David Gregory Compares Town Hall Citizens to Oklahoma City Bomber

The transcript is here.

NBC's David Gregory, on Meet the Press this morning, first asked Democratic tax-evader Tom Daschle if the town halls have "derailed healthcare reform." He then follows up Daschle by smearing citizen protesters as threatening violence against the government. Highlighting one protest sign with Thomas Jefferson's quote that "the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants," Gregory claims it's "become a motto for violence against the government ... Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, had that very quote on his shirt the day at the Murrah building when 168 people were killed":

Of course, there is no motto of violence against the administration or Congress. The question was posed to Senator Coburn, and while he clearly pwned both Senator Daschle and hardliner Rachel Maddow throughout the program, he needed to first totally repudiate Gregory's line of questioning. If you check the video, the references to the Nazi signs were those of the Lyndon LaRouche forces. That group has been thoroughly discredited as having nothing to do with the conservative tea party movement and the town hall protesters. Gregory's clips are rank misinformation, a shameful display of dishonesty on the part of both Gregory and Meet the Press.

At the video, the guy with the gun is William Kostric. He was carrying his gun legally. The Secret Service was fully aware of him at the time of the town hall and had placed him under surveillance. Kostric was later interviewed by Chris Matthews. He said that "I'm not advocating violence ... I'm advocating an informed society, an armed society, a polite society."

Gregory's leaving out context and deceiving viewers. See, "MSNBC Joins Campaign of Anti-Gun Bigotry," and "MSNBC Spreads Fear and Prejudice Over Gun Owner at Obama Event."

Note that Senator Coburn absolutely dominated the larger health policy discussion, and Rachel Maddow came off as incredibly frustrated and completely underwater on details. See, "Maddow Battles Dick Armey In "Meet The Press" Debut ." (Via Memeorandum.)