So here was the decidedly false headline at The HuffPost:
CNN Advertisers Silent On Rick Santorum’s Racist Comments About Native Americans
Does anybody care about sharing airtime with a guy who said “nothing” existed in America before white colonizers arrived?
This utterly false piece of left wing propaganda by writers Jennifer Bendery and Amanda Terkel, falsely accused Santorum, a CNN contributor, of racism. Then the two went on to demand silencing Santorum, by writing this:
“On Monday, a CNN spokeswoman did not respond to yet another request for comment ― for the fifth time ― about whether the network plans to keep Santorum on contract.
So HuffPost contacted all 37 advertisers whose commercials aired during Cuomo’s show on May 3 ― the night he brought on Santorum to defend his comments. None of them returned a request for comment on whether they were comfortable having their ads run on a show and network that welcomes Santorum as a commentator.
Here’s a list of all the advertisers who ran commercials during Cuomo’s May 3 show:”
There were 37 advertisers, all carefully listed beneath this demand to silence Santorum.
Where to begin?
Last week in this space I made a point of correcting the record on exactly what Rick Santorum had said. Noting that the American Left has a notorious history for racism, I made a point of what Santorum said on Chris Cuomo’s show. It was this:
Asked on Chris Cuomo’s show to discuss what he said, Chris said this to Santorum: “This seemed like you were trying to erase diversity in the interest of some White Christian right.”
To which Santorum responded this way, bold print supplied for emphasis:
“No, no, no, no, no. Just to be clear, what I was not saying was that Native American culture–I misspoke. What I was talking about is, as you can see from the run-up, I was talking about the founding of our country. I had given a long talk about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the ideas behind those, and that I was saying we sort of created that anew, if you will.
And I was not trying to dismiss Native Americans. In fact, I mentioned them because, yes, they were here and did have an impact. You’re right. They have a huge impact, particularly in the west and many other areas of the country, where they have a huge impact on American culture. I was talking about — and I misspoke in this respect — I was talking about the founding and the principles embodied in the founding. I would never — and people said I’m trying to dismiss what we did to the Native Americans, far from it. The way we treated Native Americans was horrific.”
In other words, Santorum was straightforward, said that he had “misspoke” and went on to clarify exactly that he “would never…. dismiss what we did to the Native Americans, far from it. The way we treated Native Americans was horrific.”
But the race-obsessed HuffPost reporters, who completely left out Santorum’s clarification, immediately played the race card, using their own leftist racist obsessions to demand that Santorum be fired, with a not-so-veiled threat to CNN advertisers thrown in.
Hmmm.
Over there at The New York Times was a June, 2015 profile of the HuffPo. Among other things it said this:
“The Huffington Post has always been guided by the question: What works? Namely, what draws traffic?”
Which is to say in this case, falsely accusing Santorum of racism, then threatening CNN advertisers with a none-too-unsubtle campaign to get Santorum silenced, is designed for one thing and one thing only. To quote from the Times that would be: “What works? Namely, what draws traffic.”
Inevitably it raises the obvious question. How would The HuffPost react if there was a campaign in conservative media to pressure HuffPo advertisers to get HuffPo writers fired because they sound like David Duke?
This problem of demanding advertisers shut down this or that conservative voice goes on endlessly these days. The demand to pressure advertisers to drop Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham never ends. Members of Congress have proposed having cable carriers stop carrying Fox News, Newsmax and One America News. When Rush Limbaugh was alive and thriving he was targeted in the same fashion.
Let’s be clear. Whomever is out there playing this game is about one thing: Bullying. Silencing points of view they don’t like. Or, as it goes in today’s lingo, “de-platforming” someone.
One would suggest to The HuffPost and those who sign on to this cancel culture censorship fascism: Be careful what you wish for. And recall the wisdom of a president who began his career as a writer, John F. Kennedy.
Said JFK in his inaugural address: Those who “foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.”
Exactly.
