Geraldo Rivera visited The O'Reilly Factor tonight for an interview that sounded more like a campaign whistle stop. That's because it was. Even though Rivera is only “truly contemplating” a run. Earlier, he appeared on Fox & Friends, where he said he was working on “hon(ing) his message” and a friendly producer posted a banner saying, “Senator Rivera?” Tonight, host Laura Ingraham fed him openings so that he could sound off on various issues of the day. And that's not counting the Fox Latino column where Rivera more fully laid out his positions and promised "many other ideas to share along the way" if his candidacy "has legs." Just everyone pulling together to help out a fellow (Republican) colleague, I guess.
As Ben Dimiero at Media Matters noted, Rivera laughingly told Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy that since the race is “still a good year away,” he'll continue his regular Friday visits to the show “until as such time as it's no longer legal."
Presumably, he'll also continue his regular Friday visits to the O'Reilly Factor and continue hosting his Geraldo At Large show on weekends.
In a segment that FoxNews.com helpfully called, “Geraldo Rivera mulling run for Senate,” Factor substitute host Ingraham let Rivera speak uninterrupted about gun regulation issues. Rivera was quacking an awful lot like a candidate as he suddenly changed the subject to say, “I've got a way to (reduce gun violence)... What Vice President Joe Biden should be pushing right now is to expand New York City's stop and frisk law to every police precinct in this country where the level of gun violence rises above a certain threshhold level.” He also held forth with his thoughts on the contraception mandate compromise that President Obama offered earlier in the day.
Ingraham said, “Geraldo, I'm listening to you. You're sounding like you're putting together policy papers almost. Like a future Senator... That's what a Senator would do, Geraldo!”
Rivera talked about how excited he is at the prospect of running and that he thinks he can “revive the moribund GOP in the Garden State.” He said he hopes for the support of Governor Chris Christie and has his fingers crossed. He reiterated, “It's something we are seriously considering.”
I've got nothing against Rivera running for senate. But using his regular Fox News appearances to promote and hone a candidacy is – well, let's just say it doesn't smack of fairness, balance or ethical journalism.
Bemused commented
2013-02-04 02:24:23 -0500
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@ellen: I tend to agree that Rivera would make a pretty good Senator but only if he perceives his salary as being paid by the taxpayers, i.e. not FNC, not NRA, not Koch, etc. One of the best deputies Italy ever had was a porno star who really did try to represent her constituency but her own party failed to take her seriously. Pity.
Sandman2 commented
2013-02-04 02:09:04 -0500
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This is Umerka? Don’t tread on me? Why haven’t Ted Nugent or Sarah Palin “subtly” threatened to “take him out?” Do blacks and browns have a “different” Constitutional protection of there rights?
If Cops were serious about stopping and frisking suspicious looking folks in NY City they should start by grabbing the one’s coming down Wall Street wearing $3,000 suits. They’ve stolen more money than any “gangbanger” ever will.
Ellen commented
2013-02-02 22:54:23 -0500
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As for stop and frisk, from what I know of it, which is not much, it seems a complicated matter. I imagine if I were a minority being stopped and frisked for no reason other than walking while being black or brown and wearing a hoodie, I’d not be so much in favor of it.
In any event, while I would think that you are right that it’s a policy and not a law, “law” is what Rivera said and I merely quoted him.
Aria Prescott commented
2013-02-02 13:34:47 -0500
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The plot of GTA: San Andreas is based on that, with literally the only change being that they were moved to 1992. CRASH wasn’t even renamed; Rockstar didn’t think they deserved the dignity.
Ok, onto the article itself… while I agree that Geraldo doesn’t have much of a chance because Fox is all the women and minority vote need to vote against him, it kind of bothers me that Fox News’ bias is even more undisguised than usual.
I already have my suspicions that Puerto Rican Geraldo’s running largely as a Latino token in the first place, and that he has some kind of deal with the GOP brass to that effect. His wording when he announced it has a few red flags up here. But Fox News seems cartoonishly supportive of him, even compared to how they reacted to other names that ran.
Am I just seeing things? Or does it seem like Geraldo’s getting special treatment among their candidate names already? If he is, their desperation to court latinos is the only reason I can cite, because many of their hosts kinda hate him- Including O’Reilly.
Aria Prescott commented
2013-02-02 07:32:51 -0500
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No, seriously.
Joe Marsh commented
2013-02-02 03:23:37 -0500
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I did NOT call “people” from the projects thugs. I specifically said the “thugs.” I was referring to the thugs and gangbangers. There are many decent, law-abiding people of color who live in the projects. People who go to work, raise families and who are as terrified of the drug-dealing, gangbanging thugs as many white people who live near the projects.
Where the hell to do you live?
Have you ever been assaulted by a thug gangbanger?
I certainly hope not.
So don’t be lecturing others about your perception of their racism!
It IS about social behavior, economics, (lack of) education, (lack of) parenting, and so on. It’s not about skin color.
I make no pretense of having any kind of solution. But I do know that every single handgun found by the police is one less handgun that will be sooner or later be used to kill some young kid (thankfully NYC is far behind the appalling statistics from Chicago), or some elderly mugging victim.
In NYC, it’s against the law to possess a handgun. A small number of people have licenses to carry (Slanthead among them). Are you suggesting that some of these drug-dealing, gangbanging young thugs are licensed to carry a handgun?
I stand by my original remarks. If you want to continue to trash me, go ahead. I won’t take the time to debate any further with the likes of you.
Joseph West commented
2013-02-02 02:17:38 -0500
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Sorry, buddy, but YOU ARE A RACIST. Plain and simple. For starters, you use the word “thugs” to describe people “from the project” and then you quickly add that they’re wearing hoodies. It may have escaped your notice but many people, of all ethnicities, wear hoodies (in fact, Geraldo Rivera himself was photographed wearing a hoodie—something that got a fair amount of attention when he decided to equate hoodies with criminals). Then you pull the “if they frisk 100 and find one handgun, it’s worth it” routine. Well, let me ask how YOU would feel if the police decided to just “randomly” stop-and-frisk 100 WHITE guys, who ostensibly were doing nothing else suggesting any sort of criminal activity, and found 1 handgun among them. Would THAT be “worth it” or would you be making plans to protest the police harassment of those “innocent white boys?” (Bear in mind, that in many states, the simple possession of a handgun is NOT evidence of a crime.)
So. Yes, you ARE a racist. And I don’t give two s***s what you think or how you try to weasel-word your way out of it. Trying to blame it on “a socio-economic issue” is, perhaps, the weaseliest of weasel-word behavior.
Antoinette commented
2013-02-02 02:16:19 -0500
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The Fox “News” frauds, if they support his candidacy, runs the high risk of further alienating what’s left of their conservative viewership. These frauds’ ratings would take a deep dive off the cliff.
NOTE TO RIVERA
Running for office is one way to jump from a sinking ship named Fox “News” Channel.
Joe Marsh commented
2013-02-02 01:44:41 -0500
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A few weeks back, a federal judge banned it (in the Bronx), but has now lifted the ban:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/federal-judge-lifts-nypd-stop-and-frisk-ban-bronx-article-1.1245600
This issue will probably wind up at the Supreme Court eventually.
The liberals are always protesting the policy. Me — since I’m anything but a knee-jerk liberal — thinks it’s a useful practice if done correctly. I especially think that when I see these roving bands of young thugs from the project (a few blocks from my home), most of them wearing hoodies. If the cops frisk 100 of these thugs and discover one handgun, then it’s worth it, in my opinion. Are most of these thugs black, with some Hispanic? Yes. Does that make me a racist? Definitely not! It’s a socio-economic issue, if anything.
I also think New Jersey could do a lot worse than Geraldo as Senator (if he actually wins as it will be a tough fight depending on what Corey Booker does). Yes, Geraldo has been grandstanding and exploiting every opportunity way, way before FNC; he can be a clown and ass at times. But I also don’t think he’s full of the fear, hate and loathing displayed by the likes of O’Reilly, Slanthead, et. al.
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