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It took a few days ... but ESPN finally figured out that their 20-year partnership with Hank Williams, Jr. couldn't survive the terrible comparisons that Williams made on national television between President Barack Obama and one of the most evil people in the history of the world, Adolph Hitler.
ESPN wrote, "We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue."
Williams saw it differently.
"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run."
Methinks that Williams was simply a drunken redneck fool when he was interviewed on that Fox News show. He thought he was with friends and could talk in public about our president in the same way that he must talk in private. He quickly learned that he went too far with his comments that compared President Obama with Adolph Hitler. I rarely give Fox News credit ... but the anchors who were interviewing Williams were IMMEDIATELY abhorred by his 'Hitler' comments.
I'm glad that ESPN acted. Are you?
Country singer Hank Williams was on a morning television show the other day where he thought it was a good idea to compare President Obama to Adolph Hitler.
Fox Anchor Gretchen Carlson asked Williams who he liked in the GOP race, which he replied “Nobody.” A shocked Steve Doocy exclaimed, “Nobody!?”
This triggered Williams to bash Obama and Boehner’s golf game and compare the president to Hitler. All three Fox and Friends anchors sat nonplussed in utter bewilderment.
”Yeah, I don’t understand that analogy, actually,” responded a perplexed Brian Kilmeade.
“Well, I’m glad you don’t, brother, because a lot of people do,” Williams snapped. “You know, they’re the enemy. They’re the enemy.” Kilmeade was thrown for a loop. “Who’s the enemy?”
“Obama!” Williams thundered.
The Fox News anchor tried to step back from the comparison of the president to the Nazi leader. “I just want to say that we disavow any of those comments or analogies that he’s made, at least I’m going to say that, disavow the analogy between Hitler and the president.”
“Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme – but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me – how ludicrous that pairing was.
They’re polar opposites and it made no sense. They don’t see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President.
Every time the media brings up the Tea Party it’s painted as racist and extremists – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons… Working class people are hurting – and it doesn’t seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change.”
I find it interesting that Hank Williams tried to deflect responsibility for his own stupidity by (a) blaming the media and (b) using the race card. Williams brought this shyt-storm down on himself. There was no mention of race by anyone in the interview. The idea of race must have been rollin' around in his head. It seems that Williams and other Tea Party types are becoming bolder and bolder. They feel that they can say and do whatever is on their mind without consequence. Williams learned this week that there are consequences when you go too far!
How toxic do you have to be in order for Fox News to say that they don't want you anymore? Glenn Beck found out today when Fox News indicated that they would not renew their contract for his TV show ... or as I choose to read it -- 'Glenn Beck, YOU'RE FIRED!'
Villagers recall the energy that we put into the ColorOfChange.org campaign to encourage over 300 companies to boycott the Glenn Beck television show. Over 285,000 of us signed petitions and made phone calls to Beck's advertisers ... and they stayed away over the past two years.
There are at least three reasons that Glenn Beck is off the air:
Content - Beck continues to have shows devoted to race-baiting ("Obama has a deep-seated hatred of white people"), conspiracy theorizing, odd stories about the impact of Islam religion on American government and ancient Babylon. Beck's show often is unwatchable. He truly seems crazy.
Incitement to Violence - Beck calls himself the "progressive hunter" and often his followers are willing to carry out his orders in real life.
Finances - When you lose over 300 advertisers ... that has gotta hurt! Beck’s lack of advertisers made him a financial liability for Fox, and it’s clear that this was a driving factor in his departure from Fox.
Glenn Beck now joins Dr. Laura Schlessinger as media personalities with racist attitudes is no longer tolerated in polite company. Both will be remembered for their failures that led to their removal from the big stage.
Glenn Beck is now free to try to re-invent himself -- however, methinks that he will always be known as a hate-monger who is willing to say ANYTHING in an effort to create racial fear and tension for political and personal gain.
On Monday, Andrew Breitbart (a blogger who works closely with FOX News and has a long history of launching deceptive, racially charged smear campaigns) posted a deceptively edited video of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod speaking at an NAACP function. The video shows Sherrod telling a story about how she once was asked for help from a White farmer, and how she didn't "give him the full force of what I could do" to help him, because of his race.
Breitbart touted the video as evidence that the NAACP and the Obama administration tolerated racial discrimination against White people, saying that it showed Sherrod's "federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions." Breitbart's doctored video and false storyline moved quickly to FOX News, where on-air personalities called for Sherrod's firing.
The truth is that Sherrod was telling a 24-year old story about her work for a non-profit organization whose mission was to help Black farmers. Discrimination against Black farmers was rampant, and she described how she was first reluctant when approached by a White farmer named Roger Spooner for help (Sherrod also says that her father was killed by a White farmer 45 years ago). But after seeing that no one wanted to help Spooner, she worked to save his farm, and eventually became good friends with his family.
Yesterday, Roger Spooner said that Sherrod saved their farm and kept them out of bankruptcy. He told CNN, "I don't know what brought up the racist mess. They just want to stir up some trouble, it sounds to me in my opinion."
The NAACP was snookered. They joined the attack on Shirley Sherrod based on the the edited video. They should have simply watched the full speech before they rushed to judgement. The full video is shown below:
It took less than 24 hours for the lies to be debunked. But by that time, it was too late — Sherrod was forced to quit.
Once the truth became known, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a statement saying that whether or not the smear campaign against Sherrod was based in lies, it was necessary to fire her because the "controversy" would make it hard for her to do her job.
The Obama administration is essentially saying that they will always back down in the face of dishonest, race-baiting smear campaigns launched by right-wing propagandists. They've ended the career of someone who did nothing wrong, and by handing a victory to the people who launched this deception, the administration is encouraging them to launch even more smears. All to avoid "controversy." It's pathetic, it's shameful, and it has to stop.
It's not the first time this has happened. Several members of the Obama administration have lost their jobs or been demoted, and nominees to cabinet positions have either stepped down or withdrawn their nominations after becoming the target of smear campaigns launched by FOX News and Breitbart.
It's bad enough that we have to fight the constant smear campaigns and appeals to racial paranoia from FOX and the right-wing media. But it's completely shameful and outrageous for the Obama administration to throw innocent public servants under the bus just to avoid having to fight back against the lies.
Please join us in calling on the White House to immediately give Shirley Sherrod her job back, and to stop bowing to the will of right-wing propaganda artists.
I give credit Fox News for the fair and balanced manner in which they analyze this case of a Polish man electrocuted at a Canadian airport.
I encourage you to watch the video:
What are your thoughts after you see the video and listen to both sides of the argument? Should these police officers be fired? Should they face criminal charges for killing this man?
Rupert Murdoch has been ducking any follow-up questions on the subject. ColorOfChange has over 135,000 signatures on a petition asking Murdoch to either say clearly that he meant what he said and that he stands by Beck; or he should acknowledge there's a problem with what Beck said and take responsibility for stopping the continued race-baiting at News Corp and Fox.
But Murdoch has refused to respond.
Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch spoke at the Federal Trade Commission as part of a conference on the future of journalism. ColorOfChange organizers and others in the audience confronted Murdoch about his comments and asked for an explanation, but as you can see, Murdoch made a quick, silent exit.
Even so, I was surprised to learn that Beck feels no shame about diminishing the impact of the Holocaust by comparing the death of over 6 million Jews with criticism of Fox News [SOURCE].
Check out what he said on his radio show earlier today:
BECK: When they're done with Fox, and you decide to speak out on something. The old, "first they came for the Jews, and I wasn't Jewish." When you have a question, and you believe that something should be asked, they're a -- totally fine with you right now; they have no problem with you.
When they're done with Fox and talk radio, do you really think they're going to leave you alone if you want to ask a tough question? Do you really think that a man who has never had to stand against tough questions and has as much power as he does -- do you really believe after he takes out the number one news network, do you really think that this man is then not going to turn on you? That you and your little organization is going to cause him any hesitation at all not to take you out?
If you believe that, you should open up a history book, because you've missed the point of many brutal dictators. You missed the point on how they always start.
What are your thoughts as you listen to Glenn Beck's latest rantings?
Glenn Beck simply went too far. The Fox News host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
ColorOfChange.org called on its 600,000-plus members to sign a petition urging companies who advertise on Glenn Beck to cut off their advertising support of his work. Since then, more than 280,000 members have responded to the call by signing a petition directed at advertisers.
Today, we learned that another 19 companies agreed to join the boycott of the Beck Show. The impact continues to be felt by Glenn Beck as we now see 80 companies pulled their advertising from his show. These advertisers are:
I suspect that Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the other wingnuts that mobilize and motivate the Republican Party will think twice before they go buckwild on the President of the United States in public.
Farmers spokesperson says, "We advertise on Fox News Channel, which places our ads in the Network programming, and we ceased placing on Glenn Beck a week ago."
We have been reminded by village voices that just because advertisers pull ads from Beck's show doesn't mean the network will lose any money. A Fox News spokesperson told the Daily News yesterday that "advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other programs on the network so there has been no revenue lost."
Folks can spin this in any direction that they want. Bottomline is that Beck called our nation's president a 'racist' and he is paying a price for it. My hope is that all villagers will sign the online petition in support of our efforts to boycott any corporation that advertises on the Glenn Beck show.
Sean Hannity is unnerved by the success of President Barack Obama. That is the only explanation I can come up with for the dirty tricks Hannity is playing on his Fox News audience in recent weeks.
Why does Hannity have so much disrespect and disregard for the intelligence and integrity of his audience?What do you think causes him to be so dishonest in his broadcast when it comes to President Obama and other progressives? I think that he is simply scared of having Obama in the White House for the next 4-8 years.
It is almost comical how transparent Fox News is when it comes to smearing Barack Obama. Check out this video prepared by the folks at Brave New Films.
Trotta: "I am so sorry about what happened yesterday. In a lame attempt at humor I really just fell all over myself in making it appear that I wished Barack Obama harm or any other candidate for that matter. I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I’ve offended. It’s a very colorful political season and many of us are making mistakes and saying things we wish we hadn’t said".
Villagers, her apology is not enough. Her comments and behaviour went beyond the line. Fox News needs to step up and fire her. Period. Until these types of mean-spirited comments are followed up with consequences ... they will continue to happen.
And if these comments about Obama being assassinated continue to be given public viewing on our television sets ... how long before some lunatic tries to bring the act to fruition?
Did you see Liz Trotta, former New York Bureau Chief of the right-wing newspaper The Washington Times, express her desire to see Barack Obama be assassinated?
It is clear that this level of discourse is absolutely unacceptable. Call Fox News at 1-888-369-4762 and let them know that openly desiring the assassination of a Presidential candidate is absolutely unacceptable, and Liz Trotta should be fired for her remarks.
I don't watch Fox News very much because it is difficult to stomach their obvious bias against Barack Obama. In fact, you may recall that I asked you to sign an online petition demanding that the media stop spreading the 'FOX virus'. Brave New Worlds created the video below that uses humor to show the FOXification of the mainstream media. You can see how FOX guests and personalities distort and misrepresent the statements of Obama and those around him, only to have that pesky "liberal" media pick up the smears and keep on running!
It amazes me how much we let Fox News get away with as it relates to its treatment of Barack Obama. Hopefully, the citizens of Pennsylvania won't be hoodwinked or bamboozled.
Drumbeats from Pam's House Blend directed us to this video clip of Chris Wallace calling out the biased reporting on Barack Obama by the folks at Fox and Friends. Props to Chris Wallace for being an honest journalist.
Fox News Radio host Tom Sullivan took a call from a listener who stated that when listening to Barack Obama speak, "it harkens back to when I was younger and I used to watch those deals with Hitler, how he would excite the crowd and they'd come to their feet and scream and yell."Sullivan then played a "side-by-side comparison" of a Hitler speech and an Obama speech. Sullivan mimicked the crowd during both speeches, yelling, "Yay! Yay!"
When a later caller complained that Sullivan was "denigrating" Obama with the comparison, Sullivan said he wouldn't play it again, then begged: "Can I, please, one more time? Just one more time? Then I won't do it again. ... Until the next time."
Judge for yourself. Here is the audio clip provided by Media Matters.
I call on all Villagers to take action and let these fools know that it is unacceptable to compare any candidate for President of the United States to Adolph Hitler:
Barack Obama will not participate in a presidential debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus scheduled to air on Fox News in September. In other words, he decided not to dance with the devil.
