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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Saturday Night Card Game (Gawker -Think Progress Tag Team)

This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:

Hey, did you hear the one where Bill O'Reilly called a black professor a drug dealer? What a racist.

At least that is what Gawker wanted you to believe, in its post Bill O'Reilly Tells Black Guest He Looks Like a Drug Dealer (italics in original):

Marc Lamont Hill is the black Liberal Columbia professor who for some reason is always on The O'Reilly Factor. Tonight's episode made Hill's presence even more puzzling, because Bill O'Reilly told him that he looks like someone who sells drugs.

The two were happily discussing Obama's dumb plan to send 1200 troops who will secure the entire Mexican border against illegal immigrants. Then O'Reilly joked: Say you're a cocaine dealer—and you kind of look like one a little bit." To which Hill replied, gamely: "As do you... you know, you actually look like a cocaine user."

Dang, O'Reilly, having black commentators is supposed to make you look less racist. Unless O'Reilly was talking about Hill's spiffy pinstripe suit. Like, how could you afford such a nice suit unless you were selling drugs? That's probably it.

But watch the video (below), and it is clear that there was no racial motive or intent. The two were joking around with each other. The post title, and the entire thrust of the post, was to paint O'Reilly as being a racist without supporting facts.

The folks at Think Progress must have felt like manna had just dropped from heaven when they saw the Gawker post. Writer Lee Fong linked to Gawker with a post titled O’Reilly tells African-American Columbia University professor that he looks like a ‘cocaine dealer.’

To make sure the reader didn't mistake this banter for banter, Think Progress claimed that "O’Reilly is no stranger to racial stereotypes and inflammatory racial rhetoric." The examples cited by Think Progress were as valid as the Gawker post.

This is how they do it. Take a clearly non-racially motivated comment, quote the comment with the fact that it was made to a black person, and then make the allegation of racism.



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Related Posts:
Saturday Night Card Game
Tea Parties Are Not Racist and Think Progress Is Not Homophobic
Think Progress Targets Scott Brown Over IRS Plane Attack

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3 comments:

  1. You know, O'Reilly certainly has his faults and Dr Lamont Hill I would never agree with but the camaraderie and genuine friendship between the two men is one of the more endearing things about O'Reilly's show. It is more than refreshing to watch a white man and a black man who hold different political views discuss those views while treating each other as good friends.

    I believe at one point that Dr Lamont Hill was banned from Fox News. Shortly after this he resumed appearing on the O'Reilly show. I don't know this but I bet that O'Reilly simply told Fox News to shove it; that he was going to keep bringing Dr Lamont Hill on the show. And I'm glad he did.

    I watched the segment with O'Reilly and Hill that you discuss here. And I can tell you that the statements accusing O'Reilly of racism are so far over the top and so far beyond the pale and frankly so wrong that I'm shocked. And I didn't think that Liberals could shock me any more.

    It is these kinds of incidents of the race card being played that continue to convince me that only total defeat of Liberalism can be the acceptable result in the culture war.

    So, to all the estrogenated punks out there, I say ... bring it on, morons.

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  2. Isn't the hurt feelings squad ever going to get tired of searching for reasons to feel insulted and outraged? Shouldn't the fact that they have to stretch innocent banter and "hear" things that aren't said (remember whatsherface saying she "heard" the unsaid "boy" at the end of Joe Wilson's factual statement that BO was lying?) indicate that they are wrong about the right being racists? Geez, who stirs up racial tension and upsets everyone with these absurd allegations? Who is dividing this nation when we really need to be coming together?

    These phonies, with their feigned outrage, really need to get a clue. And a life.

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  3. Dr Lamont Hill was fired last October as a Fox News Analyst, but that has nothing to do, obviously, with who Bill O'Reilly chooses to be a guest on his show.

    I had one quick second of thinking Bill had blown it, but instantly realized that the remark was further evidence of Bill's enjoyment of, and great relationship with, Dr. Hill as a guest.

    My husband can't stand him, and I'm always wondering which amphetamine he's using, but whatever floats Bill's boat--we watch him (followed by Beck) every night and like both shows (but would choose Beck, if pushed to choose, due to the invaluable information not found anywhere else).

    ReplyDelete