Did Al Sharpton Omit 'Under God' From Pledge In New MSNBC Ad? MSNBC Tells Us No

A new MSNBC promo featuring a monologue from Rev. Al Sharpton caught fire on the Internet Wednesday morning. Conservative bloggers point out that the phrase "under God" is missing from what sounds like Sharpton, who hosts his own MSNBC program, reciting a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sharpton's voice over says: "[V]oting rights, and women's rights, and the rights of people against discrimination, whether they're African-American, Latino, lesbian and gay, must be protected, until we have a nation that is really living up to the creed of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Not all of one kind. But all."

The portion in bold is indeed similar to the conclusion of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance which says "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." And it's hard to imagine anyone hearing that portion of the ad without directly associating it with the full Pledge. MSNBC, however, is denying that it was meant to be a recitation of the Pledge.

"A lot of our new promos are soundbites from our air," an MSNBC spokesperson told TheBlaze. "The clip of Rev. Sharpton was a segment, not Sharpton reciting the Pledge of Allegiance."

Here's the ad, via the conservative media watchdog NewsBusters:

The spokesperson directed us to the segment below from the Jan. 4 edition of Sharpton's program Politics Nation. The segment was titled "Block the Vote" and focused on Republican efforts to supposedly block minorities from voting. At the end, Sharpton reads from the teleprompter the monologue that now appears in the ad (begins at 4:40 mark).