Sarah Palin Cancels Interview With Today Show After MSNBC Host Proposes Scatological Punishment

The widening feud between Palin and NBC claims Matt Lauer as collateral damage

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Matt Smith / Express-Times / Landov

Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin signs her new book “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas” and greets customers during an appearance at Barnes and Noble on Nov. 12, 2013, in Bethlehem Township, Pa.

Sarah Palin has canceled an interview with NBC’s Today Show after a host on its sister network, MSNBC, proposed a scatological punishment for Palin in graphic detail.

The Associated Press reports that the row began with an inflammatory comment from MSNBC’s Martin Bashir. He took offense at Palin’s comparison of U.S. indebtedness to slavery and suggested that Palin deserved a stomach-turning punishment inflicted on wayward slaves, which included defecation in the mouth and urination on the face. Bashir apologized for the remark on Monday, calling it “totally unacceptable.”

Palin’s representatives demanded that NBC executives take disciplinary action against Bashir. With no action forthcoming, she cancelled an interview with the Today Show’s Matt Lauer. Lauer was scheduled to visit Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska to discuss her new book about the spirit of Christmas.

“I have learned a sober lesson in these last few days that the politics of vitriol and destruction is a miserable place to be,” Bashir said in his public apology. Readers who want to revisit that miserable place can watch video clips of the unfolding feud, below.

[AP]