So is U.S. President Barack Obama a racist? Or is Rupert Murdoch?
Well the Australian media mogul appears to think that the president made a “very racist comment” and agrees that he hates white people.
But that apparently doesn’t make him a racist.
Confused? Me too.
The News Corporation chairman, one of the most controversial figures in the media world, has never minded hitting the headlines in his own right and this week was no exception.
First, in an interview with Sky News in Australia, he chose to back conservative Fox News commentator Glenn Beck.
Remember that back in July, Beck boosted his ratings dramatically when he accused Obama of having “a deep seated hatred for white people and white culture.”
Murdoch’s reaction is worth printing in full:
“He did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on, which he said in his campaign he would be completely above,” Murdoch said of Obama.
And of Beck’s remarks: “That was something which perhaps should not have been said about the president but if you actually look at what he was talking about, he was right.”
Ah, but hang on a minute. A quick backtrack soon followed.
Murdoch “does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist”, a News Corp. spokesman then told Politico.com.
Beck’s original comments came in the midst of the row about the arrest of African-American Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for breaking into his own home.
At the time Obama admitted he did not know all the facts of the case but it was nevertheless clear the white policeman had acted stupidly. He later apologized.
So who is the racist here, Obama or Murdoch?
A petition launched by colorofchange.org mentioned on The Huffington Post web site demands Murdoch put an end to Fox’s race-baiting or openly declare he supports it. “Mr. Murdoch, more and more it appears that Fox’s problems with race starts at the top, with you,” it writes.
The election of America’s first black president was certainly a massive step forward, but perhaps loftier dreams of a new post-racial era might have been a little overblown.
CORRECTS: makes clear colorofchange.org launched petition.
Click here for more Reuters political coverage
Photo credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser (Murdoch), Reuters/Jim Young (Obama)
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33 comments so far
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Well, well, if it isn’t “I’m done with his personal attacks” TC.
Hello, TC, did you ever find those links I asked you for?
Thanks for your comment, Steve, not everything has to be a partisan fight, at least for most of us. Some people are so caught up in their little war on everything, they just can’t help themselves.
- Posted by getplaningNow the left is going after Murdoch. They keep trying, but they keep failing. The most watched, by far, news network of them all keeps growing in viewership. No one listens to the love fests on the other networks. As in all thing liberal, try to destroy anything that gets in your way. No one listens to Olberman, Matthews, Couric, Gibson and all the other “news” (ha…) anchors on the lesser networks.
The majority of Americans want nothing to do with the bunch in power and the bunch in power knows it. That bunch can’t win the hearts and souls of Americans with their “ideology”, so they are left with the typical destroy, destroy, destroy with anything but the truth.
Reminds me of a few left wing nuts on here who can’t win with the truth, so they attempt to twist the facts with half truths and lies.
it is quite comforting to know they are on a sinking ship…
- Posted by TCSteve. I stand by everything I have said because it has come true. getplaning is a wannbe and you are a lemming.
- Posted by TCGetplaning (what does that mean?) your message was very intelligent and non partisan. Brian Lee is obviously very frustrated at the constant schooling he and T C are recieving from you on this forum. Why else make such a rambling, partisan response? Racism is indeed a part of everyday life but I don’t believe Obama or Murdoch are outwardly racist. They are both politicians with their own agendas which are easily tagged as racist by their critics.
- Posted by Stevethanks for your enlightenment getplaning, true to form with the intellectual standards you progressive liberals have achieved rising above injustice and racism.”Surely man is master of his own destiny”as you guy reach for heavens and beyond!.But what the venom against Sarah?do you need to try harder with the yoga?or is it to much latte?
- Posted by brian leeRacism is a fact in this world. For millennia, cultures have oppressed and enslaved each other along racial lines, and the legacies of America’s, Europe’s, and Australia’s racism haunts us to this day. We all grow up experiencing it, and as we become more educated and sophisticated people, work to rise above it. Some people are able to rise further than others.
- Posted by getplaningHere we go again,the attack on Fox din,t work they think if they direct their anger against the owner Murdoch he might back down.It won,t work the socialist government tried to the same thing in England when he supported Thatcher.This guy “is not for turning”like Cheney it will just bounce of him,and come back at them!
- Posted by brian leePresident Obama SAID he did not have all the facts, and he did state the obvious, a WHITE policeman forced the issue and got what he deserved. He did act unprofessional AND stupidly.
- Posted by ray4aAs for Mr Murdoch I think you would be able to find many many instances in Australia where he has been even more precise regarding his bigotry. This guy plundered what he wanted in Australia a long time ago and he has trampled many a good natured trusting soul. The only thing bad about being at the top is the LONG HARD FALL DOWN.
I haven’t watched FAKE NEWS “fair and balanced” since the hatchet jobs done on Democratic candidates when Bush stole the election from Al Gore. Wherever I go and Fake news is on their TV I ask it to be changed, If they refuse I leave and take my business elseware. Plain and simple I will not facilitate their lies in any way.
What a really stupid question and a waste of time. Does anyone really think either of these men are racist? Articles like this are a prime example of how the press no longer reports the new, they try to make he news.
- Posted by SamJohn S,
- Posted by Rich MLets face one fact America. We do not have a Black President because of the enrtia of the Black vote. The difference between the Black vote in 2004 and 2008 is not as much as most people think. There are about 30 million African Americans in this country. When you take away those underneath the voting age and those who are incarcerated, as well as those who just did not vote that number is nearly cut in half. The number of African American voters left could not have put President Obama in office over the rest of the country’s population of some 250 milllion people. White people voted Obama in.
That’s an easy question of course Obama is the racist.
- Posted by joejohnsonLet’s face facts that a lot of Black people came out to vote who probably had not voted in some time. They voted primarily for Obama because he was Black. Not to say that his promises in his campaign did not also sway Black voter’s. But let’s be honest with ourselves as a country.
- Posted by John SBlack people voted a Black president into office. Now we see the division going on in this country over it. Yes, its been swept under the rug because of the economy. But you know their is a coalition in this country who does not like the fact we have a Black president. I myself think its great and not because he is Black but he presented himself as the best candidate. At least I hope we voted him into office for that? Sometimes I wonder if we get bad people in office because we vote them in for the wrong reasons? As we have seen in countless polls. People hate Congress and the Presidents numbers are slipping too. So are we asking too much? Or are we voting in the wrong people?
President Obama’s genetics seem to be comparable to those of a great many American “blacks.” He was in a church of such people, and he married one. The fact is that in this country, if you’re more than a teensy bit black, you’re black. And your heart needs friends. Yes, his white mother was one of various influences. He and his wife were also very high achievers in mainstream society before he entered politics.
I’m glad nobody has said “reverse racism” yet. Maybe we’re getting that clear. There’s no forward and reverse; all racism is racism.
I’m white (well, pink, literally). I’m also racist. Unless I’m much mistaken, everyone is. Finding, examining and rejecting one’s racism is an area of self-care. I don’t think one is ever done. And that is what I might say to President Obama (and Rupert Murdoch, if he seemed to be listening).
- Posted by Pete Cann