I caught a little bit of the Michael Smerconish simulcast on MSNBC, and the only thing I have to say is “BRING ME BACK MY BIGOT.”
It was terrible. He seems like a nice enough fellow (despite Media Matter’s Stalinist file on him), and he didn’t really say anything stupid, but he didn’t say anything very interesting, either.
I don’t know if he will last, but he does seem to provide that vanilla boring network appearance in which no one is ever offended and nothing controversial is ever said, so he might. Who knows?
BTW- How is that national dialogue on race coming? Other than every Democratic candidate spending last week kissing the ring of Al Sharpton (the race pimp you all told me was inconsequential- you remember him, right?), I haven’t heard much on this dialogue we were going to have.
Punchy
Russell Simmons came out against misogynistic and degrading lyrics in hip-hop. That’s a huge aspect in the debate of race and terms used to describe said race.
Jimmmm
Smerky is ugly, boring, and very narrow in the overall focus of his show (to say nothing of his ideology). If he’s gonna be on TV, why not Fox, where, with those qualifications, he’ll fit in very nicely?
Jimmmm
Punchy, John’s on a roll. Don’t distract him with specifics.
John Cole
I saw the Russell Simmons silliness, and it will accomplish nothing. It will never happen, and even if it did, people will substitute other words which will come to mean the same thing.
Jake
You said there wouldn’t be a dialogue on race, so we talked about Sanjaya instead.
Jimmmm
So what. You claimed no further dialog existed. You were wrong.
Or does everything have to happen on John Cole time?
Seriously, John, I love ya. But there’s this part of you that seems inclined to latch onto some article of faith or other, and never let go. I’m like that, too. Difference is, I don’t blog.
Slide
so Russell Simmons talking about toning down the language in hip-hop is “silliness”? hmmm… ok.
for those of you that want to make up your own mind, you can read this. A snippet:
I don’t know about you John, but I’ve been hearing a whole lot more on the subject than pre-Imus.
Punchy
John opines:
Then admits:
Shorter Cole: If I don’t like it, it doesn’t count. If I can trivalize it by calling it “silliness”, does it make a point? Why won’t those damn Negros say something more controversial, so I can dismiss it as “silliness” again??
Keith
“BTW- How is that national dialogue on race coming?”
I’ll let you know after I see how shiny they made Arnold’s car on “Pimp my Ride”.
cleek
we had out national dialog on race. it went on for like two weeks.
then the VT killings happened, and now we get to have our national dialog on guns.
Zombie Santa Claus
What did you think of Rush Limbaugh’s recent contribution to that dialogue, John?
demimondian
Perhaps you should ask Barack the Magic Negro — or, perhaps, the party who considers things like that “funny”.
Perhaps you should ask the people who’ve spent the last several years politicizing the DoJ’s Civil Rights Division?
Perhaps you should ask the party which has spent the last several years actively creating fake voting rights cases, with the intent of suppressing minority voting.
RSA
I’ve never seen or heard Smerconish, so maybe this is too obvious: Does anyone else think “James Bond villain” when they see his name?
demimondian
Sigh — I just submitted a post with a bunch of links, trying to document that a dialog on race has, in fact, started.
And that it’s partly John’s fault, since he voted for those evil Democrat politicians last November.
Andrew
Who the fuck listens to talk radio?
ConservativelyLiberal
Regarding what Russell Simmons says, get back with me in a year and let me know if it worked.
Right now, I will bet that it will fail dismally. If the record companies can make it work and still rake in the $$$, it may have a chance. But if the ‘bad words’ bring the bacon home, all we will get is more bad words. Remember, capitalists go where the money is.
The Smerc is lame to watch, give me Imus any day. I hear Steph Miller is coming to take his spot, BFD. MSNBC kissed me off from that time slot forever, it has been laid to rest like I would any good friend. I still watch KO, Tweety and Slo Joe, and that is all they will get out of me after the public execution of Imus. If his advertisers had not been driven off, you can bet that Imus would still be there today.
Opportunistic does not even begin to describe MSNBC…
jill
I live in Philly where Smerconish’s show originates and he sucks. He is your typical right-wing radio guy. He likes to talk tough and call everyone a sissy if they don’t agree with GWB. Write to msnbc if you don’t like him, and yes, he does belong on FOX.
jh
“Race” is pretty much non-existent from a genetic standpoint, so I don’t see how framing a discussion around it will help.
Now if John meant to ask “what happened to the national dialogue on people in this hemisphere who are not of European descent, focusing mainly on the understandably surly descendants of African slaves and maybe Native Americans” then he might have something.
But that’s not a fun argument is it?
Because when you look at the entire scope of US history, from Jamestown to Snoop Dogg and Imus, the people in charge don’t come out looking too good.
So people claim they want dialogue, but in reality nobody does.
Here in the good ole US of A, we tend to prefer the occassional race-based conflagration.
zmulls
Smerconish is a “nice guy” and he does give GWB a pass too often (he refuses to acknowledge that there’s anything obviously wrong with the US Attorney purge, for instance). And he does get all worked up about overly PC policies (he’s all for profiling at airports).
But he admits when he’s wrong, he’s willing to change his mind and/or be convinced of things, and listens to opposing viewpoints. He asks intelligent questions of both sides, and is able to rephrase/summarize someone’s position so that the audience at home understands it.
His audience has a lot of knuckledraggers in it (the same station here in Philly plays Hannity, Limbaugh and O’Reilly), but I listen because a lot of issues get a good airing.
The last couple of days he’s seemed more subdued — I think he was nervous sitting on TV and sitting in an unfamiliar studio.
I don’t know if he’s a good TV choice — but it’s good radio in Philly, FWIW. I listen to him on my way into work (but on the way home, I have to listen to my MP3 player or NPR, as Hannity is on….)
Captain Avatar
Michael Smerconish is a nappy headed ho.
The Other Steve
You understand that african-americans using these words in their lyrics is different, right?
Calling one another names, that are generally used by your opponents to demean you, is a way of reducing the meaning of the word and negating it’s impact on your psyche.
It’s a lot like the “Why do you hate America, John?” comments we all make here. Not the same, but it’s similar.
That being said, from what I’ve seen that language is already on it’s way out of hip-hop and rap music. The fact that Sharpton, Simmons, etc. have jumped on that bandwagon against it, means the bandwagon has already left the studio.
I still don’t understand why it’s wrong to talk to Sharpton, but it’s ok to give speeches at Bob Jones.
Jimmmm
//I still don’t understand why it’s wrong to talk to Sharpton, but it’s ok to give speeches at Bob Jones.//
Oh, SNAP!
demimondian
I love this line — but where does it come from? [/pointless meta]
Paul L.
The Tawana Brawley hoax
Freddy’s Fashion Mart
The party of Hate
Paul L.
Zombie Santa Claus: Good deflection with the democrats kissing of Al Sharpton’s ring. The “But Limbaugh” defense.
Magic Negro, another double standard from the left.
Black people can say it but white people can not.
Because during slavery and in the segregated south under Bull Conner, whites used that phrase to slur blacks.
Wait that was the n-word but we are offended by Magic Negro too. The left is all for Free speech unless it offends them.
demimondian
Hey, Paul, when you’re going to take something out of context, you need to…you know…take away the context? There’s lots of good reasons to think its wrong to talk to Sharpton. The question is “why is it bad to talk to him, but ok to speak at Bob Jones”?
neil
Smerconish is going to be replaced by Stephanie Miller.
Dreggas
couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact I blame the MSM for our chronic ADD in this country.
RSA
TOS:
Paul L.:
Easy answers to easy questions.
Here’s a thought question: If one of your family members called you an asshole, would you take offense in the same way as when someone you barely know, if at all, called you the same thing? Or would you say, “Family members can say it but strangers can not”?
Punchy
Can somebody please translate this into English? Thanks.
Buck
My sentiments exactly.
Tom in Texas
What I don’t get is that there is a very clear difference between rappers and Imus. Rappers sell a product at a store with a warning label on it. Imus is on the public airwaves. If he sold albums of his comedy than I’m pretty sure the outcry would have been a lot smaller (and equally sure that if he were fired it would be due to modest sales). But he spoke on the air — a place where rappers aren’t allowed to say these things either. Their songs are either bleeped or the lyrics are changed. Hell they aren’t even allowed to say “Let’s get retarded” — how on earth are they given some free pass that Imus wasn’t? I don’t get it.
tBone
“Why can’t I use racial slurs like Negros do?” – signed, Paul L
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
I almost feel like this is some sort of elongated haiku, or a non-rhyming, nonsensical limerick. What deeper message is Paul L. trying to convey to us with his gobbledygook-ish tirades about political correctness preventing him from insulting black people?
I think it really does seem mildly less moronic if you read it as poetry, instead of prose. Let’s all pretend Paul L. is BIRDZILLA next time. He might be easier to tolerate.
tBone
You are 100% correct on this. Let’s contact Regnery about getting a book contract for Paul. I smell a bestseller!*
(*taking into account mysterious bulk purchases)
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
By West Virginia University?
demimondian
No, by the CNMI.
Zombie Santa Claus
Fuck you very much, comrade spoof.
Yes, the Left is evil because they frown upon public expressions of racism. (Those expressions are still legal, but you’re discouraged from voicing them.)
Guess what, spoof? A person can say whatever they want about their own sister/mother/wife/other close family member. That’s called “venting,” “bitching”,” whatever. If someone else says anything about them in my presence, they risk getting their head bashed in.
Same thing happens with racial epithets. Members of the ethnic group in question can call themselves whatever they want. The tacit assumption is that they’re not being racist toward themselves. A non-member of that group can’t use those terms without, at the very least, sounding like a complete asshole. (In other words, like you, spoof.)
Don’t like it? Think that’s unfair? Next time an acquaintance says something mildly disparaging about his wife or other family member, chime in- don’t just agree with his criticism of his wife, tell him about how you also think she’s ugly and a complete bitch. See how far that gets you. As an American, you can pretty much say whatever you want, so you shouldn’t have any problems, right?
tBone
Zombie Santa’s just pissed because he wanted to eat Paul L’s brain, but someone else got there first.
Jon H
How about they give the spot to freaking Phil Donohue? He gave good ratings, the highest on MSNBC at the time when they canned him for freaking Michael Savage.
I’m sure he can do it again, and might do even better in daytime.
demimondian
PoTD
ConservativelyLiberal
Phil Donohue is about as exciting as watching mold grow. He should have retired in the 80’s…
As I already said, I can care less who takes the place of Imus, because nobody can ever replace Imus. Rappers may sell a product, but you turn on a radio and there they are. Same as it was with Imus. You could get both on the airwaves, and that says it all for those who choose to ignore that fact.