Boehlert: If Breitbart "had any decency, he'd apologize" to Sherrod for "smear campaign"
July 21, 2010 7:59 am ET
From the July 21 edition of ABC's Good Morning America:
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"You're going after media personalities I like" is not a valid argument. You must provide an example of a statement being made by one of these right wing media figures that Media Matters has intentionally distorted through use of editing or by not providing sufficient context. In other words, the MEANING of what they say has to be different, not whether or not you agree with their point of view.
erock33, personally I don't think you really understand what a media watchdog is, or understand concepts like journalistic integrity and concepts like the public airwaves, but you have every right to try and prove that MMFA is guilty of taking people out of context, even if it is off-topic.
Fixed his typo.
If this is the best you can do in a debate, stay home.
The Morning Joe bobbleheads were aiming their disdain, not at FOX or Britefart, but at the White House for responding too quickly to the Media cacophony. Are you f***ing kidding me?
I have no problem with this. It's the administration that fired Sherrod, no one else. Are you arguing that it DIDN'T react too quickly?
No one is going to change Brietbart and his ilk; they continue to act exactly as we expect them to- without shame, honor or remorse for their career-damaging actions. But they have no power if the White House just stops jumping to attention whenever they point the finger at a civil servant they happen to decide to target this week.
True, the Democrats are cowards, and need to stand up to the FOX/Hate Radio liars.
On the other hand, the real News Networks have a responsibility to nail FOX for what it's doing. In my opinion, dismissing it as "doing what is expected" isn't enough. Rachel Maddow took that tack last night, and I was terribly disappointed.
FOX should be actively and forcefully condemned by real journalists.
If the "story" had been ignored or countered, that's putting Fox in it's place and showing it up as a BS propaganda network. Responding by canning the person being criticized just elevates Fox's profile- "oh look, Fox exposed this evil person, and is so powerful, the White House had to dump her about five minutes later!" Maddow must be in despair over this- yesterday, Fox and the administration seemed to AGREE on the Sherrod storyline- so what was she supposed to do?
Nothing can change until this White House grows a freaking spine and stops catering to these braying jackasses, and starts calling them on their bs.
The White House, apparently, behaved stupidly... but the real villains here are FOX and Britefart.
You know- where it belongs.
Exactly. Fox's behavior is much more damaging and shameful than anything Lindsey Lohan or Sandra Bullocks husband has done. The media fixates on celebrities and their bad behavior. Well Beck,Limbaugh, Hannity, Rush are celebrities and they promote and enable this type of stuff. We see outrage over the doctor that gave Mike Jackson his fatal dose but these guys are doing the same, though in this case the poison flows through the veins of our nation.
Serious attention needs to be placed on such unethical and sloppy journalism. Conservative Media Celebrities need to be held to higher standards due to their high profile and hours of media time.
Its sad. If a journalist does an investigative report on corporate corruption and their lobbyist, they are held to quite high standards. If a so called journalist spits out hours of distortions and attacks, the standards seem somewhere else.
Fox viewers ultimately are the ones that should be outraged. They are taken for fools - blatantly - over and over again.
There is a problem with that logic.
Andy is a bully who pushes Tommy down the stairs. Tommy grabs for something to save himself and knocks over a Ming vase. Who is at fault here?
This is not the first time we have condemned the victim in the middle and ignored the perpetrator. You would think that after the truth came out about the ACORN tapes, people would be more cautious about footage released by (not-so)Breitbart.
The administration reacted too quickly to the smears leveled against Ms Sherrod. Period.
I can't understand how anyone can argue this.
I can't understand how anyone can argue this.
Why did they do it? Well for one they have a large influential attack media breathing down their necks and trying to derail whatever they are doing. I agree it was rash, but you have supposedly trustworthy media outlets with evidence that a government employee is racially playing favorites. My local right wing radio station had a libertarian guy last night hysterically complaining about the racist Obama administration and the New Black Panthers. Not a word about how debunked it all is. That is what they are up against.
Conservatives want it both ways. Yesterday they were outraged that Obama tolerates racist in the government and he quickly reacted. He was acting consistently with the message that was being put out be the conservative media. Now they use it against him.
I can't understand how anyone can argue this.
Why did they do it? Well for one they have a large influential attack media breathing down their necks and trying to derail whatever they are doing. I agree it was rash, but you have supposedly trustworthy media outlets with evidence that a government employee is racially playing favorites. My local right wing radio station had a libertarian guy last night hysterically complaining about the racist Obama administration and the New Black Panthers. Not a word about how debunked it all is. That is what they are up against.
Conservatives want it both ways. Yesterday they were outraged that Obama tolerates racist in the government and he quickly reacted. He was acting consistently with the message that was being put out be the conservative media. Now they use it against him.
I can't understand how anyone can argue this.
Why did they do it? Well for one they have a large influential attack media breathing down their necks and trying to derail whatever they are doing. I agree it was rash, but you have supposedly trustworthy media outlets with evidence that a government employee is racially playing favorites. My local right wing radio station had a libertarian guy last night hysterically complaining about the racist Obama administration and the New Black Panthers. Not a word about how debunked it all is. That is what they are up against.
Conservatives want it both ways. Yesterday they were outraged that Obama tolerates racist in the government and he quickly reacted. He was acting consistently with the message that was being put out be the conservative media. Now they use it against him.
I'm not angry at Breitbart, I'm angry at the alleged "leaders" who decided that he's someone they need to listen to.
The Democrats need to stand up to these cretins, but they're totally spooked. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because the rest of the Free Press won't do its job and call FOX to the carpet for these blatant lies.
The other factor we have to take into account is that the NAACP also fell for the bullsh*t story and, no doubt, pressured the White House to fire Sherrod. They're in the middle of a "Who's-the-most-racist" fight with the Teabaggers, so they're a little skiddish, too.
The whole incident is a perfect illustration of how dysfunctional the American News Media have become.
Seriously, just adopt the tag line "The Buck Stops Somewhere." I've seen this movie already, especially between 2001-2009. It's always Someone Else's Responsibility.
Maybe Vilsack fired her without the President's knowledge. But the President can repudiate that firing and hire her back. Has that happened yet?
Oh, I forgot, he's not a journalist, he's a propagandist.
Instead of taking responsibility, these guys go on and cry about being victims and go on the attack. Funny, thats what they accuse libs of doing.
She simply dismissed their actions as old news... "It's what they do", she said.
Okay, that's true, but that doesn't mean we just shrug it off. FOX has been lying and distorting for so long that even some liberals are starting to accept it as part of life.
NO! HELL NO! It is unacceptable for a so-called News Network to behave that way.
I agree that the Obama Administration deserves criticism for giving in to the propaganda, but the News Media share equally in the blame for allowing FOX to masquerade as one of them.
The NAACP's point is not that tea party adherents are more or less racist than others but that they should not tolerate it at their events. Funny though that is talking point is that the tea parties are merely as racist as other republicans.
Also it seems the Breitbart is complaining that someone is using right wing tactics on the tea party. He seems shocked, very shocked that someone would charge racism in order to derail meaningful debate... Crybaby whine ass can't conceive of taking what he dishes out.
The NAACP's point is not that tea party adherents are more or less racist than others but that they should not tolerate it at their events. Funny though that is talking point is that the tea parties are merely as racist as other republicans.
Also it seems the Breitbart is complaining that someone is using right wing tactics on the tea party. He seems shocked, very shocked that someone would charge racism in order to derail meaningful debate... Crybaby whine ass can't conceive of taking what he dishes out.
I understand that. The point is that he felt this quote proved his point. He was happy with the notion that the tea party is no more racist than republicans and other Americans and then described being attacked in the way he attacks others. Pretty lame defense. So much for taking responsibility for ones actions.
Breitbart’s main objective by releasing the video was to call out the NAACP, an organization who has recently gone to great lengths to condemn the Tea Party’s alleged racism, for sanctioning racism in it’s own organization. Sherrod immediately became the scapegoat for the embarrassed NAACP and USDA, but she was never the target, the NAACP itself was, and the delight the audience took in the racist part of Sherrod’s speech leaves them exposed.
You fail.
Who fails?
PS.....witnessing happens in many types of churches, not just "black church services" (in your words).
I would LOVE to hear how the gentleman "acted superior". I wonder if the lapdogs will ask the kind lady THAT question?
The only lapdogs around here are the FOX lapdogs.
Both
What does "his own kind" mean nerzog? Why would she use that terminology?
Are you really this stupid or have you gulped the kool-aid tot the point of no return?
Anything that in anyway drags down Obama and liberals is fair game...
Saing "Amen" or "That's right" is not necessarily a sign of agreement, but an acknowledgement that the message has been received. If the speaker says "I was a drunk" and someone in the audience says "Amen", does that mean they agree with being a drunk?
You fail.... again.
the fact that your boss had radically changed the very meaning with which he angrily infused this story, on the very same day he released it, and for no other reason than because he was called out for his misleading soundbyte, speaks volumes about what an unreliable and malicious liar he is.
The fact that you, as his faithful and unquestioning followers, are able to completely switch gears about this story, entirely at his command (and with a complete obviation of yesterdays truly revealing events) makes it clear that you have no interest in exercising your individual sense of reason or discretion.
You willingly let Breitbart do the thinking for you.... double plus good eh?
Dont you see how Breitbart is abusing your gullibility?
He is making you repeat and follow his lies. Like Beck, he is having you ignore and lie about what he clearly stated only a day ago.
He is making you forget it, and having you re-program yourselves according to his nonsensical, anger-driven and devious self-deception.
He wants you to catch his pathology, or relies on the assurance that you already have it.
He knows that you trust his website more than your own eyes and ears, and you are falling for it hook, line and sinker.
Its already proven that he has lied about this and several other samples from his morbid collection of misleading soundbytes. This situation only highlights that truth well beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even by his own admission during his attempt to clean this up, its clear that anyone who listens to Andrew Breitbart is a fool.
And after all his lies about what Sherrod actually said, you want us to believe his interpretation of laughter in the background?
Did it ever occur to you that people might laugh for very human reasons on which your master still hasnt clued you in (eg, good natured cynicism? It does happen in the world, like in Breitbarts own explanation over his threats to AG Holder about investigating ACORN... remember that?)
He didnt tell you the truth about the actual content of the video, why should you fall for some bs hypothesis that he cooks up over the ambient sounds in a video which he has already attempted to misrepresent in such a devious way?
Face it, after all his energy spent in a furtive attrempt to be the online thought-police, Breitbart finds his out-of-shape, coke-saturated crap-sack falling right onto his own virtual tazer, and by his own recklesness.
Secondly, I have heard preachers string you along in one direction and then snap you back at the end. This appears to be that kind of speech.
Its pathetic that you have no proof what so ever that the audience in the NAACP advocates black government workers favoring blacks. Yet that is your position, while at the same time you are complaining that tea party critics are being unfairly charged with racism.
Show me where the NAACP called the tea party movement a racist movement. They condemned racist elements in the tea party movement.
Ironic isn't it, how conservative media celebrities will claim to find a racist element in the federal government and then call the entire Obama administration racist.
What is not being revealed here is that the white mayor of the city was at the NAACP event along with other whites in the audience. The mayor had to leave to attend some other function, but the other whites remained throughout the speech.
As Ms. Sherrod said, why would she make a racist statement against whites when there were whites in the audience? What many on the right fail to realize is that, in spite of the word "Colored People" in the organization's name, there are whites who are members of the NAACP. They never, ever consider this, and it always gets dismissed in their attempt to smear the NAACP.
What we see from the conservatives who post here is pure bias. It doesn't matter what the truth is when it is revealed. All that matters is that they get a chance to push their bigotry.
These people are very dangerous because truth doesn't matter to them, and they are often compelled to act based solely on emotion,and their pre-conceived notions.
The guy who got into the gun battle with the California Highway Patrol officers is a clear example of this kind of thinking. You can't influence what they think no matter how much hard evidence is presented that contradicts what they want to believe.
Now, let me use your argument against you:
There are always some black people at tea party events. Why would a tea partier make a racist statement or hold a racist sign when they know that there are blak people around?
There are also black people who are members of the tea party. Have you "never, ever" considered this?
The Tea Partiers can't just paper over their innate nuttiness
Judy Thomas has a terrific examination of this phenomenon in the Kansas City Star:
Billy Roper is a write-in candidate for governor of Arkansas and an unapologetic white nationalist.
“I don’t want non-whites in my country in any form or fashion or any status,†he says.
Roper also is a tea party member who says he has been gathering support for his cause by attending tea party rallies.
“We go to these tea parties all over the country,†Roper said. “We’re looking for the younger, potentially more radical people.â€
As Thomas explains, the issue of racism within the Tea Party movement is actually a somewhat complex one:
Indeed, it’s difficult to answer the racism question because the tea party is split into hundreds of shards, and the issue of racism depends somewhat on perceptions.
Still, it’s clear that some with racist agendas are trying to make inroads into the party.
It doesn't help that Tea Parties have an, um, fairly limited definition of what constitutes racism:
For many tea partiers, racism is in the eye of the beholder.
Take Ron Wight, who stood with dozens of tea party activists at the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in April, complaining about the Obama administration, its socialist agenda and being called a racist.
Those like him who complain about President Barack Obama are accused of racism, lamented the semi-retired music teacher from Lee’s Summit.
Then he added: “If I was a black man, I’d get down on my knees and thank God for slavery. Otherwise, I could be dying of AIDS now in Africa.â€
Wight doesn’t consider that comment to be racist.
“I wish slavery had never happened,†he said. “But there are some black people alive today who have never suffered one day what the people who were black went through in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. Has somebody said something stupid or done something stupid? Yes, there have been incidents.
“But with everything that has been done in this country legally and socially for the black man, it’s almost like they’ve been given a great leg up.â€
http://crooksandliars.com/node/38462
I could count the number of minorities on one hand. I think I saw one black man, and he was performing on stage.
The other notable black people were protesting the whole shame of a performance.
So how would you define "some black people"?
Saying AMEN DOES NOT MEAN YOU AGREE in every case!!!
Amen in THIS case meant, go on with your story sister!!
I could sit here and try to explain that Black folks ARE NOT STUPID!!!!! They KNEW they were being TOLD A STORY and they KNEW that there was MORE to her story, but why bother.
Your knowledge about Black folks goes no further than whatever the loonies on the right tell you or what you see on television.
It's beyond sad and pathetic that in the year 2010, with the first African American President, Black folks are STILL having to explain.
So what? Applying a quote that Breitbart uses to him and not to the person quoted is NOT lying and race baiting?
Only in left field...
I was replying to Jpeagle, not bik-in-alabam. He was correcting bik for using a quote that was not Breitbart's.
Hang in there big guy.
Are you a racist? Maybe. I don't know.
Are you a sexist? Yes. You just proved it.
We know. Brietbart thinks this is some kind of vindication.
He uses the full quote to prove that liberals are intentionaly using racism to derail the argument from issues that really matter and to smear the tea party.
You must hope we are stupid if you think we would take that statement seriously. We have seen and this web site has effectively documented false conservative accusations that for years that have been used to derail debate. How can you accuse liberals of derailing the argument from issues that really matter when we have Conservative Media Celebrities on Fox and EIB, with hours of air time daily, laying out conservative fantasies of scandal and evil progressive plots.
New Black Panthers - distraction
NAACP racism - distraction
Obama not a citizen - distraction
Obama a Muslim - distraction
Government corporate bail out = socialism - distraction
Death panels - distraction
Obama hates his white mother and all of her kind - distraction
Obama wants terrorist to win - distraction
Remember Vince Foster? Monica Lewinsky? Whitewater? Yea those issues really define the pressing problems of the 90's. Conservatives don't look like the want to solve problems at all but create problems in order to derail. You must think we are as stupid as or as gullible as the people you follow Fox.
I disagree with what Ms. Berry said, and I'm African American. I disagree because first, it's a very poor and unfair way to win elections. Second, it's a moral failing. I don't believe in using racism to win anything. She's entitled to her opinion, and so am I.
Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, all of the issues dealing with racism since Obama became president have come from the right.
What some on the right want to be able to do is display their racism and not be confronted about it. Many on the right think that anyone who is not in their party should just sit down and accept it. Freedom of speech for the right, and a muzzle for all others. Liberals don't walk in lockstep with anyone, not even the president.
This emphasis on racism began with Glenda Beck's comment that he thinks the president has a deep-seated hatred for white people.
Many on the right are so blinded that they buy into this lie. If President Obama did have a deep-seated hatred for white people, that would mean that he'd have to hate his white mom, grandparents, the uncle who went to celebrated D Day with him last year, and the aunt in Kansas who says she's so proud of his accomplishments.
These relatives would find it hard to miss Obama's deep-seated racism against them, doncha think?
No, not if you listen to the whole story. What is obvious is that she had a change of heart 26 years ago. She outgrew any racist thoughts she had in her youth. The Troglodytes who pretend not to understand this are just f***ing liars. Period.
See, context doesn't always help. Showing Teabagger racists "in context" doesn't change the fact that Teabagger rallies keep attracting racists.
He is convinced she is a racist just because she told a story about her own prejudice and how she over came it. In his world all he notes is that she admitted to a racist viewpoint at one time, so she is always guilty of being racist.
You'd give him a pass, right?
BTW Very poor simile, you need to take a writing class in your spare time to work on this.
hehehe
Way to shoot yourself in the foot. I knew it was a matter of time before you'd cough it up like that. Can't hold your breath forever, right?
Go ahead, post your 'last word' snide one-liner and be gone, kid.
Watch the tape of Sherrod, and she is rolling her eyes about the farmer talking down to her, expounding on her bias, and then turns him to 'one of his own' to take over, effectively washing her hands of the white landowner problem. People in the audience are voicing their agreement with her biased statements. Sorry, but she talks about seeing it all differently but loses none of her cred (it's not just black and white, well it is, but it's about haves and havenots. Give me a break.
It's unfortunate the WH and the NAACP were so hairtriggered with their response to this, but it must hit close to home and for that Breitbart was on the money. They always want to make it about race or the poor or anything except the fact that the economy still sucks and Obama hasn't stopped it - and moreover that voters are onto it. Hey, look! Racism!
That's your fantasy. You have been conditioned to expect Obama to be racists and liberals to be evil. Obama is supposed to play his role as the radical, incompetent, militant, far left wacko socialist. Reality is too messy.
Right Wing media has lost credibility here but the reaction is not humility or taking responsibility but to attack. Why? Because conservative opinion is by definition infallible. Ideology wins over reality. It reminds me of Soviet propaganda.
Liberals are not evil, they comprise the vast majority of my friends and family. But it is not beneath them to call people racist and bigoted in the absence of a substantive argument against any number of dissenting viewpoints. It is cheap, but happens every day.
I suppose you harbor the fantasy that Left Wing media outlets are 100% credible. Hope that works out for you.
So why are you OK with what Beck and Fox are doing. It is Ok for the Right to play the race card. It sure doesn't seem beneath them.
Thanks for filling me in on how I think, you have some impressive intellectual supernatural powers there!
Well then explain to me why evidence means nothing to you guys? Why is it so important to make Obama out to be a white hating racist? Why, in spite of actions and words to the contrary, anything at all that can make Obama into a racist is elevated to gospel and broadcast for hours a day by Conservative Media Celebrities?
I suppose you harbor the fantasy that Left Wing media outlets are 100% credible. Hope that works out for you.
Proof is in the evidence. This website backs up its assertions and allows naysayers to post here. Explain to me how what is posted here is not credible? I am willing to accept the Rush, Fox, Glenn, Hannity are real journalist who have an honest and accurate analysis of our modern world if someone can show me that all their lies and smears are actually true.
The wrong message isn't getting out. The racist Tea Party message is getting out, and the Tea Partiers don't like being held to account for their actions.
You've obviously bought the mainstream media message from the NAACP. That is why it must be repudiated. Look, I understand that it is easier to dismiss those who disagree with you in a wholesale judgment like the one in your quote, but it defies reality.
A mainstream media message is more reliable than something from Breitbart and his ilk. At least there are some professional standards there. Doesn't it bother you that Fox was chiding other media outlets from not following their lead in unnecessarily riling up conservatives with false stories.
Blatant disregard for backing up attacks with evidence.
Doesn't it bother you when the Tea Party is portrayed as being a racist platform? Probably not. You rather enjoy that falsehood - makes you feel better about the serious political threat Democrats are currently facing.
Of course, he has the intelligence of a plant or perhaps a single celled organism; and, I'm sure that you have lots of evidence that falsehoods get this kind of traction on MSNBC or CNN.
I know I'm a pain on here, but I just wanna keep my mind sharp. I don't watch Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or read the NYT, or listen to Rush or Glenn Beck. I do read the Boston Globe and check Hot Air and MMFA each day. I do listen to Charlie Manning and Howie Carr, but for the local angle. Hot Air is great because they present media bias from across the spectrum without the elitist air that MMFA puts on. Hot Air leaves it to you to know why they link to the things they do. MMFA thinks they have to break it all down for you, tell you how to think. Kind of like the Democratic Congress.
Yes, there are partisans who selectively report facts. However, this is a blatant hatchet job to smear a woman who actually helped the poor white farmers years ago. She was telling the story to show how she overcame her own prejudice. Could you do the same if your father had been murdered by racists?
This isn't some abstraction. This is a person attacked in a heinous fashion.
By the way,
If you thing that people with racist signs are rebuked by other tea party goers, please produce some video or other evidence to prove your point.
Tea Party
I do feel it unfortunate that she lost her job, but that is not Breitbart's fault and he has apologized about that happening. A more measured response from her department would have cleared her. He correctly points out that the audiences' response is the story, not Sherrod.
As for your video, talk about delusional. A white racist shows up at a tea party event and the voiceover & several signs speculate that he's a "plant." That is lame, sorry.
Obviously, we don't see eye to eye here, but Breitbart's intent was to point out that an organization such as the NAACP is happy to condemn the Tea Party for racism whilst simultaneously ignoring it's own members agreeing with racist statements by someone addressing them. Yes, she redeemed herself at the end of the narrative, but the audience clearly had no problem with her build up, and she did nothing to condemn that or allude to the fact that she was taking it to a higher plane.
There was no reason for her to lose her job and the USDA should have looked more closely at what was going on before forcing her to resign. Why, in your view, does the USDA get a pass for that?
You'd like to pretend that people do not condemn racists when they show up to rallies. There's nothing wrong with my example, you asked and I provided it to you. The racist is being rebuked, and for you to claim it is a voice over is absurd - they are having a back and forth exchange and the dialogue makes perfect sense.
Just when I thought we might have a reasonable exchange. So, I would only ask you, is
Most media outlets have taken the Tea Party anti government message seriously but have commented on some of the more outrageous aspects of it. I have seen articles in major news outlets that comment on the criticism but seriously discuss the issues they bring up. I am sure most people here would agree that lots of tea party people are not racists but find the racist elements that have been documented disgusting. Even the NAACP distinguished between the overall movement and certain elements here.
I think you forget that many anti-war protesters were stereotyped and marginalized before the war in Iraq. I don't recall Fox or Rush giving them the benefit of the doubt. They were called anti-military, anti American, socialist... Funny thing is, they don't look so crazy now.
The tea party protesters seem to expect that because this time they are the angry ones, everyone should understand. They have gotten a lot of attention and their issues have been discussed widely. I don't know what they are complaining about. I guess they expected that going out in the streets a few times would somehow transform our country into a corporate run libertarian paradise. Sorry but it doesn't work that way.
People have been protesting while being ignored or marginalized for years. Its nothing new. They called MLK a communist and the FBI spied on him. It took the civil rights guys years to get serious legislation while their skulls were getting cracked open.
I would have expected a protest movement of grown ups to react to the accusation of racism by explaining how it is not tolerated, rather than attacking the critics with charges of racism
I do, however, contend that the media on both sides of the aisle do their part to perpetuate their view. It doesn't scare me or bother me because I can see through all of it, as I am sure you do yourself.
Speaking of antiwar protesters, where have they gone since Obama's been on the watch? It is the deadliest summer in Afghanistan to date and MoveOn has moved on to bitching about campaign finances. Where is the outrage that Obama is having Betrayus run the show over there? Where is the outrage about the fact that we will NOT be withdrawing wholesale in July 2011? Where is the outrage that Gitmo is still up and running?
I see them once a week in my town. They never stopped. No media coverage though
No hippy protesters to show at the campi, and no mother Sheehan even though she showed up in Martha's Vinyard for Barry'sfirst big liberal vacation in yuppie land.
Ah the liberal double standard! It is a shameful thing to witness!
Any statement from the TP organization to back you up on asking people to leave, or take down an uncomfortable sign?
So her story is not one of overcoming one's feelings on race then? The involved couple seem to have no problem with her actions. In fact they are quite positive in their feelings about her and her work.
To falsely call the NAACP's statement, one that accuses the whole teaparty of racism is either ignorant or a disengenuous ploy to a political end.
Bring some facts and proof sometime.
Bring some facts and proof sometime, Mr Jealous.
In this clip, the second person shown saying "I'm a proud racist" is the same moron depicted in the second link, where he is being challenged to leave the Tea Party.
ThinkProgress' Racist Plant Greatest Hits
The full cut
No, leftist propaganda from ThinkProgress (who's montage did appear on MSNBC) never deceptively edits anything. Please. This is exactly why I am unaffiliated and skeptical of anyone's rabid politcal ideology.
The notion that there are NO plants or infiltrators at these rallies is as laughable as saying there are NO hillbilly racists there at all. I know they attend, but again, the NAACP attempted to connect the TP to racism with it's resolution - one that intentionally implies that racism is fully tolerated at these events.
Further, I have listened to Sherrod's whole story but her words are not the beginning and end of the story. The audience is sympathetic to her 'previously' racist point of view. Breitbart's clip doesn't neglect that she came around and had a change of heart, either, that's in there. She did discriminate against this man, years ago though it may be, but claims to have overcome such bias. Something tells me that most liberals on here would not give a white man the benefit of the doubt if he were to proclaim that while he was previously racist, he's seen the light and now understands that we should all be Marxists.
Well, other than your poor attempt to link liberals and Marxists you are judging others through a very narrow world view.
I can't speak for the liberals here but; if someone admitted that they used to be a racist and now do not expouse racist views I take them at their word, as long as they back it up with their actions, .
Michelle Bachmann,Rand Paul, Sharron Angle or any of the other nutcases running for office representing your movement. No what the NAACP called on the tea-party to do was eitehr dissociate yourself from the racist elements in your movement are be painted by them.
The Tea Partiers can't just paper over their innate nuttiness
Judy Thomas has a terrific examination of this phenomenon in the Kansas City Star:
Billy Roper is a write-in candidate for governor of Arkansas and an unapologetic white nationalist.
“I don’t want non-whites in my country in any form or fashion or any status,” he says.
Roper also is a tea party member who says he has been gathering support for his cause by attending tea party rallies.
“We go to these tea parties all over the country,” Roper said. “We’re looking for the younger, potentially more radical people.”
As Thomas explains, the issue of racism within the Tea Party movement is actually a somewhat complex one:
Indeed, it’s difficult to answer the racism question because the tea party is split into hundreds of shards, and the issue of racism depends somewhat on perceptions.
Still, it’s clear that some with racist agendas are trying to make inroads into the party.
It doesn't help that Tea Parties have an, um, fairly limited definition of what constitutes racism:
For many tea partiers, racism is in the eye of the beholder.
Take Ron Wight, who stood with dozens of tea party activists at the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in April, complaining about the Obama administration, its socialist agenda and being called a racist.
Those like him who complain about President Barack Obama are accused of racism, lamented the semi-retired music teacher from Lee’s Summit.
Then he added: “If I was a black man, I’d get down on my knees and thank God for slavery. Otherwise, I could be dying of AIDS now in Africa.”
Wight doesn’t consider that comment to be racist.
“I wish slavery had never happened,” he said. “But there are some black people alive today who have never suffered one day what the people who were black went through in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. Has somebody said something stupid or done something stupid? Yes, there have been incidents.
“But with everything that has been done in this country legally and socially for the black man, it’s almost like they’ve been given a great leg up.”
http://crooksandliars.com/node/38462
You Spacedout Pedestrian seem to harbor some of the same views as those depicted in this article.
So where are the other 69 resolutions in the daily news cycle? Until they become anyone's concern, it stands that the one about the Tea Party was calculated to do what it has since done - connect a line between racists and the Tea Party. That deserves to be rebuked because the TP is comprised overwhelmingly by taxpayers concerned that the debt is untenable, that taxes are too high and forecast to go higher, and that the Government is too big. It is a solid message, and thus one that the left is desperate to smear. It is so obvious yet here we are splitting hairs with Sherrod while consumer confidence and the jobs problem linger and stimulus monies continue to drain down the sewer. I cannot expect a blind partisan such as yourself to understand that, but look around at your parents, teachers, and other adults and think about why they've moved toward the right with each decade they live.
There is a reason adults trend to the right over their lifetime and not the other way. Get a job and start paying some taxes. Have some children and empathize for them. Live a while and reassess what you think the role of government ought to be in your life. I was as liberal as they come, still am with regards to race, same-sex marriage, drug laws, prison overcrowdedness, etc. But that's why Libertarians have no home in the two party system.
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.
That sure sounds like you.
Space-Pedestrian
This is why I've said it's a waste of time to argue with a petulant kid like yourself.
Sound familar??
So, no, I am not a bigot. You need to back up your assertions with proof.
Further, here we are a day later and you still are attempting to say I am a bigot, while entirely ignoring any broader points I have made about the media, race, and double standards. It's like a reflexive stance with liberals when they don't agree - Hey, you're a racist!! Look, everyone, a racist!
Yes and we can thank the Conservative attack media for even making this an issue. This all came from them.
The right wing seems to delight in their own failures.
Sorry, I forgot to qualify my statement with the fact that a white man would not get the benefit of the doubt until he registers Democrat.
Sorry, I forgot to qualify my statement with the fact that a white man would not get the benefit of the doubt until he registers Democrat. ---Spacedout
Tsk,tsk,tsk, pathetic tell us about the poor persecuted "white men?"
Spacedude, redistribution of wealth goes both ways. Corporations do it as well as governments and churches. The idea of redistributing wealth is not just a Marxist idea. My crummy communist dad used to give me an allowance - the horror.
Why is it that if a democratically elected government redistributes wealth, its evil but if an authoritarian corporation gives out bonuses its a virtue?
My roommate was mixed-race (Hispanic and African-American) and she was not at all what I expected. After befriending her and finding her extremely intelligent and fun, started opening up a bit more to people I had previously perceived as "bad", interacting and talking with them. I realized, over that first year, that the views I'd been brought up to believe were completely and irreversibly wrong: melanin and heritage had absolutely nothing to do with what made a person "good". I felt awful, and I confronted my father about his views. He told me that I was wrong, and that he didn't want to speak to me again. Surprisingly, that didn't matter too much to me anymore. I knew in my heart I was doing the right thing. I still feel guilty about those years I spent with horrible, horrible views of people who didn't deserve it. Now I'm in my third year of college, and I volunteer at both Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers/Big Sisters, where I work with all types of people.
If anyone on this site don't want to give me the benefit of the doubt, go right ahead. I probably don't deserve it. But watching Sherrod's speech hit very close to home for me, and the fact that she was fired for sharing a story about overcoming that sort of prejudice churns my stomach. I think Breitbart is a despicable excuse for a person, but I feel pity and sadness for him that he cannot look past an admission of original prejudice to see the real message.
The Obama administration then indulged this clown's temper tantrum by firing a good woman simply based on the smear video. Or ... maybe the administration knew the whole Shirley Sherrod story from the start and figured this was a good opportunity to get a-hole Breitbart. It doesn't matter. Breitbart's credibility gap continues to widen.
1. Breitbart is exposed for the human garbage that he is.
2. Fox News drives the final nail in their "fair and balanced" claim.
3. The mainstream media no longer need feel any guilt about not picking up the specious claims made by conservative bloggers and Fox. All they have to say is: "Why aren't we covering the story? Because past history shows that you made it up or blew it out of proportion." End of story.
4. The White House can stop obsessing over the ramblings of right-wing media. Mr. President, I get it. You don't want to appear to be favoring your ethnic group over others. Bravo. However, your base knows this already. Ignore those other idiots.
I know there's one ACORN worker suing James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles but every worker or person who volunteer for ACORN should joined up for one really big class action law suit. Because in my view that send a message to every Andrew Breitbart or James O'Keefe wanna be if you play this game, prepare to pay out the nose for it.
Typical behavior for many conservatives. $h!t all over everything, then deny doing anything at all to cause the problem.
Ridiculous . .
From the right???
I mean, honestly, who is still falling for his BS? He has the worst BS game I've ever seen, bar none.
Opps, someone turned off the dissenting opinion filter. Quick, turn it back on before it's too late!!!!!!!!!!!
Ain't America wonderful???
Cry some more, boy. OH, and by the way, you're a liar as well as an idiot.