Ratigan to Tea Party leader Williams: "Can we please cut off this man's microphone? ... You're offensive"
March 02, 2010 5:12 pm ET
From the March 2 edition of MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show:
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Strange, but still well worth the two minutes and forty-one seconds it took to watch it.
I like a little passion, even fire, to go with the words, but if you end up burning down the house (cue the Talking Heads song here), then that's not very constructive now is it?
Also, I caught you MMFA!
I caught you photo shopping the screenshot that covers the video clip on this one!
I don't know who the heck the guy on the right is in the screenshot, he doesn't seem to be a participant in the Battle Royale of the video clip, but it's clear that you photo shopped his picture to make him look like the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, except shaved a little and with eyeglasses.
It has been changed, now the video clip includes at it's beginning a momentary send-off of the man in question, who you identified, and now the screenshot no longer shows his picture.
Oh well, it makes the jokey part of my comment senseless, unless you look at the clip to see the man at the beginning... it doesn't matter anyway.
And the more I think about it, the less helpful or constructive or informative or anything it is, the way the host melted down, and really shouted the other guy down... and it's always worth noting, that we're not counselled to answer yes or no to every question in the world, specifically loaded and leading questions, like the one about "racists and Nazis."
People can answer questions however they see fit, and if you think they didn't answer the question truthfully or at all, then you say so, but first you have to allow the answer.
An example of what I'm talking about is the loaded and leading question of "Are you still beating your wife?"
Everybody knows the problem with that question, and the fix you're in if you think you have to answer it yes or no.
Can't you answer "I am not now nor have I ever, beaten my wife."
Doesn't that answer the question truthfully, yet not in the form of yes or no?
Anyway, strange that I would have to point this out, but truly, the host jumped all the guy with the "racist and Nazis" question, and then melted down and didn't seem to allow any answer at all from the guy.
Sorry, but our side is not served very well by that kind of thing,
How in the world would you ever even get that Ratigan was asking a leading question?
The signs are at the rallies. The nutcases continue to get media coverage. So if Williams was the least bit concerned that the tea party was being presented in the wrong way, any reasonable person would jump at the chance to set the record straight.
Did Williams even try? No. He set about comparing the rallies to something someone did at NBC.... then it get's nebulous. (Ratigan DID let Williams speak, but what Williams said was gibberish.)
So it's obvious to the reasonable person to assume that Williams had absolutely no desire to distance the tea party from the nutcase wackos.
Why? Because the tea party is run by nutcase wackos. The fringe of the fringe.
Notice I used the phrase "reasonable person". Nutcase conservatards wouldn't know what a reasonable person was, if one came up and kicked them in the rear.
No. No leading questions. Just deflection from directly answering the question. Typical conservatard behavior.
Huh? Go look at the video in its entirety for yourself.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/ns/msnbc_tv-the_dylan_ratigan_show#35675956
It's listed under "latest clips" / "Hate groups..."
I don't see anything like you are mentioning in the original video.
If they won't answer the question directly, cut off their mic.
But THEN, never, ever, ever give them air time. It only encourages them.
Far better to calmly let the racist respond and condemn himself with his own hatemongering. You can then point it out calmly and rationally. If he throws an NBC anchor under the bus, you say, I have no knowledge of that but that's not why you were invited on this program. I ask you again sir: why don't you shame and ostracize the bigots and racists? Your failure to do so speaks loudly.
He wouldn't let his guest talk. He made absurd ludicrous charges. He lied, and when his guest tried to answer he cut off his mike. No wonder MSNBC had no viewers.
And, like I said, Ratigan's behavior was over the top, and looked like something you'd see on Fox. Very Hannity/Beck/O'Reilly-esque.
I only know what I saw on this clip. Ratigan sounds like a nut. The Tea Party cares about spending and the size and scope of government. Ratigan starts talking about killing blacks and Jews?!?! The only person talking about killing blacks and Jews is him -- nobody in the Tea Party is. He is a nut!
Right-wing extremist groups (like white supremacist organizations) have grown by 244 percent in the past year. This is largely a reaction to the election of a new president (a democrat..it happened during Clinton's administration as well). Part of these fringe group's ability to stay in existence and to keep recruiting and radicalizing new members is their ability to infiltrate mainstream opposition movements, like the tea party. This is exactly why it's the responsibility of the leaders of the tea party to make an active, vocal effort to distance themselves from the extreme elements of the movement.
See: right-wing extremist groups have grown by 244 percent in 2009 and these groups are largely able to stay in existence and recruit new members because they have a talent for infiltrating mainstream opposition movements, a la the tea partiers. Soooo...it's very essential for the leaders of this movement to make an active effort to distance themselves from the more extreme elements.
I remember back when I was an anti-war protestor, and people would call me all kinds of terrible things--a terrorist, unpatriotic, anti-american, and so on and so forth. I remember how awful it was to be called those terrible names when the only thing motivating my actions was how much I truly love my country. And so I would never, ever call someone else anti-American or unpatriotic for exercising their right to free speech. I think that a lot of the tea partiers are people who are genuinely concerned about government spending. I may disagree with their political views, but I support their right to express them.
HOWEVER, I think that if the tea partiers are going to delived that message effectively, they have GOT to make more of an effort to distance themselves from the extremists. They have got to make sure that their movement doesn't get hijacked by the crazies. Right now, the tea party message is coming across a little everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. A jumbled mess of racially-charged rhetoric like birtherism and wild accusations of communism, socialism, and nazism, with the occasional call for fiscal responsibility tossed in there now and then. As it is now, it looks like they just want to get everybody on board that they possibly can--they want that strength in numbers--and so they are afraid to speak out and run the risk of alienating anyone (as evidenced by their reluctance to denounce birtherism). The movement is going to eventually collapse in on itself if they don't watch out for who's joining their ranks and potentialy hijacking their message. And this guy Williams gives them a bad enough name as it is.
Well, I'm sure that Ratigan's 10s of viewers got a chuckle out of it.