Let's play one of our favorite parlor games: "WIARHSI?" You know: "What if a Republican Had Said It?" In today's game, let's imagine what would happen if a Republican presidential candidate had said that Barack Obama was the first "clean" and "articulate" African-American presidential candidate? - Which paper would be first to call for the Republican's withdrawal from the race: the NY Times, Boston Globe, WaPo, other?
- How soon until Jesse Jackson, Carol Moseley-Braun and Al Sharpton turned up on TV to be asked how they felt about being insulted in this way?
- How many hours of MSM musing over the GOP's "history of racial insensitivity"; how many replays of Trent Lott making his statement about Strom Thurmond, of George Allen's 'macaca' moment, etc., would we be subjected to over the ensuing week?
- How long until the hapless Republican did indeed withdraw from the race?
Matthews had Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post and Jay Carney of Time magazine in as guests. The trio didn't even broach the Biden comments until a full ten minutes into their gab fest, after batting around a number of other issues. How long would Chris have waited to launch had it been a Republican on the hot seat?
View edited video clip here.
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From the get-go, Matthews focused on the "articulate" issue. He suggested to Carney "is this just a tempest in a teapot, or what?" When Carney described Jesse Jackson as articulate, Matthews interjected "I would put him at the top, right there with, in fact I'd give him a notch over Mario Cuomo." Higher praise hath no Democrat!Carney took his lead from Chris. He suggested that Biden's only fault was in not being clear in saying that "there hasn't been a viable African-American candidate with all those qualities . . ." Chris couldn't stop himself from interrupting to complete Carney's thought: "and who's mainstream!" Carney acquieseced: "and mainstream." Matthews again: "mainstream's the key thing."
Matthews then digressed into a discussion of a Chris Rock riff about white people damning black college graduates with faint praise for being "articulate."
Chris was clearly in a forgiving mood: "I measure people by their heart. I don't think Biden was saying anything different than somebody from his generation would say."Anne Kornblut wasn't about to crack down either on poor old Joe: "This is classic Joe Biden. He tends toward the hyperbolic and he talks and talks and talks, and that's one of the things that I think voters in Delaware have loved about him for a long time . . . and he just can't help himself." Aside: people from Delaware "love" the fact that Biden's a blowhard?
When Carney observed that Biden "tends toward the impolitic," citing the case from the summer where Biden made a crack about Indian people working in convenience stores, Matthews again butted in to defend Joe:
"He's trying to talk like people. And the minute these people use the talking points, we mock them for the talking points. When they try to talk like people - of their generation . . ."
Defense attorney Matthews offered his closing argument:
"I ask everybody out there to do what I'm trying to do -- look at this reasonably. In my religion I call it a venial sin - I'm not sure it's even that. I'm waiting on this one."
Does anyone really think Matthews would be so forgiving if a Republican had uttered the same words? In any case, notice the enormous straw man Chris set up. The entirety of the discussion focused on the "articulate" word in Biden's statement. Matthews & Co. utterly ignored Biden's depiction of Obama as the first "clean" African-American candidate. How can the MSM gang possibly talk its way around that?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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What do you expect from hypoc
January 31, 2007 - 18:42 ET by msh1973What do you expect from hypocrites?
Oh you got that right, had a
January 31, 2007 - 18:45 ET by HumanEventsOh you got that right, had a Republican said Biden's words Chris and this panel would have been all over that "clean" word, as well as many other aspects. No question we'd be hearing outrage from all of the MSM. And Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who solely care about helping Democrats (not black people) would have indeed been issuing statements and pretending to be irate.
By the way, wasn't it Dan Blather who was asked a few years ago if Clinton lies and said something like, "No I wouldn't call him a liar. I think he just fails to tell the truth sometimes." And then I think Blather even added something like, "There is a difference." There's been other Clinton suckholes who made similar qualifications about Slick Willie's lying. Just an aside here because the way the MSM gets into excuse making for Dems reminded me of just how foolish it got when they made excuses for the Liar in Chief Bill Clinton.
They not only did not go afte
January 31, 2007 - 18:51 ET byThey not only did not go after the man for what he said, they made excuses for him. So, if he gets into office and his big mouth gets our nation into trouble, will those excuses work then?
And, just a note: We cannot have a president who is so insecure that he insults himself about how much he talks.
Perhaps SloJoe had this in mi
January 31, 2007 - 19:00 ET by RackiePerhaps SloJoe had this in mind when he used the "c" word. After all, Joe is one"hip" dude, don't ya know.
"Lucky for that pig who pulled me over, I decided to ride clean today and didn't have to spark metal on his fat donut-gruffling ass."
This is the same Matthews who
January 31, 2007 - 19:00 ET by Tim GrahamThis is the same Matthews who wanted George Allen whipped with a wet noodle for "Macaca."
BULLSEYE Tim!
January 31, 2007 - 19:02 ET by HumanEventsBULLSEYE Tim!
Good point - I've gone back
January 31, 2007 - 19:15 ET by Mark FinkelsteinGood point - I've gone back and included that!
Matthews
January 31, 2007 - 19:32 ET by d1carterNo liberal bias here, huh?
Chris was clearly in a forgiv
January 31, 2007 - 19:35 ET by BufordChris was clearly in a forgiving mood: "I measure people by their heart. I don't think Biden was saying anything different than somebody from his generation would say."
One has to wonder if this attitude would be afforded a Conservative Republican?!
What if....
January 31, 2007 - 19:46 ET by Dad GummitWhat if... What iff... HMMM....let's see...
What if a drunk Republican drove his girlfriend off a bridge & drowned her?....What if a Republican president had an intern under his desk?....What if a republican president's wife made $100K on a $10K investment in cattle futures in a year?....(OK, so he may have just been a governor at the time)... What if a republican congressman got caught with $90K of bribe money in his freezer? (Didn't Granny Nancy promise to clean this stuff up?) Or ran a house of ill repute out of his condo? What if a republican speaker of the house promised to clean this kind of stuff up and didn't even try?... What if a Dimrat spelled "potato" with an "E"? What if a republican president had been accused of sexual harrassment and rape? What if Condi stole classified documents to protect Bush?
Biased? Nah!!
"A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left" Ecclesiastes 10:2
Every time somebody whines ab
January 31, 2007 - 20:06 ET by KimberlyEvery time somebody whines about Republican corruption, I trot a few of these out. I'll have to keep this paragraph for next time. You rule.
Thanks...That's all I could t
January 31, 2007 - 20:10 ET by Dad GummitThanks...That's all I could think of at the moment, me being one of those slow thinking red staters and all.
"A wise man's heart inclines him toward the right, but a fool's heart toward the left"- Ecclesiastes 10:2
P.S. - It was Al Gore
January 31, 2007 - 20:11 ET by Free StinkerYou could also add "What if a GOP Senator/VP called the Battleship Missouri an Aircraft Carrier?"
OK, that one is over my head.
January 31, 2007 - 20:13 ET by saw the lightOK, that one is over my head. Who was it?
"People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news." - A.J. Liebling
Algore
January 31, 2007 - 20:17 ET by Free StinkerAlgore
Wow, you'd think he would kno
January 31, 2007 - 20:24 ET by saw the lightWow, you'd think he would know how to look things up on the internet for accuracy, seeing how he invented it and all.
"People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news." - A.J. Liebling
Wow, when did Algore say this
January 31, 2007 - 20:30 ET by Del DolemonteWow, when did Algore say this? I'd love to find out more about this Gore boo-boo, as I did the USS Missouri tour in 2003 with some friends. And I'm not sure I trust "politically neutral" search engines like Google to show this as an Al Gore quote.
It was during the runup to
January 31, 2007 - 20:39 ET by Free StinkerIt was during the runup to the 1992 Presidential election. I think it was reported in The American Spectator.
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"One thing that seperates liberals from conservatives is that liberals are craftier and work without the hinderance of a conscience." --Lynn Wooley
how long
January 31, 2007 - 19:47 ET by sanskritg"How long would Chris have waited to launch had it been a Republican"?
This is the hypothetical question we have to analyze? This isn't liberal bias it's woulda/shoulda/coulda...
I almost forgot...somebody be
January 31, 2007 - 20:22 ET by msh1973I almost forgot...somebody better tell Ms. Mitchell about this because she doesn't think that her buddy Matthews is liberal. No...not at all.
I've just watched the repla
January 31, 2007 - 20:38 ET by MyKindaSpamI've just watched the replay of Matthews' Biden segment, and I am stunned. To a person, all three rationalized the comments and actually tried to explain to the audience what he "probably" meant. Chris "He Said Maccaa, He Said Maccaa!!!" Matthews actually said that Biden meant it as a compliment, and it is just "something" that "someone of Biden's generation" would say. I guess in the 10 year age difference puts them in different generations and levels of culpability. Matthews said something like he *knew* what was in Biden's heart. Really, Chris? I guess you used your Ninja ESP powers to divine what George "Maccaa" Allen had in his heart, and apparently discovered that he is a raging racist who wants to stereotype and oppress all people who are darker than a Saltine.
I'm disgusted by the coverage--not because I think people who make politically incorrect comments need to be singled out and pilloried, but because, so far, the media and politicians are treating this SO differently than Republican comments. If anyone has ever doubted whether there is liberal bias, that skeptic need look no further. This incident is proof.
Crap. Late again. Listen. Thi
January 31, 2007 - 20:58 ET by tracheostomyCrap. Late again. Listen. This is non-news. Let's get some libs for something overt; not some imagined statement.
And another thing, cons are starting to take lib statements, slap the "WIARHSI" label on it, and go on the pre-emptive warpath.
There's enough liberal spewage to last us forever; no sense in making up any more. Gah, I can't even keep up w/this blog on a daily basis.
-PJ
Draft Condi for '08!
So, so, early and earlier th
January 31, 2007 - 22:56 ET by ucSo, so, early and earlier than many in our history of campaigns brings me to ask wasn't Colin Powell as much a potential candidate or more than Obama is, relatively speaking? Should we really split hairs on actually announcing?
All these pundits that defend
February 1, 2007 - 08:51 ET by Steve SternAll these pundits that defending what Biden said are missing the point. Calling Obama clean, articulate, attractive, yada, yada, yada is a compliment. It's the word "first" that makes it racist. If Obama is the first African-American to have these qualities, were those that came before him flawed in some way in Biden's eyes?