Russia Today correspondent Ed Schultz is living up to his rap of being a cranky beast to reporters who approach him anywhere in the world.
Those reporters who tried to poke him at CPAC this week, you know, pepper him with questions since that is what the media does for a living, he shooed them away with gruff responses. The Mirror is told his “handler” was kind and appeared to understood his boss was being “a dick.”
But nothing was budging Schultz’s decision to give many reporters a hard pass.
“I’m not doing interviews,” the ex-MSNBCer told reporter after reporter who approached him.
In some cases, it got real personal.
When asked if she tried to speak with him at CPAC, New York Mag’s Olivia Nuzzi, who has previously been on the receiving end of Schultz’s bluster, told The Mirror, “I did not although he shot me a death glare.”
The Washington Examiner‘s media writer Eddie Scarry also tried to approach the large baboon.
But Scarry, too, got Schultz’s big, broad, cold shoulder.
“I went uptown him in the lobby and introduced myself,” Scarry told me by text. “Then asked if I could interview him, he said he wasn’t doing interviews. I said I just want to ask about CPAC, and he said “not with you. You’ve never written anything good about me.”
Scarry inquired, “What do you mean?”
Schultz said “You’re Eddie Scarry, right? With Mediaite?” Scarry said, “Not for a long time.” Schultz asked, “Where are you now?” Scarry told him The Washington Examiner. He said, “Well I’ll be on the panel. You can ask me quesitons there.”
Scarry pushed. “But you won’t talk about CPAC right now?”
Schultz shut the whole thing down fast. “No,” he replied.
WaPo media writer Erik Wemple also approached Mr. Porcupine. But he had no luck (and honestly, who can blame Schultz for not talking to whiny, wimpy Wemple?)
Wemple was seen getting blown off by Schultz.
“I’m not doing interviews,” he told Wemple, who walked away without a fight.
At least one reporter in the vicinity told The Mirror that Schultz had “bad breath.”
When asked what that smelled like, the source told me, “The kind you get from gum disease.”
Which brings us to The Daily Caller Foundation’s own Ted Goodman, who also tried to interview Schultz.
Here’s how that went down. In short: Not fruitful.
“I first saw him while in the media entrance line to get through security,” Goodman told me by email. “I yelled his name, introduced myself and said that I used to watch him on MSNBC. I said I was Ted Goodman, and also mentioned I was with The Daily Caller… I noticed he seemed to be very angry and looked like he was in a terrible mood. I did not know why at first, and found it strange.”
UH OH.
Goodman continued, “I then went to the labor policy panel, and I was impressed by what Schultz had to say (from the very start, I knew Trump’s message was going to resonate in places like MI, WI, PA) and Schultz was explaining why Trump won, and why we need to switch to bilateral trade deals.”
Goodman tried to be good-natured toward the prickly monster. “As someone who supports Trump, I was genuinely impressed by Schultz comments on the panel,” he said.
So after the panel, he went into the belly of the beast:
Ted Goodman: Hi Ed, Ted Goodman with the Daily Caller, we met out front, can I ask you a few questions for a piece I am writing?
Ed Schultz: I can’t talk to you, I can’t talk to you guys.
Ted Goodman: Why?
Ed Schultz: After some of the things you guys have wrote about me?
Ted Goodman: Really? I am not familiar, but I wanted to get some comments from you on today’s panel discussion.
Ed Schultz: I’m not talking to you.
Ted Goodman: Ed, I have never written about you, and I really found your comments insightful. I am not sure what you are referring to.
Ed Schultz: Search for some of the things you guys have written about me.
Ted Goodman: Ok, but I just wanted to get some comments from you for this.
Mr. Porcupine then walked away.
Goodman again appoached him out in the hallway where he was talking to some media. His RT “handler” was “pretty nice” and gave Goodman his card and said he would see what he could do.
Schultz apparently did speak to some reporters who were shooting video.
Let’s hope he remembered his breath mints.