June 12th, 2008
FOX Does It Again…
How much longer are we going to let FOX News get away with their constant “slips” regarding Barack Obama? After several well-publicized incidents earlier in the campaign in which the network “inadvertently” confused Obama’s name with that of a certain terrorist leader, the past few days have seen a flurry of inappropriate jokes and jabs.
Yesterday, a FOX News “chyron” (those are the little headlines that pop up on the screen while a story is being discussed) about Michelle Obama read: “Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama’s Baby Mama!” As the New York Times points out, the African-American slang term “baby mama” is defined as “the mother of a man’s child, who is not his wife nor (in most cases) his current or exclusive partner.” That’s a slick one, managing to smear Obama, his wife and children and “liberals” all at the same time, while also highlighting Obama’s race and carrying just the right whiff of minstrel-show buffoonery… all in eight words! It’s quite impressive, in a sick sort of way.
Six months ago, I might have chalked this up to harmless ignorance in the copy room. But it’s becoming a familiar story. The Times blog entry continues:
Earlier this week, the Fox News anchor E.D. Hill had apologized for raising the possibility that the Obamas affectionate fist bump during the senator’s victory rally in St. Paul on June 3 was “a terrorist fist jab.” Two weeks prior, the Fox News analyst Liz Trotta said she regretted making a joke about a possible assassination of Mr. Obama.
Her mea culpa followed that of former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas a week earlier after he made a similar crack at a gathering of the National Rifle Association.
In other news, Fox News Channel announced today that it was hiring Mr. Huckabee as a contributor.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that these supposedly isolated incidents are part of a pattern, a subliminal campaign of fear-mongering and rabble-rousing meant to make Obama look too clownish, too scary, and, yes, too black to be President. I’d say that FOX should be ashamed of itself for engaging in such behavior, but they’re well beyond shame at this point.
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Comments...
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I remember watching that fist-bump and thinking it was really sweet. It was the kind of thing a couple in love does, sort of a private way of saying “I love you” in public. A terrorist gesture? I’m afraid to think just how much lower the media can go.
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