When it was first announced that S.E. Cupp would co-host a new show called ‘The Cycle,’ I worried that the MSNBC culture might eventually take its toll.
As I wrote,
The trouble, of course, is that Cupp has been paired with (against?) three liberals on an overtly liberal network. It’s hard enough to do that for a few minutes a few times a week as a guest. Just imagine doing it for an hour day as a co-host. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong. Do you go along to get along and be co-opted?…
In the last couple of weeks, Cupp has been quoted in the New York Times urging conservatives to “call out Rush Limbaugh” — and has announced on MSNBC that she would pull out of a CPAC appearance (until the conference embraces gay groups).
In fairness, the CPAC news wasn’t terribly surprising. Back in 2010, for example, she told me: “Conservatism and gay rights are actually natural allies.”
On the other hand, some observers wonder why she is just now getting around to boycotting CPAC over this issue:
So, um, GOProud wasn’t a sponsor of CPAC last year and @secupp was there (w/ entourage).This year, she works for MSNBC and isn’t going.
— Dan Isett (@DanIsett) February 26, 2013
The comments on Breitbart.com went like this:
Exit question: If she worked full-time at a conservative outlet (TV or whatever), would she make the same decisions?
*** UPDATE: S.E. Cupp emails: “I am a full time employee at Glenn [Beck’s] Mercury Radio Arts. So I think your exit question has been answered, yes?”