Casual racism was the disgusting tone CNN decided to go with following South Carolina Senator Tim Scott’s delivery of the Republican response to President Biden’s address to Congress Wednesday night. Together, chief political correspondent Dana Bash and senior political correspondent Abby Phillip cackled as they attacked Scott as a liar for defending Republican election integrity efforts and dispelling the false notion they were worse than Jim Crow.
As Bash was getting into her reaction to Scott’s rebuttal, she started to give a wink and nudge to Scott’s supposed status as a token black by noting his “brand” and “unique voice in the Republican Party.”
She went on to essentially suggest Scott was being an Uncle Tom for defending something that was allegedly “worse than Jim Crow”:
He's the only black Republican in the United States Senate and talking about the Democrats attacking these voting restrictions that are being passed across the country and these states as Jim Crow – worse than Jim Crow and fighting back against that kind of rhetoric; was interesting but it’s actually – it’s not necessarily true.
Bash and Phillip cackled in unison while declaring: “It’s not true.”
“It’s just flat not true that states like Georgia are not making it more difficult for people to vote,” Bash added without evidence. “And you know, by and large, those are people of color in those states that have been able to vote easily or were in 2020.”
Before they dipped into their casual racism, Phillip whined about Scott bringing up the fact Senate Democrats had used the filibuster to shoot down his police reform bill:
This was an extraordinary partisan speech for Tim Scott, especially, I thought, on the issue of policing which is something he actively, right now, working with Democrats on. He really strongly criticized Democrats on the issue in a way that I thought surprising, given that he apparently fines it worthwhile to actually work with them, right now, to get something done.
But of course, they refused to address the part of Scott’s speech where he called out the “progressives” who called him “Uncle Tom” and the “N-word.”
In response to President Biden's address to Congress, Sen. Tim Scott calls out "progressives" who call him "Uncle Tom" and "N-Word." He also called out The Washington Post "fact-checker" Glenn Kessler who targeted his family history. pic.twitter.com/7k7I7qwUOM
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 29, 2021
Interesting how that works.
Following those two, liberal commentator Van Jones made an appearance and decried Scott for saying America was not racist.
“But he lost a lot of African-Americans by the tens of millions when he said ‘America is not a racist nation,’” he said. “Look, you can say that we’re getting better, you can say we’ve come a long way, but when you look at these numbers, when you look at these statistics, it is very clear that this country is still struggling with racism.”
And Jones too seemed to tap on tokenism as the reason Scott was chosen to give the response. “With that said, there is a reason they put him up,” he opined. “He's the best they’ve got. He can give that message, he can talk about – he can try to polish up all the Republican nonsense without the sharp edges better than the rest of them.”
This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN Presidential Speech
April 28, 2021
10:40:49 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott with the Republican response to President Biden's speech. You heard there, an inspiring and hopeful in a times even religious message from the man perceiving to be a rising star in his party.
And Abby, one of the things that’s remarkable about both Biden and Scott and their addresses is both of them, I think, have a very natural way of suggesting that they are bipartisan and they want to work across the aisle while both of them are really rather partisan.
ABBY PHILLIP: This was an extraordinary partisan speech for Tim Scott, especially, I thought, on the issue of policing which is something he actively, right now, working with Democrats on. He really strongly criticized Democrats on the issue in a way that I thought surprising, given that he apparently finds it worthwhile to actually work with them, right now, to get something done.
So, in some ways, the speech kind of read to me or sounded to me like what any other generic Republican would say in this particular moment. But Tim Scott who's trying to have a slightly different brand, it didn’t really seem to fit for him. And that's the part, I think, that was a little bit disjointed for me with this speech.
DANA BASH: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. That he's in the midst of, by all accounts, a pretty successful bipartisan talks on policing, so it was surprising to hear that.
Obviously, Tim Scott is you’re talking about his brand. I mean, he has a unique voice in the Republican Party. He's the only black Republican in the United States Senate and talking about the Democrats attacking these voting restrictions that are being passed across the country and these states as Jim Crow – worse than Jim Crow and fighting back against that kind of rhetoric; was interesting but it’s actually – it’s not necessarily true.
PHILLIP: It’s not true.
BASH: It’s not true. It’s not true.
[Laughter]
BASH: It’s just flat not true that states like Georgia are not making it more difficult for people to vote. And you know, by and large, those are people of color in those states that have been able to vote easily or were in 2020.
(…)
10:43:21 p.m. Eastern
VAN JONES: Look, I think they were smart to put Tim Scott up there. He's sort of the Biden of his party and that he comes across warm, authentic, he tells a story, that kind of stuff. The problem is not the messenger. The messenger was great, but the message was nonsense.
Somehow we forgot to notice that Biden was dividing the country? I mean, that doesn’t make any sense. He acts like all the divisions in the country, that’s what he wants to talk about is coming from one side. That doesn’t make any sense.
But he lost a lot of African-Americans by the tens of millions when he said “America is not a racist nation.” Look, you can say that we’re getting better, you can say we’ve come a long way, but when you look at these numbers, when you look at these statistics, it is very clear that this country is still struggling with racism. We still have racism showing up in almost every institution. So, I thought he did himself a disservice by jumping that shark unnecessarily.
With that said, there is a reason they put him up. He's the best they’ve got. He can give that message, he can talk about – he can try to polish up all the Republican nonsense without the sharp edges better than the rest of them. What's amazing is how different he sounds from all the other Republicans. Again, it is almost a tale that the rest of the party is in such bad shape that you got to put him up there.
(…)
