Will Rosie Peddle 9/11 Nonsense on MSNBC?

How desperate is MSNBC for another Keith Olbermann-sized hit? Desperate enough, apparently, to give over a big chunk of primetime to someone who honestly thinks the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks. That would be Rosie O'Donnell.

I'm all for representing a diversity of views on TV, but there's opinionated and then there's ignorant. Like Creationists and Holocaust deniers, "Truthers," as 9/11 conspiracy types prefer to be known, are by definition people who can't be persuaded by evidence, such as Popular Mechanics's definitive guide to the physics of the Towers' collapse. And what's the point of holding a public debate if one party can't be persuaded?

I know one person who probably agrees with me on this: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. Back in March, when O'Donnell first started regurgitating her Loose Change-derived nonsense on the air, Scarborough chided Barbara Walters for giving her a platform:

I am very discouraged that ABC and Barbara Walters would continue to allow Rosie O'Donnell to use their air time to continue spewing this type of hatred..... [T]he real tragedy here is that Barbara Walters, a woman who's been a real pioneer in journalism, the reason why so many people decided to become journalists is sitting there allowing this to happen on her show for ratings. It's, it is a sad, sad demise for a once great journalistic figure.

Ironically, the talks between O'Donnell and MSNBC now center on her taking over the 9 p.m. hour -- Scarborough's old slot. I've left him a few messages to see how he feels about that; no word back yet.

Will MSNBC allow O'Donnell to use her show as a venue for baseless, inflammatory and noxious theories that don't stand up to logic, much less evidence? Or will it try to muzzle her? And will other hosts on the network be allowed to critique the famously thin-skinned comedian on their own programs?

If this deal happens, I predict O'Donnell's tenure on MSNBC will be even shorter than her stint on The View.

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Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images

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