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February 22, 2012
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Home » Blogs » Jeffrey Meyer's blog
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Once Again, MSNBC Dismisses Obama Criticism As Thinly Veiled Racism

By Jeffrey Meyer | February 01, 2012 | 12:41

Change font size:  A |  A

Following Newt Gingrich’s second-place performance in the Florida Republican Primary, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Reverend Al Sharpton blasted the candidate for supposedly using ‘dog whistle’ racial codes in his concession speech. 

During his speech, Gingrich laid out criticism of President Obama’s policy failures while in office.  He referenced the president’s obsession with soaking up media adulation, particularly a recent stab at singing a line from an Al Green song at a fundraiser, rather than actually doing his job as president.

Maddow and Sharpton went off the deep end, accusing Gingrich of characterizing the president in a way that almost calls out to ‘minstrelsy’ simply because Gingrich said the President needs to lead the nation, not settle for being "entertainer-in-chief."  This vicious attack on Gingrich by Maddow and Sharpton is a near-daily talking point for MSNBC , which looks to tar Gingrich particularly and the GOP primary electorate at-large as motivated by racial hatred for President Obama.

Day after day, MSNBC’s "reporters" sink to cynical new lows, embarrassing themselves and their entire network by shouting racism at every criticism of the president, continuing do diminish their already minuscule credibility as a "news organization."

Below is the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s primary coverage:

 

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

MSNBC Florida Primary
01/31/2012
10:13 pm    

Rachel Maddow: So let me, let me say something provocative.  But I think it’s true.  Is that why we keep getting racial allusions from Newt Gingrich? Newt Gingrich tonight, went, brought back the food stamps president thing. He’s been doing that, bringing that up in Florida.  And then tonight he went to President Obama ought to stop singing, ought to stop being the entertainer-in-chief. Essentially caricaturing him in a way that almost calls out to minstrelsy.  

Al Sharpton: Yeah

Maddow: I mean Reverend Al.  

Al Sharpton: I think you’re right which is why I brought Herman Cain back in the conversation because he had no problem with Mr. Cain.  But I think that he is clearly going after what he considers a Southern mentality, with racial allusions, and always wrapped around when he refers to the president, when he talks about this food stamp stuff. These are no -- newt Gingrich is many things, stupid is not one of them. He knows exactly what he's saying, he knows exactly who he's playing to, and when you look at that map, he knows as you deal with that northern border of Florida, which is Southern Alabama and all of those states where the’re headed, he knows what he’s, what card he's playing, and he also knows this, even if he can't run Steve, a campaign that is sharp enough to take the nomination, the worst thing that could happen to Mitt Romney is he become the leader of that conservative bloc that Mitt Romney's got to deal with in Tampa at that convention. I think that, that I agree with Chris, the only guy would be happy with that would be Ron Paul. Cuz, can you imagine if he walks in that convention as the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party what those negotiations are going to look like? Cuz Newt Gingrich is not the kind of guy you want to negotiate with.

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Comments

Dog Whistle?

Submitted by Ventura Capitalist on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 12:51pm.

Well, if anyone is blowing a dog whistle, Butch would be the one to hear it!

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laughing out loud

Submitted by creative_destruction on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:29pm.

Now that was a funny comment!

Steve
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Woof!

Submitted by Ventura Capitalist on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 4:20pm.

Ya know it was a sad day when Olberman left MSDNC to go to that black hole network... Butch and Fluff were the cutest couple on cable!

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LOL....nobody's watching anyway....

Submitted by nonncom on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 4:50pm.

I feel for the newsbuster people who are stuck with the job....

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entertainer in chief

Submitted by compguytracy on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 5:31pm.

That is funny, he could have said monkey in chief? Blobama needs to be gone, period, no racism, just facts.

 

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?" Orwell, 1984  

Ceteris paribus

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good one

Submitted by Orpheus75 on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:31am.

Now THAT was funny

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This exchange defies common sense

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 12:56pm.

Rachel Maddow: "So let me, let me say something provocative.  . . "

Nothing has ever stopped her before.

Maddow: ". . .   But I think it’s true. Is that why we keep getting racial allusions from Newt Gingrich? Newt Gingrich tonight, went, brought back the food stamps president thing. He’s been doing that, bringing that up in Florida. And then tonight he went to President Obama ought to stop singing, ought to stop being the entertainer-in-chief. Essentially caricaturing him in a way that almost calls out to minstrelsy."

What?!  So now singing is code for minstrelsy (is that even a word?).  She's beyond ridiculous.

 Al Sharpton: "Yeah"

Maddow: "I mean Reverend Al."

Al Sharpton: "I think you’re right which is why I brought Herman Cain back in the conversation because he had no problem with Mr. Cain."

Then there's your counter-proof; Gingrich does not equate black men singing with minstrel shows.  He wasn't sending "code" to whites.

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Gal, the Republican

Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:09pm.

Gal, the Republican candidates could just go silent: not say a word, do an interview, or make a speech or a statement for 30 days, and Maddow and her pals would call it a tactic for disguising their racism.

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You're right, MB

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:19pm.

They would say that the Republican didn't see Obama as an equal, and therefore refused to address him.

NOTE: It turns out the minstrelsy is indeed a word; it is the art of performing as a minstrel. My hat's off to Rachel Maddow and her Rhode Scholarship.

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Well in all honesty

Submitted by Sude23 on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 10:50am.

Well in all honesty politically he is not an equal, his poor proformance is proof of that. I'm past presidents would be like 'WTF... I thought I was watching the State of the Union speech not American Idol...'

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The libs are onto them!!

Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:04pm.

I've said it before: Republicans need to re-vamp their strategy. Their "code words" and "dog whistles" aren't fooling anyone. And they'll need to switch to a thicker "veil".....the thin one isn't working either.

Their tactics are way too obvious.

Liberals know the truth; the facts are a conspiracy.

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Shame, shame on cajun2*

Submitted by cajun2 on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:04pm.

I love vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping.  Shame on me for being so racist.

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Get use to it

Submitted by John21 on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:19pm.

It is the only way that they can defend Obama so you will hear the same nonsense for the next 9 months.
Madcow and Rev Al have been race baiters for most of their careers and they will continue to use the standard liberal DNC battle cry of "Racist". They are not bright enough to realize that that card has been badly worn out over the last 3 years and no one really pays much attention to it any more.

They work for the premier Obama propaganda machine, they know that Obama has been proven as a totally incompentent president so they really don't have a lot else to say.

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Code

Submitted by rusino on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 1:29pm.

The dems and liberals invented the so called code for a reason. The word RACIST has been so overstated and overused it is no longer Rings any bells. With the CODE they can pick any word or phrase and make it a racial slur.

Rusino
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The Idiots

Submitted by mmilesll on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:02pm.

Larry and Moe-only thing missing is Curley (I'm sure if I compared Al to Curley it would be racist on my part). There are more comments on these two that viewers of their shows. It's always "a code word" for any comment, even if you have to pull it out of thin air.

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Using their logic Alan West

Submitted by jkwtrading on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:14pm.

Using their logic Alan West must be openly racist..

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West certainly does not represent the African-American . . .

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:23pm.

. . . community, according to Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA).

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/01/31/dem_congressman_west_n...

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OMO! Who is that idiot?

Submitted by Blonde on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 4:48pm.

I think there's actually one man in politics dumber than Joe Biden.....and you, Galv, have found him.

That is just too funny, really. What a maroon!

Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 109 (and Counting)

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dumb

Submitted by angelann1 on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:24pm.

maddow and notso sharpton trying to show which one is more stupid !

BDK
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Why is it only Dems hear the racism?

Submitted by bkeyser on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:32pm.

What are they expecting to happen? Firehosing blacks all across the the country? New "whites only" signs and "back of the bus" gestures to spring up? They keep talking about these covert signals, but nobody on our side is reacting to them. Are we just tone deaf?

Besides, let's just say for a moment that I'm the most racist SOB on the east coast. Who am I hurting? I can't discriminate in hiring or I'd risk legal prosecution. I can't make people ride on one part of a public bus and not the other. I can't assault someone, refuse them service, call them names, or anything else that might impede their ability of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. So what is racism in 2012 anyway?

Frankly, I think it's nothing but a long lost rapture of the left.

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Why is it?

Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 2:40pm.

Because honesty is very likely a foreign concept to them but it's also something that's most inconvenient to their agenda.    It also impedes their desire to attain control the way communists desire control over their lessers, IE those who don't kowtow to the Socialist/Marxist ideals.

-Jon

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Why is it only Dems hear the racism?

Submitted by Cho Yi Fan on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 8:05pm.

Because I believe that the Dem's have race on the brain.
Let's not forget that it was Southern Democrats that refused to
integrate the South. Let's not forget that for many years-30's40's50's- the underpinning
of the Democratic party was southern Democrats and good ol boys.
Slavery was mostly a southern thing....by mostly Dem's....
As a kid I saw white colored toilets and water fountains....As a kid
I thought that sucked and I saw Democrats trying to keep those ideas alive.
I believe that Dems today feel guilt from that legacy...they are overcompensation trying
to get that stink off of them....my 2 cents.

 "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." Gerald R. Ford
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Openly racist comments.....

Submitted by Redrowan2000 on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 4:00pm.

Martin Bashir said:Martin Bashir says Marion Jones should have had her drug dealer on the podium when she received her gold medals. Isn't that racist? Or is that code?
The left may not use code but then again they are more open about their racist tendencies.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

Red
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"Herman Cain is a minstrel" - I believe that was Sharptoon, no?

Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 4:42pm.

Among other MSNBC luminaries.

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Minstrely

Submitted by djwolf12 on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 8:42pm.

I believe that comment was made by M.S.S.R. (MSLSD)'s resident 9/11 truther Toure.

"Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets". - Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver (1976).
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ratings

Submitted by ladyscientist on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 10:42am.

When did MSNBC's ratings rise to miniscule?

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The Big 0 and his lefty lackies'

Submitted by texasborngranny on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:41am.

The Big 0 and his lefty lackies' have NOTHING!!! And, they know it.

That's way they keep trying to play the INVALID race card.

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Will these idiots

Submitted by Gman0208 on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:44am.

still have jobs when we vote BHO out of office? I mean what will the 6 people who actually watch this drivel(without getting paid for it) have to cry about then? Their messiah will have been exposed as a loser and a fool, so why even keep going? Unless they actually hire journalists..........nah ain't gonna happen.

"When we are no longer, One nation under God, we will be a nation gone under". Ronald Reagan

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