I have no idea just what Chuck Todd and NBC were thinking:
While the country — and South Carolina, in particular — is once again debating racism in America, NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday offered a video of men in prison expressing regret for their own gun violence. All of the men in the video are black.
The segment was part of Sunday’s show, which focused on the recent killing of nine black people at a bible study group in Charleston, South Carolina. The alleged shooter, Dylann Roof, is accused of making racist statements during the rampage and in an online manifesto that describes black people as “stupid and violent.” He has been seen in photos online holding a Confederate flag and wearing the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and white-ruled Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.
“The circumstances you are about to see are very different from the racist violence in Charleston,” Meet the Press host Chuch Todd said in the introduction to the video.
“But their lessons remain important, and we simply ask you to look at this as a colorblind issue,” he said.
Are there no black people working in positions of authority at NBC? I mean, seriously. Just one black friend is all he needed to tell him how fucking tone deaf and stupid it would be to show this THIS weekend.
Richard Shindledecker
Did you expect more from Chuck Todd? You’ll never get it. He’s an idiot.
Dr. Moreau
Lester Holt?
Mary G
The segment would be objectionable even if Charleston hadn’t happened. There are no white men in jail who used a gun? I don’t think so.
Mike J
Too
scav
Perhaps the takeaway is that no white man could be found that ever regretted violence or thought it any more than his fair due? ‘zat it?
color-blind. instantly right up there with bipartisanship as empty of content.
Trentrunner
A key symptom of privilege is the luxury of assuming you don’t have any privilege.
You assume you are “neutral,” “colorblind,” “impartial.”
All those other groups have agenda.
He has really absorbed the “getting both sides = balance = analysis” horseshit.
And his notpology was even more smug and condescending, if possible. Paraphrased:
“If we’re not pissing off someone, we’re not doing our job.”
Nope, it’s entirely possible that you’re pissing someone off because your privileged framing reinforces racist tropes rather than exposing them.
gogol's wife
I can’t even watch this. This is what the expression “I can’t even” was coined for.
Mr. Twister
NBC just started the evening news with, Lone Wolf, blame the Internet, nobody knows why he did it. I kid you not.
Corner Stone
@Mike J:
Maybe Cole meant, “Black people do it to other black people” ?
Trentrunner
Todd: “Next week on MTP, in honor of remembering the Holocaust, we will interview some Jewish dude who beat up a German that one time. The German was HOSPITALIZED, you guys.”
Corner Stone
As I said a couple times in the other thread, my gob has been smacked like Hammerin’ Hank himself had rang my bell.
WTF, NBC?
Trentrunner
Todd: “Next week in commemoration of the Rape of Nanking, we interview a Chinese woman who once shoplifted from a Sony store in Tokyo. She was never caught, and never made restitution, you guys!”
pete
Todd: I am objective, you are biased, they are nuts, and don’t let the facts get in the way.
Corner Stone
Somebody should probably lose their job over this, it’s just so damn bad. Chuckles has really gone down hill these last years, I guess the cocktail weenie BBQ sauce addled his brain, but G-D.
NobodySpecial
White people never shoot anyone, didn’t you know that?
lurker dean
@Trentrunner: i was happy to see soledad o’brien, on twitter, call todd’s excuse about making people feel uncomfortable “inappropriate.” what idiot says, “you know what, i need to make the people who are against a racist mass murder feel uncomfortable or i’m not doing my job.”
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
No. SATSQ.
gbear
Later in the show a panelist said that Obama can’t be a ‘neutral observer’ in regard to race issues and Todd just let it slide by. He really does need to go away.
Chris
Are we assuming this wasn’t intentionally offensive? (I don’t know: I barely watch the news anymore and don’t always know who’s an asshole versus who’s just clueless).
Baud
This guy is making me long for the integrity of Brian Williams.
Pogonip
@Mike J: Thanks! I was just getting ready to put in a correction.
Col, thee prufreeder is yur freind.
debbie
Brian Williams would have known better.
(Late again…)
maya
I’m sure Chuckston Todd III has shared a beer or two with Al Roker in his time. What’s your problem?
mai naem mobile
I’m not an atheist. I’m kinda religious bit more in the sense of trying to live by the golden rule, or at least do no harm. I truly have a hard time believing the pastor at the Emmanuel church talking about Jesus taking care of stuff and Satan coming in. Really,why didn’t jesus stop the carnage in the first place? Why did Jesus let the shooter become nuttified? Why didn’t Jesus aim some direction from an older person towards the shooter from his family? I can’t seeyself having that kind of faith
NotMax
Long past time to change the title of the show to Stroke the Press.
ruemara
Speaking as a black woman in media who can’t even get a free gig with a network; no. And if they are there, many times it’s easier to just shut up and let them eat a dick in public.
mai naem mobile
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): not a SATSW. Their.new freaking.anchor.is.nlack for crying out loud
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Corner Stone: A whole buncha somebodies should lose their jobs over this, but I will be extremely surprised if that happens. Holy rollerskating fuck, that was awful to the extent that I can’t find words for it. And I’m professionally trained at finding words for things.
Gvg
why assume only a black person could see how stupid a mistake they were making was? most of us are white and had no trouble spotting the problem. Everyone there was clueless or malicious. Incompetent too. I really do think someone should lose their job. Assuming Todd wasn’t deliberately choosing that badly, He is also incompetent at damage control. missed the point so badly it’s likely he was totally responsible for the screw up. He can’t think.
Kay
@Chris:
It just doesn’t make sense in this context:
That isn’t what happened in Charleston at all. Not one bit of that happened.
gogol's wife
In the linked article, Todd says they had planned this segment for a long time. Oh great, that really takes care of the problem.
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Be interesting to see what Rachel has to say.
JPL
I watched the beginning of MTP, which is a novelty for me and the beginning was quite good. Clyburn said that although the law to take down the flags, is 2/3’d majority, the law to change that law is simple majority.
There is a pathway to take down the dixie swastika . When Huckabee came on, I turned it off.
p.a.
Isn’t Shuck Todd the one who admitted the media pulls its punches on conservatism so they go on the talkshows?
The Thin Black Duke
Hopefully, this televised obscenity is another nail in the coffin of Meet The Press.
Baud
@raven:
Looking forward to the 25th minute of her show.
MomSense
@Trentrunner:
I was watching it this morning and couldn’t believe this went through all the producers and writers and no one thought better of running it.
When Eugene Robinson brought up the video only showing black people, Todd said it was inadvertent. And that is the inherent bias demonstrated perfectly.
WaterGirl
@gbear: So white people can remain neutral about race, but black people can’t? Wow. Just wow.
JPL
@lurker dean: I’d watch a Sunday talk show, if she was on. She is intelligent, prepared and asks follow up questions. I happen to like Norah O’Donnell but CBS stopped using her questioning skills when the republicans got antsy. At least it appears that way.
Corner Stone
@Gvg:
I see what you’re saying, and think that may be overall true. But, IMO, the larger point there is that without any diversity no one takes a second glance at the product their boss is giving input on. No one stopped and said, WTF? And that’s the bigger deal.
It’s also a bigger deal, if I’m understanding ruemara correctly, in that even if there was a person of color, or WoC, some measured bit of diversity, those individuals may choose to not rock the boat because they look around and see everyone nodding and signing off on BS.
Corner Stone
@Baud: Rachel completely sold out the other night on the Brian Williams to MSNBC deal. I expect her to stay RTFO of this imbroglio.
Corner Stone
@JPL: I’ll take Soledad 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. I’m not a big fan of Norah O’D. She dumbed down a lot of stuff while she was at NBC/MSNBC.
Baud
@Corner Stone:
She’s always been overly supportive of the news team. She gushed over Pat Buchanan while he was on the payroll.
22over7
Well, Chuck is trending on Twitter. None of the comments are complimentary. His bosses will certainly know that they have a problem, but whether they do anything about it is, um, questionable.
NotMax
@Cortner Stone
It is entirely possible that someone or even more than one (although obviously none in a position of sufficient authority to impose a decision), raised a red flag and that position was glossed over, ignored or rejected.
JPL
@Corner Stone: When she first started at CBS there was hope but now they have Charlie Rose sitting next to her when interviewing republicans.
When she was at NBC, that might have been her job assignment.
Baud
@JPL:
I like Soledad as well.
raven
@Baud: And she seems to love that fucking horrid Nicolle Wallace.
shell
Oh yeah, that’s always a fall-back excuse when they get called on their bullshit. Ann Coulter uses that a lot ‘I’m a provocateur. I’m just trying to start a dialogue.’
beltane
The Twitter comments regarding Todd are brutal, true, and also very funny. It seems his response is just to block people.
Meg
@raven: I have no faith in Rachel in this regard. She is always raving about how great her colleagues all are, especially Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchel.
Heck, it took her years to stop inviting her racist “Uncle Pat” on the show.
Corner Stone
@NotMax: I’m sure big powerful media concerns may be a thing unto themselves, but I am reminded of the huge incident Grantland had when they did a piece on a transgender individual. Bill Simmons took all the blame and said something like if they had just had any kind of perspective on this they would have done things differently. Checked with the trans community about pronouns, had someone closer to the community proofread and give feedback, etc.
So, IMO, it’s more likely NBC/MtP shut out different voices and have a very insular worldview. And based on all viewable outcomes for MtP over the years, it would be hard to convince me they enforce a diverse workforce requirement. They are incredibly insular and glowing white in how they present issues.
Today’s segment was reprehensible in all forms of the word.
Lizzy L
@gbear: “Neutral observer” — one of those meaningless phrases which no one ever examines because it would be unkind. Rude, even.
This is why I cannot watch any of these shows. They are not news, they are not entertainment, they are pure bullshit.
Corner Stone
@Meg:
Did she stop inviting him, or did somebody higher up pull his guest spot? I can’t recall if she has ever said a word about it?
Honestly though, I almost never watch Rachel anymore and haven’t on any regular basis for many months. The other night with BriWi being mentioned was totally rando.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Mary G:
As my spouse said when I told him about the segment, they probably had a hard time finding any white dudes who thought using a gun was a bad idea. :-s
Mandalay
Todd could have done a much more interesting piece on white Republicans in politics expressing regret for their support of the Confederate flag:
Germy Shoemangler
Shaping the Post-Charleston Narrative: ‘Meet the Press’ Channels Its Inner Dylann Roof by Showing Only Black Criminals in a Segment on Gun Control Laws
Ruckus
@beltane:
Isn’t blocking people on twitter the equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in ears and shouting Lalalalalalalalalallalala until they go away?
Chuckles and the rest of the village don’t want to hear anything but their own voices and people who agree with them. It makes them worse than totally useless, it makes them dangerous.
JPL
@Mnemosyne (tablet): That’s what I wondered. I didn’t see the segment but if they showed remorse, you might be right.
Dylann Roof, I’m looking at you.
Meg
@raven: She also loves Meghan McCain. Some kind of crush it seems.
Iowa Old Lady
When I first read about Todd’s show this morning, I honestly thought the thing I read was an Onion-like joke.
BruceFromOhio
Apparently, like Urban Outfitters, they too have need for an OHELLNO man.
beltane
@Ruckus: Chuck Todd is a sycophant who will only listen to other sycophants.
Dylann Roof didn’t need the internet to hone his white supremacist ideology, he only needed to watch TV. The faux civility of people like Chuck Todd is far more dangerous than the rabble posting on Stormfront. Same message, a more polished messenger.
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Buchanan was very publicly tossed off by and excised from MSNBC, with it being made quite clear he would thenceforth be persona non grata on any program they aired.
Mandalay
@Meg:
Not forgetting the slobbering Tweety and “Mr. Rather”.
However high an opinion one may have of the talents of Maddow, or any other media figure at MSNBC, they do what they are told to do or they will be gone. They are bought and paid for. Ask Ashleigh Banfield and Phil Donahue what happens when you don’t respect your betters in MSNBC management.
Corner Stone
@NotMax: Yeah, I couldn’t remember exactly how it went down and didn’t care enough to googleschmirtz it. Thanks for the info.
Meg
@Corner Stone: She finally said something about “Uncle Pat” after MSNBC ended their contract with him after he said some super racist thing one too many times. Though I can’t remember what it was anymore.
Ruckus
@beltane:
And a larger if not as receptive audience. That’s a big if by the way. I believe that TV has been losing audience share, especially the “news” shows, like press the meat. Does that mean that those left actually like/approve this crap?
beltane
@Ruckus: From what I can tell, those who are left are old, very old, and trusting of authority, especially of news programs they have watched for decades.
Boots Day
To give Chuck Todd some credit, he’s finally figured out a way to get people under 60 to care about what’s on “Meet the Press.”
Origuy
But clips from those shows will show up on Sunday night’s news and Monday morning’s radio news. I listen to KCBS on the way to work and the network news usually has a quote from Face the Nation. Without context, it’s easy to let ideas filter in.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Even given the American media’s abysmal performance in covering the Charleston shooting, Chuckles hit a new low today.
cokane
The timing of the segment seems stupid. But statistically there aren’t that many shootings of black victims by white shooters in the US (among just civilians, excluding police here for a second). And I’m guessing the homicides that do fit this profile involve culprits that are not remorseful — as I imagine Roof to not be. That being said, I’m sure there are white shooters white victims, and there must be some cases of that, odd that they couldn’t be found or weren’t included.
WaterGirl
@cokane: Wouldn’t that be the real story then? That they weren’t able to find any white killers who were remorseful after killing black people?
cokane
@WaterGirl: I dunno. I think ppl here are being unnecessarily reactionary and grinding a political axe. I think now this story isn’t as bad as y’all’s outrage is making it seem.
I think a story highlighting the complex lives of ppl who are often overly simplified and demonized is a good thing. Seems this piece was filmed before the Charleston shooting. Why does the news have to drop everything in order to cover The Big Story 24/7 a la CNN?
Corner Stone
@cokane:
How in the world is a segment on gun violence featuring all black subjects, even set up prior to SC, a positive story presented by MtP?
Kathleen
@raven:My bet is Rachel will say nothing. She is a “team player”.I could be wrong.
cokane
@Corner Stone: It appears Todd did a shitty and unnecessary job of trying to wedge a previously reported story into The Big Story. But yes, I think a story that shows that convicted black murderers aren’t just thuggish gangsters, but men who honestly regret their mistake is positive. I’m sorry you don’t see it that way.
Kathleen
This is Chuck’s idea of being “edgy”. Besides, John McCain told him Boat Boy Luke Russert would take his job if he didn’t air the segment.
Applejinx
I would have to say ‘how many black people are really surprised?’
Maybe the new thing here is not the behavior, but that it seems so appalling. How long has this shit gone on? Long. Very long.
It’s always been stupid but it’s become very obviously stupid.
Maybe it’s that I DON’T WATCH news and mass media that I know to be straight up brainwashing and garbage? Fox ain’t the only offender. Hell, at the moment they may be under too much scrutiny, too obviously the focus, and so everybody else takes up the slack. Things have got BAD. It stinks.
Just goes to show you how hard you have to fight to keep the majority toeing the line and properly dumbed down.
And anybody familiar with media knows perfectly well this is not about illustrating redemption stories, but redefining ‘who commits horrible murders’. Namely dem black peoples, and the white kid can’t really have murdered much less been a terrorist and supported by extensive organization indirect and direct.
Corner Stone
@cokane:
It’s strange to me that you are not seeming to address what the actual problem here is. Finding people who hold the desire to repent is fine. Telling a story that gives context and depth of field on the lives of people who have committed violent acts is also great. That’s a rich story I am sure should be told again and again.
Meet the Press did a story on gun violence and violent acts with the subjects being all black males.
This doesn’t strike you as less than desirable? That a story is not being fully told?
Eric
@Mary G: No. Just none who express regret about it.
Bobby Thomson
Chuck Todd doing something stupid is really dog-bites-man stuff.
fuckwit
@Trentrunner: Ding! That’s it! Privilege:: you’re soaking in it!
gwangung
@cokane:
And I’m sorry you’re being a dick.
You didn’t listen to the REST of the car wreck? About how President Obama is not neutral on race? Which is part and parcel with the complaint being made?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@mai naem mobile:
How much editorial pull does the newest anchor have, do you think?
I’m guessing next to none.
LAC
@gwangung: Just any excuse with these sort of idiots to deflect and pretend that this can be argued away as a race neutral issue. It is soooooo important that white folks are made comfortable as soon as possible. Bless Chuckles chinless heart…
Gex
It can’t be accidental. How many people are involved in that project? How many discussions and meetings and edits and reviews did it go through?
They do this because they can do this. This is their job. Despite the fact that white men are the largest gun owning group AND violent crime has been on the decline, our police officers are terrified of unarmed black men. Why is that? Because of things like this. Because of the way the news and entertainment media consistently portray black men. This is Chuck’s job and he did it well. And to avoid taking ownership of the very obvious propagandist piece he put out there, he can just say “whoops!” Because there are always people out there who are willing to believe that bullshit.
There’s no way that even a studio full of white people could miss how problematic it is to put together a video of people convicted of gun related crimes and ONLY sample black people. NO WAY they missed this. It helps them two fold. 1) They serve their masters when they keep embedding racist dogwhistles for the right wing to utilize. 2) the controversy gets them viral for a few days. Lots of clicks and comments.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gex: I don’t think you realize how clueless whitebread WASPy types can be. Not saying that you aren’t right, but I am not discounting sheer fucking stupidity here.
Keith G
It is a shame that their chief production officer did look at that segment and say, “No not today, not unless we get diversity on the clip.”
The video itself was moving and could have been part of a very interesting look at the impact of crime on the perpetrator. Unfortunately now, that bit of film will never be used again for its intended purpose. It is toast. The film maker put a sincere effort into it and it is over.
I do not think the MTP staff used this to (politically) balance the racial ledger for this week’s news. I think that their heads were just too far up their own asses. It’s obvious they knew that the all-Black “cast” was problematic (the way Todd set it up shows that), but I think they have a “We are serious journalists” ego issue and thought that they were good enough to frame it and handle it. It was group-think by a bunch of amateurs. I heard Chuck say in an interview that he was one of the oldest persons on his staff.
That might be changing.
dogwood
What do people expect? Chuck Todd wrote an anti-Obama book, The Stranger, which came out just about the time of his getting the MTP gig. Now, he has every right to write whatever he wants; there’s a lot of money to be made in anti-Obamism. But NBC giving him MTP after his decision to do that was irresponsible. As bad as Tim Russert and David Gregory could be, they didn’t supplement their income by writing presidential hit jobs. This is the direction NBC has chosen, and I doubt they care what liberals, both white and non-white think. And while Rachel Maddow would be all over this if Fox had done it, she won’t say a word because she’s a coward. Stewart and Oliver will be on it though.
Everyone should go a read Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s essay in Time. It’s the best take on media and race you’ll read in a long time.
Bobby B.
@Kathleen: Who lives with boatloads of Exxon and AIG ads and isn’t a team player??
Keith G
BTW, this job posting of a job of a producer for Meet the Press & Weekend News was up before today.
Note what they are looking for and note what is missing.
Frankensteinbeck
@Gex:
I will echo @Omnes Omnibus here. I don’t think this was deliberate, in the sense that he thought he should specifically make a show with all black gun criminals, or that he would use it to draw attention away from the Charleston murders. As coverage of this tragedy proves once again, national journalists as a group are ‘polite’ racists. He thought a piece about killers showing remorse would be a story that would make him look wise and thoughtful and nuanced. He picked the criminals who looked right. Since he believes these are the people who made good ‘violent thug repents’ examples, that they’re all black is irrelevant. He thinks his actions were colorblind. He doesn’t see why anyone would object to putting this next to a racist mass murder story. Downplaying the racism angle by adding contrast just shows how reasonable he is, right? The racism angle is not only not important enough for him to focus on, it’s so unimportant that it didn’t occur to him that anyone else might object. Heck, most of his fellows are going ‘People like to yell about race, but isn’t the individual tragedy of the boy’s life more important than racism?’ Wouldn’t be surprised if he had conscious thoughts much like that. Black lives just don’t matter to him, or his fellows.
pseudonymous in nc
They done did a segment, and they done spent the money on that segment, so they were going to show that damn segment regardless of whether it fit, and UpChuck is not a smart man.
Because what is Meet the Press if it’s not shitting on the biggest news story of the week? Oh.
Keith G
@dogwood: Todd’s book was not Anti Obama. What it was, alas, was largely unreadable – or in my case, not listenable.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: Thanks for fleshing out my point.
jl
Maybe someone should make a documentary about ignorant lazy bigoted fools who have managed to find gigs that involve almost no work and who make piles of money. They would all just happen to be US corporate media news celebrities. Lead off with Chuck.
No intention to focus attention on them, or to make some incomprehensible obscure point about US corporate media news celebrities being morons. Just.. I dunno… it happened. We’ll ask you to just view as information on an interesting economic and social phenomenon and says nothing about corporate news media celebrities being ignorant lazy bigoted fools.
Keith G
@jl: It seems to me that good journalism is hard thing to pull off and in the early stages of that career pursuit, it is often quite thankless.
Todd is not a journalist by training or long term experience. He seems to be an exemplar of the Peter Principle. He apparently was good at compiling small bore information for The Hotline and was respected for his work.
Anyway, the journalists that I grew up knowing and respecting had been reporting since their teens, covering city halls and city morgues for local news papers, radio, or early TV. Todd probably has good people skills, but like some other national news personalities, he just is not a reporter as that word was used when I was growing up.
jl
@Keith G: I agree. that is why the word ‘reporter’ does not appear in my comment, but ‘celebrity’ does. There are many very good reporters.
reality-based
@Trentrunner:
u win the internets, tonight for this..
dogwood
@Keith G:
I agree that Todd’s book was poorly written, and I suppose it couldn’t be classified as anti Obama if you are talking about the kinds of books Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin write. But the thesis of the book was that Obama was essentially a failed president because he polarized the country, and alienated republicans by being arrogant. That was my take and pretty much the take of the NYT.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Gex:
To echo OO and Frankensteinbeck, I would say there’s a whole lot more malignant cluelessness in the mass media than most people would believe. Blind spots you could drive a frickin’ Mack truck through, and no one who is capable of pointing them out.
There was probably a thought that they would do this wonderful report to humanize prisoners that most people would write off as monsters and it would not occur to them for even a half-second how weird it was that the only prisoners they thought would need to be humanized for a general audience were Black.
AxelFoley
@Keith G:
Not surprised you’d say this.
Shakezula
Then his excuses make even less sense. One “reason” he gave is they’d done the segment before the shooting, which means they decided to shoehorn the connection to the Charleston attack in afterwards.
But really, I’m sick of calling these assholes tone deaf. Tone deaf is a gormless but otherwise well-meaning person made a mistake. This is nothing more or less than trolling African-Americans for fun and profit.
Joy
It shouldn’t even require one black friend. Normal intelligent people outside the bubble of the Beltway would automatically know this was insensitive and only drives the stereotype.
Applejinx
It’s fucked up, full stop.
IN NO WAY could they claim the victims of this racist murder spree were thugs, because they were OLD CHURCHGOERS literally slaughtered in church.
So they just have to FIND a way to show thugs and draw the parallels and do the dogwhistles, by God!
Innocent churchgoing old black people repent? Look who ALSO repents, let’s study the many things they presumably have in common!
*spit*
Fucked up beyond all recognition. And I am Caucasian and their target fucking audience. Too overt!
Amber
@Mary G: Exactly! There isn’t one white murderer in jail? Or just none in jail that regret what they did? Hard to stomach his excuse of “color blindness” when all they can see is black shooters. Charleston just put it in sharper relief and added an extra layer of slime to it all.
Amber
Also, I’m sick of the excuse of “oh, it was tone deafness”. No. It’s structural white supremacy showing it’s a** time and time again. It won’t change until people start calling it what it is.
Amber
@Keith G: No, it was not a balanced or thoughtful piece regardless of Charleston. If they wanted to “look at the impact of crime on the perpetrator” and all you can find are black perpetrators, well then, you are looking through a very narrow lens. Specifically, a lens that is shaped by structural racism if not conscious racism. As a white person, even a casual look at this, the implicit/explicit race bias jumped out like a glaring light. My fellow white people need to stop making excuses for this sort of thing and start calling a spade a spade.
JustRuss
At least Todd admitted the shooting was racially motivated. Which, of course, Fox will use to point out how liberal the MSM is.
JustRuss
@Keith G: Yeah, not even the standard diversity boilerplate. Sad.
Shantanu Saha
@Dr. Moreau: Lester Holt is black?
nastybrutishntall
Anyone who watches TV news, without being paid to do so, is a fucking idiot. You might as well shove an Olive Garden breadstick superior-posterior into your eye socket, wiggle it around and finish the job.
Shantanu Saha
Apparently, when NBC says “neutral observer,” they mean “white-skinned observer,” just as when real estate agents tell you that a house has a “neutral color palette”, they mean that all the walls are painted antique white and all the bathroom tiles are a light beige.
Keith G
@AxelFoley: But it isn’t in the way I was taught to perceive an attack piece.
There is a body of fair criticism about the job Obama has been doing and really all Todd did was recycle it. It is rather old sauce. At most it is a cliched, “Both side need to do better narrative. It’s lazy, not vindictive.
I am an Obama supporter since 2007 and worked at my precinct level to help be sure he had a strong slate of delegates going to our state convention. Yet when I point out issues with some of Obama’s decisions (some of which he identifies as problematic), you seem to take it personally.
Don’t. That is a silly way to deal with this.