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"Race war": Right-wing race-baiting takes on a violent tone

July 28, 2010 6:08 pm ET — 11 Comments

Continuing their long history of engaging in race-baiting attacks against President Obama, right-wing media figures have accused Obama, his administration, and the progressive movement of trying to start a "race war" in order to divide the public and "seize absolute power."

Right-wing media claim that Obama is trying to foment a "race war"

Breitbart: "Can Dems again falsely manufacture non-existent race war for November -- or are people's eyes finally wide open to this MSM-aided ploy?" In a July 28 Twitter post, Andrew Breitbart wrote:

breitbarttweet

Beck warns his audience: "They want a race war ... and our government is going to stand by and let them do it." On the July 12 broadcast of his Premiere Radio Networks show, Glenn Beck warned his audience that the "left" wants "a race war ... and our government is going to stand by and let them do it."  

Beck says progressives "need anger in the streets" and "they need a race war or any kind of war pulling each other apart." During the July 16 edition of his television show, Beck stated that progressives "need anger in the streets" and "they need a race war or any kind of war pulling each other apart." He then said, "Divided we will fall. They know it."

Beck: "They must have the race riot. ... It is the Balkan plan. They are making us into the Balkans." On the July 19 edition of his radio show, Beck told his listeners: "They must have the race riot. They must have the races pitted against each other. They're pitting us against each other in every step of the way. It is the Balkan plan. They are making us into the Balkans."

Flashback: Savage says, "I fear that Obama will stir up a race war ... in order to seize absolute power." On the October 8, 2008, edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, after airing a clip of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Michael Savage asserted: "I fear that Obama will stir up a race war. You want to ask me what I fear? I think Obama will empower the racists in this country and stir up a race war in order to seize absolute power." Savage later said: "I want you to call this show and tell me what you fear about Barack Hussein Obama as president."

Right-wing media routinely engage in race-baiting attacks against Obama

Media conservatives repeatedly attack Obama and his administration as "racist." Since July 28, 2009, when Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," right-wing media figures have routinely called Obama and members of his administration "racist." During the March 9 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity defended Beck's statement, questioning whether Beck had said anything "over the top." Rush Limbaugh echoed these remarks when, after citing a campaign video in which Obama discussed voter turnout, including among minorities and women, he said, "This is the regime at its racist best." Discussing the phony New Black Panthers scandal, radio host Jay Severin said Obama is "demonstrably a racist." Right-wing media figures have also labeled Obama administration officials -- including Eric Holder and other members of the Department of Justice -- "racist," accusing them of blatant reverse discrimination and of having "allowed and even encouraged race-based enforcement as either tacit or open policy."

Right-wing media level a wide variety of racially charged attacks against Obama. In addition to blatantly calling Obama a "racist," conservative media figures have engaged in other race-baiting attacks and have fired off a litany of vituperative allegations against the president. On the July 6 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh said that "If Obama weren't black he'd be a tour guide in Honolulu." During the same edition of his show, Limbaugh claimed that Obama "wouldn't have been voted president if he weren't black." Beck continued his race-based fearmongering by warning that Obama's agenda is driven by "reparations" and a desire to "settle old racial scores." On Fox News, radio host Laura Ingraham said the Obama administration has "set back race relations in this country perhaps a generation." 

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    • Author by bintx (July 28, 2010 6:10 pm ET)
      11  
      The only "fomenting" I've been seeing is from folks like Breitbart and his ilk.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ForTheLoveOfEllipsis... (July 28, 2010 6:12 pm ET)
      3  
      [http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/223110]
      Just wanted to be the first, but I'm probably not...
      Report Abuse
      • Author by ForTheLoveOfEllipsis... (July 28, 2010 6:13 pm ET)
        2  
        And my projector image didn't even post! I think I'm doing something wrong...
        Report Abuse
    • Author by cugagcmu805031 (July 28, 2010 8:26 pm ET)
      5  
      As an intelligent African American female, I won't even begin to address this fallacy.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Andy Kreiss (July 28, 2010 8:44 pm ET)
      3  
      Oh, look ! Andrew Breitbart is warning people about things that are falsely manufactured and non-existent. If you can't trust his judgment on that topic, who can you trust ?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by eb (July 28, 2010 9:31 pm ET)
      13  
      1. People like Beck have way too much time on the air. After a while they run out of right wing arguments so they make things up. After a while, the loose track of what they made up and what is real. After a while they don't care because they a making a good living spewing out garbage on the air.

      2. People like Beck and Breitbart are too lazy and intellectually soft to actually study and comprehend what they are attacking. Its easier to just say a lot of scary stuff that goes along with all the rest of their rants. After a while they don't care because nobody who supports them seems to want to correct them or ask them to be professional.

      3. Right Wing conservative media celebrities have to maintain the illusion that they are 100 percent correct 100 percent of the time. They also have to be 100 percent conservative no matter what the issue or problem being discussed is. This type of math does not work but that doesn't matter. Their audience likes them because when they watch or listen, they know they will be protected from any non-conservative intrusions into their fantasy view of reality.

      4. The networks and sponsors of these programs seem perfectly fine with the programming content. Having a permanently hysterical conservative base serves some kind of political purpose. Why?

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    • Author by swayjay (July 29, 2010 12:01 pm ET)
      1  
      I think I missed that memo, sent to progressives like myself, that calls for a race war. I feel so out of the loop about our master plan. /snark
      Report Abuse
    • Author by NiceguyEddie (July 30, 2010 10:03 am ET)
      2  
      OK, Righties, I'll spell it out for you:

      If you go around accusing someone (who's of a differetn race than you) of wanting to start a race war, either:

      1) You can present evidence of this, and you're right.

      - or -

      2) You do not have any evidence of this. In which case you're not only wrong, but RACIST.

      Becasue believing and perpetuating nasty stereotypes in the absense of hard, convincing evidence is RACIST. And racism is both the result and the motivation! It is exactly why you're bar is set so low for "convincing evidence" and why you are predisposed to believe this nonsense!

      So, if you don't want to keep being called racists (and really, I'm not sure you really even care, since... you're too racist to really care what minorites think about you anyway), but if you want it to stop, then quit with this RACE WAR crap (and stop accusing minorites of beign the real racists) unless you have some EVIDENCE of it.

      Because the only available evidence of anyone wanting a race war points squarely at YOU LOT.

      -----------------------------------------------
      Sadly, Obama's election has not erased racism. Instead it seems that many people have come to believe that it makes it OK.
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      • Author by amike (July 30, 2010 1:11 pm ET)
           
        It's race war this week and illegal immigrants (Latinos, of course) next--or is it the other way around? I lost my desk calendar. Strange how fearful some people can be of the awesome powers of "the other"--never mind that "the other" is smaller in population, lower in economic resources, etc. etc. But wow...in fifty years they might actually (fill in your own blank here) and so we better defend ourselves in advance. The Savages, the Breitbarts, the Becks, make tidy incomes off pandering to these fears...Mother Jones has a great picture of Beck on its cover illustrating the point. In the interior it has a picture of him as the great golden calf, pooping gold a mile a minute.
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        • Author by gobo (July 30, 2010 3:30 pm ET)
             
          I agree that Beck & Co. are low life trouble makers, but it seems this time all the race-baiting is coming from the liberals.

          I know that's not a popular statement here, but it seems a lot is being made out of this thing.

          And what about those black panthers not being prosecuted for trying to intimidate voters? Why is that still being ignored?

          I'd like to think Obama is on the side of good, but this shouldn't be ignored.
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