Fox News Channel's Howard Kurtz used the opening monologue of his Sunday media analysis show MediaBuzz to call out the media's double standard and selective outrage in how they deal with controversial comments from conservatives and leftists. When a conservative says something controversial, Kurtz noted that "everyone goes nuts." Yet when a leftist does the same "hardly anyone blinks."
"When someone on the right says something inflammatory, everyone goes nuts. The media pummel that person and that’s fine. But when someone on the left does it, hardly anyone blinks. What's the big deal? It just vanishes into the ether," Kurtz noted in his open.
He pointed to two controversies that occurred over the past week. One from the right and the other from the left which sought to illustrate his point. The first was Republican Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who according to Kurtz "gave her critics some ammunition by calling for a national divorce between red states and blue states."
"Liberal pundits piled on the Republican congresswoman even after she tried to soften her remarks as not being about succession," he noted.
Kurtz then pointed to comments that were first reported by NewsBusters from rabid racist leftist Daily Beast contributor Wahajat Ali who accused former Republican South Carolina Governor and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley of using "her brown skin as a weapon against poor black folks and poor brown folks. And she uses her brown skin to launder white supremacist talking points."
Kurtz noted that "we're talking about a woman of color, daughter of immigrants. Who as South Carolina governor banned the confederate flag from statehouse grounds."
"Ali is making the racist charge that she’s a mouthpiece for white supremacy? That is beyond the pale," Kurtz said with disgust.
He pointed out how the media has been largely silent on this nasty racist smear of Nikki Haley, while hyping the comments from Congresswoman Greene.
Kurtz who apparently reads NewsBusters since we were also the first to report how the only exception was CNN's The Lead host Jake Tapper who did call out Ali's vile comments.
But other than Tapper, Kurtz noted "almost everyone else in the media? Crickets!"
To read the relevant transcript click "expand":
FNC’s MediaBuzz
2/26/2023
11:00:17 a.m. EasternHOWARD KURTZ: When someone on the right says something inflammatory, everyone goes nuts. The media pummel that person and that’s fine. But when someone on the left does it, hardly anyone blinks. What's the big deal? It just vanishes into the ether. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave her critics some ammunition by calling for a national divorce between red states and blue states. It’s utterly impractical. Who decides which states are red or blue? Who gets control of army bases? And liberal pundits piled on the Republican congresswoman even after she tried to soften her remarks as not being about succession.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: The last thing I ever want to see in America is a civil war, but it's going that direction, and we have to do something about it.
KURTZ: Fox's Laura Ingraham eviscerated the idea, including Greene's notion that people who moved from blue states to red states wouldn't be allowed to vote for five years.
LAURA INGRAHAM: First, a law prohibiting American citizens who’ve not committed a crime from voting would probably not withstand legal scrutiny, and second how would this, like, a national divorce be good for conservativism?
KURTZ: Now let's look at this grenade from the left. Here was Daily Beast contributor Wahajat Ali ripping Nikki Haley with MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
WAJAHAT ALI: She uses her brown skin as a weapon, and she uses her brown skin to launder white supremacist talking points.
KURTZ: We're talking about a woman of color, daughter of immigrants. Who as South Carolina governor banned the confederate flag from statehouse grounds, and Ali is making the racist charge that she’s a mouthpiece for white supremacy? That is beyond the pale! One notable exception here, Jake Tapper called this out on his CNN show. Almost everyone else in the media? Crickets!
