I find myself not only in agreement with Sarah Palin but angry at her treatment by a MSNBC host. Palin recently canceled a NBC interview with Matt Lauer over the failure of MSNBC to discipline host Martin Bashir for saying that someone should defecate in Palin’s mouth after she compared federal debt to slavery. While I once worked for MSNBC, I have been shocked by the effort of the network to be the Fox News of the left — with hosts often blindly supporting the President, seriously comparing Holder to Moses, and even defending the surveillance of journalists (which Bashir did) in defense of the Administration. For civil libertarians, it has been a blow to see MSNBC yield to a type of cult of personality around Obama while basic civil liberties are being denied by this Administration. However, Bashir was able to hit truly a new low and the lack of a serious response beyond an on-air apology sends the message that anything goes when the target is a conservative and critic of the President.
First let’s start off with Palin’s remark:
“Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children and borrowing from China. When that money comes due… it’ll be like slavery when that note is due. We are going to beholden to the foreign master.”
A bit over-the-top, yes. Unprecedented, no. Many people warn of the dependency on China as the holder of our debt. Moreover, the use of the noun slavery to refer to such dependency is hardly shocking. Standard dictionaries include the following definitions of slavery beyond actual human bondage: “The condition of being subject or addicted to a specified influence. 4. A condition of hard work and subjection.” In other words, Palin was using the term in a recognized and hardly unprecedented fashion. Moreover, the Chinese debt is a serious problem that has been discussed by both liberals and conservatives.
Bashir however seemed eager to attack Palin on the use of the word slavery as opposed to her obvious point. Indeed, it was Bashir who seemed to go off the deep end with a lecture on horror of slavery which no one (including Palin) had questioned.
He quotes Palin and then says:
“So here’s an example. One of the most comprehensive first-person accounts of slavery comes from the personal diary of a man called Thomas Thistlewood, who kept copious notes for 39 years. Thistlewood was the son of a tenant farmer, who arrived on the island of Jamaica in April 1750, and assumed the position of overseer at a major plantation.
What is most shocking about Thistlewood’s diary is not simply the fact that he assumes the right to own and possess other human beings, but is the sheer cruelty and brutality of his regime,” Bashir added. “In 1756, he records that a slave named Darby ‘catched eating kanes had him well flogged and pickled, then made Hector, another slave, s-h-i-t in his mouth.’
This became known as ‘Darby’s Dose,’ a punishment invented by Thistlewood that spoke only of inhumanity. And he mentions a similar incident in 1756, his time in relation to a man he refers to as Punch. ‘Flogged punch well, and then washed and rubbed salt pickle, lime juice and bird pepper, made Negro Joe piss in his eyes and mouth’ . . . She confirms if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, she would be the outstanding candidate.”
It was unhinged and unfair and disgraceful. However, some Palin critics immediately attacked Palin as insulting African-Americans by even using the word slavery. This was raised by Jake Tapper in a later interview:
TAPPER: You can understand why African Americans or others might be offended by it, though?
PALIN: I — I can if they choose to misinterpret what it is that I’m saying. And, again, you know, I’m sure if we open up the dictionary, we could prove that with semantics that are various, we can prove that there is a definition of slavery that absolutely fits the bill there, when I’m talking about a bankrupt country that will owe somebody something down the line if we don’t change things that is, we will be shackled. We will be enslaved to those who we owe.
Once again, I do not share the condemnation of Palin as somehow dismissing or lessening the crime of slavery in this country. Nor do I think she was lecturing African-Americans. I do not see how any reasonable reading of her comments can produce such interpretation. However, in today’s environment, everyone seems on a hair-trigger to condemn and unleash the type of disgusting retort of Bashir. There seems to be a view that opposing figures like Palin deserve no consideration or decency in the treatment of her comments.
Bashir later apologized:
“I wanted to take this opportunity to say sorry to Mrs. Palin, and to also offer an unreserved apology to her friends and family, her supporters, our viewers, and anyone who may have heard what I said. I deeply regret what I said and that I have learned a sober lesson in these last few days that the politics of vitriol and destruction is a miserable place to be and a miserable person to become.”
What was missing was any discipline from MSNBC.
Perhaps this outrageous comment might produce some needed soul-searching at MSNBC over its decision to become an echo-chamber for the White House. However, there is no evidence of it in the silence from MSNBC.
Various people came forward to defend Bashir and question whether even an apology was needed:
Basically, as Jason Easley pointed out at the time, Palin was essentially telling African-Americans that they don’t really know what slavery is, and it takes someone like Palin to explain it to them. If you think that’s offensive, well congratulations, you are a normal functioning human being. It is with that backdrop that Bashir made the following comments on his show on Friday
I do not see it that way and I am no fan of Palin. I fail to see how her original or later comments sought to tell “African-Americans that they don’t really know what slavery is.” That is equally unfair to Palin. I fail to see why our current political divisions justify taking every comment of an opposing figure to the worst possible meaning, particularly when the meaning seem quite evident.
Do you think an apology is enough in this circumstance when a host says that someone should defecate in the mouth of a conservative leader?
Annie,
Thanks for bringing up fluke….
Oh DavidM,
Newt…. Out of office for the same reasons that got him in office…… Heartfelt romantic that he is served his wife for divorce when she was in the hospital with cancer….. True man with character…. Not fit to mentor David Duke….
AY wrote: “…he is served his wife for divorce when she was in the hospital with cancer” [sic]
Another left wing lie that you fell for. That never happened. Research it.
I acknowledge that Gingrich has character flaws, but he is a true scholar and brilliant historian.
MSNBC should take care not to fall to the gutter low level of Rush Limbaugh, who called a law student who is FAR more intelligent and well spoken than Palin, Sandra Fluke, a slut. MSNBC has other show hosts that present topics in a respectable manner. Bashir tends to go over the top at times, maybe he needs to be reminded we are not a British audience.
Annie wrote: “MSNBC should take care not to fall to the gutter low level of Rush Limbaugh, who called a law student who is FAR more intelligent and well spoken than Palin, Sandra Fluke, a slut.”
I have discussed this issue in this forum before. Limbaugh’s analysis about Sandra Fluke was absolutely brilliant. I heard that broadcast live before the left wing media twisted it into a lie.
If someone has more than $2000 in resources, with very few exceptions, that person is not eligible for food stamps. It’s a fake. The whole story is a fake.
Juliet N wrote: “The whole story is a fake.”
Yeah, right. People don’t lie, and people always report windfalls, so the story must be a fake.
You may have worked in this field for awhile, but you are apparently naive about the people you helped. Is the following story from the left wing Huffington Post also a fake?
More Than 3,500 Michigan Lottery Winners Are Benefitting From Welfare: Government Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/michigan-lottery-winners-welfare_n_3100733.html
DavidM.
Do you have a microwave that still have a functioning door? I’d suggest you not use it until you get it fixed…..
DavidM,
Really…. Limbaugh…. He’s a cotin freak…. How many folks need 100,000 tablets of this stuff and have prescriptions written for others in your possession before you get some serious criminal incarceration…. But hey, these were for personal use…. Anybody else would be charged with dealing….
Raff,
There ya go…. Pointing out the deer in the headlight Palin defense…. Of course she handles lots of newspapers….. Gotta put the fish guts in something….
david,
You have the right to be a fan of Palin, but those who see through her lack of knowledge and lack of desire to learn what the real facts also have the right to call her out. While Bashir has the right to say whatever he wants, as Mike S. suggested above, I do not agree with his statement, nor do I condone it. However, I am confused with your reference to Katie Couric. All she did is ask what newspapers or magazines did Ms. Palin read and Ms. Palin couldn’t give an intelligible response. Asking a politician who was a candidate for the second highest job in the land if she reads is not a biased or difficult question.
rafflaw wrote: ” I am confused with your reference to Katie Couric. All she did is ask what newspapers or magazines did Ms. Palin read and Ms. Palin couldn’t give an intelligible response.”
I agree that Palin blew it in her response, but that is like saying that Muhammad Ali blew it in a fight with Joe Frazier. Sarah Palin is far from perfect, but that can be said of most of our politicians. Palin is not as stupid as people portray her. She is certainly not an intellectual scholar on the level of someone like Newt Gingrich, but she has heart and passion and a rational enough mind to understand issues. Her problem is a problem that plagues many women: not enough testosterone to stand up in a fight.
If you think Couric’s question was entirely innocent and Palin’s offense was a figment of her imagination, ask yourself why Couric never asked Barack Obama what newspapers and magazines he was reading. Many went ballistic when both Biden and Bush described Barack Obama as articulate. I would stand Sarah Palin next to Joe Biden any day in regards to qualifications for the office of Vice President. Biden has far more mistakes and gaffes than Sarah Palin has ever exhibited.
Sorry, Prof. She got exactly what she deserved from Bashir. What bothers me is the number of people saying they wish she would just go away, not realizing that by continually talking about her, they are insuring her continuance in the public forum. They need to just drop her from any and all shows so that we can forget that she ever existed.
“After reading Palin’s book, I became a fan.”
I guess Barnum was right.
Shakespeare said it best (as usual); ‘a plague on both their houses’.
On the other hand, this purely Heat Merchant column did elicit some interesting info from Nal.
“In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”
“This became known as ‘Darby’s Dose,’ a punishment invented by Thistlewood that spoke only of inhumanity. And he mentions a similar incident in 1756, his time in relation to a man he refers to as Punch. ‘Flogged punch well, and then washed and rubbed salt pickle, lime juice and bird pepper, made Negro Joe piss in his eyes and mouth’ . . . She confirms if anyone truly qualified for a dose of discipline from Thomas Thistlewood, she would be the outstanding candidate.”
This was Bashir’s analogy quoted from above. Over the top…..perhaps. Requiring discipline…..I don’t think so. He apologized and that should be the end of it. We have had commenters on this very blog write things that would make Bashir blush. We have had racists, homophobes, Jew haters and women haters write things that were scatologically bigoted. Our policy here is not to censor those comments, no matter how reprehensible they may be. How then do we call for Bashir’s firing, or even greater punishment?
Now to be clear I don’t like, nor have I ever liked Bashir. He is typical of the pundit class in this country. As for MSNBC let us be real. There is no real political commitment of that network. While some of its on air personalities are no doubt courageous idealists, the network is merely catering to a marketing niche created by FOXNews and it lame copycat CNN. NBC, the parent company is neither a left wing nor progressive company. The fact that Chuck Todd and David Gregory represent the stars of the NBC political firmament bears that out. NBC is now wholly owned by Comcast which has never been seen as either liberal, progressive or left wing. However, the audience, marketing niche, was there and MSNBC filled the vacuum. The corporate news media in this country is just that and to expect them to actually fairly report the news is a pipe dream.
As for Sarah Palin, she represents a breed of individual in this country that uses politics to create and sustain celebrity. Her choice as a Vice Presidential candidate was not only a huge mistake on the part of John McCain, but provided her a gravitas in the minds of the media that she ill deserves. She has proven herself to be blissfully ignorant, yet smart enough to enrich herself as she tugs the heartstrings of her worshipful Right Wing followers. This is not a new phenomena in this country where a sucker is born every minute. For a brief time in my lifetime a drunken Senator, who privately didn’t take himself seriously, was the most powerful opinion maker in this country. Then too, an over-the-hill actor with early onset Alzheimer’s, backed by John Birch society money became a President, who many today consider the greatest President in our history. Ms. Palin is basically a dancing clown for a segment of our populace who love to see her perform. Her performance is in itself insulting to her person, but then it has made her rich and famous, so she doesn’t really care.
Oh come on. These are two Media Freak Clowns throwing water at each other. They are part of the Side Show located down the Midway Alley next to the Grease Joint, far removed from the Big Top. They’re both simple Suitcase Acts for the Heat Merchant.
An occasional low blow from MSNBC does not equal the constant stream of vitriol and hyperbole on FOX. False equivalency.
China and U.S. Debt:
In total, China owns about 8 percent of publicly held U.S. debt. Of all the holders of U.S. debt China is the third-largest, behind only the Social Security Trust Fund’s holdings of nearly $3 trillion and the Federal Reserve’s nearly $2 trillion holdings in Treasury investments, purchased as part of its quantitative easing program to boost the economy.
I was curious.
Rude is rude regardless of party affiliation….
Dredd is correct in saying: “The thing to fix is not merely the symptom of an individual’s sicko trash talk which can be addressed with a suspension of Bashir for a month while MSNBC sorts out whether to can him or not.
The more importhat thing to do is to wake up and realize that we Americans have been divided on purpose.
The purpose is to weaken our ability to react to a savage feudalistic mentality that is gorging on us.
We are a degenerating society that revels in a verbal civil war as if a society divided against itself can perpetuate itself in the long run.”
The administration and its lackeys in the media have not treated racism honestly. They use it as a weapon to support the administrations’ own racism. They use cries of racism to stifle valid criticism of the regime. And they use it cynically to turn people against one another. They also understand that sexism is a weapon which can be wielded with little consequence. This was a sexist attack on a woman. It was very ugly.
Bashir, Limbaugh, Olbermann, Hannity, etc. are all purveyors of poison laced steak tartare. It tastes great if you’re a winger, but it will eventually kill you.
Nick Spinelli wrote: “Bashir, Limbaugh, Olbermann, Hannity, etc. are all purveyors of poison laced steak tartare.”
I share your perspective about three of these names, but Limbaugh? Maybe I have not listened to him enough, but when I have listened to him, I have come to have a great level of respect for what I perceive to be genius on his part. I really enjoy the way he interacts with callers. He is much slower and methodical about it than I would be, but in the end, the analysis ends up being rather poignant and enlightening. He basically walks people slowly toward a conclusion that was hidden from them beforehand.