MSNBC weekend host Melissa Harris-Perry has drawn fire after objecting to a seemingly innocuous reference by a guest to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) as a “hard worker.” Harris-Perry suggested that the use of this term for someone like Ryan is insulting to people who once picked cotton or mothers without health care.
Harris-Perry offered her correction with the guest Alfonso Aguilar, Executive Director of the American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership, after Aguilar said If there’s somebody who is a hard worker when he goes to Washington, it’s Paul Ryan.”
Harris-Perry warned “[I] want us to be super careful when we use the language ‘hard worker’ . . . Because I actually keep an image of folks working in cotton fields on my office wall, because it is a reminder about what hard work looks like.” She then continued by noting that “in the context of relative privilege, I just want to point out, that when you talk about work-life balance and being a hard worker, the moms who don’t have health care who are working, we don’t call them hard workers. We call them failures, people who are sucking off the system. Really, y’all do! That’s really what you do!”
Aguilar objected to the point and said “This is very unfair. I feel that we cannot generalize about the Republican Party.”
I am not clear about how many people actually call working mothers “failures” but it is not clear why we cannot recognize hard-working people in different facets of life, including Republican leaders.
Jeff: I agree that the Republican party has been racing to the bottom for over thirty years and Paul Ryan been tying lead weights to the American working class since he came into office. You may have a point
the moms who don’t have health care who are working, we don’t call them hard workers. We call them failures, people who are sucking off the system. Really, y’all do! That’s really what you do!”
It’s really not, why do activists continue to make such obviously false statements? And worse what is wrong with our society that others repeat such nonsense as if it were true?
Bernie’s not taking corporate donations because he has integrity. He wants to make it clear that he’s not going to be beholden to the powerful corporate and financial interests that have ruined this country and are seeking to damage it further.
I guess you want to see banks get even bigger and more powerful and more jobs shipped overseas and more of the environment turned over for development and degradation
You have to define “hard work”. You can work hard to screw things up too. I live in Wisconsin, we have elected a lot of people in the last decade that “work hard”. They have been working hard to drive this once great state straight into the ground. Talk about race to the bottom.
Steve Fleischer: Ms. Harris-Parry has never made any secret about where her party affiliations lie. Few of these editorialists do.
But in case your unclear, let me tell you a little secret- Hannity and O’Reilly are conservatives.
Wasn’t she demoted once already at MSNBC? She keeps it up and there may be nothing for her to do but pick cotton.
Lisa N: She’s not a newswoman, she does an op/ed show for a news channel, similar to O’Reilly and Hannity. The problem you have understanding American politics stems from the fact that you think the Fox News personalities are journalists serving journalism,when they are not.
Prof. Turley – if you’re not clear how many people call working mothers “losers”, then you need to pay more attention to these discussion threads on your blog. You’ll find all that amd more under the filename: Racism.
“Healthcare for poor working mothers and their kids is usually Medicaid. And yes there is a stigma placed on those on Medicaid. We’ve heard the negative comments right here on RIL in the comments sections. As for people working hard in their fields, give credit where credit is due.”
How about just stating facts because as a news woman, that’s her job. She stereotypes Republicans, like she claims they stereotype blacks, and single women. She’s a hypocrite to the nth degree but whose surprised and why I stopped watching BSNBC.
I’m sure there are hard-working Republicans, in Washington and elsewhere, but Paul Ryan ain’t one of ’em. He works something less than 90 hours a month.
Bernie Sanders is primarily raising money from individual voters and has rejected PAC money.
Sanders also agrees with Ronald Reagan’s former economic advisor, David Stockman, that the “Trickle Down” theory does NOT work as advertised and doesn’t work without also increasing incomes for poor and middle-class Americans.
In other words, Stockman beleives working class and poor Americans must have ample spending money to boost the economy. Tax cuts should primarily go to the middle-class and the working poor (ex: payroll taxcuts) instead of going to the richest 1/10 of 1%.
So sanders isn’t taking corpo-rat money worse he is advocating taking my peon money! The way i figure only 94 0f 315 million americans work….25 percent are gov jobs. So maybe 75 million carry the country. And half of them workers make less than thirty k year…..so fifty million americans carry this sorry state of affairs.
.what can berni
e do….
not a fuxxing qtthing…..goood luck
bernie…..fare fycking
well….no ….god speed.
…….
Sanders isn’t taking corporate money? Is that his lame excuse for appearing to own only one tie? You know, the navy one with the white stripes? I’m thinking about sending this alleged pauper a new tie in the mail. A paisley one, with subtle hues, might be nice.
Legislators are not working 80% of the time, they are raising money. Only roughly 20% of the time are they actually working on the people’s business and solving problems.
Adding insult to injury, corporate campaign contributors receive far more government welfare than poor people receive.
To the best of my knowledge only 2 presidential candidates, Sanders and Trump, have rejected taking money from corporate welfare queens and want to spend 100% of their time actually working for the American people.
Melissa should investigate the historical dispute of the body of Moses. No bones or DNA ever found.
>>>Harris-Perry warned “[I] want us to be super careful when we use the language ‘hard worker’.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Jud 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Why does MSNBC hire–and keep–people like this woman and Al Sharpton, who don’t pay their taxes? Seems like a trend at that place. Race and left-wing politics–not character, education or talent–drives the choices for hosts. If I recall correctly, doesn’t Sharpton owe over 4.5 million in taxes? People have gone to prison for far less than that. Perhaps he, along with Ms. I-GOT-ME-LOTS-OF-HYPHENATED-NAMES, could be shipped off, together, to some prison work detail to pay off those delinquent and unpaid taxes. Doing what? Picking cotton, of course. True justice.
BarkinDog @1:18am October 28
I do believe that it was Buckwheat, from the Little Rascals, who wished that Cotton–a character in the show–would turn into a monkey. I think that Spanky may have said it, as well.
Does that qualify me as part of the old folk? Anyway, what’s my prize? A jar of Porcelana liver spot remover? A lifetime supply of Geritol? Two free early bird specials at IHOP?
Fact is ryan broke the contract. When soldiers signed their lives up for america….. part of the contract was if you lived you got cola. He broke that promise on a contract…so
He will suree helll break it for an entitlememt.
Ms. Harris-Perry shows how out of touch she is when it comes to a pragmatic outlook on things. Perpetually offended by anything outside of the narrow, echo-chamber within which she cloisters herself, she would be better served to accept other forms of thinking and perspectives instead of being so self-righteous, too arrogant, and too quick to jump to conclusions and making false correlations.
She is discrediting herself by making almost laughable statements as this. Not everything Ms. Harris-Perry, revolves around the rubric of victimization and oppression. I would recommend not having such a disposition to pounce on everything as being an attack on your politics, resulting in having to silence anybody’s speech. This is the type of ridiculous Political Correctness that the average person in this country is becoming increasingly sick and tired of.
If you want to bring people to your cause don’t insult them by deriding people for making ordinary speech in the English language, or who are trying to compliment others whereupon you somehow must find a way to twist and fashion this into some vehicle to jump onto your own soapbox. This victimhood mentality does not help anyone in a practical manner. Making claims of helping others lacks sincerity when all that is done is attacking more than half the population of our country that does not share your ideals. By perpetually only accepting the ideas of your personal political alignment, you are further alienating people who might otherwise agree with many of your goals but will not even listen to you because of bizarre statements such as what you made here and others you are known for in the past. And this kind of resolute defiance delays for years achieving some of the social equality you claim you are striving for.
How about instead of wasting time inflaming people with vitriolic bantering, you propose ideas on how we as a society can achieve social harmony by working together?
Max: Her race? I don’t know who she is, but based on her picture, above, she’s white.