On Face the Nation Michael Eric Dyson Compares Paul Ryan to Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling
Appearing as a guest on CBS’s Sunday program Face the Nation, liberal Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson used the Donald Sterling controversy to make an unnecessary swipe at Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Dyson claimed: “I see a relationship between what Paul Ryan says when he talks about inner-city people who are urban with all the code words being articulated and the kind of Cliven Bundy expression to the kind of Donald Sterling.”
Dyson, who is a regular guest on MSNBC, made his hateful comments in response to moderator Bob Schieffer wondering why it took so long for the NBA to take action against Sterling.
Dyson responded:
I think, look, it's difficult to prove implicit racism or comments made in private that don't necessarily bleed to the public. Although we know that he settled a pretty large lawsuit. But to really move the needle on race in that regard by holding somebody accountable means that usually has to flare up in the situation that has occurred now. Because people say well race is a card. People play the race card it's not a card it's a condition. More likely a continuum.
No one on the panel, including Schieffer himself, bothered to condemn Dyson’s slanderous remarks, and allowed him to attack Ryan without question.
Unsurprisingly, this was not Dyson’s first time comparing Congressman Ryan to the that of Cliven Bundy’s racist rant. On MSNBC, Dyson recently remarked, “I’m not calling him a racist -- but I don't see a great deal of difference between Paul Ryan's comments about lazy inner city people who really just don't want to work, and this guy suggesting that they abort their babies, and that they somehow instead of picking cotton and slavery, are being subsidized by the government.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS's Face the Nation
May 4, 2014
BOB SCHIEFFER: I'd be interested, why do you all think it took so long, apparently this guy’s got quite a record. I mean --
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Right. I think, look, it's difficult to prove implicit racism or comments made in private that don't necessarily bleed to the public. Although we know that he settled a pretty large lawsuit. But to really move the needle on race in that regard by holding somebody accountable means that usually has to flare up in the situation that has occurred now. Because people say well race is a card. People play the race card it's not a card it's a condition. More likely a continuum. And I see a relationship between what Paul Ryan says when he talks about inner-city people who are urban with all the code words being articulated and the kind of Cliven Bundy expression to the kind of Donald Sterling. Only when there is a kind of conflagration and there’s a flash point do we then galvanize our energies either pro or con and we begin to talk about what’s happening here. So I think Donald Sterling has never been held accountable in quite this public a fashion.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
