Discussion:

Discussion for article #230402

The American Id on display…

I have been a C-SPAN junkie for years, Washington Journal is on my bedroom TV every morning. Republicans who call in are almost always angry, outraged, and aggressive, and ready to take on issues with FOX-News talking points. It just keeps getting worse and worse.
Brian Lamb needs to come out of retirement and deal with this, it is becoming unwatchable.
Oh, and Steve Scully? Everytime he’s on, he’ll dig up items from NewsMax, Daily Caller, Weekly Standard, and National Review. You can rely on him taking up that day’s anti-Obama anti-Democrat smear or talking point like clockwork.
Right-wing garbage is taking over everything.

I think it is very important to let racists vent. Someone who is an openly racist, ignorant and hateful conservative is less dangerous than the smoothtalkng, slick greasy haired Mitch McConnell/Kris Koback/Mitt Romney/Trent Lott-like bigot conservatives who are snakes in the grass.

Providing a forum for ranting is not a bad thing. It helps track racist people and buys a measure of peace.

I can see why Republicans are so offended at being called racists.

I don’t think we saw this much before the election of President Barack Obama. The racists have now crawled out from under their rocks. Their white superiority has been threatened…twice. God help the racists in America. GD the right wing media for purposefully tearing the country apart.

And remember, they are never, ever racists.

I think that every time some kook runs a rant like that, they should flash his phone number across the bottom of the screen.

You know during the President’s first term it was discovered that Karl Rove was financing, along with others from the corporate movement, the tea party, a group of people who would do the following: First, they hired paid “internet operatives” as Rove called them. Their task was to go to ANY site which was sympathetic to the President and “pose as an individual who voted for the President, but was now highly disillusioned.” Never mind that these posts would appear only two months after the President was sworn in, and that his actions had been an extension of TARP, passed by Bush, and some other centrist policies.

Then, imagine my surprise when I was listening to Thom Hartmann one day only for him to experience something similar: The individual found a way through the vetting of the call, only to act as though they once again, were this greatly disillusioned Democrat.

My point? Nowadays one cannot trust what is or what is not truly posted or called into any progressive site or show. However, the responses by these hosts IS appropriate. ANYONE comfortable with using the N word, or arguing Whites are the ones being oppressed obviously do not understand that period of history whereby people of color had to work for free. If they didn’t they were beaten. Of course, the iron-clad answer is how blacks ought to be glad that Whites did away with the peculiar institution, but have they really?

Our nation seems to be going through the third attempt at reconstruction. After Lincoln was assassinated, it is true blacks were elected into office, even establishing a precedent, only for Johnson to come behind along with state legislatures doing away with those rights for blacks to run for office. Take a look at Congress now: We are going through yet another well-financed effort to undo the work accomplished.

Leave that to Anonymous.

It’s worth remembering that in the early days, before Reagan demolished the Fairness Doctrine and the Equal Time Provisions of the Federal Communications Act, C-SPAN was presented by politicians, lobbyists and other media regulars as just one of the ways the business community would step into the public and community service voids created by the then proposed deregulation of community service licensing requirements for station owners. The thinking then didn’t envision how deregulation and a downsized ownership community would neuter normal public affairs/news programming.
Can anyone name all the local and national public affairs channels created by the private sector following the deregulation by Reagan and Clinton?

I can dig it.

All the Ferguson -related issues have driven home how many people here in St. Louis are racist… while saying they’re not racist.

“Harleston responded only by saying that the woman’s call was off-topic.”

I have to slow-clap for anyone who can keep their composure like that in the face of this kind of shit. Had it been me, I’d probably have lost my job haha

For better or worse, that is the strength of this format. The racists are always accusing others of censoring them, and often they’re right. Much racism and sexism is censored in the America media, which helps create the false perception (that RWs play up) that racism and sexism don’t exist anymore. Let the freaks flaunt their bigotry, and let everyone else see how ugly and awful it is. These people do more through self-expression to damn themselves than any of us will ever be able to.

Since C-Span caters to discredited right wing “think tanks” and publications like AEI and The Washington (Moonie) Times what do they expect?

Teabaggers snort with what they hope looks like derision and pray we can’t see their barely-controlled rage when they get called on their racist behavior. They think ‘free speech’ means they can shout ‘ni(CLANG!)’’ in a black neighborhood and not get the shit kicked out of them by several pissed-off residents; which to them means ‘The Government.’.

I find that if you listen carefully to these callers, a significant number are actually progressives/liberals/whatever you want to call them, trying to pretend they are conservative racist bigots. Projection in action.

That said, there are some true loons on the right as well. The aluminum foil in the hat crowd are found on all sides. I’m sure there are libertarians who have been abducted by aliens our there.

I have noticed that anyone on the right that disagrees with a left position is often described as a hater. I can be convinced you are a blithering idiot, but still like you. Sorry if that bothers you.

I am weary of hearing people resort to the talking points fed to them by their trusted fair and balanced sources of entertainment. I kept thinking this morning that it is apparent that some callers were busy watching > “Mountain Monsters” last night and didn’t watch President Obama. They were relying on minimal cognitive effort as passive conduits for entertainers who rely on ignorance to sell their lighter fluid, sparks included. However, if the commenters DID listen to the President, they are obviously the ones who don’t understand English. President Obama could not have been more clear to anyone over the age of 10.

The apoplectic hysteria of the callers is remarkable.