'Morning Meeting' Host Dylan Ratigan Apologizes for Being Rude

As Congress winds up deliberation on government health care reform, the issue is getting other people wound up as well -- on the air.

According to the Associated Press, MSNBC's 'Morning Meeting' host Dylan Ratigan has issued an apology for a live confrontation with congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida who appeared on the show last Friday to discuss the health care reform bill with Ratigan.As Congress winds up deliberation on government health care reform, the issue is getting other people wound up as well -- on the air. According to the Associated Press, MSNBC's 'Morning Meeting' host Dylan Ratigan has issued an apology for a live confrontation with congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida who appeared on the show last Friday to discuss the health care reform bill with Ratigan.

The conversation became heated when Ratigan pressed Schultz to explain why presumed passage of the bill was spurring insurance stocks to rise in value when logic would seem to dictate the opposite; when she demurred, stating that "I am not a stock analyst," Ratigan castigated her for "not answering my question," adding "I do not have time for you to come do talking points because it makes you feel good."



After a few days of reflection, however, Ratigan appears to have softened his stance, yesterday issuing an on-air apology for being, as one viewer whom he quoted put it, "very rude."

"Our mission and my mission on this show is to shine the light on what is really happening, whether it's health care, the banks, or a war in the Mideast," he said. "And the way I went about that on Friday was a disservice to our viewers because it got in the way of doing just that."

Prior to joining MSNBC earlier this year, Ratigan was the longtime host of CNBC's popular financial advice series 'Fast Money,' abruptly leaving in March in order to "pause and evaluate all my options," as he told The New York Times. Duplicating the success of 'Fast Money,' however, has proven difficult; MSNBC announced earlier last week that 'Morning Meeting' will be cut in half, from two hours down to one, and moved to a mid-afternoon time slot, which would also seem to necessitate a name change for the series as well.

Whether or not this latest cable talk show controversy will negatively -- or positively -- impact ratings has yet to be seen, but while many viewers are turned off by this type of confrontational style, those who agree with the polemics may be more likely to watch the show in the future. In that sense, Ratigan's outrage and subsequent apology, however genuine, may turn out to be a shrewd business move for a man who has made his living playing the ups and downs of the market.