Ratigan at the end: "Dialogue in this country".
There was no dialogue. Ratigan was typical of host with control; be in Limbaugh, Hannity, et al.....set up straw man, knock down strawman, ask question similar to "Do you still beat your wife", etc..... typical asshat.
I have NO idea what Williams thinks about anything based on that.
Williams thinks Obama is an Indonesian Muslim welfare thug.
I didn't get that from that video; and had never heard of him before. Host should have let him talk if he was going to say stuff like that.
Ratigan may be outraged, but his point is not without merit. Take a look at the Van Jones story. A lot of hay is made by policy-makers having socialist ties. Why? Is President Obama a socialist? Is that a fair question to ask? I mean, these people are supposed to represent us, not a fringe group in this country.
Use the same logic with an organized TEA Party event. Why are you allowing these people in your organization? Why would you let your organization be smeared or dismissed because of a few, bad apples? Is it not a fair question to say "You're not all racist, but you do have racists in your organization? What are you doing about it?"
I mean, if I were at an event in my name, I wouldn't stand for that.
And when you say "Well, so what? I didn't make them radical. NBC has a local affliliate reporter that said something racially insensitive and got promoted." So there! We don't have to clean up our movement because NBC hasn't cleaned up theirs!
I don't want anyone who is supported by racists, that will give racists a voice, in Washington. Ease my fears, clean up your act.
Ratigan said people in the Tea Party movement are openly calling for the "Killing of Blacks and Women".
Really? Is there a link somewhere, or is that hyperbole? How do you possibly respond to that? Was the guest at that rally? Is there a "leader" at the rally who has the authority/wherewithal to throw such people out?
I agree in principle that who people associate with tells much about who people are, but Ratigan, IMO, did not make his point; and was an asshole while doing it. Still had never heard of guest man before I clicked on this thread; so if he is the Tea Party "leader", he's not getting any airplay I've seen.
Oh, and what he said about NBC was, "Is NBC anti-Semitic because they promoted an anti-Semite?" Not the same as how you phrased it - but it was, admittedly an evasion of the question; but one that is VERY common in these confrontational format shows, and even on this forum; - just look at the "Obama Lied" thread - took two posts before it was about Bush.
So you didn't actually read the article.
The Tea Party SHOULD weed out birthers and racists. And, perhaps, the guest on this show (never heard of him, BTW) also holds some unsavory views. That said, this particular interviewer didn't have the skills to expose this guy and, instead, came off looking like an immature assclown.
stressing the need to weed out birthers lol.
That would leave like three people?
STOP! MY RIBS!
weed? *Perk*
Who are these Msnbc hosts? No wonder they have no viewers
I think that he has genuine outrage and he should. He may look unprofessional, but I don't see that as a negative in this case. It is outrageous that leaders in the TEA Party movement continue to coddle the extremists that have expressed racist views. Ratigan would be just as wrong as the TEA Partiers if he didn't press for an answer.
Signs, such as, "Go back to Kenya" when referring to President Obama, who was born in Hawaii and governed in Illinois, is a racist sentiment. It is not only supporting the belief that immigrants in the United States have no right to be here, despite the fact that, with the exception of Native American Indian descendants, we all emigrated from somewhere other than this land, but he is open to such criticisms simply because he does not "look" like the sterotype we carry for an American. A white male with no accent does not receive this type of criticism, a first-generation American or not. Simply because his father was a first-generation immigrant, does not make him less American than you or me. He was born and raised in this country.
Outrage over taxation is one thing. Misuse of those tax dollars and asking for more approriate spending is a legitimate point. However, if the TEA Party is willing to let these people in, it makes it difficult to support them.
Ratigan is simply pointing that out and, whether genuine or not, all the guest had to do was say "I do not support these sentiments and no one in our party will tolerate it. These are the steps we have taken or will take to change it." or "I do support these sentiments and I think it is a legitimate form of outrage." Either way, they are affecting the political landscape, and as they gain in power, they are not outside the legitimate questions of what they will do with that power.
Last edited by Darrin; 03-03-2010 at 06:14 PM.
Yes, we know, racism is plentiful.
Any call for "killing blacks and women" as the host insisted they have?
I think ratigan got his start from cnbc and was a regular on morning joe, which is the only successful show on msnbc. He was not like that though as a commentator so the news room must push the anchors to do this kind of stuff. He probably thought he had him cornered and went after it.
He is on the "news" times of msnbc. fox news hours would never had done something like that. The opinion shows wouldn't have done something like that.
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