Leave Chris Matthews alone!
ThinkProgress and Politico, along with a slew of snarky, right wing and/or self-righteous non-right wing bloggers, hit MSNBC host Chris Matthews tonight for marveling at how he “forgot Barack Obama was black” as he watched the state of the union address.
And while I love ThinkP (and tolerate Politico,) the implication that Matthews’ comment was somehow racially insensitive, or indicated he thought someone “too black” couldn’t lead the country (TP’s take) is what you might politely call “B.S.” Read more
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
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…
Harlem gospel choir just says no to Glenn Beck
Today's freedom marchers will hear from Glenn Beck.
… leading inquiring minds to ask: why would Glenn “Obama hates white people” Beck want to have a black choir singing for him anyway? And I guess we’ve finally figured out what Glenn thinks the appropriate place for Black people — singing in a choir behind Glenn Beck! Read more
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???
From black to white: Sammy Sosa pulling a Michael Jackson?
So … Sammy Sosa is a white dude now? Check out the change in his complexion, from his early days to a Vegas appearance last week:
Something’s definitely up. But according to a friend of Sosa’s it’s not vitiligo … or steroids … or an act of God:
“He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson,” former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis, who talks frequently with Sosa, told the Tribune.
“He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of (the photo appearance) is just the lighting.
“The picture is deceiving. He said, ‘If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture,’” Polihronis told the paper.
Uh -huh. Well he certainly looks … rejuvenated? NBC Chicago has more pictures of Sosa through the years.
Along comes Al (as Rush breaks out his violin)
First it’s the head of the NFL Player’s Union, (and several past and current players themselves) and now, Al Sharpton is throwing his weight behind the push to bar Rush Limbaugh from the NFL owners’ fraternity. Here we go …
Al Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network, urged the N.F.L. on Monday to reject conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s potential bid to buy the St. Louis Rams and asked for a meeting with N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell. It’s the latest indication of the brushfire Limbaugh’s involvement in the bid has caused, months before N.F.L. owners are likely to consider a new ownership group for the Rams.
In a letter, Sharpton asked the N.F.L. to reject Limbaugh because he would be bad for the league. Goodell will respond to the letter when he gets it, the league spokesman Greg Aiello said. Goodell is currently in Boston for three days of owners meetings.
Limbaugh taped an interview for the “Today” show that will appear Tuesday and Wednesday, in which he said the attention generated by his attempt to buy the Rams shows that his detractors want to pigeonhole him.
“They’re just gonna go nuts,” Limbaugh said of his detractors, according to a written account of the interview on MSNBC.com. “This is the kind of stuff they’ve been trying to make sure doesn’t happen with me. All this stuff is the mainstreaming of Rush Limbaugh from off this far-right fringe they’ve tried to put me. I just keep tiptoeing into the mainstream. And it just irritates them.”
And did I mention that the Checketts-Limbaugh bid is being handled by Goldman Sachs? Talk about throwing in with the bad guys… And guess who else is part of the Rush Limbaugh roadshow — offering further proof that his bombast is rooted in a lot of things, none of them related to principle — if you guessed George Soros, gold star for you!
Meanwhile, Rush’s biggest defender emerges: and it’s Stephen A. Smith? And Limbaugh puts his PR drive into overdrive, appearng on the “Today Show” where he claims that aw, shucks, folks, he’s just lying to his audience for money, and then trying to convince his dittoheads (or is it the NFL owners?) that he’s “colorblind”… Read more
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