Sunday, September 20, 2009

Liberal McCarthyism says George Will

What Percentage of People that oppose Obama's policies do so only because they don't like black people?

100%
 
 0

80%
 
 1

60%
 
 0

40%
 
 1

20%
 
 2

5%
 
 2

George Will on 'Liberal McCarthyism': 'When In Doubt, Blame Racism'

Leave it to George Will to perfectly explain in just two words all the recent accusations by Democrats and their media minions that anti-government sentiment sweeping the nation is caused by racism.

Liberal McCarthyism.

Delicious.

Fortunately for those not understanding the reference, Will explained further when the Roundtable discussion on Sunday's "This Week" turned to all the recent pronouncements of racism directed at anyone having the nerve to challenge President Obama's agenda (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):

What we’re hearing is the liberals’ McCarthyism, which is, when in doubt, blame people for racism. Litigators have an old argument: When the law’s on your side, argue the law. When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When neither’s on your side, pound the table. This amounts to pounding the table.

I have yet to see evidence, is there -- does evidence even intrude in this conversation? Is there any evidence that these people are racists? I think not.

Unfortunately, those pounding the table include so-called journalists who should be exposing the lack of evidence rather than participating in the charade.

Kurtz Accidentally Exposes Hypocrisy In Media's Race Baiting

On Sunday, Howard Kurtz accidentally exposed how poorly the media report on issues of race, and how they not only use implications of prejudice to "[pump] steroids into an ordinary story," they also either ignore important events or badly misreport them due to their own biases.

In the first segment on the most recent installment of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Kurtz and his panel discussed comments made by various press members last week that opposition to Barack Obama's agenda is being fueled by racism.

Kurtz as he normally does had the last word: 

My two cents is the President told NBC, "The media love to have a conversation about race," and I agree with it. You take any story -- it could be Jeremiah Wright, it could be Henry Louis Gates, it could be the Duke rape case -- and once you inject race into that -- as the media sometimes have no choice but to do, but sometimes love to do -- it's like pumping steroids into an ordinary story. It makes it live on for weeks and weeks and months and months. You know, a white Harvard professor gets arrested in a dustup with a police, or a misunderstanding with a police officer in Cambridge, it's a two-paragraph story. It happens to a black professor, particularly probably one like Gates, and we all jump on it.

Unfortunately, what Kurtz failed to point out was that in two of the examples he gave -- Duke and Gates -- the press's own prejudices and biases caused them to badly get the story wrong.

Newsweek's Kelley: Protests Against Obama Are Because He's Black

Media cries of racism every time someone criticizes Barack Obama are becoming quite commonplace now, but this one from Newsweek's Raina Kelley takes the cake:

Let me say this clearly so there are no misunderstandings: some of the protests against President Obama are howls of rage at the fact that we have an African-American head of state. I'm sick of all the code words used when this subject comes up, so be assured that I am saying exactly what I mean.

Got that? 

Well, in case you're at all confused, Kelley made things crystal clear in her article published Saturday amazingly titled, "Play the Race Card" (h/t Tim Graham):


When "Tea Party" leader Mark Williams ap-pears [sic] on CNN and speaks of "working-class people" taking "their" country back from a lawfully elected president, he is not just protesting Obama's politics; he is griping over the fact that this country's most powerful positions are no longer just for white men.

You believe this nonsense? But it got worse:

Did anyone think it would be otherwise? There were always going to be aftershocks in an Obama presidency. Landmark events that change the paradigm between black and white people don't happen without repercussions—some are still complaining about Brown v. Board of Education. Black skin has meant something very specific in this country for hundreds of years. It has meant "less than," "not as good as," "separate than," and even "equal to." It has never meant "better than" unless you were talking about dancing, singing, or basketball. Obama represents "better than," and that's scary for people who think of black people as shaved gorillas.

Amazing. But then Kelley went from merely offensive to downright silly:

This hesitancy to even speak of racism widens the divide between readers and the journalists who are supposed to be covering the world as it is, not as they want it to be.

Are you kidding? 

From the moment Barack Obama gave his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, American media have been falling over themselves at the thought of him becoming the first black president.

Obama's 'Extraordinary Media Blitz' Begins Friday Night with Focus on Racism Charge

Television network journalists on Friday night marveled at President Barack Obama's planned “media blitz” for health care reform even as they, the enablers, reveled in it as they made the very “blitz” and clips from the interviews (conducted Friday afternoon for airing on Sunday morning) their top story of the day. Based on those excerpts, the Sunday hosts were most interested in getting Obama's take on the “tone” of the health care debate (Obama blamed cable TV and blogs) and whether opposition is driven by racism. The teases:

♦ ABC's Charles Gibson at the top of World News: “Tonight, mass media. The President launches another media blitz on health care, and addresses whether race might be behind some of the criticisms of his plan.” (Gibson led by admiring: “On five, count them, five Sunday morning talk shows the guest will be Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama and Obama. That's never been done before...”)

♦ CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric: “Tonight, from Sunday morning to Monday night, the President's TV blitz for health care reform.”

♦ Brian Williams at the start of the NBC Nightly News: “On our broadcast tonight, an extraordinary media blitz by the President and now the First Lady steps in and tonight our own David Gregory asks the President directly about race and President Carter's charges.”

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