Politics Can Be Brutal

Antonin Scalia

Saturday night, I heard about the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Immediately, a thought came to my mind: How soon would it be before the sides started to jockey for political positioning.

Well, it did not take long. The death of Justice Scalia has major stakes, politically speaking. While the sides balance sympathy for the Scalia family, it was all too inevitable that the sides (liberal and conservative, alike) would begin to battle.

But, honestly, the idea that replacing Justice Scalia should wait until there's a new president, nearly 11 months from now, is ridiculous. Join us in reality, here.

Honestly, though, people need to straight-up chill. The man just passed away and both sides are already fighting about a replacement that has not even be announced. But, in this day of hyper partisanship, should we really be all that surprised?

I was not and am not surprised.

No one should be surprised.

You Won't Have Obama to Blame for Racial Sins

President Barack Obama

I doubt that anyone, even the most loyal fans of President Obama, will tell you that he has been what you would consider a perfect president. Of course, have we ever had a perfect president in the history of our union? Think about that and let me know, seriously.

I started to think about that as I read a CNN analysis piece that focused on race relations worsening during the Obama presidency. This headline, of course, popped up in my Facebook news feed (along with probably items from the hundreds of pages I have come to "like" during my time with a profile on the social media giant.

I digress.

Have race relations worsened under Barack Obama's presidency? A majority of those surveyed (CNN and Kaiser Family Foundation polling) said, "yes" -- rather emphatically so.

I get why some would feel this way. So, the poll suggested that "racial strife" is getting worse. Poll results further indicated that tensions among Americans of different ethnic/racial groups has increased. About 64 percent of Americans believe this to be true, including 67 percent of whites, 65 percent of blacks and 55 percent of Latinos.

Is it worse? I can appreciate how some people would see it that way. The real question is: Why is it worse (if that is what you believe)?

I do not believe it is worse. I believe that it is simply been brought from the closet to the front porch. Regardless of how you feel, the sentiments of the Tea Party and Black Lives Matter (not necessarily to equate the two, but to make a bigger point) were always there. Certain incidents, however, opened the door for individuals affiliated with these two movements to become more activist and vocal. For the Tea Party, you could argue it was the election of Barack Obama, the first black president. For Black Lives Matter, it appears to be incidents involving black people and the police.

The growing power of social media and video have given certain movements more power than they could have had in even the 1980s.

But, none of this is about Barack Obama. Feel free to try and ultimately fail to link it to the Obama presidency.

The headline of the article I linked, above, asks an important question about who will be blamed for race relations in the post-Obama era. It's a good question, indeed. Because, if you're foolish enough to believe racial issues will vanish once Obama leaves the presidency, then you were probably foolish enough to believe it started the day he became a viable presidential candidate and after he took office.

As Billy Joel once famously sang, "We didn't start the fire. It was always burning since the world's been turning ... No, we didn't light it though we tried to fight it."

#Ferguson Matters

I, for one, applaud the protesters in Ferguson, Mo. I hope that continues nonviolent protesting will help generate a positive change in communities across this country in the wake of the killing of Mike Brown.

Change can't happen if the silent majority are outshouted by the vocal minority.

#HandsUpDontShoot
#Ferguson

Handed Over On A Silver Platter

President Obama is not and should not be above criticism. Reasonable (well-reasoned criticism) is not only OK, but should be encouraged.

What's sad, however, is to see black folks who call for black unity, but criticize Barack Obama for not handing them everything they've ever wanted on a silver platter ... because he's a black president. I thought of this as I watched a video from a cat who sparked a lot of people commenting and whining about Barack Obama not giving them everything they've ever wanted.

No president will give you everything you want. If that is your expectation, disappointment will always be within walking distance.

No one, regardless of race, should be sitting around relaxed because we have a president of their color and think that he will cure all of our ills like .

Do for yourself, first, before you even think of looking for help from someone else. And, don't think because someone who has your skin tone is in power that you've made it to the top of the world. If that is your mentality, you're probably closer to the bottom than you'll ever be to the top.

RUN DNC ... This Hit Me After President Clinton's Speech At The Convention

This caught my attention today while I was on Facebook.

Non-Specifics Ain't Gonna Get It

This is a very rare time that I am going to agree with conservative Fox News (I know that is redundant to some people) commentator Bill O'Reilly. But, Republicans can't sit around and whine about so-called "Obamacare" and then sound like Scooby Doo when they talk about what they will replace it with if they gain power.

Is Fox News Destroying Republicans? Media Matters Has An Interesting Take

Fox News is an interesting network in the sense that it is hard to figure out if some of its decision makers are pro-right wing or anti-left wing. It's not the same thing, either.

For example, it seems sometimes that Fox News is more interested in launching attack after attack on President Obama and other Democrats more so then it is in trying to make the case for Republican presidential candidates like (are you ready for this?) Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Don't get me wrong, Fox News will work to carry the mail for Romney and Gingrich (or other contenders) when necessary for rehabilitation purposes.

But, for the most part, it seems Fox News has a mission to attack those on the left and that has been no more evident than with President Obama.

Still, is this helping or hurting the right wing?

Check out what Media Matters has to say on the issue:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201201260009

Brewer Finger Pointing At President Obama Is Deeply Disturbing And Offensive

Gov. Jan Brewer, of Arizona, confronts President Obama and points her
finger right in his face as a show of disrespect to the president of the
United States of America.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer took political disrespect to a new level (a level far beyond mere politics) with her finger-pointing confrontation with President Barack Obama.

If you can't see the racial angle here, then you're blind.

Anyway, the now infamous photo of Gov. Brewer pointing toward the president of the United States with her finger has created some deep and troubling feelings about how some people view Barack Obama (and how some people will always view him as Barack Obama and never accept him as President Obama ... to some degree for racial reasons).

Gov. Brewer's blatant disrespect of President Obama could (and should) bring together all who support the president and minorities who have been treated in a condescending manner or in a manner that is highly disrespectful by people who do not see them as on their level.

This is a lessons that no matter how much status you may have or think you have ... there are still some who will see you as beneath them because of what you are to them and not what you made of yourself.

The message is a relative of people like some on the far right referring to him as a food stamp president. The idea is to make Barack Obama seem more black than ever and not on the same level as others. The food stamp issue seems to be a way of reminding the lowest common denominator that President Obama is as black as he ever was ... and especially now that it is an election year.

This diss of President Obama will not be soon forgotten.

Fox News White House Correspondent Goes All In As GOP Mouthpiece

The Fox News public relations team was back at it working on behalf of the Republican Party as White House correspondent became a mouthpiece for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and earned his keep at the network conservatives trust.

This is from Huffington Post:

Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry experienced a tense moment with President Obama during a Thursday press conference. The President held a joint press conference with Lee Myung-Bak, President of South Korea. Ed Henry had the first question of the conference and asked Obama if he considered the alleged Iranian assassination plot to be "an act of war."

Henry decided to quote a Mitt Romney statement from last week when asking for the President's plans to address Iran's alleged terror plot. Henry asked the President "what specific steps will you take to hold Iran accountable? Especially when Mitt Romney charged last week, quote, 'If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. You have that president today.'"

Obama paused and answered, "Well I did not know you were the spokesman for Romney," and smiled down at Henry.

He may not be completely a spokesman for Romney, but it's clear that the network is speaking on behalf of the GOP and all who oppose Democrats.

Henry, who framed his question in a way that was disrespectful at best and unprofessional at worst, is beginning to buy into that philosophy.

This Is A Perfect Example Of Why 'We' Struggle

Maxine Waters

Frankly, I have never been much of a fan of Rep. Maxine Waters and, I must confess, I doubt I ever will become a fan of the California democratic congresswoman.

One of the many reasons I have never been impressed with her is best exemplified by her silly whining about President Obama's strong comments to the Congressional Black Caucus. Basically, the president challenged the CBC to stop complaining about things, roll up their sleeves and get to work to help him shape this country for the better. If you want the specifics of what he said, you can go find it, here and here.

While Waters is whining about being challenged she is missing the point. She is engaging in the kind of politics that shows why Democrats are often weakened and why Tea Party Republicans are so strong. See, the Tea Party folks are ideologically strong and will stand by their beliefs through thick and thin while thin-skinned folks like Maxine Waters crumble like stale graham crackers and become defensive the minute they are called out. Like them or not, the Tea Party folks stand by their people through the tough times and work hard together while people like Maxine Waters jump off the bandwagon when things get rough.

See, Waters has whined and challenged the president and she thinks that is OK, but when the president challenges her back ... she wonders who in the "H" he thinks he is.

Instead of crying and taking shots at each other, folks need to work together, but that is not the way for Maxine Waters. It never has been and perhaps never will be the way for Rep. Waters.

If she is tired of supporting the president, then let her try on Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.

Tavis Smiley's Criticism Comes Across As Petty

Tavis Smiley

It seems clear now ... the ego has landed.

Tavis Smiley may have some legitimate beefs with President Obama and his policies, but his arguments are lost in a storm of egomania.

Smiley, in his media tour with noted scholar Cornell West taking shots at President Obama, offered this beauty during criticism of President Obama:

“Once he got elected and my critique of him about holding him accountable to various things didn’t sit so well with him or the people around him, he has not at this point come on my TV or radio programs one time since he’s been in the White House. This is the first president in my professional career that hasn’t invited me to the White House.”

Smiley, who has a long history of taking shots of Barack Obama, has to be better than this kind of seemingly petty criticism. One of the reasons he has to be better is that one of the primary criticisms of Tavis Smiley is that he is an egomaniac who is in it for himself. If he is truly interested in the bigger picture then he can't look like he is whining about not getting an invitation to the White House ... as if he is some kind of a big shot.

Sure, there is room to legitimately criticize President Obama (pandering too much to the far right, continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing tax policies that benefit the rich, not doing enough for people who are hurting, etc.).

Smiley's message, however, gets lost in a vast sea of what appears to be self promotion on his part.

One gets the feeling there is a little haterism in Tavis Smiley ... coveting the kind of spotlight that President Obama enjoys (not unlike what some people believe the Rev. Jesse Jackson suffered from back in 2008).

Tavis could be doing so much more in a positive way if he could cut down on the hate and turn it into some kind of a positive.

Tavis is a hate addict when it comes to Barack Obama. Tavis, you're an addict, jack.

Ali On Being A Black President ... Long Before There Was A Black President

Muhammad Ali's words are quite interesting today.

Interesting Interview With O'Reilly And Rapper Lupe Fiasco

Conservative Fox News talk show host Bill O'Reilly was in the zone as he hosted rapper Lupe Fiasco, who referred to President Obama and all presidents of the United States as "terrorists."

O'Reilly puts rappers on a pedestal to inflate their political influence so he can portray them as too black and too dangerous as he tries to tear them down.

Notice in the interview how condescending O'Reilly is as he talks to his guest. It's not an accident.

As a side note, O'Reilly hosted this segment also to disingenuously appear unbiased by "defending" President Obama against this man referring to him as a "terrorist." I am not buying it and neither should anyone else.

This was a cultural attack by O'Reilly that allowed him to fake a defense of Obama. In a way, it's kind of brilliant on the right-wing host's part.

Source: Color Lines

Perfect Example Of An Insincere Apology: Featuring Eric Bolling Of Fox News

I chose this photo of Eric Bolling because of the caption that attacks MSNBC talk show host Ed Schultz. When Schultz made offensive comments about right-wing radio talk personality Laura Ingraham, he offered a sincere apology. He was truly sorry. Eric Bolling is sorry as a human being, but he is not sorry for the racially offensive comments he made in reference to President Barack Obama.

Fox News has a long and well-documented history of hosts and guests making hostile and offensive comments about people of color.

So, when the Eric Bolling (who seems to be auditioning to replace Glenn Beck) started making racially offensive comments about black people it was hardly a big surprise. If he is indeed sort of auditioning for the Glenn Beck role then this kind of racially offensive mentality would be totally expected, if not encouraged.

I am going to start with his apology expressed by this guy Bolling, first:

One editorial note. On Friday, we did a story about the president meeting with the president of Gabon. We got a little fast and loose with the language, and we know it's been interpreted as being disrespectful, and for that, I'm sorry. We did go a bit too far.

"Interpreted as disrespectful" sounds a lot more benign than calling it what it was, in my opinion: "racist." That alone should be indicative of a lack of sincerity.

It almost sounds like he is sorry it is being (not been) interpreted as disrespectful. Does this guy have a heart or a conscience in his body? This man seems as an arctic icecap.

First off, why is this man discussing this topic and using such offensive language on the so-called Fox Business channel?

Now the comments expressed by Bolling. This is an excerpt from News Hounds:

In other words, Bolling is not apologizing for using such offensive language as "It's not the first time (Obama has) had a hoodlum in the hizzouse" or posting a photo of Gabon’s leader with a shining tooth or the repeated use of a banner saying, "Hoods in the House." No, he's apologizing for how that language has been interpreted.

You think he would have said this about George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush or even Bill Clinton? There is no way he would have said this about a white president.

He is flat out not sorry for what he said. It was not his first time making offensive comments and it will not be his last time. He is almost certainly making his case to replace Beck as the host of one of the Fox News hours of hate.

Look, this is a weak, WEAK "apology" from Bolling. It is completely insincere and sounds every bit the part of a man forced to apologize for something he is not the least bit sorry about.

Fox News Host Says Obama Was 'Chugging A Few 40s'

None of this should surprise us coming from those idiots over at Fox News.

I guess at least they didn't accuse the president of sipping on gin and juice. Obviously they haven't seen the old Snoop Dogg rap in their efforts to describe how they believe black people live.

Birth Certificate Hysteria Is Hillbilly, Racially-Tinged Politics

Now that President Barack Obama has released yet another birth certificate he has confirmed what rational people already knew: that he was born in the United States of America.

Yes, to all of those behaving with a backwoods political hillbilly mentality, Hawaii is in fact one of the 50 states. For many tea party members, it probably remains a challenge to think of Hawaii as one of our states, but it is in fact part of the U.S.

As I have long predicted, the bigots on the right and the far right have far from been appeased by the release of the second Obama birth certificate.

In fact, many have stepped up their ignorant attacks on President Obama and taken their birtherism to new levels.

This is no surprise. Birtherism is disguised racism. Oh, and if you want proof it is disguised racism, wait for the next wave of attacks on President Obama to heat up: going after his school records and accusing him of being an affirmative action beneficiary as an academic.

You see, it's not about the birth certificate.

It's disguised racism designed to attack Barack Obama as a human being, as a black man and as a man in general.

It was never truly about this piece of paper. The birther nuts are proving that right now as their argument now shifts to "why didn't he release it earlier?" and other foolishness.

Remember, birtherism, for the tea party buffoons and the Republicans is about showing that President Barack Obama is "not really one of us" (whatever that means) and is different from the rest of "us" to their extremist constituents.

Diversity Challenged Panel Slamming First Black President

This is a rather disgusting clip in my opinion. First, the panelists gloss over a shot that calls out President Barack Obama's blackness and then a panelist says "it's sad that our first black president is Barack Obama."

People Would Actually Vote For Donald Chump?

It's chilling to think that millions of people would actually vote for this man, Donald Trump, to be president of the United States of America.

That should send a chill up and down your spine.

Glenn Beck; President Obama Is Sympathetic To (Terrorists) Cause

Glenn Beck

Normally, I tend to avoid writing much about Glenn Beck because I see him as one of two things: a con man using racial politics and nutty extremism to get an audience of crazies or a freak.

I suppose he could be a little of both.

Anyway, here is the latest craziness coming from Beck that I found particularly disturbing even by his pitiful standards of human decency.

From Media Matters for America:

GLENN BECK: The Japanese government has no plans to expand the 12 mile evacuation zone. Meanwhile, we're loading up all of the diplomats from the State Department and getting out of there. Also something that I'm going to do tonight, I'm going to give the speech that the President should give in the Oval Office that he hasn't, and I don't know why. Our donations are way, way down for Japan. I don't see Hollywood mobilizing. So, we will. The speech from my Oval Office, tonight. It's amazing what's going on, and I don't really understand why yet I haven't figured it out yet.

There's another story that is very disturbing. And this just came in, it's an alert from the Wall Street Journal. The Obama Administration is seeking an United Nations security resolution that would authorize a wide range of possible military strikes against the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is aimed at preventing them from overrunning the rebels and civilians in the country's east. In discussions with other Security Council members, the Obama administration is making the case that a no-fly zone is not enough. It would be insufficient to save the rebel capital in Eastern Libya. So the U.S. is seeking a broad UN authorization for strikes aimed at holding back Libyan ground and air forces with the aim of protecting the rebel capital and avoiding a humanitarian crisis there. Military operations could include a no-fly zone but wouldn't be limited to that.

Holy cow. What does this mean? You know we've been saying that - where is the President on Libya? Tonight, I lay out the case, and it's not a smoking gun, and it's not an open and shut case, but it is something that I haven't found the right people yet, or the right evidence to link it all together, but I can feel it, that there's something wrong with this Libyan thing. We were talking about it this morning, Pat. That the time to have a no-fly zone is not now.

PAT GRAY: Yeah, right at the beginning. Right at the beginning. Seriously, I mean, it's progressed way too far just to do a no-fly zone.

BECK: Now it's going to be a civil war. Now, now, this would be - think of this America, this would be the third country that America has ground forces or air forces or sea, that is in battle and engaged in a Muslim country. That's insanity.

GRAY: Mmhmm.

BECK: And the time to support the rebels was at the very beginning when the momentum was there. There's no momentum now. The momentum is the other way. I'm not saying we don't do something to protect these people, but I'll tell you, it's very disturbing to me that our military could be engaged in yet another war in the Middle East.

GRAY: I think if you would have done this at the beginning, you would have been far less likely to have any kind of confrontation. You remember 1989 when we had that little run-in with the MiGs, the Libyan MiGs? And our -

BECK: - our guys

GRAY: Our F-14 tomcats took 'em down.

BECK: Yeah.

GRAY: And there was not a peep out of Libya for the next 20 years. Libya didn't make a sound. Well -

BECK: Yeah. [unintelligible]

GRAY: I mean, they had the couple terrorist activities. But, for the most part, Moammar Gadhafi was pretty quiet after that point.

BECK: Oh yeah. We were bombing his tent.

GRAY: Yeah.

BECK: There's no - there's, I mean, now, this is the problem with this president, it's the same thing. Look at his pattern, the BP oil spill. This is the thing that bothers me. And it's always patterns. The BP oil spill - we all know he used that to his advantage - never let a good crisis go to waste. And so what did he do? He wasn't there - he was engaged, of course he talked about it, but he wasn't engaged. Until it started getting out of control, and all of us were saying, where is the government?

GRAY: Mmhmm.

BECK: Where is the president on this? And he was strangely absent.

GRAY: Hasn't it been like that with every crisis -

BECK: Everything. Every crisis.

GRAY: The Fort Hood - the Fort Hood shooting. He wasn't really out front with that, and that was, you know, 13 U.S. soldiers being killed on their base. And then when he finally did make the statement, he comes out and talks about the - the Indian medicine man first -

BECK: Right. OK.

GRAY: - for two minutes before he even got around to the mention.

BECK: But here is - here is the point on that. I believe that's because he just sees us as the oppressor nation. He just sees us as a nation who is and has oppressed the Native Americans and, and the Muslim communities around the world. And so he's - he's - he's not with the terrorists, I'm not saying that, but he is sympathetic to their cause, which slows people down. You know what I mean?

GRAY: Mm.

BECK: You agree with that or disagree with that?

GRAY: Well, I don't know if sympathetic to the cause is the right -

BECK: Sym -

GRAY: - phrase.

BECK: Sym - oh, uh - wait a minute, I'm not saying that he's sympathetic with people blowing people up.

GRAY: Yeah.

BECK: I'm saying -

GRAY: I just wanted to make sure -

BECK: Yeah, yeah.

GRAY: - that people know that you're not saying that.

BECK: He's sympathetic, he's sympathetic [unintelligible]

GRAY: Well I think he sympathizes that America has done some bad things -

BECK: Yeah.

GRAY: And, and so - [unintelligible]

BECK: The Palestinian plight.

GRAY: Yes.

BECK: The Palestinian plight - only like 23 percent of Americans agree with the Palestinians. But he is, I believe, he's probably one of the 23 percent.

GRAY: Well, his pastor said it best, didn't he, when he said America's chickens have come home to roost.

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: Maybe he has a little of that sentiment -

BECK: Yes.

GRAY: - I don't know.

BECK: Yes, yes. I'm not saying that he's in league with the terrorists, I'm not saying that he agrees with bombings like that. But he is slower to react because he is a guy who is sympathetic to something that most Americans are not. We don't - he has said it himself over and over, I'm tired of Muslim-Americans being rounded up in the middle of the night. That's never happened. And if it has, show it to me, Mr. President because I will be with you on that. I agree with you that that shouldn't happen. So show me the evidence, and I will stand with you.

But what's disturbing about the BP oil crisis is it worked to his favor, it worked to his advantage by leaving it go for a while and not capping it, he had to have a massive disaster to be able to do what he did. Now is this what's happening in Libya? Because the time for that, I mean, even France is leading this. Nobody, is - and the people are crying out, America. And everybody knows we're the only one that can do it. We have the carriers right there. I've been on the aircraft carriers in the fifth fleet - 90 miles off the coast of Libya. We have them. We can do it. But the time to do it was when we had momentum and now, what're we gonna - we have more troops going someplace? The possibility of it? We're going to engage people with our military? What're - what - we're going to get involved in another war? What are you, out of your mind? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.

And here's the other thing that I just want to share with those who think that the workers of the world can unite. What is happening in the world right now is exactly what happened in the 1920s and early 1930s in Europe, and it is the communists, and the socialists, and the Marxists that believe in one global order, and they believe that if the workers will unite - I mean, the people who took out the permit for the unions for the American Dream Act in Washington D.C., they say it clearly on their own website, the International Socialist Organization, that they believe that only the workers uniting will actually cause the revolution to happen.

Well here's where they go wrong. If you look at what's happening in Japan right now and you look at the spike of the yen, that is because people love their country and they are selling their stuff, and they are getting out of gold or whatever it is, and they are buying their own dollar, their yen, and they are going to invest it in their own country. When the whole world melts down, when America begins to fall on real hard times - and I mean, I - I hope I'm discredited on this, but I believe it's coming. And when we fall on real hard times, they will say workers of the world unite, and they will unite all of the workers, but at some point the unions - the union workers will say, wait a minute, how are you going to balance the world, you're giving our jobs to India, or Mexico, or whatever. And people become nationalists, that's what's happening in Japan. There's no - I'm not saying it's communist or anything else, I'm just talking about the yen - they're becoming nationalists. We did it after 9/11. We protect our own countries.

And that's what the Soviet Union, that's where Lenin and Marx and Stalin all went wrong - is they think they can unite the whole world with the workers. But the first step where it starts to go wrong is people start to protect themselves and their own communities that they understand as communities. And the world does not accept this global order, it doesn't, and when things get better in India or jobs go to India instead of here, they will not listen to a socialist saying, "workers of the world, unite" what they will listen to is a national socialist, somebody who says take care of America first, workers, you're already unionized, you're already together right? It's them that is the problem, and they become national socialists, not international socialists. International socialism will not work, and it will turn the world to national socialism, which is the Nazi regime.

I don't know how people don't understand the logic of this, but it is true, and it happens the same way every time, and governments, and they, the, governments, or the people, that the radicals, they use the youth - which is happening, and they also use giant corporations. And they get giant corporations, some of them willingly, and some of them just acquiesce because they say, I'll just get, 'cause they'll let me survive, and I'll be part of the survivors. You do not want to be part of those survivors, because in the end, they do not survive, because they always end the same way, always. Whether it's Mao, Stalin, Hitler, or Mussolini, they always end the same way.

Beck, no one knows what you mean because you're a freak.

One expects insane rants from Beck, but some of the stuff in here, with regards to terrorism and President Obama is disgraceful.

Source: Media Matters for America

Chris Matthews Says What Many Have Been Saying All Along About Attacks On Obama Family ... It's Race

The attacks coming from the lights of right-wing bomb throwers like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are racially-tinged if not outright racially motivated.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews came right out and said it during this clip available on the Media Matters for America website.

I think Matthews' point has a lot of merit. While I do not necessarily agree with Matthews on all of his opinions, I think he is spot on when he talks about the race factor in the attacks on the Obama family coming from right-wing extremists like Limbaugh and Beck.

The right-wing guest pathetically tried to play the "everyone-is-doing-it card" and it ended up as an epic fail when it crumbled against Matthews' calls for examples.

Matthews is correct when he notes that Beck and Limbaugh do this because their audience craves these kinds of attacks. Many admirers of Beck and Limbaugh (some quietly) chuckle and laugh at such attacks ... even people who may otherwise smile to your face and act as champions of diversity and inclusion.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102230048

Sample some recent Limbaugh attacks on the Obamas:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102230030
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102210011

Here is one from Beck attacking the Obamas' 11-year-old daughter:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005280025