Pressure mounts on MSNBC, Joy Reid after old blog reveals attack on Wolf Blitzer, AIPAC

Another controversial post from MSNBC host Joy Reid’s now-defunct blog was unearthed late Thursday, adding to pressure on the network and its anchor to offer an explanation.

The post includes sharp criticism of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer for being “a former flak for American Israeli Public Affairs Committee” (AIPAC) while accusing the veteran anchor of not hiding “his affinity for his Israeli guests, or his partisanship for their cause.”

The Blitzer post, which was discovered by The Federalist — a conservative online publication — on Thursday comes one day after BuzzFeed found a post on Reid’s old blog that showed a photoshopped image of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) head on the body of the shooter who carried out the mass shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people.

“With the Israeli ambassador, Blitzer was solicitous, even posing the incredible question of ‘what can we do’ about the deteriorating situation,” reads the Reid blog post from 2005.

{mosads}

“We??? Would that be we Israelis or we in the United States, Wolf? Mr. Blitzer, a former flak for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) — though you’d never know it from his CNN bio — has consistently carried on that job in another form in his capacity as CNN host,” it continues.

“He doesn’t even try to hide his affinity for his Israeli guests, or his partisanship for their cause, while turning instantly to prosecutorial mode when questioning any guest who has the dumb luck to be an Arab or Muslim in King Blitzer’s court,” the post adds.

Reid, the host of “AM Joy” on weekends on MSNBC and a rising star at the network, responded to the post on Friday, saying, “Today I’m sincerely apologizing again.”

Joy Reid finally address the newly unearthed blog posts: “There are things I deeply regret and am embarrassed by, things I would have said differently and issues where my position has changed. Today I’m sincerely apologizing again.” pic.twitter.com/AvQceGnsLd

— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) June 1, 2018

Before Friday, Reid last commented on the contents of her old blog, “The Reid Report” on April 28, saying the posts “are completely alien” to her and she believes they were the work of hackers.

“Here’s what I know. I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things, because they are completely alien to me, but I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and I have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me,” Reid said on her show “AM Joy.” “I have not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.”

The network said it stood by Reid at the time.

The Internet Archive had reported on April 24 there was no evidence to back up her claim of hacking.

“When we reviewed the archives, we found nothing to indicate tampering or hacking of the Wayback Machine versions,” the Internet Archive wrote at the time. “At least some of the examples of allegedly fraudulent posts provided to us had been archived at different dates and by different entities.”

“We let Reid’s lawyers know that the information provided was not sufficient for us to verify claims of manipulation,” it added.

Pressure mounted Friday on MSNBC to acknowledge the new blog posts, with more journalists pressing the network and Reid for comment. MSNBC did respond later in the afternoon. The network said Reid “has grown and evolved in the many year since” the blog.

Statement from MSNBC on @JoyAnnReid pic.twitter.com/kPDfrC7h6I

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 1, 2018

Again, with feeling: The reason these stories continue to be of interest is MSNBC and Joy Reid won’t address them – so we don’t know if they would attribute them to a hacker or not.

Transparency is typically a good thing in our field

— Joe Bernstein (@Bernstein) May 31, 2018

Yes. It DOES warrant a response. @JoyAnnReid and @MSNBC. ???? Waiting…. https://t.co/wQmMOv92Mr

— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) June 1, 2018

It’s pretty crazy that after multiple stories coming out on Joy Reids old blogs, and her almost certainly lying about not writing them, MSNBC still refuses to say anything publicly. https://t.co/LHlko06O1T

— Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) May 31, 2018

Why doesn’t MSNBC just say it’s going to keep Joy Reid, no matter what is discovered from her old blog? That would be OK; surely we don’t need the death penalty in every case. https://t.co/eaymoyLWbB pic.twitter.com/Ci9EQ5gg4y

— Byron York (@ByronYork) June 1, 2018

The bizarre thing about the ongoing Joy Reid saga is that almost everybody would’ve been perfectly willing to forgive her past blog transgressions and move on, until she decided to concoct the elaborate hacking tale

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 31, 2018

-Updated at 1:55 p.m.