Posted on 09/24/2009 11:13:50 AM PDT by nickcarraway
With admirable calm, President Obama has sought to deflect the supercharged politics of race by expressing his optimism about American attitudes and ignoring the most extreme statements by his critics. For his own sake, as well as the nation’s, he is wise to give a pass to the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. That is not, however, what they deserve.
The behavior of those media provocateurs over the past few months is almost beyond parody. They call the president a racist, even though there is no evidence of prejudice on his part and much evidence to the contrary. They demand that nobody should ever point out racial prejudice, but spend hours on the airwaves making false claims of bias against whites. And they whine constantly about being called racists, even though the president has never made that accusation against them.
“You can’t get your agenda,” protested Beck the other day, speaking of the president, “so you unleash the hounds and point the fingers, and everybody is a racist.” That was around the same time Obama’s spokesman said quite emphatically that the president does not believe his opponents are motivated by racism.
But since Beck and Limbaugh seem to be obsessed with this touchy subject, let’s examine their record. It turns out that both established their keen racial sensitivity on air long ago.
Back when Beck was simply a coked-out zoo-style morning talk jock on a Kentucky station—rather than a national political philosopher—he regularly mimicked African-American speech patterns for fun. “He used to do a funny ‘black guy’ character, really over the top,” recalls one of his former colleagues, quoted by biographer Alexander Zaitchik in a fascinating Salon profile.
Beck also became a devotee of the Mormon crank author and conspiracy theorist W. Cleon Skousen, whose writings he enthusiastically promotes to this day. Among Skousen’s pet theories was that Southern slave owners were actually the victims of the plantation system, which according to him favored the lazy and pampered slaves, whose children he called “pickaninnies.” Like his ultraright friends in the John Birch Society and kindred groups, Skousen was a dedicated foe of civil rights legislation.
Does that mean Beck is a bigot? If Obama had ever endorsed the writings of Louis Farrakhan, replete with vile slurs against whites and especially Jews, that would certainly be enough for Beck—who says he believes that the president has “a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture.” That must be why the Obama White House has so many whites of all ethnic and religious backgrounds advising the president, from the Cabinet down.
As for Limbaugh, perhaps nobody remembers the time that he told a black caller to “take that bone out of your nose”; or the time when he said the nonviolent NAACP “should get a liquor store and practice robberies”; or the many times when he would play the “Movin’ On Up” theme from the old “Jeffersons” TV show to accompany his commentary about Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman in the United States Senate. He used to do mocking bits in black dialect, too. But who needs to remember those sorry episodes when he continues that ugly pattern on air nearly every day?
The Limbaugh show reached a new low recently when he began a campaign around a school-bus incident in Belleville, Ill., in which two black students were videotaped beating up a white kid. Police authorities first said they believed the assailants were motivated by race, but later said it was just a nasty bullying assault (for which the two little thugs are now being prosecuted).
But Limbaugh could not resist the opportunity to turn that nastiness into something much more dangerous. “It’s Obama’s America, is it not? Obama’s America—white kids getting beat up on school buses now. I mean, you put your kids on a school bus, you expect safety, but in Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up, with the black kids cheering.” In a more reflective mood, he later asked, “Can this nation really have an African-American president?”
Yes, we can—and despite the racial poison spread by Beck and Limbaugh, most Americans are proud that at long last, we do.
He's a racist, Jim. And an elitist, a Marxist, and a highly flawed man. But being a faux-Christian is plenty of reason for me to dislike the hypocrite, no matter what his color.
I don’t think the racism charge is working anymore.
It’s the racist canard again. It’s all that the libs have. Most of them know that it’s a false claim, but some actually believe it. It never dawned on them that people don’t want socialism.
And the funny thing is, Asians probably have the most reason to gripe, paritcularly the Japanese. They had all their money and property seized by the Communist gimp FDR during WW2. But despite this, their segregated units had some of the best performance records of American troops. Japanese families after the war didn’t whine and complain when they had nothing, they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and recovered in a generation. Personally, probably complain more about internment then they do.
Jesus would be disgusted by Reverend Wright. Jesus’ message was not about racialist economic socialism, and Reverend Wright distorted Jesus’ message for money and political power.
But Joe Conason is a communist traitor who hates America. He should be horse-whipped.
Because he is a racist, Joe Conason has much lower expectations for the behavior of black people. He tolerates horrendous behavior from them because he does not believe they are capable of behaving with the same level of decency he expects of white people.
People like Conason are so blinded by racism, they don't even see why this is racist.
a) His right-hand guy and call screener, Mr. Snerdly, is black?
b) One of his most popular, long-lived, beloved guest hosts, Walter Williams, is black?
People who claim that Rush is "racist" obviously have never listened to him or his show for any appreciable amount of time.
All part of the DNC plan to marginalize conservatives.
Hello, testing 1, 2, 3,... hey, is this mike on?
Hello, my name is Gator113. I’m told that I am a racist. Now, could we skip this rest of this and get right to the 12 steps... so I can get out of here. I’ve hear they’re lynching gays out back and I don’t want to miss the show.
Yes, I know that was sick, insulting and rude, bit I am sick of this whole racist thing. There are some folks that need to get over the PITY PARTY they have been living for decades... -sigh-
Hadn’t heard from old Joe for a while until I saw him on MSNBC recently. Looks like a nasty old drunk.
Joe musta’ missed the Officer Crowley affair.
What a previous president described as “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
Nice bootlicking, Conason....have a dog biscuit
“As for Limbaugh, perhaps nobody remembers the time that he told a black caller to “take that bone out of your nose”; or the time when he said the nonviolent NAACP “should get a liquor store and practice robberies”
_____________________________________
“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
Said after Spike Lee wanted all black kids out of school to watch his movie Malcolm X and learn their history
“Take that bone out of your nose and call me back (to an African American female caller)”
Totally out of context. Told story of how management at KUDL KC wanted me to be insult host....I told current audience how much I hated it....was given this line by management to use....related in in a story about how insult radio was NOT my cup of tea and how I knew I had no future doing it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2183392/posts?page=39#39
Great catch!
Hmmm... who’s the racist again?
wow ... never heard that before ... gotta a link to the story?
No shiite is it ok for black comedians to make fun of white people talking by making their voices sound like a pansy.. Wow kinda sensitive there Joe!
Have not heard that before!
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