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Ex-Newsweek Editor Fineman: Romney Appeals to 'Xenophobic,' 'Nativist' GOP Base
NewsBusters.org ^ | July 23, 2012 | Scott Whitlock

Posted on 07/23/2012 6:54:05 PM PDT by Kaslin

Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman appeared on Monday's Hardball to smear the Republican Party as "xenophobic" and "nativist." Fineman lamented that Mitt Romney doesn't have the courage to take on the base, a group he mocked as being "afraid of the world."

Fineman is now the editorial director for the liberal Huffington Post, an outlet in sync with his own left-wing views. Matthews and the journalist discussed Huma Abedin, an aide to Hillary Clinton who Congresswoman Michele Bachmann connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. Asked why Romney won't take on people like Bachmann, Fineman assailed that the presumptive GOP nominee has "played to the kind of nativist base of the Tea Party. And by nativist, I mean people who are, in essence, afraid of the world." 

Referring to fellow Hardball guest Bob Shrum, who worked for Ted Kennedy, Fineman sniffed, "The Kennedys stood in the Democratic Party for an expanded view of Americans' role and America's role in the world."

The journalist lectured, "The Republican Party is going to cripple itself beyond recognition if they don't quit being xenophobes, which is what they're doing here now."

Fineman, in recent days, has repeatedly lashed out against conservatives. On July 16, he compared Rush Limbaugh to a "werewolf."

A transcript of the July 23 exchange can be found below:

5:52

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Where's Mitt Romney? And I'm talking sheer politics here. Isn't there a plus- forget Profiles in Courage- isn't there a plus in showing you're a man? That you have a guts- or woman- to have the guts to stand up and say, "You know, I want your vote, but not this kind of vote"?

HOWARD FINEMAN: Well, that would require Mitt Romney to run an entirely different campaign from the one he's run so far. And he's not going to do it. He is playing to- and has from the beginning of the campaign- played to the kind of nativist base of the Tea Party. And by nativist, I mean people who are, in essence, afraid of the world.

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

FINEMAN: And Bob Shrum worked for the Kennedys. The Kennedys stood in the Democratic Party for an expanded view of Americans' role and America's role in the world. The Republican Party is going to cripple itself beyond recognition if they don't quit being xenophobes, which is what they're doing here now. That's the larger picture. There's the Uma Thurman question- the Huma Abedin question and then there's a question about the Republican Party's identity.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2012issues; fineman; homosexualagenda; openborders; partisanmediashills; romney2012
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1 posted on 07/23/2012 6:54:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

And when they come for you and your ilk, Howie, who you gonna call to protect you?

Ghostbusters?


2 posted on 07/23/2012 6:58:09 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: Kaslin

Didn’t Newsweak sell for a dollar? We know why now.


3 posted on 07/23/2012 6:58:22 PM PDT by Buck-I-Guy
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To: Kaslin
And by nativist, I mean people who are, in essence, afraid of the world."

That means you're not allowed to like our American culture best.

4 posted on 07/23/2012 6:59:11 PM PDT by donna (Republicans won't change their ways until conservatives draw the line.)
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To: Kaslin

Fineman must have been in a coma the last couple of years.


5 posted on 07/23/2012 6:59:29 PM PDT by stevem
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To: Kaslin

All the jerks on one show and as usual pissing in the wind.


6 posted on 07/23/2012 7:00:24 PM PDT by boomop1 (term limits will only save this country.)
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To: Kaslin

When Newsweak throws you out on your @$$, you really need to come to the realization that you’re finished.


7 posted on 07/23/2012 7:01:20 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Without the Second Amendment, the other twenty-six will cease to exist.)
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To: Kaslin

I see that the snarky namecalling phase of the campaign is starting a bit early this time.


8 posted on 07/23/2012 7:02:44 PM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: Kaslin
Good evening.

Is Newsweak still around?

5.56mm

9 posted on 07/23/2012 7:03:11 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Kaslin

Howard Fineman - who cares. His career isn’t exactly on an upward trajectory.


10 posted on 07/23/2012 7:03:52 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: Kaslin
Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman

This is how thin Fineman's resume is -- it's better for Hardboiled to identify him as former sold-for-a-dollar Newsweak douchebag than his current about-to-be-sold-for-a-dollar AOLHuffPo douchebag.

11 posted on 07/23/2012 7:05:29 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (2008 + IN, NC, FL, VA, OH, NV o/r IA = 271EV)
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To: Kaslin

Hey Howard, we’ll drop you off in the hills of Afghanistan...or maybe somewhere in Iraq.... maybe Sudan or Somalia. Let’s see you if you find a lot of friendly people there. You stupid clown.


12 posted on 07/23/2012 7:14:12 PM PDT by driftless2
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To: Kaslin

Some of these screwballs are so left wing that they view a pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-amnesty, statist liberal like Romney as a dangerous right winger.

Wonders never cease.


13 posted on 07/23/2012 7:16:01 PM PDT by Tau Food (Tom Hoefling for President - 2012)
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To: A_Former_Democrat

Typical uninformed sociology 101 liberal tripe from someone too misinformed and arrogant to know that he is misinformed and arrogant.


14 posted on 07/23/2012 7:18:51 PM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: theBuckwheat

Fireman should know the meaning of the word Xenophobic.... It sure doesn’t apply to any group I am aware of....


15 posted on 07/23/2012 7:21:06 PM PDT by Popman (In a place you only dream of Where your soul is always free)
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

Watching Fineman and Matthews discuss politics is like break time in the faculty lounge at some junior collage.


16 posted on 07/23/2012 7:24:10 PM PDT by Col Frank Slade
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To: Kaslin

Standard leftist boilerplate. “Provincial”? Or, “uptight”, “autoritarian”, etc.

*yawn*


17 posted on 07/23/2012 7:35:11 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: Popman

Come here, Howard, I'll show you a Xenaphobe...

18 posted on 07/23/2012 7:41:15 PM PDT by arkady_renko (I want to believe but on 6/28/2012 at 10:00 EST I became a slave of the State.)
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To: Kaslin
The useful idiots like Fineman were/are also adamant that Alger Hiss was a loyal American.

Of course Alger Hiss being a communist spy has been absolutely proven, but the moon-bat liberals won't learn.

19 posted on 07/23/2012 7:43:44 PM PDT by RJL (There's no greed like the greed of a liberal politician buying votes with your money.)
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To: Kaslin
Since we can fight back, we are not “afraid OF the world” as Fineman stated, we are afraid FOR the world.
20 posted on 07/23/2012 7:51:36 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (Confucius say, short note better than long memory....)
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