Gumbel: ‘Whipping Up a Frenzy’ Over Imagined Slights ‘Is a Play Straight Out of a Far Right Handbook’
Catching up with Bryant Gumbel from a couple of weeks ago, on the April edition of his Real Sports show on HBO, the NBC News and CBS News veteran came to the defense of Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, who caused outrage amongst Cuban-Americans when he declared “I love Fidel Castro.” In an end of the program commentary, Gumbel couldn’t resist taking a jab at conservatives, charging:
Whipping up a frenzy over slights real and imagined is a play straight out of a far right handbook and Florida’s electoral cloud has often given Fidel’s critics far more leverage than their arguments merit.
Gumbel contended that ever since the Bay of Pigs failure, “exploiting anti-communist fears to portray Castro as a monstrous boogeyman, has been a cottage industry in Florida and Washington.” Those upset with Guillen, Gumbel maintained, “simply hate” Castro because “he overthrew their dictator, Fulgencio Batista, whose corrupt government helped enriched privileged Cubans and American interests at the expense of the country’s poorest people.”
Audio: MP3 clip
Offering an innocuous paraphrasing of Guillen’s words, Gumbel asserted Guillen “said that he essentially admired Fidel for his longevity.” The actual words from the interview with Time magazine: “I love Fidel Castro...I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that motherfucker is still here.”
Flashback to 2006: “Gumbel: Lack of Blacks Makes Winter Olympics ‘Look Like GOP Convention’”
Gumbel’s commentary at the end of the Real Sports which first ran on Tuesday night, April 17 on HBO. (It will re-air on Monday, April 30 and 9:30 AM and 6:30 PM EDT and PDT):
Finally it’s worth noting that tonight marks the 51st anniversary of the Bay of Pigs
invasion. That, of course, has nothing to do with sports, but it has lots to do with the rhetoric that followed the heavily publicized comments of Marlin’s manager Ozzie Guillen. Back in 1961, the ill-fated invasion was fueled by Cuban exiles who had convinced two U.S. administrations to help them launch an attack on their former homeland -- an attack that was easily repelled by the forces of Fidel Castro and the Cuban masses who the invaders had mistakenly hoped would rise up and help them.
Ever since that failure, exploiting anti-communist fears to portray Castro as a monstrous boogeyman, has been a cottage industry in Florida and Washington. While many have certainly assailed Fidel and still do for very legitimate reasons, others simply hate that he overthrew their dictator, Fulgencio Batista, whose corrupt government helped enriched privileged Cubans and American interests at the expense of the country’s poorest people.
Given that backdrop, when the manager of the Miami Marlins recently said that he essentially admired Fidel for his longevity, it wasn’t surprising that a number of Castro’s critics demanded not just Guillen’s job, but his head to boot. And while there is no way to defend Ozzie or the blatant insensitivity of his remarks, lets not pretend there’s no politics at work in some of those calls for his ouster.
Whipping up a frenzy over slights real and imagined is a play straight out of a far right handbook and Florida’s electoral cloud has often given Fidel’s critics far more leverage than their arguments merit. If the Marlins start winning, the furor will most likely die. But for many, I doubt Ozzie’s words will ever be forgotten. Cuba may have been a foreign battlefield 51 years ago tonight, but it’s a domestic minefield now and, for a variety of complex reason’s, it’s still a very dangerous subject on which to tread.
- Brent Baker's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
"Whipping up a frenzy over
Submitted by tcm14 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 3:41am.
"Whipping up a frenzy over slights real and imagined..."
Great he just described every political movement since the beginning of time, left, right, or otherwise. But what he is really saying is that those evil right wingers are even worse than Fidel.
Remember Gumble's frenzied feud with Letterlib?
Submitted by frank14 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 5:14pm.
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-13/entertainment/ca-2823_1_today-sho...
Once again libs accuse others of what they do best. Maybe Bryant can also tell us about the destruction of the black family unit by unfaithful black men.
Communism only killed a
Submitted by G L on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 6:38am.
Communism only killed a hundred million people or so in the last century, tens of thousand by good ol' Fidel himself, but don't you pay no never mind, y'hear? Bryant's a preachin' from on high.
You say he killed your mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, you Cuban-Americans? Hush now, Bryant says it's just the right exploiting your Communist fears.
Great, just what we need, another liberal apologist for mass murderers and oppressive anti-freedom dictatorships. The ignorant cow should learn some history.
a national treasure
Submitted by MidAmerica on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 6:44am.
wow... Gumball imagines himself having quite the incisive mind.
Projection, thy name is
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 6:58am.
Projection, thy name is Bryand Gumbel.
Don't forget: Gumbel is the guy who wondered how the Olympics could be the world's greatest athletes because there was a lack of black participation.
And branded NBA commissioner David Stern a "plantation owner" treating the players as slaves during contract talks.
If it's out of the "Far Right" playbook, Bryant certainly doesn't mind stealing their plays.
He likened the Winter
Submitted by rockyracoon on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:39am.
He likened the Winter Olympics to a GOP convention, if memory serves.
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
I guess Gumball. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 10:12am.
. . . would liken the NBA to an NCAA convention. . .
I guess Gumball. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 10:11am.
. . . would liken the NBA to and NCAA convention. . .
Trying for some small amount of credibility
Submitted by John21 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 7:43am.
Mr. Gumball being a genius in his own little mind proclaims "Whipping up a frenzy over slights real and imagined..." so it must be true to all the others with same kind of little minds.
The tactic is and has been a favorite of all political campaigns for the past 200 years (check your history, Mr. Gumball) but of course to someone that has had his head in the sand for the last decade this is of course a right wing tactic.
So Romney’s dog on the roof, was part of the right wing campaign of course.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out -- Bob Novak
Gumbel also lost it over a
Submitted by Mr. Mike on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:00am.
Gumbel also lost it over a white waiter giving him updates on the Nicks game a few years ago. He called him a racist. Uh, gee, could it be your a nationally known sports anchor with a long running sports show on HBO and the guy thought you'd like to know?
Gumbel is a pompous jerk.
Bryant Gumball
Submitted by Clinkin on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:16am.
Let's be clear about something. Whenever liberal "pundits", or even has beens like Bryant Gumball, refer to "far right", they mean anyone who is not a Democrat...no wait, anyone who is not a "Nancy Pelosi Democrat".
JFK
Submitted by TankGarbonzo on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:44am.
Is Gumbel saying that JFK was far right?
Why is this idiot on TV in
Submitted by sngnsgt on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 9:20am.
Why is this idiot on TV in any capacity?
He's still on TV?
Submitted by mcherr on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 9:22am.
I hadn't noticed.
TV is a cesspool of deceit
Submitted by mattm on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:23pm.
TV is a cesspool of deceit and depravity - Gumball and all his libtard cohorts fit in perfectly on it.
Bryant
Submitted by fivestring_assassin on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 9:52am.
who?..again
Playbook?
Submitted by Pilgrim1949 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 10:36am.
Oh yeah, I remember now...
You must mean the Conservative classic called Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.
THAT Conservative political playbook?
Of course, how could we ever forget that one!?
Little Bry-Bry is still desperately trying to gain back some of the attention he's lost.
(Attention Deficit Disorder? Or just Liberal comprehension deficit disorder....)
"Ye canne change the laws of physics....." but some politicians believe that with the right legislation you can pretend they don't really apply to your own pet projects...
Dictator Baptista
Submitted by dmaley1714 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 12:54pm.
People are upset in 2012, because he over threw this guy in 1959. That might be the biggest reach for an excuse I have ever seen.
Dang.....
Submitted by NC Cop on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 2:06pm.
I didn't even know Gumbel was still alive.
Gumbel
Submitted by rpeeler42 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 2:39pm.
Brian Gumble still thinks he is relevant. Poor guy.
Gumbel
Submitted by rpeeler42 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 2:39pm.
Brian Gumble still thinks he is relevant. Poor guy.
Gumbel
Submitted by rpeeler42 on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 2:39pm.
Brian Gumble still thinks he is relevant. Poor guy.
The quota queen pontificates... *yawn*
Submitted by wizardjr on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 3:34pm.
Bryant Gumball was hired as a quota queen during the first wave of TV quota hires. He was just a sports news mumbler. Because of his 'special' status as a minority he floated up the TV chain like a turd in the punch bowl.
He's still a moron, and a legend in his own mind.
What's a Gumbel?
Submitted by HelloDare on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:59pm.
What's a Gumbel?