MSNBC’s Brian Mooar was doing a live shot from the back of the auditorium at today’s Values Voters Summit down in Washington when he was heckled and then accosted by a series of event planners random ill-tempered members of the audience telling him to get lost on live TV. Not quite sure what to make of it. But if your thirst for the freak show still isn’t quite slaked, you’ll want to see.
Late Update: A couple of readers think the Values Voters attendees, who got on the reporter’s case and then were subsequently ejected by event security, were the ones in the right. There’s definitely a decent argument to be made. And that’s why I said, “Not quite sure what to make of it.” It’s an interesting tableau, several different culture clashes at once. It’s pretty clear that the reporter was set up for a live shot right where the event coordinators wanted the cable net folks to be.
Later Update: Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, the sponsoring organization, just went on stage and apologized to MSNBC for the incident. It was an entertaining moment. But there’s something the whole turn of events illustrates. And that is that the event planners from FRC and the cable net folks are basically the same people. Each part of the same business, the same game. They know each other, understand each others rules, etc. It’s the incensed attendees who are the ones who are sort of out of the loop. I’m not sure who that puts in a better or worse light. But that’s what I mean by at least one of the culture clashes.
Fox News Late Update: It turns out the Fox News crew got the same treatment at the same time. Only the guy giving the Fox News reporter a hard time was a bit creepier. By the end of the encounter the Fox guy looks like one of those freaked out, hollowed souled guys from Heart of Darkness. The whole Fox crew was trying to do its best to push the Value Voters event. But this dude just wouldn’t cut them any slack. Go to the post and scroll to the bottom for the Fox vid.
