I’ve had company all day and haven’t been able to blog, but let me just say this quick so that we have it on the record- the fact that I had to watch Melissa Harris-Perry, one of the most fundamentally decent human beings to grace my television, break down and cry because of what someone else said about Mitt Romney’s kid, makes me want to fucking puke. Sure, the comment was offensive, but she didn’t make it, and sometimes people say shit on live tv.
But let’s compare what some jackass said on tv to what Romney and Ryan wanted to do to America and what their policies would have done to African-American children not lucky enough to be adopted by a quarter-billionaire white guy. Or what the party Romney belongs to has done to make sure young Miss Romney has a helluva time voting. And so on.
And that doesn’t even get into the repellant shit that Republicans say on a daily basis. When has Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or Ron Fournier or Krauthammer or Will or Malkin or Novak or any of the rest of those douchebags and the thousands of others I could list ever apologized? Pat fucking Buchanan made a living for two decades spewing racist and anti-Semitic bullshit on tv, was paid handsomely, and no one ever fucking flinched.
Stop being such damned pushovers, liberals.
Cermet
But the term liberal includes anyone with a soul – thugs, on the other hand, have sold theirs so they don’t ever need to care.
Alison
Love you, JC.
I almost teared up myself when she did, and I cannot believe fuckers are actually saying she should be fired. I mean…come the fuck ON. Like you said, *she* didn’t even say the dumb comment, it wasn’t that fucking bad anyway, and besides…no one does what she does. Her show is so important because she gives a voice to people who are consistently ignored and silenced and demeaned.
But ah, there’s the rub. That’s why they want her gone. I swear, if MSNBC were to actually do that I would get my frail, phobic ass on a plane to NY and storm their offices with pitchforks and torches.
Yatsuno
Ranty Cole is best Cole. I don’t even understand what the whole mishegas was about in the first place. All I know is they’d better not fire her. Otherwise MSNBC is dead as far as I’m concerned.
Villago Delenda Est
Right on, John.
Right fucking on.
Fuck Rmoney. Fuck the wingtard filth.
Nemo_N
B-but we must be civil to take the moral high ground! W-we won’t be taken seriously if we don’t apologize constantly! P-please, not in the face!
Now seriously, fuck that bullshit.
Bonnie
Still, the fact that she did offer such a heartfelt apology demonstrates to the right what a real caring human being does when mistakes are made. She deserves a pat on the back and a thank you for such a gracious display of good manners.
Yatsuno
@Bonnie: The wingnuts want another scalp here. They’d better not get it. MHP is way too fucking good to be taken off the air.
Betty Cracker
I’m surprised the story has gotten the traction it has. Yeah, it’s a not a good idea to bring political figures’ apolitical, minor children into a political discussion, but no one said anything negative about the child, did they?
The comment about Kanye West as a possible future in-law is a slam on West, who is famously a jackass, not the kid. The trumped up wingnut “outrage” is all about silencing an effective voice on the left. I hope MSNBC doesn’t give the motherfuckers the satisfaction.
Bonnie
I know, Yatsuno. My point is that the gracious and well-mannered apology negates any need to take her off the air. I just hope MSNBC management can recognize that.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Bonnie:
@Yatsuno:
Where most people see sympathy and empathy, Republicans and conservatives see weakness.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: Absolutely agree. The “joke”, which wasn’t really funny anyway, was about Kanye and all his relationships, not the kid. The comment WAS inappropriate, though, but hardly merits such blather.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Betty Cracker:
It’s gotten the traction it has because of the same old way everything involving politics is wired these days: both sides, same thing, except Dems are always, always worse.
MHP is their Duck Dynasty guy, except totally worse in every conceivable way to them. And like I say all the goddamn time, conservatives have to suffer death by a thousand cuts before anything wrong about them seeps through the public consciousness. Anyone tangentally liberal fucks up, it’s immediately proof positive that they as well as all liberals and dems are the most evil sadistic monsters in the history of ever.
This whole thing is about painting MHP and all lefties as the true, ungodly horrific racists and deserve to rot. And it’s working because of how the right wing outrage machine always works.
smedley the uncertain
If she is fired, I think the revenue stream of MSNBC should be closely scrutinized. How much money flows to MSNBC directly or more likely covertly from Koch brothers or their ilk. There’s pressure coming from somewhere for MSNBC to be reacting to this kerfuffle.
MattR
@Betty Cracker: I thought the “one of these things is not like the other” bit was the most offensive because of the message it sends to mixed race families, but even that was not so bad when the context of it being a Mormon, Republican political family is taken into account (where frankly it is surprising to see a non-white face in a family photo)
Hal
I was commenting on this over at Jezebel earlier today. Most people seemed to be in complete agreement. I have no problem with her apologizing, but damn, how many times and how many ways does she have to do it? My issue is that when someone considered Liberal makes a faux pas they are expected to excoriate themselves publicly and beg for forgiveness. Conservatives defend each other to the hilt and criticize any others with their bull about the 1st amendment, or hide behind some bible passage.
What truly amazes me are the accusations from the right. People who never heard a dog whistle they didn’t do a dance to are horrified at MHP’s racism, because as we all know, the real racists are liberals and other people who talk honestly about race in America. It just pisses me off that someone like MHP is forced to grovel on air; especially for Mitt Romney, a guy who defended his association with a racist like Donald Trump by simply saying “hey, I don’t agree with everything my supporters say.” I wonder if he’ll allow his grandchild’s intelligence and college grades to be questioned 47 years from now.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
It’s not just about that. There’s a secondary purpose, which is to muddy the waters about what is an isn’t permissible. If we defend whomever they target for their latest batch of outrage, it feeds the “both sides do it” narrative. The essential point is that no matter what we do, the wingnuts will find something to be outraged about. As long as that’s true, we should ignore the predictable wingnut responses and do what’s right.
BillinGlendaleCA
@MattR:
There’s Jon Huntsman with I believe 2 adopted Chinese daughters and though non-Mormon, John McCain with a daughter from Bangladesh.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Bonnie: I hope she is able to stay on the air, however MSNBC’s recent history in that area is not in her favor. See Bashir, Martin.
ralphb
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
The right wing outrage machine works best when it’s fed by liberal apologies and the inevitable clueless progressives who join the pile on. Don’t apologize, just ignore the asshats and they might eventually get tired of yelling at themselves.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Roger Moore:
Wingnuts will complain, and it’s pointless to try and stop them in that sense. But it’s important to point this shit out time and time again to try and fix the infuriating problem of people treating the bigoted crazy that eminates from conservatives as no big deal and essentially ‘boys will be boys’ while simultaneously demanding goddamned near perfection from Dems and LIberals or else they prove what subhuman monsters they truly are.
MattR
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, there are definitely exceptions. But if you were to show people pictures of the de Blasio family and the Santorum family, the vast majority of people on both sides of the aisle would correctly identify the political affiliation of each patriarch. Having said that (and even if it was nowhere near as offensive as some of the stuff said about Chelsea Clinton or other children of Democratic politicians), it was still a joke that didn’t need to be made.
Betty Cracker
Okay, I just watched MHP’s apology, and she was about as sincere and gracious as it is humanly possible to be. Mittens is expected to weigh in on Faux tomorrow. If he doesn’t acknowledge her apology and ask people to move the fuck on, he’s a heartless prick.
MattR
@Betty Cracker: I’m gonna have to go with “heartless prick” regardless of what he says tomorrow.
Hal
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Is she in any real danger of being fired? For all the attention this has gotten, it doesn’t seem to me to be so huge as to get MHP fired at all. Hell, until that apology yesterday I thought the controversy was over already.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
It’s already well established that he’s a heartless prick, and I don’t see anything he might say tomorrow swaying my opinion on that point.
Alison
@BillinGlendaleCA: The thing is, Bashir made the comment himself, and what he said was really disgusting and inappropriate. The two situations are hardly comparable, IMO.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Alison: This is true, Martin also apologized in his next(and last) broadcast.
Villago Delenda Est
@MattR:
Agreed.
Rmoney is shit. His wife is shit. His sons are all shit. Fuck every last one of them.
JoyfulA
@Alison: Go to Philly instead. Comcast owns NBC, having bought out GE’s share.
trizzlor
The “one of these things is not like the other” was outright racist garbage, if someone on Fox’s The Five had done it this place would’ve rightfully called for their heads. Not being racist isn’t some kind of idealist Broder high-road, it’s WHAT WE’RE SUPPOSED TO DO. I’m glad MHP apologized, and that her apology was sincere. The fact that Limbaugh or Buchanan exist does not magically make those racist comments acceptable.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
Having a guest joke about black baby being the odd one out in photo of white goober family = grounds for resignation
Actually saying gayness leads to bestiality and hell, and that blacks were happy and godly before they got their freedom = freedom of speech and a bigger paycheck next year.
Got it, thanks.
Stella B
Not to forget that MHP’s white mother was raised Mormon.
Hal
@trizzlor: Oh nonsense. It was an off hand remark, a bad joke meant to be funny and aimed at an all white, “all american” Mormon family with that one black adopted child. This bullshit about how racist Perry or her guests are typically comes from conservative whites desperate to label any black folks who aren’t lock step with the conservative agenda; not that I’m saying that’s you. How the hell is a biracial woman who speaks regularly on race issues a racist?
Draylon Hogg
At the end of the day if you won’t have a cup of coffee or tea because of the ravings of a 19th century charlatan who didn’t practice what he preached then you don’t deserve any fucking respect anyway.
Xboxershorts
And for fuck’s sake, Kieran is Gaelic for Dark One…Romney himself wrote this damn joke
Waspuppet
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: precisely. Add Phil Robertson to the list of racist conservatives who have never apologized for a thing. Does anyone even seem to realize that he hasn’t apologized?
Hal
@Waspuppet:
He’s quoting the bible duh! Yeezus roolz!!!
geg6
@Xboxershorts:
Exactly. That’s what has driven me nuts about the whole thing. Nobody is noticing that this kid has been given a name that, in some contexts, could be considered racist (and I’m guessing the name choice was no coincidence). No one mentions it.
I love MHP. She’s a class act. But I wouldn’t have apologized. Fuck Mitt Romney, fuck his wife and kids and fuck anyone who has anything to do with any of them.
Gindy51
@Villago Delenda Est: Yep, so nice to name your African American baby “black” in Celtic. Just as bad as Palin naming “her” son after his DS condition.
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Kiernan
Groucho48
When the right is caught in a faux pas or blunder, they double down. As liberals on the side of righteousness, we shouldn’t double down when we mis-speak, but, we need to take a leaf from our opponents. Apologizing is like blood in water full of sharks. We don’t apologize, we bounce things back on them. I find posting a picture of an emo kid in any whiny right wing thread tends to distract their attack points. Which is, as the right understands and the left usually doesn’t, the whole point of the political blogosphere…
mai naem
First, MHP is good at her job but I just don’t enjoy her style personally. I usually catch part of the show on the weekends because she’s on after Kornacki who I think is awesome: and I DVR it. Anyhow, when the kerfuffle came up I watched the clip online and I watched the DVR’d show because I thought there must be more to it. I must be the only one who didn’t think she said anything awful. I don’t get the big thing about Kieran marrying Kanye’s kid joke. I can see that as an SNL skit. And, jeezus, for all the racial crap that’s been said about Obama – seriously, the RW needs to STFU.
I didn’t know the Kieran meaning till I read Atrios’ tweet. Are these fuckers serious? You’re going to call your only black grandchild “blacky”? Really? OMG. The fcuking Romneys are tone deaf.
Chyron HR
Well I for one think Ms. Harris-Perry should be fired for saying something as outrageously offensive as, “The negroes are not equal with other races (…) but this inequality is not of man’s origin. It is the Lord’s doing.”
Oh, wait… it has just come to my attention that this was actually the official doctrine of the Mormon church, as espoused by Bishop Mitt Romney during his missionary days. My mistake!
rikyrah
The crying was complete bullshyt. She didn’t even bring up the real problem. There are some White people that have no business with Black children. And heading that group is someone from a religion that IN MY LIFETIME , they didn’t see my Black behind as HUMAN. Seriously, a Black child should be put into that situation? They’ve literally named the child “THE BLACK ONE”
Betty Cracker
@trizzlor:
It was arguably insensitive, hurtful and in poor taste in the context of an interracial adoption, but it’s not “racist.” No one said or implied that one race is superior to another.
Cacti
Still waiting for Phil Robertson’s first apology for saying black people were happier under Jim Crow.
Chris
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
I think this is what’s really my beef with the “both sides do it” meme. Not that the many, many ways in which that idea itself is absurd, but the fact that no one fucking believes it. “Both sides do it” is the last line of defense for when Republicans have gotten caught doing something unspeakable. No one ever breaks it out when a liberal does something questionable (I say “questionable” because most of the time it’s just utter taken-out-of-context bullshit). Then it’s just proof that liberals are dangerous and evil.
Chris
@MattR:
This. The opportunity for Mitt Romney to demonstrate that he was anything but a massive piece of shit passed long ago.
Betty Cracker
UPDATE: Romney’s remarks today on Fox:
Romney is an ass, but I give him credit for accepting MHP’s apology and saying it’s time to move on. That’s a sharp contrast to how someone like Palin handles this sort of thing.
Angelia
“Stop being such damned pushovers, liberals.”
Thank you for that.
J.D. Rhoades
@Roger Moore:
If we defend whomever they target for their latest batch of outrage, it feeds the “both sides do it” narrative.
And give the wingnuts their favorite cover: “we can say any racist thing we like because some guest on MHP’s show made a stupid joke. But the joke still means she should be fired.” It’s the same thing as “it’s okay that someone made a ‘Lynch Obama’ Facebook page because someone once put up a video comparing Bush to Hitler. But comparing Bush to Hitler is still an outrage.”
SFAW
@Xboxershorts:
I thought you were snarking/joking, until Teh Google told me you weren’t. Fucking dicks.
Reminded me of W (or maybe it was H.W.) talking about one of the nephew’s/grandson’s as “the little brown ones.”
@trizzlor:
Oh, don’t worry, The Boston Glob has you covered. Apparently MHP and Pia Glenn are just like Ann Coulter, et al. Based on Globe’s idiotic mini-editorial, my attitude changed from “Glad MHP apologized, now move on” to “I wish MHP had told them to GTFU, and deal with it.” (Of course, MSNBCTMF would probably fire her if she did that.)
SFAW
@J.D. Rhoades:
Not saying your point is wrong or invalid, but the delicate flowers of the right wing will still do that. Hell, they do it now, using debunked stories all the time as the excuse for their fauxtrage – why would this change things?
Citizen_X
Jon Stewart rightly gets shit for his “both sides” instincts. But: he does have enough sense to occasionally break out a chorus of Go Fuck Yourself.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
What’s Palin done in situations like this? (I’m already forgetting everything about this non-person…)
Plantsmantx
@Suzanne:
The joke wasn’t about “Kanye and all his relationships”. If was about the presumed divergent personalities of Romney and West. If it wasn’t funny, it’s because both of those guys have sticks up their asses.
Robert
The right hates MHP because she clearly points out problems with social justice in the United States with informed guests from all walks of life. I still go back and watch the segments from the episode where she spent 40 minutes discussing the food oasis crisis in America. That was from the 3rd or 4th week of the show. It’s brilliant journalism.
She’ll gladly have republicans and democrats on the same panel and manage to host a civil discussion with no fights or animosity. Her call out against idiotic people in the news is a satirical letter rather than a dogpile on an idiot. There have been times where she is clearly uncomfortable with the right wing talking points coming from an aggressive representative who refuses to not speak over other people and she handles it by actually moderating a discussion.
It drives them nuts that she’s smarter than them and still seems like one of the kindest, most relatable people working in news media. She uses big words without alienating her audience or coming off as a know it all. She can adjust her questions on the fly to bring a high school student into the same political discussion as multi-term senators and multiple PhD holders without pandering to anyone. The right wing has been trying to get her kicked off the air since the first episode of The Melissa Harris-Perry Show. Look at any comments section on a news site where they discuss The MHP Show. Dozens of almost identical comments calling her a racist and worst for daring to talk about poverty, education, and policy on her show.
Plantsmantx
@rikyrah:
Yes, the crying was complete bullshyt.
We’ll see if they love “the Dark One” as much as they love themselves for adopting him.
Plantsmantx
@trizzlor:
“Doing this” in even more egregious ways is the entire premise of The Five.
Garbo
Contrast this with. Natasha Legarro’s non-apology response to a hissy fit over a denture joke:
That’s how you tell these poo-flinders to STFU.
Mandalay
@MattR:
This. Why even go there in the first place?
But the incident says more about the worthlessness of the general level of punditry on TV than anything else. It’s ironic that this happened to MHP. She is way better than most political commentators, but the general form of these shows – digging at the opposition is the priority – guarantees that incidents like this will keep happening.
Narcissus
Every now and then it looks like liberals might be getting up from the defensive crouch so the conservatives and the media have to beat them back into their place.
Plantsmantx
Many of the people who are claiming that it was “racist” to even point out that the kid is black are the same damn ones who were pointing out that Phil Robertson has an adopted black grandson, and holding it up as “proof” that he’s not a racist.
Trentrunner
When Martin Bashir said someone needed to take giant shit in Sarah Palin’s mouth, I thought it was a heartfelt, genuine plan for improving what comes out of her mouth, at least for a few seconds.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti:
I’m afraid the wait will be a very long one.
PhoenixRising
@rikyrah:
You can say that again. I did a blog post offering some actually funny jokes about that topic, which as a member of the affected group (white adoptive parents) I found amusing because they mock the thing that needs to be mocked.
TAPX486
While I don’t think liberals should be apologizing for the fact that it can snow in the winter, I do think we can set a better example that Duck dynasty and Limpdick.
Citizen_X
@Garbo: Sort-of on topic, Wonkette covers that (and I loved Leggero’s joke, and response), and contrasts with douchebags at America the next Generation putting up an image of Obama being hanged, and then posting a notpology.
The result? They, uh, got goated. Seriously. It’s goats all the way down now. Is there “CHILL THE FUCK OUT. I GOAT THIS.”? Oh yes. And everything else.
I had no idea there were so many goat memes.
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker: Are racism and race supremacy synonymous?
Jay
From where I sit, Dr. Harris-Perry took something called “Command Responsibility.”
I’m certain our host, a veteran of the military, knows what this is.
To my ears, Dr. Harris-Perry was not the biggest offender in the segment. Pia Glenn was. It’s not like Dr. Harris-Perry wrote Ms. Glenn’s “one of these things is not like the other” joke, yet in a show of Command Responsibility, she carried herself as though she did. That, I think, is the big thing that’s being overlooked here: the gutsy leadership of the good professor.
The other thing that’s being overlooked is the privileged position of her three panelists: Jamie Kilstein (who’s rightly taken heat for some of his sheltered hipster criticism of the President) and Dean Obeidallah are PROFESSIONAL COMEDIANS who can get away with saying things that couldn’t possibly be said on an issues show like MHP’s, and Pia Glenn, a Hollywood actress, is not without access to that world. It seems only Ms. Glenn has stepped up to take some of the heat for someone willing to invite her on TV; how telling that the other two “bros” really haven’t. Given all this, I don’t think those three will appear on MHP’s show again, nor should they.
Finally, I agree with some commenters on this thread that Mitt Romney has-to be more charitable than he would-been tone-deaf in the handling of his new grandchild, given that he marked the kid’s first brush with the general public in a Tweet from the official Mitt with the words: “Officially adopted.” By contrast: another grandkid, BORN to a Romney, got the words “royally blessed” from Mitt.
But I think Jon Huntsman really is the anti-Mitt here. This is someone who’s been pictured only proudly with his own multiracial family and who, while identifying as Mormon, has said he gets “satisfaction from a variety of religions.”
To sum up: what Mitt proves is that Mormonism still has real work to do on race. What Huntsman proves is that it isn’t standing in place.
Cervantes
@mai naem:
Do we know who named the child?
TriassicSands
I just watched the Fox clip with Chris Wallace desperately trying to get Romney to spew a bunch of hateful bile aimed at MSNBC and Harris-Perry. Romney, to his credit, refused to take the bait, and accepted Harris-Perry’s apology.
Wallace is a real piece of work (or is it POS?).
Betty Cracker
@Cervantes: Yes. Assuming superiority / inferiority based on the bogus construct we call “race” is the very definition of the word, I believe.
Betty Cracker
@Cervantes: No clue here, but I think it’s a stretch to assume the Romneys know the name means “black.” It’s a fairly common name. I’ve known several kids with that name (all white kids) and had no clue what it meant.
PhoenixRising
@Cervantes: Who named the child? Most likely his new parents, and as I mentioned at my blog, most likely this was a name they had chosen for their son without knowing that their son would be a) adopted and b) Black.
My wife & I had planned to name our kid Fiona [Her ethnic Irish last name]. Once we figured out that our kid was going to look anything but Irish, as we were in the midst of adopting a child of color–we went back to the drawing board. Because a name that is Gaelic for ‘white’ seemed like a bad joke.
Also, adults of color adopted by white ethnic families had explained to us that names that evoke a certain image [Ivan Voikovich, Nikola Economides] of a particular kind of whiteness can become a burden as an adult who is just trying to write a damn check. Or not be the object of constant speculation–that name on a black kid means that ‘I was raised by white people’ is going to be fairly obvious.
My cousin, who birthed her racially mixed child (he looks a lot like Kieran Romney), re-thought the family ethnic name for first-born sons and went with a name that allows him to code-switch. And we’d have to ask Marcus, now that he’s 17 and succeeding at the rigorous Catholic boys’ school that all his [white] elders attended, how he feels about that, but I suspect that a name that lets him choose who to inform about his mixed-race family is a blessing.
Bottom line, I sincerely hope that Ben and Ofben didn’t think any of this through a damn bit, which is a symptom of a larger problem in trans-racial adoptions: they’re planning to raise Kieran as if he were the child born to them that he isn’t.
Betty Cracker
@Chris: Screech about her own victimization at every opportunity. Forever .
Jewish Steel
Nicely put, John.
Heliopause
But like a grown-up she took responsibility for it. Unlike you or the brigade of middle schoolers in your comment section, who apparently now consider MHP a “pushover” and unworthy of your enlightened tribe.
Very childish post, John. We get a rare display of integrity from a member of our intellectual/political class and you vomit all over it.
kyle
How do you know? Have you met her? Remember, “fundamentally decent” is not a synonym for “says things I agree with on TV.”
And if she didn’t do anything so wrong, why was she crying? Maybe it was an act. Yeah, that’s fundamentally decent.
The best part is watching commenters wax each other wroth because of the grandkid’s name. Clutching at straws.
gorram
@BillinGlendaleCA:
1. This is absolutely one of those instances where it’s different if you’re Black, as opposed to a non-Black person of color. Brigham Young said specifically “The Lord had cursed Cain’s seed with blackness and prohibited them the Priesthood.”
2. So it seems important to note that Huntsman adopted one of his daughters from China and the other from India, overlooking the parentless children in the US itself (a disproportionate amount of whom are Black children that no one adopts out of the foster care system), seemingly to make a point that’s frankly inseparable from the long history of Christian and White efforts to control those two countries and Asia generally.
3. John McCain isn’t Mormon?
Plantsmantx
Predictably, (even) some liberals are hailing Romney as being “gracious”. You know what would have been truly gracious on his part?
“Invite me on when you have another reason for doing so, and something else to talk about. I don’t want to exploit the situation in any way”.
Bill Murray
@gorram: 3. John McCain isn’t Mormon?
McCain was raised Episcopalian but attended, and may still attend, a Baptist church, although he does not claim to be a member of any specific church
Thymezone
@kyle:
How do I know? Been watching her for years, before anybody ever knew who she was. I am a pretty good judge of people.
That’s why I know that you are a either spooftroll or a complete asshole. It ain’t rocket science. There is nothing new under the sun at Balloon-Juice.
gorram
@Bill Murray: Right, that’s what I thought. I don’t understand why he was being compared to the Romneys when it came to anti-Black sentiment among Mormons specifically… he doesn’t have a Black child, he’s not Mormon, literally what’s the motivation? To find a way of pretending that there aren’t racist White people who sometimes adopt children of color?
RosiesDad
@kyle: I’ll second what Thymezone said. I’ve watched MHP for years on MSNBC and she is as fundamentally reasonable and humane as anyone who has ever appeared on a cable news channel.
I also saw the segment in question and didn’t think any of it was that big a deal. The only reason it is being made a big deal is that the Concern Trolls are making a stink about it. Sarah Palin is more offensive every time she opens her yap and draws a breath. And as JC stated, there are too many others to list.
So, in the immortal words of Sergeant Hulka, I’ll end with this. Lighten up, Francis.
RosiesDad
And not for nothing (and apologies if it was already mentioned) but Melissa Harris-Perry is the child of a biracial couple who raised her in the Mormon Church.
Patricia Kayden
@Alison: I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, fired her despite her sincere apology given what happened to Martin Bashir. We’ll see.
mai naem
@Cervantes: I am assuming the parents named the kid. The Romneys are a large family. Even if the parents didn’t look the meaning of the name(which I highly doubt), I just plain don’t believe that neither Mitt, nor Ann and he other four kids and spouses didn’t look up the meaning and think it may at least be looked at as inappropriate. Whether they like it or not, they’re a somewhat public family and, yes, if there’s a reasonable possibility that some people are going to think the name is inappropriate, you pick another name. Stick Kieran as a middle name if you want it that bad. Picking a different name is not a tough chore.
Jado
Of course she should be fired – just like the innocent people at ACORN, or Shirley Sherrod, or really anyone who is not a fire-breathing Conservative Fundamentalist REAL MURRICAN!!!!111!!!
Projection.It’s always projection