Last night, Jon Stewart apologized for his minor error in a commentary about police killings of African Americans. But he had some choice words for Fox News. With special focus on Brian Kilmeade who deceptively spun Stewart’s mistake in order to delegitimize everything else Stewart said.
As I posted yesterday, Kilmeade tried to capitalize on the fact that one of the five unarmed African Americans cited by Stewart as having been killed by the police had actually died of other causes. Kilmeade neatly ducked the real substance of Stewart’s monologue – and overblew the situation by saying, “Stewart’s facts were flat-out wrong.”
Last night, Stewart fully acknowledged the mistake. But then he explained why he was so annoyed by it. “My stupidity, my sloppiness… can become an opportunity to negate that entire conversation.” Meaning, of course, unjustified killings of African Americans by the police.
And then Stewart addressed Fox & Friends. Apparently, the show had attacked Stewart on a previous show as well as yesterday's. But it was Kilmeade who got the couple of F*** you’s. And then:
By the way, Jackass, you can truly grieve for every officer who’s been lost in the line of duty in this country and still be troubled by cases of police overreach. Those two ideas are not mutually exclusive.
(4/8/18 Update: Video no longer available. If anyone finds one, let me know and I'll embed it.)
Not all cops are bad. I spent most of my life around them, and the only time the bad element is even the majority of a precinct is when some dickhead ends up in charge because he plays the best politics. I’m sure you realize this, because your producers go out of their way to pick problem brass for your narratives…
So, why is it so hard to acknowledge the bad with the good? As Stewart said, scrutiny is not an attack. I can name entire precincts that are honest and well-run. That doesn’t change that there are precincts like Ferguson, Sanford, and the problem districts in LA and NYC.
Oh, right- Fox News can only acknowledge the idea that there might be bad cops and law enforcement overreach when it’s a case like Cliven Bundy.
