Low-Class Fox News Provides Platform To Weight Bigot Who Bashes Surgeon General Nominee

Fox News host Neil Cavuto provided a platform to a man named Michael Karolchyk who was wearing a T-shirt that read “NO CHUBBIES” across the chest. The shirt and the segment were part of a discussion hosted by Cavuto about whether or not President Obama’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is too fat to serve as the surgeon general. I wonder how many male surgeon general nominees or surgeon generals ever have had their weight question as a qualifying factor? What kind of a low-class guy comes onto a national television broadcast and wears a shirt like that (in this context)? Imagine if Karolchyk was put on the air to discuss race relations wearing a shirt that read “NO DARKIES” across the chest.

This guy is a moron and Fox News should be ashamed of itself for hosting this clown (especially with that shirt on)? I say that in spite of the fact Cavuto did somewhat challenge the guy for some of his stupid comments.

To open the segment, as documented by Huffington Post:

Brilliant, dedicated, experienced and, oh yeah, fat. The President’s pick for Surgeon General is fat. Not a lot fat, but enough fat for my next guest to say fat chance for Dr. Regina Benjamin to even be considered. (emphasis mine)

Here is what the sweetheart of a guy, Karolchyk said:

Dr. Benjamin is 50 pounds overweight. She is obese. She’s a size 20. [...]

Ok, let’s then turn the tables. Would you then want the head of the Fed Reserve to be a guy in a cardboard box who lives underneath the highway because because he understands the plight of poor people and he understands how to make money work? [...] Would you want Michael Jackson’s doctors to be in charge of drug control at the DEA? The bottom line is it’s a symbolic position and obesity is the number one issue facing our country in terms of the health and wellness and she has shown not that she was born this way, not that she woke up one day and was obese, she has show through being lazy, and making poor food choices, that she’s obese.

This is so dumb, ignorant and bigoted it’s almost incomprehensible.

Talking Points Memo is reporting other media outlets are calling into question Dr. Benjamin’s appropriateness as surgeon general due to her weight (which apparently is more offensive than previous male surgeon generals.

Karolchyk’s logic is flawed on so many levels it’s sad. For Fox News to provide a forum for this man to spew his bigotry and attack a person with what seems to be impeccable credentials is pitiful.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Plays Up Sexist Stereotype With Sonia Sotomayor

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is under pressure to attack Judge Sonia Sotomayor while trying not to offend Latinos all over the country, continues to walk the tightrope. Sadly, however, in trying to rough up Sotomayor, during her U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, he played into an old stereotype that dogs women, but is hardly thought of when it comes to men: temperament. It would be different if Graham had some kind of hard evidence from multiple people to back him up, but by simply throwing such an allegation out there he comes across as embracing a negative stereotype of Sotomayor that seems to have no evidence to back it up and does not seem out of line based on what happens with other male judges.

From POLITICO:

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sonia Sotomayor’s temperament “sticks out like a sore thumb” compared to other judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

Sotomayor said she asks “tough questions in oral argument” and there are a lot of lawyers “who are unfamiliar with the process in the Second Circuit” that they find “difficult and challenging.”

“If I may interject here, is that they find you difficult and challenging,” Graham said. “Do you think you have a temperament problem?”

“No, sir,” Sotomayor said. “I can only talk about what I know about my relationship with the judges of my court and with the lawyers who appear regularly from our circuit.”

While she is talking about her record and her relationships with judges and lawyers, people like Lindsey Graham are trying to smear her with rumors and stereotypes.

Now, if you follow the nuts over at Fox Nation you’d think Graham did something worth something. But, in the end, he fell flat like the rest of the Republicans are going to do if they follow the lead of Jeff Sessions and Lindsey Graham and continue with this stupidity.

Right-Wing Hater Pat Buchanan Continues To Attack Sonia Sotomayor

Far-right commentator Pat Buchanan is continuing his Sonia Sotomayor Attack Tour. Here is the latest attack by Buchanan against Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court if she is confirmed after being nominated by President Barack Obama. Instead of saluting the historic nature of this appointment, Buchanan continues to attack the way she allegedly learned to speak English.

What a classy guy.

BUCHANAN: Well I, again in that Saturday piece, she went to Princeton. She graduated first in her class it said. But she herself said she read, basically classic children’s books to read and learn the language and she read basic English grammars and she got help from tutors. I think that, I mean if you’re, frankly if you’re in college and you’re working on Pinocchio or on the troll under the bridge, I don’t think that’s college work.

Buchanan, of course, is not above unprovoked attacks against minorities or women. In this case, he gets the best of both of his worlds by attacking a woman minority. Buchanan is a left-over man who is troubled by seeing an increase in minority populations. He seems to see something slipping away from him and he is choosing to fade angrily and loudly into the night.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/01/buchanan-sotomayor-english/