Tim Russert's double standard and an end to the Farrakhan litmus test
By bluegal Thursday Feb 28, 2008 7:25pm
Marjorie Valbrun at The Root, via NPR:
The larger question is why Farrakhan is the litmus test for black politicians' views on race and not the politicians' own record of comments, actions and legislative votes? Why is it that only after they repudiate Farrakhan are they then deemed not to be closet black militants? Farrakhan does not have the political influence over black people that some white Americans apparently believe. Nor does Rev. Al Sharpton, or Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., or any of the other prominent black people that the media treat as proxies for all black people.
Reporters did not run out in droves to ask white politicians to reject Don Imus after he made his remarks about the black female basketball players at Rutgers University. White politicians did not eagerly line up to do so. Nor did they repudiate fellow white politicians who did not. A few, and only a few, said they would no longer go on the Imus show. (Tim Russert, who appeared often on the Imus show, was not among those who said they would no longer be a guest.)
Most black people saw Imus as an irresponsible white man with a powerful microphone, not as the living embodiment of white America. We know the difference. Read more...
I'd suggest a shout out to Tim Russert to ask repeatedly if McCain will disavow his endorsement by John Hagee, as he did to Obama with Farrakhan's, but since McCain has been courting Hagee for a year, that might be too pointed a question to ask, eh Tim?
And as Jane Hamsher suggests to Russert:
..he needs to have Bill Donohue on Meet the Press.
Fair is fair, right?
Login or Register to post comments.
.
IMPEACH
CHENEY
FIRST!!!
.
And why is the phrase "A prominent spokesperson for the black community" still in use? Is Hillary Clinton "A prominent spokesperson for the white community"?
Imus is not in any way comparable to Farrakan... Hagee may be. But McCain has to take Hagee's support. If he rejected and renounced all the different bigots in the GOP there would be no one left for him.
Imus? That's so 2000 and seven.
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart tried to warn him in 2006, but John McCain didn't listen. Battered by all sides over his embrace of End Times Pastor John Hagee, John McCain is finally experiencing the blowback from his pandering visits to "crazy base world."
For the details, see:
"Jon Stewart Warned McCain About 'Crazy Base World.'"
OT, but where is KO. They are running the last Democratic Debate instead of Countdown. Did his Fascist comment get him sidelined tonight?
Actually, I think Tim Russert is one of the better guys out there. He does his homework and asks tough questions.
My political blog
RHM @ 6:
Funny. You ever consider comedy?
why Farrakhan is the litmus test for black politicians’ views on race and not the politicians’ own record of comments, actions and legislative votes?
Because if they were to go by Comments Actions and Votes these assholes would have nothing to say. and what's worse if they went by Comments Actions and Vote it would make the criminals they support look really really bad!
What is Tim Russert's contact info. That way we can put the blogs to work and call these people out on their hypocrisy. I looked over at Jane Hamsher's site and in your post for a way to contact the pumpkin head, but didn't see that.
generalcomments@feedback.msnbc.com; phil.griffin@nbcuni.com; bill.wolff@nbcuni.com, hardball@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, joe@msnbc.com, today@nbc.com, info@cnbc.com, nightly@nbc.com, MTP@nbc.com, tom.lea@nbc.com, jonathan.wald@nbc.com, lisa.hsia@nbc.com, betsy.fischer@nbc.com, Jeremy.Gaines@nbcuni.com, Jeremy.Gaines@nbc.com, Jeremy.Gaines@msnbc.com
Orangutan. @ 9:
Yeah after seven years we've been really successful at ending the Wing Nut Charade.
RHM @ 6:
Russert is a tool for the far right wing. He is a lot more sophisticated than the right wing talk show hosts, but if you look at his lines of questioning he is far right.
L.A. Confidential @ 7:
Ah, no.
My Blog
RHM @ 12:
It's a good thing. Stick to your day job.
Fuck Russert.
Muckassy (sp) just announced that he will not follow up on contempt charges against Meyers etc.
The AG has successfully immunized Bush.
Do you people understand that it is over?
As much as I recognize a double-standard, Imus's comment is a horrible comparison to Farrakhan's comments. Imus was stupid, but not hostile. If you're going to use a good example, mention Bob Jones University.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Nothins over until we say it is!
I am a closet Black Militant. I am so deep in the closet that i am white.
Perhaps Barack Obama would get a free pass with the media had Farrakhan smoked crystal meth with a male prostitute.
Remember, Ted Haggerty was very tight with the current president.
I think a reasonable comparison is Ann Coulter. She is makes anti-semitic, racist, homophobe statements, too. The only difference is, she thinks she is funny. I am sure she has more influence over more people than Farrakhan. And when Hillary was asked what she thought about Coulter saying she'd support Hillary, Hillary laughed, and did not "reject or denounce," and said "At some point, I'll take any supporters," or words to that effect. (Stephanopolous, a couple weeks ago.)
btny @ 21:
I think Ted was tight for the current president.
Will Tim Russert ask Mike Huckabee to name which dinosaurs rode on Noah's Ark?
L.A. Confidential @ 8:
Thanks, I have just had the second best laugh of the day following telling my neighbor about yesterday's comment about the Rapture wingnuts and Hagee's "long sought" endorsement of McCain--bird seed in megachurch parking lots and bird poop on their SUVs is perfect poetic justice. Can't wait to hear Sam Seder's show on Sunday and whether Timmy even asks. Get real, in your dreams.
russert is a pig...perhaps one step or two below william the bloody.
Nothing more needs to be said about this disgusting human, other than he sold his soul to the repugs, and I hope he likes the smell of shit around him.
its too bad that obama really wants to be prez
cuz if he didnt, he could easily turn around and make the above points
there is nothing in obama's history to show any sort of racism of any kind
the msm keeps wanting to make this about race....sick
This is just to say that the little cheap trick that Timmy tried to pull of the Senator back fired in his nasty ass face.
Farrakhan Statement: Stick with Obama
Date: Thursday, February 28, 2008
By: Sophia Tareen, Associated Press
CHICAGO - (AP) Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Thursday that backers of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shouldn't be dissuaded by the senator's denunciation of Farrakhan during a Democratic debate.
His statement comes after Obama was asked during Tuesday's televised debate with Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton about Farrakhan's support for the Obama campaign. Obama said he denounces Farrakhan's past anti-Semitic remarks and rejects his support.
Farrakhan sent an unsolicited statement Thursday to The Associated Press that he said was meant to respond to "outrage expressed by many" over Obama's comments.
"Those who have been supporting Sen. Barack Obama should not allow what was said during the Feb. 26 presidential debate to lessen their support for his campaign. This is simply mischief making intended to hurt Mr. Obama politically."
Helluva way to act as a moderator, both candidates should have
called him on his persistance, and interuptions, by saying,
"Timmeh, this is not Meat the Press."
Hookatoe @ 18:
The Germans didn't bomb Pearl Harbor, was that a joke or you slept through that part of history class? Besides that weird analogy, NO it is not over. Congress has the right to send the seargent at arms and go arrest those crooks and bring them to the House to testify. For that hack Bush Attorney General to say that they don't even need to report to Congress would have worked well for Nixon and Reagan and Clinton but for some reason, they didn't know one could usurp the power of the United States Constitution. Damn, now they know.
here is my favorite quote from John Hagee, the replacer of Pat Robertson, Jerry Fall well and Tammy Fay's husband.
"Christians don't steal or lie, they don't get divorced or have abortions. If the Ten Commandments were followed by everyone we would be able to fire half the police force and in six months the prisons would be all half empty." "The Fish Gate" 9/2/07
This was said 25 years after he dumped his wife and married his mistress 6 months later. He makes a million dollars a year from his "bored of directors" who include him, his wife and his son...They think he is worth a million, he agrees. Well assuming he hasn't had an abortion, he is 1 for 4. Hypocritical man pig.....Go John McCain follow him to the gates of hell.
a black version of russert would not be so stupid as to make someone like farrakhan a litmus test for an entire race of people. that's a failing of the msm - unable to handle diversity in its own staffing.
RHM @ 7:
You got anymore of what you been smokin'?
Ron @ 15:
Anybody go to this guy's blog? It's no wonder he likes Russert. His home page has an ad where you can sign up to receive a newsletter from Newt the Nazi.
Tim Russert’s GOP Whore!!
bajasteve @ 33:
Tim Russert’s GOP Whore!!
John Martin @ 30:
John,
Brother Blutarski would beg to differ with you about the Germans and Pearl Harbor....
How does one go about getting Tim Russert canceled? Do you write letters to the sponsors?
Hookatoe @ 18:
Germany did not bomb Pearl, it was the Empire of Japan reacting to FDR's (unintentional, I hope) provocations of them going all the way to outright cutting off their oil supply, in part due to the fact that he and Churchill had contempt for the "yellow monkeys." FDR's presidency is when the internments occurred, remember. The U.S.-Japanese war was marked by racism from both sides, and was the U.S.'s equivalent war in savagery to the Soviet Eastern front. Just as Truman helped push things over into the Cold War through the military-industrial complex's aid, so was it FDR who made the damn thing to begin with. Ever since 1941 we have been running on a war economy. It wasn't a Republican in office in 1941.
As for the OP: Tim Russert, an idiot? Whoever knew?
Let's start an active email campaign to Russert asking when he is going to confront John McCain about his courting of John Hagee. And lets all include a link to Hagee's anti-RC diatribe so that Russert knows that we know whereof we speak. And let's tell Russert that we have emailed Hagee's link to everyone in our address books and that they are all wondering why people like Russert are ignoring this while swooning over Farrakhan.
You know what? Forget Russert and let's email the chief on NBC News about this blatant media bias against Obama while ignoring Hagee and McCain (which smells of racism to me. Does it to you?).
Does anyone know the email address of NBC's News Chief?
I think this smelly religious/racist baiting by Tim Russert deserves a major media email deluge. There's definitely a whiff of race about it when the white bigot of the GOP candidate gets ignored whereas the black bigot gets held up as a bogeyman to the nation. And there's religious bias -- ignoring the blatant, gloating anti-Catholicism of one candidate's religious supporter while enhancing the anti-semitism of Farrakhan. What's up with that?
Is anti-Catholicism ok with NBC News?
Is a black bigot not ok with NBC News while a white bigot is business-as-usual?
NBC supports white Republican anti-Catholics by not making them as major a candidate issue as they make black anti-semitic bigots. Let's call racial and religious bullshit on NBC.
Tim Russert is nothing but a Corporate Hemmroid hired by General Electric to do their bidding. General Electric has a 'script' that is acted out thru the corporate hemmroids like Russert, his girlfriend Brian Williams, the stinking , repulsive fart called Matthews, swollen lips Gregory, and all the rest of the soul less pigs at NBC, and MSNBC minus Keith Oberman of course. These coporate hemmroids are going to act out this script no matter what because of course their intention is to get their CORPORATE BOY McCain installed as the next president so that all the Corporations agenda can be sustained: a government and economic reality for and by the FEW where GREED is the only virtue and value that they adhere too. They no longer even have souls: in their place there is simply a rancid abscess full of the puss of evil itself. This evil corporate hemmroids should be charged, tried and convicted for purposeful, criminal, fraud committed against the american people. They should be frog marched out the protection of their corporate studios right into jail and turned into 'bitches' for the enjoyment of the inmates.
ohblahdahoblahdah ... yes, you are right about Russert, who is just a part of the corporatocracy. But everyone is missing the point. This is not abbout Farrakhan, but about Farrakhan's (and the Nation of Islam's) anti-semitism. More importantly, it is about the Jewish controlled media and the greater Israel lobby making sure Obama is in line about Israel. As Nader pointed out on Russert last week, Obama was pro-Palestinian before he entered politics and became a slave to the Israel lobby. All you have to do is listen to his response. It was an assurance to the zionists that his has his mind right.
Just shows what a bigoted organization GE/NBC is and how deliberate is the propaganda operation that they are perpetrating on the public. Also agree that the story is a zionist smackdown of Obama.
Bill Donahue, like John Hagee, is just another bigoted religious-right psychopath. But I'm more than willing to pretend to support one against the other if it further divides their ranks.
I'm surprised that there was no ado about Russert making both Clinton and Obama get on their knees to Israel even as they are on the verge of pulling another Lebanon in Gaza. Do we really have to back their hawks no matter what they do? Apparently Russert thinks so and neither candidate could muster a peep to the contrary. My bet is that McCain will look and sound mighty tough as the conflict gets thicker in the region over the next 8 months. That is the GOP strategy with the help of Likudniks.
Does anyone else notice the new background on MSNBC between shots? It looks like bombs with white streams flying through the air, it is only there for a second but you have to be blind not to see it. It is very strange, just wondering why no one is talking about this, it is really blatant fearmongering.
sacredcow @ 43:
If you object to antisemitism and use the term "Jewish controlled media" it's the pot calling the kettle black. Don't confuse Judaism with Zionism, lest you fall into the same trap as the Neo-Nazis.
General_Rennenkampf @ 48:
sacredcow @ 49:
I think the format was wrong. What were you going to say?
I do object to the idea of "anti-semitism". And I agree with the many courageous Jews who acknowledge the term is overused by Zionists to denigrate any critic of Israel.
As for your admonition to not conflate Judaism with Zionism, maybe I have mis-spoken, albeit deliberately. I know the distinction (eg. "Not every Zionist is a Jew and not every Jew is a Zionist" - Lillienthal), but in this case I think it more complicated than you allow. There is, for example, the notion of "dual loyalty". And while it is true that there are many Jewish critics of some of Israel's policies or of the likudniks in particular, I think it is also true there are very few American Jews who are not Israelists or who do not have an allegiance to the Israeli State. This applies to the American Jews who largely own and control the flow of information in this country and who, rather than return to the "Promised Land", instead support it from abroad.
I don't think you have questioned the idea that our consolidated media is largely owned and managed by Jews, but I will nonetheless offer for the benefit of other readers the works of "self-loathing" Jewish intellectuals like Lillienthal, Finkelstein, etc. and, of course, the "anti-semites" Mearsheimer and Walt. And I highly recommend the work of the anti-Zionist Jewish American Richard Blankfort who has compiled a list ("Jews and the Media") that would astonish the unintiated.
Jimmy Carter has pointed out one of the effects of this "Israelist" media control in his 'Peace, not Apartheid' book, wherein he makes the point that not only is there no debate in America about Israel, but also points out that most Americans have no awareness of the debate in Israel, i.e., that there are a large number of Israeli's that desire peace or some kind of arrangement with Palestinians. Now why is that? Could it be the Jewish controlled media. Or should I say the Dual Loyalist controlled media, or just the Zionist controlled media? How about the "Israelist media"?
sacredcow @ 51:
I object to the word anti-semitism. I prefer Anti-Judaic to refer to that idiotic hatred. The word itself came from a German who hated Jews so much he wanted the word Jew removed from what he was "anti." That was well before the rise of Hitler, who as a youth joined this man's group, the League of Anti-Semites.
I question whether it is the media that is Jewish in a society that is (on paper) 70% Christian. The leadership of this society is Christian, (unfortunately disregarding Jesus's words on such matters), and considering the typical Christian attitude towards Jews......
In particular, considering the Anti-Judaic factions that are quite literally trying to provoke the Second Coming.....
No. Zionist-controlled media, it may be. But not Israelite Zionism. It is a very Christian Zionism.
@ John Martin (30) and General Rennenkampf (39)
I'll take movie quotes for $200, Alex.
"Who is John Belushi?"
I understand that many Christians are Zionists, especially the fundamentalists. They believe the biblical prophecy that rapture comes when the Jews return to the Promised Land. End of Days ... be careful what you wish for. On the other hand, some mainstream churches such as the Episcopal Church of America have divested themselves Israeli owned securities in protest of the unjust treatment of the Palestinians.
[Deleted. The basis of your list is bigotry. It's unnecessary info and we aren't into that kind of crap here. Don't post it again-Sitemonitor]
Splitting Image @ 53:
Jim Belushi's talented brother?
Timmy Russert has become the Joe Friday of political TV. I am surprised that NBC doesn't play the Dragnet musical clip when Timmy asks one of his "I gotcha" questions. He can't help but break into one of those Joe Friday smirks on his face when he thinks he has caught someone (always a democrat) in a contradiction.
Timmy, we are so tired of your high school antics. You think you are smart but your crude intellectualism has a cheap melodramatic air about it. Wake up, Timmy, there are many Americans out here who don't have to break into a sweat to out think you.
RHM @ 7:
Did you read all the evidence to the contrary in the post relating to this thread?
If so, how can you conclude "he does his homework and asks tough questions?
All white politicians should have to vocally reject David Duke and the KKK before they're taken seriously as candidates, whether or not he endorses them. Watch McLiar grit his teeth when he denounces the KKK, it'll be funny to watch.
Login or Register to post comments.