Dan Rather Draws Two Strikes From One Comment On The Racial Sensitivity Front

Former long-time CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather is no stranger to controversy (and that is putting it quite mildly). And, once again, it seems Rather finds himself in the middle of some stuff:

As a guest on The Chris Matthews Show, the following comment was heard:

DAN RATHER: Part of the undertow in the coming election is going to be President Obama’s leadership. And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. ‘Listen he just hasn’t been, look at the health care bill. It was his number one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death.’ And a version of, ‘Listen he’s a nice person, he’s very articulate‘ this is what’s been used against him, ‘but he couldn’t sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.’

Are these comments from Rather fair or foul?

First, Rather speaks of President Obama as being articulate. Now, how often do you hear someone who is white complimented for being articulate? Uh, he graduated from Columbia and Harvard.

Second, he invokes the infamous word “watermelon” in his comments. One would think Rather would be smart enough to avoid using a word saturated by historically negative racial stereotypes.

Chris Matthews tried to rescue Rather at the end, but the damage was already done.

Think Progress Explores Glenn Beck And “The White Culture” Comment

I had wondered what Fox News far right wing hater Glenn Beck meant when he talked about “the white culture” during a rant on the conservative network when he basically called President Obama a racist (ignorantly ignoring the fact that Barack Obama is half white).

Here is an excerpt of what Think Progress has about Beck’s comments about “white culture” as NBC’s Katie Couric tries to figure out exactly what he meant by his “white culture” wording.

In July, Fox News’ radical host Glenn Beck called President Obama a “racist,” saying that he “has a deap-seated hatred for white people, or white culture” — a comment that sparked a successful advertising boycott of his Fox News program. This week in an interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric, Beck said he was “sorry” for the way he “phrased” the claim, but still contended that it’s a “serious question” as to whether Obama is a racist.

During the interview, Couric posed a question from a Twitter user who wanted to know what Beck meant by “white culture” in his attack on Obama. Beck responded by stuttering: “Ummmmm, I don’t know.” He then suggested that he had already answered the criticism on his website, and therefore didn’t want to “make news” by responding to Couric.

“Can you explain what you mean by the white culture?” Couric insisted, “because some people say that sounds kind of racist.” Beck complained that he shouldn’t be the “target” for “asking” if Obama is a racist. Then he turned snarky as Couric persisted with her line of questioning:

COURIC: People just want to know. What is white culture?

BECK: I’m going to see if I can play your game. People just want to know.

COURIC: You know, well, [Twitter questioner] Adrian wants to know.

BECK: That’s good for Adrian.

Conservatives are always so quick to accuse black people of playing the mythical “race card” but so quick to use that against racial flamethrowers like Glenn Beck who use race to strike fear in older, conservative whites. Then, the elitist Beck finishes this portion of the interview by showing a complete lack of respect and disregard not only for Katie Couric, but also for a questioner who just wanted to have this point clarified. Beck is an immature coward who was called out for his comments and did not have the guts to explain himself and his bigoted comments that could be reasonably viewed as racist (particularly with no explanation or any kind of sufficient context).

Imagine if a high-profile black television show host had accused George W. Bush of being racist and said he had a deep-seated hatred for black people or the black culture. People like Beck would have been all over such a person … charging such an individual with playing the so-called race card. Look how viciously Beck and others attacked Van Jones, who said nothing even remotely as controversial as Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh regularly bark out on their shows. Yet, Jones was attacked and demonized by the conservative media (Beck, Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and others).

Good for Katie Couric to challenge Glenn Beck. It’s a shame he didn’t have the character to stand by his hateful comment and instead covered up like a coward.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/24/beck-white-culture/

Fox News Again Blames ‘Liberal Media’

Fox News host Chris Wallace oftentimes struggles to conceal his right-wing lean relating to discussions that are supposedly unbiased. Once again, Wallace lived up to this reputation as he hosted a segment discussing President Obama’s popularity and his popularity with the media. Consider these two exchanges posted by Crooks and Liars writer Nicole Belle.

CHRIS WALLACE: So let’s go over the record, and let’s put it up on the screen. CBS is running an interview today with Barack Obama , “An American Dad.” ABC is running coverage throughout the day on Wednesday of President Obama’s health care plan including a prime-time town hall. NBC just ran two specials, “Inside the Obama White House.” Tom Brokaw was named this week to a presidential commission. And Newsweek has put Mr. Obama on the cover 19 times since 2004. Steve Hayes, how do you explain all of that?

STEVE HAYES: A lot of people call Newsweek now “Obamaweek” because they’ve put him on so often. Look, I mean, clearly, his joke about rolling over and finding Brian Williams is more than just a joke. I mean, I think the sense is – and you’ve provided evidence that it’s true – that he’s in bed – the media are in bed with Barack Obama.

That’s clever, Hayes.

First off, Fox News spent a lot of time in bed with President Bush, Vice President Cheney and, during the 2008 campaign, with Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin. Plus, Barack Obama sells right now and popularly so (much to the obvious annoyance of conservatives like those in power at Fox News). The media is supposed to cover news events, but the media also needs ratings and to make sales. President Obama is hot right now and he moves product. Fox News, as another example, capitalizes on President Obama by spending ample time criticizing nearly his every move.

MARA LIASSON: On the other hand, some of those numbers are reflective of — look, Bill Clinton had an incredibly chaotic first 100 days. There was a pratfall every other day to cover. George Bush was the result of — I’m assuming that was the first term — was the result of…

WALLACE: Yes.

LIASSON: … a contested election. And Barack Obama came in as a real majority winner. He has a big majority in Congress.

WALLACE: Oh, come on, don’t you think some of it is because he’s got liberal ideas?

Liasson is correct in the points she makes. People felt that Bush had stolen the election (whether you agree or disagree) and Clinton had some struggles coming out of the blocks. Still, it’s unbelievable naive to ignore the history we’ve seen in this country with the presidential election of 2008. We elected a young and charismatic president. He is the first non-white male to be named president of the United States of America (he is the first black man to serve as president). We witnessed history. We’re witnessing history. Wallace, like so many on Fox News, is obsessed with perceptions of liberal media bias while ignoring their own bias in reporting so consistently against President Obama. Look how much time Fox News spends on President Obama.

Republicans set the pace during the previous eight years when they had George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in office.

Democrats have the power and get the attention.

Crooks and Liars:

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fox-news

Oh Well … Looks Like Sarah Palin Is Going To Try And Get More Publicity

It looks like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is going to try and score some more political points off this whole mini-feud with comedian David Letterman. As I suspected, it looks like she is about to hit the talk-show circuit to bring more publicity to what she claimed was so offensive to her and her family.

From Huffington Post:

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be sitting down for a live interview with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show Friday in which she is expected to discuss her thoughts on the future of the GOP, and, even better, her recent feud with David Letterman over jokes he made about her and her family on his show Monday. Palin will be speaking from Texas, NBC says.

I guess she couldn’t let it go, but that is her choice.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/11/sarah-palin-today-show-in_n_214587.html

Laura Ingraham And Bill O’Reilly Are Off Target Yet Again

The bitter backlash from conservative talking heads Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham. O’Reilly has taken a lot of heat for some of his hateful comments toward Dr. George Tiller, a man who legally provided abortions to women in need. Dr. Tiller was assassinated this week by a man who appears to be an anti-abortion extremist who was willing to stop at nothing to stop a man like Dr. George Tiller. Also, recently in the news, is the story of a man (23-year-old Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad) who is being named as the killer of a soldier and a wounder of another due to his anger about the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the case of Dr. George Tiller, this is a tragic crime that can not and must not go unpunished.

Here is where the story gets interesting. As O’Reilly and others on the far right have been taking heat for their hateful rhetoric toward Dr. Tiller that may have lit the fuse for his murder, the conservative commentator appeared to be teaming with Ingraham (a fellow right winger) to exploit the tragedy of the soldier’s murder to again attack liberals, including NBC and MSNBC.

Consider these remarks from Ingraham and O’Reilly (as reported by Think Progress):

INGRAHAM: Are we now going to look at the websites that he frequented to see if he was on some of the crazy left-wing anti-war websites, Win Without War, George Soros-funded websites, DailyKos, all the crazies. … The way they are reporting on the George Tiller murder, all of talk radio was responsible for that. … Did he frequent MSNBC, did he like to watch it? [...]

O’REILLY: Since they have been unrelenting in describing their country as a torture nation, I’m sure that set this Muslim guy off to kill one and wound another of our military and I’m sure that’s NBC’s fault. Look, the absurdity of this is beyond the pale.

Whilere there is some tongue-in-cheek here (perhaps from O’Reilly), I suspect, but the thought behind the words is unmistakable. Whether Muhammad may or may not have watched liberal networks or read liberal blogs is irrelevant in this case. Muhammad has expressed (to the law enforcement officials) that he was angered by the deaths of Muslims in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Here is an article from the New York Times:

In a lengthy interview with the police, Mr. Muhammad said he was angry about the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chief Thomas said. Previously known as Carlos Bledsoe, Mr. Muhammad told investigators that he had converted to Islam as a teenager, Chief Thomas said.

Chief Thomas said investigators believe that Mr. Muhammad acted alone. He seemed to be familiar with the Army recruiting office because it was not far from his home, the chief said, but might have been on the prowl for anyone in uniform.

“I would say he was looking for any and all targets of opportunity that happened to be military,” the chief said in a telephone interview. “That may have well been the first place he found.”

Mr. Muhammad will be charged with one count of capital murder and 15 counts of terroristic acts, one for each person who was hit or endangered by the shots he fired. Thirteen people were in the recruiting office at the time.

Muhammad’s reprehensible actions, based on police interrogation, were motivated by the results of the war … not by hate speech.

On the victims:

The dead soldier was identified as Pvt. William A. Long, 23, of Conway, about 30 miles north of Little Rock. The other victim, Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, was in stable condition at Baptist Medical Center, Chief Stuart Thomas of the Little Rock Police Department said.

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/us/02recruit.html?_r=1