Who Will NBC Be Rooting For Tonight?

Let’s see if the NBC/MSNBC relationship is leveraged to get Al Sharpton to ask for calm at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting tonight.

— Lisa B. (@politeracy) December 3, 2014

With leftwing New York rioters in full “I hope they set that Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree on fire” mode tonight as a result of the shameful death of Eric Garner during a chokehold by Staten Island cops while being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes(!), will MSNBC egg on Ferguson-style riots on their own home turf? Or will NBC call for additional security, since Tony Bennett and Lada Gaga (there’s quite a musical duo) are scheduled to be on hand for the ceremony? Will the phrase “lighting ceremony” take on new meaning — or perhaps the meaning it once had? And if so, will Chris Matthews say that the result reminds him of “hoodlums in the ’30s in another country I will not mention?”

In case you’re wondering, Mayor De Blasio was planning to be on hand as well, but “unexpectedly” bailed out at the last minute, lest he get too close to tonight’s potential radical chic mayhem. After all, “It’s a tricky thing, balancing out social justice with a functional city/not alienating law enforcement too much.”

Update: Whatever Sharpton says about Garner’s death and the circumstances leading to it should make for fascinating viewing.