A Tempest in a Teapot

Why anyone would pick a fight with Ed Schultz is beyond me.

I’m guessing Schultz is about 6’3” and weighs about 240 lbs. He’s a former collegiate and professional football player and a self-identified hothead.

Also, expecting big Eddy to remain calm after calling his lovely wife Wendy, a “c--t” is like expecting a lion to purr after pulling its tail.

That’s apparently what happened in Fargo area dinner spot last weekend. For those of you who haven’t heard about the “barroom brawl” (which was more like a tempest in teapot) here’s an account of the incident that appeared in the Fargo Forum on September 5:

Local and national radio talk show host Ed Schultz spent 45 minutes of his local show this morning defending his actions in a weekend altercation at Hotel Shoreham along Lake Sallie near Detroit Lakes, Minn. Schultz said a man approached him inside the hotel bar and wanted to talk about their differing political views and the war in Iraq.

Schultz, who was with his wife, Wendy, said the man (Kevin Nagle, a businessman and Republican party donor from California) and a woman with him would not end the conversation despite Schultz’s attempts to do so. He said everyone involved had been drinking.

“Finally, I put my beer on the bar and put my finger in his face,” Schultz told listeners to KFGO’s “News and Views” morning radio show. “I told the guy, ‘I didn’t come here for this.’”
Schultz said the woman with the man also addressed his wife with profanity. “If someone comes up to you in public and calls your wife (references to expletives), what are you going to do?”

Schultz said he engaged in harmless shoving with the man. He said he knew if he hit the man, he could be arrested, and that could sink his professional career.

Apparently Schultz made reference to incident on nationally syndicated talk show on Wednesday morning and the Forum picked up the story later that day.

Sounds like it wasn’t much of fight. So why do so many right-wingnuts have their panties in a wad?

Here’s what the Brian Maloney the Radio Equalizer had to say:

The fight “ought to give the team of national Democrat Party leaders and syndication suits who initially backed his show pause.”

(I think the Dems are probably chuckling over this episode.)

Captain Ed seems to think that Ed's political philosophy made the "fight" happen.

It's always amusing to see the violence inherent in the anti-war Left. When was the last time a conservative radio host got into a barfight? Do you suppose Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, or Michael Medved would take a swing at someone in a bar over a political disagreement?

(Not likely to happen since Limbaugh only goes to restaurants that serve $100 steaks and Hewitt, Prager, and Medved would probably not be recognized.)

Meanwhile, this weekend Jack Zaleski, a columnist for the Fargo Forum, who claims to be "no friend of Schultz" wrote the following in column under the headline “In Bar Tiff, Talk Show Host was Right”

While there are at least two versions of what transpired, the evidence suggests that a bar patron from California apparently believed it was open season on Schultz and his wife because Ed is a “progressive” (read, liberal), anti-President Bush talk show host.

Schultz' temper is not only directed to his political opponents. A few months ago we reported on a outburst against lib talk network Air America and some its hosts.