Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" on 21st century racism

[DroppinScience]

Very well put, if I do say so myself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35413662#35413662

[valvano]

i am sure the 73 people who watch his show every night will be interested in reading this.....

[DroppinScience]

I know, man. Olbermann is certainly not of the same high caliber as an anonymous commenter on the Internet, but I know he's trying his best.

[travesty]

I KNEW IT! KO is a racist! He just spent 9 minutes admitting on national TV that he "distrusts the guy in the next cave bacause of his color". WTF? He tries to spin it at the end into some tea party bashing but DS you gotta drop this fucking retard from your greatest hits list. HE IS A FUCKING MORON the likes of which Glenn Beck and Neil Boortz can only imagine. You know how I feel about this d'bag, but this was one of the worst "commentaries" I've ever seen here. His American White Guilt is obviously troubling him extensively and he feels the needs to "accept" it on national TV just so he can call other people racists with a clear conscience? What a sad, sad little man he is.

[valvano]

maybe he was talking about his coworker Chris Matthews

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/27/msnbcs_matthews_on_obama_i_forgot_he_was_black_ton ight.html

[DroppinScience]

I KNEW IT! KO is a racist! He just spent 9 minutes admitting on national TV that he "distrusts the guy in the next cave bacause of his color". WTF? He tries to spin it at the end into some tea party bashing but DS you gotta drop this fucking retard from your greatest hits list. HE IS A FUCKING MORON the likes of which Glenn Beck and Neil Boortz can only imagine. You know how I feel about this d'bag, but this was one of the worst "commentaries" I've ever seen here. His American White Guilt is obviously troubling him extensively and he feels the needs to "accept" it on national TV just so he can call other people racists with a clear conscience? What a sad, sad little man he is.

I will admit The Tea Party is a fragmented group so it would be unfair to paint them with one broad brush, but going by their signage at rallies, speeches at their convention, you'd have to be really blind not to see that there's an element of race-based anxiety and paranoia going on and it's shrouded in code. Tom Tancredo's comments alone should prove this.

I figured this "Special Comment" wouldn't warm you up towards Olbermann, travesty, but thanks for watching anyway. :)

[yeahwho]

That is the problem with the 24 hour news cycle, I understand his POV. It could of been summed up in about 30 seconds with under a hundred words. In order to justify his seemingly radical viewpoint on?%*& .... (well I have to admit I'm really not to sure who he's having a viewpoint on)... he fills up a full nine minutes with mushy mouthed filler. To sell more cars.

It's insulting to me mainly because it's not helping race relations to publicize a group who have never publicly said they are racist and also I do not believe that is the message the Tea Party wants to promote.

It's as if he is trying to guilt trip people who are way beyond being guilt tripped. For God's Sake man, they had Sarah Palin speak and gave her $100,000 to do so.

Kieth Olberman isn't going to have any affect on the Tea Party folks.

The dynamic and cult of nutty ass news channel personalities doesn't register with me other than every once and awhile Colbert/Stewart nails them to the ground for a wicked good laugh.

[RobMoney$]

White Guilt...LOL


Serious question Lambert,
Name me another group of people who have done more to uplift blacks than white Americans.

Blacks have enjoyed the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity their race has ever known, right here in America.
Unfortunetly, all we ever hear is the grievances.
There will always be those who would rather dwell on the negatives than reflect on the positives that have been done in America in the name of equality.

[DroppinScience]

White Guilt...LOL


Serious question Lambert,
Name me another group of people who have done more to uplift blacks than white Americans.

Which white Americans? The ones who enslaved them and instituted Jim Crow laws after the Civil War?

Perhaps you were thinking about the white abolitionists or the Supreme Court after Brown v. Board of Education? That's a nice sentiment at least, but it's a very short-sighted view to take that whites have uplifted black people. Not to mention, very condescending and reeks of a "white man's burden" mentality.

Who has done more to uplift blacks? Why I would say black people themselves. From Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King to Malcolm X and beyond. I think they've done a lot.

[DroppinScience]

It's insulting to me mainly because it's not helping race relations to publicize a group who have never publicly said they are racist and also I do not believe that is the message the Tea Party wants to promote.

Dude, that doesn't mean much. Stormfront claims to not be a racist group but they're still racists. In fact, you never hear a racist go: "Damn straight, I'm a racist." No, they hide behind coded language. Hell, the white supremacists themselves believe the Tea Party is a good breeding ground for recruiting some of these folks over to their side.

As I said earlier, the Tea Party is too fragmented to be coherent and I know for a fact that not everyone is a racist who aligns themselves with the movement. For example, some believe Sarah Palin is a God while others in the Tea Party movement warn against wolves in sheep clothing exploiting their movement for their own personal gain (which fits Palin perfectly). That fact alone should illustrate the divisions in their movement.

The bottom line is that those who deny the racial component are naive at best.

[yeahwho]

Whatever, this doesn't change the fact that Keith Olbermann spent nine minutes getting all worked up about the Tea Party and the racial make up of the group.

He basically is saying the Tea Party is a group of closet racists. They are here as an alternative place for racists to hang out because we have a Black president. I disagree, the Tea Party is here because we have a democratic president.

If Hilliary Clinton were president there would be a Tea Party and nobody would call them sexist.

And so on. The Tea Party is much more policy based than race based.

[RobMoney$]

Which white Americans? The ones who enslaved them and instituted Jim Crow laws after the Civil War?

Perhaps you were thinking about the white abolitionists or the Supreme Court after Brown v. Board of Education? That's a nice sentiment at least, but it's a very short-sighted view to take that whites have uplifted black people. Not to mention, very condescending and reeks of a "white man's burden" mentality.

Who has done more to uplift blacks? Why I would say black people themselves. From Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King to Malcolm X and beyond. I think they've done a lot.


First of all, whites didn't enslave the native africans that were brought here. Their own tribe leaders sold them to the spanish slave traders, who in turn brought hem to not only america, but all over the carribean and south america as well. Selling them whever they could find a market.
Why is that singularly the white man's burden?

Secondly, Why do you choose to give precedent to the black leaders who fought for civil rights, but never the white people who not only assisted those same blacks such as Frederick Douglas and MLK, but exhibited plenty of courage in their own fight for civil rights.

Those Supreme Court Justices didn't act in defiance to popular opinion, they acted because of it.

[travesty]

I think that I couldn't agree more yeahwho. Once again I think that people are far too quick to label any dissent about the president as racist.

[valvano]

First of all, whites didn't enslave the native africans that were brought here. Their own tribe leaders sold them to the spanish slave traders, who in turn brought hem to not only america, but all over the carribean and south america as well. Selling them whever they could find a market.
Why is that singularly the white man's burden?

Secondly, Why do you choose to give precedent to the black leaders who fought for civil rights, but never the white people who not only assisted those same blacks such as Frederick Douglas and MLK, but exhibited plenty of courage in their own fight for civil rights.

Those Supreme Court Justices didn't act in defiance to popular opinion, they acted because of it.

aren't you supposed to blame jews too when going through the slavery blame game?

[rirv]

I don't understand it either. Why doesn't the white race get more credit for bringing slavery and jim crow laws to an end? Those blacks are so ungrateful.

Rob, I'm pretty sure you must be playing devil's advocate here. Otherwise I am flabbergasted.

[Echewta]

I hate all of you.

[DroppinScience]

And so on. The Tea Party is much more policy based than race based.

I have not said that the Tea Party is primarily race-driven. I have said that it is a factor, it is present, and should be considered. To deny any racial motivations at all is ignoring the facts and sticking your head in the sand.

I am going to repeat what Arianna Huffington said recently about the Tea Party, and is a pretty apt statement:

Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is ugly. Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is race-based. Yes, some of the Tea Party movement is being bankrolled by conservative political groups -- and all of it promoted by Fox News. But focusing only on those elements obscures the fact that some of what's fueling the movement is based on a completely legitimate anger directed at Washington and the political establishment of both parties.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-tea-party-600-canarie_b_454105.html

This is not an unreasonable assertion, and although Olbermann can sometimes go overboard, he did concede in that 9-minute monologue that racism is NOT the sole driver of the movement, but was more an appeal to those who align themselves with the Tea Party movement for substantive policy-based reasons to ask themselves if they're in the right place.

Glenn Greenwald also has an astute point he made last fall about the Tea Party people:

Far more interesting than Beck himself is the increasingly futile effort to classify the protest movement to which he has connected himself. Here, too, confusion reigns. In part, this is due to the fact that these "tea party" and "9/12" protests are composed of factions with wildly divergent views about most everything. From paleoconservatives to Ron-Paul-libertarians to LaRouchians to Confederacy-loving, race-driven Southerners to Christianist social conservatives to single-issue fanatics (abortion, guns, gays) to standard Limbaugh-following, Bush-loving Republicans, these protests are an incoherent mishmash without any cohesive view other than: "Barack Obama is bad." There are unquestionably some highly noxious elements in these groups, but they are far from homogeneous. Many of these people despised the Bush-led GOP and many of them loved it.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/09/22/beck/index.html

Would the Tea Party have emerged if Hillary Clinton were president? Possibly, but the difference here would be if there was any sexism present (which I'm 100% sure would have happened) would be overt rather than covert. Outright sexism is still more or less accepted while overt racist sentiments certainly are not.

Here's my appeal to the Tea Party. If they do not want to be seen as racist, they should be proactive. They should make sure any criticism of Obama should be substantive, based in facts and reality, and go out of their way to denounce any racism so they can distance themselves from any Obama critics who are indeed racists.

Not an unreasonable proposition if you ask me.

[DroppinScience]

First of all, whites didn't enslave the native africans that were brought here. Their own tribe leaders sold them to the spanish slave traders, who in turn brought hem to not only america, but all over the carribean and south america as well. Selling them whever they could find a market.
Why is that singularly the white man's burden?

Secondly, Why do you choose to give precedent to the black leaders who fought for civil rights, but never the white people who not only assisted those same blacks such as Frederick Douglas and MLK, but exhibited plenty of courage in their own fight for civil rights.

Those Supreme Court Justices didn't act in defiance to popular opinion, they acted because of it.

A post like this just makes my head hurt.

I truly don't understand what you're trying to say when you bring up African tribe leaders selling slaves to the Spanish. So the Europeans buying slaves (from African tribe leaders) absolves us of "white guilt." I guess the pursuit of slavery from centuries by the Europeans means absolutely nothing because they bought slaves off of black people. :rolleyes:

Why do I give precedent to black people in the civil rights/abolitionist struggle? Well, gee, I dunno, the fact that it was their fight. Yes, there were noted white abolitionists. Yes, there were also noted whites who participated side by side with blacks in Freedom Rides, Selma marches, etc. It was great that they got involved, and their bravery was noted (those marchers who got beaten were both black and white... the cops and police dogs did not racially discriminate in that respect), but they were not involved in the struggle to the same extent as their black counterparts. They did not have the same stake. Plus, the history of white involvement with civil rights is mostly confined to the early to mid-60s. So I think it's okay to give precedence to black leaders here. Overemphasizing whites would be inaccurate and rings of its own form of racism too.

[yeahwho]

I'm not against Olbermann's rant or do I believe that racism is over in the USA. Racism is still not by definition illegal for private individuals in the USA. There is only so far the racial divide can be eased in our lifetime and we've been fortunate enough to witness one of our Countries finest moments in conquering that divide by electing a black president.

All of which Keith mentioned, but he wasn't really firing on all cylinders when he decided to put the racist tag on the Tea Party. Fuck the Tea Party doesn't even know what they are.

And if all the racists did end up there it would be one of the nicest presents ever. We would all understand their mindset.

I disagree that sexism would be an issue if Clinton would of been elected, something I've observed is Hilliary is a lot like Obama... shes a democrat.

I wish the democrats had enough sack to start up a Inglorious Basterds type of hate group against republicans too. That is what I truly wish the democrats would do.

[DroppinScience]

Don't be so sure there would be no sexism during a Hillary Clinton administration. There was a LOT of open, obnoxious sexist attacks on her when she ran for president, not to mention her First Lady days.

[yeahwho]

As an interesting aside one of the more fascinating things about Hilliary Clinton's political debut was her statement in 1992 on 60 minutes,

"I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwBirf4BWew&feature=PlayList&p=2F0EFBD1622D207E&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=70) like Tammy Wynette."

I'll let wiki tell the story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Wynette#1990_.E2.80.93_1998:_Final_career_ye ars)....


(The end of this quotation has also appeared as "some little woman, standing by my man and baking cookies, like Tammy Wynette.") However, the reference to cookie baking more likely comes from an unrelated remark by Hillary Clinton: "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life.") The remark set off a firestorm of controversy and Wynette demanded, and received, an apology from Clinton. (Hillary Clinton's remark aside, Wynette was nonetheless a Clinton supporter, and later performed at a Clinton fundraiser.)

[Dorothy Wood]

when Bill Clinton was president, I saw a few bumper stickers that said stuff like, "I voted for him, not her".

I'm pretty sure there'd be a ton of assholes out there questioning the mental capacity of a woman president.


anyway, I don't have much of a comment about Keith's thing. I thought it made a little sense, but was also kinda heavy-handed. I think calling the Tea Partiers racists only adds fuel to their flames. But, from what I've seen, I also think a lot of them are probably pretty racist. or at least prejudice.

[abbott]

thanks .... wow

[yeahwho]

when Bill Clinton was president, I saw a few bumper stickers that said stuff like, "I voted for him, not her".

I'm pretty sure there'd be a ton of assholes out there questioning the mental capacity of a woman president.


anyway, I don't have much of a comment about Keith's thing. I thought it made a little sense, but was also kinda heavy-handed. I think calling the Tea Partiers racists only adds fuel to their flames. But, from what I've seen, I also think a lot of them are probably pretty racist. or at least prejudice.

I'm sure there are a few racists in the Tea Party and I'm also sure you can triple that number of how many Tea Party members tolerate racism as opposed to the social strata of America. But I also have faith that at least a few of the leaders of this group will not tolerate racism.

The idea I last heard was they were going to find their own identity but now they've decided to become Tea-publicans. (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/15/nation/la-na-tea-party15-2010feb15)

They paid $600 to hear Palin speak. That is really sick shit.

[Dorothy Wood]

I guess it's all fear-based. Obama could be a white dude and they'd probably still be afraid because he's not republican.

As for tea-publicans filling up local government spots...eesh. I foresee a whole bunch of sarah palin wannabes clogging shit up and getting absolutely nothing done. but, hey, if they actually do get shit done that betters their communities and the country, then more power to them...I guess.

[DroppinScience]

There is only so far the racial divide can be eased in our lifetime and we've been fortunate enough to witness one of our Countries finest moments in conquering that divide by electing a black president.

I'll refer back to Olbermann's 9 minutes. Any time there is progress (abolition of slavery, civil rights legislative breakthroughs, etc.), there is always a pushback and backlash. Jim Crow, George Wallace, you name it. It's a never-ending struggle, so the fight will always continue...

[yeahwho]

Well I have to give you snaps DroppinScience, this morning I roll out the morning paper and those morons who gathered at the local Tea Party meeting just fucking keep getting uglier and uglier. they just threatened a WA. ST. Senator.

Tea party speaker: I want to hang Patty Murray (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/84657127.html)

So what bit of credibility I did have about their intentions has completely evaporated. They are much more about hate than I would ever of believed.

A bunch of reptilian neanderthals dragging their knuckles to the mouth breathers convention awaiting Sarah Palin to embrace their ignorance.

Tea-Publicans lol what a joke.

[DroppinScience]

Yes, they're getting really ugly and it's disturbing.

While you're at it, check out this extensive reportage from GQ's January issue on the Tea Party and American paranoia in general...

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201001/american-grotesque-john-jeremiah-sullivan-birthers

[yeahwho]

In a thinly related note the Family Guy is hitting Sarah Palin's lack of humor with some jabs of their own.

Straight outta the Mouth of an actress with Downs Syndrome (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/02/family-guy-actress-with-down-s.html?wprss=44")


'Family Guy' actress says Palin has no sense of humor

Sunday's "Family Guy" episode -- in particular, one character, a girl with Down syndrome -- outraged former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol. But the actress behind that character, who herself has Down syndrome, thinks the Palins need to lighten up.