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Hannity And Rep. Steve King: Two Good Reasons To Think The GOP Minority Outreach Is Doomed To Failure

Posted by Ellen -7859.80pc on July 19, 2013 · Flag

Memo to Fox News: While your outreach to African Americans on the issues surrounding the Trayvon Martin case is laudable in principle, you might want to avoid insulting them at the same time. Last night, you presented a debate about racial profiling in the Trayvon Martin verdict on the Hannity show. It was "fair and balanced" Fox-News style with the white host ganging up with the white, Republican Congressman Steve King against the African American Congressman Bobby Rush. And even if Rush were not a venerable member of the Civil Rights Movement and the Congressional Black Caucus, the sneering and jeering gave the impression of a certain - well, hostility to his perspective.

The sneering began early, as soon as Rush argued, essentially, that common sense and the experiences of many other African Americans indicated that Martin had been racially profiled. But Hannity dismissed that with the following "fair and balanced" question to King:"There was no evidence of racial profiling. As a matter of fact, the FBI looked into it for 16 months. Even the attorney for Trayvon Martin and the family said this case was not about race." OK, fair enough, sort of. But then, instead of asking for a response, Hannity hinted at the delegitimization of Rush's position by "asking" King, "So what do you make of Congressional action on this?"

Sure enough, King took the hint:

Well, I think there's been a lot that's been ginned up here, that's been focused on race. And they held a faux hearing that focused on race back about a year ago, I would guess, trying to gin up prosecution on this. I point out that I know of no federal law against profiling. It needs to be a component of good police work. But the argument has been constantly to try to find a little thread of whatever George Zimmerman might have said or thought in his life that could be used against him in this prosecution. We can't be punishing what goes on in somebody's head.

By the way, there's plenty more than "a little thread" to suggest that Zimmerman was a racist. For starter's there's his old My Space page which reveals violent tendencies in addition to bigotry. And there are the race-baiting tweets of his brother, Robert, who acts as a spokesman for the family. But King's comments about "ginned up" racial concerns, his defense of profiling and calling Zimmerman's questionable racial behavior "a little thread" went completely unchallenged.

Hannity's condescending tone when speaking to Rush spoke volumes as well. Hannity interrupted Rush's response to King by saying, "You keep kind of glossing over (Martin's supposedly unprovoked attack on Zimmerman). Why? Why do you gloss over that?" Again, Hannity could have left it at a comeback regarding Martin's attack. But asking "why?" twice not only delegitimizes Rush's view of the case but his views on the racial aspects in particular.

Sadly, it went downhill from there. Even though Hannity had interrupted Rush earlier to say that "We gotta be accurate, we're giving out the facts of the case," he now disingenuously argued that Martin had been beating "the daylights" out of Zimmerman. This, despite the fact that Hannity's own racist pal and fave Zimmerman-trial analyst, Mark Fuhrman, said otherwise.

Later, Hannity and King all but laughed at Rush in their efforts to dismiss his comments as silly, unfounded and not worth taking seriously.

Just in case that didn't get the hostility across, there was a large graphic on the screen as Rush spoke, saying, "POLITICIZING TRAGEDY?" Just asking? Yeah, right.

This was an appalling display of antagonistic closed-mindedness toward mainstream African American perspectives. In case you don't know, this is far from an anomaly from Hannity. If he and Fox News think this was a genuine nod to inclusiveness, they might want to think again.

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mj - the same one commented 2013-07-20 14:44:06 -0400 · Flag
“Memo to Fox News: While your outreach to African Americans on the issues surrounding the Trayvon Martin case is laughable in principle, . . .”

There you go, Ellen; fixed it for ya. :)

.
Richard Santalone commented 2013-07-20 14:16:41 -0400 · Flag
@nayef Daher Pardon me — that was Rep. Peter King (R-NY), NOT Steve King who conducted those hearings you speak of. I know this because I’ll admit I used to live in the district that Peter King represents (Seaford, NY)
Ellen commented 2013-07-19 23:16:41 -0400 · Flag
M M, I agree Rush did not do a good job here and it’s unfortunate.
mlp ! commented 2013-07-19 21:55:44 -0400 · Flag
From Dave Wright:
“They are going to keep up this narrative as long as they can because, basically, they have nothing else to discuss.”
Absolutely correct. The crazies, who have looked very bad lately at just about everything, obviously feel that they have finally scored a major victory. Of course, they are gushing over this with their usual terminal combination of hubris and ignorance that we love so well. This will help their outreach to minorities immensely.
Nayef Daher commented 2013-07-19 16:18:49 -0400 · Flag
We can’t be punishing what goes on in somebody’s head – Steve King

So says the pig who conducted “radicalization hearings” for an entire religious minority specifically to punish them for what racists like him think is going in their heads.
Janet Tuhey commented 2013-07-19 14:57:58 -0400 · Flag
Steve King is the same color as Bobby Rush. It’s hard for me to accept any form of racism, from both ends of the melanin scale, when you seem to be trying to look like the race you are questioning.
Dave Wright commented 2013-07-19 12:50:13 -0400 · Flag
It was vintage Fox — played very well with their audience. They are going to keep up this narrative as long as they can because, basically, they have nothing else to discuss. And it was no coincidence they picked an opponent who either didn’t know how to or simply couldn’t defend his position well.
NewsHounds posted about Hannity And Rep. Steve King: Two Good Reasons To Think The GOP Minority Outreach Is Doomed To Failure on NewsHounds' Facebook page 2013-07-19 11:53:58 -0400
An appalling display of antagonistic closed-mindedness toward mainstream African American views of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman.








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