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Juan Williams, Fox commentator, in even-handed NPR fashion, asks the racism question:
On Morning Edition, NPR news analyst Juan Williams told host Renee Montagne that many in the black and Hispanic communities see what they think is a pattern that adds up to a "lack of basic acceptance of the stature that's to be accorded any president."
Among the elements of that perceived pattern:
-- Questions from so-called birthers about whether the president was actually born in the USA (he was; in Hawaii).
-- Objections from some to having the president address schoolchildren.
-- Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "you lie!" during Obama's address to a joint session of Congress last week.
Anderson Cooper calls out a "Tea Party" leader for calling Obama an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief":
Rush Limbaugh stokes racial fires with misinformation:
Limbaugh echoes Malkin:
"In Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, 'Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on... I wonder if Obama's going to come to come to the defense of the assailants the way he did his friend Skip Gates up there at Harvard."
I'm sorry but this is outrageous. The story was a classic schoolbus bully incident; it could happen anywhere any time and has happened everywhere at all times with kids of all races, backgrounds and religions. To infer both that it was racially motivated and that this is somehow connected to having a black president is repulsive. I know that is almost de trop with Limbaugh, but sometimes you have to regain a little shock. This man is spewing incendiary racial hatred. He is conjuring up images of lonely whites being besieged by angry violent blacks ... based on an incident that had nothing to do with race at all. And why, by the way, does someone immediately go to the racial angle when looking at such a tape?
Yep, the Police Chief in the town admits that he overreacted at first (Glen Beck fan?) and that the incident "does not appear to be racially motivated."
...so why the hell is America stepping in it?
11 comments:
HOLY CRAP, if the situation was turned around the ACLU, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton would be down in East St. Louis so fast just to get in their sound bites. This was not a classic bully situation, watch the whole video this was a case of no one wanted to sit next to him because he was white. When the bus driver told him to take a seat, he got beat up.
Racism goes both ways. Why did the "Glenn Beck listening" chief go back on what he said? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SAY THOSE THINGS!
Call the president a liar? YOU'RE A RACIST.
Back to the bus whitey? If not your getting beaten up? YOU'RE JUST A BULLY.
Why can't you admit this is a hate crime? Please just admit your wrong on this. This goes so far past the tea baggers, Glenn Beck and Fox.
If the kid was gay, black, latino, chinese, albino, canadian, or persian, and the tables were reversed I know for a fact you among with anyone else would be screaming for blood.
Jeez maybe if Rosa Parks got beaten up it wouldn't of been racism, maybe it would of just been a big bully. If people laughed at the bully beating on Miss Parks, that's just people acting stupid. I bet you Miss Parks is rolling over in her grave over this, disgusted.
I really thought Obama had a chance to finally unite America, and shed this silly racism thing. I guess not.
You ask why America is stepping in?
Ask Mr. Henry Gates. Since the President felt it was necessary to step in on a non-issue, everything is under the microscope.
Sometimes it seems with some of these daily topics, that you could not possibly stand by the opinion you are presenting.
Honestly, I wish I knew why Republitards are so terrified of blackies. I must've got 40+ emails about the schoolbus thing yesterday from various 'tard weirdos I know. Why? I have no idea. So far as I can recall I've never sent anybody emails about unarmed blacks getting shot by white cops, various racist spewings from 'tard Party Leader Limbaugh, etc.
I'm starting to think 'tards view these rare reverse-racist events the same way UFO believers view a flashing light in the sky -- as some sort of proof of something rattling around inside their tinfoiled noggins that will vindicate their own delusions and show the rest of us that that they are geniuses rather than just sick.
Unfortunately, we have a White House that is using the race thing as a political weapon. Because of this everything regarding race will be scrutinized. If you don't see that before you call anyone a Republitard you should look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself "Am I Sam?"
Duude!! I didn’t know you were a ‘tard! I thought from your past comments you were one of Ron Paul’s fellow space travelers yeaning for a home on Mars far far away from the oppressive yoke of the Fed, welfare queens, and BHO’s death panels! Welcome back to the mainstream, such as it is.
Over here on Earth, it’s not the White House using race as a political issue as you whimsically posit; this schoolbus flap is the result of all the usual suspects – Drudge, Limbaugh, Malkin, Beck, etc, etc – trying rather heavyhandedly as usual for the umpteenth time to whip the know-nothing racists in their audience into a frenzy of hate-fueled terror. To believe otherwise, one would have to have passed through to the other side of the mirror.
As for your larger question – does being opposed to BHO’s policies make one a racist – I doubt that anyone other than maybe Al Sharpton takes that strawman seriously, but it is of course a fact that race-baiting has been a well-thought out and constantly (and often successfully) employed tool of the Republitard Party for the past 40 years. It is also a fact that among those sturdy patriots – Beck’s 100 million, um, 2 million, um, 50,000 teabaggers – we’re seeing a lot of posters of monkeys, references to the jungle, etc.
Personally I believe that the ‘tards have learned in the past they can make utterly ridiculous claims (examples here are legion -- Whitewater, Swift Boat, “I invented the Internet,” the Michelle “Whitey” tape, etc – so I’ll skip the details), get all the airtime they want, get treated as some sort of rational segment of the national discourse, and damage the credibility of a Democratic president or candidate. This is just more of the same and will continue for the next 7 years assuming Fox is still a network in need of a frothing audience and the Republitards still a political party in need of angry & uninformed voters.
That’s all this is: same old shit from the same old shitbags.
I will also note that, since the local police chief in the schoolbus thing has determined the affair not to be race-motivated, Limbaugh, Malkin, et al, haven’t offered any corrections but rather declared that this is merely evidence of a WH-led conspiracy to silence patriotic truth-tellers. Also par for the course.
Where is this 2nd Earth you speak of. A majority of Americans do not approve of the Health Care plan presented by the President. But we all knew that was going to happen. Bring legislation that is absolutely ludicrous, then tone it down. Then pass a compromise (with a public option), declare victory, and watch the private health insurance industry burn out. (I know you're a smart guy Netter, and I know you see that would be the result / goal)
BTW 45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul. Ouch, the doctors no likey the plan.
Mr. Anonymous... The White House never plays the race card? Since I've been quoting BB lately: I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said. It seems in the left's playbook, it's the goto bread and butter play. However things aren't working out so well with this reform that it's now their Hail Mary play.
Former President Jimmy Carter calls Rep. Wilson's outburst at President Obama 'based on racism'"
But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
Number two, the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that's just a fact.
If you dissent your a racist or a nazi
But let me live in your world for a day Mr. Anonymous. It seems to be a happy place, sunshine rainbows and lollipops, where all you have todo is pass laws and things happen. No need to look at the Cause & Effect. No substance, just ideals. Just Hope. Everyone has the right to breathe there for we should wipe their ass for them. Oh and if people don't agree with me I'll just label them as a tard.
Sorry, bud, but you're relying on a bunch of nonsense to try to make a case that won't fly.
Your argument -- parroting Limbaugh, Drudge, et al -- is that BHO has created the whole environment of race baiting. To anyone who knows the recent history of the USA or the tactics of the Repub party, this is just ridiculous. Nonetheless, you offer these facts as to BHO creating this environment:
1) Comments by Jimmy Carter, not BHO
2) A Column by Maureen Dowd, not BHO
3) The Henry Gates thing, about which you write: "Since the President felt it was necessary to step in on a non-issue, everything is under the microscope," which is again, complete nonsense. BHO didn't jump into this, HE WAS ASKED ABOUT THIS BY A JOURNALIST, and rather than giving the expedient political non-answer he answered with what almost any reasonable person would regard as a fairly innocuous statement: That arresting someone as a burglar in his own home is stupid, and that the police in this country have a history of leaning on minorities in greater #'s than whites. Both of these statements are true, and as far as I can tell completely uncontroversial. Yet from the crying and caterwauling of the Drudge crowd you'd think BHO said we should all fall on knees before Sharia law (another popular meme in the crackpot crowd).
and
4) A clip of Nancy Pelosi accurately commenting on the teabagger swastika signs, which Fox has been dishonestly promoting -- and you repeating -- as "If you dissent you're a Nazi."
BTW: you still haven't commented on the E. St. Louis Police Chief calling this schoolbus thing (itself a tiny pointless story blown up by the Drudge crowd) something other than what you seem to need to believe it is (although I'm not sure why anybody with a life should give a shit about 1 of the thousands of altercations that happen everyday in America). Are you calling this proud American warrior a liar, and if so, why do you hate America so much?
BTW2: thanks for the nonsense from the well known cranks at Investors Business Daily who are to this day still claiming BHO is a closet Muslim, an "African nativist," a proselytizer of children, and who were of course the puveyors of the brilliant "If Stephen Hawking lived in Britain, he'd be dead" comedy news report. Huge hint: just cause you see something on the web doesn't mean it's true.
BTW3: The only debunking I've ever heard from here about the Teabagger movement. (Which I'm not a part of) is they're racists and they can't count. 75,000 vs. 1,500,000 big deal, discredit the movement on exaggerations. All of the polices brought forth won't stand.
BTW4: On the issue of E. St Louis, my point was you so easily discount it. When if it was the other way around people would be using words like "Hate Crime." Who cares about the intent, if the crime has been done.
I'll tell you who cares, the people that made the laws. The same people that label hate crimes, and add additional penalties instead of making them just normal crimes.
My correlation is since the White House seems to be quick in sticking it's nose into everyone's business, well except when things are a very touchy subject. The Beer Summit was just to save face after getting involved. But to judge in one case that creates precedent, so now I need to hear a nice prepared teleprompter speech of how we should be unified and be one and blah blah blah.
Also where did I say Obama has created this environment? Are you a mind reader? Cause if you are, you really suck at it.
BTW5: Any stat you bring I will just debunk now to, because of I'm sure they had one publication at one point that made an outrageous claim, or maybe because they have a particular advertiser. Regardless if the stat was inflated, if 30%, 20% or 10% was the number, wouldn't you think that would be a really bad thing? No of course not, you're drowning in the Kool-Aid.
BTW6: Which brings me to the point, I don't hate America. I actually like how America has been, I've never screamed for CHANGE.
Maybe it's you who doesn't like the United States.
BHO didn't jump into this, HE WAS ASKED ABOUT THIS BY A JOURNALIST.
What the President should have said:
I don't know enough about the situation to comment.
But he did comment, so I don't think it's complete nonsense. But you don't see that because JC part 2 continues to walk on water.
1) C'mon man, get a grip on yourself. Do you really believe that 45% (or 10% or whatever) of doctors in the country will quit if BHO's healthcare plan passes? I'll buy you dinner if that happens. I'm not nit-picking on IBD; it isn't reliable on anything except mkt data.
2) Yes, I discount E. StL. It's one of the millions of daily events in this great land that I don't have the time to give a shit about. The only reason I even know about it is because RW asswipes have been promoting it to their terrified listeners as confirmation of their worst brain-damaged fears about what would happen if a black guy was elected. If you can think of any other reason this piddly event should be a national news item, I'm all ears. Ps: Guys like Limbaugh will NEVER stop this because it gives meaning to the lives of his idiot listeners and puts $millions in his pocket every year.
3) I'm sorry for you that you don't like change; I'd didn't like that GWB was an simpleton who wanted to turn the clock back to 1750, but this is America, we hold elections, and the "Change" guy won. You're just gonna have to get over it and man up for the next 4 yrs.
4) Unlike you, I'm glad BHO gave the answer he did about the Gates thing, right or wrong. I'd rather have elected officials who aren't afraid to say what they really think rather than the usual bland non-answers that these guys usually spew.
5) However, I deplore hate crime legislation, which is really thought crime legislation. So see, we have found some common ground here. GOD HOW I LOVE POST-PARTISAN AMERICA!!!!
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