you might be in agreement here with Rachel Maddow’s little sister… Ms Chris Hayes? Correct me if I’m wrong…
The anti-war/anti-Military sissie left, along with their little sisters of the “anti-war /anti-Military fringe right” (who are subversively hanging out in the GOP) seem to hold these views to one degree or another. You?
Report Post »AUsername
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:24amyou can’t generalize about the military to many different soldiers fighting in to many different battles.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 11:55amYou just confirmed my suspicions. You are part of the vile and panty-waisted wing of the Ron Paul anti-Military Code-Pink back-slapping and hand-shaking contingent of OWS. You are obviously a product of the Liberal education system of young and confused Ron Paul/Obama supporters who see absolutely no problem with insulting our country and it’s Military with leftist Democrat Party talking points and spin on a daily basis. I remember you now…
Report Post »AUsername
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:20pmyou Neo Conservatives are anti troops, you put them in wars that have nothing to do with the defense of this country. you people have the nerve to even play the act of supporting the troops when your there greatest enemy. Ron Paul is the choice of the troops hes received more from than all the other candidates combined because they agree with his foreign policy and see him as a commander in chief that won’t use them like toys and see them as statistics like you neo cons do.
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 4:39pmNEO-CONNNNNS! Lol. Nice Democrat Party word usage there. It’s very easy to see where the Ron Paul confused get their buzzwords… from the Party he should be in.
Ohhh, my, my… you’re not going to propigate that Ron Paul Military donation ruse are you? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ron Paul is loathed by the “professional” members of our Military past and present. Paul attracts for the most part… disgruntled dead-enders (like John Kerry did), PO’d youth who volunteered just for the bennies (WARRRR? OMG… not ME!! NOT ME!!), the lame, the lazy, record embellishers, those who have been drummed out for any number of reasons (cowardice, drugs etc) and the list goes on.
I hate to talk like this about Vets, but the facts are the facts regarding many. I’m sure there are some who have a legitimate gripes, but to attach themselves to a guy like Paul who ignorantly yet ohhh sooo artfully insults the whole Military with generalized statements (like fighting illegal wars)… they must be oblivious or don’t care. These Military members are volunteers, so in fact must be complicit in the illegal murder of innocents (women and children too) eh?
Report Post »AUsername
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:58pmhe attracts those that know our foreign policy is stupid and messed up and know what were doing is wrong. your typical democrat isn’t much different than your typical republican.
Report Post »80mesh
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:05ami am so confused ….
Report Post »the lib men act like girls and the lib (what ever they are) women look like men…..
The-Monk
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 2:25pm@80mesh
You’re not confused, they are…..
Report Post »jonnyd_94
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:58amI don’t see how he can defend those words. It’s like saying “I don’t fee comfortable calling obese women pretty, because it will make them think it’s ok to be that size” He‘s saying he doesn’t think they are heroes and by calling them that only makes war that much more acceptable. That’s what he said, yet he wants to say he didn’t mean it that way. I don’t really see how else those words could be taken.
Report Post »RecoveringRepublican
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:53amI remember when Heroes was title reserved for extraordinary people. The term is so over used now, you can‘t go to the Gas Station without running into a ’Hero’.
We have devalued the word into obscurity.
Report Post »-20 year Veteran and 9/11 Hero
RJJinGadsden
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:53amI think that you really mean the term “Racist.”
Report Post »Lloyd Drako
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 7:07pmIn other words, you admit that Hayes had a point, even if he expressed it in a “politically incorrect” way?
Report Post »Blazingbakedbeans
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:40amWishful thinking caption for the video above. “I hope this resume will appeal to some network.”
Report Post »jackact
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:36amUber liberals(and their statist media) only misspeak, misstep or misunderstand.
Report Post »They will never admit to being wrong or apologize.
About anything.
I’ll prove my point.
Barack Hussein Obama is the biggest failure of an American president in our nations history.
On every level imaginable.
Last week CNBC (and Barney Frank) reported that our economy has greatly improved.
:(
Baddoggy
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:35amYou could @itch slap him but it would be like hitting a girl. What a little puke.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:26amSho nuff..candy ass for sure.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:35amNBC is basically Un-American just as the administration that runs this country. Both are who they are, predictable.
Report Post »mikefromaltoona
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:31amAs a life long civillian, I don’t think I have earned the right to discuss who, in the military, is or is not a hero. I will leave those decisions to the men and women who are serving or who have served.
Report Post »hypnos
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:30amHis arrogance is only superseded by his stupidity.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:30amI’m sure by now he is very used to falling short.
Report Post »disenlightened
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:30amI think Chris Hayes is Rachel Maddow in drag…or is Rachel Maddow Chris Hayes in drag? I’m confused…but so are they.
Report Post »artgueret
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:24amSad, Sad, little man……..
Report Post »Laus Deo
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:23amIf the interest is to talk about “quite sensitive” topics, why don‘t you start with obama’s communist skank mother? That might be “quite sensitive” to certain folks.. Or, how often does mooch-elle have to shave her knuckles? Ooh.. “Quite sensitive.”
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:16amI am falling short of accepting his non-apology.
Report Post »He is another meaningless talking head entertainment personality.
Blazingbakedbeans
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 8:00amI am “falling short” in calling him a despicable human being, but I won’t directly apologize for it.
Report Post »Silversmith
Posted on June 3, 2012 at 9:24amAre we STILL talking about this zero?
Silversmith
Report Post »