On Wednesday's PoliticsNation, MSNBC host Al Sharpton not only accused FNC's Bill O'Reilly and other right-leaning hosts of "distorting" the actions of Democrats on the issue of racial "grievance," but the MSNBC host for the third time in the past couple of weeks recounted and distorted comments O'Reilly made [1] in September 2007 about his trip to a predominantly black restaurant in Harlem.
MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor compared O'Reilly to 1960s segregationist Lester Maddox, a Democratic governor of Georgia known for trying to undermine the Civil Rights Movement.
Sharpton recounted that President Obama and other Democrats are trying to have a "serious conversation about race," playing several clips, and then turned to complaining about reaction from O'Reilly and other right-leaning figures:
Getting the conversation started, the first step in making change. But to have the O'Reilly, Hannity crowd, it was just an excuse to distort.
After playing clips of O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, Sharpton brought up O'Reilly's trip to Sylvia's restaurant in 2007 when the FNC host's comments about the experience were taken out of context by the left to smear him. Sharpton:
The problem is these talkers come at these issues from a strange, odd view of the world. I mean, should we really take advice from someone who said this about visiting a restaurant in Harlem?
Sharpton replayed the clip of O'Reilly from 2007 and then turned to guest Taylor, who began her analysis by invoking Lester Maddox to attack conservatives:
You know, it harkens back to here in Georgia where we had Lester Maddox, you know, who Bill O'Reilly actually reminds me of with some of his speech. You know, Lester Maddox called Dr. King a race hustler, said that he was divisive, said that he was bad for America. And so we're hearing the same kind of rhetoric play itself out today.
Sharpton had previously used the distorted O'Reilly clip last week on Thursday [2] and then again on Friday [3].
After bringing up Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who took part in the Civil Rights Movement, the MSNBC host again brought up O'Reilly's trip to Sylvia's restaurant as he concluded:
I would rather take his word for the fact that we still have things to do than to take the word of someone who was surprised in a restaurant in Harlem that people weren't yelling yo M-Fer, I need some iced tea. I'm only quoting him, and I think his own words define his cultural view and his exposure to all Americans.
Sharpton also bristled at recent comments by FNC's Sean Hannity in which he mocked President Obama for comparing himself to Trayvon Martin, and, ignoring reports of drug abuse [4] by Martin, the MSNBC host portrayed him as someone who "clearly did nothing wrong." Sharpton:
So you're talking about the President part of a gang and all of this and saying, in effect, Trayvon Martin was some kind of drug user upon his death. I mean, yet they want to call other people names and when you can be that insensitive to a young man who clearly did nothing wrong and was killed.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Wednesday, July 31, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON: Coming up, some on the right continue polluting and
distorting an honest conversation on race. I'll show you why their
lectures aren't worth listening to.
(...)
SHARPTON: We're starting to see real conversation on race and justice
in America, but some are distorting and mocking it. Anyone want to take a
wild guess who it might be? That's next.
(...)
SHARPTON: President Obama has called on the nation to have a serious
conversation on race, and we're starting to see that happen, with
Democrats in Congress holding a hearing on race and justice in America.
(...)
SHARPTON: Getting the conversation started, the first step in making
change. But to have the O'Reilly, Hannity crowd, it was just an excuse
to distort.
BILL O'REILLY, FROM FNC'S THE O'REILLY FACTOR, CLIP #1: Nancy Pelosi
going to the aid of the grievance industry: That is the subject of this
evening's "Talking Points Memo." Today, the House Democratic Steering
and Policy Committee, headed by Mrs. Pelosi, held hearings entitled, "A
Conversation on Race and Justice in America."
O'REILLY CLIP #2: The problem with this kind of propaganda is that many
people believe it, especially overseas where they don't understand what
the race hustle is all about.
SHARPTON: The same stuff we've heard the right spew for weeks. They can't stand the idea of honestly addressing these issues.
RUSH LIMBAUGH: Obama is all about creating chaos and upsetting the order of things.
GLENN BECK: The man who was supposed to unite the United States of
America is an expert on the most divisive form of politics in existence
today.
SHARPTON: The problem is these talkers come at these issues from a
strange, odd view of the world. I mean, should we really take advice
from someone who said this about visiting a restaurant in Harlem?
O'REILLY, FROM THE RADIO FACTOR: There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming M-Fer, I want more iced tea.
JUAN WILLIAMS, FNC: Please.
O'REILLY: You know, I mean, everybody was, it was like going into an
Italian restaurant in an all white suburb in the sense of people were
sitting there and they were ordering and having fun and there wasn't any
kind of craziness at all.
SHARPTON: Or would you listen when this guy calls someone divisive?
BECK: This President, I think, has exposed himself as a guy over and
over and over again who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people-
SHARPTON: And advice from this guy?
LIMBAUGH: In Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the
black kids cheering, yay, right on, right on, right on, right on.
SHARPTON: Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. Clearly, these
guys do, but they have some knowledge, I would hope, at least they
should have, about at least what they're talking about.
(...)
SHARPTON: Goldie, they mock the conversation but have no credibility on race issues. What's your reaction?
GOLDIE TAYLOR, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: You know, it harkens back to here in
Georgia where we had Lester Maddox, you know, who Bill O'Reilly actually
reminds me of with some of his speech. You know, Lester Maddox called
Dr. King a race hustler, said that he was divisive, said that he was bad
for America. And so we're hearing the same kind of rhetoric play itself
out today. I think that it's unfortunate, really, that we're at a time
in this country where we've advanced so far in terms of human and civil
rights in this country -- and, yes, we do have quite a ways to go --
it's quite unfortunate to find these kinds of voices really sort of
holding that conversation back, keeping it off the table and keeping us
more and more divided.
(...)
SHARPTON: And you're a race hustler and you won't deal with issues like
black crime or like things in the family when, you know, Goldie, when a
young 15-year-old black girl was killed earlier this year in Chicago,
Hadiya Pendleton, on this show months before Bill O'Reilly then
discovered violence in Chicago, two days after she was killed we had her
mother on this show to talk about it. Watch this.
(...)
SHARPTON: I mean, we dealt with that issue right there with Hadiya. The
First Lady went to Hadiya's funeral. They were guests. Fine woman you
just saw. They were guests at the President's State of the Union. We
dealt with this issue. We dealt last year when people talked about
Newtown, we said, let's talk about Newtown and Chicago. They discovered
it only just so they seemingly didn't have to deal with the real issues
around the Zimmerman trial that had nothing to do with what we all were
talking about in terms of crime in places like Chicago. So there's a
strategy here to distract.
TAYLOR: Well, you know, I think, Reverend Al, we can't legislate how
someone feels in their heart. We can't legislate away bigotry or racism.
We can't legislate away those prejudices. What we can do, though, is to
keep those things from playing themselves out in public policy. And so
we can keep them from drying up resources for education. We can keep
them-
SHARPTON: Right.
TAYLOR: -from over-policing our neighborhoods and over-criminalizing
our children and creating a school-to-prison pipeline. And so we can
keep them from passing onerous or draconian voter suppression laws. And
so while I cannot legislate what happens in the heart of mankind, I can
legislate how that plays out and how that keeps people from reaching
their full potential in these United States. And I think that's our real
job here. For their part, you know, this is about economics.
SHARPTON: Yeah.
TAYLOR: This is about driving fear and getting more viewers to tune in every night.
(...)
SHARPTON: When the President was addressing the country on race,
Hannity even managed to smear Trayvon Martin, a dead young man, while he
was dealing with the President's address. Watch this.
SEAN HANNITY, FNC: Well, now the President is saying Trayvon could have
been me 35 years ago. Oh, that's, this is a particularly helpful
comment. Is that the President's admitting that I guess because what? He
was part of the Choom gang and he smoked pot and he did a little blow?
SHARPTON: I mean, so you're talking about the President part of a gang
and all of this and saying in effect Trayvon Martin was some kind of
drug user upon his death. I mean, yet they want to call other people
names and when you can be that insensitive to a young man who clearly
did nothing wrong and was killed.
(...)
SHARPTON: You know, Goldie, John Lewis is the only surviving member of
the main big six sponsors of the march on Washington 50 years ago. He's
the only left that spoke there. He'll be speaking at our march in August
of this year. Let me show you what he said today about what we face 50
years later.
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): Violence, poverty, hunger, long-term
unemployment, homelessness, voting rights, and the need to protect human
dignity. We have come a great distance, but we are not finished yet.
For a struggle is not a struggle that lasts one day, one week, one
month, or one year. It is a struggle of a lifetime to build a beloved
community, but to redeem the soul of America.
SHARPTON: So John Lewis, who was beaten on Edmund Pettus Bridge 48
years ago to lead to the Voting Rights Act, who was the speaker with Dr.
King and others 50 years ago and will be standing with us now. I would
rather take his word for the fact that we still have things to do than
to take the word of someone who was surprised in a restaurant in Harlem
that people weren't yelling yo M-Fer, I need some iced tea. I'm only
quoting him, and I think his own words define his cultural view and his
exposure to all Americans.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center