Discussing Imus, MSNBC's Jansing sugarcoated Coulter quote on converting Muslims

Written by Raphael Schweber-Koren

Published


On the April 13 edition of MSNBC News Live, host Chris Jansing gave viewers a truncated version of right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's post-September 11, 2001, comments about Muslims, claiming that Coulter “said they should all be converted to Christianity.” In fact, a day after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Coulter wrote in her syndicated column, published on September 13, 2001, in National Review: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” She was later fired from the right-wing National Review Online as a result of those comments. Furthermore, as Media Matters for America has noted, in her book, How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must): The World According to Ann Coulter (Crown Forum, October 2004), Coulter wrote: “I am often asked if I still think we should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. The answer is: Now more than ever!”

Jansing was discussing “what's OK to say” about religion and faith in the wake of CBS Radio and MSNBC's decision to fire Don Imus for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team “nappy-headed hos.” After she mentioned Coulter's comment, Jansing then asked her guest, Rev. A.R. Bernard, founder and CEO of the Christian Cultural Center: “Do you think that sometimes, circumstances -- and in this case, it would be the feelings of people who were attacked on 9-11 in a post-9-11 world -- feel then it's OK to think differently about people and Islam?”

As Media Matters has noted, Coulter appeared several times on NBC and MSNBC in mid-2006 to promote her book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, June 2006), in which she unleashed a stream of attacks on the widows of 9-11 victims.

From the 10 a.m. ET hour of the April 13 edition of MSNBC News Live:

JANSING: Well, since 9-11, for example, Islam has been the huge subject of debate. A few politicians made what some consider to be offensive remarks about Muslims. Columnist Ann Coulter said they should all be converted to Christianity.

Do you think that sometimes, circumstances -- and in this case, it would be the feelings of people who were attacked on 9-11 in a post-9-11 world -- feel then it's OK to think differently about people and Islam?