 by Paul Waldman |
Mitt Romney, you'll be glad to know, does not actually believe that Barack Obama isn't an American. Sure, he might joke about birth certificates and say, "I just don't think that President Obama understands America," but he knows where Obama was born. In the same way, Romney may charge falsely that Obama has "gutted" welfare reform and eliminated work requirements from the program, then have his campaign produce multiple ads repeating this lie, essentially telling voters that Obama is taking money from hard-working people like you and sending it to shiftless welfare recipients. And sure, the Republican Party has a long history of racially coded attacks that use issues like welfare and crime to tell white voters that Democrats are the party of undeserving blacks. And sure, these latest ads fit seamlessly into that history like a train car slotting into its track. But Mitt Romney personally doesn't hate people on the basis of their race. So what's the harm?
Well Mitt, here's the answer. Voters have to judge candidates not by what they claim to believe but by what they do. Saying you aren't a birther isn't an excuse for birther-baiting, just as saying you aren't a racist isn't an excuse for race-baiting. And Mitt Romney is baiting with all his might.
The Republican base eats up lines about Obama's birth certificate and about him being foreign, as Romney knows well. He also knows about the rancid tide of race-baiting that conservative media figures have drowned their fans in over the last four years, from Glenn Beck charging that Obama "has a deep-seated hatred of white people" to Rush Limbaugh telling his listeners that Obama's administration is all about delivering "payback" to "white Europeans" (Google "Obamacare" and "reparations" if you want to see where conservatives are coming from on this).
Nevertheless, Romney could have left the racially-coded attacks aside and waged his campaign on different ground. Instead, he picked up that twisted, burning baton handed by Nixon (with his "Southern strategy") to Reagan (with his "welfare queens") and then to Bush the father (with Willie Horton), and then to Newt Gingrich (with "midnight basketball" and Obama the "food stamp president"), and along the way to so many other Republicans at every level, and decided see if he can carry it to the finish line before it eats through his soul.
The only way to get Romney to stop would be for the media to call him out clearly enough that the costs of the strategy started to outweigh the benefits. But that's not likely to happen, because most of the media doesn't know how to talk about this. They all know what Romney is doing, but they also know that even the suggestion that Romney is race-baiting will be met by conservatives with faux-outrage and accusations that the "liberal media" has it in for the Republican candidate. There's just enough vagueness in what Romney says to afford him deniability. So long as Republicans stay unified in denying that any thought of appealing to racist impulses ever crossed their minds, they'll have the conventions of "objective" journalism on their side. Those conventions dictate that whenever there's a disagreement, both sides are equally valid. So Democrats will say Romney is race-baiting, and Republicans will say the real racism is false accusations of race-baiting like this one. Obama himself—always conscious that, as Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic recently wrote, "acceptance depends not just on being twice as good but on being half as black"—will hesitate to call Romney's strategy what it is. Since coverage is driven above all by what the candidates themselves choose to emphasize, that reticence will help keep the question of race off the front page, leaving it to people who are allowed to express their opinions (like Chris Matthews) to speak the truth, while Romney is free to hammer away with his television ads.
In the absence of a media push-back, the only thing that might stop him is his own conscience. Which is to say—if the campaign thus far is any indication—not much at all.
Paul Waldman is a Contributing Editor with The American Prospect magazine and the author or co-author of a number of books about media and politics, including The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists, and the Stories That Shape the Political World. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and many other newspapers and magazines.
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Apparently, many important journalists have forgotten this tenet, as expressed by the American Journalism Review: "It’s vital for news outlets to aggressively call out presidential campaigns when they distort the truth."
Others besides Chris Matthews are "allowed to express their opinions."
Is it a lack of conscience or a blurry brain? Can the candidate be that duplicitous or are we running a dunderhead?
You answered your own question. He's a dunderhead.
Bring Phil Donohue back on "mainstream media" television and get rid of Jerry Springer.
We need more Chris Mathews' in this world. From the moment the Repubs started talking about "taking our country back", I always wanted to answer "You mean from that black man in the White House?" If all of us don't speak out against the veiled racism comments, they we don't have a leg to stand on.
This is a distortion from the leftist media, NOT the candidates themselves, that afford ideas such as "birther-baiting" and "race-baiting". This has nothing to do with color - it never has; unless of course you ask Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Chris Matthews. The left uses ambiguity to mold Romney's comments into something you guys can go up in arms about. This is getting out of control. By "taking our country back", we don't mean getting a black man out of the White House - he could be white green our purple, and he'd still be a terrible president. What this comes down to is getting a president into office that is worth his weight; somebody who refuses to allow our debt climb any higher. Nice try - see you in November.
Your assessment is untrue and you know it. If you do not you are awfully young or refuse to see the truth.
Mainstream media is fixed and Americans know it. American political news media has an approval rating of 10%. The big shots who buy off the politicians also provide the media gravy train. Media knows who butters their bread and they won't bite the hand that feeds them. Corporate media is corporate. Gobama!
The perfect illustration of the point of this article (which is spot on, I believe) was seeing how uncomfortable the rest of the panel got when Matthews took Priebus to task for the GOP's relentless race-baiting, not only in Mitt's most recent comment but all through the past four years and especially the primaries.
Yeah! Mika and Joe couldn't wait to get to the break! I'm so glad Chris Matthews has the courage to finally talk about the racism in the Republican campaign. Saturday morning, "Up with Chris Hayes" dedicated most of the show to racism in Republican politics. Finally, the discussion is beginning to crack open. A great article by Paul Waldman.
If American voters are waiting for the GOP candidate to develop a conscience, then democracy is in serious trouble. How did so many of you get so stupid?
First, only racist race bait. A person who isn't racist won't even go near the subject, knowing it's too volatile and, at the very least widens the fissure in our society. At worse, can destroy it. The Fourth Estate, journalists & reporters in all media, have a mandate, a duty and a responsibility to inform the public. But, the media, largely has been bought & sold. An informed public protects our democracy. There is a failure in the system when lying ads are allowed to run as if they are true. That is without a qualifier, or a disclaimer to cue the public that what is about to air is a lie. So caveat emptor is applied to the truth? It too is just a commodity with a shelf life of seconds, minutes? The problem is that people like Rupert Murdock control too much of the media, so what we are getting is a stream of misinformation that re-enforces their view point and their influence. Murdock even gave Sarah Palin an outlet for her misguided views. Where are the Edward R. Murrows and the Walter Cronkites of today. There are good journalist out there, but what's needed is journalist who will risk their jobs to uphold the truth and call out these liars on the spot. Note how moderators were intimidated off point during the Republican primary and allowed lies, ignorance, rowdy crowds and groupthink to prevail.
I rather like Paul Waldman. He writes with such clarity, and provides stimulating thought to each reader of his work. Thank you, Paul!
Chris Matthews is not the only one calling them out. Rachael and Ed. Schultz do as well, but I wonder if they are lecturing the choir. Perhaps we need to write to the main stream folks and remind them of their responsibility to the American people.
What I am wondering is why have these Repub Governors/legislators been allowed to engage in voter suppression. Seems to me their blatant voter ID laws are clearly racial and the Justice department needs to do more. Call a press conference and get tough. Threaten criminal charges. I'll bet the main stream media would take notice then.
They have played the race card the birther card, and what ever to smear Obama and it will not work ! The fact that Romney aligned himself with them speaks volumes. Then when Scott Pelley ask him about the birth-er remark he shook the Etch Sketch and told another lie! The disrespect that has been shown from the Republicans and Tea Party is awful ! They can not run on there own ticket so they have to tell lies to tear Obama down. At the convention they will twist and turn like a worm on the hook. Its not the party of the grand old flag but the party of lies ,and deceit ! The party of the 1% who will dismantle everything to make a profit and pay as little tax as they can get away with !
On July 12,2012 President Obama sent a memo granting a waiver regarding the work requirements in the 1996 Welfare to Work Act to DHHS. Obama did not have the legal authority to grant ANY waiver of ANY portion of the Act as described in section 407 of the Act. The Act barred ANY waivers to the required work portion of the Act to deny the Executive Branch the ability to modify and thus weaken the work requirements. Those that have doubts can read section 407 of the Act online for themselves.
This has become a very bad joke MSNBC is trying to make any criticism of Obama paramount to playing the race card. You cant talk about welfare, you cant talk about food stamps, you cant try to cut down on voter fraud hell you cant even make a joke the same joke that Obama has made himself. All this race card talk is just a lame attempt by MSNBC to make anyone who criticises Obama a racist. Its the very reason McCain lost is because he was so scarred that if he talked about Obama and is radical past and his policies he would have people like MSNBC label him as racist. Romney is smart enough not to fall for that trap he isn't going to allow some liberal news organization force him not to criticise Obama over the fear of being called a racist by them because if he allowed them to get their way he couldn't say anything critical about Obama
If anyone is the racist it is MSNBC why is it when the subject of food stamps, welfare and voter ID is discussed MSNBC automatically assume its about the Black Community. Why does MSNBC stereotype the Black Community as the food stamp welfare recipients and any discussion about welfare and food stamps is direct at them
Pam 52 kudos to you. Google: "Lying for the Lord". It shows why Romney thinks it's okay to lie with impunity and run a lying ad re: Medicare, Welfare, & all else then state: I am Mitt Romney and I approve this message.
Great article, Paul! And, THANK you Chris Matthews for calling out the blatant racism in Republican politics. I wish Mika and Joe would be more courageous on "Morning Joe." "Up With Chris Hayes" dedicated most of his Saturday show to the same issue. Hayes invited a great panel and the discussion was excellent!
I don't disagree with the news letter written, but we know wht ex Gov. Romney is up to, and it is a shame. As a man of a darker skin, and one close to the same age as the President. We all that are of darker skin, especially us men, should know that their is a lot on this mans shoulders. If we go back to how we were raised, we would understand. If we go back to various movements in black history, we would understand. And if we go back to just before slavery was abolished, we would begin to see that the President is not looking to fight against race, but to try and unite the races. This man has made history and being the first has a lot riding on it. In closing this, I am not against the President, nor ex Gov. Romney. I am a child of God, and truly, God's children are for the human race, did we get that. We all have need of deliverance of these oppressive situations we have found ourselves in. What we see is politics in action. This is what is taking place, politics. It is when you have a concern for one another, you seek to help people. We are all entitled to have an opinion, and I am not against it. The President has a lot riding on him and every step he makes, and he walks this way. It is my hope that many of us can see this, and a politician does political moves. End of subject.