There is a controversy brewing over the comments of CNN contributor Hilary Rosen during a heated exchange with Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner. Rosen’s comments have been denounced as racist and her initial apology triggered even more intense criticism. What is most interesting however is what this controversy says about the role of contributors. Rosen has a long history of supporting Democratic establishment figures from the Clintons to Joe Biden. In today’s formulaic media roles, she is viewed as such a de facto voice for Biden that Sen. Bernie Sanders has demanded that Biden apologize for her comments. It is a dispute that directs a bright light on the usually murky roles played by “contributors” on the cable programs as campaign surrogates. The exchange also had some troubling issues when Turner objected to Rosen’s contrary interpretation of a Martin Luther King “as a white woman.” As discussed below, Turner was right on the meaning of the quote. So the problem was not that Rosen was white. It was that she was wrong.
Turner and Rosen crossed swords on Thursday night on “Cuomo Prime Time” after Turner invoked Martin Luther King Jr. Rosen objected to the reference, suggested that Turner got the quote wrong, and then said that Turner “did not have the standing” to invoke King in this way. Later Rosen apologized after widespread criticism but seemed to refer to Turner in the apology as an “angry black woman.”
Here is the original exchange:
“That is not what I said. Don’t you do that,” Rosen said.
HILARY ROSEN, BIDEN CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: You know, Nina referenced Dr. Martin Luther King [Jr.] before saying he said from the Birmingham jail that we should be concerned about white moderates. That’s actually not what Martin Luther King said. What he said —
NINA TURNER, SANDERS CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: He did say that.
ROSEN: He said we should be worried about the silence of white moderates.
TURNER: Don’t tell me about Martin Luther King Jr. Are you kidding me?
ROSEN: Nina —
CUOMO: She’s making a language point, Nina.
ROSEN: What he said was we should be worrying about the silence of white moderates. And what we have in Joe Biden is a man that’s not silent. He has a long record and many, many votes that in today’s world feel like the wrong thing, were the wrong thing and he has discussed that over and over again as Bernie Sanders did on the gun votes and other things. So we can be talking about votes from 20 years ago or we can be talking about people’s values and who they trust. And that’s what Joe Biden is going to be talking about.
CUOMO: Last quick point to you, Nina.
TURNER: What Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was talking about, he said it is the point that the white moderate wants things to be comfortable instead of focusing in on the bigger threat is not necessarily the white KKK member but more the white moderate that is more comfortable with keeping things the same while pretending like there is no tension than to deal —
ROSEN: Don’t use Martin Luther King against Joe Biden. You don’t have that —
TURNER: First of all —
ROSEN: You don’t have that standing. I’m sorry. You don’t.
TURNER: Don’t tell me what kind of standing I have as a black woman in America. How dare you?
ROSEN: You have a lot of standing as a black woman in America.
TURNER: First of all, you’re dipping into something you don’t understand. You need to — I did not demean you —
ROSEN: You don’t have the standing to attack Joe Biden using Martin Luther King’s words.
TURNER: I didn’t attack anybody. You’re taking it that way.
Listen, don’t dip into what I have to say about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. How dare you as a white woman try to tell me —
ROSEN: That is not what I said. Don’t you do that.
TURNER: — trying to tell me what I’m supposed to feel and what I’m doing what now.
CUOMO: Nina, Hillary, I’m out of time on this one —
TURNER: Chris, I didn’t jump in on her, though and she wants to jump in on me.
CUOMO: You guys are in the same party. This is what you guys have to figure out. You’re in the same party. And let me tell you, you better keep that same energy when you are up against Trump that you have against each other because he is bigger and badder than I think you guys are ready for.
Cuomo has been criticized for not taking a stronger stance against Rosen. I am not sure that that is his function. Ironically, I am more concerned with what he said at the end where he seemed to chastise the two commentators for not focusing on defeating Trump as “the bigger and badder” threat. It is another example of the open advocacy that seems to have become the norm at CNN. I fail to see why it is the function of a CNN host to mediate disagreements between rivaling Democratic candidates to better campaign against Trump.
Moreover, while I think (as I explain below) that Rosen was wrong on the quote, I do not agree with Turner that “as a white woman,” Rosen is somehow not allowed to disagree with Turner on a quote of Martin Luther King.
Rosen however deepened the controversy with her apology:
“On air thurs I said my colleague @ninaturner didn’t have a standing to use MLK Jr. That was wrong. I am sorry for saying those words. [Please] no need to defend me and attack angry black women. They have standing. I always need to listen more than I talk. We rise together.”
The “angry black women” reference set off a firestorm and Rosen deleted her apology and issued a new one:
“I’m horrified that anyone would think i would call Nina Turner ‘an angry black woman’ I would NEVER!! After the TV hit last night, I was getting tons of ugly messages to keep fighting her using that phrase. I was trying to tell people to STOP. Cause I KNEW I needed to apologize. I unequivocally know I disrespected her and I wanted to make it right by telling disgusting white folks to stop. Wow did that tweet go wrong. I am so sorry.”
Now Sanders has demanded a Biden apology for Rosen’s comments:
“@JoeBiden must accept responsibility for his surrogate telling our campaign co-chair Senator @NinaTurner that she doesn’t have standing to invoke the words of Dr. King. That is unacceptable and Joe must apologize to Nina and all the people of color supporting our campaign.”
Rosen has had a history of controversial statements. In 2012, Rosen inexplicably attacked Ann Romney, the wife of then presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as a stay-at-home mother. Rosen said that a stay-at-home mother she “never worked a day in her life.” Rosen’s comments were denounced by the Obamas and she apologized.
Then in 2017, as we discussed in a blog post, Rosen attacked Georgetown Hoyas fans as “anti-Semitic,” and specifically attacked one fan as “bigot” after she saw a photograph of him wearing a bacon costume. The Georgetown student, Michael Bakan, was well-known for the costume that was a pun on his name which is pronounced “bacon.” Rosen again apologized.
For full disclosure, I previously had an odd exchange with Rosen on the air with NPR where she suddenly objected to a discussion over gay rights as a lesbian without explaining what was offensive. The host and I were simply discussing the change of Hillary Clinton on gay rights issues like same-sex marriage. I never did learn what was the cause of Rosen’s exclamation “Because I’m a lesbian and how dare you” but it now seems similar to aspects of this exchange.
Sander’s demand for an apology from Biden is fascinating in this new media environment where commentators are selected to give predictably one view in crossfire formats. Sanders is right that many contributors are effectively working for or directed by campaigns. However, his demand for an apology highlights these connections and pierces the artificial neutrality of so many political commentators.
The dispute by the way over the MLK statement stems from his famous “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” I think that Rosen was wrong and Turner was right on what King said about moderates. It was not about their “silence” alone when he wrote:
“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
His point seems to be that moderate whites are more devoted to the status quo and fearful of many reforms. Accordingly, I think Turner has the more accurate interpretation of the passage. It also would seems as apropos to her point a\in the exchange with Rosen.
“Biden Surrogate Whitesplains MLK To Nina Turner”
Corona Virus!
Virus rules the waves!
The world…has…gone to hell..
In seven days!
That’s a good rhyme…
I have one too…
“When you don’t have a case, go to the race.” 😉
It is delicious to see the tactic of identity politics reach its logical conclusion as the proponents cannibalize each other. Hopefully they will destroy each other and we can return to the exchange of ideas instead of competing outrage.
Each person has some stigma term going with their race or heritage. Cuomo is a WOP.
By that I mean he is with out papers to show he is a new Yorker and not a jersey boy.
He could only wish he came from NJ,
instead – born and bred in NY – both their loss.
I’m coming around to the notion that we ought to bring back trial by combat from the mothballs. Who wouldn’t want a Biden versus Bernie or better still, a Williamson versus Tulsi!
You have to understand the context of King’s remarks. What had happened was that his actions were upsetting whites in the South who had been sympathetic to the plight of Negroes due to segregation. Martin Luther King was a radical who had been trained to organize marches and protest and Southern whites didn’t like his tactics. As for the “angry black woman,” that’s a very apropos label. Black women have a tendency to go absolutely crazy when they don’t get their way.
“As for the “angry black woman,” that’s a very apropos label. Black women have a tendency to go absolutely crazy when they don’t get their way.”
Absolutely true! I watch a lot of Tommy Sotomayor videos, and he has been slamming what he calls “BTs” or Black Terminatrixes. He ranks them by generation with BT800s being the oldest. I think he is up to BT 1000s now. His videos are true, sad, and hilarious. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek1orD2464w
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Quite the tempest; quite the tea pot. I love a clash of crazy identity politics but demanding a non-present third party apologize for another adult is so Bernie.
Good essay
I certainly agree that Cuomo had no responsibility to demand anything of either guest in the way of apology. If either truly understood Martin Luther King, Jr. they would not have used him in a political battle today. He had the ability to use reason when no one wanted to be reasonable. Attacks were not his teaching.
Also, there were many unrecognized moderate Whites who stood alongside Blacks in the segregated South and were persecuted during the Civil Rights Movement. I wrote an article on “Women for Peace” which highlights Joan Trumpauer Mullholland who was placed on death row along with her peaceful protestors. Her family disowned her. She lost everything but helped change the world so these two women can have this petty disagreement over Biden and Sanders.
OK, Rosen has earned herself an Irish Poem! She really got hammered on social media, hence the apology – but I am not one who minds piling on! She seems to be one of those Angry Lesbians who think they own “outrage.” I think she still believes everything she said originally and is even more angry than before.
The Flaming of the Shrew???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
There once was a lezzie named Rosen,
Who was always butting her nose in!
Although she was bitter –
When hammered on Twitter,
The proverbial towel, she throws in!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Title fight: In this corner, we have Angry Black Woman. In this corner, we have Angry Lesbian. The winner gets a yellowed copy of essays written by a guy who’s been dead more than a half-century. Ring! ring!🔔 🥊
Will the US election in 2020 be our last before revolution….Oh wait a minute I lived through the 1968 election. Today’s WOKE nation is child’s play compared to ’68.
The Democrats will lose the Presidency and the House of Representatives in November, largely because of this nonsense.
Dr. King is an American historical figure, and as such, may be interpreted and revered and discussed by anyone at anytime.
Dr. King doesn’t belong to the blacks. He belongs to America.
He was also a plagiarist, plagiarizing much of the material to satsfy his degree requirements. Not sure I admire him as much as I am expected to.
Young – if you and I had done what he did for his doctoral degree they would have pulled our degree for plagiarism.
We should all recognize that MLK’s memory relies not on his scholarship but his leadership of a peaceful movement meant to right the wrongs of racism. Such leadership for the most part transcended into other areas of our social and political lives. If he plagiarised some of what the Americans would otherwise not have heard that was his mission. He helped accomplish an overdue goal and was very successful leaving his memory as a positive force for good against evil. Like Washington was not our first white President but was our first American President MLK was not just a black leader against racism rather an American that stood up against racism peacfuly and made America a better place.
Allan –
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/11/us/boston-u-panel-finds-plagiarism-by-dr-king.html
https://unicheck.com/blog/martin-luther-king-plagiarized/
Paul, so what? The leader in the Democratic race for the highest office in the land is a known plaigerizer who isn’t very accomplished at anything except for his dealings with foreign leaders during which time he greatly enriched his family. MLK’s ‘job’ if you can call it that led to desired change. I don’t care about such accusations or accusations of extra marital affairs. I care about what he left us though his ideas are rapidly being destroyed by the left.
On another topic, since you like art and quoted from the NYTImes, I recently was watching one of my artists blow glass. The person explaining to the crowd how these vessels were blown simultaneously with the artistic process asked the crowd what he used to help shape the vessel during the turning process. I was shocked when she said a wet folded up NYTimes because it was one of the few papers with big pages where the print used soy which doesn’t mess up the glass work. It was the first time in many years that I learned of a use of the NYTimes that made it better than other third rate MSM bird cage liners.
Allan……that’s so funny about the Times.
Allan – they must be custom making their ink. Back in the day I worked for a company that delivered ink to printers, including newspapers and later worked for a company that printed paperback books. I delivered ink to the newspapers in 55 gallon drums, however the newsprint paper never allowed the ink to dry.
Allan, I respect your sentiment, but I don’t think it was King’s mission to cheat repeatedly in school, up to and including on his doctoral dissertation.
He merits ‘Doctor’ the way Willie Sutton merits ‘Banker’.
Theft.
It is a stain, a big one.
Young, you are talking about the individual in relationship with yourself and if that was the case with me I would probably agree, but I am looking in a pragmatic fashion where the idea is much bigger than the man. He rang a bell that woke a lot of people up.
We pay homage to a lot of hero’s who if looked at in detail wouldn’t measure up so well.
Allan – MLK did not do it by himself. He was dragged kicking and screaming into the movement. Even then had it not been for the thousands of others, including the FBI, nothing would have happened. Go back and look at old footage of the marches, count the numbers of whites in the marches. Without that white support the movement would have made it.
Women would not have gotten the vote if men had not voted for it. The Civil Rights Movement would not have succeeded without the Republican Party behind it.
“Allan – MLK did not do it by himself.”
Paul, though I don’t think you will, some might fall into the trap set by Obama of believing ‘you didn’t build that by yourself, it was a group effort, all the pieces were there’ (paraphrasing the idea). But despite all the pieces being there very frequently it is one person that picked up the pieces and created the industry or whatever. The notion of trying to downgrade individual performance to promote socialism leads in the direction of economic and social chaos.
Being pragmatic I am more than willing to give MLK a lot of social credit. His name is easy to remember and when remembering the name I remember the good deeds not all the rest that goes along side of them. I’m interested in promoting the good things. I’ll leave it to the historians to draw such conclusions or to people that carefully evaluate the man, but that need not be his public persona.
I think Leopold and Loeb did good things from prison; at least one of them did.
“I think Leopold and Loeb did good things from prison; at least one of them did.”
Yes, Young, you are correct but take note how you said ” I think”. In other words you aren’t that sure but if you ask the public in general who said “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” That will be linked with MLK long after we are gone.
Allan, Maybe, but the black community seems determined to judge people by the color of their skin rather than by the content of their chacter these days. You can see that even in the video clip above. The white girl has no right to her opinion because she is white.
We have ‘progressed’ from white and colored fountains to white and black topics that can be discussed.
They will give King lip service but they prefer to stand that message you quote on its head.
“The white girl…”
That :”girl” is 61 years old.
Anopnymous – I am old enough to call they all kids.
Anonymous, One of the uses of ‘girl’ is informal or colloquial for ‘female’ to distinguish one from a boy.
Would you have preferred for me to say ‘the white female?’?
“Allan, Maybe, but the black community seems determined to judge people by the color of their skin rather than by the content of their chacter these days.”
Young, if you believe that then I think it makes my comments even more important. I don’t think that is true of most blacks but I can’t say I have done any surveys on the subject.
We seem to see and hear what might be outliers. Normal people aren’t interesting enough to get ratings.
My personal experiences seem to be quite different than yours so localities might have an influence on what we see. The left has been stoking tribalism and creating racism so I don’t deny the existence of such problems.
Allan,
Regarding blacks turning MLK’s message on its head, consider the demand for black only housing, clubs, courses, etc. at universities these days. ‘Diversity’ is wonderful on one hand but then the black community in school is demanding what are segregated facilities expressly for the use of black people.
I never thought I would see the black community ally itself with Sheriff ‘Bull’ Connor and Gov. Wallace, but it seems they have done.
Young, we are seeing that side as well but I can’t quantify it based on news headlines.
Yes, Paul, our degrees would have deservedly been pulled. Cheating is cheating. If you cheat you do not deserve the reward.
Every time I hear ‘Dr.’ MLK I think ‘not really’.
As for the ‘Reverend’ Sharpton, that’s another story.
Young – I have not gotten past Tawney Brawley (sp?). He owes millions over that still.
Paul, agreed. Sharpton is racist scum.
Young……yes, and he was a whore too. My point was he’s part of our history, and we, all of us, may say whatever we want about him.
He’s not the exclusive property of the black community.
Cindy Bragg – philander yes, whore no. Whores do it for money. 😉
Paul C……..no receipts were found😁
I just love the way the “progressive” blacks roll out his body, like Jeremy Bentham (is that the Englishman’s name?) when they want to control the dialogue……then ignore his teachings the rest of the time.
Cindy Bragg – receipts might exist. The university who refused to pull his Ph.D. and the family, split his papers. Funny how that happened.
There was a fairly recent report that King stood by and laughed while a fellow ‘reverend’ raped a female member of the congregation.
Whores provide willing service for cash; rapists only take violently.
Whores are relatively honorable.
Dr. King was a free Martin, he doesn’t have to play by the rules with the rest of us. He gets a Disney fast pass…if you know what I mean…er, Free Mason, or should I saw Phree Messen, Son of Light/Light-bearer, or should I blatantly say Lucifer. ⚡⚡⚡. Had to put the lighting bolts
https://www.rosicrucian.com/frc/frceng01.htm
The reference to Phree Messen is from Max Heindel, a Rosicrucian Fellowship, and research into Freemasonry and Catholicism.
But for others, it comes from Gotic Constitutions from the middle ages, with Mason, a French word, Macon, meaning the builder, and Freo, an Old English word, to be unbound. So, we have the Unbound Builder.
And to be accurate, MLK Jr only became a Freemason on site after the tragedy, but his father was allegedly a 23rd degree Prince Hall Mason, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who continued the civil rights movement are known Freemason.
And of course, randomly Jay-Z is:
https://www.google.com/search?q=jay+z+freemason&client=ms-android-att-us&prmd=inv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjY7NP0nozoAhUQCTQIHUWkDkIQ_AUoAXoECBYQAQ&biw=360&bih=560&dpr=4#imgrc=IXfESN_v8nnJqM
If candidates are going to be forced to apologize for their apologists, then you’re moving to the head of the line, comrade Sanders – you and your bernie bros. And the left in general, for the rampant violence and vitriol they subject everyone else to, particularly Trump supporters.
The truth will overcome? When have the Democrats apologized for ANTIFA, who are their supporters? When have they apologized for statements provoking violence made by Maxine Waters, or the latest by chuck Schumer against two Supreme Court Justices?
Am I missing those apologies?
“The identity politics phenomenon sweeping across the Western world is a divide and conquer strategy that prevents the emergence of a genuine resistance to the elites.” Tomasz Pierscionek
This is what is going on here. I think it would be helpful to get rid of the TV and go and make friends with all kinds of people! Work on a community project and have fun with people who don’t think like you do. Then this kind of crap will have no meaning or sway over our lives. It is destructive of human kindness. That is what it was designed for. Reject it now and other than intellectually understanding what it going on, it should have no interest in our lives.
Now that the Trump’s team is fighting the Coronavirus, and Trump is visiting disaster regions of the country, your attention has turned to more interesting areas of national concern. Keep up the good work.
Nina Turner is not the problem. Hilary Rosen is the problem. She is an angry white lesbian who they keep putting on the air. Why? Get rid of her. Get rid of Cuomo too.
Why are we wasting time on two angry women trying to sell their points of view?
Let them fight and we can focus on more interesting things.
They succeeded in involving Turley; no idea who is less “right”, but they got as much time out of me as they ever will.
Idiot status competition between gliberals and leftoids. Ptaah. Let the dead bury the dead.
If you’re interested in practical solutions to problems of peculiar severity in black populations, you don’t vote Democratic.
“If you’re interested in practical solutions to problems of peculiar severity in black populations, you don’t vote Democratic.”
DSS, an excellent practical solution that I believe can be expanded to most normal groups.
Thank you!