Take that, Keith Olbermann!
By now, you may have seen or heard MSNBC commentator Keith Olberman casting aspersions on the Tea Party movement. His comments on the 2/15 edition of the barely-watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann painted us as either flagrantly or incipiently racist because of the lack of black faces at Tea Party events.
From the transcript:
I’m now taking a lot of heat for emphasizing a particular phrase which originated at a freerepublic.com rally a year ago this month, originated with a Tea Partier. And I know phrases like “Tea Klux Klan” are incendiary, and I know I use them in part because I am angry that at so late a date, we still have to back back that racial uneasiness which has to envelop us all. And I know if I could only listen to Lincoln on this of all days about the better angels of our nature, I’d know that what we’re seeing at the Tea Parties is, at its base, people who are afraid – terribly, painfully, cripplingly, blindingly afraid.
Do you suppose they agree with you that they’ve just chosen to attend their own separate meetings, that they’re not at your Tea Party because they have a Tea Party of their own to go to? Are you thinking like my father did about Satchell Paige and the Black Yankees tht they want this? My father had an excuse for that: He was 12 years old; it was 1941. Are you of the Tea Party 12 years old? For you, is it 1941?
But let me ask all of you who attend these things: How many black faces do you see at these events? How many Hispanics, Asians, gays? Where are these people? Surely, there must be blacks who think they’re being bled by taxation. Surely there must be Hispanics who think the government should have let the auto industry fail. Surely there must be people of all colors and creeds who believe in cultural literacy tests and speaking English. Where are they? Where are they?
These remarks led Randy Haddock, a blogger living in Brooklyn, to create and post this video response.
Olbermann insults not only the hundreds of thousands of good American citizens who attend Tea Party events, but also black Americans in general by presuming that they couldn’t – or wouldn’t – be willing to stand with their fellow citizens against a too large and growing government that endangers our liberty.
To all Roanoke-area citizens without regard to race, color or national origin: You are all invited to be a part of The Roanoke Tea Party! Please attend one of our meetings to see if you would like to stand with us as well.
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3 Responses to “Take that, Keith Olbermann!”
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“How many back faces do you see at Tea Party meetings?” More then you see hosting shows at Keith Olberman’s network. MSNBC has the most lilly white cast of characters hosting their shows ever. Not that anyone would notice since there are like 34 people that watch them anyway.
Yeah, Olbermann is right. Do you see ANY black people in the tea party protests?
Two questions, Mitch…
1. Do you attend many Tea Party events?
2. Why do you care about the racial mix of these events?