Ed Schultz: Purge of Confederate Flag Is ‘Desecration’ of American History

Ed Schultz: Purge of Confederate Flag is 'Desecration' of American History (NewsBusters)

The heated debate over the Confederate battle flag has drawn a partisan but not on the side you might expect -- longtime libtalker Ed Schultz.

Before appearing in his hour-long MSNBC show on weekday afternoons, Schultz posts a podcast on his website, as he's done since ending his radio show in the spring of 2014. It was during Thursday's podcast that Schultz provided surprising commentary about efforts to eradicate symbols of the Confederacy following the massacre of nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., by a white supremacist.

Schultz preceded his remarks with a clip from Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on his decision to remove Confederate flags from a Civil War memorial site at the state capitol, a move Schultz dismissed as "self-serving." That was the first sign Schultz is not marching in lockstep with other liberals on this.