Days after Today apology for Fonda comment, MSNBC hosted Roger Stone of anti-Clinton group Citizens United Not Timid

Since January 18, when Republican consultant Roger Stone established the anti-Hillary Clinton 527 group Citizens United Not Timid -- which emphasizes its acronym on its website and on T-shirts by bolding the first letter in each word of its name and purports to "educate the American public about what Hillary Clinton really is" -- he has twice appeared on MSNBC's Tucker. Stone was a guest on the January 28 edition of the show and most recently, as Media Matters for America Senior Fellow Eric Alterman and Jason Linkins noted, on February 18, just days after NBC apologized for Jane Fonda's use of the word "cunt" on Today during a discussion of the play The Vagina Monologues.

Tucker host Tucker Carlson identified Stone on both shows as "legendary Republican strategist Roger Stone" and did not note Stone's affiliation with Citizens United Not Timid. On the January 28 show, Carlson hosted Stone to discuss the Republican presidential primary in Florida. On February 18, Carlson and Stone discussed strategies Republicans could use to attack Democratic presidential candidates. At one point, Carlson asked Stone: "[W]hy haven't you seen really any commentary on either one of the Democratic candidates from Republicans? You have seen no independent expenditures of note. You haven't even seen really Republican talking heads coming out there and attacking either one in a systematic way. Is it that there's no energy on the Republican side or is this part of the strategy?"

In a January 28 Weekly Standard article, senior writer Matt Labash wrote that Stone, whom he described as "a professional dirty trickster and high priest of political hijinks," sent Labash an email stating simply: " 'Out of NH C.U.N.T. lives. Gearing up!' " According to Labash, Stone said of his 527 organization: "[I]t's one-word education. That's our mission. No issues. No policy groups. No position papers. This is a simple committee with an unfortunate acronym." Stone also reportedly told Labash that the group originally tried to come up with an acronym for "bitch": "The truth is, we sat around for hours trying to come up with words for B.I.T.C.H. and just couldn't do it."

Stone appeared on MSNBC four days after right-wing pundit Ann Coulter made another of her numerous appearances on the cable network or its parent company, NBC, and their appearances came at the end of a month-long period during which MSNBC host Chris Matthews apologized for sexist comments he made about Clinton and MSNBC correspondent David Shuster was suspended for a smear against the Clinton campaign and Chelsea Clinton. The events of the past few weeks are part of an extensive pattern, documented by Media Matters for America, of sexism, misogyny, and other bigotry heard on MSNBC.

From the website of Citizens United Not Timid: