DNC vice chair Michael Blake offered a master class on how to handle a Fox News interview: call out Tucker Carlson’s racist poison and the network's propaganda and never back down.
Blake appeared on Fox's America’s Newsroom today, ostensibly to talk about the Democratic field of presidential candidates. But anchor Bill Hemmer began by playing a ridiculous assertion by Carlson (probably designed to gin up fear and anger in his white nationalist fan base) that Michelle Obama might run for president in 2020.
Hemmer’s first question for Blake was about Carlson’s “bold prediction.“
Blake’s response stunned Hemmer:
BLAKE: Well, she’s not running but the core question is why the h**l does Tucker Carlson still have a job here in the first place? The reality is this is someone who said white supremacy is a hoax and why does Fox allow him to still be here in the first place?
HEMMER: OK, alright, well, I mean his opinion there is that Michelle Obama may get in this race. Do you think that will happen or do you think not?
BLAKE: Not gonna happen, not gonna happen, but I think the core question is he shouldn’t be on here at all.
HEMMER: I get it. We didn’t bring you on to talk about Tucker Carlson. I brought you on to talk about the Democratic field.
Actually, it was Hemmer who brought up Carlson. Just saying.
Blake said he’s happy about the current field of Democratic candidates because “each of them are defeating Donald Trump.” Democrats are “very confident," Blake continued, then took another jab at Fox. “The reality is, whether it be Trump or what’s happening on this network and other places ignoring the truth, that’s the frustration we have.”
Hemmer interrupted to change the subject, though Blake got out his full statement.
Hemmer said, “I see a clear battle for a moderate” in the Democratic Party. He was referring to the recent and late entries of Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg.
“I think we see a lane for truth,” Blake said. After accusing Trump of “ignoring the truth,” Blake said, “The question must be for Donald Trump, for Fox News, for other entities – “
Hemmer interrupted again. “Listen, I didn’t bring you on to bash our network. So with all due respect, why don’t we just keep it on topic?” He began to talk about a Politico article that reported President Barack Obama said Joe Biden “really doesn’t have it” in Iowa.
“But it’s relevant,” Blake interrupted.
“No, it’s not,” Hemmer replied. “It is not relevant to the conversation we’re having. Save it for later.”
After Hemmer aired the Obama quote, he asked Blake for a response. Blake replied, “First, it’s not appropriate just to say that we can’t talk about what you said. You brought us on to be a guest.”
Blake continued, “We are talking about uniting our races as others are talking about dividing our races and so it is always appropriate to bring up these issues. It’s one of the reasons you brought me on.”
Hemmer ignored that and went back to the Politico article. He "forgot" to mention that Blake is also a candidate for Congress.
Watch this Democratic Top Dog in action below, from the November 26, 2019 America’s Newsroom, via Media Matters.
I’m continuing to research cuss words in English and agree that there’s been precious little evolution. I wonder if that might not be a legacy from Queen Victoria’s time. In Italian and French, cuss words become a form of punctuation after 10, max 15 years.
I recently googled (aka researched) blue-streak language in English for my class and was astonished at the lack of movement on that front. The cuss words of my youth – over half a century ago – are still the cuss words of today.
I’ll add that Blake also called Hemmer on the fact that he cherry picked a President Obama quote without noting the rest of what was covered in the Politico article. (the full discussion where that quote is found is about having an intimate connection to Iowa voters, and he says even HE doesn’t have that anymore). There’s another line in that article where President Obama notes that in the day of Abraham Lincoln, he could have been a Republican. And then he notes that things have changed, and will continue to change. It would have been just as inaccurate of Hemmer to have cherry picked that line too, and I’m frankly surprised he didn’t try it.