Ever on the lookout for black racism (and ever blind and/or supportive of white racism), Fox News seized on the comments of Charles Rangel in the Friday’s Daily Beast as another piece of evidence of how unfair life is for white people. This morning, the Curvy Couch Crew on Fox & Friends enlisted "racial expert" Donald Trump to offer his insights and compare Rangel’s likening of the Tea Party to segregationist “crackers” to Deen’s n-word use.
In case you missed it, Rangel’s quote in question appeared in this paragraph from a Daily Beast interview:
The Tea Party? Defeat them the same way segregation was beaten. “It is the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police. They didn’t care about how they looked. It was just fierce indifference to human life that caused America to say enough is enough. ‘I don’t want to see it and I am not a part of it.’ What the hell! If you have to bomb little kids and send dogs out against human beings, give me a break.”
Before putting on his race-relations hat, Trump first donned his national security and terrorism-fighting hat – and joined the Fox News exploitation of closings of multiple embassies in Africa and the Middle East as an excuse to take some swipes at President Obama (including co-host Gretchen Carlson echoing the Fox News line, “If (Al Qaeda is) this much of a danger, are they really on the run, as the president said so last year?”).
But at 4:00 minutes into the discussion, Carlson brought up Rangel. “Representative Rangel, Charlie Rangel from New York, went on a racist rant last week,” she began. In concert with her race baiting, a banner on the screen read, “RANGEL’S RACIST RANT: CONGRESSMAN CALLS TEA PARTY ‘WHITE CRACKERS’”
Actually, its pretty clear that’s not what he meant, that Rangel was placing the hostile Tea Party in a frame of reference to his past. But when has Fox ever passed up an opportunity to play the white racial victim (which just so happens to serve as a vehicle to racially malign a black person)?
In a condemning voice, Carlson said, “Some people are asking why there hasn’t been more outrage, when he makes a comment like this but if it’s in reverse, there is outrage.”
Birther Trump, who has previously maligned African Americans on Fox – without any outrage from the “fair and balanced” network – didn’t just agree, he took it one step further. Trump claimed to be surprised given what a “gentleman” and “nice guy” he had always thought Rangel to be. But then Trump took a swipe at African Americans – which got ignored, if not outright approved by the Curvy Couch:
That’s a rough statement and not a good statement and I wonder whether or not Charlie is sorry he said it. Maybe he’s not sorry. Because there’s a group of people that probably say, ‘That’s wonderful. Isn’t that great?’
Trump, still pushing the white victim meme, added, “If Charlie, or whoever it was, was a Republican and they made that statement, they’d be resigning from office right now.” Trump forgot to mention that they’d be welcomed on Fox News, and possibly hired outright.
Steve Doocy joined right in, complaining about the “stunning double standard.” He added, “Couple of months ago, you had the incidence with Paula Deen where she said one word 30 years ago and she was crucified, lost her business deals. They took her to task. But Charlie Rangel gets a pass!”
Well, Steve, there’s really no comparison. For one thing, Deen’s “one comment 30 years ago” was part of a much larger picture of racial bigotry. Other than this supposedly-offensive remark, nobody in the segment pointed to any actual anti-white behavior of Rangel’s.
But, hey, on Fox, absolutely no bigotry is tolerated – against white people (against black people, it’s not a problem).
“Nothing will happen to Charlie,” Trump lamented. “I see it all the time. If you’re a Republican and you make a statement like that, it’s over. I mean, you are finished… The further right you are, the worse it gets. …It’s a very double standard.” He added, “Paula Deen was absolutely crucified, what they did with her. …It’s amazing.”
Tucker Carlson chimed in: “The people who demand, consistently demand the Paula Deens of the world be crushed and driven out of the public conversation, shouldn’t they be forced to take a stand on this?” And then, like a good Fox News anchor, he threw President Obama into it. “Where’s Obama on this?”
"Well, they’re not going to take a stand, Tucker," Trump replied. " And Obama is going to take a pass and they’re all going to take a pass. And that’s the way the country is right now. …We have a very divided country… Get used to it because it’s not changing very fast.
H/T Mediaite
"""""I’m tired of white people bending over and grabbing their ankles to these black racists! wake up people. This kind of hate speech does us no good and you people who are not outraged are racists!""""
Jesse I agree a bit with you about one thing. There is often a double standard that hurts the issue. It makes sense that nobody should say racist things.
I was watching 30 rock and Tracy Jordans wife spouted “white boy” in a way that had it been reversed would have caused an uproar.
This behavior is not only frowned upon but is celebrated.
That’s wrong and feels crazy too. I have heard why these things are done and those arguments fail. Either race does or does not matter. This I agree with.
I do not see the value though in calling people racist for not being outraged. Too much wrong with that for it to be valid.
We cannot judge people, including those that say racist things. People have life experiences that inform them what is offensive or not.
A person can say something bad without meaning it the way others take it.
Instead of calling people racist, explain why you think this is a problem.
I have one question for you though. Does it honestly make you as angry when people are racist towards black people?
Is it possible you have a harder time being in black peoples shoes and see why Fox comes off so wrong so often?
They have one outrage, which is the double standard you mentioned. They do not apply this to every situation. They seem to do this alot no matter the topic.
The idea is we should all learn that race plays no part in peoples behavior.Like when O’riley says black people kill way more poeple then white people…did he see that is not the case with poor white people and that crime is higher in every poor community in the world, and make the point that it was not being black that caused the homicide increase? no…that should be every bit as offensive as what your issue is…
So instead of calling people racist, explain how things make you feel and why you think they are wrong and encourage people to love one another…you will get results if you do….:)
""""@jesse, where was your outrage when your lord master Lardass Limpdick was spouting “nigga” on his daily hatefest? Why don’t I ever see you at the racist FokkksNashun cesspool telling those racist pigs to stop calling President Obama “nigger” and First Lady Michelle Obama “gorilla”? Hmmmmm, jesse? You obviously have no outrage about that. Wake up, racist, by your own retarded logic, you’re the racist.""""
Speak humbly and people will really listen more often rather then a never ending fight. Some people do not see why they are doing something wrong even. It takes a lot for a person to change their racist hearts and minds.
My kids used to say “grandma is so racist” and just the other night my mother told me she see’s her racist tendencies and is working on them. Which we all had long seen was the case.
That came about from my patience and long suffering and reasoning with her. Had I called her names it would have pushed her to be more rigid and less self examination would have been the case.
I encourage you to see if you need to make the same kind of changes. If you do and you make them, you will not only help others see the truth more but you will enjoy being you more too.
Nuff said.
(I’m white, too, just in case)
This is “Hate The President 101,” FNC-style.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/cracker-means-something-entirely-different-in-florida-a-source-of-pride/
That’s true for where I grew up, as well… We all knew what it meant, and we all knew damn well that it was never a racial slur- Just an accusation on your current state of character. It’s a one word way of saying “Dude, you’re thinking like a skinhead right now!”.
And how they reacted to it told us if they’d still be thinking like that tomorrow. People like Fox hate that word because they caught onto that.
Seriously, Google that. If you don’t turn up at least Florida, you’re doing it wrong.
2) I looked up what “cracker” means… As a slur, it means a white person who longs for the Dixie days of Yore. And before it meant that, white people used it as a slam on then-European one percenters who lord their position over others.
Yeah, let’s use that as a platform to start calling black people a slur that doubled as a threat of torture. Wanna pull up any similarly themed words for Chinese and the Jews while you’re at it?
3) I’ve read Fox Nation, Freep, Gretawire, the Tea Party’s Facebook page, and Newsbusters. I also follow AM radio, and checked out a few Fox News hosts on Twitter. I know exactly What context these people plan to use that word in.
I don’t approve of “cracker,” either- Even when it’s being used in context against someone it applies to. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind why the RNC (Fox News in particular) want it to be ok to say Ni**er.
That is all.