Fat Chance: Van Susteren Demands Apologies for Reckless 'Racism' Charges Hurled at McCain on MSNBC

November 28th, 2012 11:45 AM

Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren has reached her boiling point after seeing yet another person at MSNBC hurl a gratuitous, objectively false charge of "racism" at Arizona Senator John McCain for having the gall to believe that Susan Rice would not be a good choice to be the next Secretary of State.

She let it rip in a blog post Monday afternoon:


Let’s get something straight – Senator John McCain is NOT a racist (and while I am at it, neither is President Bill Clinton) – MS/NBC needs to direct its employee RIchard Wolffe to apologize

I first blogged about a similar matter by MS/NBC on November 22. I now update it.

When MS/NBC finally develops the decency to apologize to Senator John McCain for Richard Wolffe calling him a racist (see below to the Nov 22 posting), they should add into the mix one of the employees named Toure. See the headline from Mediaite.com ...:

MSNBC’s Touré Savages ‘Old, White’ McCain For Opposing Susan Rice, ‘Bitter’ Over His ’08 Loss

Here is more from the www.mediaite.com article:

The MSNBC host also characterized McCain’s opposition to Rice in racial and gender-specific terms, saying that his role as a white Senator opposing a black, female administration official has negatively impacted how his party is viewed among several key demographics.

... It is about time we stop something — and that is the gratuitous and hurtful insult of falsely calling someone a racist and people not standing up and defending those falsely accused. It happens often to our leaders — from 2008 when President Clinton was falsely called a racist by a politician during his campaigning for his wife and to now with Senator John McCain being called a racist by MS/NBC’s Richard Wolffe.

... Here is a fact: not every challenge or criticism of anyone who happens to be African American is racist. This is not to say there is no racism in this country – there is and it is terrible – but by throwing the term around recklessly and cruelly against someone with whom you don’t agree dilutes the serious charge of racism when it is warranted. It is like crying wolf.

Secondly, there are legitimate reasons someone might oppose Ambassador Rice’s nomination to Secretary of State, should she be nominated. The job of Secretary of State includes the ability to get it right and not just take what is spoon fed to you by others. We need thinkers with good judgment, not those who are willing to be Administration robots and accept the bizarre as fact and then go out and promote it to the American people.

... I have not heard MS/NBC’s Richard Wolffe call the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank (who also opposes Rice's nomination -- Ed.) a racist. Why not? Under Wolf’s definition of a racist – opposing Ambassador Rice as Secretary of State – the Washington Post’s Milbank, like Senator McCain, is a racist. They both oppose Ambassador Rice as Secretary of State.

Of course you and I both know that neither Milbank nor McCain is a racist for opposing Ambassador Rice. But Richard Wolffe? What is he? What is he for falsely accusing someone of being something as terrible as a racist? I have some ideas….but I will let you come up with your own.

... By the way, Senator McCain and his wife have an adopted African child who is now a young adult so my guess is that this cruel insult is particularly painful to his family. MS/NBC’s Richard Wolffe might want to extend a special apology directly to their child since I bet it was extra painful for her to read that her Father, Sen. McCain, was falsely being called a racist.

Granted, it's gratifying (Gretafying?) to see someone speaking out so forcefully on the matter, but it's going to take more than a demand from someone at the network the left so loves to hate to force MSNBC to do the right thing. As to Wolfe and Toure, they'll more than likely never get into the neighborhood of an apology unless and until they believe that not doing so constitutes a threat to their careers.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.