This is one reason I love live TV! Last week during a segment on the Fox Business Channel, GOP strategist Jack Burkman needlessly brought race into a discussion about the viability of the USPS in today's world. Although liberal attorney Tamara Holder called Burkman out for his comments, the best part was when former Republican Senator of New York Al D'Amato let Burkman know how he felt about his remarks. It's great to see a Republican on one of the Fox channels call out one of their own for this type of nonsense. I wonder if D'Amato has made his last appearance on any of the Fox-affiliated channels. Well if that's the case, if you're gonna go out, go out in style!
12 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1Y8&feature=player_embedded
Anon: Thanks for the link.
Ya, D'Amato is a dying breed: a Republican who has some semblance of decency. At least knows when a RWNJ is blowing a racist dogwhistle and D'Amato is alert enough to call him on it.
As for Anon's link, is this supposed to "prove" that the only reason Obama got elected is because his voters are stupid? For the record, there are uninformed people on both sides.
And a few more facts about the post office:
1. They get no federal funds, so when the RWNJ says that the Lautenberg Post Office is paid for with "federal money", he's just plain wrong.
2. A lot of businesses had negative earnings in 2008 and 2009-- it was a recession.
3. The purpose of the USPS is different than Fedex. USPS is mandated to deliver mail to every address in the US, even the most rural. In fact Fedex often uses the USPS for the end-delivery in remote locales.
4. The "36,000 post offices" includes small businesses in tiny towns that operate a desk contracted out to the USPS. These are often no more than a 3 ft X 4 ft desk. 92% of mail is handled in 15,000 offices.
5. The GOP is just as culpable for requiring costly services by the USPS. For example, very few representatives in either party voted in favor of stopping Saturday delivery, and the USPS can only cut costs by legal mandate.
Tony: I wish there were more Republicans like D'Amato. Too often, Republicans/conservatives will look the other way when one of their own makes racist statements.
I think that's exactly what Anon was trying to do. I don't know why some conservatives try to pretend that their side is idiot-free.
Thanks for the info on the USPS. I wish one of the panelists on the Fox Business Channel segment had hit Jack Burkman with these facts.
I think it's often worse than just "looking the other way" when it comes to racism. I think that rightwing pols purposely use language like "Nigerians" or "immigrants" etc to stoke racist sentiment in voters and the public. It's a dog whistle that elicits all that sentiment without using a socially unacceptable epithet. Their right-wing followers know exactly what they mean. Kudos to D'Amato for calling this ass-hat on it.
Fox news is so rife with insanity that it would be surprising if they had any informed debater on their shows. It's just an emotion-laden scream-fest most days.
Tony: What you touched on ties into the "Southern strategy" that the GOP has been using for years. As sleazy as it is, it's unfortunately also effective. One would have to be blind or stupid not to see through these tactics.
The nonsense spewed by many of the folks over at Fox gets more outrageous each day. Their slogans "Fair and balanced" and "We report, you decide" are such jokes. For the most part when a liberal appears on one of their shows and presents the facts, the host will try to shut them up ASAP. This is a classic example of what they do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYQGdpZ3QhA
Yup. That's exactly correct. There is so much money in the few who run corporate America that are able to buy influence, not only of our legislators, but also the average Joe via outlets such as Fox News. It's a grand orchestration based on emotion, buzzwords like "govt regulation", etc... as an aside, Nate Silver did not explain Net Neutrality as well as Cenk did.
Also, I've been following the thread between you and Teresa and I notice that she gets pretty ugly when challenged. Eventually she starts name-calling and spouting off about inane things, such as the name of your blog having the word "diversity" in it. I mean, how do you argue with that level of ignorance?
It would be hilarious if there weren't so-o-o many idiots like her. (And they vote!)
Tony: Cenk is awesome! In the past, he has been a guest on the Fox News Channel. I wonder if that was back when he was a moderate conservative. Since he's gone progressive, Fox is probably scared to have him as a guest. You know, they can't have their viewers getting actual news and facts.
Teresa is a very special case. It's fun giving her verbal smackdowns. She makes it easy because of her level of ignorance. If you have time and want some entertainment, check out the threads to these two posts:
http://diversityink.blogspot.com/2010/04/guest-post-by-teresa-my-thoughts-on.html
http://diversityink.blogspot.com/2010/07/guest-post-by-sandy-fox-news-uses-black.html
The last link is the one that caused Teresa to take her proverbial ball and go home.
I LOVE IT!!! Like former Senator D'Amato stated, people like Jack Burkman actually hurt their cause, albeit a good cause, by spouting racial slurs. I often feel that the Post Office is no longer a necessity because of email, electronic check deposit and bill pay, etc. On the other hand, how would I get my AARP and Essence magazines? Will Fed EX or UPS bring them to me?
Pjazzy: I was going to say I don't know why people like Jack Burkman feel the need to needlessly inject race into an issue. I think they do it because appealing to the lowest common denominator can pay dividends.
I just want to say Hi to Everyone!
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