As soon as Yahoo’s Bianna Golodryga said she didn’t want to “turn political,” you knew that was precisely what she was about to do. But when Golodryga proceeded to criticize the Texas open-carry law this morning, you might be surprised that it was Meredith Vieira who—excuse the expression—shot her down.
Vieira was a guest on Morning Joe to discuss a documentary, for which she served as executive producer, about the University of Texas Tower shootings in 1966, in which Charles Whitman shot 49 people, killing 16. The gun-control shoe was bound to drop, and after her “not to turn political,” Golodryga launched into a criticism of the new Texas open-carry law, fretting that it could prevent UT from attracting “students and the top talent in teaching for fear of this law.”
Retorted Vieira: “It’s interesting. On that day, the students were allowed to carry on campus and the police relied on them. One of the police — they didn’t have SWAT teams back then and they didn’t have the equipment either to get to somebody who was up in the tower. So they were asking students: does anybody have a shotgun? The police themselves didn’t have shotguns. And the students helped them.”
There was no retort from Golodryga, whose alma mater happens to be UT Austin.
As my former colleagues at the Media Research Center have documented, Vieira has a liberal record on a number of issues. But despite her political leanings, I have found her to be fair and refreshing.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Not to turn political, but now with the new open carry law in Texas, it became a big issue on campus. Many professors and students were against it, they had the school board against it in fear that they wouldn’t be attracting the students and the top talent in teaching for fear of this law. And one of the reasons there’s this fear, obviously, is this haunting memory.MEREDITH VIEIRA: It’s interesting. On that day, the students were allowed to carry on campus and the police relied on them. One of the police — they didn’t have SWAT teams back then and they didn’t have the equipment either to get to somebody who was up in the tower. So they were asking students: does anybody have a shotgun? The police themselves didn’t have shotguns. And the students helped them.
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