Showing posts with label James Crowley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Crowley. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2009

Another Wacky Andrew Breitbart Far-Right Column

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.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

As News Hounds Points Out, Sean Hannity Jumps Into Gates-Crowley-Obama Conflict And Blames The Two People Of Color

We should never be surprised by the very conservative and anti-black perspective that Sean Hannity always seems to bring to virtually any discussion about race. News Hounds points out a Thursday episode of Hannity’s Fox News show followed the right-wingers usual script. In a discussion about race, Hannity (as part of an all-white panel) predictably blamed the two black people involved in the issue: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and President Obama while pretty much completely absolving Sgt. James Crowley of any wrongdoing in the highly-publicized incident that created a national conversation on the topic of race.

Honestly, it was probably best Hannity didn’t have any black conservatives on there to be showpieces to do his far-right bidding (while attacking the two blacks involved).

Thursday, July 30, 2009

It’s Probably Good The Far-Right Nuts Will Not Be At The Crowley, Gates, Obama Beer Summit

The far right wing has been angry since President Obama invited Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to the White House to talk about things in the wake of the controversial arrest that stirred racial tensions nationwide.

Naturally, the conservative nuts do not think Crowley should attend until President Obama submits to their will and offershis best Kunta Kinte impersonation (apologize profusely and say exactly what they want him to say … loud enough so that everyone else can hear it … to be made an example of). The conservatives, even some black ones, are saying they would not go to the meeting if they were in Sgt. Crowley’s shoes.

But, I suppose that probably makes some sense asI doubt the White House was going to be serving much Hater-ade (which would disappoint career haters such as the ones in this Media Matters for America video).

Media Matters:
http://mediamatters.org/research/200907300024

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter Is A Disgrace To The State Of Michigan

Right-wing nuts, led by Fox News (the far right’s biased media megaphone), have been fighting to keep the issue race issue involving the arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the public eye to try and score political points with white voters. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, taking a break from solving some very real problems that plague those of us who live in the great (although economically-troubled) state of Michigan, is drafting a useless resolution to try and make the president of the United States of America apologize to McCotter’s satisfaction. It’s a waste of time and it goes to show how right wingers are attempting to use this as a political tool. These right wingers don’t give a damn about Sgt. James Crowley (he’s just a pawn they’re using to attack President Obama), the very real problem of racial profiling or Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Here is text of McCotter’s dumb resolution (that is an irresponsible waste of time involving, primarily, three people):

Whereas on July 16, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Sergeant James M. Crowley responded to a 911 call from a neighbor of Harvard University Professor Henry Louis (”Skip”) Gates, Jr. about a suspected break-in in progress at his residence, which had been broken into on a prior occasion;

Whereas on July 22, 2009, in responding to a question during a White House press conference President Barack Obama stated: “Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don’t know all of the facts involved in this local police response incident”;

Whereas President Obama proceeded to state Sergeant Crowley “acted stupidly” for arresting Professor Gates on charges of disorderly conduct;

Whereas, as a former Constitutional Law Professor, President Obama well understands that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and their actions should not be prejudged prior to being fully and fairly judged by an appropriate and objective authority after due process;

Whereas, President Obama’s nationally televised remarks may likely detrimentally influence the full and fair judgment by an appropriate and objective authority after due process regarding this local police response incident and, thereby, impair Sergeant Crowley’s legal and professional standing in relation to said incident; and

Whereas, President Obama appeared at a daily White House Press briefing on July 24, 2009 to address his denouncement of Sergeant Crowley and stated: “I could have calibrated those words differently” but “I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station.”

Whereas, President Obama’s refusal to retract his initial public remarks and apologize to Sergeant Crowley and, instead, reiterate his accusation impugning Sergeant Crowley’s professional conduct in the performance of his duties;

Now therefore be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

Calls upon President Obama to retract his initial public remarks and apologize to Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Sergeant James M. Crowley for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct in this local police response incident.

This guy has disgraced the state of Michigan and sought to exploit the unfortunate incident between Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley to take a political shot at President Obama.

This guy is symbolic of opportunistic Republicans eager to keep this issue alive to try and portray President Obama as some black, anti-police radical.

McCotter, and those like him, are enablers of racial profiling. They take everything the police say at face value and virtually ignore anything that comes from the other side of an arrest or conflict with the police.

Now, consider this idiotic statement from Jameson Cunningham, minister of propagandapress secretary for McCotter:

“He has said he will introduce the legislation if the President does not retract and apologize for his comments,”said Jameson Cunningham, press secretary for McCotter, when asked if Obama had already addressed his concerns. “As of now, no apology has been issued.”

That sounds like a threat to me.

This Republican is trying to show President Obama his place, and it has a familiar feel to it.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/27/gop-rep-will-offer-resolu_n_245287.html

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/27/mccotter-resolution/