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Pat Buchanan Lets Loose

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TV Pundit Backs Whites Who Vote for “One of Us”

When conservative commentator Pat Buchanan told readers of his column in March that black folks ought to be grateful that whites brought them to America in chains, MSNBC executives kept him on the air as a regular political commentator, reassuring themselves that the white nativist — some use a harsher term — showed only his tamer side on television.

 

Pat Buchanan

But on Wednesday night, in a discussion on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Buchanan accused his colleagues of trying to paint white West Virginians as uneducated racists, and he equated white supporters of Hillary Clinton with African American supporters of Barack Obama — in each case, they simply wanted to support one their own.

He aligned himself with the white West Virginians. “Hillary was one of us,” Buchanan said.

Then, in the extraordinary session, in which the commentator was joined by host Chris Matthews and NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, Buchanan associated himself with the discredited words of Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, who said in March, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.”

Mitchell, taken aback, explained that Iowa caucus voters, who in January made Obama a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, were overwhelmingly white. “It was smart, targeted, organized campaigning in caucus states” that accounted for Obama’s trajectory, she said, rather than “African American voters who are self-identifying.

“Pat, we have to reboot our systems and look at our circuits. The world has changed,” Mitchell told Buchanan at the end of the exchange.

The discussion began moments after the news that former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., had endorsed Obama. It was a day after the West Virginia primary, in which Clinton won 67 percent of the vote to Obama’s 26 percent, and exit polls showed two in 10 whites said the race of the candidate was a factor in their vote, a figure second only to Mississippi. According to the West Virginia surveys, 95 percent of the Democratic primary voters were white, 70 percent did not graduate from college, and 54 percent had household incomes less than $50,000, the New York Times reported.

Buchanan, a onetime Republican presidential candidate, disparaged Edwards as “a trial lawyer with a 28,000 square foot home and gets $400 haircuts.” He said that if Edwards campaigned in Kentucky, which with Oregon votes next Tuesday, and Obama “gets walluped again, it’s going to raise the West Virginia questions, what’s the matter with this guy and white America?”

“Hillary Clinton has been able to identify herself with white rejection,” Matthews said, setting off Buchanan in defense of West Virginians.

“We’ve been calling the white folks in West Virginia, they’re uneducated, they’re half-educated,” he said. “You call them rejectionists. Maybe they like this gal! Last night we sat here on this set again and again and said in effect, ‘Well, basically dumb uneducated white people, poor people . . .'”

 

Steve Capus

As recounted by the Web site Rawstory.com, this exchange followed:

“Matthews pointed out that the previous evening’s discussion was about ‘the exit polling, where people were speaking for themselves,’ and that factors such as income and education are valid indicators of voting patterns, but Buchanan refused to be pacified.

“‘What do you mean by rejectionist?’ Buchanan charged. ‘You’re saying Democrats in West Virginia voted for racist reasons against Obama. . . . Did you make the same statement, Chris, about the 92% of black women who voted for Barack Obama in Philadelphia?’

“‘What were the African American community in Philadelphia voting on if not the fact that Barack Obama was one of them?’ continued Buchanan. ‘West Virginia, Hillary was one of us. That’s the same thing. But West Virginia gets trashed and Philadelphia’s wonderful.’

“‘If you’re African American,’ suggested Matthews, ‘it seems to me rooting for somebody from your community . . . I wouldn’t read that as a negative sentiment. However, when you’re white, and you’ve always called the shots, to say that you’re voting against somebody . . . it’s a different way of looking at it.’

“‘If Barack Obama were not an African American he would have been beaten by John Edwards. He would not be the nominee. It is far more of a positive for him, not only in the African American community, but with the Chris Matthews’ of the world and in the liberal suburbs far more than it is a negative,’ Buchanan shot back.”

The Web site the Jed Report, which posted a YouTube video of the segment, introduced it by saying, “It’s just incredible that MSNBC still puts Pat Buchanan on the air.” It ended with, “When is MSNBC going to fire this guy? It’s long overdue.” Many of its readers agreed.

No doubt it will be debated whether Buchanan’s views are simply fair comment, are beyond the pale, or deserve to be aired regardless.

Steve Capus, president of NBC News, received the Ida B. Wells Award last year from the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Conference of Editorial Writers. He had pulled Don Imus from MSNBC for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed ho’s.”

“Those were racist comments,” Capus said a year ago. “And I believe that it comes — that there have been any number of other comments that have been enormously hurtful to far too many people. And my feeling is that can’t — that there should not be a place for that on MSNBC.”

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. . . Black Journalists Playing “Intimidation Card”

In his latest column, Patrick J. Buchanan writes, “Bill and Hillary Clinton are not playing a race card. Rather, the liberal media and some black journalists with sentimental, emotional or ideological investments in Obama are playing the intimidation card,” referring to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Buchanan does not name the black journalists, although he is critical of a column by his fellow MSNBC pundit, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson.

“They are setting limits around what may and may not be said about Obama. They are seeking to censor robust adversarial speech where Barack is concerned, by branding as racists ‘playing the race card’ any who make Barack run the same paces as anyone else,” Buchanan continued.

“The Clintons are today victims of a double standard that has long been employed against conservatives.”

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Is Karl Rove an “Analyst” or Still GOP Attack Dog?

Speaking of political warriors hired by the news media to be pundits, Karl Rove, who has been working as a political analyst for a number of mainstream media outlets, bashed Sen. Barack Obama Friday at the National Rifle Association convention in Kentucky as if he’d never left his job as Bush administration political strategist.

“It is divisive to say one thing and do another, to belittle the values of the people — which is exactly what Obama was doing in San Francisco. Our answer is no we won’t,” Rove said, according to Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic, quoting a transcription provided by Jamie Farnsworth of CBS News.

“Let me tell you what’s distracting — it is distracting to say change when you have no experience of making real change. . . . It is distracting to say that an American flag on a lapel is a substitute for patriotism . . . then this week start showing up with an American flag on your lapel. . . .”

Just two weeks ago, Rove, who began as a commentator for Fox News only on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, was named the most influential pundit in the United States by the London Telegraph.

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Senate Votes Against FCC on Media Consolidation

“The Senate Thursday night voted, without debate, to invalidate the Federal Communications Commission’s Dec. 18 decision to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule,” John Eggerton wrote for Broadcasting & Cable.

“Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has been pushing hard for the resolution of disapproval, which passed the Senate Commerce Committee last month. He argued that media consolidation has already led to a lack of localism and diversity, so any more loosening of rules is uncalled for.”

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists joined others in urging lawmakers to pass the resolution of disapproval, saying the new FCC rules cleared the way for more media consolidation, hurt minority media ownership and help fuel job cuts that affect the quality of journalism and local news coverage.

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Simmons: “Not One Word” of N.Y. Post Story Is True

Longtime New York anchor Sue Simmons fired back at a Wednesday New York Post story that quoted anonymous former co-workers saying she “is famous for her liquid dinners between broadcasts, potty mouth and zany behavior,” telling the newspaper via e-mail that that “Not one word of it is true. I haven’t had an alcoholic drink between shows for at least 15 years or more.”

The WNBC-TV anchor added, “I understand more now why many people don’t trust the media,” the Post reported.

 

 

The exchange was prompted by an incident Monday night in which “Simmons was teasing a story about the high cost of groceries when tape of a cereal box suddenly switched to the cruise ship from which a woman fell and disappeared Sunday night, as the Daily News reported.

“The goof prompted Simmons to shout off-camera, ‘What the f–k are you doing?’ The screen then went black.”

The New York Post followed up with a story, “SILLY SUE A SALTY SWILLER; POTTY MOUTH’S ‘TIPSY’ ANTICS,” and a editorial cartoon that depicted her sober under the headline “Live at 5” and swilling under “Live at 6.”

By Thursday, the Street.com used the incident as a peg for a piece by Laura Moran, “What To Do When You Suspect Someone’s Drinking On The Job.” On Friday, the New York Times referenced it in a story by Clyde Haberman, “Bad Words, Overused, Can Lose Their Sting.”

New York magazine asked, “‘Post’ Projecting Own Foibles Onto Sue Simmons?”

“Luckily, the tabloid’s eternally polite cartoonist Sean Delonas doesn’t let silly things like denials get in the way of his art,” the Daily Intel blog said, showing the cartoon. “Above we see the insanely insulting evidence of his gusto. Apparently, not only is Sue Simmons a drunk, she’s also a smoker, maybe a gambler, and possibly a whore. And she cries when she drinks, which is the worst offense of all. If we were her, we’d pull a Col Allen and go over to the Post and kick some ass. Since when do they have the right to get all judgey over drinking during work hours?”

Allen is editor of the New York Post.

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Obama Sorry for Calling TV Reporter “Sweetie”

“Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has apologized to WXYZ reporter Peggy Agar for calling her “sweetie” during a campaign stop Wednesday in Sterling Heights,” the Detroit station reported on Thursday.

 

 

 

“Obama apologized in a voicemail he left on Agar’s cell phone at 3:16 p.m:

“‘Hi Peggy. This is Barack Obama. I’m calling to apologize on two fronts. One was you didn’t get your question answered and I apologize. I thought that we had set up interviews with all the local stations. I guess we got it with your station but you weren’t the reporter that got the interview. And so, I broke my word. I apologize for that and I will make up for it.

“‘Second apology is for using the word ‘sweetie.’ That’s a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front. Feel free to call me back. I expect that my press team will be happy to try to make it up to you whenever we are in Detroit next.'”

The station featured the voice mail on its Web site and of course did a story on the episode. Asked if she were offended by Obama’s use of “sweetie,” Agar said, “Not really. I felt more offended that he didn’t really answer the question.”

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Nieman Program Names Its Fellows for 2008-09

Hannah Allam of McClatchy Newspapers, Carla Broyles of the Washington Post, Alfredo Corchado of the Dallas Morning News, Ching-Ching Ni of the Los Angeles Times, Dorothy Parvaz, columnist and editorial writer, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Ernie Suggs of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are among 14 U.S. journalists named Friday to the next Nieman journalism fellowship class at Harvard University.

 

 

Allam, Cairo bureau chief for McClatchy and an Egyptian-American, plans to study sectarianism within Islam, focusing on Arab-Persian relations and Sunni vs. Shiite doctrine on governance, armed struggle and family law. She was the National Association of Black Journalists’ Journalist of the Year in 2004.

Broyles, Metro deputy news editor at the Washington Post, plans to examine the power of images in the media and the impact they have on how ethnic communities are represented and regarded.

Corchado, of the Mexico bureau at the Dallas newspaper, will study the fallout of organized crime on Latin America’s young, fragile democracies, particularly the impact on the freedom of the press and consequences for the United States.

 

Ni, Beijing correspondent, Los Angeles Times, plans to study “the intersection among religion, politics and immigration, with a focus on the changing spiritual landscape of America.”

Parvaz, columnist and editorial writer, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and an Iranian-American, plans to study American history and constitutional law with a focus on the moral and social underpinnings that created the country’s current political climate.

Suggs, enterprise reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is to study the significance, history and future of historically black colleges and universities and their place in American society, according to the announcement. Suggs is vice president/print of the National Association of Black Journalists.

The Nieman program, established in 1938, is the world’s oldest mid-career fellowship for journalists. Those selected come to Harvard for a year of study, seminars and special events. [Updated May 19.]

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8 More of Color Taking Washington Post Buyout

Eight additional African Americans in the Washington Post newsroom, including 33-year veteran Athelia Knight, director of the newspaper’s program for high school and college students, have confirmed they are among the more than 100 newsroom employees taking a buyout offer.

In addition to Knight, they are: Lynne Duke, assignment editor in the Style section; Karl Evanzz, researcher; Vanessa Barnes Hillian, deputy picture editor; Mae H. Israel, editor of the weekly section for Montgomery County, Md.; Jana Long, director, news technology services; Carol D. Porter-Esmailpour, page designer for the Real Estate section; and D.C. reporter Yolanda Woodlee.

“I have had a wonderful career at The Washington Post. And I really love this place, my colleagues, and the work we do,” Knight, 57, told Journal-isms. “This is a perfect opportunity for me to do some of the other things that I would like to do in my life.”

The newspaper created the Young Journalists Development Program in 1997. It was initially led by veteran journalist Dorothy Gilliam, and when Gilliam left the paper in 2003, Knight, a veteran reporter who worked with Gilliam in the program, succeeded her as director. The program mentors high school and college students, provides scholarships and trains high school newspaper advisers. Post staffers visit area high schools to assist students in putting out their campus newspapers, the paper donates equipment and funds to help with the printing costs of some school papers, and it awards scholarships. Knight has been with the program for eight years.

“I will be leaving at the end of August,” she said. “I have not decided what I will do next. But, anyone who knows me can tell you that I am interested in education, young people, mentoring, and family. So, I am looking forward to my new adventure.”

Milton R. Coleman, deputy managing editor, said the program would continue.

Among the others who are leaving, Woodlee said, “I’m still exploring my options.” Hillian said, “I don’t have any plans but I’m tackling a huge learning curve to edit audio and video for multimedia.” Porter-Esmailpour, who is also a painter, said she would spend the summer painting and taking classes in Barcelona, Spain, and Annapolis, Md. Israel said, “I’ll be exploring new possibilities but not in newspaper journalism.”

Evanzz, author of “The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad,” and “The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X,” and a Post employee since 1976, said via e-mail, “I’ve tried for more than 3 years to interest the Post in the Atlanta Child Murders. Since the mainstream media isn’t interested in who killed more than 30 black children in less than 2 years, I’m going to publish a book about my investigation of the murders.

“I’ve started my own publishing company, New Wave Books, and plan to publish the first of many books this summer (a hip hop star’s memoir), and the second one in December (about black women and rape). I’ll follow those up with several other for which I’ve already done the research.”

Long said, “I plan to put my 100% full-time effort into Power of One Yoga, my business and passion, reinvent myself as an event planner in Baltimore and enter Johns Hopkins University’s Computer Career Institute at the end of the year to re-tool as a multimedia designer! Life is good!” [Updated May 18.]

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Columnist Criticized for Piece on “Muslim” School

An online petition is demanding the firing of conservative columnist Katherine Kersten of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, accusing her of “journalistic malpractice” for her columns on the majority-Muslim charter school Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, which reportedly resulted in threats and additional security, according to Paul Schmelzer, writing Thursday on the Minnesota Post Web site.

“One signatory of the petition might lend more credence to that criticism than most: the Pioneer Press’ David Hanners, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the Dallas Morning News in 1989, was the eighth to sign,” Schmelzer wrote.

The March 9 column, “Are taxpayers footing bill for Islamic school in Minnesota?” drew the attention of the conservative publication Human Events, which wrote about it in its “Jihad Watch” and described the Metro columnist as an “indefatigable investigative reporter.” But a parent with two children at the school wrote to the Star Tribune, “It is perplexing how little space Kersten dedicated to the academic excellence of the school. She also failed to mention that most of the teaching is not Muslim and that the school is open for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”

On her blog, Kersten noted that a powerful state legislator visited the school and also called the column inaccurate, but said, “I’m reviled on a daily basis as the poorest excuse for a journalist since —well, since there was journalism.”

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Short Takes

 

Gregory Lee

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Feedback: Buchanan Peels Back Layers of Hatred

You know, Pat Buchanan is doing a lot of us a favor. He is the person many of us said was always there who others said was not. When I was young, my pastor told us to embrace those who spoke that way; don’t hide them. Letting them speak out loud and in public gives the world a chance to see who they really are. As long as we allow them to hide under the sheets and in the shadows, they will continue to have power. King and his generation figured that out with the marches. They did not wish to be beaten, but they knew that showing that raw hatred to the world would force changes that talk alone could not. Keep doing what you do, Pat. Every layer you peel off puts Obama closer to being the next president.

James Michael Brodie
Reporter
Education Daily, No Child Left Behind Compliance Insider
Arlington, Va.
May 16, 2008

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Feedback: Buchanan a Ticking Time Bomb

I fail to see how MSNBC justifies continuing to put Pat Buchanan on air.

His remarks about John Edwards, “a trial lawyer with a 28,000 square foot home and gets $400 haircuts,” were contemptuous and demeaning slurs, whose Ann Coulter-like vacuous viciousness added nothing to the discussion.

Moreover, after months of Bill and Hillary Clinton simultaneously trafficking in and denying race-baiting politics, it is galling for Buchanan to suggest that the Clintons now-rock bottom support with African American voters is purely a matter of people voting skin color. Does Pat believe only he is capable of insulting African Americans or that the Clintons get a pass on insulting folk?

Pat’s chief contribution to most discussions is best described as giving opinion that is either devoid of or only minimally associated with fact, and even then, it is often based on observations or assumptions from some bygone era.

He further seems given to making wild, unsubstantiated and often offensive remarks indicative of a person with a low regard for certain segments of the population.

Need I remind you that Pat recently told fellow guest commentator Keli Goff, who is African American, to “shut up”? That’s language I’ve never heard him use with any other guest. That incident, when viewed with other, unsubstantiated and disparaging remarks about African Americans, poses serious questions about Buchanan’s basic respect for African Americans — and there is no basis for suggesting he can be or has ever been objective about race.

In addition to Pat being an admitted shameless political hack and a demagogue in good standing, is he also another ticking anachronistic social-misfit time bomb? Tick! Tick!………..Tick!

Greg Fuller
LRP Publications
Detroit
May 16, 2008

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