Frank Rich slams “birther enabler” Dobbs for playing on "escalating white fear"
August 01, 2009 8:20 pm ET by Media Matters staff
From Frank Rich's August 1 New York Times column, Small Beer, Big Hangover:
One of the loudest birther enablers is not at Fox but CNN: Lou Dobbs, who was heretofore best known for trying to link immigrants, especially Hispanics, to civic havoc. Dobbs is one-stop shopping for the excesses of this seismic period of racial transition. And he is following a traditional, if toxic, American playbook. The escalating white fear of newly empowered ethnic groups and blacks is a naked replay of more than a century ago, when large waves of immigration and the northern migration of emancipated blacks, coupled with a tumultuous modernization of the American work force, unleashed a similar storm of racial and nativist panic.
Rich also slams Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich for labeling Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist and Glenn Beck for labeling Obama a racist:
Ground zero for this hysteria is Fox News, where Brit Hume last Sunday lamented how insulting it is "to be labeled a racist" in "contemporary" America. "That fact has placed into the hands of certain people a weapon," he said, as he condemned Gates for hurling that weapon at a police officer. Gates may well have been unjust -- we don't know that Crowley is a racist - but the professor was provoked by being confronted like a suspect in the privacy of his own home.
What about those far more famous leaders in Hume's own camp who insistently cry "racist" -- and in public forums -- without any credible justification whatsoever? These are the "certain people" Hume conspicuously didn't mention. They include Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, both of whom labeled Sonia Sotomayor a racist. Their ranks were joined last week by Glenn Beck, who on Fox News inexplicably labeled Obama a racist with "a deep-seated hatred for white people," presumably including his own mother.
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The fact is, illegal immigration is destroying our social fabric. Dobbs has pointed it out. WHY has the rest of the media virtually avoided the subject? For instance, how many of you heard about the Border Patrol agent (who happens to be Latino) who was shot in the head and killed by illegal aliens this week? He leaves behind a wife, and a young son and daughter under the age of 3.
It happened right where the border is wide open. Neither Bush nor Obama have made any effort to enforce the Secure Fence Act. In reality, they don't even need legislation to secure the border. And people are paying with their lives.
But did Frank Rich cover this murder? Nope. That's why Dobbs has an audience. He covers things that the rest of the leftist, open-border, Obama-worshiping media avoids.
As for the "racial transition" thing, I don't know what he means. It sounds like something out of a Nazis playbook. But there IS A RELATIONSHIP between blacks and immigration: blacks are losing jobs to illegal aliens who are willing to work for less.
Has Frank Rich ever addressed the economic disaster illegal immigration is to black America? Nope. That's also left to Dobbs.
Is Obama a racist? Well, I'm sure he'd call me a "typical white person" -- which, for all you liberals who by definition don't follow the news, is something Obama said during the primaries -- but Obama does often sound like a racist. He admits to not having all the facts, BUT says the white man "acted stupidly." Yeah, I'm sure if Bush sided with a white guy over a black guy out of instinct without having all the fact, Frank Rich would be defending him. Uh huh.
ANOTHER REASON Obama is a racist is his handling of the Black Supremacists, aka "Black Panthers," case. Most libs probably haven't heard that DEMOCRAT PARTY OFFICIALS wielded batons outside a polling center during last year's election while dressed in their Black Panther gear. They wanted to keep whites from the polls. They've since been re-elected to their Democrat Party positions. Well, guess what: Obama's DoJ said it was just fine and dropped the case this week. IMAGINE if Bush and Ashcroft decided not to pursue a case involving KKK members keeping blacks from voting! Ha, ha! We'd still be hearing about it.
But is Frank Rich covering this? Nope. Again, this is something Dobbs and Michelle Malkin have to keep on top of, because the failing N.Y.Times is no longer a piece of journalism. It's an activist publication.
Oh, and Sotomayor was involved with the National Council of the Race. Yes, she's a racist.
"We can call it Presiding While Black."
The sense of doubt of legitimacy embodied in that concept explains many Republicans' blindness to racism.
Didn't see that post so the reprint is beneficial. Actually, there are many tidbits of info in the posts which go by the wayside so if anyone reprints a golden nugget of wisdom, it should be reposted.
There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that requires any candidate to reveal any records related to his educational pursuits. The only requirements to run for POTUS are:
1-be 35 years of age
2-be a natural-born citizen
3-live in America for at least 14 years
This information can be found in Article II of the Constitution.
And as to Obama choosing to use his given/birth name at this point in his life, this is not unusual. When he was growing up "Barry" was the Americanized form of his name he chose to use. Similar to the use of "Ted" for Theodore, "Chris" for Christopher, "Dick" for Richard.
You'd probably be surprised to learn that "Dick" Cheney is also Richard Cheney, former vp of the U.S. So your use of the term "Barry" in your post is not inaccurate just indicative of extreme ignorance of information which most Americans acknowledge and accept as part of American culture.
Also keep in mind that Jerry Rivers was the name used by Geraldo Rivera, a neocon fave.
The blissful BushLover can't be expected to remember how to read after so many years of just listening what he/she is told. And the recent over-consumption of tea has diluted the mind.
Remember, be nice.
Second, the founding fathers weren't birthers, because they listed a clause in the Constitution that said they could be president as well, when at the time of the adoption of said constitution they were citizens of the United States of America, they would qualify for the office.
Also, folks like you, if you were alive during the early years, the Revolution, you probably would have been a tory.
As someone mentioned below, this case was rejected by the SCOTUS, because IT HAS NO MERIT.
Nobody has to un-seal their educational records. Did you ask for Bush's records when he ran? How about McCain's? How about Kerry's records? No? Didn't think so. Educational records are personal and private, and there is no need for you, or me to see them. About this whole load of BS that he said he was from another country when applying to schools, this has been debunked and disproven about a million times as well.
It's the failure of folks like yourself to actually embrace the real truth is the reason you're called a birther. You have no basis, and no facts on your side, only silly little theories that are constantly turned away as blatantly false.
'Birther' is just a convenient 2009 way of allowing white southerner to slam President Obama as an un-American African. This has nothing to do with logic (do any of these racists explain the birth announcements in the Hawaiian papers?)...it has everything to do with the color of Obama's skin.
As far as being honest, why don't these same 'birthers' also dispense with the absurd term, 'pro-life.' They are only in favor of life up until conception. After that, the poorest cannot die fast enough for them. it is why these creeps do not want health care for all.
Please don't travel by ship. The Earth is really flat. You may fall off.
The escalating white fear of newly empowered ethnic groups and blacks is a naked replay of more than a century ago, when large waves of immigration and the northern migration of emancipated blacks, coupled with a tumultuous modernization of the American work force, unleashed a similar storm of racial and nativist panic.
Actually since Independents played a significant role in electing Obama and also some liberal Republicans such as me, it has been his actions not ours that have created the furor. He lost me the night of the press conference when he, an attorney, said something like I am probably prejudiced because Professor Gates is a friend of mine; and all of the facts are not in
BUT...and went on to defend his friend, take a swipe at the Cambridge police and give a lecture of racial profiling. This presentation was so well organized that he must have expected the question (he had lined up the members of the press he would call on). If he represented ALL of the people, he would have stopped with the disclaimer and said "I cannot comment on this at this time." There was time enough for support of Professor Gates and for the information on racial profiling and how it effects minorities once all the facts were in. He readily admitted he had added to the furor but he never apologized for coming out with his opinions that night. That is not my president. That is Professor Gates' President.