The trouble that Rep. Anthony Weiner finds himself in is sad on so many different levels.
First, we're subjected to the pathetic and disgraceful right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart gloating about his fetish for photos of Anthony Weiner's penis - disguised as a politically-motivated pursuit. The gloating that far-right extremist Breitbart is doing over having nude photos of Weiner is disturbing on its own. No one wants to imagine how often the excited and happy Breitbart has looked over and carefully examined the photos of Weiner's penis.
On the other hand, it's sad to watch how much Weiner has deservedly fallen from grace for his actions followed up by a weak, weak attempt at a cover up. In hearing some of his initial responses I had little doubt that his story seem farfetched to say the least. Frankly, my first thought was that he was embarrassed and was lying his butt off.
Weiner was emerging as a strong advocate for liberal positions bolstered by his toughness and intelligence.
Now, quite frankly, he has screwed up so bad he is in danger of being forced out of office. As is often the case, it was the cover up that caused more damage than the actual "crime" he is seen as having committed. He has fallen in his self-created mess and now has a lot of work to do to rehabilitate himself.
This is an excellent discussion on MSNBC that gets to the roots of the racially charged comments being spewed by Mike Huckabee.
This shows a darker and more sinister side to Mike Huckabee than I ever thought existed. This is incredibly disappointing. I always knew he was a far-right guy, but this is a sad turn of events that exposes him as someone who is willing to use race to stir up his far-right base.
Mike Huckabee is now clearly in the category of an Andrew Breitbart and a Glenn Beck (maybe not to that extreme, but certainly comfortable on that wing of the political spectrum).
Take note of the angry response the cartoon uses from Michelle Obama at the end. That is not an accident. It is done to portray her as the angry black woman.
The backlash has already started and Breitbart has been able to do something kind of amazing: he is on the defensive and the offensive at the same time. On CNN, speaking with the network's John King, Breitbart appeared to go on the attack against the white farmer and his wife (Roger and Eloise Spooner) in an effort to save himself. One can imagine Breitbart, had he been on the Titanic, would enthusiastically knock over small children, women, people of color and old people to save himself - every scoundrel for himself.
Speaking with CNN’s John King, right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart challenged Eloise Spooner’s “purported” story, accusing King of trusting Sherrod “that the ‘farmer’s wife’ is the farmer’s wife”:
You tell me as a reporter how CNN put on a person today who purported to be the farmer’s wife? What did you do to find out whether or not that was the actual farmer’s wife? I mean, if you’re going to accuse me of a falsehood, tell me where you’ve confirmed that had this incident happened 24 years ago. [...]
You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?
When you're losing an argument, like Breitbart frequently does, he resorts to trying to smear the innocent. First it was Shirley Sherrod, an innocent woman he viciously mischaracterized and attempted to portray as a racist against a white farmer, and now, as the white farmer has praised Sherrod, Breitbart is attacking the Spooners and CNN.
It's to divert attention from his own failures and many faults. Breitbart has sacrificed his human decency (after checking out his dreadful Web sites, a writer sanitarium for the conservatively insane ... it's clear he never had any journalistic credibility) for a pathetic tea bagger cause and fame.
Andrew Breitbart is a disgusting man and his race-baiting desires and relentless motivation to attack Democrats (particularly ones of color or those involved with people of color) appears to have victimized now former Georgia USDA Rural Development State Director Shirley Sherrod, a woman (an Obama Administration employee) who has been treated awfully due to Breitbart's intentional fraud.
Here is Breitbart's attempted smear of Sherrod on his dubious Web site. The bottom line is that Breitbart, one of the chief defenders of racist elements within the Tea Party movement, has been on a mission to find ways of attacking black people and making them look racist (aided on many occasions by his buddies at Fox News). Fox News jumped all over this issue led by thick-headed partisans like Bill O'Reilly (who called for her resignation) and Sean Hannity.
Shirley Sherrod was an employee of the USDA; specifically, the USDA Georgia director of rural development. In a speech to the Georgia chapter of the NAACP, she tells a story that appears to indicate she prefers to put black folks ahead of white folks.
Breitbart edits the video, puts it up, and the world goes mad. Sherrod is fired, after being told pressure is coming from the White House to fire her.
Breitbart heavily edited the video to try and portray Sherrod as a racist black woman who purposely discriminated against white farmers and told that story at an event put on by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His mission likely was to paint a black person from the Obama Administration as racist against white people, show liberals to be racist, show the NAACP to be racist and show that black people can be racist.
(Agriculture Secretary Tom) Vilsack told CNN on Tuesday that he "didn't speak to anyone at the White House. ... I made this decision, it's my decision. Nobody from the White House contacted me about this at all."
A White House official also told CNN that "the White House did not pressure her or the USDA over the resignation. It was the secretary's decision, as he has said."
President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation after Vilsack decided to seek Sherrod's resignation, according to a White House official, who said the president fully supports the decision.
The White House and Vilsack (getting his information from Breitbart and Fox News) appear to have jumped the gun and it appears an innocent woman has been punished by people who caved to political pressure from Breitbart, a fringe right-wing freak known for his dubious and sinister tactics against those considered liberal.
CNN has wisely retracted its condemnation of Sherrod and the White House should reinstate her to her position (if she so desires) and, if necessary, conduct a full and fair investigation.
Shirley Sherrod deserves justice. So far, she has not gotten it.
By the way, in the wake of this controversy, here is what those white farmers (Roger and Eloise Spooner) said of Shirley Sherrod during an interview with CNN's Rick Sanchez:
SANCHEZ: In all your time knowing Shirley Sherrod, has there ever been anything about her, either through her attitude, her words, her opinions or behaviors that would lead you to believe that she is in any way a racist?
ROGER SPOONER: No way in the world. No way. No way. I don’t even want to talk about it. It don’t make sense. She was just so nice to us as — she didn’t — there wasn’t no — there wasn’t no racism attitude at all in it. Heck no. … They don’t know what they’re talking about. Let me say. They don’t know what they’re talking about, if you want to know my opinion.
ELOISE SPOONER: She always treated us really good. She was nice mannered, thoughtful, friendly. Good person.
They seem convinced - that she is a good woman who was a victim of character assassination for sinister political gain.
The Obama Administration is looking weak when pressure is brought to bear by the far-right Fox News and the fringe fake-ass "journalism" of Andrew Breitbart.
First it was Van Jones and now it's Shirley Sherrod.
Far-right people could really care less about Philadelphia or any kind of voter intimidation or voting irregularities (we learned that in the election of 2000 when George W. Bush defeated then Vice President Al Gore in a disputed presidential race).
Those right wingers who made excuses when voters in Florida and elsewhere were disenfranchised in 2000 (and arguably in 2004 as well), and excused voters in the Sunshine State of being too dumb to understand the ballots, now are crying foul because two members of the New Black Panther Party have been accused of voter intimidation. This is so horrible for our friends on the far right, but those who were turned away unfairly, had their votes discounted and were otherwise intimidated in 2000 don't seem to count (once again).
By the way, as Field Negro points out, the non-New Black Panthers in the above photo don't appear to be too frightened or intimidated.
When black politicians, including civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis, were spit on and had the N-word used against them, many conservatives accused them of lying and grandstanding and suggesting they should have entered the Capitol Building from some other entrance. Rep. Lewis and others, including Rep. Emanuel Cleaver who was spit on and Rep. Barney Frank who had homophobic slurs used against him, were attacked by the conservative media - men and women who rushed to the defense of tea party people who were accused.
Apparently some far-right conservatives believe that Rep. Lewis and others should have come in the back way ... like black people had to board the bus from the back prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Andrew Breitbart, who is about as nutty as it gets on the far right, had this to say about people who were victimized by racial slurs and spit from bigots, had this to say:
BREITBART: The very act of the Black Congressional Caucus, walking through the tea party people while holding all those videos was an act of provocation. They need this desperately and one last thing. The language that Nancy Pelosi is using about the civil rights movement, comparing the unpopular health care bill to the civil rights movement ties into this… They’re all on the talking points, basically telling black people that the white people are trying to take your health care from you. This is a racial, racist, racially divisive strategy that they’re playing that’s very dangerous in the United States.
In other words, he is blaming the victims.
It's amazing how Fox News and the rest of the far right are so concerned about these two members of the New Black Panthers supposedly intimidating voters but had little problem with Tea Party protests spitting on black people and calling them the N-word.
I've listened to all these right wingers on Fox News today crying about voter intimidation. I imagine many of them were quiet excuse makers in 2000 and excuse makers when Rep. Lewis, Rep. Frank, Rep. Cleaver and others were verbally assaulted and spit on.
Now, of course, Fox News and the far right are playing this story up. The idea is they want to portray President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder as black men who are racist against white people to the point they will let off these black thugs from the New Black Panther Party. Did I mention the New Black Panther Party people are black too?
This is the Fox News theme and you better believe they will continue to hammer it home.
Across this great nation, far-right Republicans and conservatives continue to engage in the politics of fear and smear with regard to health care.
Media Matters for America has begun a list to document the extremist language being used by many of those on the far right. And, not surprisingly, some of the worst offenders are Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. This is, of course, no big surprise. Limbaugh and Fox News have been working overtime defending pretty much anything coming from the far right and demonizing just about everything coming from the far left. At least Limbaugh is honest about being dangerously hateful and conservative. With him, what you see is what you get. Fox News, on the other hand, lies about being fair and balanced while being anything but fair and balanced.
Health care has driven the far right to sanity's breaking point. The right wing has mobilized in an effort to do everything within its power (using its public relations team, Fox News, to get it done).
Here are a few of the insane comments from some on the far right:
RUSH LIMBAUGH: "Mullah Nancy Bin Pelosi ... is no different" than those who "convince all these people to put bombs on their kids."
LIMBAUGH: Democrats are "the kamikaze party."
ANDREW BREITBART: Calls President Obama "Suicide-Bomber-In-Chief."
MONICACROWLEY: Health care reform is Democrats' "suicide mission."
Limbaugh is an unpatriotic extremist, Breitbart is a nut and an extremist and Crowley is just .... Monica Crowley (if you have seen her on Fox News you know how little she really has to offer that is positive and fair).
These are but a VERY few samples of hate speech compiled by Media Matters for America illustrating the lengths to which far-right conservatives will go to derail health care and demonize opponents.
Think Progress has been following a disturbing story involving far-right commentator Andrew Breitbart, who has been ripping Sen. Ted Kennedy since his death early on Wednesday.
Here is another excerpt to show you how far out in right field this guy is:
When a fellow conservative tweeted to Breitbart asking him not to treat Kennedy like they believe some on the left treated the passing of Tony Snow and Ronald Reagan, Breitbart responded “How dare you compare Snow & Reagan to Kennedy! Why do you grant a BULLY special status upon his death? This isnt lib v con.” Despite his claim that his attacks weren’t about “lib v. con,” Breitbart repeatedly justified them in ideological terms.
Way to keep it classy.
This is part of the reason the right is becoming increasingly marginalized.
Whining from the far-right birther nuts about President Obama’s birth certificate is serving only to make conservatives look like radicals cloaking their racism in the so-called birther movement. Now, from Washington Times columnist Andrew Breitbart, comes another tired attack on President Obama, using his college transcript as their weapon of choice . Like many conservatives, he has been bashing the president’s attempt to bring together Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. after their unfortunate incident that ended in the unnecessary arrest of Gates and started a national conversation on race.
From Breitbart:
My long-held fear is that Mr. Obama is hiding something about his education. During the endless 2008 campaign, Mr. Obama would not release his college grades. Given that President George W. Bush and Sens. Al Gore and John Kerry all had proved mediocre grades were no impediment to a presidential bid, Mr. Obama likely had other concerns.
While I have no desire to see Mr. Obama’s birth certificate, I do want to see his college transcripts. My suspicion, one could even call it a conspiracy theory, is that Mr. Obama committed himself to a radical curriculum, aligned himself with the far-left professoriate, and sought to keep this biographical information from his political enemies, especially then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, for fear that they would paint the former community organizer and follower of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as something other than an advocate of racial reconciliation.
Here we go back to the right-wing efforts to paint President Obama as a black radical interested in taking revenge on the white man. Considering what we know about President Obama, such a notion would be laughable if it weren’t all too real. Breitbart, as most of the far-right nuts do, got in his gratuitous mention of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (as another way of portraying the president as an angry black radical).
Racial reconciliation is code for reparations (designed to frighten whites even though it these far-right nuts forget Barack Obama is half white).
More from Breitbart:
The Democratic Party – which is now Mr. Obama’s party – now depends on the ability to keep blacks in fear: of cops, of Republicans, of conservatives, of “Uncle Toms,” and even of Tiger Woods, who proves that America, while still imperfect, is clearly heading in the right direction.
This is a disturbing excerpt. I find it interesting how conservative whites, in love with the GOP, are now experts on race relations. It’s not really much of a secret that many Republicans feel this way about the relationship between blacks and the Democratic Party. But, to say that the Democratic Party depends on fear to keep blacks in line is not only stupid, but offensive, insulting and degrading to the intelligence of black people. Breitbart paints a dark (pun intended) picture of black people (those who are not highly conservative) as being something akin to to uneducated slaves.
Really, there is painfully little Republicans have next to nothing to offer minorities (while refusing to denounce hostile attitudes toward race relations in the GOP).
This is the reason that blacks tend to vote Democratic in elections.
The comment about Tigers Woods is just plain dumb. Black people, many of whom would not have been welcomed at a lot of golf or country clubs, embraced Tiger Woods strongly when the golfer first burst onto the scene and grabbed the nation’s attention. People who didn’t know the difference between a driver and a putter suddenly wanted to play.
One more comment from Breitbart:
It took black and white blue-collar civil servants to expose that the race game is rigged at the highest levels. The majority in the United States wants to enter a better, more egalitarian and diverse, and even racially mixed future.
I am not sure this is the case with Republicans, who lack true diversity, and that is a shame.
This last note from Breitbart: His latest endeavor, Big Hollywood (http://bighollywood.breitbart .com), is a group blog on Hollywood and politics from the center-right perspective.
Come on, now.
There is nothing center about that group blog … it is heavy on the far right and light (almost invisible) in the center.
When old and conservative white guys feel uncomfortable with any claim of racism, the response is familiar: attack the Rev. Jesse Jackson and attack the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Attacking Rev. Incorporated is the way that many conservatives combat any charges of racism (whether the charges are legitimate or not)
Consider this piece written by Andrew Breitbart in the Washington Times and regurgitated on his Web site Big Hollywood:
The most unsettling news story of the last week came out of Philadelphia, where a group of black and Hispanic children of elementary-school age paid for the right to swim at a private suburban club and were denied the experience without cause and publicly humiliated in the process.
While the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton cry racism too often and make a mockery of their cause by exploiting events for their personal gain, sometimes old-fashioned bigotry does rear its ugly head in America.
In this instance, the Valley Club’s president confirmed our worst fears when he offered something far from an exculpatory explanation. “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler said in his initial statement.
Some campers claim to have overheard at least one parent fretting about the sudden influx of 65 minority children at the mostly white club.
True or not, these children were clearly wronged and it’s hard to believe that race didn’t play a significant part in their being tossed from the suburban club on their very first field trip.
Bigotry is not a partisan issue, and to be sickened by this story is the proper human response. America’s original sin of slavery and the stain of Jim Crow make a bad situation almost viscerally unbearable – and warrant a conclusive remedy. This, unfortunately, is our country’s long-term burden.
Many members of the private swim club, removed from its director’s idiotic move, now find themselves in the unenviable position of working round-the-clock to defend themselves and their previously unblemished club. Even neighbors of the institution have taken to the media to distance themselves from the awful act.
“I think they’re knuckleheads up there,” said John Fenton, a local. “I don’t know how you can do that to little kids.”
Whenever legitimate acts of bigotry occur, they should be exposed to the light of day. The media and the legal system – fueled by public outrage – can do the rest. In this case, substantial national and even international news coverage of the Valley Club incident is beginning the process of making the campers whole.
Again, this is the method for minimizing any claims of racism (citing Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton’s involvement and insisting that they are exploiting race for personal gain).
Clearly, Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton covet the spotlight, but that should not take away from the stinging impact of racism (in spite of what some conservatives want).
Andrew Breitbart expressed concern that maybe the Republican Party should adopt a more aggressive attitude toward winning.
The Democratic Party’s attitude to elections is admirable: Win. And recent history has shown it will do anything to do so.
When, if not now, will Republicans develop such a fighting spirit?
Perhaps Breitbart forgot the presidential election of 2000 when many people feel George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the Republican machine in Florida stole the presidency.
Many people felt President Bush had become the president-”select” rather than the president-elect and that instead if “Hail to the Chief” it should have been “Hail to the Thief.”
Whether you agree with that or not, it’s crystal clear that Republicans had an aggressive, win-at-all-costs mentality in 2000.
