Fox News’ Bolling Continues To Draw Racial Lines In The Sand With President Obama

“They’re brothers … they’re happy and they’re singing and they’re colored.” — The Wayans Brothers opening.

That was the joke opening from the old television show, but it could be thought of as the way some on Fox News Views sees President Barack Obama.

Here are some words from bigoted Fox News Views anchor Eric Bolling, who has a comforting environment at a network that is often hostile to black folks.

“So what’s with all the hoods in the hizzy? A month after the White House hosted the rapper Common, who glorifies violence on cops, the president opened his doors to one of Africa’s most evil dictators. Here’s Ali Bongo, the Gabonese president, who’s been accused of human rights violations and plundering billions of his country’s dollars.”

The words “hizzy” and “hood” should give you a major clue about where his heart and mind are with respect to black people.

This is beyond mere partisan politics, here. The message is a window to what is in the heart of Eric Bolling, a man who seems hostile to black people on Fox News Views. Bolling knows that when he says “hoods” to his audience they think of undesirable black people. This is all beyond the scope of mere coincidence.

During the segment, Human Events editor Jason Mattera declared that “Barack Obama likes to defecate on American allies,” and Bolling had this exchange with Fox Business reporter Sandra Smith:

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): There are good guys. There are bad guys out there. We’ve got to stay engaged.

SMITH: We don’t have to have them at home, though.

BOLLING: Thank you, Smitty.

SMITH: We don’t have to have them in our White House and entertaining them.

BOLLING: Where? Where? Where? Go ahead, say it. Where?

SMITH: In the hizzy.

BOLLING: In the hizzy. Thank you, Smitty.

SMITH: Do we really have to have them in the White Hizzy?

“Hizzy,” as I said before, is a way of reminding you that President Obama is black and he is turning the precious White House into, as Smith describes it, the “White Hizzy.”

What is the real message, here, to Fox News Views watchers? They want their viewers to vote his black ass out of their precious White House.

“Barack Obama likes to defecate on American allies,” was a line from Mattera. That is absolutely disgusting and indicative of the hatred toward Obama coming from the far right.

Sorry to put it that harsh and real, but the message from some of these individuals at Fox News Views is unmistakable.

Source: Media Matters for America

Common Controversy Makes It Easy To Ask Questions About Racism Regarding Some At Fox ‘News’

Common

The whole Fox News-generated overblown controversy regarding the rapper and poet Common is one that I’d like to say I find interesting and surprising, BUT … I don’t.

I’d like to say say that the Fox News hysteria over Common’s performance at the White House was strictly related to the network’s misguided belief that he is some sort of a gangsta rapper … or something along those lines.

Frankly, I am not going to go into a long explanation of how ignorant this whole issue is (which is pretty much a given coming from Fox News).

But, I will offer the obvious … this clearly is racially tinged (even if somewhat coded). Once again, Fox News is taking an opportunity to try and portray President Obama as some kind of black nationalist or racist (or someone who sympathizes with black nationalism or anti-white racism). To normal people, this is utterly ludicrous, but to call most of the people at Fox News normal is to borderline defame real normal people.

This whole issue with Common is largely based on race and trying to portray President Obama as an angry black man who is “not really one of us” to the highly conservative Fox News audience. This is the strategy of people like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin. This is why they attack Common and excuse Ted Nugent.

Hannity, and this is no surprise coming from him, was comfortable with this attack on a black man (that is never a surprise from this man) and a woman running for President of the United States of America.

Nugent’s comments were OK, to Hannity, but the Fox News bigots jumped all over Common and took every shot possible at someone who has a high level of integrity and is quite the conscientious man with very positive messages.

Coming from Fox News, this is no surprise … in fact, it is ironically common.

Glenn Beck; President Obama Is Sympathetic To (Terrorists) Cause

Glenn Beck

Normally, I tend to avoid writing much about Glenn Beck because I see him as one of two things: a con man using racial politics and nutty extremism to get an audience of crazies or a freak.

I suppose he could be a little of both.

Anyway, here is the latest craziness coming from Beck that I found particularly disturbing even by his pitiful standards of human decency.

From Media Matters for America:

GLENN BECK: The Japanese government has no plans to expand the 12 mile evacuation zone. Meanwhile, we’re loading up all of the diplomats from the State Department and getting out of there. Also something that I’m going to do tonight, I’m going to give the speech that the President should give in the Oval Office that he hasn’t, and I don’t know why. Our donations are way, way down for Japan. I don’t see Hollywood mobilizing. So, we will. The speech from my Oval Office, tonight. It’s amazing what’s going on, and I don’t really understand why yet I haven’t figured it out yet.

There’s another story that is very disturbing. And this just came in, it’s an alert from the Wall Street Journal. The Obama Administration is seeking an United Nations security resolution that would authorize a wide range of possible military strikes against the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is aimed at preventing them from overrunning the rebels and civilians in the country’s east. In discussions with other Security Council members, the Obama administration is making the case that a no-fly zone is not enough. It would be insufficient to save the rebel capital in Eastern Libya. So the U.S. is seeking a broad UN authorization for strikes aimed at holding back Libyan ground and air forces with the aim of protecting the rebel capital and avoiding a humanitarian crisis there. Military operations could include a no-fly zone but wouldn’t be limited to that.

Holy cow. What does this mean? You know we’ve been saying that – where is the President on Libya? Tonight, I lay out the case, and it’s not a smoking gun, and it’s not an open and shut case, but it is something that I haven’t found the right people yet, or the right evidence to link it all together, but I can feel it, that there’s something wrong with this Libyan thing. We were talking about it this morning, Pat. That the time to have a no-fly zone is not now.

PAT GRAY: Yeah, right at the beginning. Right at the beginning. Seriously, I mean, it’s progressed way too far just to do a no-fly zone.

BECK: Now it’s going to be a civil war. Now, now, this would be – think of this America, this would be the third country that America has ground forces or air forces or sea, that is in battle and engaged in a Muslim country. That’s insanity.

GRAY: Mmhmm.

BECK: And the time to support the rebels was at the very beginning when the momentum was there. There’s no momentum now. The momentum is the other way. I’m not saying we don’t do something to protect these people, but I’ll tell you, it’s very disturbing to me that our military could be engaged in yet another war in the Middle East.

GRAY: I think if you would have done this at the beginning, you would have been far less likely to have any kind of confrontation. You remember 1989 when we had that little run-in with the MiGs, the Libyan MiGs? And our -

BECK: – our guys

GRAY: Our F-14 tomcats took ‘em down.

BECK: Yeah.

GRAY: And there was not a peep out of Libya for the next 20 years. Libya didn’t make a sound. Well -

BECK: Yeah. [unintelligible]

GRAY: I mean, they had the couple terrorist activities. But, for the most part, Moammar Gadhafi was pretty quiet after that point.

BECK: Oh yeah. We were bombing his tent.

GRAY: Yeah.

BECK: There’s no – there’s, I mean, now, this is the problem with this president, it’s the same thing. Look at his pattern, the BP oil spill. This is the thing that bothers me. And it’s always patterns. The BP oil spill – we all know he used that to his advantage – never let a good crisis go to waste. And so what did he do? He wasn’t there – he was engaged, of course he talked about it, but he wasn’t engaged. Until it started getting out of control, and all of us were saying, where is the government?

GRAY: Mmhmm.

BECK: Where is the president on this? And he was strangely absent.

GRAY: Hasn’t it been like that with every crisis -

BECK: Everything. Every crisis.

GRAY: The Fort Hood – the Fort Hood shooting. He wasn’t really out front with that, and that was, you know, 13 U.S. soldiers being killed on their base. And then when he finally did make the statement, he comes out and talks about the – the Indian medicine man first -

BECK: Right. OK.

GRAY: – for two minutes before he even got around to the mention.

BECK: But here is – here is the point on that. I believe that’s because he just sees us as the oppressor nation. He just sees us as a nation who is and has oppressed the Native Americans and, and the Muslim communities around the world. And so he’s – he’s – he’s not with the terrorists, I’m not saying that, but he is sympathetic to their cause, which slows people down. You know what I mean?

GRAY: Mm.

BECK: You agree with that or disagree with that?

GRAY: Well, I don’t know if sympathetic to the cause is the right -

BECK: Sym -

GRAY: – phrase.

BECK: Sym – oh, uh – wait a minute, I’m not saying that he’s sympathetic with people blowing people up.

GRAY: Yeah.

BECK: I’m saying -

GRAY: I just wanted to make sure -

BECK: Yeah, yeah.

GRAY: – that people know that you’re not saying that.

BECK: He’s sympathetic, he’s sympathetic [unintelligible]

GRAY: Well I think he sympathizes that America has done some bad things -

BECK: Yeah.

GRAY: And, and so – [unintelligible]

BECK: The Palestinian plight.

GRAY: Yes.

BECK: The Palestinian plight – only like 23 percent of Americans agree with the Palestinians. But he is, I believe, he’s probably one of the 23 percent.

GRAY: Well, his pastor said it best, didn’t he, when he said America’s chickens have come home to roost.

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: Maybe he has a little of that sentiment -

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: – I don’t know.

BECK: Yes, yes. I’m not saying that he’s in league with the terrorists, I’m not saying that he agrees with bombings like that. But he is slower to react because he is a guy who is sympathetic to something that most Americans are not. We don’t – he has said it himself over and over, I’m tired of Muslim-Americans being rounded up in the middle of the night. That’s never happened. And if it has, show it to me, Mr. President because I will be with you on that. I agree with you that that shouldn’t happen. So show me the evidence, and I will stand with you.

But what’s disturbing about the BP oil crisis is it worked to his favor, it worked to his advantage by leaving it go for a while and not capping it, he had to have a massive disaster to be able to do what he did. Now is this what’s happening in Libya? Because the time for that, I mean, even France is leading this. Nobody, is – and the people are crying out, America. And everybody knows we’re the only one that can do it. We have the carriers right there. I’ve been on the aircraft carriers in the fifth fleet – 90 miles off the coast of Libya. We have them. We can do it. But the time to do it was when we had momentum and now, what’re we gonna – we have more troops going someplace? The possibility of it? We’re going to engage people with our military? What’re – what – we’re going to get involved in another war? What are you, out of your mind? It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense.

And here’s the other thing that I just want to share with those who think that the workers of the world can unite. What is happening in the world right now is exactly what happened in the 1920s and early 1930s in Europe, and it is the communists, and the socialists, and the Marxists that believe in one global order, and they believe that if the workers will unite – I mean, the people who took out the permit for the unions for the American Dream Act in Washington D.C., they say it clearly on their own website, the International Socialist Organization, that they believe that only the workers uniting will actually cause the revolution to happen.

Well here’s where they go wrong. If you look at what’s happening in Japan right now and you look at the spike of the yen, that is because people love their country and they are selling their stuff, and they are getting out of gold or whatever it is, and they are buying their own dollar, their yen, and they are going to invest it in their own country. When the whole world melts down, when America begins to fall on real hard times – and I mean, I – I hope I’m discredited on this, but I believe it’s coming. And when we fall on real hard times, they will say workers of the world unite, and they will unite all of the workers, but at some point the unions – the union workers will say, wait a minute, how are you going to balance the world, you’re giving our jobs to India, or Mexico, or whatever. And people become nationalists, that’s what’s happening in Japan. There’s no – I’m not saying it’s communist or anything else, I’m just talking about the yen – they’re becoming nationalists. We did it after 9/11. We protect our own countries.

And that’s what the Soviet Union, that’s where Lenin and Marx and Stalin all went wrong – is they think they can unite the whole world with the workers. But the first step where it starts to go wrong is people start to protect themselves and their own communities that they understand as communities. And the world does not accept this global order, it doesn’t, and when things get better in India or jobs go to India instead of here, they will not listen to a socialist saying, “workers of the world, unite” what they will listen to is a national socialist, somebody who says take care of America first, workers, you’re already unionized, you’re already together right? It’s them that is the problem, and they become national socialists, not international socialists. International socialism will not work, and it will turn the world to national socialism, which is the Nazi regime.

I don’t know how people don’t understand the logic of this, but it is true, and it happens the same way every time, and governments, and they, the, governments, or the people, that the radicals, they use the youth – which is happening, and they also use giant corporations. And they get giant corporations, some of them willingly, and some of them just acquiesce because they say, I’ll just get, ’cause they’ll let me survive, and I’ll be part of the survivors. You do not want to be part of those survivors, because in the end, they do not survive, because they always end the same way, always. Whether it’s Mao, Stalin, Hitler, or Mussolini, they always end the same way.

Beck, no one knows what you mean because you’re a freak.

One expects insane rants from Beck, but some of the stuff in here, with regards to terrorism and President Obama is disgraceful.

In The Case Of Vick, Fox News Commentator Seems To See A Black Man’s Life Worth No More Than A Dog’s Life

Tucker Carlson

We know that some right-wing commentators at Fox News have a clear disdain for President Barack Obama – a disdain that was illustrated most recently in the case of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who had a highly-publicized involvement in dog fighting. Recently, however, President Obama saluted the Eagles for giving Vick a second chance.

Obviously, there had to be at least one commentator at Fox News ready to take a shot at the president over this one.

This all leads me to a little excerpt I read from Dr. Boyce Watkins, who blogged about some very disturbing comments made by right-wing Fox News commentator (I know that is sort of redundant) Tucker Carlson regarding Vick, who has bounced back from his self-inflicted dog-fighting troubles, turned his life around and again is excelling on the football field (and presumably in life).

That’s not good enough for some of the tighty righties at Fox News – like Tucker Carlson.

Here is a portion of what Watkins wrote in his blog regarding Carlson:

“I’m a Christian, I’ve made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances,” Carlson said. “But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should’ve been executed for that. He wasn’t, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale.”

First of all, I think that most decent Christians would not believe that Tucker Carlson is a Christian. But then again, most of the original members of the KKK also considered themselves to be Christians, so perhaps Carlson’s delusional behavior actually makes sense. I’d be curious to see if Carlson believes that the hundreds of thousands of deer hunters and members of the National Rifle Association should also be executed for killing animals themselves. After all, killing an animal is the same no matter what, right?

Secondly, Carlson’s insinuation that the life of this black man is worth less than that of a dog is a telling reminder of how the Right Wing is nothing more than a modern-day manifestation of those who’ve profited from slavery and the execution of black men for the past 400 years (they continue to profit from slavery within the prison system – the only place where the United States Constitution allows slavery to take place). If this were 1840, Tucker Carlson would surely be part of the lynch mob that would have dragged Michael Vick out of jail in the middle of the night and murdered him in front of his family.

Like Watkins, I too am deeply disturbed that Carlson seems to suggest that the lives of dogs are sort of an even swap for the life of a black man.

Much like Sarah Palin, Carlson can seemingly resist no opportunity to take a shot at President Obama.

This incident, and the implication of Carlson’s words, are different. This man is acting as if, were he so empowered, would hold himself up as judge, jury and executioner of Michael Vick.

It’s almost Jim Crow-era justice: A black man’s life for a dog’s life.

It shows a dark part of Tucker Carlson’s heart that is chilling. What’s more disturbing is that he has a powerful platform at Fox News where he seems to fit in so well.

Sarah Palin’s Own Words Describe Her Perfectly: Proudly Intolerant

Who knew that Sarah Palin’s own words could describe her as well (or better than) her toughest critic.

From Fox News (Fox Nation), her media relations organizations:

In tonight’s episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” the former governor showcases the Alaska tundra while caribou hunting with her father. Beyond proving she’s a great shot, the episode is giving Palin an opportunity to “proudly” take aim at “anti-hunting hypocrisy.”

“Tonight’s hunting episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska ‘controversial’? Really? Unless you’ve never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation of tonight’s episode. I remain proudly intolerant of anti-hunting hypocrisy. ” Palin posted on Facebook and Twitter today.

Palin’s pro-hunting posts began on Friday when she urged fans to tune in to “see how we fill our freezers and feed our families with home-grown tundra-roaming Alaskan wild game. We’ll show you how Alaskans hunt. As my friend Sue says, ‘the tundra is the type of landscape that will make a man out of anybody.’ And, PETA…” she wrote on Facebook.

When I think of Sarah Palin I think of proudly intolerant. She was speaking of hunting, but I see it as ideally descriptive of her as a person and as a politician.

Bernie Goldberg’s Slobbering Love Affair With The Rich Who Exploit The Poor

Bernard Goldberg, a right-wing analyst who makes frequent appearances on Fox News to spread his far-right messages, thinks the rich are not getting enough from the poor.

In Saddam Hussein-like fashion, Goldberg essentially suggests that the poor should build a monument to the rich as pointed out by News Hounds.

I suggest that we build a big bronze and granite monument, a statue to honor some truly American heroes, unsung American heroes… the rich… Try to imagine an America without rich people. Rich people pay the freight for a whole bunch of things that are good, like taking care of poor people who can’t afford to buy food and medicine and sending other kids to college… The top one percent of all wage earners pay almost 40 percent of all our federal income taxes. The top five percent pay 60 percent and the top 10 percent pay 70 percent. Now I’m not saying, Megyn, that these people are selfless philanthropists. I’m not even saying that they need a tax break. But I’ll tell you what they don’t need. They don’t need to be vilified by people like Bernie Sanders and a whole bunch of other liberal Democrats in Congress. …I’m not defending anybody who’s crooked or anybody who sent this economy into a tailspin… There are a lot of people out there who worked hard for their money… Maybe they’re not making a million or a billion dollars but something over $250,000. These people deserve our gratitude. I mean, how many poor – by the way, the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers… pay a paltry 2.7 percent of all the federal income tax. So how many of those people, how many of those people do you think are helping the poor in this country. It’s the rich who are disproportionately paying taxes and disproportionately helping the poor.

We could write a book about Bernie Goldberg and call it, A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Fox News and the Rich Elitists Who Want to Preserve a Slave-Like Society.

The rich are rich on the backs of hard-working and oftentimes underpaid folks (not too unlike what happened during times of slavery and not too unlike what happens with those who exploit so-called illegal immigrants.

Firing Of Juan Williams Illustrates The Bias Of Fox News

Let the Fox News hypocrisy and trend of double standards continue in the wake of the firing of Juan Williams by National Public Radio for his comments about fearing Muslims or people in Muslim garb when he is in airports or on airlines.

Conservatives now are bringing the heat to NPR with threats. Ah, the far-right hypocrisy continues. Many of these are the same people who attack the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton for using boycotts to fight what they see as injustices.

From Think Progress:

THE DOUBLE STANDARD: ThinkProgress first reported Williams’ comments to highlight the bigoted nature of his remarks. ThinkProgress never called for any specific action to be taken, and NPR’s firing of Williams came as a surprise. Many media figures, including NPR’s own ombudsman, questioned NPR’s decision to fire Williams before providing him with a chance to clarify his statements. As Serwer notes, “firing people for things like this tends to chill the public discourse. Misconceptions should be discussed publicly rather than driven underground.” While arguably premature, the network is within its rights to terminate an employee whose public statements undermine its reputation as a credible news source. According to the announcement, NPR decided to terminate Williams’ contract because his remarks “were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.” As stated in NPR CEO Vivian Schiller’s email to member stations, his comments violated NPR’s long-standing ethics code in which all journalists and contracted analysts like Williams cannot “express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist” nor “participate in shows…that encourage punditry and speculation rather than fact-based analysis.” Nor was this the first time NPR admonished Williams on this issue. Last year, after Williams compared Michelle Obama to “Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress,” NPR requested he no longer be identified as affiliated with NPR when appearing on Fox. The radio network’s decision does advance the idea that there shouldn’t be a double standard in what is and is not appropriate rhetoric on the airwaves. CNN host Rick Sanchez and White House correspondent Helen Thomas were fired for insensitive and irresponsible remarks about non-Muslims. CNN also fired Octavia Nasr for comments about a popular Muslim Lebanese leader which were deemed impolitic. If media figures can be fired for anti-Jewish or pro-Muslim comments, then the principle should be applied for anti-Muslim comments as well. But as Fox News proves time and again, anti-Muslim remarks are generally appreciated — if not promoted — on the network.

You see, it’s OK for Fox News to use this kind of tactic or a similar kind of tactic when they want to protect one of their own or to protect an opinion for which they agree.

I don’t feel the least bit sorry for Williams, who has willingly been used as a pawn by people at Fox News to attack black people and to stand in as a fake liberal.

As the excerpt illustrates, where was Fox News when Helen Thomas and Rick Sanchez were fired in high-profile dismissals?

Where were they when Octavia Nasr was let go?

They were silent because they’re hypocrites.

Now, Fox News and others on the far right are calling for NPR funding to be revoked because it stood out against Williams’ bigoted comments:

SELF-RIGHTEOUS: As if to prove the point, conservative pundits and politicians whipped into an apoplectic rage yesterday over NPR’s announcement, with many decrying the termination as a quintessential attack method of the “super-liberal, politically correct goon squad .” An irate Fox News host Megyn Kelly blamed Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper– who had called for “swift action” against Williams — for the firing, repeatedly asking “are you happy now?” Right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart launched a boycott of NPR, declaring, “I refuse to be guest on NPR until Juan Williams is reinstated. I suggest all BIG editors, contributors follow same course.” Former Arkansas governor and Fox News host Mike Huckabee not only joined in boycotting NPR’s “censorship,” but called on the government to “start making cuts to federal spending” by defunding NPR. Despite the fact that NPR gets less than six percent of its revenue from government grants and “receives no direct federal funding for operations,” several more Republicans jumped on the defund bandwagon. “At a time when our country is dangerously in debt and looking for areas of federal spending to cut, I think we’ve found a good candidate for defunding” in NPR, wrote Tea Party maven Sarah Palin. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called on Congress to “investigate NPR” and “consider cutting off their money,” while House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said, “I think it’s reasonable to ask why Congress is spending taxpayers’ money to support a left-wing radio network — and in the wake of Juan Williams’ firing, it’s clearer than ever that’s what NPR is.” O’Reilly said he “wanted to take it further than that. I want it suspended today while the investigation takes place.” GOP operative Karl Rove enthusiastically concurred, quipping “our country needs to save money.” Last night, O’Reilly even announced to a distraught Williams that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) will introduce legislation to defund NPR. “Congress is going to defund NPR,” O’Reilly assured Williams, “and you did it.”

Republican hypocrisy at its dubious worst.

Racism Denier Kevin Jackson Takes Shot At Nancy Pelosi

There is nothing wrong with being black and conservative and there is nothing wrong with being a black Tea Party person. It would be crazy not to think that there are blacks from all walks of life with political ideologies that run the full spectrum (from conservative to liberal). I used to be a conservative (not that most people would believe me), and not all that long ago. But, there is something wrong when you have far-right racism deniers like tea party “activist” Kevin Jackson trying to seemingly equate Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to a sort of slave master (reference the passage below as compiled by Media Matters for America):

O’Reilly hosts tea party activist who says it “would have been more symbolic had [Pelosi] had a whip.” On The O’Reilly Factor, tea party activist Kevin Jackson characterized the walk to the Capitol by Pelosi and other members of Congress on the day the House voted for health care reform as “this very wealthy white lady leading a group of black, you know, men up to the thing with her gavel in her hand. It would have been more symbolic had she had a whip.” [The O'Reilly Factor, 3/31/10]

Jackson, who ignores blatant racism associated with tea party activities, bends over backward to accuse Democrats of racism. His comment about the whip are a clear illustration that he has sold his soul and is willing to do and say whatever it takes to stay in good standing on the right … to retain most favored Negro status (right alongside Jesse Lee Peterson, who has a long and dubious history of making anti-black racist comments on Fox News, generally unchallenged, and on his own radio show).

Fox News Cheap Shots L.L. Cool J For Saying He Was Being Misrepresented In Promotion of Sarah Palin

If anyone ever wanted additional evidence of how dirty the power people at Fox News can be then a good recent example is rapper and actor L.L. Cool J.

In its ongoing efforts to provide high-profile platform to potential candidates for president of the United States, Fox News has handed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin a new show on its airwaves. Palin, who cut her teeth on a grueling half of one term as governor of Alaska, ditched that job to make money and chase the media spotlight. As part of her run to fame and riches, Palin has jumped into bed with the network that conservatives (but really no one else) trust: far right Fox News.

Anyone, I will get to the excerpt from TVNewser:

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith’s interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith [LL Cool J] does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.”

As you can see, Fox News takes a cheap shot at L.L. Cool J in typical Fox News fashion because he didn’t quietly play along with their misleading exploitation (a clip used in an effort to promote Sarah Palin’s new Fox show, Real American Stories) of an older interview he conducted. In its attack, Fox News seems to tip its hand at what its real motive for having him on as a guest might have been: having a black man on their show that they felt could appeal to minorities, a hip-hop segment of the population and younger generation.

From Media Matters for America:

But LL Cool J never said he did not “want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others,” he simply said that Fox has “lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show.” In other words, he took issue with Fox building up Palin’s debut with a blatant falsehood.

And in fairness to Mr. Cool J, Fox does strongly suggest — in all of its promotional materials for Palin’s show — that LL Cool J, Toby Keith, and Jack Welch were interviewed by Palin, or had somehow purposefully attached themselves to her show (you can see the video on the Media Matters page).

Fox News wanted L.L. to be their token “diversity” guest and when he benignly said that he felt the Fox video promotion was not an accurate portrayal of him, the network declares all out media war on him.

Cantor, Fox News Hosts Essentially Blame Democrats For Death Threats They Are Getting

Far-right extremists are hurling death threats at Democrat members of Congress related to the health care legislation.

On Fox News, hosts Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy agreed with Republican Rep. Eric Cantor (the House minority whip), who in essence accused Democrats of essentially encouraging death threats by talking about them publicly.

People receive death threats and Fox News/Eric Cantor blame the victims, “Democrat lawmakers are feeding the public’s frenzy over the threats by discussing them so openly in the media.” Doocy makes excuses and blames the Democrats and Kilmeade makes what seems to be a joke about it and Carlson essentially says they should shut up and live in fear and not call out the extremist threats of violence.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003250007

CNN Mischaracterized As A ‘Liberal Media Outlet’ On Booker Rising

The anatomy of a misguided statement from the Booker Rising blog:

Asks liberal media outlet CNN, about alleged racial insensitivity. Included in its article are two black conservative Republicans, who are no strangers to regular Booker Rising readers. “Lenny McCallister is African-American, a Tea Party member and a conservative Republican. He says Republicans ‘have to speak out against this stuff because it does not fit our principles, morals or values. At the same time we cannot alienate the most active aspects of the conservative base at this time.’ He’s calling on conservatives to help the Republican Party walk that tightrope in a way they did not in 2009.”

CNN is far from a liberal media outlet. In fact, CNN at times bends over backward to accommodate guests with a variety of opinions and bends over backward to balance its discussion panels.

To refer to CNN as a “liberal media outlet” as the blog Booker Rising did is ridiculous. It seems almost a spiteful reply to the obvious fact that Fox News is a right-wing outlet (to be fair: MSNBC’s prime-time commentators are to the left).

Hannity Once Again Provides Jesse Lee Peterson A Platform To Attack Black People

I would never insult a house Negro by calling Jesse Lee Peterson one. Peterson is far worse than a house Negro.

Jesse Lee Peterson is a slave-catching Negro who takes pride in doing the dirty work against other black people for his master (in this case it is Fox News right wing talk show host Sean Hannity). With great joy, Hannity sits back and watches as Jesse Lee Peterson launches racist attack after racist attack against black people. Hannity, I would imagine, sees himself as inoculated against any backlash because he has his black man on there to do the dirty work. Back during slavery, the white slave master or slave catcher could sit back and let his black slave catcher do the hard work while he kept his hands physically clean from the horrors.

In one of his latest appearances on Hannity’s Fox News show, Peterson had this to say:

PETERSON: But to be honest with you, this whole thing is — I remember, George Washington built America based on truth. Barack Obama is destroying America based on lies.

This thing is about the redistribution of wealth, it’s about Black Liberation Theology. Obama lied on the primaries, he’s been lying ever since. And the sad thing about it, some Americans — most Americans are starting to see it, but they don’t realize that they’ve been seduced by this man, and he doesn’t care about what is right.

We see what he’s doing, bowing down to everybody around the country –

HANNITY: Around the world.

PETERSON: And around the world. Look what’s happening in Israel right now, he’s never really supported Israel. This guy is not on our side.

He’s — Obama, in all honesty, is the Congressional Black Caucus, he is Louis Farrakhan, he is Rev. Wright, his minister, he is all of them wrapped up in one — and he’s gonna take — if we allow this health-care thing to happen, he’s gonna turn America into Detroit. And we cannot let this happen.

Peterson of course comes back to the customary mention of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan (names designed to do little more than to scare white people and gain him favor with these same whites he adores more than he adores himself). He comes back to the same tired lines about “redistribution of wealth” and drumming up more fear with his mentioning of so-called “Black Liberation Theology.”

Sean Hannity is a disgraceful man who knows exactly what he is doing by bringing Jesse Lee Peterson on his show to attack black people.

The Young Turks on Peterson:

Peterson as a house Negro (and like Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks):

Here are some of my previous posts on the racist idiocy of Jesse Lee Peterson:

Here, he is disrespectful of Demond Wilson and goes on the attack against him: http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/demond-wilson-angered-by-rude-jesse-lee-peterson-hangs-up/

Here, Jesse Lee Peterson thanks God for slavery (maybe because he is acting like Sean Hannity’s slave): http://simmerdown3.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/jesse-lee-peterson-thank-god-for-slavery/

Fox News, Bret Baier Show Complete Lack Of Respect For President Obama

As many of you know, I have no use for Fox News. Frankly, I see Fox News (and virtually every on air personality that comprises the network) as little more than a communications arm of the Republican Party.

So, based on that, I was a bit surprised that President Obama would take time out of his schedule (with so many important issues on the table) and waste it talking to a representative of a channel that is doing essentially everything within its power to undermine his presidency. 24/7, Fox News personalities take turns taking shots at President Obama, attacking him, attacking his administration, and attacking any and all policies even remotely affiliated with him. So, as President Obama went on the air with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, I knew he was in enemy territory with a man who was predisposed to doing everything in his power to making the president look bad.

Ultimately, Baier miserably failed (in my opinion) to make the president look bad. Actually, Baier came across as a man who had an agenda (one to attack the president relentlessly and disrespectfully challenge him repeatedly). What made the failure of Baier almost a certainty was his ignorance to fall into the same trap that so many right wingers fall into: he underestimated the intelligence and toughness of the president. Several times now, President Obama has challenged the Republicans on their own turf and beaten them like a bowl of eggs. Still, in the back of his mind, I can imagine Baier believing that President Obama was not that spot and probably chanting “teleprompter, teleprompter, teleprompter” in his head (thinking he had the president’s number with no teleprompter … and that the president’s act was little more than smoke and mirrors).

Like so many others, Baier ended up looking foolish and (perhaps worst) came across as an angry, disrespectful and frustrated partisan.

This is from a Washington Post blog written by Jonathan Capehart:

Watching the entire interview made me miss the late moderator of “Meet The Press,” Tim Russert. He would have asked process questions. He would have pushed the president to answer questions he didn’t feel were being answered. But he would have done so in a manner that was firm, yet respectful. More importantly, he would have focused intensely on the substance of the health-care legislation to cut through the clutter, rhetoric and political posturing so that viewers at home would have as much information as possible before their representatives voted.

Baier was less interested in substance (if he was at all) and more interested in trying to portray the president as working some sort of unsavory backdoor deals to pass this health care legislation that conservatives and Fox News (one in the same) abhor.

Baier showed a stunning and complete lack of respect for President Obama and his presidency. I was shocked at the depth, breadth and boldness of his disrespect of President Obama.

Repeatedly, Baier cut off the president when he didn’t like his answers, and came out with right-wing talking point after right-wing talking point to try and paint President Obama as negatively as he possibly could. It’s fairly clear that Baier was in full partisan Fox News mode as he tried to talk over the president and interrupt as Barack Obama attempted to answer his questions. Much like a sports announcer for the flagship station, Baier was playing to his far-right audience by trying to rough up the president with clearly disrespectful intentions. To a large extent, Bret Baier was playing to his right-wing audience.

Here is a line from a column written by Boyce Watkins that caught my attention:

The right wing doesn’t hate Obama just because he’s black. They hate him because he’s an “uppity negro” who doesn’t agree with them. This story was predictable long before it ever took place.

I think Dr. Boyce is right on the money. Many conservatives see President Obama as overstepping his bounds and being out of his place in society.

Bret Baier’s actions, during this Fox News interview, were a sign of how a lot of conservatives feel about President Obama, and it is not just because of his politics.

He was speaking for millions of individuals on the far right who have no respect for this president and have nothing but contempt for his presidency.

Fox News Boycott:
http://foxnewsboycott.com/fox-news/bret-baier-interrupts-president-obama-16-times/

UPDATE: Watch the difference between how Baier practically gets on his knees sucks off President George W. Bush while practically spitting on President Obama. This is from Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/18/baier-bush-obama/

Fox News Graphic Expresses Our Feelings For Sean Hannity

Fox News has come up with perhaps the perfect way to describe Sean Hannity’s one hour slur on decency.

Is Fox News Trying To Fire Up Racial Controversy With White Step Team?

The highly skilled ladies of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority from the University of Arkansas opened a lot of eyes with its outstanding performance in the Sprite Step Off National Finals on Feb. 20 in Atlanta.

The competition was comprised of 80 teams from fraternities and sororities at 40 institutions  hungry for that top prize of $100,000 in scholarships. In all, there was $1.5 million in scholarship monies available for the participants in this event that was sponsored by Coca-Cola.

The controversy is racial. You see, Zeta Tau Alpha is an all-white sorority that performed lights out in what is traditionally a competition popular among black fraternities and sororities.  Initially, Zeta Tau Alpha was the winner of the competition while the second-place honors went to Indiana University’s Alpha Kappa Alpha. The crowd was audibly upset and booed as rapper and host Ludacris made the announcement. Later, apparently, there was a “scoring discrepancy” announced and first-place honors were shared by the two aforementioned sororities. Maybe there was  “scoring discrepancy” and maybe there wasn’t. It does sound a bit odd, but step show performers involved in the controversy hardly seem bothered by the whole thing.

In fact, at least one of the ladies (from Zeta Tau Alpha) indicated she was fine with the result and happy to get some of that scholarship money.

But, what really interests me in this story is the role Fox News, and anchor Megyn Kelly, played in it. Megyn Kelly, in a clip I found at News Hounds, seemed determined to extract a controversy in this situation by implying the “scoring effort” was some kind of affirmative-action-political-correctness adjustment designed to appease some black people who might have been upset with the original result (Zeta’s outright win).

One gets the feeling, that as the conversation played out, Kelly expected something from her guest (Alexandra Kosmitis) that she did not get by the time everything was said and done.

I also found it interesting that Kelly (fair and balanced in the Fox News tradition of “hard news”) declared Zeta Tau Alpha the “winners” during the segment.

Is a step show competition really hard news?

By the way, from what I watched of their performance, that team’s performance was strong.

Give them their props … they stepped their asses off (regardless of who you think won the event).

Indiana Daily Student:
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=74134

News Hounds:
http://www.newshounds.us/2010/03/08/fox_news_baselessly_uses_sorority_step_competition_to_gratuitously_race_bait.php#more

The Root:
http://www.theroot.com/views/can-we-least-keep-stepping-ourselves

Father Michael Pfleger Makes An Interesting Point About Bill O’Reilly

I read the following comment from Fr. Michael Pfleger, who has been targeted by far-right conservatives like Fox News commentator (not fair and balanced journalist or journalist at all for that matter) Bill O’Reilly because he can be somewhat used as a way of attack President Obama. First off, none of these conservatives gave much of a rat’s tail about Pfleger or Rev. Jeremiah Wright until they saw them as ways of attacking Barack Obama during his candidacy to become president of the United States.

Anyway, fast forward to the present, the time since the historic election of 2008, and right wingers like O’Reilly continue to target Pfleger, Wright and Minister Louis Farrakhan as ways of attacking black people or portraying blacks as being racist (note: yes, I do realize that Pfleger is a white man, but not a lot of conservatives see him in that way).

I found this quote from Pfleger at News Hounds: “O’Reilly doesn’t want to hear the truth we speak,” Father Pfleger said, ” . . . I’ll hang around Wright and Farrakhan any day rather than O’Reilly.”

Who Pfleger chooses to hang with is his business (in no way, shape or form do I subscribe to the theories that Pfleger or Wright are anywhere close to racist as people), but, the underlying message in his quote is an important one. O’Reilly doesn’t want to hear the truth about issues regarding race. He, like many conservatives, live in this laughable utopia where all people of all races are equal, the battle for civil rights was one and it’s a completely level playing field.

Sure, these right wingers will utter the customary, “sure racism still exists,” but every example you give of racism they deny it is racially motivated.

The Face Of Republican Extremism: Erich “Mancow” Muller On Fox And Friends

The far-right lunacy of Fox News was again on display as right-wing host Gretchen Carlson was hosting (among other people) nutty talk radio show host Erich “Mancow” Muller, who went off on a hysterical, hate-driven tirade regarding President Obama during a segment on the dreadful Fox & Friends program.

Media Matters for America has posted the video clip of this far-right moron (not that the fact that he is a far-right moron is news) spewing his stank-breath venom on Fox News.

Among other things, Muller referred to President Obama as a “race-baiting community organizer” and claimed (irrationally) that people didn’t want the president’s “communist health care.”

The more people like this become the face of the Republicans the better it is for this country that they continue to be exposed.

Bitches 2 … Starring Fox News’ Griff Jenkins

Every time I think of these Fox News “producers” (stalkers) like Griff Jenkins and Jesse Watters, I think of the Ice-T rap, Bitches 2.

Jenkins and Watters have dubious histories in relation to stalking people who do not fit the conservative ideology of Fox News as an organization that served as the public relations arm of the GOP. When someone crosses Fox News, and in particular big shot Bill O’Reilly, clowns like Jenkins and tough-guy Watters are put on the case in an effort to intimidate and/or shame targets into submission (ideally).

Among the most pathetic examples was the pathetic Jesse Watters stalking 5-foot, 100-pound Amanda Terkel, a popular blogger for Think Progress. Like a predator, Watters followed Terkel around while she was on vacation and then sprung out of nowhere and tried to intimidate her in pure ambush fashion.

Check out Terkel’s account of the ambush as she is interviewed by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC:

Notice in the video how the “fair and balanced” O’Reilly labels Terkel as a “FAR-LEFT BLOGGER” in the screen graphic.

This all brings me back to the Ice-T song, Bitches 2:

I knew this guy
That was never that fly
Couldn’t act cool
Even when he tried
When we played rough
He always cried
When he told stories, he always lied
A Black brother
Who was missin’ the cool part
He had the color
But was missin’ the true heart
When we would fight
He would always go down quick
So he took karate
and he still got his ass kicked
But now he’s married
And he kicks his wife’s ass
Says it comes from problems
That he had in the past
Doesn’t like Blacks
Claims he’s upper class
Joined the police, got himself a badge
Now he rolls the streets
and he’s cut to jack
Doggin’ young brothers
Cause they usually don’t fight back
Got a White partner
And he asked for that
and every night
Another head they crack
So now he’s big man
But he really ain’t shit!

Yo, how did he go out?
He went out like a bitch!
So ladies
We ain’t just talkin’ bout you
Cause some of you niggas
Is bitches too!

It’s hard to think of Bill O’Reilly, Griff Jenkins and Jesse Watters and not think of Bitches 2 as their potential theme music.

News Hounds and Think Progress have documented a recent attempt to interview Jenkins who, as Ice-T would wrap, “went out like a bitch.”

Here is the transcript of the conversation Think Progress attempted to have with Jenkins, who all but went into the fetal position:

JENKINS: I’m just covering CPAC for Greta, but listen, call the media relations people, we can do something about my coverage here, other than that, ask the media relations people.

[crosstalk]

TP: Do you ever extend that courtesy to the people you interview?

JEKINS: I gotta go buddy. [...]

TP: I’m just asking, when you ambush people, do you ever do that? [...]

JENKINS: I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m working here.

TP: Yeah, but sometimes when you ambush people, they’re working too.

Griff Jenkins = Whack.