According to a MSNBC host, the racist outbursts of the '70s character Archie Bunker can be felt in opposition to the President's amnesty plan. Ninety two year-old producer Norman Lear appeared on Monday's edition of The Cycle and journalist Blake Zeff [1] sneered, "I think Archie Bunker still resonates today because you still have people in America who think the way Archie did."
Earlier, fellow co-host Abby Huntsman noted that people "saw Archie Bunker as a racist." Zeff added, "You look at immigration, the kind of debate we're having right now in this country. What would Archie have thought of the Tea Party?" [MP3 audio here [2].]
Lear, owing to his affinity for the All in the Family character and the late actor Carroll O'Connor, insisted that Bunker wouldn't like the Tea Party:
NORMAN LEAR: Archie would have denied the Tea Party. You know? He would have started a coffee party or something. But he was not a hater and that was the secret of Archie Bunker. He was not the a hater. He was -- he was much more afraid of progress than he was of bigotry.
A transcript of the November 17 exchange is below:
3:50
ABBY HUNTSMAN: Many people, though, saw Archie Bunker as a racist and I wonder if that character would survive on a TV show today.
...
BLAKE ZEFF (Salon editor and MSNBC guest host): I was just going to say, I think Archie Bunker still resonates today because you still have people in America who think the way Archie did and talked the way Archie did. It's not an issue that's gone away. You look at immigration, the kind of debate we're having right now in this country. What would Archie have thought of the Tea Party?
NORMAN LEAR: Archie would not -- Archie would have denied the Tea Party. You know? He would have started a coffee party or something. But he was not a hater and that was the secret of Archie Bunker. He was not the a hater. He was -- he was much more afraid of progress than he was of bigotry.
ABBY HUNTSMAN: That's what it is. Afraid of change.
LEAR: Afraid of change.
HUNTSMAN: Absolutely.
LEAR: Black people moving into the neighborhood. "Wait a minute. That never happened before. How can we live with that?"
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter. [3]