Rangel's Racism
If the liberals in the mainstream media did not have double-standards, they would have no standards at all.
Last week, in a fit of pique over what he perceived as Hillary Clinton's slight of his legislation, Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel called Bill Clinton a "redneck" from Arkansas. Then, just for good measure, he went on to use the term again to refer to former President Lyndon Johnson, who he described as a "redneck" out of Texas.
Of course, Rangel's comments were immediately criticized, but not by any of the big newspapers or networks. While conservative talk-radio and the "blogosphere" justifiably pilloried Rangel, and did the job that used to be done by a responsible media, his racially charged insults made few headlines elsewhere. Because Rangel is black, but more importantly a liberal Democrat, the media mindset does not accept that he could be racially "insensitive", or harbor any racist proclivities.
This attitude does not extend to white Republican politicians, who are assumed to be racists right out of the box. There is no greater example of this double-standard than when comparing how liberals treated former Senator Strom Thurmond, and how Senator Robert Byrd has risen to a top leadership position in the Democratic Party. Byrd (a Democrat) and Thurmond ( a Republican) were both segregationists in younger days, and Byrd was actually a Grand Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan. Both men were leaders in the segregationist State's Rights "Dixiecrat" Party, led legendary filibusters against black-friendly legislation in the late 50's and early 60's, and voted against the 1964 civil rights acts. And later, both men expressed regret for these activities, and made apparently sincere efforts to make amends.
For example, Thurmond was a leading proponent of the Martin Luther King holiday, and was said by friends to be extremely embarrassed about his past actions, which he nevertheless framed as more a question of state's rights and less a question of racial animosity. A statue erected to honor him in his home state specifically does not mention his run for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948, reportedly at his request. He was also the first Southern Senator to hire a black staff member, and said that integration proved to be "for the best of all involved". Either through true repentance or political acumen, Thurmond moved away from his past, and his actions and statements regarding race remained above reproach, at least publicly, until he died in 2003. Regardless, black civil rights organizations and the Democrats made Thurmond's past an issue at every opportunity to discredit him.
Byrd, however, made overtures to all the right interest groups, but continued to make racial blunders in public, including using the word "nigger" on national television when it suited his political purposes, and reportedly when it slipped out in private conversations. In the 1970's, Byrd led the push to name the Senate's main office building after former Senator Richard Russell, a leading segregationist and opponent of anti-lynching legislation, and Byrd called Russell his "mentor" while speaking on the Senate floor. Today, the mainstream media treats Byrd like a conquering hero, and he appears incessantly on network interview programs as the voice of the Senate Democrats. Senator Christopher Dodd has said he "would have been a great senator at any moment. He would have been right at the founding of this country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this Nation. ."
When Trent Lott said nearly the same thing about Strom Thurmond at his Senate retirement party, merely showing polite deference to a man nearly twice his age, Lott was relentlessly attacked and viciously criticized by the same Senators who lavished praise on former Grand Kleagle Byrd. The media, so predictable, copiously covered Lott in the worst possible light, and used the opportunity to dredge up Thurmond's past yet again.
With the recent increased pressure of alternate information sources like the internet, Rangel has not escaped scrutiny, or accountability, for his repellent statements. Appearing on the Shaun Hannity radio program a few days after his remarks, Rangel did offer a generic apology to "anyone offended", but justified the use of "redneck" as a regional, and not racial, descriptor. But since the term, by his own admission, refers specifically to white, Southern men, it is clearly intended to be racial in nature. Someone should ask Rangel if using "regional" terms such as "spear-chucker" and "jungle-bunny" to describe black Africans would be offensive. One can imagine the hell that would break loose among the media elites if Speaker Dennis Hastert, irritated over some legislative issue, called Maxine Waters a "nigger", and then later said the epithet was simply a dialectical modification of "Niger", and not racial at all.
The double-standard among liberals on this issue is astounding. Condoleezza Rice has been the object of overt racial ridicule, most notably in editorial cartoons and comics. Because her detractors accuse her of being a lackey for the Bush Administration, she has been portrayed repeatedly with exaggerated and stereotypical black features, speaking in a black pidgeon dialect and dressed in slave crop-picker attire. Not only did many supposedly "racially sensitive" publications run with these disgustingly racist portrayals, but editorialized that the artists were simply exercising free speech. Does anyone really believe that a similar cartoon, depicting Jesse Jackson as a big-lipped, flat-nosed, frizzy haired, jive-talking step'n'fetchit for the Democratic Party would be afforded such a defense? It seems unlikely.
Amazingly, all of this was played out yet again just a few days ago. Newly-anointed Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, spending a day speaking sequentially to every racial special interest group imaginable in a hotel conference room in Maryland, told the Congressional Black Caucus that the only way the Republican Party could fill up such a room with people of color would be to invite the hotel staff. Remember, this is the same Howard Dean who told an audience in the south that he wanted to be the candidate of "white Southerners who drive around in pick-ups with Confederate flag decals". And the same guy who didn't hire one senior black staffer during his years as Vermont governor, because there were "not enough blacks" in the state.
But never mind. Like Byrd and Rangel, he is a liberal, and when the rubber meets the road, that is all that matters to the media, and to the Democratic Party.
With those credentials, even Nathan Bedford Forest himself would be welcome.
Last week, in a fit of pique over what he perceived as Hillary Clinton's slight of his legislation, Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel called Bill Clinton a "redneck" from Arkansas. Then, just for good measure, he went on to use the term again to refer to former President Lyndon Johnson, who he described as a "redneck" out of Texas.
Of course, Rangel's comments were immediately criticized, but not by any of the big newspapers or networks. While conservative talk-radio and the "blogosphere" justifiably pilloried Rangel, and did the job that used to be done by a responsible media, his racially charged insults made few headlines elsewhere. Because Rangel is black, but more importantly a liberal Democrat, the media mindset does not accept that he could be racially "insensitive", or harbor any racist proclivities.
This attitude does not extend to white Republican politicians, who are assumed to be racists right out of the box. There is no greater example of this double-standard than when comparing how liberals treated former Senator Strom Thurmond, and how Senator Robert Byrd has risen to a top leadership position in the Democratic Party. Byrd (a Democrat) and Thurmond ( a Republican) were both segregationists in younger days, and Byrd was actually a Grand Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan. Both men were leaders in the segregationist State's Rights "Dixiecrat" Party, led legendary filibusters against black-friendly legislation in the late 50's and early 60's, and voted against the 1964 civil rights acts. And later, both men expressed regret for these activities, and made apparently sincere efforts to make amends.
For example, Thurmond was a leading proponent of the Martin Luther King holiday, and was said by friends to be extremely embarrassed about his past actions, which he nevertheless framed as more a question of state's rights and less a question of racial animosity. A statue erected to honor him in his home state specifically does not mention his run for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948, reportedly at his request. He was also the first Southern Senator to hire a black staff member, and said that integration proved to be "for the best of all involved". Either through true repentance or political acumen, Thurmond moved away from his past, and his actions and statements regarding race remained above reproach, at least publicly, until he died in 2003. Regardless, black civil rights organizations and the Democrats made Thurmond's past an issue at every opportunity to discredit him.
Byrd, however, made overtures to all the right interest groups, but continued to make racial blunders in public, including using the word "nigger" on national television when it suited his political purposes, and reportedly when it slipped out in private conversations. In the 1970's, Byrd led the push to name the Senate's main office building after former Senator Richard Russell, a leading segregationist and opponent of anti-lynching legislation, and Byrd called Russell his "mentor" while speaking on the Senate floor. Today, the mainstream media treats Byrd like a conquering hero, and he appears incessantly on network interview programs as the voice of the Senate Democrats. Senator Christopher Dodd has said he "would have been a great senator at any moment. He would have been right at the founding of this country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this Nation. ."
When Trent Lott said nearly the same thing about Strom Thurmond at his Senate retirement party, merely showing polite deference to a man nearly twice his age, Lott was relentlessly attacked and viciously criticized by the same Senators who lavished praise on former Grand Kleagle Byrd. The media, so predictable, copiously covered Lott in the worst possible light, and used the opportunity to dredge up Thurmond's past yet again.
With the recent increased pressure of alternate information sources like the internet, Rangel has not escaped scrutiny, or accountability, for his repellent statements. Appearing on the Shaun Hannity radio program a few days after his remarks, Rangel did offer a generic apology to "anyone offended", but justified the use of "redneck" as a regional, and not racial, descriptor. But since the term, by his own admission, refers specifically to white, Southern men, it is clearly intended to be racial in nature. Someone should ask Rangel if using "regional" terms such as "spear-chucker" and "jungle-bunny" to describe black Africans would be offensive. One can imagine the hell that would break loose among the media elites if Speaker Dennis Hastert, irritated over some legislative issue, called Maxine Waters a "nigger", and then later said the epithet was simply a dialectical modification of "Niger", and not racial at all.
The double-standard among liberals on this issue is astounding. Condoleezza Rice has been the object of overt racial ridicule, most notably in editorial cartoons and comics. Because her detractors accuse her of being a lackey for the Bush Administration, she has been portrayed repeatedly with exaggerated and stereotypical black features, speaking in a black pidgeon dialect and dressed in slave crop-picker attire. Not only did many supposedly "racially sensitive" publications run with these disgustingly racist portrayals, but editorialized that the artists were simply exercising free speech. Does anyone really believe that a similar cartoon, depicting Jesse Jackson as a big-lipped, flat-nosed, frizzy haired, jive-talking step'n'fetchit for the Democratic Party would be afforded such a defense? It seems unlikely.
Amazingly, all of this was played out yet again just a few days ago. Newly-anointed Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, spending a day speaking sequentially to every racial special interest group imaginable in a hotel conference room in Maryland, told the Congressional Black Caucus that the only way the Republican Party could fill up such a room with people of color would be to invite the hotel staff. Remember, this is the same Howard Dean who told an audience in the south that he wanted to be the candidate of "white Southerners who drive around in pick-ups with Confederate flag decals". And the same guy who didn't hire one senior black staffer during his years as Vermont governor, because there were "not enough blacks" in the state.
But never mind. Like Byrd and Rangel, he is a liberal, and when the rubber meets the road, that is all that matters to the media, and to the Democratic Party.
With those credentials, even Nathan Bedford Forest himself would be welcome.
posted by Mark Outland at 11:39 AM
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