MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur wondered Wednesday why Fox News’ Tucker Carlson didn’t call for Sarah Palin to be executed after she killed a defenseless caribou.

After all, Carlson had proclaimed Tuesday that NFL quarterback Michael Vick should have been given the death penalty for killing dogs.

“Now, I’m a Christian,” Carlson announced, while filling in for Fox News’ Republican commentator Sean Hannity. “I’ve made mistakes myself. I believe fervently in second chances but Michael Vick killed dogs and he did it in a heartless and cruel way and I think, personally, he should have been executed for that.”

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Carlson had become outraged because President Barack Obama praised Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie for giving Vick a second chance.

“[Obama] said, ‘So many people who serve time never get a fair second chance,'” Lurie explained, after a phone call with the president. “He said, ‘It’s never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail.’ And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.”

White House spokesman Bill Burton clarified that Obama “of course condemns the crimes that Michael Vick was convicted of, but, as he’s said previously, he does think that individuals who have paid for their crimes should have an opportunity to contribute to society again.”

“I like how [Carlson] prefaced it by saying he was Christian,” Uygur said, during the “Psycho Talk” segment of Wednesday’s The Ed Show broadcast. “Is that what Jesus would have done? I love the way that conservatives twist the Bible. If you listen to them, Jesus was a gun-toting, rich-loving Texan.”

“And if you’re executing people because they killed defenseless animals you may want to remember this,” he said, playing a video clip of Palin shooting a caribou on her TLC reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

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“Look, I know there is a difference,” Uygur admitted. “But is it really that large? Sarah Palin is folksy for killing a caribou, who was clearly trapped and defenseless, if you watch that show. And Michael Vick should be executed? I don’t think so.”

This video is from MSNBC’s The Ed Show, broadcast Dec. 29, 2010.



