Is Chris Matthews the most evolved white man in America?
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews often gets criticized for being quick at the lip, and sometimes he says things he later has to take back (often because people think they’re sexist.) But when it comes to race, Matthews is probably the only white person on television, and certainly the only white male, who regularly and fearlessly confronts the issue of race — and I mean all the time, not just on MLK Day. Matthews, who can veer from liberal to in awe of Republicans (most of his relatives are Republicans, apparently, but he served in the Peace Corps, then worked for Jimmy Carter, and his son worked on the Obama campaign) at a moment’s notice, has an encyclopedic knowledge of American history, and maybe that’s why his views on racial matters are so fully formed. Whether you agree with him or not, you can’t say Chris is a “coward” when dealing with this issue. That said, MSNBC’s special “Obama’s America” was certainly not an open and shut solution to all things racial in America. But it was interesting, touching on everything from affirmative action to the birthers, and I give the guy a lot of credit for doing it. Here’s a clip:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Get more clips here. One more thing, in the category “dramatic changes of circumstance”: a year ago, Tavis Smiley would have been on that panel, right …?
Oh for Pete’s sake … Reid apologizes AGAIN
… and highlights his civil rights record. You know what I’d like to see Harry apologize for? Letting Joe Lieberman keep his gavel. Okay, fellas, time to move along. I know there’s got to be some news to report out there somewhere… By the way if you still haven’t had enough and you want to get a gander at how ridiculous right wingers look talking about racism? See here. The overstimulated guy on the far right is Ann Coulter.
Related: Michael Steele, who thinks it’s okay to still be using the racist term “honest injun,” (and who has yet to step down over his racist remarks or even accept that the phrase is considered racist) and who performs a daily, unsolicited minstrel show for his almost exclusively white political party, rips Reid’s “1950s mindset.” And “honest injun” is what… 1930s???
Was Harry Reid right?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
UPDATE: The Democratic push-back against Reid’s GOP critics is about to kick into high gear. Republicans go after the race issue at their peril…
Republicans apparently are apparently determined to try and make political hay out of the remarks by Harry Reid, as reported in the political tome “Game Change,” about then-Senator Barack Obama’s prospects for becoming the first Black president, based in part on his “light skin” and “lack of a Negro dialect, unless he wants to have one,” not because they have developed some sudden racial sensitivity (based on the party’s embraced on the racially tinged Tea Party movement, they haven’t,) but according to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC this morning, as a back-door way to derail healthcare reform. And while the chances of Reid stepping down as Senate majority leader, based on the remarks, are somewhere between nil and zero (even the Congressional Black Caucus has come out in support of him,) there is an actual debate to be had: whether what Reid said, as indelicately as he said it, was true. Read more
WTF? The Census counting ‘negroes’
What year is it … 1935??? And who at the Census Bureau had the bright idea to include this on the form?”
Question No. 9 on this year’s census form asks about race, with one of the answers listed as “black, African-Am. or Negro.”
Census Bureau spokesman Jack Martin said the use of “Negro” was intended as a term of inclusion.
“Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do,” he said. “Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included.”
The form was also approved by Congress more than a year ago, and the word has appeared on past forms. (Read more: here)
In fact, the Census folks claim that they included “Negro” on the 2010 form because back in 2000, they got the response as a write-in from some respondents who filled out the form, so they’re “trying to be inclusive.” So, what, if a few dozen people write in “nigga,” are they gonna add that in 2020? And where was the Congressional Black Caucus when that particular vote happened? Was everybody like … on a junket somewhere? Negro please…
Will the Cablinasian community rise to Tiger’s defense?
**UPDATE: More blonde bombshells for Tiger … details at the end of the post. (sigh) **
An AP article by a reporter named Jesse Washington states that Tiger’s multiple flings with non-black women are causing agita within the African-American community. Who knew that black people were still trying to claim Tiger Woods? Didn’t he opt out, like years ago, on “Oprah?” … Read more
Glenn Beck: ‘THESE black people love me!’
Some guy named Brian Reynolds has done us the considerable favor of declaring all talk of Glenn Beck’s racism to be dead, dead, dead, following the re-airing of his November-era town hall for black conservatives, dubbed “Time to be Heard!” Reynolds Twitter-gushes:
Glenn Beck’s black panel is now playing on FNC! I think the argument of him being a racist is NOW put to rest. Thank you!
You’re welcome. And thank goodness that’s all cleared up. The Fox News host, who famously declared President Obama to be a racist, and gave up about 80 advertisers as a result, apparently has found at least one studio’s worth of black people who don’t “hate the white culture.” And he sat down with them to discuss their pain…
So, about that leprosy thing…
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. From Politico:
Perhaps thinking of a future political career, former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs softened his harsh anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric during an interview Tuesday, telling the viewers of the Spanish-speaking network Telemundo that “I am one of your greatest friends.”
“I want to engage in a meaningful and constructive dialogue and work with those who will work toward real solutions,” said Dobbs, who once falsely accused illegal immigrants of carrying leprosy into the United States.
I mean, what’s a little accusation of spreading leprosy and destroying the country ust by being Mexican, between friends? A Dobbs, Palin, Beck primary in 2012? PLEASE???
NASCAR driver on ‘taco’ remark: ‘who is Bob Griese?’
Bob Griese, former Miami Dolphins football great and current sports commentator, extended the fine tradition established by men like Jimmy the Greek, Howard Cosell, Al Campanis and Rush “Never, Ever Gonna Be an NFL Team Owner (heehee!)” Limbaugh on ESPN this week, and has been handed a draconian one week suspension for it. Meanwhile, over at Fox Sports, Griese’s fan base proves the troglodytes are alive and well in America (scroll down to comments.) The story:
ESPN's Griese brought low over 'taco' remark.
During ESPN’s broadcast of the Minnesota-Ohio State game Saturday, a graphic was shown listing the top five drivers in NASCAR’s points race. Fellow analyst Chris Spielman asked where was Montoya, who is Colombian.
Griese replied he was “out having a taco.”
He has twice apologized on air for the remark.
Who does he think he is, Lou Dobbs? And how hard am I fighting the urge to make a “Bob’s Griese taco” joke…? (Answer: really, really hard…) Meanwhile, Montoya reportedly shrugged off the remark, and said he really has no idea who Bob Griese is. Now THAT’s insulting. And now for some greatest hits… Read more
Sharpton v. Limbaugh, round five
It's the Rev vs. the Rush in a battle over NFL dreams denied
“You’re saying I’m being racist because I’m saying blacks can’t swim.”
– Rush Limbaugh on why the African-American team on CBS’ “Survivor”
show will lose to the white team. “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” Aug. 23, 2006
In Round One of our battle royal, the Rev. Al Sharpton attempted to pull a Don Imus on Rush Limbaugh, the race-baiting radio blabbermouth who thought it wisdom to try and buy into a professional football team in a league where two-thirds of the players are black, and which he has described on the air as “like the Crips vs. the Bloods without the weapons.” In Round Two, El Rushbo declared, for the umpteenth time, Sharpton to be a “race hustler.” In Round Three, Dave Checketts thought it wisdom to drop Limbaugh from a bid it was stupid to include him in in the first place, vindicating the Rev. In Round Four, a dejected Rush declared his ouster to be the beginning of the End of All Things (and the Dittoheads said, “pass the Kool-Aid…”) and then, a still-dejected Rush, stripped of his lifelong dream of being a part of the National Football League, rather than a grown-up, angry, rich version of the fat, pimply kid the jocks in school used to lock in his locker, pending rescue by a kindly science teacher who happened to be walking by, wrote this in the Wall Street Journal:
David Checketts, an investor and owner of sports teams, approached me in late May about investing in the St. Louis Rams football franchise. As a football fan, I was intrigued. I invited him to my home where we discussed it further. Even after informing him that some people might try to make an issue of my participation, Mr. Checketts said he didn’t much care. I accepted his offer.
It didn’t take long before my name was selectively leaked to the media as part of the Checketts investment group. Shortly thereafter, the media elicited comments from the likes of Al Sharpton. In 1998 Mr. Sharpton was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay $65,000 for falsely accusing a New York prosecutor of rape in the 1987 Tawana Brawley case. He also played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews “diamond merchants”) and 1995 Freddie’s Fashion Mart riot.
In Round Five, Reverend Al is threatening to sue: Read more
The ‘Pass Rush’ movement marches on: Colts owner says he’d vote no on Limbaugh
So far, we’ve heard from black players, the head of the NFL player’s union, football fans, pundits, and Al Sharpton. For the first time, we’re also hearing from a current NFL team owner on whether racist talk radio fatty Rush Limbaugh would be welcomed in as the Marge Schott of the National Football League. And, to quote Simon Cowell, “it’s a no” … Read more
Connect
Book deals
Links
Finalist: Best Liberal Blog
Poll
Loading ...
