Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Juan Williams calls First Lady a radical in a dress
Blame Ta-Nehisi Coates for this blog entry. I’ll take the usual responsibility but the rest is on Coates. Recently Williams was opining on Bill O’Reilly’s show and described Michelle Obama, the week old First Lady, as “Stokely Carmichael in a dress.”
Sigh. What is there to say about this nonsense? When was the last time anyone heard the First Lady make a speech about Black Power? To flip it, can anyone point to Carmichael’s (Kwame Ture) position on working mothers? Anyone? Ahhh, but in the world of Williams Michelle Obama is a black woman and therefore can be reduced to caricuture. And here is the kicker, Williams feels no need to offer proof for his theory. But why offer proof when you throw out a line that will get you a chuckle at the next high powered cocktail soiree?
Williams does have an interesting pedigree. He was a reporter for the Washington Post, is the author of books that are required reading, and now works for Fox News and NPR. Apparently he cried when Obama was sworn in as president; however, despite this historical knowledge, Williams can’t seem to break free of a small vision when it comes to race and gender. I’m sort of surprised he didn’t say in her private moments, Michelle Obama is really Shug from the movie Hustle and Flow.
If Williams has a concern about the First Lady it would have been nice if he described it without resorting to the sloppy “she’s like this scary black man” rhetoric.
RIP: John Updike.
Juan Williams is an interesting guy. He’s no fool – unlike most conservative and liberal media opinion-meisters. And he’s usually not as irresponsible as most of his colleagues. Was he drunk when he came up with this idiotic comparison? Or is he turning into one of the Borg? Michelle Obama is the anti-Carmicheal – she’s our JCrew all-American Queen. Even the Brits love her. The Queen of England asked her to “stay in touch”. You think she’d have said that to Carmicheal or ANY form of radical?! Williams is blind AND naughty. Next stop, the Limbaugh Show… There goes another unusually smart conservative, eaten by the right’s need to demonize. While the left does this too, I’m more interested in those that resist either side’s orthodoxy. Williams just mouthed his way out of that camp. In poor taste, to boot. No need to compare her to a man. “Angela Davis” would have made his point, however misguided.
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Stupid sh** coming from Fox “News” is not surprising.
Michelle seems to be the Obama with backbone. I say thank gawd she’s hopefully pushing Saint Barack to grow some balls.
The stock in trade for conservative republicans has ever been the unsubstantiated declarative opinion stated as fact.
In fact, actual facts get in the way. Deliberate ignorance is a fundamental of the ability to state a completely unsubstantiated opinion as a fact.
We’ve listened to this twaddle for almost 30 years.
I guess we are no longer surprised by this tactic for manipulating the ignorant among the masses. Continued reportage becomes only a catalogue of consistency.
Oh lord…
Michelle Obama and Juan Williams share the same limelight…I’d tweak it that their almost like siblings.
The funny thing is that when Barack Obama won the elections and somebody on fox news asked Juan what this victory meant to him as an AA ? Juan was actually next to tears, oh……talking about how proud he felt to be part if history bla bla bla. This guy is just so fake
what a disgusting man. I wonder what he has to say about the lady that had her daughter move out of the dorm that she shared with Mrs. Obama (then Ms. Robinson)when they were in college. Yes moved her daughter out JUST because she did not want her to live with a black girl. that was in the 80’s not 1950’s. What did he call that woman.
I respect and love our first lady so much. One reason being she never wah wahs about anything. Even the news of what happened in college did come from Mrs. O but from the lady that her mom moved her out. I know alot of things said and alot of the ways the media tries to portray her must hurt so much. But she never complains in public.
I will continue to pray for this family everyday for the next 8 years and even beyond.
Anyone employed by FauxNews shouldn’t be taken seriously to begin with.
Anything emanating from the mouth of Juan Williams smells of garbage. A one time so-called progressive, Williams opted for the Far Right bucks and has become a loathsome turncoat and an Uncle Tom for the GOP.