APP Plays The Race Card
By Art Gallagher
The ignorant fools on the Asbury Park Press editorial board have joined the left wing media chorus that will taint anyone who is critical of the Obama administration as racist.
In their editorial today, Fox resumes tired refrain, the disgraceful demagogues of Neptune smear Fox News, its viewers, or “devotees” as they call them, and “the right” as “bile-ridden,” stupid (“vacuous”), and racist.
The outcry over rapper Common’s appearance at the White House poetry night is what set off the race baiting yellow journalists of Gannett.
In case you missed it, Common is best known for his ” A Song For Assata” in which he glorifies JoAnne Chesimard, the former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who murdered NJ State Trooper Werner Foerster on the NJ Turnpike in East Brunswick on May 2, 1973. In “A Song For Assata” (Chesimard changed her name to Assata Skakur) Common wrote and sang, “Your power and pride is beautiful. May God bless your soul.”
Apparently Fox News broke the story of Common’s White House appearance. The APP race mongers lament that Fox couldn’t give Obama “even a week” to bask in the success of the Bin Laden killing before “bashing” the President again.
The news of Common’s White House invitation made national news, including in the APP and its sister rags, prompting a strong reaction, especially from the New Jersey law enforcement community. NJPBA President Tony Wieners issued the following statement:
New Jersey State PBA Denounces Cop Killer Support
New Jersey State PBA President Anthony Wieners denounced rapper Common appearance at the White House. Wieners who is in Washington to honor officers during Police Week called Common’s take on Chesimard “utterly ridiculous”. “Lets not rewrite history to glamorize a terrorist from the 1970’s” , he said. “ In 1973 Chesimard killed a New Jersey State Trooper and then in 1979 she took two of our members hostage in her escape from jail, that’s the facts. While she may change her name, she may even have songs written about her, but in the end she is a cold blooded terrorist. No one should be praising her or lending her support.“
Wieners noted the irony of the controversy over Common occurred during Police Week. He should be ashamed of his presence at the White House this week while the nation’s law enforcement community gathers there to add more names to its wall of officers killed in the line of duty. “This week each year is our annual pilgrimage to Washington D. C. to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster is on that wall. As we pursue modern day terrorist, let us not forget those who made sacrifices to pursue the terrorist of our past. Let those terrorist of the past know that we will never falter in our attempts to bring them to justice.”
The APP apologises for Common because he wrote the rap more than a decade ago and he has written songs that extol “self-respect, community and taking responsibility your life and actions” since he glorified Chesimard. They bash the “Fox chorus” condeming Common’s appearance at the White House as “ignorant” and “empty headed” because “most Fox commentors and fans” don’t appreciate the virtuous raps that Common wrote.
Well the APP apparently didn’t appreciate this Fox commentator who likened Common to Shakespere and said his lyrics are being taken out of context. They ignored this Fox commentator who wrote a poem of her own that says the President should be working on more pressing issues instead of attending a poetry reading.
The APP got one thing right in their disgraceful editorial. They said:
What’s good about America is the ability of artists to express themselves freely, even when we disagree with their viewpoint or positions. What’s great about America is that even the ignorant get a soapbox to spew their empty-headed rhetoric.
That last line is self-referential, even though the APP didn’t mean it to be.
America would be even greater if the traditional 4th estate maintained its traditional role of skeptics of the government charged with holding our leaders to account. The APP and the rest of the leftstream media should refrain from playing the race card every time criticism of their darling in the White House sticks.
The media’s use of the race card to silence Obama’s critics was very effective in the 2008 campaign, especially after they successfully used it to smear even former President Bill Clinton’s criticism of candidate Obama during the South Carolina primary. We’ve seen that the media will employ such disgraceful tactics again in support of Obama during the 2012 campaign which has already started. This is yellow journalism of the worst kind, designed to silence legitimate critics and thwart debate.
The APP should be ashamed. Its customers, readers and advertisers alike, should put them on notice that there will be consequences to such irresponsible trash.
More from my site
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APP Turns On Obama
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Fox News PAC Gave to Pallone- The Neptune Nudniks Cop Out In CD-3
- The Asbury Park Press Is Unfair and Biased, Dishonest and Incompetent
Broken News: The Pastor Had a 3 Way
Asbury Park Press Laments Lack Of Competitive Primaries Yet Fail To Do Their Part- Nudniks and Bullies
The Asbury Park Press Finally Reports On Pallone’s Pay To Play Scam
Newscorp stock is up 23%, thank you.
Gannet has cut it’s staff by over half and it’s stock is rated as junk.
The truth has no agenda.
So Art…are you totally discounting that there could be some possible truth to the fact that racism is still alive and well in America? Just look to your own posters…such as that stalwart of conservatism Brian, who continually calls the President…the Kenyan. Yeah, absolutely no racial undertones there.
I find it to be very sad that the APP put this out there. The NJ PBA has every right to be upset by the White House’s choice of guest reader at this poetry event. It was terribly insensitive, and insulting.
Our NJ Troopers put their lives on the line every time they go out there. They never can be sure what they’ll encounter on any given day.
JoAnne Chesimard is a sociopath and a cold-blooded killer. A good man lost his life to her in the line of duty, and his family lost a father and husband. Chesimard brags about her crimes while living a free life in Cuba. Justice has never been served, and the APP seems to forget that. To turn this into something else, as they have done here, is just wrong on many different levels.
Check out some of this “poet’s” other lyrics beyond this ode to a cop killer. The use of the n and b words is rampant. Now maybe this doesn’t invalidate his worth as a poet, but as a guy who, according to the First Lady, has been an example to kids, that’s a pretty appalling way of proving oneself as a role model. To me, this urban philosopher has used his poetry to demean people of his own race and foster misogyny. On a different note Art, turns out instead of being called out by the middletown human relations folks, you could have been invited to the white house.
@ Rick,
No I am not “totally discounting” that there is racism alive in America. I wouldn’t call it “well” and you well know that I am not discounting that.
Brian’s calling the President the Kenyan might be racist, it might not be. I haven’t been keeping a calender on Brian’s posts to see if the has to see if he has referred to Obama that way since the release of the actual birth certificate.
How about you address the content of my post, Rick, rather than t attempt to throw up a smokescreen or somehow justify the APP’s nonsense.
@Grace, it would be nice to be invited to the White House, but as you know my use of the offensive word was not in a demeaning context, so I would be disqualified if that were the criteria for earning an invitation.
Thank for pointing out Common’s demeaning and misogynistic rhetoric. That makes the APP’s editorial all the more ridiculous.
Bush is a Texan, Obama is a Kenyan, just stating the facts as presented by Moochelle “Grimace” Robinson Obama who stated Kenya was the place of Milhous’s birth—-she should know!!
ps these are terms of disrespect for the least intelligent, least qualified, most anti-freedom, anti-American President we have ever had and if you don’t like it, that’s just too Fing bad
“Over time, it has become increasingly difficult to say that race plays absolutely no part in the right’s bile-ridden criticism of Obama. This latest vacuous attack on the president (and Michelle Obama, who organized the White House poetry event) makes it almost impossible.”
Sorry Art…but I find a lot of truth in this statement. Again, I point to Brian’s comment as indicative of how some (obviously not all) conservatives and republicans think about having an African-American as our President. Criticism of policies is one thing…but being berated for having a poetry reading, regardless who’s invited, is another. While it may have been a poor choice (of which I agree)…the amount of rhetoric against this is astounding.
Art I think the bigger, more buried story about that night is that the President hosted two people who have come out against interracial dating.
Imagine if George Bush invited two white people to the White House who were against interracial dating.
My goodness, the cries of racism would be the headlines for days.
Actually Tommy, that the Obama’s included those two people is an example of how tolerant they are, since the President is a product of an interracial date.
I imagine that George Bush did host white people at the White House who were against interracial dating, like a Saudi Prince or King, but that is just my imagination.
A Muslim King or Prince won’t raise the issue becuase they are from a different culture.
If Bush hosted two white folks that said that, the MSM would have gone nuts with claims of racism.
@ Rick, I don’t know that the President is being “berated” for having a poetry reading.
One of the Fox commentators I linked to was critical of the poetry reading while there are some many more important issues to address, but I would call her poem I beratement.
The problem is not the poetry reader, but Common’s rhetoric, and the wounds it opened, particularly with law enforcement. The more we learn about Common, the more offensive his invitation to the White House is. Read Jim Morford’s piece at InTheLobby: http://www.inthelobby.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2610
Morford, a former NJEA executive, is no right winger as far as I can tell.
Brian says he is disrespectful and why. I have no reason to doubt his word, so until proven otherwise, Brian is disrepectful, not racist in my eyes. There is a difference.
Rick, all Presidents in my lifetime have been criticised personally, not just on policy. That’s not allowed by Obama’s supporters in the media. If you question his character or who he associates with or wonder what he was doing in New York during those mysterious years at Columbia, you’re a racist to the APP, NY Times, and Jeanane Garofolo and their ilk. That is just disingenuous and well, racist.
This smokescreen was better than the first, Rick, but a smokescreen none-the-less.
The race card, like the Bush card, expired. Defend this loser’s record, for that is what we are critical of, and WILL NOT be cowed by your nonsense. You are just proof that liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid.
…………and while the libs were in mommy’s basement without their pants, l was on the streets of Brooklyn hunting for Joanne Chesimard–that cop-killing ni&&er–whom Milhous and Common praise——so tes, it’s just another reason to despise the Kenyan——but carry on until mommy calls
I know about criticism and the presidency..but taken in its entirety, even just lately, its something to wonder at…
Palin: “You know, the judgment, it’s just so lacking of class and decency and all that’s good about America with an invite like this”
Santorum: “America was born great. The president of the United States doesn’t understand who we are.”
Gingrich: ‘I know how to get the whole country to resemble Texas. President Obama knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit.’
Also, you may take Brian at his word, but I can certainly see through his words to the underlying racist overtones. And to the idiotic birthers…please point to me where any other President had to undergo the scrutiny of his birth certificate, even when producing a perfectly legal document issued by the State of Hawaii. And, even after that, more than 20% of republicans think he was born elsewhere. You mean to tell me that you can’t see where that can be construed as racist?
Thank you Brian for proving my point. I would bet that’s not the first time you have used the N word. I would bet that its just a regular part of you very limited vocabulary, and you use it with gusto every single time.
@ Rick,
I happen to agree with the Palin, Santorum and Gingrich quotes you offer. Does that make me a racist?
Palin’s right, the Common invite showed poor judgement, especially in light of the fact that national law enforcement associations were in Washington this week, in part to honor their fallen.
Santorum’s quote was in response to the President saying that America wasn’t great before entitlement programs were instituted.
You see racism in Gingrich’s Detroit reference. I see economic devasation, caused in large measure by excessive union contracts. Texas is a melting pot. I bet there’s a lot of interracial dating going on there.
Neither “N word” or “ni&&er” are the N word. Rick, you’re still demogoguing.
Rick-
This is nothing new- remember the same right wing manufactured outrage when President Obama bowed to the Saudi King? Never mind that President GW smooched and danced with his dear friend a year before. But of course it was so much less outrageous when Bush did it because they are practically family right? Or does history “expire” because it’s inconvenient for us to remember it?
brian’s comment really rang true with me because I recall a news story way back of someone about to apprehend Joanne Chesimard but failing to catch her when he tripped on his blow-up doll.
Joy/Kathy/Janice—you are just proving what a hateful shrew you really are, and you wouldn’t know Chesimard if she smacked you in that hideous puss of yours .
and the day l care what you, lil ricky, or any of your ilk think it will be a cold day in Kenya,.;'[;.,0-965%^&*(
……………and the defense of Milhous’s record will begin when ms behar/ms maddow?????
@ Janice, Even if Bush did kiss and dance with the Saudi King (which he didn’t. they held hands…the kissing pictures are photoshopped…where is the mainstream media outrage over photoshopping a President kissing the Saudi King?) what does that have to do with the the APP, NYTimes, MSNBC et al, thrwarting legitimate criticism and debate by calling Obama’s critics racist?
Instead of agreeing with the truth of my critique of the media, you justify it by saying, “X did it too!” even if X didn’t do it too.
I have no doubt you are on more familiar terms with the Joanne Chesimards of the world than I- but as for the Joy/Kathy/Janice business- please don’t confuse me with your blow-up dolls.
And you can go ahead and get the last word brian with a little b – I’m sure you’re used to that with the “girls” at home.
You need to get out more- really-the “girls” won’t mind.
Honestly Art – lose the personal attack comments.
You could actually have elected officials commenting here, but you won’t if you let people go at it with anonymous names.
Imagine someone who really needs to keep up appearances. There’s no way they are going to post here with bombs like this being thrown.
Your site is on the rise – and you could push it over the top if you had a better TOS policy.
Art-
I have seen video of the Saudi King coming out of his car and being greeted with a kiss by GW whereupon GW takes his hand like he’s a little girl and takes a walk with him. If this is a fake, please tell me the source of your info and I’ll check it out.
I would not say it’s “thwarting” criticism for anyone to opine on the true nature of much criticism of Obama. Note the word opine. Does Fox News get any less virulent in their criticism of Obama when they are called racist? No they don’t. They are not thwarted. Nor are you. The First Amendment stands.
For me, plain old right wing hypocrisy trumps racism in much of the criticism of Obama. But the birther movement opened the door very wide and having opened it, it is unlikely it can ever be closed.
To Brian:
I am an Irish-American. Obama is a Kenyan-American. So what?
My objection to Obama is his policies, not his skin color tone. “It’s the Economy, Stupid” which will defeat Obama, not the “birther” issue (which only wastes time and resources diverting attention away from the real issues – jobs, jobs, jobs.
Alan Keyes, Allen West and/or Herman Cain I would support, not because they have a darker skin tone, but because they have sound policies.
To the lunatics at the APP – now you know why your print media is going downhill. Not only will I never buy your rag of a paper, but if I find out that a local business is taking ads in your rag I will boycott that business and urge my friends to do the same.
Now if the GOP were smart, they would have a current or former governor run for President and have a Latino (Marco Rubio?) run on the ticket fr VP.
You know why the APP plays the race card? Because when you are an irrelevant, inaccurate, sleazy, liberal rag whose days are numbered, you have nothing else left to hold on to. Notice how the APP didn’t call the 96% of black voters who voted for Obama racist, or the Black Panthers who intimidated white voters racist, or the Hispanic illegal alien in Virginia Beach who murdered a white college student racist. No, they call Fox News racist for questioning the invitation of a no talent rapper who worships an anti-American cop killer to the White House by our Muslim president. Not to worry, the APP will soon go the way of 8-tracks and dodo birds.
Wow I am late to this dance.
Yes Rick there are people out there who are racist. yes Brian sounds like he may be one.
That does not mean that everyone who criticises the President or all conservatives are most tea party people or Fox News is racist.
Most African American people did not like President Bush. Much higher percentages then the general public. Members of that group often said harsh things about him. Where they all racist.
Here is an idea. lets ignore the few idiots who are racist. Stop playing the race card and just discuss policy issues…YOU BIG DUMB WHITE CRACKER.
LOL…well, I guess that just about sums me up TR!