Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News weighed in on last night’s debates and he let the moderators, Charles Gibson and George Stephanapoulos have it with both barrels.

I gather that Bunch’s beef with them, while similar to my own, also, has some marked differences. Bunch refers to how this debate had been billed as a debate dealing with the issues of Pennsylvania voters but, largely, the questions ignored this very group.

In no uncertain terms, Bunch talks about what he and others, as Pennsylvania voters, are really concerned about:

You implied throughout the broadcast that you wanted to reflect the concerns of voters in Pennsylvania. Well, I’m a Pennsylvanian voter, and so are my neighbors and most of my friends and co-workers. You asked virtually nothing that reflected our everyday issues — trying to fill our gas tanks and save for college at the same time, our crumbling bridges and inadequate mass transit, or the root causes of crime here in Philadelphia. In fact, there almost isn’t enough space — and this is cyberspace, where room is unlimited — to list all the things you could have asked about but did not, from health care to climate change to alternative energy to our policy toward China to the deterioration of Afghanistan to veterans’ benefits to improving education. You ignored virtually everything that just happened in what most historians agree is one of the worst presidencies in American history, including the condoning of torture and the trashing of the Constitution, although to be fair you also ignored the policy concerns of people on the right, like immigration issues.

You asked about gun control — phrased to try for a “gotcha” in a state where that’s such a divisive issue — but not about what we really care about, which is how to reduce crime. You pressed and pressed on those capital gains taxes, but Senators Clinton and Obama were forced to bring up the housing crisis on their own initiative.

Instead, you wasted more than half of the debate — a full hour — on tabloid trivia that for the most part wasn’t even that interesting, because most of it was infertile ground that has already been covered again and again and again. I’m not saying that Rev. Wright and Bosnia sniper fire and “bitter” were never newsworthy — I myself wrote about all of these for the Philadelphia Daily News or my Attytood blog, back when they were more relevant — but the questions were stale yet clearly intended to gin up controversy (they didn’t, by the way, other than the controversy over you.) The final questions of that section, asking Obama whether he thought Rev. Wright “loved America” and then suggesting that Obama himself is somehow a hater of the American flag, or worse, were flat-out repulsive.

Are you even thinking when simply echo some of the vilest talking points from far-right talk radio? What are actually getting at — do you honestly believe that someone with a solid track record as a lawmaker in a Heartland state which elected him to the U.S. Senate, who is now seeking to make some positive American history as our first black president, is somehow un-American, or unpatriotic? Does that even make any sense? Question his policies, or question his leadership. because that is your job as a journalist. But don’t insult our intelligence by questioning his patriotism.

Here’s a question for you, George. Is it true that yesterday you appeared on the radio with conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity, and that you said you were “taking notes” when he urged you to ask a question about Obama’s supposed ties to a former member of the Weather Underground — which in fact you did? With all the fabulous resources of ABC News at your disposal, is that an appropriate way for a supposed journalist to come up with debate questions - by pandering to divisive radio shows?

And Charlie…could you be any more out of touch with your viewers? Most people aren’t millionaires like you, and if Pennsylvanians are losing sleep over economic matters, it is not over whether the capital gains tax will go back up again. I was a little shocked when you pressed and pressed on that back-burner issue and left almost no time for high gas prices, but then I learned tonight that you did the same thing in the last debate, that you fretted over that middle-class family that made $200,000 a year. Charlie, the nicest way that I can put this is that you need to get out more.

Go get ‘em, WIll.

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I was watching Lou Dobbs last night and caught his segment regarding the “controversy” behind Barack Obama’s “bitter” comments.  A couple of his guests were telling him that people are bitter at what they are dealing with in this country.

Of course, because Dobbs knows everything, he tells them that he’s right and people are not bitter.  Then, he puts a poll with loaded answers.  I think the response he was hoping for was “Independent and Proud” but, as you can tell, that’s not what won.

I guess people are more “bitter” than he wanted to believe.

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There aren’t that many talk show hosts out there that I really respect.

I have a huge amount of respect for Joe Madison (The Black Eagle) for both is talent as a talker and his humanitarianism (such as taking the lead on calling on action in Darfur, Sudan).

I respect Mark Thompson (Matsimela Mapfumo) for his activism and his uncompromising love for black people.

And, I respect Randi Rhodes for her passion and willingness to put her heart out their for the things she believes.

Over the last 4 years, I became a real fan of hers because she was willing to not only talk politics but, also, issues of race. She was the first white talk show host I heard really talk about racism and not sugar-coat it. I still remember how she talked about the killing of Sean Bell in New York and didn’t flinch when talking about the clear double-standard for justice in this country. She was all over the issues like voter-caging in Florida and was one of the first people that spoke to how black soldiers serving in Iraq were being disenfranchised by this Republican tactic.

The bottom line is, even though I didn’t agree with everything she said, she clearly was no phony and spoke with passion and conviction.

Now, she has decided to quit Air America.

This all stems from her suspension over some comments she made at a private event for an Air America affiliate in San Francisco. In her comedy routine, she referred to Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro as “f**king whores”, alluding to their willingness to sell out to attain their political goals.

Video of these statements got out and managment of the station suspended her for an undefined period of time.

Now, after nearly two weeks of this fiasco, Rhodes decided to part company with Air America.

At first, I thought Air America was clearly justified in its suspension of her because I thought they might have been co-sponsoring an event with the affiliate but, that affiliate came to Rhodes’ defense and explained that the real details surrounding this event were:

The Facts.

Comments made by Randi Rhodes were made during a Green 960 Event on March 22nd. Those in attendance were required to sign up through Green960.com and paid $5 to attend. Money raised went to Green960.

This event took place at Broadway Studios in San Francisco on Saturday, March 22nd.

Green960’s event was posted on My.BarackObama.com’s event listings by a listener of the station as a social meetup & is no way affiliated with Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. The $5 collected was for Green960.

The entire video of the event was made available through Green960 to our listeners and Randi Rhodes fans on March 26th.

So, from what I gather here, this was not an event affiliated with Air America. It was stand-up comedy routine. I think the statements she made were in poor taste but, in the context of what she was talking about, were not referring to Sen. Clinton’s or Ms. Ferraro’s sexual habits but, instead, to their political tendencies. However, her word choice was, indeed, very poor.

The problem, as I see it, was that this was not an Air America event. From what I can fathom, this suspension might have violated her contract.

Now, Rhodes will be doing her show for the station that sponsored this event, Green960 AM.

I hope they have a web stream because Air America has screwed up again, in my eyes.

UPDATE: the Randi Rhodes show will actually be carried on Nova M Radio, the network founded by the founder of Air America.

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MSNBC’s Chris Mathews decides to “get ethnic” while critiquing Barack Obama’s bowling styles, he then goes on to say that nobody should be surprised by Barack Obama’s basketball skills.

*slaps head*

Thanks to Media Matters for the clip.

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Sorry, I’m feeling silly tonight.

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Look, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Pat Buchanan is a racist. He tries to dress it up the clothes of the old, codgerly uncle but, it’s clear to me that the man knows exactly what he’s doing. More sad is the fact that, via outlets like MSNBC, he is given legitimacy. But, it seems to me that he saves his greatest vitriol for his writing. Previously, I shared an excerpt from one of his books where he thought America was doomed because black and brown people would soon be in the majority.

More recently, he outdid himself. While chiming in on the Rev. Wright controversy, Buchanan used his blog to go on a racist screed. You can read the entire post for yourselves but, here’s one passage that really caught my attention:

“First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.

Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?”

Translation: Slavery was good for black people and, since then, all black people have been are welfare cases. Needless to say, Buchanan has an audience for this garbage and many, no doubt, will cosign this mess. However, I am glad that he’s been called on this. On Friday’s Real Time, host Bill Maher brought up the issue and Tavis Smiley weighed in on it. He used a phrase to describe Buchanan that I will adopt — he called Buchanan a “racial arsonist”. There couldn’t be a more appropriate term. Here’s a clip from the show.

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Okay, I’m reloaded! After taking a needed break, I am back at it and I am heated.

We already saw a golf commentator get in trouble for a lynching joke in regards to Tiger woods. We have seen a huge rise in the number of noose incidents around the country and even George W. Bush spoke out against lynching references when he said the following:

“As a civil society, we must understand that noose displays and lynching jokes are deeply offensive…They are wrong. And they have no place in America today.”

So, when someone makes a reference to symbolically lynching someone, particularly a black woman, we can’t let that slide. A few days ago, there was a flap over a statement made by Michelle Obama when she was speaking in Rhode Island. She stated, “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change.” She later clarified her statement:

“What I was clearly talking about was that I’m proud in how Americans are engaging in the political process…For the first time in my lifetime, I’m seeing people rolling up their sleeves in a way that I haven’t seen and really trying to figure this out — and that’s the source of pride that I was talking about.”

Regardless of how you might feel about what she said, I can tell you this, the way Bill O’Reilly responded to it is not at all acceptable. On his radio show, O’Reilly chimed in by saying the following:

“And I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels — that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that’s legit. We’ll track it down.”

Okay, there are really two key words here. The first is, of course, the use of the word “lynching” in regards to a black person. I am not sure of why this is even part of his vocabulary. But, there’s another disturbing word here. That word is “unless”. So, we are at the point of saying that we need to “lynch” people because her opinion or view of America is different from that of others? Personally, I can relate to Michelle Obama’s statements but, even if I couldn’t, my first thought would not be to lynch her, symbolically or otherwise.

Needless to say, I am tired of people playing with that word. Lynching was a method of torture and public execution, even over the most petty of transgressions (even for merely whistling at a white woman). Moreover, it was an act of terrorism (yes, terrorism was carried out by some whites in this country long before we even cared about a threat from the Middle East) meant to show blacks that if they dared to step out of “their place”, which included trying to do things even as mundane as voting or competing in business with whites, they could suffer the same fate. So, when the question of “lynching” a black person is raised, red flags should go up.

Personally, I believe that the Westwood One Radio Network, which gives O’Reilly a platform for his radio program, or Fox News, which allows him to host a show on their network or, better yet, O’Reilly’s advertisers should be concerned with having their names associated with someone who clearly has a history of making stupid racial comments (see here, here and here).

Now that I’ve ranted, you can hear his words for yourself (thanks to Media Matters for the clip):

 

 O'Reilly speaks of "lynching" Michelle Obama: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Montel Williams recently castigated the hosts of ‘Fox and Friends’ for spending time on their show to discuss the death of acting “icon” (yes, one of them said that) Heath Ledger but, not being able to accurately give the number of troops killed in Iraq last month or the name of a soldier who most recently died in the war. Could this be part of the reason that Fox opted not to renew his contract?

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This is a preview of an upcoming episode of The Boondocks. It is pretty obvious that this episode will NEVER appear on B.E.T.

Warnings for language and some violent content.

Get it before it’s pulled from YouTube!

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I just wanted to share this because it now sounds so funny. Do you remember when right-wing commentators used to bully people with Republican talking points. Now that they see the country’s views on their “leadership” souring, they begin sounding desperate.

Here’s an example of just that (thanks to Crooks And Liars for the clip).

 

 Hannity Sounding Desperate: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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