In an effort to smear President Barack Obama, one of the sleazier tactics used by some on the right is to paint him as being anti-American, "other", "different than us", etc. The latest right-winger to jump on the "Obama is anti-American" bandwagon is Fox contributor/author/possible GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. He began his journey into the muck during a 3/1 appearance on Steve Malzberg's radio show. He then descended even further into it during subsequent appearances on Bryan Fischer's radio show and on "The O'Reilly Factor". Although I disagreed with his politics, I used to think Huckabee was decent guy who was above this type of stuff.
Why has Huckabee decided to pander to the fringe element of the GOP? Is he trying to boost sales of his new book, gearing up for a bid to run for POTUS, or both? Whatever Huckabee's reasoning is, I don't see it as a winning strategy.
In regards to the depths some conservatives/Republicans have sunken to over the last couple of years, I used to ask, "Have we reached the bottom?" I don't even bother asking anymore because sadly, I suspect there is no bottom. Credit to people like Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Cenk Uygur, and John King for calling out Huckabee on his nonsense.
As you probably know by now, Andrew Breitbart posted a video on his website BigGovernment.com on 7/19/10 "exposing" the racism tolerated by the NAACP. In a speech she gave at an NAACP dinner on March 27, 2010, it appeared that Shirley Sherrod (the then-USDA director of Rural Development in Georgia) was admitting to once taking the race of a white farmer (Roger Spooner) into consideration when ultimately deciding how to respond to his request for assistance. The fallout was quick for Ms. Sherrod after the truncated video made the rounds. Not only did the NAACP come down hard on Ms. Sherrod, but she was pressured to resign from her USDA position. I hope the bus tire tracks on Ms. Sherrod's backside aren't permanent.
To many familiar with the sleazy tactics of Breitbart (the infamous ACORN nonsense), it came as no surprise that the video he originally posted on his site didn't tell the whole story.
The video suggested that Sherrod was retelling an incident that took place while she worked for the USDA
FALSE: The incident Sherrod was recounting took place in 1986, when she worked for an advocacy firm in GA.
The video made it look as if Sherrod didn't help Mr. Spooner
FALSE: Not only did Sherrod help the Spooners save their farm, she became friends with the couple.
What’s actually a story of racial healing was distorted into something ugly by Breitbart. Because of his beef with the NAACP over their legitimate claims of elements of racism within the tea party movement, Breitbart deceptively tried to show that it’s the NAACP whose racist. Unfortunately, his tactics did damage to an innocent bystander in the process.
If you're interested in watching the full video, please visit the following link:
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/
On Wednesday, Tom Vilsack (the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture) held a press conference in which he manned up and took the blame for asking Ms. Sherrod to resign so quickly. Vilsack said he also apologized to Ms. Sherrod and offered her a new position in the department. Also, the NAACP has apologized to Ms. Sherrod for their initial reaction (see below).
In light of the Breitbart “exposé” falling down like a house of cards, the reactions have been fascinating. There's been a mix of back pedaling, blaming, and B.S. throughout the blogosphere, The White House and the MSM (which does include Fox "News"). To their credit, some conservative bloggers posted retractions in which they apologized for rushing to judgment. Predictably, these posts also included jabs directed at three of their favorite targets: The Obama administration, The NAACP, and the non-Fox "News" portion of the MSM. Of course, no matter what these three entities did, the right would have found a reason to bitch about it. In a shameful sidebar, Breitbart made the rounds of various media outlets in which he told his side of the story. Amazingly, he even had the nerve to suggest that the Spooners were "plants" who fabricated a story in an effort to save Ms. Sherrod. Note to Breitbart: when you're in a hole, stop digging!
The left has also had their say too by blaming the aforementioned entities as well as Fox "News". Note to the Obama administration: don’t jump every time the likes of Andrew Breitbart and Fox "News" say “boo!” All it does is give them the power to be more reckless and irresponsible than in the past. Having said that, I do understand President Obama's predicament. As the first black President of the United States, he is held to a different standard than his predecessors when it comes to matters involving race. Although diplomacy is one of Obama's best assets, I wish he would sometimes go into MISTER Tibbs mode and figuratively slap down the right-wing noise machine when they get out of order.
The Shirley Sherrod story shows once again that we still have a lot of distance to cover when it comes to race relations in America. I also hope that it has made crystal clear to everyone that Andrew Breitbart and his ilk won't let a little thing like integrity get in the way when it comes to taking down those who have the guts to stand up to them. When Breitbart and his enablers claim to have any evidence exposing wrongdoing/corruption by their opposition, remember the words of Chuck D. and company: “Don’t believe the hype!”
To show your support of Shirley Sherrod, please visit Color of Change and join them in calling on the White House to reinstate Shirley Sherrod and to stop caving in to right-wing smears.
Just when I thought Glenn Beck couldn't get any lower, he manages to reach a whole new depth. On both his radio and TV programs on June 14, Beck aired an edited audio clip of President Obama in order to paint Obama as being racist against white executives.
In the clip below, Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) breaks it down:
If you don't believe the remaining part of the quote read by Cenk was real, below is a link to the 1995 interview Obama did with Bill Thompson (host of the online series Eye On Books). The clip is almost 13 minutes so if you only want to hear the portion where Obama talks about responsibility on the part of blacks and whites, go to the 12:24 mark.
I've heard some conservatives accuse liberals of divisiveness and race baiting, yet these same conservatives are reluctant to call out anyone they feel is on their side such as Beck. If you believe Beck is on your side, stop snoring and start paying attention because he's playing you. His brazenness in airing the cropped clip shows that he feels his core audience is either too dumb to do any research or that they simply don't care. Although I think President Obama was wrong not to talk to BP CEO Tony Hayward sooner than he did, Beck's injection of race into this matter is a reach to say the least.
For all of you in the anti-Obama camp, put down your Haterade for just a moment and look at this objectively. Can you honestly say that Glenn Beck was playing it straight by saying President Obama didn't want to talk to Hayward because he's white? If so, I'd love to hear your argument(s). If you think Beck is the greatest thing since Sen. Joe McCarthy, but feel he's wrong in this case, there's no shame in saying so.
It appears that Glenn Beck's comments in which he called President Obama a racist have caused some concerns on Madison Avenue. To date, over 30 companies have directed that their commercials not run on Beck's Fox program. Below is a partial list of the companies that have pulled out:
When I received a forwarded email earlier this month from a dear family friend about the actions the organization Color of Change was taking to urge advertisers to pull their commercials from Beck's show, I was down for the cause without a pause. I am all for constructive political debate, but the fear mongering/race baiting antics of Glenn Beck only serve to further fracture our country along racial lines.
One of my favorite bloggers (Field Negro) wrote an outstanding post about the Glenn Beck vs. Color of Change showdown and how Beck and some of his fans are fighting back. No matter what side of the fence you stand on in regards to Beck, I hope you make an effort to check out Field Negro's post and share your thoughts on the matter.
