Dan Rather Says Something That Sounds Kind of Racist
Dan Amira
3/8/2010
If the X in the sentence "X made a comment about President Obama selling watermelons this weekend" were a prominent person of the Republican persuasion, X would probably be in the center of a media firestorm right now. In non-hypothetical terms, X is Dan Rather, who said this over the weekend on The Chris Matthews Show:
And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. "Listen he just hasn't been, look at the health care bill. It was his number one priority. It took him forever to get it through and he had to compromise it to death." And a version of, "Listen he's a nice person, he's very articulate" this is what's been used against him, "but he couldn't sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic."
It would probably be reading too much into the statement if we assumed that, because Rather was momentarily taking on the role of a Republican, maybe he just assumed the GOP would decide to infuse their messaging with some racist undertones. More likely is that, for one reason or another, watermelons were the first thing that popped into Rather's head when he was coming up with something for Obama to sell in that little analogy of his. Maybe it's because Rather harbors some subconscious racial stereotypes, or because, in his mind, a watermelon is a good example of something that's very easy to sell, especially when state troopers are controlling traffic (?). Either way, a good rule of thumb is to just never mention Obama and watermelons in the same sentence.
6 comments:
Brit Hume address this last night on O'Reilly. His point, of course, was that had something similar been said by himself (Hume) or anyone else associated with FOX, by Limbaugh or Levin or Hannity, an earthquake would have ensued. All too true.
For the life of me, I just don't understand why Dan "Fake but Accurate" Rather matters to anyone. To answer myself, I suppose it's because if the lib media were to acknowledge his sins, they would all be guilty by association.
Lee, very succinct summary! I absolutely love watermelon and I wish it wasn't being slandered this way. VN8
Geez, I should have proofed my post...big typo in the first sentence. My dyslexia is bubbling to the surface again. Lysdexics, untie!
Lee, I love it! VN8
Got a local show on talk radio going and the question was just asked "Where is the Rev Al to demand an apology and bashisment?" The answer from the host is that Rather is of the protected class, unlike Don Imus.
Lee, I hear that! Double standards! VN8
Post a Comment