White Guy From Mid-Michigan Declares Jackson And Sharpton Spokesmen For Black People … So Stupid

I am always amazed how conservative white guys jump up and declare Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton spokesmen for the so-called black community. It is so ignorant to suggest that black people need one or two spokespeople to speak on their behalf as if they’re too stupid to speak on their own. Where are the leaders for the white community, the Latino community, the Asian American community or the Native American community? And, if they are out there, why are they not being set up to be attacked as Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are being put into position to be attacked?

This is from a Midland, Mich. writer named Chris Stevens, who states in a blog titled “Anything goes: Instead of Limbaugh, let’s say ‘no’ to Jackson and Sharpton”:

So Rush Limbaugh’s bid to be one of the buyers of the St. Louis Rams is being opposed by, among others, the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Why doesn’t that surprise me?

Sharpton and Jackson have as much politically in common with Limbaugh as the Detroit Lions have with Super Bowl championships.

Zilch.

That’s not the whole story, of course. If Sharpton and Jackson are involved in something nationally, typically race is involved.

That’s their shtick. They are, and have been, the designated spokespeople for the black race. And that’s quite puzzling.

He stats that if Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are involved then race is probably an issue. But, who is asking the questions? Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton don’t run CNN and MSNBC and they sure as hell don’t run the far-right Fox News. They don’t run NBC, CBS, ABC, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, etc.

So, a conservative white guy declares that Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are spokesmen for the so-called black community. Now, this is done because conservatives in the media have worked for decades to demonize Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton as a means of knocking down and keeping down what they call “the black community.” They declare Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton the so-called leaders of “the black community” or the so-called spokesmen for “the black community” and then turn around and attack the two. Is this a disguised attack on blacks as a people?

Is Rush Limbaugh the spokesman for the white community? He is for a large number of far-right conservatives.

So, this writer ends by stating:

Sharpton and Jackson have had their time in the limelight.

It’s time for them to go away.

He seems to have left Limbaugh’s name out of that statement. Should be surprised? Of course we should not be surprised.

Don’t for one minute believe conservatives like Chris Stevens want men like Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton to go away. I agree that the media should allow other strong and young black voices (alternative voices) a platform in the media, but that is not the interest of conservatives like Chris Stevens.

It’s a disguised and passive-aggressive way of attacking black people.

WTF … Perino: “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term”

Dana Perino clearly has spent way too much time in the Bush Administration and speaking out on Fox News. You expect people to be mostly bigoted and generally dumbed down on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, but this is ridiculous (even by Hannity standards). Perino, a former spokesperson in the most recent Bush Administration appeared to have momentarily lost her mind when she uttered the following stunning words during an exchange on Hannity’s show:

PERINO: And we had a terrorist attack on our country. And we should call it what it is. Because we need to face up to it so that we can prevent it from happening again.

HANNITY: I agree with you. And why won’t they say what you just so simply said?

PERINO: They want to do all of their investigations. I don’t know. All of the thinking that goes into it. But we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think we ought it to the American people to call it what it is.

WTF?

I am pretty sure her boss George W. Bush was president on Sept. 11, 2001 during the worst-ever terrorist attack on U.S. soil. As the Think Progress article points out, Bush Administration people have been fond of citing how it supposedly has kept America safe from terrorist attacks during the last seven years (of its administration) by conveniently starting history after Sept. 11, 2001. Also, the Think Progress article points out the Anthrax scare/attacks (which I had forgotten about). if Fort Hood was a terrorist attack then were the Anthrax attacks terrorist attacks? This is a combination of partisanship and the stupidity of labels.

All are terrible tragedies and people need to stop exploiting them for political gain.

Back to Perino … I hope Dana will at least clarify her remarks. Say it isn’t so, Perino!

It’s becoming hard to believe President Obama’s administration is offering her a job.

Hmm… maybe she is talking about President George H.W. Bush.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/25/perino-terror-attack-bush/

UPDATE: Someone mentioned the D.C. sniper killings. Was that terrorism?

Bill Moyers, 75, Retires; Arrogant Bill O’Reilly Takes Credit For Helping Drive Him Out

It’s a wonder Bill O’Reilly doesn’t talk about himself in the third person.

The depth and breadth of Bill O’Reilly’s arrogance seemingly knows no bounds. Recently, the right-wing Fox News commentator again granted himself permission (still suffering from his God complex) to take credit for something that he simply deserves no credit for in any way, shape or form. But, the reason that Bill O’Reilly is taking credit for the announced retirement of PBS legend Bill Moyers is precisely what makes him little more than a zit on the face of journalism. O’Reilly has had a vendetta against Moyers and, as he is apt to do, has sent his producers at different times to try and ambush Moyers simply because Big Bill disagrees with the accomplished host on some issues and sees him as a liberal.

For O’Reilly, these (meager as can be) are sufficient grounds to send low-life stalker “producers” after people.

From Think Progress:

Last night on his Fox News show, Bill O’Reilly used the news to attack Moyers and his journalistic ethics. He also claimed that his producer, Jesse Watters, was solely responsible for Moyers resigning. “Now I think we — Jesse Watters drove him out of PBS,” said O’Reilly. “I think Jesse Watters is responsible for Bill Moyers leaving.”

Ah yes, in the head of Bill O’Reilly, the fifth-rate Jesse Watters (the tough guy “producer” who stalked and intimidated a female reporter from Think Progress, Amanda Terkel, who wrote this recent article) gets credit for attacking a legend like Bill Moyers.

One more excerpt from Think Progress:

In 2007, Watters ambushed Moyers on the street outside his home. O’Reilly had Watters harass Moyers after the PBS journalist ran a program about impeaching President Bush. O’Reilly claimed that Moyers symbolized “Americans who want their country to lose in Iraq, based upon hatred of all things Bush,” which he determined was a good reason to send his henchman to Moyers’ house. According to O’Reilly, this one interview was what drove Moyers out of his job two years later.

This just shows how arrogant Bill O’Reilly is to think that an ambush “interview” from a couple of years back drove Bill Moyers completely out of the business.

Talk about a delayed reaction, but in the world of Bill O’Reilly it is so.

Terkel, in her article, does highlight one of my favorite video clips of all time: Fox News “reporter” Porter Berry’s pitiful attempt to ambush Moyers.

Berry is at least 0-2 because he also was schooled by Fr. Michael Pfleger in another of my favorite videos.

Just to show you how angry O’Reilly is at Moyers, his attack continued as he hosted another right-wing talker, Bernie Goldberg.

GOLDBERG: Avuncular, right. But you know what? I knew Bill Moyers at CBS. I worked with him. He’s a very serious guy. And in that sense I give him — I give him credit. When a lot of people were going for fluff, Bill Moyers wanted to do serious journalism.

Some place along the line, Bill, he stopped being a journalist, and he started of being an advocate. He stopped being a journalist, and he started being an evangelist. And the religion he was preaching for was liberalism.

O’REILLY: Far left.

GOLDBERG: Far left. And when you’re — when you’re that kind of person, there are no shades of gray.

O’REILLY: Now I think we — Jesse Watters drove him out of PBS. I think Jesse Watters is responsible for Bill Moyers leaving. Now Bill Moyers is hammering Bush and Cheney, wanted them impeached, this and that, and you know, taking shots at The Factor. So we sent Jesse out to talk with him. Roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, FACTOR PRODUCER: Mr. Moyers, what do you think about that? I mean, come on, do you think…

BILL MOYERS, PBS: Come on my show. I’ll ask you. Bill won’t do it. He doesn’t have the courage. But I’ll ask you.

WATTERS: Bill would have been here today but he’ interviewing Lindsay Lohan.

MOYERS: Oh, of course. Bill’s got his priorities in line.

WATTERS: That’s right. He would have loved to be here, but he can’t make it tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.

GOLDBERG: I’m amazed he knew who Lindsay Lohan was.

O’REILLY: Look, and that was a joke, by the way. There was no Lindsay Lohan interview.

Ha, ha … oh that is so funny.

Once again, O’Reilly uses his platform to attack someone with which he has disagreement. This time (but not the first time) it’s Bill Moyers.

Religion, liberalism … these guys are nuts.

Bill O’Reilly never had the journalistic integrity of Bill Moyers.

Unlike Moyers, O’Reilly gets on television almost every night and lies about being fair.

Here Is Another Voice On Glenn Beck Insulting The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech

This is from the Glenn Beck Sucks Blog in reference to Glenn Beck’s effort to disrespect Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here is an excerpt from the blog:

And one last thing, Beck thinks he is the white Martin Luther King. At the rally and in a letter on his website, Beck said he plans to organize a series of conventions in seven regions of the country, where his supporters can go to learn about self-reliance, community organizing, the economy and how to be a political force in your own neighborhood and country. The conventions will lead to a new book by Beck called “The Plan” and he will have a march on Washington to promote it:

BECK: All of the above will culminate in “The Plan” a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of “The Plan” and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.Notice the date of Beck’s rally, it’s the same day as the anniversary of the I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let me give you Glenn Beck lovers a reality check. Glenn Beck is doing all this insanity to get rich, it’s all about money. Everything he does is to make him more money from his book sales, his radio show, and his tv show. He is a fraud and a con man, and a crazy one at that. And anyone who listens to one word he says it a lunatic who needs mental help.

Check out the Glenn Beck Sucks Blog to keep up with all of the craziness that Beck displays on a daily basis.

Sadly, this goes beyond humourous stuff. This is a direct insult by Glenn Beck of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

That is unforgiveable.

Glenn Beck To Hold March In Washington On Anniversary Of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Historic ‘I Have A Dream Speech’

On Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a historic and important address that we have since come to know as the “I Have a Dream” speech. During that speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King called for the people and the government to bring racial equality to reality and to end discrimination in the United States of America. To commemorate Dr. King’s important, sensational and inclusive speech, the divisive and hostile opportunist, right-wing nut Glenn Beck, plans to exploit the great things that Dr. King fought for to advance his bigoted points of view and make a few bucks selling books.

Here is the entire text from the “I Have a Dream” speech (I put it all here because people need to see the entire speech and not just the selected excerpts):

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

So now we go from the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest men who ever lived, to someone like Glenn Beck who is set to spit in the faces of black people by holding his rally on the anniversary of “I Have a Dream” and in Washington D.C.

Here is a Facebook comment from CNN contributor Roland Martin, ”Guys like Beck HATE that speech. It was about demanding the govt. do what it’s supposed to do. This is an attempt to rebuke MLK’s vision.”

Roland is correct. Men like Beck selectively quote Dr. King by taking out of context bits and pieces of his speeches to slap down people of color. A lot of people have been conditioned to like Dr. King. Many of these people who have been conditioned to like (or grudgingly accept) Dr. King would be badmouthing him if he were alive today.

From the disgraceful Glenn Beck’s Web site:

- I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

- All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

- On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

This is an intentional insult to Dr. King and to black people. It is not an accident that Beck has chosen this date. Gleefully, Beck is exploiting the great deeds of Dr. King to insult black Americans, disrespect Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to make money selling a book.

From the Daily Kos:

When Glenn Beck called for his national rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010, he twisted the memory of the day for a country that has evolved from slavery to elect it’s first black president. MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there 46 years ago. President Obama accepted the Democratic nomination last year. Tsk, tsk, ego issues, Glenn?

This is no accident and it speaks lowly of a man with a dark heart and a mean streak when it comes to minorities who don’t fit his vision of what people of color should be like in the United States of America.

This is a jab back and black people.

This is disgusting by Glenn Beck’s standards (and that is saying a lot).

Crazy Like A Foxx … Virginia Foxx Again Makes A Foolish And Insulting Statement

Leave it to Norh Carolina Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx to make yet another foolish and insulting statement in what almost is becoming old hat for her. In a debate about a project that mostly was unrelated, Foxx used the opportunity (and the platform it provided) to attack Democrats and prop up Republicans using the Civil Rights Movement as her weapon of choice. Foxx claimed,  “Just as we were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the ’60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle. They love to engage in revisionist history.” But, as she yielded her time, Congressman Dennis Cardoza, a Democrat from California, rose and issued a strong response against Rep. Foxx.

CARDOZA: Today, what I’m hearing on the floor really takes the cake. The gentlelady from North Carolina, in her statement just now, indicated that the Republican GOP had passed the Civil Rights Act legislation with almost no help from the Democrats. I can’t believe my ears. It was the Kennedy and Johnson administration where we passed that Great Society legislation. It was over the objections of people like Jesse Helms from the gentlewoman’s state that we passed that civil rights legislation. John Lewis…

FOXX: Would, would the gentleman yield?

CARDOZA: No, I will not yield. John Lewis, a member of this House, was beaten on the Edmund Pettus bridge to get that civil rights legislation passed. Tell John Lewis that he wasn’t part of getting that legislation passed.

Helms was a United States senator from 1973 through 2003. While he was not around in the 1960s, Helms was clearly no friends to blacks or to those who fought, bled and died during the Civil Rights Movement.

Foxx rises later and says that Helms was not elected until 1972 and “was not in the Congress when the Civil Rights legislation was passed in the 60s.”

She is technically correct, but her victory is a weak one. It’s kind of like being proud of outrebounding your opponent, in basketball, by five when you lost the game by 25 points.

Helms blasted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (source: Wikipedia):

Helms opposed many progressive policies regarding race, such as busing, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.^{[257][258][259]} Helms called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ‘the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress’,^[12] and sponsored legislation to either extend it to the entire country or scrap it altogether.^[173] Helms reminded voters that he tried, with a 16-day filibuster, to stop the Senate from approving a federal holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,^[21] although he had fewer reservations about establishing a North Carolina state holiday for King.^[260] He has been accused of being a segregationist by liberals and political scholars including USA Today‘s DeWayne Wickham who wrote that Helms ‘subtly carried the torch of white supremacy‘ from Ben Tillman.^{[261][262][263][264]}

In 1996 the Department of Justice admonished Helms’s 1990 campaign for mailing 125,000 postcards to households in predominantly African-American precincts warning them (incorrectly) that they could go to jail if they had not updated their addresses on the electoral register since moving.^[265] Helms opposed ‘every piece of civil rights and affirmative action legislation’ and blocked ‘Black judges from being considered for the federal bench’.^[260] In 1982, he voted against the extension of the Voting Rights Act.^[260] Helms opposed busing, supported the ‘racist apartheid regime of South Africa’, and ‘for years blocked attempts by President Bill Clinton to appoint a Black judge on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’.^[260] Only when Helms’s own judicial choices were threatened with blocking did attorney Roger Gregory of Richmond, Virginia get confirmed.^[260] Helms tried to block the nomination of Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American female senator, as ambassador to New Zealand.^[260]

Her defense of Jesse Helms is more pathetic than the original point that put her in the hole in the first place.

Fox Nation Readers Viciously Attack Stevie Wonder Using Race, Joke About His Blindness

The great Americans who post comments on Fox Nation’s Web site, the blogging cesspool that is a product of the Fox News empire, have a new target: entertainer Stevie Wonder.

Here is what is written to get things started:

Grammy award-winning musician Stevie Wonder said President Barack Obama’s popularity has been decreasing because “people are afraid of change.” Regarding health care reform, Wonder said people are “bickering over something that we should have had a long time ago.”
 
“I think as far as his [Obama's] popularity decreasing, I think it’s because people are so used to, they’re so afraid of change and I think you have politics playing too much a role in what should be a natural, given that health care in this country needs to be improved and that’s just a reality,” Wonder told CNSNews.com in an exclusive interview before his performance at a benefit concert for the Maya Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group that raises money for special education programs in private schools

Now, let us take a look at some sample comments from some of the readers:

Obama Approval Down ‘Cause People “Afraid Of Change”
Is he blind or something? He sure can’t seem to see the damn truth. If he could see whats happening around him he’d have a different view about how things are.

Here’s another:

Stevie should just stick too singing, otherwise shut up.
All ya gotta do is open your eyes and look around at what’s happening.

More classy words from Fox Nation:

Another black entertainer/sports star that doesn’t know what he’s talking about and should keep his mouth shut.

There’s more:

Stevie, I love your music, so, shut up and sing.

Lets keep it going:

I AM NOT stevie………………….I heard your music and Smokey Robinson and Ray Charles and the Commadors and on and on and on.
I was NEVER afraid of change. WE faught for the right to have change when we defeated Germany and Japan and Korea and so on…………….I have NEVER been afraid of change.
Change is ALL around us….around us ALL!
Maybe stevie it’s because you have NEVER seen our FLAG wave in the wind….sung God Bless America or shed tears when a Flag covered coffin passes
by.
ONE thing we the people are NOT afraid of is change………………………………………
BUT
when we are given the choice to be SOLD out vs being PROUD…GIVE me the PRIDE in country over the offering of our gov now.
YES……………stevie…..we can HAVE change…….even in music…….or do YOU NOT remember that hit YOU had that ALL of us loved.
BUT……………………..this change is UN FIT for human consumption!
NOT even good music can MAKE us hum along!
I ……………… WISH…………………you could see what I wrote about above…but until that changes for you………give me WAHT I know and WHAT I LOVE!

And the last few:

Since Stevey wonder is blind, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s only physically blinded, not ideologically blinded, as is all the Obama-ites are..

Poor Stevie blind as a bat in all ways.

Too bad Stevie can’t see what Obama is doing to this counttry…

Well, by now you get the picture.

You can see how viciously these good Americans who love Fox News attack a blind man.

Being A Black Conservative Is OK, But Being Pimped By Glenn Beck Is Foul

First and foremost, I have no problem with black people or anyone else who is a conservative on the political landscape.

But, when I saw a group of blacks taking part in a sort of black conservative summit on Fox News, I nearly threw up. I nearly vomited as I saw that Fox news right-wing nut Glenn Beck was leading this little forum. Frankly, I think it’s cool that black conservatives should have a forum and not be silenced due to intimidation. Sometimes unfairly (though not always), blacks who are conservatives are branded as sellouts by the majority of blacks who tend to support left-wing politics.

But, in all honesty, watching Glenn Beck lead this discussion involving black conservative turns my stomach. These black conservatives were used as props by Glenn Beck (even though I do think black conservatives should be heard from a lot more).

Seriously, can someone tell me where Kanye West was and why he did not emerge from the crowd or from back stage to grab someone’s microphone and bring this televised sham to a screeching halt?

It would have been perfect Kanye to interrupt.

I’ve heard some people refer to this as a town hall meeting and I’ve heard others refer to it as a plantation gathering.

One of the biggest problems I have with these black conservatives is they are legitimizing Glenn Beck and his divisive rhetoric. Obviously, not all black men and women have to support President Obama anymore than all white people had to support President Bush or President Clinton. But, to take a forum like this, on a network as divisive (especially racially) as Fox News is a slap in the face to a lot of black people who are sick of the racial politics being played by Republicans.

It’s a shame these black Republicans will not speak out – AND STRONGLY – against the hateful and racist images we’ve seen at these tea party protests. By not speaking out, black conservatives are essentially endorsing the racist and hateful images we’ve seen directed at President Obama. You don’t have to support President Obama, politically, to say “no” to racism at these tea parties and the racial politics being used against black people by even conservative Republican politicians.

I could certainly feel a lot more respect for black conservatives if they stood up against the racism, homophobia and more coming from the far right and the racial politics being played by a good number of Republicans.

Dislike President Obama all you want, but I call on black conservatives to come out and strongly denounce the hate coming from the far right.

The problem is black conservatives run away from race (practically yelling and screaming).

Many are in the racial denial stage.

The unwillingness of conservative blacks to confront such issues does little to solve so much of what continues to divide us.

I will leave you with this from the great blog The Field Negro who named the blacks who were in the audience and a part of the panel as “House Negroes Of The Day” on his blog site. Here is an excerpt from a blog entry by FN:

Still, I am glad for you folks and the fact that you got your shine on. Just be careful where that shine is coming from. (I once represented a guy who was on an episode of Cops. I am just sayin.) If you think Glen Beck is really your friend and that he really has your best interest at heart, go on and represent on his show. It might make you famous. Hell, you might even get a gig on Radio Rwanda. If, on the other hand, you are just trying to get your shine on, there has to be a better way. You don’t want to be just props to further someone’s agenda. Where did I hear that before? Oh yeah, I think it was “Gump” over at Crooks & Liars. Gump doesn’t sound so scared to me.

“Let’s bring in a bunch of blackies as props to further an agenda. It really doesn’t get much more racist than this segment. What’s even worse is these people willing to sell out their culture for conservatism. They know history and the truth when it comes to conservatives. I wonder how much cash Murdoch gave these people to stage this disgusting display.
This would be like me appearing in a segment about the mafia supporting conservatism because my ancestry goes back to Sicily. Fucking pathetic.”

Stop it Gump, those are my cousins you are talking about. You pick on one of us, you will have to pick on us all. They were not “props”, they did it for their people. They did it for America.

It’s too bad someone else could not have hosted such a forum. It could have been far more meaningful.

Tea Baggers Want to Send Home European Immigrants?

The speaker is Robert Erickson, and he had some interesting things to say about illegal immigration, but I don’t think people got what he was saying until it was too late and by then they had already been apparently suckered.

A Disgusting Cheap Shot From Washington Times Editor Emeritus That Targets President Barack Obama’s Mother

The far-right rag, the Washington Times, has a column written by Wesley Pruden that takes a hard and disgusting shot at the mother of President Obama. It’s more evidence of the lengths to which these right wingers will go to attack President Obama in any way they can imagine. It’s no surprise that this kind of trash would be published in a toilet-like publication like the Washington Times, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be called out. There are far too many people who would read the Washington Times and not be able to filter out the extreme prejudice in its messages.

Here is how Pruden starts his column in the Washington Times:

A little traveling, like a little learning, can be a dangerous thing. Barack Obama on the loose in a foreign land is enough to frighten protocol officers and embarrass the rest of us.

Here is an excerpt of what Pruden wrote as captured by Media Matters for America:

So far it’s a memorable trip. He established a new precedent for how American presidents should pay obeisance to kings, emperors, monarchs, sovereigns and assorted other authentic man-made masters of the universe. He stopped just this side of the full grovel to the emperor of Japan, risking a painful genuflection if his forehead had hit the floor with a nasty bump, which it almost did. No president before him so abused custom, traditions, protocol (and the country he represents). Several Internet sites published a rogue’s gallery showing how other national leaders – the prime ministers of Israel, India, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia and Dick Cheney among them – have greeted Emperor Akihito with a friendly handshake and an ever-so-slight but respectful nod (and sometimes not even that).

Now we know why Mr. Obama stunned everyone with an earlier similar bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, only the bow to the Japanese emperor was far more flamboyant, a sign of a really deep sense of inferiority. He was only practicing his bow in Riyadh. Sometimes rituals are learned with difficulty. It took Bill Clinton months to learn how to return a military salute worthy of a commander-in-chief; like any draft dodger, he kept poking a thumb in his eye until he finally got it. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, seems right at home now giving a wow of a bow. This is not the way an American president impresses evildoers that he’s strong, tough and decisive, that America is not to be trifled with.

[...]

But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy ’60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to “hope” for “change.” It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

That is just disgusting and shows the hatred that exists in the heart of this man, Wesley Pruden.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200911160068

Washington Times:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/17/pruden-obama-bows-the-nation-cringes/?feat=home_headlines

Fox News Right-Wing Extremist Charles Krauthammer Again Attacks President Obama

I realize that Fox News protocol is pretty much to attack and advance half-truths and falsehoods against President Obama at any and every turn.

This video of Charles Krauthammer, a right-winger zealot disguised as some kind of a political analyst for the network conservatives trust, shows this man’s hatred for the president. This guy, Krauthammer, talks about narcissism (an all too familiar theme for him) with regard to President Obama, but that is code for the president being a little too “uppity” and not knowing his place. He clearly sees President Obama as overstepping his bounds. Considering the way that Krauthammer attacks the president, it seems more than fair to wonder if this is merely politically motivated or if perhaps there is something a little more sinister at play.

Obviously, the Fox News talking point is to try and portray President Obama as being a weak man (hence it’s tired emphasis on the fact that he is greeting fellow world leaders in customary forms). To Fox News, the bow is a sign of weakness (as long as it comes from a Democrat president and especially if it comes from President Barack Obama). To normal human beings, it is a sign of respect for the customs of a culture.

Listen closely in this video. Is Krauthammer now advancing preposterous birther conspiracies with this line of talking:

KRAUTHAMMER: “… Presumably he grew up in and spent some of his childhood in Hawaii and in Indonesia.”

Then, Krauthammer goes on to bash the president for apparently saying he is “the first Pacific president.” Lets see, Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia, but apparently that doesn’t count to Charles Krauthammer. This point clearly pisses off the sensitive Krauthammer who goes on to talk about world leaders in one way or another were in the pacific during war-time or were involved in the building of the Panama Canal, etc. He mentions Roosevelt, Taft, Bush and Kennedy.

At one point, in childish fashion, Krauthammer mocks the fact that President Obama had ice cream in Japan with his mother. 

Is Krauthammer really that stupid? Is he really that much of a far-right nut? President Obama was likely speaking about being born in Hawaii, in the Pacific, and was perhaps trying to inspire others. Instead, the far-right Krauthammer tries to paint President Obama as slighting these other men. That is just flat-out insane, but it is very Charles Krauthammer.

Then the nutty Krauthammer (with no resistance from the host or fellow panelists) refers to him as “baby Jesus” too in a joking fashion (you could hear laughter among panelists). Yet, more childish antics from a grown man Charles Krauthammer is, presumably. It just shows the hatred that Krauthammer has for our leader of the United States of America and the Commander-in-Chief.

Were George W. Bush still president such talk might be considered anti-American.

Conservatives Like Bill O’Reilly Want Fort Hood To Be Called Terrorist Act To Attack Obama, Muslims

The O’Reilly Sucks Blog generally does an interesting job of analyzing some of the garbage that Bill O’Reilly serves up on his Fox News right-wing show, The O’Reilly Factor. Lately, O’Reilly has been on a mission to have the tragic massacre that went down at Fort Hood a terrorist attack. This is being done for two primary reasons: 1. There is increasing hatred toward Muslims in this nation. 2. If he can call it a terrorist attack then he can later use it to attack President Obama. Frankly, I could really care less what it is called. Whether it’s a massacre or it’s called a terrorist attack means little to the victims and their families right now. Those who want to force a label on it, and particularly those who are trying to have it called a terrorist attack, are trying to exploit this horrific crime to score political points against President Obama.

Consider this lengthy passage from The O’Reilly Sucks Blog:

The TPM was called Military Controversy. The Army denies they were given information about Hasan talking to Al Qaeda. Billy said they must do an investigation. Then he declared once again that the Fort Hood shooting was terrorism, who decided it, he did. Hey Billy, what happened to we report you decide. What’s really sad is O’Reilly played a clip of a couple Fox News analysts saying Obama gave a good speech at the memorial, and that it proves they are not biased against Obama. What a fricking joke, that does not cancel out the other 99% of the time Fox attacks Obama.

Then Dick Morris was on to discuss it. The crazy Dick Morris claims that the Fort Hood shooting was a terrorist attack, and that it happened under Obama so he is done. What a massive idiot he is, it was one man, in the military. It was not a terrorist attack, and anyone who says it is needs to be locked up in a padded room. A terrorist attack is on civilians, this was a man in the military attacking other people in the military. It’s insane to call it a terrorist attack, the man was in the U.S. military for Gods sake.

These right-wing fools like Dick Morris are actually blaming Obama, Morris said Obama allowed it to happen because he is soft on terror. When this guy Hasan joined the military when Bush was the President, and the military is supposed to police their own people, the President has nothing to do with who the military sign up. Obama has nothing to do with it, yet here you have Dick Morris saying it’s Obama’s fault. This is insanity, and O’Reilly let that fool sit there and blame it on Obama. They should call him Dick (Beck) Morris, it was just ridiculous. The people to blame are in the military and the FBI, they let this guy Hasan go on about his business when they knew he could be trouble, so they are to blame not Obama.

Then O’Reilly had Sally Quinn on to discuss the Fort Hood shooting even more. O’Reilly spent the entire segment trying to force her to call it a terrorist act. She would not do it, and said it was complicated. Then at the very end of the segment Billy finally got her to say it was a terrorist act. But she said it in a sarcastic way, just to make O’Reilly happy, she was not being serious, and she was laughing as she said it. Then in the next segment with Ralph Nader O’Reilly said he got Sally quinn to admit it was a terrorist act, and he was serious, when she only admittted it in a sarcastic way, and she was not being serious. She said we should wait until the military and the FBI decide he is a terrorist, Billy said we already know he is, and 90% of the people watching him do too.

Billy had Ralph Nader on to discuss politics and terrorism. Billy asked Nader about the Fort Hood shooting, he wanted to know if Nader would call it terrorism. Nader said he will not call it a terrorist act, he called it a massacre, and said he will let the military decide what it is. O’Reilly is calling it a terrorist attack. Then Nader told O’Reilly he was not invited on to talk about terrorism, he was invited on to talk about his new book. So Billy tried to do a bait and switch on Nader and he would not fall for it. Then O’Reilly asked him again about the Fort Hood shooting, and Nader said he will only call it a massacre.

O’Reilly would not let it go, and kept talking about the Fort Hood shooting, even though Nader said he was not invited on to talk about it. Billy said Nader was dodging the issue, then repeated that statement 2 or 3 times trying to force Nader to answer him, and Nader got a little mad. Then he brought up how O’Reilly was wrong about Iraq, and that led to thousands of innocent people getting killed, so Billy admitted he was wrong and changed the subject real fast, then he told Nader to go ahead and talk about his book. Stupid O’Reilly tried to pull a bait and switch on Nader and he would not bite, haha, good for you Ralph. More guests should do what he did when O’Jackass pulls his bait and switch tricks.

This is an attempt by O’Reilly and his fellow conservatives to begin to build their case for attack President Obama by exploiting this tragedy at Fort Hood. It is deplorable for these conservatives to use this horrible crime for their own partisan purposes.

Rep. Steve King Smears President Obama, Bashes Great City Of Chicago

Rep. Steve King, who is one of the darlings of the far right who hails from the state of Iowa, is on the attack again using all of the old and tired clichés about President Obama, Chicago, the Chicago Machine, gangsters, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers … yadda, yadda, yadda.

Apparently, Rep. King has no new materials and instead resorts to the same tired and weak attacks against President Obama.

KING: Valerie Jarrett is a product of Chicago politics. This is power politics through Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama, son and daughter of Saul Alinsky, linked up with Mayor Daley, the one that actually hired Michelle Obama and put her into that link, which may have well been the link that put Barack Obama into that machine. The Chicago Machine, we know what it is. Someone called it gangster government. In Chicago, you have gangster government and Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that. She’s been brokering power for a long time. And the link she has with William Ayers, and other nefarious characters in Chicago tells us what we’ve got in the White House itself. I mean she’s there. There are a number of links directly to Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, and they go back to Chicago.

This guy is a nut, who is attacking Chicago to score political points with the far right (which he should already have in his back pocket if this talk is indicative of anything).

If President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Obama and others are a product of Chicago politics then does that make Steve King truly representative of Iowa politics?

I certainly hope not, but there are some Iowans who continue to vote for this clown to represent them in front of the citizens of the United States of America.

Here is one of the comments in response to the article:

Equalness4all wrote:

What concerns me is the lack of civility we have in discourse, political and otherwise. I believe that it is healthy to disagree, and argument is a good thing, but hate speech seems to be the rule rather than the exeception. Don’t like someone, call them a name, assassinate their character, spread viscious gossip about them. These things can always be attributed to having heard it from someone else. It is so much easier to protray everybody else as the bad guy than to stand up and offer something for the good of the cause. Mr. King’s double speak is also fascinating, unfortunately he is not alone in doing this. Just look at the quote above. “There are a number of links to Chicago…and they go back to Chicago.” Huh? Really intelligent banter. People in Iowa deserve better, people in the country deserve better.

The people of Iowa may deserve better, but apparently Steve King represents them well enough that they support him and his divisive talk.

Big Hollywood Blockhead Greg Gutfeld Again Attacks President Obama

Greg Gutfeld, who is a regular contributor for the nutty far-right Big Hollywood Web site, has another crime against literature and common sense up on what amounts to an Internet rash. Gutfeld, as he is so apt to do, launches into another foolish attack on President Obama that ends with a childish line that is akin to his boilerplate message.

First, lets start with this chunk:

So President Obama says he’d like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki – something no sitting U.S. president has ever done. Of course, there’s a reason they haven’t: it could be seen as criticism of a painful decision that ended the bloodiest war in history.

Now, I don’t mind if Obama wants to go, and it’s probably presumptuous of me to criticize him for what he might say there, since he hasn’t gone yet.

But if I didn’t, then I wouldn’t have a Gregalogue, and that’s not fair to me, or to those delightful unicorn voices in my head.

And besides, I can pretty much go by what I’ve seen of Obama already. Fact is, whenever he’s overseas, he tends to translate American success into past arrogance. Plus, I don’t think he’ll go to Hiroshima and say, “We did it to save lives,” because that undermines his whole point about nuclear weapons being evil.

And look at the fall of the Berlin Wall – the most important positive event in our lifetimes – unleashing a march of countries toward freedom. Obama didn’t even go to that shindig. Instead, he offered a video – the kind of thing Britney Spears does when she can’t accept the trophy for best U.T.I. at the MTV awards.

Still, Obama’s speech wasn’t bad. He championed freedom and stuff.

He says of President Obama: “He championed freedom and stuff.” Is that to say that “freedom and stuff” are not that significant to Gutfeld? Gutfeld does not seem to worked up about “freedom and stuff” as much as he is about what he saw as an opening to again attack President Obama. But, it hardly seems like any piece written by Greg Gutfeld (and is about or includes President Obama) would be incomplete without some kind of irrational cheap shot.

But then, he couldn’t resist:

“Few would have foreseen … that a united Germany would be led by a woman from Brandenburg or that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent. But human destiny is what human beings make of it.”

So, President Obama praises the progress and greatness of the United States of America and of Germany and somehow Gutfeld decides to take a shot at him for it.

Then, Gutfeld wraps it up with this:

So, no mention of Reagan or Thatcher – yet he brings up himself?

Maybe staying home isn’t so bad.

And if you disagree with me, you’re probably a racist!

No, Greg, if a person disagrees with you it’s probably because they have a brain and/or because a person is not a far-right freak.

Look, we know that conservatives worship Ronald Reagan (I actually liked Reagan in one or two ways), but we don’t have to kiss his ass at every turn.

So, Gutfeld ends it by essentially saying maybe President Obama should have kept his black ass home since he didn’t suck up to Reagan like Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks.

WARNING: If you like Ronald Reagan then stop the video after about 30 seconds.

ColorofChange Joins Movement To Get Rupert Murdoch To Stop The Race Baiting

This is a letter ColorofChange is having people send to Rupert Murdoch and others in power at Fox News to demand they stop the race-baiting crap on our airwaves.

Dear Mr. Murdoch:

On November 6th, you clearly stated that you believed Glenn Beck was “right” when he called President Obama a “racist.” Then, on November 10th, through a spokesperson, you stated that you don’t share the same opinion as Beck, or believe that President Obama is a racist.

Which is it, Mr. Murdoch?

Fox News, under your leadership, has had a long, deep history of engaging in inflammatory racial rhetoric: attacking black leaders, black culture, and black institutions. Now you’ve been caught defending the words and behavior of Glenn Beck, the worst of the worst when it comes to race-baiting, whom more than 80 advertisers have abandoned–because of the very comments you endorsed.

Mr. Murdoch, more and more it appears that Fox’s problem with race starts at the top, with you. If you support Beck and others on Fox News using race-baiting, say so. If you have a problem with their tactics, tell us what you’re going to do to make them stop. You can’t have it both ways.

People must stand up against the garbage coming from Beck, Murdoch and many others at Fox News and throughout the Murdoch empire.

ColorofChange petition:
http://colorofchange.org/murdoch/

Join Media Matters For America Effort To Demand A Rupert Murdoch Apology For Agreeing With Glenn Beck Calling President Obama ‘A Racist’

“[H]e was right.”
– Rupert Murdoch discussing Glenn Beck’s comment that President Obama is “a racist.”

In July, Glenn Beck infamously stated that he believes President Obama is “a racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” These comments played a major role in at least 80 advertisers dropping their support of Beck’s television program. Numerous media outlets and personalities rebuked the comments, but Fox News gave Beck a free pass. Why?

Well, the reason is now clear: Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, agrees that President Obama is a racist. This is a new low even for Fox, and one we cannot let stand.

Since Murdoch refuses to rebuke Glenn Beck – we need to hold him accountable and demand that he apologize for his own hateful remarks.

Join us and demand that Murdoch apologize. We’ll deliver the signatures to NewsCorp: mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

In an interview with Sky News Australia, Murdoch said of Beck’s notorious comment:

 

On the racist thing, that caused a [unintelligible]. But he did make a very racist comment, about, you know, blacks and whites and so on, and which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And, you know, that was something which perhaps shouldn’t have been said about the president, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right.

A Fox News host calls the President of the United States a racist, and his boss, rather than suspending or publicly rebuking him, says that his employee “was right.” We need to hold Murdoch and Fox News accountable for this incendiary, outrageous rhetoric. Please take a moment to sign our petition demanding an immediate apology from Murdoch. When you are done signing, please ask your friends to join our call for accountability.

mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

Unfortunately, this type of race-baiting is par for the course for Fox News. As we recently documented, Fox News president Roger Ailes spent the better part of his career working as a Republican media consultant, during which time he became known for appealing to racial fears and biases for political gain. Under Ailes’ leadership Fox News routinely employs these same tactics in its ongoing campaign to destroy the Obama administration and the progressive agenda. Examples include:

• Hannity just can’t “get over” his Rev. Wright obsession. Sean Hannity — who claimed he “broke the story” about Obama’s controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the 2008 campaign — mentioned Wright on at least 45 different episodes of his Fox News show between Obama’s inauguration and July 31.
• O’Reilly tease: “[S]hould white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor?” Bill O’Reilly stated, “Next on the rundown: Should white Americans be concerned about Judge Sotomayor? Later, far-left Hispanic group says if you oppose the judge, you could be racist.” [The O'Reilly Factor, 7/13/09].
• Rev. Peterson: Obama was elected “mostly by black racists and white guilty people.” On Hannity, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson said, “I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people.” [Hannity, 2/3/09].

Murdoch’s comments are simply the latest example of Fox News shredding the last vestiges of its credibility. Fox News is not a news organization; it is an official arm of the GOP,openly advocating against President Obama and the progressive agenda. As the cable network has shown repeatedly, no tactics are too sleazy to further its goal of damagingprogressives. Murdoch has now given his stamp of approval to the idea that the president of the United States is “a racist.”

Demand that Murdoch apologize: mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology

Thank you for your continued help in holding the media accountable.

Eric Burns
President
Media Matters for America

To sign the online petition, visit: http://mediamatters.org/action/murdochapology/

RNC Chairman Michael Steele: White Republicans Have Been Scared Of Me

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Money Mike as some people might call him, is back in the news for his continuing efforts to try and diversify the GOP. Money Mike faces an uphill battle to diversify a party that is becoming increasingly marginalized as extremist talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have pretty much hijacked the GOP and stripped it clean of virtually any value to the vasty majority of minorities. In a story published by The Hill, Steele expressed some of the hurdles he has attempted to clear as the first black RNC chair. Steele’s comments were first heard on TVOne’s “Washington Watch” as he was interviewed by host Roland Martin:

MARTIN: But your candidates got to talk to them. One of the criticisms I’ve always had is Republicans — white Republicans — have been scared of black folks.

STEELE: You’re absolutely right. I mean I’ve been in the room and they’ve been scared of me. I’m like, “I’m on your side” and so I can imagine going out there and talking to someone like you, you know, [say] “I’ll listen.” And they’re like “Well.” Let me tell you. You saw in Christie and you saw in McDonnell a door open because they went in and engaged. McDonnell was very deliberate about spending…

MARTIN: Right.

STEELE: I mean, Sheila Johnson was on his team. I mean, that was a big deal. That’s because he engaged her and she helped navigate him through that relationship.

Now, if the GOP is trying to prove it is reaching out to minorities (truly reaching out) then Money Mike’s comments are reckless at best and counterproductive at worst.

Honestly, until high-profile Republican politicians reclaim the party from Limbaugh, Beck and other extremists, it can not expect to be considered a party of inclusion.

Money Mike needs to work hard amongst his Republican politicians to help the GOP mainstream distance itself from the divisive rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, Sean Hannity  and others and the anti-left and biased reporting on Fox News.

Stuff like this, as chronicled on The Hill, is ineffective:

Shortly after he was elected chairman in February, Steele said that the Republican Party needed to conduct an “off the hook” public relations campaign to attract blacks and Hispanics in “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.” He also said that he would attract minority voters with fried chicken and potato salad.

Money Mike needs to leave that stuff alone.

The Hill:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/67009-steele-white-republicans-are-scared-of-me

Proof That President Obama Can’t Win With Political Bigots Who Pollute Fox News

President Obama spoke out strongly against the tragedy that took place at Fort Hood, Texas and expressed sympathy for the victims and families of the victims of this violent and terrible crime that has shaken our nation at its core. But, as I read an opinion piece posted through the Fox News Web site, I quickly realized that political opportunists who are haters of the president will let no opportunity to attack the president pass unexploited.

Dan Gainor, who is the Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture, also is a contributor to Fox News with regard to opinion pieces. It is crystal clear, however, that his latest entry to the Fox News right-wing effort is a desperate attempt to exploit the Fort Hood tragedy as an opportunity to attack President Obama utilizing the weakest and most flimsy of material imaginable.

The headline reads, “Obama on Ft. Hood — Not Even ‘Shocked’” to get things started. Then, the sub headline reads,  ”While President Obama called the murders at Ft. Hood  ”horrible” and a “tragedy” and urged “prayers,” the response seemed understated compared to the other incidents.” So, it is not enough that he called the murders at Fort Hood “horrible” and a “tragedy” as far as some right-wing nuts are concerned. Because he did not specifically use the word “shocked” it seems he now is again being attacked.

Here is how hater Dan gets started:

How a president responds to a crisis defines him. President Obama has shown how upset he was after the murder of abortion Dr. George Tiller and after the attack on the Holocaust Museum. But when it came to the Ft. Hood shootings, the president twice gave the incident a limited response …devoting little more than 4 minutes over two separate appearances to the 13 dead and 30 wounded.

In the Tiller case, the president was “shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning.” In the case of the museum attack, Obama was “shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.”

But when it came to the horrendous Ft. Hood shootings, the term “shocked” was nowhere to be found. Instead, the initial response was shoehorned into comments he made opening the White House Tribal Nations Conference. First there were a couple applause lines to Native Americans and Obama’s “shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner,” who appears not to have won the medal. (Joe Medicine Crow won the Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor.)

What is striking about Gainor’s comment is he (in true right wing form) comes back to one of their key issues (taking away the reproductive freedom of women … abortion). It shows the obsession on the part of many conservatives with the issue of abortion and how upset a large number of right wingers were that the president and others were outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Gainor is actually counting the minutes devoting to the president’s responses to different tragedies. That is just weak, silly and insulting to the victims of all the aforementioned crimes to use it as a tool to launch a politically-motivated attack.

If President Obama had held a press conference to express his feelings he probably would have been accused of exploiting the tragedy to put himself in the spotlight.

Actually, Gainor goes on to attack President Obama anyway for putting himself into the spotlight.

Then the president addressed the shooting. While he called the incident “horrible” and a “tragedy” and urged “prayers,” the response seemed understated compared to the other incidents. Then, in true Obama fashion, he did manage to make the shootings at least in part about him. “I want all of you to know that as commander in chief, that there’s no greater honor but also no greater responsibility for me than to make sure that the extraordinary men and women in uniform are properly cared for and that their safety and security when they are at home is provided for us.”

To some, that statement is taking responsibility, but two a right-wing political bigot it is about putting yourself in the spotlight. The writer ignores the positive as President Obama salutes the brave men and women who fight for our country and instead chooses to politicize the statement to portray the president in a negative light. Many conservatives have attacked President Obama for not saluting the troops enough, but when he does many of these same conservatives essentially accusing him of grandstanding.

How pathetic can it get from Gainor?

He busts out the stopwatch again.

Two minutes and 39 seconds later he was done and without even taking a breath back to talking about the Native American event. Nowhere in his speech or his remarks the next day did he even acknowledge that the attacker was a Muslim. In his statement after the museum attack, he correctly criticized “anti-Semitism and prejudice” but made no mention of religion in the latest incident.

The Nov. 6 appearance took up just 1 minute 30 seconds and this time it was paired with his remarks on the bad unemployment numbers. In all, he spent 4 minutes 9 seconds to address the attack on 43 Americans …less than 6 seconds per person.

This is beyond childish.

Then, notice the bigotry reveals itself again as Gainor bashes the president for not acknowledging that the accused attacker in the Fort Hood massacre was a Muslim.