Barnicle, Brown Defend Hoffa: Suddenly Opposed To 'Sanitizing' Speech
Is there no double-standard depths to which the liberal media won't sink when it comes to provocative political speech? No—judging by the pitiful performance of two MSMers on today's Morning Joe in defending James "Take 'Em Out" Hoffa.
Newsweek editor Tina Brown brayed that we must not "sanitize" political speech or take the "juice" out of it--all the while condemning Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck for some of their remarks. And the preposterous Mike Barnicle somehow defended Hoffa on the basis of the "context" of his remarks. Say what? Hoffa was introducing the President of the United States! And don't miss Barnicle logic-defyingly defending the double-standard when it comes to Sarah Palin on the basis that everyone knows the MSM will attack her. Video after the jump.
Watch Brown and Barnicle twist themselves into hypocritical knots—and give kudos to Mika Brzezinski for calling out the media for its bias in the way it treats strong language depending on whether it comes from the left or the right.
Note: for sheer inanity, it's hard to top Barnicle's defense of a double-standard when it comes to Sarah Palin on the basis that "everyone knows" the media is going to brutalize her.
TINA BROWN: We don't have to sanitize political rhetoric to the point that--I mean, what do you want Hoffa to say--"we have to seek a way to remove him from public office"? He's speaking to his members, you know, "let's take him out, let's take him out!"
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Why are you saying that now when you didn't say that back when we went after Michele Bachmann non-stop for saying Minnesota people should be armed and dangerous --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
BROWN: Well armed, armed is a different word to say than take him out.
SCARBOROUGH: Take them out in some halls around, you know, take them out has a very specific meaning, and it's not a political meaning.
BROWN: I think take 'em out is just what you say in business. Like, we want to take that guy out. We want to really make sure--I think it's OK.
SCARBOROUGH: I would tell you on this show we have been very critical of people who amped up the rhetoric. We went after Glenn Beck when he said the president was a racist, he hated all white people. That wasn't even violent rhetoric, that was just rhetoric that I was afraid would lead to violence against the president.
BROWN: Well, racist is a very serious charge. I think it's different. I'm going to defend Hoffa on this. He was talking to his members.
MIKE BARNICLE: That's it: you've got to take the context of the moment. I mean, he's speaking to a labor crowd, he's in Detroit, on Labor Day: get 'em out of there!
SCARBOROUGH: Sarah Palin's people put up little targets: these are targeted districts, on a PAC website that nobody sees. Nobody, right? So that's that context. Kind of isolated. Hoffa delivers a speech before the President of the United States comes up and delivers a speech at the same spot. That context is actually far more serious than the context of a website somewhere out in the ethernet that nobody sees. The context I think it more troubling in this case.
BARNICLE: Well first of all, Sarah Palin is going to get brutalized and demeaned by the media no matter what she does. So I don't think you can compare Sarah Palin's targeting of districts with what Jim Hoffa says before a labor group in Detroit. We're going to pile on Sarah Palin. Any sane person knows that we're going to do that.
BROWN: All speech with any color any more, that has any kind of color to it, that has any rabble-rousing juice to it. I mean, that is juice on the --
SCARBOROUGH: Just remember that the next time a Republican says we're locked and loaded and ready to go. Because the hypocrisy --
BROWN: I'm fine with that.
BRZEZINSKI: His choice of words was bad, and I don't know what's wrong with saying that. I think it makes more of an issue--hold on everybody--I think it makes more of an issue when they go like that [makes flicking gesture] to it and try to flick it off. It shows that there is a kind of an unfairness or a bias or whatever. And I'm sorry: the reason we spend the kind of time we spend on it, because it does seem like a waste of time with all the other problems plaguing this country, is because it's a problem in the media as well. We need to look in the mirror and be fair.
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Comments
Poser
Submitted by Franksam on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:29am.
I've a penchant for 'strong' language myself, and Hoffa's thug speech is appropriate introduction for this President.
Hoffa went to law school. He never drove a rig for thirty years, or put his health on the line in any production job. He and Obama share this trait. They pretend to be of the people, while they eat ice cream and cake and the rest of us shold eat our peas. They know their base, and their base is ignorant and easily fooled with a few shiny things and big talk.
That's the real offense.
what a pair....
Submitted by D'saredumbpeople on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:38am.
a former Boston newspaper Guy....and a funny talking boob.....
GOD FORBID..... THEY HAVE CLONED MIKA....
Mike Barnicle was a
Submitted by dr-go on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 9:28am.
fiction columnist for the Boston Globe and mentored Jason Blair for a short time. Or was it the other way around? Whatever, he's a sad, pathetic example of today's "journalism".
"Cynical"
Submitted by mad53PA on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:39am.
There is a much larger issue here, not just the mind numbing hypocrisy of the likes of Brown and Barnicle.
This speaks to the disgusting nature of the attacks by the Left after the Tucson shooting.
Clearly political in nature, planned to limit free speech and silence opposition to Obama by painting others as extreme and dangerous.
The irony as often happens with Progressives is they have created a circumstance that only draws further attention to the depths they will go to advance their own agenda.
They made their bed, now everyone can lay in it.
Context
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:51am.
So "take those sons of b*tches out" is fine, as long as it's in the "context" of a liberal "army" attacking Republicans?
These people don't even see the hypocrisy in their stance. They are masters of rationalization and delusion.
Next they'll be whining Well, Sarah Palin started it!!
These things are staged
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:50am.
Anyone who's seen enough of those events that Soetoro attends knows that they are staged and prepped like crazy beforehand, even to making sure (sometimes one slips through but not always) every person in the audience is pro-Soetoro.
That said, there ain't no way in hell that Hoffa didn't tell anyone that he was going to say what he did. Words spoken must be approved beforehand, there are no "off the cuff" moments when it comes to the speaker.
And we already know, it was DuhOne himself that talked about bringing a gun to a knife fight.
Goebbels would have been proud.
-Jon
Staged and prepped beforehand?
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:56am.
Ya think???
Mutual Back-scratching
Come Fly With Me
Yep
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 10:11am.
Considering I don't generally peruse a lot of the sites that many on here do, this doesn't surprise me, if nothing else but confirms my educated guesses.
Nothing against the sites, sometimes I have time, sometimes I don't.
Thanks, mb.
-Jon
Poor Tina misses those epic Parliament screaming matches,
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:57am.
where anything short of punching out your opponent is allowed. I think she should move back there, and the sooner the better.
And the Jimmy Breslin impersonator Barnicle should just drop dead. That's right, I said it.
Excellent alarm clock
Submitted by Texndoc on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 9:03am.
I wake up around 5am CST, turn on Moaning Joe and want to crawl back in bed, only to leap out when Schmoe and Tina Brown start up, to change the channel as fast as I can. I don't think today I made it to 5:05. C'mon, guys! Give a lazy sleepy guy a break
And love the Tina Brown pics. She sure is in Joan Rivers mode with the BoTox.
Pathetic hyprocrisy
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 9:40am.
BROWN: Well, racist is a very serious charge. I think it's different. I'm going to defend Hoffa on this. He was talking to his members.
Which makes it doubly dangerous. Labor unions, particularly Hoffa's Teamsters, have a history of violence. When the Boss says "Take the sons of bitches out," we understand the context he's coming from.
MIKE BARNICLE: That's it: you've got to take the context of the moment. I mean, he's speaking to a labor crowd, he's in Detroit, on Labor Day: get 'em out of there!
No one took Bachmann's "armed and dangerous" quote in context. She happened to be talking to constituents about educating themselves on the tenets and meaning of the US Constitution and confronting the Left "armed" with that knowledge. But the MSM, including the hacks on Morning Joe, weren't at all interested in context then because they wanted to paint the Tea Party has security threats. They thought they had their 'gotcha moment.'
THE BLESSING IN DISGUISE: Hoffa's vitriolic diatribe is a gift to the conservatives. The WH, the DNC, and many of the Obama lovers in the MSM have refused to condemn Hoffa's threatening remarks, and by doing so, they have disarmed themselves. As Scarborough stated, the next time they accuse opponents of using violent or coarse language, Hoffa's unchallenged quote will come up.
Countering the Left's Hypocrisy
Submitted by stratman on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 11:03am.
The problem is it only matters if the Right actually brings it up in the future. Most will not.
Hey, Barnicle, this is the context Hoffa meant!!!
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 11:15am.
The non-union contractor who was shot, because he doesn't allow the gangsters in his business, is that the "context" you speak of?
So did the two liberal
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 9:22am.
So did the two liberal MSM'ers think Hoffa meant he wanted to take the SOB's out on a date?
I thought this portion was telling...
Submitted by TheDeuce on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 9:27am.
"BARNICLE: Well first of all, Sarah Palin is going to get brutalized and demeaned by the media no matter what she does. So I don't think you can compare Sarah Palin's targeting of districts with what Jim Hoffa says before a labor group in Detroit. We're going to pile on Sarah Palin. Any sane person knows that we're going to do that."
Not surprising, mind you, just telling...
Give a liberal man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Oh, and you also get called an "a-hole" for not giving him another fish every single day for the rest of his life.
they are pond scum
Submitted by ohio granny on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 10:31am.
Tina Brown and Mike Barnacle are pond scum just like their idol little bitty barry. Dispicable liars and thugs. If they think that will help get little bitty barry reelected they are sadly mistaken. Can't wait to hear them crying on November 7, 2012 when they have to admit their idol has been THROWN out of office.
Don't know which is worse, pond scum or bottom feeders. Actually when referring to democrats they are both as low as a you can go and still be considered a human, sort of anyway.
I wonder how many people have
Submitted by jessieH on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 10:45am.
I wonder how many people have been put in prison for saying " take him out" about Obama? I think conservatives should slap a defamation of character lawsuit against Hoffa, for calling us son's of bitches.
Kind of sad
Submitted by jcrapes4 on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 10:50am.
"BARNICLE: Well first of all, Sarah Palin is going to get brutalized and demeaned by the media no matter what she does. So I don't think you can compare Sarah Palin's targeting of districts with what Jim Hoffa says before a labor group in Detroit. We're going to pile on Sarah Palin. Any sane person knows that we're going to do that."
Its terribly sad. By his comments he understands that there is liberal bias in the media but does not care that it is a bad thing to have one sided discussions about the issues.
wow, didn't look at it that way...
Submitted by retrocon on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 1:29pm.
You're right!
"We're going to pile on Sarah Palin. Any sane person knows that we're going to do that."
So, if you are sane, you know that the MSM is liberal, and are going to attack Sarah?
He is sooooo right.
i guess that makes the liberals who believe that the MSM is "fair and balanced" (vs. Fox)...
insane?
Political Hacks
Submitted by Yankee Skeptic on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 12:36pm.
Mike Barnicle and Tina Brown are Democrat hacks who lack INTEGRITY, beyond the typical, cynical hypocrisy of liberal progressives. No one cares that they believe or say, except for amusement purposes.
Cut them some slack
Submitted by Conservator on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 2:30pm.
Barnicle obviously found a new line to plagiarize: "take these son of a b---hes out." And Tina is trying to with the rags she edits - The Daily Beast and Newsweek. I can't wait to see the lefties at NBC/MSNBC and Politico TARGET Perry and Romney during the debate. Then we can watch Matthews and company complain that these people didn't give them any tingles up their legs - otherwise know as bashing conservatives. Who wants to wager that the 2 hour panel will state with conviction that Huntsman is the only one capable of defeating Obama?
No bet, Conservator.
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 6:55pm.
I"m sure we'll be told that the only chance that the R's have is to nominate Huntsman, because they "like" him, and he's the only one who will be willing to "compromise".
Tina Brown is a lying ****
Submitted by Jack Bauer on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 6:05am.
Tina Brown is a lying **** ... well I cannot even print the word here.
I happened on her appallingly violent rag, the Daily Beast only moments after Gabby Gifford was shot, and started to read the "comments" while people were literally still dying.
It was the most despicable and disgusting parade of insane LEFTIST HATE SPEECH you have ever read.
People were using the most vile epithets against Palin, Bachmann, the Tea Party and conservatives.
It was beyond unhinged, demented was more like it. You had to read the filth to believe there are actually people who think this. And they are leftists to a drone.
People, conservatives ARE in a declared war here. Have you ever seen Bob Beckle recently? This is one of the restrained leftist nutjobs out there. And the guy is off his rocker, out of his gord, living in la la land, et al.
All of the above Mr Obama? --- How about ALL OF THE BELOW, instead.
Bob Beckle recently
Submitted by Boudin on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 9:03am.
And the reason I dont bother with Hannity any more
Barnicle is a buffoon.
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 4:23pm.
Barnicle is a buffoon.
Ronald Reagan
Who wants to 'sanitize'
Submitted by felizagain on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 4:52pm.
Who wants to 'sanitize' speech?
Tina knows what the real point is. She creatively skewers around it.
Hoffa made a violent laced, profane comment aimed at insighting urgency and rancor.
The DNC and Obama and VP and others, and even shows like Joe's, lambasted the GOP
for being the cause of Giffords shooting (before and w/o any facts - none of which proved
that case). More civil tone. More professional tone. More respectful tone. No violence laced
rhetoric.
Unless, it is election time, the incumbent is low in the polls, the opposing party is making inroads
in the polls and in fundraising. THEN, it is OK to slime the other side, to assault w/words, then it
is just fine.
Tina knows this. She has to do what she can to assist the Democrats and Obama win the office again.
When we can say........he's the Comeback kid, and give us more FDR laced Time and Newsweek covers............
Tina Brown from the Daily Beotch
Submitted by djwolf12 on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 7:31pm.
She must really be trying to prove that someone actually has an IQ lower than Bubbles, which is an astounding - 41.
Seems like only weeks ago...
Submitted by gobnait06 on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 7:40pm.
...that Obama scolded Rick Perry to 'watch his words' because words matter. Unspeakable hypocrisy but entirely predictable behavior from this turnip of a president and his minions.
Tina Brown, Illegal Alien & Moron With Bad Teeth
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 8:10pm.
"Well, racist is a very serious charge. I think it's different. I'm going to defend Hoffa on this. He was talking to his members...."
Really?
As long as you're talking to your "members"?So, if I start a club called I Hate Obama Because He Is Black, I can say whatever I want?
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
and a quote from a song...
Submitted by uhohshortsonthe... on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 8:53am.
...helps define the phrase: "Hey, man you talkin' back to me? Take 'em out! You gotta keep 'em separated!" From the Offspring's "Come out and Play," a song about gang violence. Knowing the way Hoffa and his kind operate, there is no mistaking his actual meaning.