Race Issues

On the Saturday Washington Post “On Faith” page, columnist and Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller insisted it was not a news story that black ministers came to the National Press Club and insisted Obama’s support for gay marriage “might cost him the election.” It’s not a story, Miller insisted, because Rev William Owens is “enough to make a cynic blush...He’s a figurehead in what political…

Is CNN equating racism with a store owner refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple? In its "controversial marriage news" on Monday, CNN reported both a church refusing to let a black couple marry in its sanctuary and a bakery refusing service for a gay couple's wedding reception. Back in May, anchor Don Lemon compared Mitt Romney defending traditional marriage to infamous Alabama…

On her 1 p.m. et hour show on MSNBC on Tuesday, host and NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell decried Mitt Romney labeling President Obama's big-government philosophy "foreign" to American capitalism: "...he is still using the term 'foreign' and I'm telling you, this is happening every day, it is a dog whistle." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Chief…

Of all the political angles that might be played in connection with the Aurora theater shooting, surely racism would be a card too far, right? Wrong. Subbing for Ed Schultz on MSNBC tonight, Michael Eric Dyson managed to suggest that James Holmes would have attracted the attention of the authorities earlier had he been, yup, "a Muslim or another minority."  Until he twisted her arm, it was…

Mitt Romney's speech to the NAACP convention in Houston was -- according to one's political perspective -- a "calculated move on his part to get booed..." to help his white base (Rep. Nancy Pelosi), or a presentation to "independent thinking adult citizens" whom he treated as equals (Rush Limbaugh). Having an adult conversation in a racially and politically polarized age is nearly impossible…

UPDATE AT END OF POST: O'Donnell responds. It's really becoming difficult keeping track of all the things the liberal media claim are code for racism these days. On MSNBC's The Last Word Monday, host Lawrence O'Donnell accused conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh of being racist for saying Barack Obama smoked weed and snorted coke (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, Bloomberg View's Margaret Carlson - formerly of Time magazine - asserted that Mitt Rommey "wanted the boos" he received as he delivered his speech to the NAACP. She went on to say the GOP presidential candidate is "taking those boos to his fund-raiser with Dick Cheney," and that "he's so proud of them."

On Thursday's edition of the New York Times's daily TimesCast, liberal columnists Charles Blow and Bill Keller discussed Mitt Romney's appearance at the NAACP convention (which Keller, the paper's former executive editor, found condescending). They took on the issue of voter ID laws in various states. Over a montage of still photos of blacks in line to vote, Keller called voter fraud "kind of…

Left-wing author Touré Neblett wildly accused Mitt Romney of playing the race card in a Thursday item on Time's website, claiming that Romney "went to the NAACP's National Convention planning to get booed," so he could "elicit an emotional reaction from white voters. Romney's performance wasn't intended to win more black votes, it was intended to help win more white votes." Touré, the…

During a panel discussion on Thursday's NBC Today about Mitt Romney's NAACP speech, advertising executive Donny Deutsch gave credit to the Republican presidential candidate for making the appearance, but proclaimed: "...this is going to be what I'll call the demographic election, women, Latinos and African-Americans are going to cost him the election." Co-host Savannah Guthrie began the…

Republican candidate Mitt Romney received a predictably mixed reception at the NAACP's annual convention in Houston on Wednesday, giving New York Times reporter Ashley Parker an easy target: "To Boos and Polite Applause, Romney Speaks to the N.A.A.C.P." Parker emphasized the "cackles and boos" he received for his criticism of Obama-Care, and even used Romney's father, the late Michigan Gov.…

Actress and singer Queen Latifah made a racially-insensitive remark on CBS's Late Show Tuesday that might raise a few eyebrows. Talking about the pool at her house, she said there's a section for people to go "If you can’t swim, or if you’re hammer-wasted...Hammered or a white girl, whichever you prefer” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Filmmaker Spike Lee said Monday that if Barack Obama loses his reelection bid in November, "I will be dead before" there's another black president. Lee also said during an interview with entertainment website Vulture that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's religion is going to play a huge factor in the upcoming election:

On Tuesday, Tom Brown at Reuters (HT CounterContempt.com aka "Republican Party Animals") wrote about the case of Quartavious Davis, a 20 year-old sentenced to life (and then some) after being "convicted of participating in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010." In the process, Brown, whose column title was inadvertently humorous ("Insight: Florida man sees 'cruel' face of U.S…