ABC "Reporter" Cokie Roberts: A Lot of the Tea Party's Opposition to Obama Is Just Racism

Via MSNBC. Ms. Roberts suggested that Hillary Clinton would be a more palatable candidate to the Tea Party than Obama, because she's White.

“Some of this Tea Party anger is racist. And that having a non-black person on the ticket will diffuse it to some degree,” Roberts said Wednesday on Morning Joe.

Yes, Ms. Roberts. That is precisely why some people (including myself) attempted to whip up conservative voters to cast a vote for Hillary over Obama in 2008 (in states with open voting, like, I think, Pennsylvania), and were largely dismissed. People were pretty much set on the idea that Hillary is the worst of all possible worlds.

Now, I think they were wrong about that. But obviously they were not racist, given that Limbaugh couldn't even really get his Operation Chaos off the ground. Even with Limbaugh pushing for trouble-making votes for Hillary, the stronger conservative-leaning voters still said, "Nah, no way, Hillary is the worst."

So, I may possibly be racist (let's pretend that maybe I opposed Obama because he was black, rather than the actual reason, that I thought he was a much better candidate), but the people who would several years later become the Tea Party were not.

This is, of course, all absurd. Is Cokie Roberts really paid for this level of analysis? This sort of any-random-DKos-Diarist-could-say-the-same thing Blogger Shit?

Is this really the best the self-presumed Prestige Media can manage?

Years ago South Park parodied the Comedy Stylings of Whoopie Goldberg by depicting her on stage and saying nothing but "Republicans Suck" every thirty seconds. The long gaps permitted the wild cheering from the audience.

But this parody is no longer parody. And it's not just no-talent comedians engaging in DKos level thoughtlessness, but highly paid "experts" in high-profile positions at the major networks.

If the media looks at 30 or 40% of the population -- or 49%, per today's NYT poll -- and can only explain their political opinions as either "irrational" or "racist," then this represents a devastating comment on the insularity and provincialism of the media.

Where is the "intellectual curiosity"? Do smart people typically dismiss the political ideology of 100 million people with a blithe, "Oh, they must all just be crazy?"

Of course not. If the media is reporting on, say, Iran, and the support of many of Iran's people for the country's quest for the Atomic Bomb, they will not simply say "Oh they must just be crazy." They will inquire into the beliefs of Iranians and say "Well, you must understand, the Atomic Bomb represents in the minds of Iranians the idea that they've 'made it' as a nation. So it's a symbol of national success, and of patriotism."

Caveat: They won't inquire into anything. That sounds too much like Doing Their Jobs to the media. But they would speculate about the mindset of Iranians, and offer up other possibilities than "Because Racism."

But when it comes to reportage on people living right beside them -- people who could be easily asked about their beliefs, and why they believe them -- they just shrug and say, "Obviously they're crazy. Duh."

Who's Bitterly Clinging now, New Class?

What's saddest of all about this is that Cokie Roberts once possessed a dynamic and probing curiosity, and was much more nuanced and wide-ranging in her thinking and her capacity to understand the mind of conservative voters.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, [NPR] HOST: So today is Poland. Why is he stopping in Poland. What does he hope to accomplish with that?

Cokie Roberts: Well, I think part of it was a desire to portray President Obama as something of a wimp, and say he's abandoned Eastern Europe. But look, you remember well the Reagan Democrats. Those ethnic white voters who had been Democrats for many years; turned out for Ronald Reagan, and have been fairly predictable Republicans since then. Now it's a smaller percentage of the population -- of the voting population -- than it used to be, but white voters are still much more Republican than any other group in the electorate. They went for McCain in 2008 by 55%. And I think that getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here.

Oh. Nevermind. Forget all that stuff I said about "nuanced" and "wide-ranging curiosity."

By the way, do you know "Cokie" Roberts' real name?

"Cokie" is actually short for "Cokewhore."

Cokewhore Susan Roberts, it turns out. It's an old family name or something. Very classy. The family prides itself on its enormous beast-like nostrils. It's been a family trait since their great-grandfather Walter Hogsnout Roberts first set down roots in the Boston-DC corridor and began farming Liberal Braindead Conventional Opinion.

posted by Ace at 01:03 PM

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