Olbermann’s Smear of Tea Partiers Backfires
To recap, Olbermann, a white liberal, claimed that the Tea Party movement was racist against black people. This racism accounts for Obama’s failures and declining popularity, he suggested. As proof, he cited racism that he said lurked in the souls of every white person, including his own. Racism is everywhere, Olbermann said, apparently seriously.
AIM Report | By Roger Aronoff
Stung by the reaction to his baseless charges of racism against the Tea Party movement, MSNBC-TV host Keith Olbermann did something he rarely does-he cited on the air some of the criticism of his remarks, including from my column carried by http://www.aim.org, GOPUSA and other Internet sites. He did this without labeling his critics as being among “the worst” people in the world. But he fell far short of coming clean about why he launched his smears.
What’s more, he failed to retract the bogus charges and examine the many white faces that dominate-in fact, monopolize-the political talk shows on the network that employs him.
To recap, Olbermann, a white liberal, claimed that the Tea Party movement was racist against black people. This racism accounts for Obama’s failures and declining popularity, he suggested. As proof, he cited racism that he said lurked in the souls of every white person, including his own. Racism is everywhere, Olbermann said, apparently seriously.
“I think,” the MSNBC host said, “having now been one [a white person] for 51 years, I am permitted to say I believe prejudice and discrimination still sit, defeated, dormant, or virulent, somewhere in the soul of each white man in this country.”
This tired race card approach to politics and current events would not normally require any response or comment. It could be dismissed for what it is, coming from a questionable source who deals in vile rhetoric.
But it is fascinating and worthy of comment because of what it says not only about Olbermann but the network which pays him so much to generate the high ratings that he wants but cannot get. According to Bill Carter of the New York Times, in January CNN surpassed MSNBC for the first time in six months in the ratings, and Fox has approximately triple the ratings of either CNN or MSNBC. So maybe this particular “Special Commentary” is an attempt to see who is paying attention and actually watching the show. We at AIM plead “guilty as charged,” at least in this special case. Please forgive us.
Playing into Olbermann’s hands, one is tempted to tune in to the next program, if only to see whether Olbermann will take the dramatic next step of setting himself on fire in protest of something or other, real or imagined. What will happen next? Will he show up drunk? Will he turn up missing? Does anyone care?
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