MSNBC Hires Left-Wing 'Nation' Editor as New Weekend Host

Chris Hayes, Washington editor of liberal magazine The Nation, will join MSNBC as a weekend morning show host, the network announced this week.

Hayes, already an MSNBC contributor, has filled in for "The Rachel Maddow Show," "The Last Word With Laurence O'Donnell" and previously guest hosted on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann." He will continue to appear as a contributor and will serve as editor-at-large of The Nation — also the home of Frances Fox Piven.

So who is Hayes?

For starters, he's married to Kate Shaw, who works as an attorney in the White House counsel's office.

He also has a history of being anti-conservative. In April, while guest hosting for O'Donnell the day after President Barack Obama released his birth certificate, Hayes said the "same dynamics" seemed to be in play for those who do not believe president was born in the U.S. and those who do not believe in global warming.

"The issue of the president's origins is one thing. The reality is global warming quite another. There seem to be the same dynamics at play in both," Hayes said.

In an interview with the Wrap Monday talking about his new show, Hayes discussed what he said was a lack of diversity in cable — filled with straight, white men.

"Cable news is very white, male and straight," Hayes said. "I feel extremely strongly given the fact that I can't do anything about my own white male straightness that I have the duty to double down in efforts to make sure what we present is reflective of the diversity of the country at large in a way that cable news doesn't always do a good job of."

Back in December, while filling in for Olbermann one month prior to his firing, Hayes discussed a poll that found Fox News viewers to be the most misinformed among all news viewers (debunked here and here) and called the network a "fundamentally political institution:"

Hayes was also a member of the now-defunct JournoList, and in one set of released emails discussing how best to attack former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin just as she was named John McCain's running mate, he was reported to have written, "Keep the ideas coming! Have to go on TV to talk about this in a few min and need all the help I can get!"

The as yet untitled program, which will focus on politics, will debut Sept. 17 and air Saturdays 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and Sundays 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.