Fox's Geraldo Rivera: “The Nation Was Not Ready For A Black President”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the January 12 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered:
MELISSA FRANCIS: Also, another thing that hasn't gotten a lot better, Andrea, is the economy. I mean, they really tried the trickle down approach where you trickle down -- you know, Speaker Paul Ryan was talking about this earlier today, where money sort of trickles down from the government, both to the fed -- you know, from the fed and also in the form of government spending. Things haven't gotten a lot better for families. I mean, they're marginally better than they were seven years ago, but we were in a financial crisis. You would hope it is marginally better at least.
ANDREA TANTAROS: Yeah, millions of Americans not working, have given up looking for work. I mean, you know this better than anyone, you cover these stories. People's premiums going through the roof with Obamacare, so lot of economic ennui. But I expect president to talk a lot about checking the boxes that he promised his liberal base. I'm going to be listening for what he says about Gitmo. I'm going to be listening for what he says about refugees. The First Lady expected to invite a refugee as her guest. So I'm going to be in tune to hear what he plans on doing next couple months and how much he's going to use that executive pen. But I do expect this to be the most progressive, the most liberal, and the most imperial of his time.
[...]
GERALDO RIVERA: I think, and this just strictly my constitutionally-protected opinion, and I know you'll get mad at me, but I think this. I think that what is clear is that the nation was not ready for a black president and I think that the gross divisions we suffer right now in this country are, when you strip away everything else--
FRANCIS: Because he's black?
RIVERA: Let me finish. I stuck my neck out. Let me finish. When you strip away all of the gun rights and the, you know, terror all rest of it, what you have essentially is a nation divided between white people and everybody else in broad strokes. When you look at the groups that overwhelmingly favor the Democrats right now, the Asians, the Hispanics, the African-Americans, the Muslims, you see a nation where people have largely chosen up sides and if you strip away everything else, what you are going to find is a racial divide. It's biggest, unaddressed issue. I think it is why we can't deal with urban crime. It is why we are dysfunctional in terms of the ability to be bilateral, bicameral, bipartisan.
Previously:
Six Years Of Right-Wing Media Attacks On Obama's State Of The Union Addresses
Watch A Baltimore Resident Confront Geraldo Rivera Over Fox News' Irresponsible Coverage