The MSM has been too soft on Republicans, too uncritical of Boehner & Co. The press needs to start reporting that the Republican plan for the economy would be a "disaster."
Oh, and for good measure, Americans are racist. They don't care about the unemployed because they wrongly assume a disproportionate number of them are black and Hispanic.
Yeah, that's the ticket . . . according to Carl Bernstein on Morning Joe today. View video after the jump.
The show opened with a clip of Boehner stating Republicans wouldn't raise the debt limit unless spending is dramatically cut. The panel then collectively wrung its hands over President Obama's latest poll numbers. The crew lamented that though PBO got a post-Bin Laden foreign policy bump, overall his numbers, particularly on the economy, are not strong.
That's when Bernstein weighed in too blame a media that is, in his view, insufficiently critical of Republican economic proposals.
Watch Bernstein accuse Americans of being racist, while claiming that the MSM is too Boehner-friendly.
CARL BERNSTEIN: The press has got to start reporting on the economy and the debate in a different way. We can't be captive to John Boehner making statements like that without going in on a news report and saying "what's he talking about? What are the realities of this? What are the taxes? What happens with the debt ceiling? What will happen to our allies if we, including those who are buying debt, if we go ahead and do what John Boehner says? We go ahead and do what John Boehner says, you are really going to see the economy tank. You're going to see a disaster!"
Yup, that's the kind of fair and objective reporting Bernstein wants. A bit later, he accused Americans of being indifferent to the unemployed out of racism.
BERNSTEIN: People in this country are really concerned about the unemployed: I wish I believed that were the case, rather than, boy, better them then I. I think there's a lot of selfish interest in what is going on in the economy, but not nearly --
MIKE BARNICLE: Why hasn't there been?
BERNSTEIN: That's a really good question. I think partly because there's a racial perception involved which is not even accurate about who the unemployed in this country are. I think that there is a perception that blacks and Hispanics are overweighted in the unemployed category and that there is a kind of prejudice.
NOTE: Carl Clueless On Unemployment Rates
Bernstein was wrong in claiming that it is "not even accurate" to believe that blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately represented among the unemployed. See linked chart, which indicates that in March, black unemployment was roughly twice that among whites. Hispanic unemployment was about 50% higher than the white rate.
