Scarborough is being dishonest when he frames the controversy as Carter and many on the left accusing anyone who opposes the president as racist. No one said that, THAT IS NOT THE CASE.
By introducing this deceiving frame it is easy for Scarborough, and others, to paint those of us who share Carter’s view as playing the race card.
“I don’t know what America Jimmy Carter lives in, because he doesn’t live in the America where I live,” Scarborough said on the September 16, edition of his show. “There is desperation out there on the hard left and they just can’t figure out why people in the people of America are
upset at this guy.”In making this statement Joe ignores the role that the anger whipped up towards Obama during tea parties and town hall meetings has played in his dropping approval ratings. These events are important when it comes to understanding Carter’s statement because the rhetoric and images coming from them had both subtle and not so subtle racial as well as violent undertones.
Whether it’s the poster that had Obama dressed up as a witch doctor, the birther movement, the numerous signs calling him a Muslim or the lady who held up the poster that referred to the president as the “lying African,” it is hard to deny the influence that some who oppose him are influenced by bigotry.
“I actually worry about the fact that he brought this up,” Joe’s resident sycophant Mika also chimed in. “It may not just be wrong Joe, it may be irresponsible.”
Oh Mika you can such a dunce at times (more often than not unfortunately).
There DEFINITELY is some irresponsible behavior going on out there, but its not coming from Carter or others who have raised concerns about the new ugly tone that has been present since last summer. It is the behavior of Joe, Mika and others in the media who pretend that this is normal and acceptable political discourse and trivialize those who are concerned about it as being irresponsible and playing the race card.
Obama is not only the first African American president, he is the first president who is subjected to folks showing up at his event with guns, he is the first president who was treated like a sexual predator when he spoke to our nation’s students, he is the first president to be called heckled as a liar by a Congressman during a joint session of Congress.
What might contribute to these other “firsts?” Race? Nawwwwwwwww (sarcasm)
Joe, Mika and others will claim this is nothing new and President George W. Bush was subjected to protests and regularly disrespected by those of us on the left. While that observation is true, there needs to be some distinctions made.
The left never brought guns to Bush events and were often relegated to First Amendment zones. Reports are that Obama has received more threats to his life than any other president in American history, AND HE IS ONLY NINE MONTHS INTO HIS FIRST TERM!
Whenever Move.Org, CODE PINK and other left leaning organizations offended the right the Democratic establishment at times overreacted and distanced itself from them, however the tea party movement, while resembling the lynch mobs of the Jim Crow era, is embraced by GOP party leaders.
Joe and Mika can marginalize Jimmy Carter all they want but it doesn’t change the fact that what he said was right. I just hope as a country we wake up, realize its time for us to be part of the solution and have an honest and ongoing dialogue on race, instead of being part of the problem by trivializing the issue and calling those who raise it irresponsible.
Joe and Mika embrace an unrepentant bigot like Pat Buchanan as a regular contributor to their show, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they have no interest in being part of the solution.
Cartoon credit: Britt Springfield Journal Register
2 comments:
Jimmy Carter said what I and others have been thinking. If you want to see the racism in a more blatant form I can point you to a few groups on Usenet where it is very obvious. When people can hide behind a pseudonym they are much freer with what's really on their mind. One of their favorite names for Obama is Oreo, I wonder if Joe can tell me how that is not racist.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. I agree w/ you 100% - if we don't encourage discourse and discussion about race in this country, we are only squelching something that is as obvious as an elephant in the living room. Take it out, look at it, examine it, be honest about it and the impact that it's making on the healthy growth of this great country, and for god's sake, DO something - and now.
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