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Tom Tancredo Walks Off MSNBC Over Markos Moulitsas Fight

by Blaine Metzgar | November 6, 2009 at 07:23 pm

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Former Republican Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo walked off the set of MSNBC's The Ed Show Friday night after a discussion with Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas escalated into a full on fight between the two pundits. David Schuster, filling in for Ed Shultz that night, brought up the topic of offensive protest signs on Capitol Hill at Thursday's "House call" against health care reform.

Tancredo refused to slander fellow Republican's who participated in the rally heralding back to the Bush-era and equally-as-offensive signs present at anti-Bush rallies. But Moulistas was demonstrative in his defense of health care reform, expressing that the military makes use of government-funded healthcare therefore so should citizens. In retort Tancredo stated that vetrans often complain about the quality of healthcare they receive so much so that they would prefer a privatized option. And that's when things got nasty,

"Tom, I'm a veteran. Okay?" Moulitas responded. "I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight a war I supported in Vietnam. I'm a veteran. They want a more effective V.A. ..."

"You're not going to do that. You're not going to try to insult me that way and then pretend like we're just going on and talk about that. You either apologize ..." When Moulitas did not apologize, Tancredo simply took out his earpiece and walked away.

After Tancredo's escape Schuster ended the discussion saying, "I think he left a little early. The congressman is always welcome on this show. We always appreciate hearing his point of view. It's a feisty one. That's what we like around here."