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Loading ...RachelWatch: A Day at the Racist
History
Rachel started us off with President Obama’s speech at the commemoration of the NAACP’s 100th anniversary in New York. The President is an excellent speaker, which is good because you need that to cushion your system for what’s coming next.
Noted racist Pat Buchanan, who is inexplicably a regular commenter on multiple shows on MSNBC, wrote a column this week asserting that Republicans should be rattling the Scared Angry White Guy cage even harder in Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings.
Rachel did a fine job of taking him apart (even though she had to bend her own rules of courtesy and break in just to get a chance to speak), but even she seemed to be stunned once or twice by what Buchanan was disgorging.
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(Buchanan’s statement about white guys being the only ones fighting at Gettysburg and Vicksburg are, of course, flat-out wrong. And I was able to spot those with only a basic knowledge of American history! It’s kind of a fun game: Which gross distortions did you notice?)
One of the saddest parts of that clip is that Buchanan really can’t seem to see that he’s kneecapped himself with one of his own examples: He looks at a theoretical eight white guys from Minnesota on the Olympic hockey team and assumes that they must naturally be the best players.
Does it really not occur to him that those eight guys might have grown up with access to ice rinks and hockey equipment that other kids might not have, and from a very young age? That they had the time to practice and a way to get there? That they had lifetimes of both implicit and explicit messages that they had real chances to excel?
Does he really think that a kid with Samoan ancestry dropped into the same community with the same advantages couldn’t grow up to be as good at hockey, or even better?
And is it really so horrible to give everyone a fair crack at the ice rink, just to make sure?
Buchanan’s breathtakingly immoral race-baiting political advice is shameful and disturbing, yes. But I think I may be just as discouraged by the real anger and fear that seems to seep out the edges. The idea that one Latina – ever – might make it on to the Supreme Court really seems to incense him.
Principled, thinking conservatives, this balderdash is beneath you. Run these racist jackholes out of your party or found a new one while you can still get the deposit on your souls back.
Hypocri-C Street
After she (I assume) showered off the bile during the commercial break, Rachel brought us back to C Street, the home to many a steamy Republican love affair.
More than we thought, in fact! Turns out former Representative Chip Pickering (R – Mississippi) may also have been C-ing more than he should have of a woman who was not his wife.
And actually on the premises of the C Street church/dorm/bunny ranch, to boot.
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Jeff Sharlet should write this thing up into a cable series. He’s sitting on a gold mine. I hope they take the same casting liberties they did with The Tudors.
John Dough
Senator Ensign (R – Nevada) is still a Senator and still a hypocrite. And still running for re-election.
It’s his financial statements that seem to be shifting around. Now his office is saying the $96,000 from his parents to his mistress and her family (Eeeeew!) was maybe not so much a terribly generous gift as severance pay. From his parents.
C Streeters, I don’t want to tell you how to run your lives, but maybe you want to work in more seminars on getting your story straight and fewer sermons on how your wife is possessed by demons if she says you aren’t flying her to the moon every time.
Moment of Geek
Speaking of flying to the moon, Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch and the who-knows-what anniversary of someone at NASA losing the tapes.
Or, if you’re one of those, the who-knows-what-anniversary of NASA hiding the tapes because you can totally see where the fake stars backdrop is wrinkly.
NBC News space consultant James Oberg dropped in to be very interesting. Enjoy!
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Robin: When the individual justices were appointed isn’t relevant.
No one was willing to even consider a non-white-male for appointment until the civil rights movement came to a head. Whether that was 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 150 or 200 years ago is irrelevant.
Great rev up to what Rachel could say on air. Other than I I I
(can’t think of how to get back at you Pat)…
That was a good show.
The FAMILY must be selling like crazy!
warren: better get out your calculator. White men are absolutely in the the MINORITY in this country. I am a white woman and I know so. Add up all other races (male and female) and add us in … as being aagainst all these CHOSEN BY GOD white men..
TA DA they are minority … not in poiwer yet, but that is coming fast.
Robin your comments floor me. White men, of which I am one are not minorities. Secondly, Pat is right about our history white men did lay the foundation for our society, however our nation thank God is as diverse as it could get and it’s about time that some of our most important positions are being filled by minorities of every ilk. Pat’s only argument about Sotomayor is simply that her career and success stems only from the fact that she was a product of affirmative action. Well yes she was but her success had to do with her capabilities. His implication simply put is IF you are a product of affirmative action you should not get the same consideration as a person who is not. Seriously what planet does he live on!
I find it interesting when listening to conservative commentators, how they speak louder and over the people they engage. Rachel is very good at giving her guests the opportunity to express their opinions. I find Pat Buchannon offensive in he can’t have a civil discussion with Rachel with out turning up the volume to drown her out since she doesn’t agree with him.
Republicans For Lord Voldemort
Just one question, why is it that when ever a white male tries to stick up for whites, he’s automaticly a racist, but when blacks whine about slavery which no one alive was a slave, they are not being racists?? Here’s one fact,, those 108 white men on the supreme court were never chosen at one time, but over 200 + years. Just becaue when at the time of a vacancy on the court, a white male was chosen, does not make it discrimination. But all this is for nothing, obama is getting what he wanted, a reverse racist on the court.
“By the way Ali…. what do you actually know about hockey and the communities that nurture it?”
The issue had nothing to do with the game of hockey or the communities that nurture it.
The issue was his belief that white guys are innately better at it because they are white. And that is truly stupid.
His argument was that in our history 108 of the 110 supreme court positions were white on the account that white men are innately better at it. The real answer is that during most of our history they were better qualified ONLY because society held minorities back. It was illegal for much of that time to even teach a black person to read.
It all boils down to opportunity. And affirmative action leveled the playing field by providing Hispanics and blacks the skating rink and skates. And over time, they too have the training and experience to match white people.
He kept saying this nominee was not qualified. How? She has more experience going into the nomination than any of the others already there had when they went in. She has a distinguished record for 17 years, distinguished enough that the Republicans could not oppose her based on it. So they latched onto the ‘wise Latina’ statement for 3 days and embarrassed themselves in the process.
Pat Buchanan is a national embarrassment. No other figure I know of, aside from Sarah Palin, has done more to damange the Republican party in the minds of moderates and independants. His ‘Nazi’ speech at the Republican convention of 1992 is often sited as one reason George Bush the first lost re-election. He did more for the gay community with that one speech than even he would ever have imagined. By the time he finished speaking, I was on my feet, fists clenched. That is the affect Pat Buchanan has had on me over the years.
But…. just like Palin, everytime he opens his mouth it benefits those on the left of the spectrum. They are clowns that only the most partisan far righters would take seriously. And now that she is likely to become a pundit, it will be pure joy to have the two of them discuss current issues of the day.. I can hardly wait.
I had to turn it off! It was so disgusting? This is what hate crime laws are all about! I thought he was going to have a heart attack he was so out of control. Please do not let this “gentleman” back on the program. I’ll be writing to MSNBC about it, too!
Bruce, I was using the fictional eight-white-guy hockey team – which, by the way, was Buchanan’s example, not Rachel’s – as a metaphor of sorts.
Buchanan was implying that black people are “naturally” better at track and white people are “naturally” better at hockey.
The implication being, given the overall conversation and Buchanan’s line of thought, that perhaps there aren’t any Latinos who “deserve” to be on the Supreme Court and maybe they shouldn’t be.
I call bull on several parts of that.
Nature doesn’t operate in a vacuum. You have to factor in nurture – or the lack thereof.
Yes, there are some individuals who are naturally talented at a given pursuit. (Individuals, mind you, not races.)
Whether or not that talent comes to full fruition, however, depends on having access to the proper equipment, time to practice, and encouragement on both large and small scales.
Can you see how smart kid who grows up in well-funded private schools with small class sizes, helicopter parents, a personal computer, and plenty of free time to study might score better on the SATs than a smarter kid in an underfunded public school with large classes, parents who work double shifts, and an afterschool job?
I am fascinated by your intimate knowledge of the hockey community across nations. Please cite your sources on the depth and breadth of player diversity and the hard numbers on who the best players are.
Ali Davis…. please take note and to heart what I said to Rachel…:)
By the way Ali…. what do you actually know about hockey and the communities that nurture it?
Those communites have diverse ethnic mixes and yet the most skilled players are white, the most skilled basketball players are black,; Ali could you explain how the predominant black talent base in basketball (or boxing for that matter) is a product of racism?
@Bruce,
Er… Rachel doesn’t write this column. The wonderful Ali Davis does. Get your facts straight.
She is doing a great job at it too!
I love Rachel. She is funny, articulate, and has a plethora of knowledge capable of debunking myths of conservative ideals.
Rachel… your convoluted self involved column once again failed to hit the mark!
Perhaps you and Pat Buchanan are more alike than you realise… only that he has had a more sucessful career.
Rachhel take a pointer from Pat…. make your point clear and concise… make your point about your point and not about some fictional character.
Rachel if you wanna write fiction then write fiction. Do NOT convolute news with fiction.
You know what Pat said about affirmative action is not altogether untrue. The question is about when it is appropriate. I don’t think Sotomayor’s appointment is discriminatory against White men in this case. Her illustrious career more than warrants appointment to the highest court. You know this when conservative Southern Republican senators are praising it.