@Thom_Hartmann blog: Conservative Media's Attempt at October Surprise
by Thom Hartmann,posted Oct 3 2012 1:51PM
On Tuesday, Fox so-called News, the Drudge Report, and the Daily Caller threw together a rather pathetic - and racist - attempt to create an October Surprise against President Obama. And in the end – they failed miserably. Yes – the kings of the rightwing media bubble released what they called “Obama’s Other Race Speech” yesterday evening, which they promised would create controversy and unleash accusations of racism against the President.
It did neither. That’s because the so-called bombshell video was already well-known and had been publicly available on the web ever since he gave the speech 5 years ago in 2007. The video shows then-Senator Barack Obama speaking at Hampton University in front of a largely African American crowd.
In the speech, Obama accurately pointed out that when Hurricane Andrew hit mostly-white parts of Florida, the federal government waived the requirement for local matching funds for rebuilding, but when Katrina hit mostly-black New Orleans, the Bush Administration still wanted the city to pay the matching funds. And to Fox News, that was a declaration of a race war.
Oddly – Fox News already aired the speech back in 2007, believing that it would cost Obama the Democratic nomination. It didn’t – so now they’re dusting the video off again five years later to try again.
The Mitt Romney campaign is denying any involvement in the video re-release. White House reporter at Mediate, Tommy Christopher, best summed up the whole fiasco when he wrote, “This will be remembered as the day Sean Hannity, Matt Drudge, Tucker Carlson, and much of the right wing prepared to board their white resentment mothership, only to have it crash and burn.”
Listen to the Thom Hartmann Program live Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.
For over a week, Republicans have refused to focus on anything but so-called scandal. And, it turns out, that's exactly the way they want it. On Thursday, the Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, sent a letter to...
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have made their point – they hate Obamacare. And, just in case anyone didn't get the message the first 36 times they made that point, they're about to waste even more taxpayer...
It turns out the IRS was investigating conservative organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Duh! And the TSA has been looking at people seeking to get on airplanes. None of the conservative organizations that the IRS was "targeting" were...
The Associated Press has accused the Justice Department of "massive and unprecedented intrusion." That's according to one of the AP's top executives, after learning that the government secretly acquired two months of the news...
It seems that the Republicans won't stop until their attacks over Benghazi are as vicious as the attack in Benghazi. The Republicans would have you believe that the Obama administration altered the talking points on Benghazi out of political...
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, Monsanto has the right to control our food supply. In a unanimous ruling released this morning, the nine Justices sided with the agricultural giant, and held that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto's...
Yesterday, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives postponed all floor votes so they could hold their ninth hearing about Benghazi. Instead of working on any number of pressing issues effecting Americans, Republicans spent nine...
Oh, you crazy Americans! Here you are, obsessed with guns, thinking you need them to stop some leering thug from invading your home and taking everything you have. Truth be told, you don't have to worry about that nearly as much as, say, 20...
Now the abducted women are back with their families. Maybe now people will stop thinking of Cleveland as the butt of jokes and start thinking of it as a really weird and creepy place. This is a story straight out of… wow, I don't think...
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew appears to have the right ideas. But, it doesn't seem like any of our elected leaders are listening. On Monday, Secretary Lew sent letters to members of the House financial services committee, urging them to...
