So much for this clown going away quietly any time soon after he stepped in it on Hannity's show last week. Rather than admit that some of what came out of his mouth during his interview with Hannity might (to put it charitably) be considered offensive by wide swaths of our population in the United States, Ben Carson decided to double down instead.

Ben Carson Goes On The Offensive, Lashes Out At "Racist" Critics:

Dr. Ben Carson has pivoted from apologizing "if anybody was offended" by his anti-gay comments to attacking his critics, some of whom he says are "racist[s]" who are trying to smear him as a bigot in order to silence him.

Carson, who has been lauded by the conservative media and treated to dozens of Fox News appearances over the past few months, lashed out at his critics during an April 1 interview on The Mark Levin Show. [...]

After LGBT medical students called for Carson's replacement as the commencement speaker for the class of 2013, he attempted to claim that he hadn't been "equating" gays with pedophiles or those who engage in bestiality, while apologizing "if anybody was offended." He also said he would be willing to step down as commencement speaker.

But on Levin's show, Carson went on the offensive, saying that the criticism he has received proves that he's right that "political correctness is threatening to destroy our nation because it puts a muzzle over honest conversation." He added that "the attacks against me have been so vicious because I represent an existential threat" to his critics, who he says "take my words, misinterpret them, and try to make it seem that I'm a bigot."

After Levin claimed that Carson has been "attacked also, in many respects, because of your race" because "a lot of white liberals" don't like black conservatives, Carson replied, "Well, they're the most racist people there are. Because you know, they put you in a little category, a little box, 'you have to think this way, how could you dare come off the plantation?'"

As the Media Matters post noted, he's right there in Rush Limbaugh territory now. Bravo Dr. Carson. I didn't think it was possible for this guy to marginalize himself any further or faster than he has already with his recent media appearances, but he's managed to do it with this interview. Quite an accomplishment, given Fox was just attempting to sell him as a presidential candidate anyone should take seriously not long ago.

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On this Sunday's Meet the Press, Lieutenant Governor of California Gavin Newsom pointed out the sad and sorry fact that the GOP needs to get "permission" from the talking heads on right-wing hate radio in order to act on immigration reform.

Newsom was responding to his fellow panel member, Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, who let the cat out of the bag while accusing President Obama of using the immigration debate to polarize Republicans on the issue, as though they needed any help with that.

DAVID GREGORY: Alex, the question of whether Democrats want the issue on immigration, the reality is Democrats do want the success, and as you look at what the president's doing, how he's appealing to various groups in his coalition, he wants to lock these folks in. This is the president thinking about the long-term prospects of the Democratic party. And he also knows Republicans need a deal on this.

ALEX CASTELLANOS: Well, I think he's maybe thinking about the long-term, but he's also thinking about two years from now and taking the House. And going back to the first two years of his administration when he could run the table and of course do anything he wants, this is his last shot at legacy. So keeping Republicans polarized on immigration-- is not bad political strategy for him.

What I think you're going to see Republicans do though, is look, federal government's job is to enforce the border. But we've got to move somewhere else. You know, talk radio has already given Republicans a little room to move on immigration. But if r-- right now, immigrants have no economic value in the American system.

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Rachel Maddow talked about the influence and insular nature of right-wing talk radio started by Rush Limbaugh that has now been adopted by Fox News where they sell their audience "grievance, resentment and belonging" and how that made it inevitable that we would end up with someone like Palin using avoidance of the "mainstream" media as part of a political platform.

Personally, I don't think it's a political platform but a let's make some money for Sarah Palin platform and there are differences of agreement on that one, so time will tell whether I'm right or not.

On Chris Matthews' weekend show a couple of weeks ago, Maddow made this prediction:

MADDOW: I predict that there will be a candidate from the right side out of the Republican Party, it may be Sarah Palin or somebody else, but they will establish a new litmus test for Republican candidates, which is that they do not do mainstream media interviews; that doing a mainstream media interview is itself a capitulation, that only conservative media should be engaged with...

MATTHEWS: You mean Fox and Limbaugh, radio?

MADDOW: That's right.

I really cannot picture another candidate being allowed to only talk to conservative media outlets other than Sarah Palin and that's another reason I do not think she's actually running besides the fact that she has not quit working for Fox News. No presidential candidate that's actually running and not just drumming up media interest like I believe Palin is, is going to be allowed to run an entire campaign and not talk to all of the media without being eventually savaged by the press as a whole whether it be print or television. And no candidate is going to win without participating in debates, which she's not up to. The press is chasing her around right now because they love lazy tabloid "journalism" and that's exactly what Palin is giving them to cover.

So I disagree with Rachel that this will be a new litmus test. I think it's a Palin gimmick and ultimately it falls from under its own weight of being ridiculous if someone wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate.

I do agree with what Rachel then went on to discuss with Media Matters founder David Brock and that is how Fox News has helped Palin to advance that strategy and get as far as she has with being taken seriously as a potential candidate for president in 2012 and how they have successfully manipulted their audiences into believing that they are the only place that can be trusted to hear the truth and to distrust other media outlets.

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We had to know this was coming, didn't we? Let the false equivalencies begin:

LEMON: Dana, before the break, I talked to you about the mood and the tone in Washington and politics these days. We know it's out there. We've seen what's been happening on social media, some people blaming, you know, certain members, certain elected and non-elected members. We don't know the motivation yet but does this send some sort of signal to us and to our law makers about how we view politics and tone?

BASH: Well, you're absolutely right, we don't know the motivation but regardless something like this tends to be... tends to be a wake up call and we've already heard from some members of Congress who have been on our air earlier today saying that they do hope that this is a wake up call, a wake up call for both parties to try to get out... get the word out their to their supporters, to constituents, to maybe even the blogosphere, which is not easy, to tone it down a little bit.

You know we actually got a statement from John McCain, the senior Senator from Gabby Giffords' home state of Arizona, who obviously didn't point the finger that way but was very, very strong and I think maybe indicative of what we're talking about. He said “Whoever did this, whatever reason they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race” and he said “They deserve and will deserve the contempt of all decent people and the strongest punishment of the law.”

When you're hearing a Republican like John McCain say that and we're hearing John Boehner and other Republicans say that, it's hard to imagine that there isn't going to be a coming together of some sort of both the parties in Congress after this.

If anyone needs to be told to tone down their rhetoric, it's John McCain and his former running mate, Sarah Palin. Sorry Dana, but “both sides” don't have a 24/7 hate television network and hate radio spreading lies and whipping up the fear and anger in their audience week after week. And there aren't any Democratic politicians out there doing what Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann and company have done with repeating eliminationist rhetoric at every opportunity.

No one does know what this man's motivation was in this shooting yet, but when it comes to the politicians who obviously have little concern if this type of tragedy could end up being the result of their rhetoric, there's just one side that needs to get that message, and it's the Republicans and their enablers on Fox and right-wing hate radio. We don't have any Democratic members of Congress out there telling their constituents to "reload' or that we need investigations looking into whether they're anti-American or not.

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On Fox News Sunday, Juan Williams is asked why so many people believe that President Obama is a Muslim and Williams states the obvious, the right-wing media are the ones pushing this lie.

Behind Obama Muslim myth stands the right wing:

Two recently released polls show that an increasing number of Americans believe the falsehood that President Obama is a Muslim. According to the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of people who believe this false claim cite the media as the source of that information -- and, indeed, the right-wing media have incessantly promoted this lie.

Right wing media relentlessly drive Obama-Muslim falsehood

Right-wing media have relentlessly pushed the myth that Obama is a Muslim. In the past two years, the conservative media has continued to lie about Obama's personal history, dishonestly distorting his faith to claim that he is in fact a Muslim and not a Christian. Those untruths have run the gamut -- from outright claiming that Obama is a Muslim to alleging that he "is a Christian that Christians don't recognize"; from using his family and upbringing in Indonesia to portray him as an "Islamist" to claiming he has an agenda that shows he has a "preference of Islam over Christianity"; and from distorting comments Obama or his administration has made to picking out symbols associated with his administration to perpetuate the lie about his faith. Conservatives have even used the Pew and Time polls today to further rehash these falsehoods.

Go read the whole post. Media Matters has a very long list of examples documented there.

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Ed Schultz calls out Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck for their hate filled rhetoric in this edition of Psycho Talk.

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After playing an ad from John McCain which features remarks by J.D. Hayworth during his radio program questioning whether President Obama’s birth certificate is legitimate or not, Bill O’Reilly asks Hayworth if he’s a “birther guy”. Here’s his response.

Hayworth: Bill, no, I’m a broadcaster and those comments were taken from a radio program where I was a catalyst for conversation. Just imagine Bill if every topic you brought up on The Factor, bloggers said you were an instant advocate for whom ever was on.

O’Reilly: Well they do already. That’s what Media Matters does.

Hayworth: Well okay. Then we’ve got something in common.

O’Reilly: If I mention the word black, I’m anti-black. If I mention the word gay, I’m a homophobe. You know what it is. Okay, so I want you to tell the American public how you view the birther movement. Is it legitimate? Do you believe that it—he might not be the President (crosstalk).

Hayworth: I view… hey Bill I view this entire debate as esoteric. It’s as esoteric as arguing about the eligibility of Chester Alan Arthur well over a century after he served as president. Look, Barack Obama’s the forty fourth president of the United States. His election was certified. I believe he was born in Hawaii. I made certain statements on the air to provoke conversation. That’s what happens in broadcasting.

Sadly Sen. McCain is involved in the politics of distortion and distraction. I can understand why he doesn’t want people talking about his bailout vote that included $150 billion in earmarks. He doesn’t want us talking about the fact he voted against the Bush tax cuts that I helped write. And he doesn’t want us talking about his amnesty that would have cost American tax payers $2.6 trillion in retirement benefits alone according to The Heritage Foundation. This is politics based on distortion and distraction and I’m happy to set the record straight.

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